Chapter 2: Basic Training

True to their word, the Loser squad has trained under Captain vice to learn the skills to be efficient soldiers. No one can expect them to succeed, and not to mention they have little faith in their capability. All of that will change over the course of one week…

Drilling in the basics

The team first perform warm-up using their body weight to strengthen their body and mind. They take up Wall Climbing, Crawling, Agility courses, Stealth Courses to build their skills on the battlefield. Then they learn basic hand-to-hand combat which incorporates striking, grappling, disarming and CQC quarters combat.

"Now, Private Savaveryt! Private Torbente!" Vice calls them to the center of the practice ring. "The two of you will spar. Light contact!"

"A woman, sir?!" Ronald complains on the idea of fighting a woman "I don't want to get my hands dirty, sir!"

"Just spar, Ronald! For god's sake! This is not an actual fight!" Sirena yells him to start combat sparring.

Ronald shrug and began training and sparring until in the midday.

They drilled the team in basics of Demolition & Bomb handling how to handle and disarm/setup bombs. Todd was hopeless on disarming a bomb during his session, Kai & Sirena after a couple tries disarms and setup bombs for use. However, Ronald disarms the bomb within 5 seconds tops, and it only took him 10 seconds to set his up and detonate on his target.

"Well Done, Private Tonbente!" Vice smiles at his efforts.

"Man, he got his done on one try. I guess he is the smartest man in our unit," Kai, surprised at his skill.

"Jealous, Kai?" Sirena smiled slightly at him.

"Nah! He got nothing on me!" Kai pound his chest to prove he ain't jealous.

Vice tutored the team to understand the chain of command with the Ranger Military. The ranks go from Private to Sergeant, Sergeant to Lieutenant, Then Lieutenant to General. The Protocol is that Rangers treat each other with respect and establish order.

"Questions?" Vice asked the room when Sirena raised her hand "Private Savaveryt!"

"My question is, what about the Magic users? What should we do if we encounter them, sir?" she stated her question.

"Magic users?! You kill em, that is what!" Kai sprang from his seat.

"Kai!" Todd calls after him. "Calm down, we just need to know protocol on how to deal with them."

"Oh yeah, what would you do?! Wait, until they weave their hands around to do something about it?!" Kai gets into his face. "They'll kill you the minute you hesitate!"

"Guys!" Ronald injects in. "We must determine if they are going to be a threat, Mr. Emaroldo."

"Just Kai, Egghead!" he correct Ronald

"Yeah, and if they want to be alone? You would sentence them to death for 'Sitting at home doing nothing'?" Ronald asked.

Without a word, Kai sits back down with Sirena being usually nervous and Captain Vice watched the whole thing played out.

2 Days left until Exams

The days went quickly as the team focused on building synergy, working together as a team. Todd shows he can rally and motivate his team through the thick and thin on every mission. Even though, when come down to navigation or using strategy, he struggles at it since he'll go in gun blazing without thinking twice during a mission.

Ronald interestingly quickly builds up his skill in hand-to-hand combat and shows he can quickly scan an area or region to get a sense of direction as well analyzing structure weaknesses. He is also effective when come down to long-term decisions and is capable of making real-time decisions that require improvisation. However, he cannot effectively collaborate with others since he rubs them the wrong way and uses long-winded words to confuse them.

Now Kai, he excels in the hand-to-hand combat to where his teammates have a hard time keeping up with him. He is resourceful but the best part he learned how to handle infantry and military grade weapons such as Rocket Launchers, Mortar and Laser Cannons with frightening ease. However, his marksmanship need work and his attitude rubs people the wrong way, making him unsuited to diplomacy.

Sirena is not good in any area, nor is struggling in any area, especially with leadership skills. But the best part that she is capable of immense concentration and stamina, she doesn't tire easily. Her compassionate heart shows that she cannot look away when injustice is at foot.

1 more day

"Now as you know…" As Vice drills the privates about wasteland and its dangers.

In the wastelands, every traveler (Soldier, Raider or etc) must have a sense of navigation to avoid being lost in the wastelands as well the threats that come with it. They also have to contend with Hunger, Thirst and being sick which Medicine, Food and water are precious commodities, the last thing you don't want is to die of Dehydration or Sickness. Also, carrying a gun or weapon in mind is very essential to survive and defend yourself.

Also in this world, they are people that can wield magic in the wastelands, and they use for ill or good purposes. Sadly, any spell books that could have been useful in this time are lost or destroyed, which they have to learn it on their own from scratch. If you have to fight against a magic-user, use the pill "Kuailax" to bolster your magical resistance to have a chance against them.

"Sir! The thing is that Kuailax is not an easy drug to make or produce since even I don't know the exact formula." Ronald stated with concern.

"True, Tonbente. But the eggheads had made unique versions of the drug, but it is not without its side effects." Vice states.

"Like Nausea, Diarrhea, getting high, dizziness, drowsy and if you're unlucky, coughing up blood. Sir!" Kai states.

"Is that so, Private Kai?" Vice asked.

"Yep, I took those pills in the past but nowadays I use a different drug known as 'Emman' which it is has short-term effects, but is more powerful."

"Then I assume you have experience with drugs like these, they are rare and even so you need to monitor the use, Private." Vice warns Kai.

"Got ya, Sir!"

"Private Foxmensky and Savasarvyt!" Vice shouted at the two to wake up. "Pay attention, you will be applying what you learned on your exams tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir!" Both said in union and quickly picking up the pace.

The Test

"All right, ladies! Today is the day that you will prove here that you have what it takes to be soldiers in the Beluto Government." Vice speaks as he paces back and forth. "You will use your Leadership, Navigation, Marksmanship, Teamwork, Strategy & Tactics and your Endurance."

"Sir!" The team spoke in unison

"You have 20 mins to complete the exam. Time runs out, you will fail! You leave your brother in arms behind, you will fail! You can't work together, you fail! Unable to continue, you will fail!" Vice shouted to the team. "Let's go, ladies! MOVE!" He shouted to them to motion for them to start.

As the team went through the first obstacle crawling net, Todd ran ahead of the team. Ronald and Kai struggle to crawl together, prompting Sirena to yell for them to move. Todd moved ahead to the next obstacle, the Wall Climb much to his teammates' dismay.

"Okay, Okay, Kai, my brutish friend! We need to move as one unless you want to be here in the mud all day, which I don't want to be-" Ronald pleads for his teammates to work together.

"Yo, man! I got you. Alright, we need to hurry since our leader is half-way on the top." Kai quickly motion to his team to pick up the pace.

They moved faster to reach the 2nd obstacle, Wall Climb. Then Ronald had an idea as Todd almost reached the top.

"My good chum, we need to climb this wall!" Ronald stated while he grabbed the rope. "Come on! We need to catch up to our leader and hurry before he does anything foolish!" He shouted aloud enough for Todd to pause.

"Hey, Nerd! I heard that. Here I thought you hate getting your hands dirty!" Todd shouted below him.

"And here I thought, my illustrious leader, that you would lead this armpit of a team. Yet, you seem to be ahead of us. You could have at least waited!" Ronald shot back to Todd.

"Excuse me, we are AN ARMPIT OF A TEAM?!" Sirena suddenly shouted at Ronald "You know what… I am going to hurt you!" Sirena suddenly climb over Kai which it almost lost his grip on the rope.

Ronald wasted no time moving faster to escape Sirena's wrath. Luckily Todd helped him with the 3rd obstacle- Zip Rope. They waited for Kai to catch up to them, with Todd having to restrain Sirena from having to hurt Ronald during their exam.

They headed to the 4th obstacle- Target Practice, to take out 6 green targets without hitting the red one.

"Pleasant chap, the target on your left" Ronald use his logistical skills to help guide Todd on aiming for the Green target. "Sirena, my dear. There is -"

"I know that!" She rebuffed him as she is focused on hitting the target.

When they reached the 5th obstacle course…

"Okay, my teammates, we need to get across the maze and I know the best way for us to get out. Since I'm obviously so smarter than you all." Ronald tried to volunteer, but the team went ahead without him. He waited for a few moments.

After a few minutes, he used his smarts to help his teammates get out of the maze.

What he did

Using Markers, he could determine which way is the right way and which parts are dead-ends or traps. He also made sure that in case he gets lost, they can go in the other direction.

He calls out to his teammates and listens to their sounds. Every mile he took, he made a marker. He found his teammates by using this method.

He tells Todd to go ahead of him and tell him to mark the area as he goes. This allows the team to avoid pitfalls, traps, dead end and wrong direction.

He made sure 2 people stayed together, One to do the marking, the other to explore for the exit.

Upon reaching the 7th and Final obstacle course with the finish line ahead.

"Excellent timing, Ladies! You have only 4 minutes! Double time it!" Vice Shouted at the team.

"Okay, here is the…" Ronald saw the team went ahead without him. "... Plan?"

Homestretch

The 7th obstacle is to make your way through a building to reach the exit. The building is unstable, and it is prone to collapse. Ronald had to run in order to keep up with his team.

"Guys! Wait up!" He yelled after his team, but Todd was the only one that stayed behind.

"Double Time, Soldier! We are running out of time!" Todd motioned to him.

"I know, but the building is unstable and any move we make will make it fall atop of us. Trust me, I can lead us out here! Please?!" He yelled as they made their way out of the building.

"Prove it!" Todd spoke as they went through the door.

The team stopped at a boulder that is blocking the exit. Ronald quickly analyzed the structure, he had Kai placed the explosive at the weak structures of the boulder.

"Everyone! Move! Move!" Todd quickly mentions for everyone to take cover. "Kai! Blow that sucker up!" He ordered Kai to detonate the explosives.

As the boulder exploded in small debris while smoke is covering the room, the team held their breath as they went from the building. When they saw the exit, they wasted no time running as the building collapsed. They have reached the finish line despite feeling exhausted.

"Losers! Attention!" Vice project his voice. "You had 10 seconds to spare. Had you simply took a breath then, you would have failed."

"Sir… We-" Vice raised his hand to stop him.

"Don't Interrupt, Private." As he spoke, "The four of you have proven to me that your ranger material. So, first thing in the morning, I want you all to be in my tent by 7am." Vice walks off.

"Sir! Does that mean…?" Todd asked.

"Oh yes, we passed! I am just glad that they do not ship us to mediocrity!" Ronald chimes in before Sirena punched him in the gut. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Armpit of a team, remember?" She smiled at him.

"Yeah!" Ronald crutches his stomach while the team laughed.