Published June 25th, 2013
"Scanning brainwave frequencies.... Completed. Creating baseline.... Completed. Determining brainwave discrepancies of new users.... ... ... Completed."
"That mean we're good to go, War Master?"
"Affirmative. All systems nominal. Creating digital bodies for use in simulation.... Completed. Are you ready to begin combat simulation?"
"You know it."
"Initializing..." There was a nearly blinding light, then the strange sensation of my sim-body being built around my consciousness. When the program finished, I opened my eyes and looked around to see which environment War Master had loaded. I was on a large, grassy ledge overlooking a sea on one side, while the other side was a cliff face with several caves in it.
So, he decided on Cliff Caves, huh? That should do fine. Makes it easy for me, at least.
I noticed two bright lights off to one side, and waited while Twilight and Rainbow went through their first body-build. Really quite an excruciating experience, that first time. The system has to figure out how each piece of your body needs to work, as well as how your brain is reacting to each part it puts in, so during the first download, you feel every part of your body come into existence, then attach itself to you while the program figures out whether or not anything is going horribly wrong yet. Which of course means that the first thing everyone does is-
"YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!"
-scream. Perfectly understandable. Feeling the raw nerve endings on every single cell of your entire body attach to one another in sequence isn't exactly a day at the spa. Unless it's a really shitty spa, obviously. Even then, though, it would probably still be preferable to this particular experience. Oh, look, they finished.
The two of them laid there for a minute, hyperventilating slightly and looking like they were trying not to pass out. I gave them a couple moments before collecting myself and putting on my drill sergeant attitude.
"On your feet, ladies." They both looked at me like I was crazy. Which I am, but that's not the point.
"Seriously?" Rainbow said incredulously. "We just got here. Can't we take a minute to get used to it?"
"No. Now get up. We don't have time to screw around here. Move it." They both got up, giving me unhappy looks.
"Okay, so what do we do, here, anyway?" Rainbow asked. "I don't think this is going to help us get stronger, since we aren't actually moving."
"We aren't here to make you stronger. Your time under the control of the Emrini took care of that already. We're here to teach you tactics and skills. The best way to do that is to have you learn through trial and error. The simulation is actually running us at an accelerated speed, so a few days outside equals approximately one week's worth of experience in here. We'll get out to stretch and eat and whatnot every so often as we go through. While we're in here, though, I'll be putting you through the wringer. So let's get started, shall we?" I went through the basic rules they would have to follow just like every other new recruit, and when I asked if they had questions, Rainbow asked the one thing I knew she would say.
"What happens if we break a rule?" she said with a grin. "You gonna kick us out or something?" I had had my hands behind my back the whole time, and I mentally asked War Master to spawn a Headcase pistol into my hand as I answered.
"No, I'll do this." I pulled the newly-spawned weapon out from behind my back, and before she could react, fired a bullet right between her eyes.
BANG!
Her head jerked backward, pulling the rest of her body with it, and she fell to the ground, dead. Twilight stared at her friend's corpse, shocked at what she had just witnessed.
"You- You killed her...." She turned back to me, just as I pointed the gun at her.
BANG!
Twilight's body followed a similar trajectory to Dash's, hitting the ground with a weak bounce before coming to rest next to her friend. I took the time while they respawned to reload. When they rematerialized in front of me, they both had terrified looks on their faces, and stood perfectly straight, waiting for orders.
"Any time one of you fails to follow the rules, you will both be punished according to the transgression. Any other questions?" I asked in the calmest voice ever.
"SIR, NO, SIR!" They chorused with obvious fear.
"Good. First thing's first. You both need to learn melee combat. The Emrini pride themselves on their ability to kill anything that gets in their way with the weapons they're born with. That means you have to know how to fight them hand-to-hand without getting yourselves killed. Before I can do that, though, I need to know what I'm working with. War Master, bring up the power test." A large machine, which had a spring-loaded pad on one end, materialized next to us. "The first test is simple: hit the pad as hard as you can. Don't worry about hurting yourself, you'll be fine. Just give it your best hit." Rainbow flashed a confident smirk, then strode over to it. She reared her arm back, and I could already tell where this was going. She extended her arm all the way, hitting the circle of soft material dead center. A small readout on top of the device showed the number seventy-two, and she made the same mistake as every other new recruit who saw that there was only enough room for one more digit on the readout.
"Yes! Seventy-two out of a hundred! That can't be a bad score!" She said excitedly as she walked back to her spot. Twilight moved over to replace her in front of the tester. She took a slightly more technical position, then pulled back as far as she could before slamming her fist into almost the exact same spot as Rainbow. This time, though, the score counter only showed fifty-eight. She went back to her spot, and Rainbow gave her a comforting pat on the back, though it was obvious how confident she was of her own score.
"That's decent, for a first try." Rainbow's jaw dropped at that, but before she could protest, I walked over to the device, and set my own stance. With a single swift motion, I extended my arm behind me, leaned forward, and slammed my fist into the center of the target for all I was worth. I could tell my sudden movement had caught both of them off guard by the sound of their hooves readjusting as they steadied themselves. We all looked up at the readout, and waited for it to stop.
Final score: seven hundred and fifty eight.
Rainbow nearly fell over at this, and Twilight just looked at me with fear in her eyes.
"Now. Do either of you know why my score is so much higher?" Rainbow raised her hand, and I nodded to her.
"Sir. Is it because you're a lot stronger than us? Sir?" I shook my head in the negative.
"No. The reason your scores were so low is because of your technique. You were aiming for the target itself with your punch, I wasn't. So the question is: where was I aiming?" I waited for either of them to come up with an answer, but when they couldn't I sighed and moved back to the machine. "The answer is: behind the target. If your strike stops at the surface of your target, all of the energy you use is wasted when your movement stops. You want the energy to go into the opponent, so to do that you have to try and put your attack's end point on the other side of your target. See?" As I explained all this, I copied the words with my movements, showing the difference in power and posture between correct and incorrect technique. Once I was done, I had each of them try again. Rainbow got a score of six hundred and eighty nine, Twilight's was six hundred and seventeen. "Now you understand how much difference the right technique can make. Time to move on to the actual training." Both their jaws fell at this, though Rainbow managed to recover first.
"What do you mean, 'actual training'? What do you call what we've been doing, then? Playtime?!" She waved her arms a little for emphasis.
"I call it 'losing bad habits'. Also," BANG! BANG! After they respawned, we moved on to actual combat practice. I had them fight each other first, so that I could correct flaws in their respective techniques. Once I was satisfied that their fighting habits were no longer atrocious, I fought Rainbow while Twilight studied the differences between my movements and their own. When Rainbow couldn't take any more, I switched the two. I sent them at each other again afterward, and they both lasted much longer than before. There were various points where they forgot one or more rules, and depending on what precisely it was, I gave them a different death. At one point, Rainbow got so worked up she just railed at me for a while, and when she was done, I threw them both off the cliffside, before explaining that while in the simulation, I was just their trainer, not their friend. When I was satisfied that they were prepared, I took on both at once, starting out with a bare minimum of effort on my part, and slowly ratcheting up how hard I was trying against them. After almost two hours, Rainbow managed to get the first solid hit on me.
"HAHA! Finally got ya!... Sir." She had a sudden look of worry as I picked myself up. I checked the system clock, finding that we had experienced nearly forty hours of training in less than one realtime day. It was, however, getting late, and I decided it was time to wrap up.
"War Master, take us out. Time for dinner, ladies." I could see looks of relief and vague excitement as my body faded away, and I woke up back in the Colosseum. I got out of my pod and stretched, having not been in there for a while. Certainly not for that long. Once the other two had regained the use of their real bodies, we all went down to the mess hall and got dinner. The place was damn near deserted, which made it just a little bit creepy due to the sheer size of the room. I led them back to their room, and went back to my own to find a letter on my desk. Well that's weird. Who the hell uses letters anymore? I inspected the envelope to make sure there wasn't anything obviously dangerous about it before checking to see if anyone left their name. Not finding one, I opened it and extracted the contents.
Kuro,
I require your immediate assistance in the engineering labs.
Please come as soon as you are able.
Dr. Pernaki
Well, that explains who put this here, I thought as I put the letter in my shredder. I left the room, and made sure the girls didn't require my immediate attention with anything before heading down to see what Pernaki needed. When I got to Engineering, the place was a hornet's nest of activity. Wading through the crowd, I managed to get to my target and question him on why I was needed so urgently. He pulled me into a closed-off lab and shut the door, muffling the sounds of everyone else so we didn't have to yell.
"Sergeant. I asked for your presence because I felt you should know that you may have some new tech available to you during the invasion." This got my attention.
"Like what, doc?" He turned to one of the screens in the room, and brought up a diagram of a gauntlet with a cone-like device mounted on it, similar to the Armshots used by Cyber Battalion. I studied the image for a moment, noting the spiral power conduits and the emission point near the tip. The design was exotic, to put it lightly. I had never seen a weapon like this before. It was almost like it was designed to simply emit force, rather than fire a projectile. My eyes widened as I realized what I was looking at, and I snapped my head toward Pernaki, the confident smile on his face the only confirmation I needed. I stared at the diagram for a few moments, my brain barely comprehending what this meant. Finally, I raised a single arm toward the good doctor, with my palm facing him. He easily understood the gesture, slapping my hand with his own in a self-indulgent high five. But he had every right to be a little self-indulgent right now. After all, he had figured out how to make humans capable of magic. After finding out that all that was left was construction and catastrophic failure testing, I went back to my room, and got some of the best sleep of my life.
The next morning, the newbies and I were treated to some boxed Real Food, courtesy of Toyoko and Ron. Technically, they had disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer, coming back like that, but I was most certainly not going to berate them for bringing back food with actual taste to it. Tabasco sauce is amazing, but it can only do so much. Once we had eaten, we went back to the Colosseum, with Toyoko and Ron in tow. We all went in, and the other two watched while I finished basic melee training with Twilight and Rainbow. Once I felt they were ready, I stopped them with an outstretched hand.
"Good. Now it's time to move on to the next part: Know Thy Enemy. Punching an opponent will only get you so far in combat. You have to know where to punch them, or you'll just wear yourself out. War, bring up the Emrini study file." A single, life-sized copy of an Emrini Minor appeared, and I started pacing around it as the girls got a closer look at it. "Now, based on what you see, what kind of creature would you classify this as?" They studied it for a few more moments before Twilight answered.
"Well, I originally thought they were reptilian, but close up, it looks like their scales are actually fur." I nodded.
"Correct. Though they have many features and habits that make them appear to be reptiles, they are actually mammals. Their fur grows in twisting paths around each other, resulting in the appearance of 'scales'. Also, they have slitted pupils, which look just like many reptiles', but are actually more functionally similar to a cat. The giveaway is their feet. They have large claws, but between the claws are small tufts of short, fluffy fur. This means that unlike reptiles, which are slow, lazy, susceptible to cold temperatures, and have difficulty staying active outside of warm areas, Emrini are capable of functioning in any conditions you or I can function in. Sometimes, they can even do it better because their fur traps so much air, giving them an extra layer of protection, or giving them greater buoyancy in bodies of water." I continued lecturing them on every way an Emrini could kill something, and every method of preventing all of them from ever succeeding. They practiced against single opponents for a while, until I received a message from War Master.
"Sergeant, the new armor sets for the trainees are finished, and I have the technical data. Shall I begin a combat simulation?" I opened up the files, and scanned over them quickly before making my decision.
"Yes. Deactivate current simulation and wait for my activation." He sent a confirmation, and the current Emrini copies the girls were fighting disappeared, much to their confusion. They turned toward me for explanation, and I stepped forward as two large containers appeared off to the side. "Alright, newbies. Time for an actual combat simulation. Engineering has finished the designs for your new armor, and the files have been downloaded to us for you to use. Get in the chambers and suit up. Once you're finished, I'll give you your objectives for the excercise." They each got into a container, and I willed myself into my own armor as they were introduced to their new outfits. Once they were finished, they stepped out and I had to admit, the designs looked good.
Rainbow's was obviously built for speed, with smooth curves and long lines making up most of the suit to make as little drag as possible. There were soft-shell covers for each individual feather attached with ball joints to a long, flexible, three-part support strut on each wing's leading edge. The helmet, when tilted back, would mesh evenly with the back of her armor, leading air straight into the two intakes for the ramjets that sat side-by-side between her wings. Her tail was hidden underneath a skirt of armor, made of overlapping plates that scraped a little when she moved, and on the backs of her hooves were what appeared to be pulse engines, most likely for rapid acceleration.
Twilight's armor, by contrast, almost looked bulky. There was a miniature shield generator on her left arm, and her right sported a hardlight sword module. She also had skirt armor, but it was much longer in the rear than Rainbow's, and a shell covered her entire back, though it didn't appear to restrict her movement any. Her legs had hover units attached to them, and it was apparent by the cables leading from her horn to all of her new accessories that all of it could be powered herself, if necessary. The two major similarities were the visors on their helmets, which had a much wider field of view for their peripheral vision than a human's, and the large stabilizer bases for their hooves, making it easier for them to stand with all of their new equipment.
They both walked out a little shakily, unused to the weight ratio of their armor. As they finally stabilized themselves, I stepped forward and got their attention with a clap. Twilight managed to react without losing balance, but Rainbow was not as graceful. She groaned as she managed a sitting position.
"Geez. How the hay are we supposed to move with all this stuff on? I feel like somepony turned my body around without my head. And how did you get into your armor so fast? I didn't see a thing for you to go into to change. Unless you just switched your clothes out in the open, here." I could practically see the grin on her face, and I decided to ignore the slip-up she just made in favor of weirding her out.
"Actually, that's exactly what I did." As expected, she jolted with surprise. "But as for how you're going to move around now, the answer is simple: very quickly." They both cocked their heads in confusion, and I sent War Master the activation code internally. As the disembodied voice that everyone on the ship knew so well started the match, I picked out my Mower loadout, which consisted of an S15A Trench Sentry LMG, a W1A3 Black Bomber grenade launcher, and extended magazines, complimented by an echolocator short range tracking system. I got into my favorite position, crouching in front of one of the larger rocks at the edge of the cliff we were on, and readied my weapons as Twilight and Rainbow looked around confusedly. "I would suggest you two prepare yourselves." Before they could respond, a howl came from one of the caves, and I raised my machine gun. "Sooner, rather than later, probably." Before they could question me further, several Emrini minors came running out of the tunnel, howling and snarling. I managed to take out the ones headed for me fairly easily, but the others were not so lucky. Twilight was stabbed in the gut, and Rainbow was knocked off the side of the cliff. I killed the rest without much trouble, and waited for my two trainees to respawn. By the time they did, the next wave was on its way. They did much better than the first time, and as the waves progressed, so did their skills, reactions, and tactics. Eventually, they were able to hold their own without me. Rainbow even remembered she could fly at some point. As they battled against each wave, the rest of my squad showed up to watch. Since I was not currently needed, I decided to find out their opinions.
"Well," Dimitri began, "it looks to me as if our little trainees have never fought before in their lives. They definitely need work on actually attacking things." I nodded, and looked at Ron as he started talking.
"I don't know, man, I think they really haven't ever been in any sort of real fight before, not even a schoolyard scuffle. Like the Emrini were the first beings they've ever felt any sort of major negative emotions toward. If only everyone could be so easygoing."
"Yeah, man, no kidding." Everyone turned with slight surprise as Groove started talking. "It's almost like they don't want anyone getting hurt even a little bit. Can you imagine how ridiculously chill their planet must have been for that kind of attitude? I would have loved to see that kind of peace. Man."
"Indeed, Groove-san. But this is not their planet. This is a war. If they choose to fight, they must be ready to kill. No hesitation, no mercy. Though I think everyone would rather spare them this experience if we could." Everyone nodded in agreement with Toyoko as Twilight and Rainbow finished their current wave. A horn sounded, signaling the end of the excercise, and the disembodied voice rang through the simulation as Twilight and Rainbow collapsed with exhaustion.
"Either way, it doesn't matter anymore. External clock says we have less than twenty-four hours until launch. Time for some real-world preparations."