Chapter 5: Chapter Five: Training

Sunlight beamed down on the glass dome walls. Plants stretched up to drink in the light, protected by specially designed glass, able to filter out the harmful radiation. Small bugs fluttered about from leaf to leaf, as a small woman was on her knees. Her hands were in the dirt, feeling it between her fingers. She smiled when she touched a worm and it quickly burrowed away.

The woman with green hair, it pulled into two, long pony-tails, pulled out her right hand. Cybernetic metal gleamed in the light for only a moment, before her hand dove into a pocket of her lab coat. She pulled out several seeds and held them in her palm. She looked at the seeds, her heart soaring with possibilities.

Gentle ocean waves played on in her mind, coming from an implant at the base of her skull. She looked past her hand to the healthy dirt below. Amber eyes gleamed as she placed the small cluster of seed into the hole she created. She then pushed the small mound of dirt beside it, covering the seeds.

A small drown flew over as the woman sat back on her ankles. A small stream of misty water showered the spot of the seeds for half a minute, before it flew off to water other plants.

Nora let out a happy sigh, caught in the brilliant light filtering in from the hexagon glass plates that made up the dome.

A door at the edge of the glass dome opened sideways. A woman with wolf ears entered. She had a tablet in her hand, her finger tapping away. She wore a leather-like jumpsuit, adhering to her fit and slightly curvy body. Pointed ears turned in different directions, hearing the drones as they fluttered about to tend to the plants filling the dome. A fluffy tail swung from left to right as she walked along a metal path through the garden.

“I have the security report,” the woman with wolf ears said as she approached the short woman sitting on her ankles.

“Another peaceful night?” the woman with green hair smiled and a calm gaze.

The woman with wolf ears looked up from her tablet and gave her a tired gaze.

“Serpent hounds tried to get through the Defense Net, again. They are getting bolder and arriving in larger packs.”

“They’re after my plants,” the woman grinned as she leaned back and placed her palms down, letting the sun warm her face, neck, and covered chest.

“Nora, you know they are after us, right?” the woman with wolf ears said and shook her head.

Nora shook her head, while basking in the sun. “I don’t believe you.”

“Whether you believe me or not, serpent hounds eat meat. I think we should set the defense cannons to kill, and not warning shots.”

Nora opened her eyes and turned them to the woman with wolf ears. “Hope, if we are ever going to help heal Xull Prime, we need those hounds to stay alive. They are among the last of the species on the planet, able to survive the radiation. We don’t know how many are left.”

Hope sighed. “Then I’ll stay in my station, and wound one of them. It should be enough to scare them off for a time. Besides, if they break through the first defense net and ignore the warning shots, they will be killed when they reach the second defense net.”

Nora shrugged. “I can’t give the okay to attack a species that is just trying to survive.”

Hope’s eyes narrowed and she let her hand with the tablet drop to her side. “Nora, I took this job as your security director seriously. Those serpent hounds are ten feet tall at the shoulder. If enough of them get through the defenses and into one lab dome, we’re going to have a fight.”

“You took this job because you wanted some excitement,” Nora corrected.

Hope growled before her head and shoulders wilted. “We’ve been friends for years. You know how I feel about this. I didn’t come here to watch monitors and write reports. I believe in what you’re trying to accomplish, but you know I need more.”

Nora shifted her feet to the side and tuned her amber gaze to the beautiful wolf-hybrid. She slowly stood up and walked over to her friend. Hope was taller, standing at five-feet ten inches. Her ears made her closer to six feet tall.

Nora lifted a hand and placed it on her friend’s shoulder, while looking up at her with understanding eyes.

“Do you have an idea where their nest is?” Nora asked.

Hope nodded.

“If they come back tonight, give them another volley of warning shots. But tomorrow, take two security drones to the nest and use stun rounds. Contact Xull for retrieval, and have them placed at another location, far away from us. I’ll give the clearance code.”

Hope’s mouth shifted into a small smile. “Will do.”

The wolf-hybrid turned on her heels and walked away.

Nora watched her friend go as a sadness pulling down on her spirit. The pair had known each other for years, best friends since early education. While Nora followed the sciences path, Hope followed the security and engineer paths. When those were not enough, she added pilot classes.

A memory swirled within Nora’s mind, the pair in a dark bar, drinking the night away. Hope, in her drunken stupor, mentioned that she as born at the wrong time. She missed the age of the resistance and wished she was there when Xull Prime changed for the better.

Nora woke up from her inner thoughts, seeing the door slide shut. She let out a slow exhale before turning and looking up. Sunlight bathed her features as she smiled wide, drinking in the sun’s warm light and the beautiful day.

***

The floor behind me began to shift. I turned to see a hole open up as the chairs and bar slid away. Air blasted up into the glass lobby of the ship, swirling my hair as I looked at the ground a hundred feet down.

“Training?” I asked as I turned my gaze to Xull beside me.

She smiled. “You’re rested and informed of the stakes. The only way to help you get stronger is to push your limits. I have created a training program that may aid you. With my guidance, you should be able to activate your abilities become much more powerful.

“Your first training session, don’t let anything touch me. Ready to begin?”

I parted my lips to answer when Xull simply lifted a metal leg and stepped off the edge.

I leapt off the edge and my entire body blasted down. The air shifted so hard, the ship bounced upwards like a boat getting struck by a wave.

Xull tumbled through the air with a blank expression. I flew down to her with my arms out. I grabbed her and held her as I shifted my body and had my feet pointed down.

Bright sunlight filled the area as I floated down to the sandy ground and placed Xull down. She looked at me with blank eyes as she took several steps backwards and away from me.

My ears caught the sound of louder engines. I turned to see another ship, larger than the one I arrived in. It had mounted cannons and was rectangle-ish. It didn’t have the usual gray and gold coloring I’ve seen. This ship was black as night and hovered menacingly in the air.

“The Dropship has standard security drones, often used to handle small conflicts. They are not war machine grade, but they should give you a challenge so you may understand your abilities. Call up your water storm abilities.”

I mentally called up my storm abilities and read them again.

Element: Water

1. Aura (X)
2. Elemental Weapon or Armor (X)
3. Energy Bolts (X)
4. Elemental manipulation (X)
5. Elemental Flare (X)
6. Unique Ability (X)
7. Unique Ability (X)
8. Unique Ability (X)

 

Xull continued, “As you can see, your first ability is your aura. It will take on the color of your element when activated. This is a protective ability, meant to shrug off or deflect attacks. It is a vital one, if entering a conflict.

“Visualize it and, with enough coaxing, it should activate.”

Before I could ask a question, doors opened underneath the drop ship. I stared up at it as the engines of the dropship whipped up the air. Four black pods fell from the dropship. They landed in the sand with loud “Thumps!” and began to shift.

I flexed my hands as the metal separated and shifted. Legs pushed the pods up. Arms emerged. A blunted head popped up with a single, golden eye. The smooth metal along the body and limbs took further shape, the security drones taking on a more menacing appearance. Small box emerged from forearms and double-barrel cannons stabbed out.

A rod stabbed up from a shoulder of one of the security drones. It lifted a robotic arm and grasped it. It slid it out like a sword from a back sheath. The rod was black, until energy surged and engulfed it.

“Three of them will be using solid rounds. One of them will be using a plasma rod at a low setting,” Xull said as she continued to step backwards.

I kept my cool, but my heart beat like a drummer during his first gig. Xull wasn’t wasting any time, and neither should I. She was pulling her punches with the training, but I could already tell, if I take these guys out, she was going to up the difficulty level.

I pushed all my thoughts to the background. I shouldn’t waste my energy on what may happen. I just had to be ready for when it all started to happen.

“Defend me,” Xull said as she was now fifty feet away from me.

I stood in between the four security drones and Xull. Above us, the two ships circled high enough to simply observe and not be in the way.

I readied myself to take out the three drones and save the one with the plasma rod for last, when three of them lifted their arm guns and aimed at Xull. Time slowed to a stop as light stabbed out from the twin barrels of the trio.

I bent my legs as I could feel my energy coil along my spirit. Without hesitation, I leapt into the stream of metal rounds with my arms crossed and legs up. Sparks blasted up from my limbs as several streams of rounds crashed into me and knocked me from the air. I went spiraling out of control for half a second before righting myself.

I turned my gaze to see Xull flipping away as sand exploded from a stream of live rounds.

I shot forward, the shockwave blasting away the air around me. I was nearly to the first drone, when he instantly stopped firing and his left hand shot up and clamped onto my head. My fist roared up, striking its metal forearm so hard, it cracked, but the drone didn’t let go. Instead, it swung me up and slammed me down into the sand.

Sand and debris blasted up as my fingers clamped on its strong fingers. Remembering my fight with the drone that came to capture me, I knew the fingers and joints were not as strong as other parts. I grabbed the thumb and finger and pulled. Muscles along my body surged with power as the finger and thumb were ripped from the mechanical hand.

I planted my feet and rolled upwards, knocking the damaged hand and arm. I pulled back a fist and leapt with all my power. My fist shot forward and slammed directly in the middle of the drone’s armored chest.

A shockwave blasted out as the drone stumbled back. The imprint of my fist right in the center of its chest. It lifted its forearm guns, light and meal stabbing out.

I stumbled back with my arms up. Thick rounds hit and either bounced or ricocheted away. I glanced back to see Xull dodging the streams of rounds from the other drones.

This was taking too long and I had to end it before a single round hit Xull.

I dug in my heels and bent my legs as my body was getting dinged by hard rounds. I concentrated, trying to call upon my aura as rounds scratched my hard skin. I blasted forward and drew back my fist.

The drone with the damaged left hand continued to fire with its right. It lifted its left arm, ready to use it to swat me out of the air. When I was nearly to it, the arm came down and I changed the direction of my punch. I slammed it into the incoming arm so hard, it whipped back as sparks rained out from the joint connecting it to the shoulder. The entire drone shudders as I flew up to its head and slammed my boots down on its wide shoulders.

My hands clamped down on the edges of the head and I pulled. I gritted my teeth as the metal groaned. My fingers dug into hard metal as I lifted with my knees and my back. I grunted louder as I tried to visualize any kind of protection.

The other two drones saw what I was doing and shifted their forearms guns to me. A deafening roar exploded from their guns as twin streams of rounds slammed into my prone back.

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I nearly lost my grip when I was hit. Dozens, to hundreds of rounds slammed into my back, trying to knock me off. I held fast, glad that I became a big enough threat to take their attention off Xull. I grunted louder as the metal head began to bent and twist as I pulled.

Something audibly cracked. In the next second, the head came off with sparks and wires trailing from it like living entrails.

Elation struck me as I grinned. A blue aura faded to life around me as I turned my body on the drone’s shoulders while holding the head. An alert scrolled across my gaze.

Element Water: Aura Unlocked. Aura is at 20%.

A huge confidence boost surged as I hefted the robotic head in my hand and threw it with all my might.

The head spun before slamming into a forearm gun and breaking it into a shower of sparks. The drone looked at its damaged forearm before turning it singular gaze to me. A box stabbed up from its shoulder and I knew what was coming.

The drone under my feet frantically lifted its remaining, functioning arm and tried to grab me. I leapt off and floated down before its chest as something hissed in the distance. The drone tried to swat me, when a missile slammed into its back and exploded.

The drone stumbled forward as I slammed my open hand and fingers into its chest. I dug into the hard metal and attempted to lift it. My muscles strained and I found that I could not lift it. It must have weighed more than twenty-five tons. I had to change my strategy.

I lifted my legs out and pushed. A blue aura surrounded my body as I pushed. The drone’s legs couldn’t compensate, the whole thing stumbling back. I pushed as hard as I could, the sound of guns going quiet. Robotic legs moved to try and keep the drone balanced, but it couldn’t keep up with the amount of power I pushed.

The security drone slammed into another drone. It caught its damaged comrade and I leapt up with a glowing aura and a fist cocked.

Rounds slammed into my side from the third drone, bouncing off my aura.

Water Aura: 18%

It was nice to have updates as I slammed my fist into the head of the second drone and caved it in.

The drone stumbled back. I took the advantage as I leapt from one drone to the next. I landed on it, lifted my fist up and brought it down on its already damaged head. It shattered on impact, sending shards of metal, wires, and an odd fluid into the air.

The two damaged drones continued to remain standing, but their coordination was off. They shuddered and made jerky movements as they tried to regain their balance.

I lifted my fist ready punch down and shatter the drone, when an energy rod appeared in my peripheral and slammed into my side. I was lifted off and slammed into the sand so hard, I left a twenty-foot imprint form when I slid to a halt.

I curled back onto feet, my fists ready and an aura glowing. I readied to charge, when something else caught my eye.

I glanced to the side to see the dropship hovering, but four of its cannons were moving. They turned and lowered, each one targeting me.

I glanced to Xull, wondering it this was part of the training exercise.

She turned her face to me and opened her mouth.

“I’ve lost control of the dropship!” her voice boomed.

“Damn it!” was all I had a chance to say when all four cannons erupted with thick plasma bolts.

I burst upwards as the ground under me exploded from plasma fire. I flew straight up while watching the cannons turned, keeping a lock on me. Cannons fired. I turned my body sideways as four thick plasma bolts shot past me.

“Quinn, I believe it is Xull Omega. She’s taken control of the dropship. I am re-asserting control over the security drones to aid you,” Xull’s voice in my head.

I didn’t have time to answer as I swerved in the air, avoiding plasma bolts. I had no idea how much damage a plasma bolt would do to my aura, but I wasn’t going to test it at the moment.

I streaked through the air, changing my flight path and spiraling around as plasma bolts lit up the sunny sky. When a cannon fired, I turned and shot down toward it. I dodged the plasma bolt before kicking out my legs and slamming them down on top of the cannon. I reached down and grabbed it in my hands. I pulled, the metal bending and cracking as I put my back into it.

Another cannon turned and aimed. Plasma blasted out and struck my back dead on.

My entire body shot forward like a rag-doll.

Water Aura: 14%

I tumbled through the air before another bolt slammed into me. Energy burned along my aura before I slammed into a rocky outcropping and shattered it into dust. I hit the ground and rolled until I slid to a halt.

The two remaining and fully functioning drones turned their weapons upwards, unleashing plasma rounds and missiles. Energy and missiles hit the dropship and it shuddered from the impacts.

The bottom of the dropship opened up and something big fell.

I was barely standing as the black pod didn’t wait to hit the ground before its entire form began to shift.

Thicker arms, legs, and torso unfolded. A wicked looking head turned and glared at me with a single, red eye. Spikes stabbed out from its shoulders and back as it landed on the sand. Cannons rose up from its forearms as another, larger cannon stabbed up from a shoulder. The shoulder cannon slammed down and aimed at me as sunlight gleamed off its threatening barrel.

“It’s a War Drone. It’s much stronger, armored, and heavier than security drones,” Xull explained in my head.

Training just upgraded to hard mode.

The security drones turned their weapons on the war drone. Plasma and missiles fired. The war drone leapt into a charge, as what looked like counter measures deployed. Small discs shot up from the war drone and filled the air with beams of light and thick vibrations. Missiles changed course, slamming into the counter measures.

I wasn’t sure I could take it, but I couldn’t just stand there. I bent my legs and launched into the air.

The war drone stopped its charge as its shoulder cannon locked on me. The entire area around the war drone blasted up debris from the shockwave of the cannon going off.

I turned my body, hoping it was enough, when the plasma bolt struck my shoulder. The explosion clouded my gaze as I was sent tumbling through the air.

Water Aura: 5%

I forced myself to focus as I took control of my body again. The moment I stopped my tumbling, I turned to the sound of plasma fire, and the war drone flying up at me. A booster engine on its back blasted out as thick metal hand opened and grabbed me.

I slammed my fists on its forearm, barely making a dent as we rose higher into the sky. I grabbed at a finger and pulled. Energy sparked and struck my hands like an angry cobra. I lost my grip as he traveled higher and higher into the sky.

The red eye glowed with distilled menace.

“Cosmic…threat,” came through my implant and into my thoughts.

The sky began to shift from blue to the edges of space. Wind whipped at me as we were traveling incredibly fast.

I glanced down to see the Xull’s ship following us, but no weapons were deployed, if it had any weapons.

I rained down punches on its forearm, the metal beginning to dent. I escalated the punches, trying to break its firm hold on me. I couldn’t just let it take me away. I roared as the air thinned.

Desperation clicked into focus. I calmed myself and stopped punching. I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right, but I focused just like I did before with my aura. Energy swelled within me as we reached the edge of the atmosphere. I didn’t need to breathe, but I wasn’t going to let this machine keep the upper hand.

Power blazed into my arm and moved to my hand. Moisture from my own body was feeding the new energy. I continued to focus as I was brought higher into the sky, touching space.

My eyes blazed with blue light as energy erupted from my hand. It swirled and shifted and I pictured a dagger. The energy shifted and changed into a dagger, similar to the one I pictured.

Element Water: Weapon & Armor unlocked. Weapon and Armor is at 20%.

I turned the blue dagger in my hand and stabbed down at the forearm. The blade penetrated armor and sliced into circuits. The war drone didn’t flinch as it took me higher into space.

“Let GO!” I shouted, but there was no sound.

I twisted the blade and the grip on my waist relaxed. I took the blue dagger and stabbed at a thumb joint. My arms and shoulders worked as I sliced off the thumb and stabbed into the other wrist.

The war drone’s grip released and I fell.

I took control and zipped away, trying to get a healthy distance from the drone. I didn’t turn back to see its shoulder cannon aim and silently fired. By the time the vibration of sound hit me, energy exploded at my back.

Aura depleted!

Energy surged along my nerve endings as I tumbled. I was stunned, the plasma explosion doing more damage than I realized. I fought against the tumbling, trying to right myself when another explosion blasted me down.

I understood why energy was a weakness. It crawled along my body like a horde of ants. It was disrupting my mana and I was having difficulty trying to get back control. My entire body was numb as I tumbled down from the sky. The atmosphere blasted at my falling body, adding to the chaos.

The blue dagger was gone from my hand as the burning atmosphere cooled. The ground was getting closer and control was slowly returning. I managed to string a few thoughts together, before I smashed through thick glass. A blink later, I slammed into trees and plants before creating a crater, dirt and plants shooting up and away from me.

I let out a long exhale as I was on my back, covered in falling dirt and plant debris. I barely lifted my head and spotted a short woman with green hair in long ponytails. She stood a few feet away from the edge of the crater, with her mouth open and a potted plant in her hands. She was covered in dirt, her eyes wide with shock.

I managed to sit up, my hands between my parted legs.

“Hi,” I said to her before shadow covered me.

I glanced up to see the war drone barreling toward me, its shoulder plasma cannon aimed at my head.   

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