Training Part 2 of 14 - 117

This is one of my shortest chapters yet, but I think I did a pretty good job writing it. :) Please vote and comment so that more people can see this story.

('Ddraig speaking telepathically')

("Ddraig talking out loud")

['Albion speaking telepathically']

["Albion talking out loud"]

{'Bahamut speaking telepathically'}

'A character's thoughts'

Chapter 15: Training Part 2 of 14 - 117

Day 2 of 120 Training Days

On the second day, the Chief taught the group the phonetic alphabet, which Chief figured they could use to confuse enemies since they're dealing with the supernatural who may be unfamiliar with such jargon. He also had them learn the basics of gun safety with keeping a weapon pointed away from other people at all times as well as being aware of their surroundings. They may not be using guns, but the same basic concept applies with sharp melee weapons such as swords, spears, daggers, and even scythes.

Then, John taught them basic military terminology, such as Line of Fire, Take Point, Rear Guard, Flank, Diversion, Covering fire, Sound Off, Oscar Mike, Friend Or Foe, Seek and Destroy, Hold The Line, Torch and Burn/Scorched Earth, Guerilla Warfare, Spray and Pray, Weapons Free, Collateral, Casualty, War Crime, Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition (FUBAR), and a few others.

Luckily for Murayama, she didn't miss much on the first day since she knows most of this.

Day 3 of 120 Training Days

The trainees thought they would continue learning more vocabulary, but when they arrived at the training facility, it was closed, so they made their way to the soccer field only to find a large, rectangular wall covering most of the field with a single doorway in the middle facing them without a door, instead covered by a black curtain.

Looking at the wall, Issei began narrating. "On that day, Humanity received a grim reminder that-" (40)

He was cut off by Vali. "No."

"But-"

"That anime is good, but there are so many better ones out there."

The girls listened to their conversation with amusement as Issei gave him that annoyed look. Yes, you know the one. "Let me guess, Naruto is your favorite anime?"

"Ew."

"Then what is?"

"Sword Art Online." Issei was about to tell him to get out when Vali cackled. "I'm kidding! My favorite anime is My Hero Academia. Sword Art Online is garbage aside from the first season."

"Agreed."

"I, the author, also agree."

Arisu turned to Kuroka. "Did ya hear somethin'?"

"Nya? Nyo."

They waited a few minutes, and the Chief arrived.

"Today, I want to put you kids and your knowledge to the test, a practical test." Said the Chief, now fully armored. "There will be two different trials I'm putting you through. I will explain the second one later, but the first one is a simple time trial. I will be partnering all of you with one person except Issei Hyoudou since there are eleven of you. There are 16 targets and eight hostages in this course. Be precise, because if you hit any civvies, three seconds will be added to your final time for each. You are not allowed to use any superpowers to boost your speed except any magic for the purpose of killing such as projectiles, fireballs, etc. Trust me, I will know if you're cheating. The team with the fastest time is the winner while the slower ones will be left with much to work with. Any questions?"

Irina raised her hand. "What do the winners earn?"

The Chief smirked. "More time to catch their breath for the next course, unless you go last." This earned groans from everyone except Issei, Arisu, Vali, and Raynare. "Issei, you're up first. You're with me. Let's show them how it's done."

Vali held his hand up. "Hang on a sec! Don't you think it's a little unfair if Issei gets to go with you? He will automatically win."

John shook his head. "No because I am not going to be shooting anything. All Issei has to do is keep up with me."

Akeno asked, "What is the record, and what time should we aim for?"

"Well, the record is exactly 19 seconds, but you should be aiming for no more than 30 seconds to be on-par with the pros. If you can't keep it under 30 seconds, then you know what you need to work on, which is either speed or team efficiency, and if you kill any hostages, you need to work on your accuracy as well."

Clocks on the jumbotron appeared at 0:00:00 in Minutes:Seconds:Milliseconds format for each team, and next to it is each persons name and a chibi version of them. Everyone could immediately tell that stronger people were sorted with the weaker ones for the most part aside Issei's and Vali's teams, the weak link usually being shown as the name on the right side of each team. The name on the left is the person taking point. This is also the order in which they go.

Teams:

Issei - Chief 0:00:00

Raynare - Murayama 0:00:00

Akeno - Ravel 0:00:00

Rossweisse - Kuroka 0:00:00

Irina - Tsubasa 0:00:00

Arisu - Vali 0:00:00

As Issei and the Chief took their positions on left and right of the doorway and entered the maze on Chief's hand signal, the clock began counting up, and a voice of a British drill sergeant spoke on the loudspeaker. "Go! Go! Go!" (41)

The Chief took point followed by Issei, and as Issei entered, he immediately shot a bolt of light magic that barely missed a cardboard cutout of a hostage and hit a cardboard cutout of a terrorist, taking care of four targets in the first area as he quickly sprinted past the surprised Chief and into the next area.

Right as Issei entered a new area while killing a popup terrorist in the window, the British voice yelled, "Hit the targets! Flashbang through the door!"

"Thanks Captain Price," Issei mumbled.

The layout of this new area is built to confuse the trainee, but Issei is lucky to be a fast thinker. He entered a doorway to his left that takes him downstairs, which leads to a dead-end where only three targets stood. Quickly taking care of them, he ran back up, saw another target at his left behind a barricade, which he threw a light dagger at while stabbing another to his right as he sprinted up a set of stairs, shanking one in his way at the top.

The loudspeaker voice suddenly switched to an American voice. "Last area! Move! Move!" (42)

Issei hit three more targets, jumped down a six foot ledge, and killed two more as he sprinted to the finish, appearing to the right of everyone.

Trial 1 Results:

1st Place Issei - Chief 0:20:87

2nd Place Arisu - Vali 0:21:90, 1 Hostage Killed By Vali

3rd Place Raynare - Murayama 0:27:30

4th Place Irina - Tsubasa 0:31:04

5th Place Rossweisse - Kuroka 0:34:20,

6th Place Akeno - Ravel 0:41:00, 3 Hostages Killed By Ravel, Akeno, and Akeno

. . . . . . .

They all took Part 1 of the obstacle course, and needless to say, the bottom half were frustrated with their results while the top three teams were mostly happy.

The only team who was an exception is the 2nd place duo of Arisu and Vali, who would have beat the record had Vali not killed a hostage on accident. The group chuckled nervously at the sight of Arisu trying to calm Vali down as he paces back and forward, mumbling cuss words to himself.

Vali crouched down and began drawing random lines in the dirt. "Fucking idiot. Stupid. Moron. Grandsonuvabitch (43). Coward. Bastard. Why am I so reckless? I should have never been born."

Arisu furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh, quit being so overdramatic! Vali, stop bein' so hard on yerself." She pat his shoulder to try to comfort him. "Yer a Dragon like me, and not just any Dragon. Yer the mothafuckin' White Dragon Emperah!"

{'Oh sweet daughter of mine, how it pains me so to see you suck at cheering people up.'}

'Shut up, dad!'

Bahamut cackled.

Vali looked up at her with a distant expression. He found some comfort in her adorable accent, albeit small. He sighed. "... Having this power is meaningless if I end up hurting innocent people. Let me put it this way. What if that hostage wasn't a cardboard target, but instead a real person? Now imagine that hostage as one of us or someone we care about, and you will see why I am upset. I may be kind of a perfectionist, but what we practice versus what real life situations bring are completely different."

The Chief walked up to them. "I can tell you from personal experience that in some of these situations, not everyone can be saved meaning some hard decisions would need to be made. Anyway, the second trial is about to begin now. It is also an obstacle course time trial, except this time, you will be doing it solo."

This time, they all performed much better.

Trial 2 Results:

1st Place Arisu 0:13:75

2nd Place Issei 0:16:00

3rd Place - Vali 0:18:12

4th Place - Raynare 0:22:80

5th Place - Rossweisse 0:27:41, 1 Hostage killed

6th Place - Murayama 0:28:55

7th Place - Kuroka 0:29:99, 1 Hostage Killed

8th Place - Akeno 0:32:15

9th Place - Tsubasa 0:36:66

10th Place - Irina 0:36:69

11th Place - Ravel 0:37:89

. . . . . . .

After they were done for the day, all twelve of them including the Master Chief ate dinner inside the royal castle's massive dining hall.

As they finished, Irina asked the Chief a question. "Hey Chief, if you don't mind me asking, what is the most painful memory you experienced while in the military?"

John, who was about to take a sip of water, froze at the girl's innocent question. He set the cup down as they all waited for his answer. "... Well, I have experienced many terrible things, but if I had to choose one... It all started in the year 2525 in my universe, and Humanity had just made first contact with a collective group of genocidal aliens called the Covenant, who are made of multiple species. The Covenant started this terrible war that would last for the next 28 years, and it resulted in the deaths of over 23 billion Humans and several dozen, maybe even hundreds of our planets glassed." He paused to look at their shocked expressions. "Before I recall this particular memory, don't blame the Arbiter. He killed plenty of us, but that was only because the religious and political leaders of the Covenant, the Prophets, forced his kind to serve them."

The Spartan felt awkward talking to these kids about his personal life. He only ever told them that he was kidnapped at the age of six and trained for eight years of his life to become a super soldier, and that he fought alongside the Arbiter. Now at the age of 42 and a seasoned veteran, he always has been the personal Grim Reaper of his higher ups, so one can imagine how difficult it is for him to suddenly share much of his past traumas.

He sighed. "In the United Nations Space Command, or UNSC, 50% of the soldiers were Army, 30% were Marines, 10% were Navy, and 5% were Air Force. Our special forces were called Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODST's for short, and they made up 4.9%; they were the equivalent of this universe's American Navy SEALs. Us Spartan II's made up of less than 0.0001%. I love all my brothers-in-arms, but Spartan II's were the best of the best of the best of the best. Better than any Marine, ODST, or any other Spartan generation. 75 of us made it through basic training, but less than half of us survived what came immediately after: the augmentations, drug enhancements that killed or crippled most of the other kids. I was one of the lucky few who not only survived, but became exactly the soldier they needed me to be. Initially, Spartan II's were meant to fight against Human Insurrectionists, terrorists from the Outer Colonies who hated the Inner Colonies, including Earth, because of unfair tax laws, but..."

Chief paused to take a long sip of water, finishing the drink. "We were 14 when we became fully fledged Spartans by February of 2525, right when the Human-Covenant War started. I was deployed to Harvest, a peaceful Outer Colony used for farming. When the Naval ship we were on couldn't do any damage to even the shields of a Covenant vessel, I was the one who came up with the plan to destroy it from the inside by boarding. The team consisted of myself and four other Spartan II's: Kelly, Linda, Fred, and Sam, who were all my closest friends. All Spartan II's are family to each other, but these four were like siblings to me, inseparable. Unfortunately, one of us had to stay behind to make sure the nuke we brought with us detonated, and Sam volunteered. While the four of us escaped, Sam gave his life. I felt responsible for his death." (44)

He got up and left, leaving a baffled group of trainees.

Issei sighed as he looked down sadly. "... I wonder if I could ever bring myself to do that kind of thing where I'm in his shoes, to sacrifice one of you girls."

Raynare cupped his cheek. "Darling, it depends on what is at stake." Her cheeks turned a little pink as she blushed at what she is about to say. "Let's say that, hypothetically speaking, you were to have a baby with one of us.. such as me." The other girls also blushed. "Would you be able to order me to die or even kill me yourself if it meant our child could live? I know I would gladly perish for you."

Issei looked at her like she's crazy. "That's not fair for me to be forced to make that choice! For God's sake Raye, this isn't the trolley problem where you choose who to run over, this is war! If one innocent person dies, then chances are that multiple people will. What makes you think the Khaos Brigade would spare their enemies?"

Raynare flinched. "S-Sorry."

He sighed before he smiled at her. "It's okay. The eleven of us are a family."

Ravel nodded. "If one of us goes down, then we all do (45)."

Arisu vehemently agreed. "Yeah! You're goddamn right (46)!"

Vali and the other girls nodded with DETERMINATION (47), to which Raynare smiled.

The Hakuryuukou said, "Jesus, you two are like Bonnie and Clyde."

Issei sweatdropped as he shared an embarrassed expression with his Queen, scratching his head sheepishly. "I think I prefer Romeo and Juliet because at the start, very few people wanted us to be together as if fate itself were trying to keep us apart. But alas, 'twas meant to me." The Sekiryuutei posed dramatically.

Everyone laughed.

To Be Continued

References:

(40) Attack On Titan

(41) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

(42) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

(43) Steins;Gate Japanese dub. I prefer the English dub for this anime, but that scene tho...

(44) Halo: The Fall of Reach movie

(45) Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

(46) Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 7 'Say My Name'

(47) Undertale

Issei's Harem (same as peerage members, most to least powerful, will not change):

Issei Hyoudou (Mutated King)

Arisu Yamauchi (OC, Six Mutated Pawn Pieces)

Raynare (Main Girl, Queen)

Akeno Himejima (Knight)

Kuroka Toujou (Bishop)

Irina Shidou (Rook)

Tsubasa Yura (Knight)

Rossweisse (Rook)

Ravel Phenex (Bishop)

Natsuki Murayama (Two Pawns)