"It's no use, Vert." Zoom complained for what was probably the twentieth time since they started this exercise. "I can't do it."
"Of course you can," Vert tried to encourage his scout.
"But I've been at it for hours!"
That was true. He'd been working on that particular simulation for at least two and half hours with the same result.
Simulation Failed.
Vert understood why Zoom was so frustrated. Hearing that over and over and over again had to be demoralizing.
"Sage, can you patch me into the simm? I want to see something."
"Of course," she dragged a few things around on the screen on front of her. "The Saber is ready to enter the simulation."
"Thanks, Sage." Vert hopped in his Saber watched as the simulation started.
The Battle Zone was desert type that Zoom sped through with precision and ease. A single Sark sentry spotted him and instead of taking it out, Zoom kept going. By the time he reached the battle key, an entire Sark army led by Zemerik already had their robotic hands on it. Zoom sighed and retreated to the portal.
Simulation Failed.
Vert frowned. He wasn't even trying!
Zoom threw his helmet off in frustration. "See, Vert? It's no use."
Just then an idea popped into his head. Vert grinned. "Maybe you're right."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"So, I don't have to do it again?"
"I didn't say that."
Zoom groaned.
"Hear me out," Vert placed a hand on his scout's shoulder. "I think we need to try a different approach to this."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Positive reinforcement." Vert said and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "You get another if you do better."
Zoom smiled and quickly put his helmet back on. He jumped on his Chopper with newfound inspiration.
Simulation Successful.
"I should try that more often," Vert mumbled.
"Whoo-hoo! I did it, Vert!" Zoom threw a fist into the air. "I'll, uh, take that kiss now." His face reddened.
"Of course you will," Even though Vert tried to sound annoyed, he was beaming.
...
Simulation Successful. Command codes extracted from Zemerik.
"Don't miss?" Spinner asked horrified. "You ever hear of something called positive reinforcement?"
"Yeah. Works for Zoom." Vert winked.
Zoom blushed.
...
Hope you enjoyed my third ever BF5 fic! Inspired by the episode Get Zemerik. I would love feedback since I don't have a lot of experience with these characters.