Space Ranger. A title to be held proudly. Representing the courage, wit, and heart of someone sworn to aid the galaxy, these proud members are the protectors of the universe. Time after time, the Galactic Alliance is saved, not only by Star Command itself, but the rangers who have proven themselves worthy of holding such a crucial role. Evil clashes and taunts these heros with striking plans and battles, but they do not stand down. All rangers, from all different species and ranks, are always doing their very best to ensure that everyone in their reaches and beyond rests safe and easy.
Everyone knew this, but this somewhat blurred message was starting to resurface within rangers from their first assignments and visit to the academy. Why? Because each ranger was scheduled to attend a meeting with Commander Nebula... with no context. No one had much information on it, not even his best rangers, nor his sons. It had been a few days since their requests had been given, and yet worry started to boil in a few heads, mostly rookies, who believed this meeting's purpose was to weed out unfit rangers. Was it a test? Mission? ...Discharging? Given the unpredictability of Commander Nebula, it was a reminder to clean their lockers for all they knew.
Of course, given the already complicated and crucial schedules of space rangers, there were procedures set in which certain groups were brought in at different times. However, all rangers were required to attend the first meeting run by Nebula in the Science Bay, and later instructions would be handed out afterwards. This was all the letter said for everyone, and they had obeyed.
The room was mostly quiet, only the humming of machinery and footsteps of LGMs preventing silence. Murmurs only started to pick up a bit more when Nebula finally stepped out to the center of the room, surveying the arcs of rangers leading around and up the stairs. Beside him was an odd contraption, a box large enough for even Booster to comfortably stand in, and was sheltered with buttons, levers, and metal walls. He gave it a quick glance and a raised brow before addressing everyone.
"Now, rangers, I'm sure you'd all like to know what's happening now, and I'm here to tell you you're all fine so if the rookies in the front row would stop shaking like this is their execution that would be just fine by me," he threw a glare at a small group of younger rangers who gulped and fixed their posture with quick obedience, "Now as you know, all of you rangers have proven yourself worthy to be a proud member of Star Command. This isn't to say you haven't anymore, but I'd like to take our progress to the next step," he placed a hand on the side of the large box, "And this is how we're gonna do it." A few rangers gave him a look of confusion and other whispered theories into each other's ears. Even Buzz, standing with his team towards the front, had no clue what it was.
"The LGMs just finished the last patches on this baby, right boys?" A few small and green aliens waddled over to Nebula from behind the box and nodded.
"Yeeeeeees. Mind testing is ready to use. No more brain explosion riiiiisks." The trio spoke in unison and kept their cheerful smiles pasted while Nebula raised a concerned brow.
"No more?"
"Eh, theoretically," spoke a singular LGM, shrugging. Nebula still looked a bit cautious when he examined the box again.
"Uh, right. Anyways," Nebula looked back out into the crowd and cleared his throat, "This hunk of metal is called the M.P.T., or Mental Potential Trial. Basically, whoever gets strapped in will be forced into a test created by their own brains in a resting state, so we know that each trial is fair and pushes each of ya to your limits. I don't exactly have all the details, nor what any of the trial goals will be like, since everyone will have a different experience, but we will record your mind footage, afterthoughts, and completion rate. You should all take this seriously, this could be a huge deal when it comes to recruiting rookies if it all goes right." He looked out into the crowd, seeing rangers new and old, big and small. His expression kept a stone-like consistency, but was hiding a warm smile underneath. How the years had gone by...How he had led such a successful cause that would surely last for centuries to come… a tear almost slipped out.
It was day one. The first batch of trials to finally be put into motion. The "test-drives" as they had been nicknamed by other rangers. The M.P.T. had been moved a bit farther back in the lab, the first stage, and the hallway leading out of the staircase and into a side room where the second stage, the afterthoughts, would be conducted. This was also where the first two members of Team Lightyear would be given their tests: Buzz and XR. The line was long, well, not too long in length, just the wait since each trial took between 10-20 minutes, at least that was the LGMs' predictions.
Buzz was first in line. He had arrived just as everything was set up, and he was eager to take on the challenge. The ranger was craving his trial as much as his robotic partner was craving a way out of his boredom.
"Hey, uh, Buzz?" Buzz turned his head towards the little robot who was staring into the adjacent wall, "Whaddya think your trial's gonna be like?" Buzz hesitated with answering. He hadn't really wanted to think about it too much, just in case it interfered with his concentration, but it was a genuine question, and one that took a second to piece together.
"I'm not sure, but whatever it is it's nothing neither of us can't do. Don't worry, ranger, we'll be fine." XR blinked a few times and threw up his hands like he was in denial and swiveled his head towards Buzz.
"Oh no no no I'm fine! Just fine! I just wanted to make sure you could handle it and see if you were scared." Buzz chuckled and stared across to the hallway wall. He didn't want to start up the usual one-upping with XR now, especially since he personally was getting a bit nervous. After a few minutes of waiting, the door flung open and the short line of rangers starting with Buzz shot their heads up. It felt like there was a good second where no heartbeats were present from any of them. An LGM holding a clipboard and a pen looked up at Buzz and motioned him to come in.
"We're ready for you nooow." The space ranger quickly pushed himself off the wall that had been giving him support during his waiting and proudly marched in, to which XR just rolled his eyes at his overconfident teammate and focused on his own business soon after. The door carefully pushed itself closed and showed its Star Command emblem once more, leaving Buzz completely alone with the LGMs in the Science Bay.
The room was still bright as busy as ever, with a few adjustments to the setup. Buzz narrowed his eyes at the M.P.T contraption standing in the center of the room where several LGMs lined up beside it. They gave him a warm smile when he was first noticed, and the clipboard-holding LGM led him down the stairs. Small noises and humming was coming from the machine, just soft enough to not think anything dangerous of it so far. Buzz stood just a few feet away when he was first given his instructions.
"Fiiirst, walk inside the M.P.T. and take a seat. Make sure you're all the way back too."
The side of the M.P.T. facing everyone suddenly hissed and creaked open, a bit of electricity forming at the edges. Buzz stepped back a second to let it finish presenting its innards, which contained a large metal chair, dark blue and red walls, and strange wires and buttons infesting the ceiling and the inner side of the door. The ranger found his legs a bit more stiff and uneager to move than anticipated. They eventually pulled themselves together and helped Buzz into the chair as he was still busy surveying this new area. It seemed a bit sketchy to be inside of it, but he refused to disobey orders. He was doing this. He WOULD pass this trial.
"Oooooookay now let us strap you iiiiin." The LGMs carefully stepped in one at a time inside the M.P.T. and repeatedly started pushing button that shot out wires from the nearby slots. They had a suction-like cup on their tips and the little aliens pulled them out and over to the curious Buzz. Carefully, they pushed the cups down onto Buzz's hands, legs, and even one on his forehead. He seemed eager to question everything going on, but he figured their responses would just worry him more so he voted against it and let them finish. They didn't say much other than the occasional "gooood" and then, "he's ready."
It took the full effort of three LGMs to shut the metal door behind him leaving him mostly in the dark with only a faint glow coming from the cables and buttons. He could almost hear his heartbeat from how quiet it got. The voices on the other side were a bit muffled, but soon were covered from a static hissing noise coming from directly in front of him. A screen the width of the box lit up, showing a series quickly alternating messages in green, a bit too fast for Buzz to read for the most part.
*Brain Scan Initiated*
*Scan Complete*
*Running Simulations*
*Generating Trial*
*Please Stand By For Brain Shutdown And Testing*
"Wha-?" Everything went black.
The LGMs did occasional check-ups on the screens monitoring Buzz's activities of all kinds. His health was good, his brain was active and functioning properly, and there were no signs of any distress. Only a few moments of accelerated heartbeats and moments of stress, but that was expected. No one knew what to expect from their trials, but it was certainly designed to push their own personal limits. And this was certainly pushing Buzz. They just didn't know how.
After a good 20 minutes, the M.P.T. let out the hiss of an angry cat once more, this time reponening the door with Buzz still in a numb resting state sitting in the chair. A few LGMs ran over and started detaching everything strapped to him, starting from the cables on his legs and torso and ending with a final tug on the suction cup on his forehead. A startled gasp came from a shocked Buzz who started to breathe heavily from the switch back to reality. He groaned and rubbed his temples before looking around again.
But instead of asking questions, he sighed. He looked...longing. The LGM's couldn't say exactly what was off, his readings were fine and nothing indicated severe emotional drops, but they would have to wait until the post-conversation to get any answers out. Without changing his blank expression, Buzz slowly leveraged himself and walked out of the M.P.T without another word. The LGMs exchanged a synchronized shrug before one escorted him into the next room adjacent to the M.P.T. A small, obviously hand-made poster that read "Discussion Room" was able to gain Buzz's attention to take a turn toward it and head inside, rubbing his temples sleepily.
The LGM behind him checked off a box on his clipboard. The first subject's trial was finished.
The waiting room had stayed mostly silent, a good time to organize his mind files, XR thought. He stayed in a blank position with yellow eyes closed and purple fingers intertwined, leaning back on his treads against the wall. He was relaxed enough to finally be fully concentrated on going into his mind. Sorting through everything wasn't too hard, it was mostly just grouping files and memories together, most of them already fine. Some were just put in the trash from taking up space. Actually, he took a moment to look back at everything he had thrown away to make sure he didn't miss anything important. After a moment of going down the list, he decided everything was fine. But then he paused. A singular file caught his eye. It wasn't even enough space to be a full Kilobyte; it was so small, smaller than he remembered it being. But the name was the main thing concerning him.
*Little One* - 1,020 KB
Craters, that name would be stuck with him forever, huh? He gulped. Memories tore him down for a moment, forcing him to recall all of the terrible things that energy vampire forced him to do, the things he unwillingly caused. Even almost taking over Star Command for good. Despite getting refurbished and rid of his bite marks, he had been given the sad news that the memory chip had been altered by NOS-4-A2 in a permanent way in which the files programmed into him couldn't be removed unless the entire chip were to be destroyed. The LGMs assured him he would be just fine as the file seemed to already be cluttered amongst everything and hadn't affected him for a while now, but he knew the possibility of being the servant to his worst nightmare was still a possibility. Well… no… he reminded himself. The energy vampire had been destroyed, literally thrown off the top of Zurg's palace and obliterated from existence. He had Ty to thank for that relief. But...was he as repairable as he was?
"...XR?"
"Wha- who's- wai-" he snapped his eyes back open and blinked a few times to focus in on the LGM standing a foot away from him. He was glad he had been snapped out of it. Just focus, get this stupid thing over with, then it's RGN in two days. (Known as "Robot Gathering Negotiations" to Buzz and Nebula, but the true name, "Robot Gambling Night", was known to almost everyone else who he thought wouldn't be a snitch or would be hanging around the makeshift room underneath the charging unit on Friday nights.) The weekly event was something that could always cheer XR up; it was one of the only times he could really just be himself inside Star Command with the other robots...with two organic exceptions he made. One could say it was his biggest motivation for actually doing his job. He could already feel the wads of cash and poker chips gathering in his hands… How much fun he would have secretly gambling inside Star Command with his robotic friends...
"It's your tuuuuuurn."
"Oh uh, right. I'm coming," he said, hopping completely back onto his treads and rolling into the Science Bay. The LGM took a final look at the bored line of rangers before shutting the door behind XR. He rolled down the ramp made specifically for robotic access and headed over to the giant glowing box. Other than the few LGMs staring into his soul, he felt almost alone. Nothing big enough to trigger his stress indicators, but enough to make him worry. Was this going to be like his report before...he was almost discharged and shut off? Would his father really do that? He sure hoped not. There was enough confidence to keep him afloat, although he did begin to feel a bit more serious about the whole thing when he stepped into the M.P.T.
Unlike Buzz's trial, XR's routine to get plugged in was far more literal. Only two wires (one attached to his chest and the other to the top of his floating head) were keeping him strapped in, but instead of using suction cups, they ended in cables that pierced directly into him (into an outlet of course.) The LGMs made sure that their creation was in good hands, keeping a much more cautious eye on the robot. Once everything was ready to go, they let the M.P.T have its share of power from the console and let it do its thing. XR's nerves started to set him off once the door closed. He wasn't sure if observing his surroundings was helping or hurting. Once again, the flashing lights started to power up like the inside of a monitor, and the messages began to present themselves to the anxious robot ranger.
*Motherboard Scan Initiated*
*Scan Complete*
*Accessing Memory Files*
*Memories Downloaded*
*Running Simulations*
*Generating Trial*
*Please Stand By For Motherboard Shutdown And Testing*
XR tried to read them fast enough, but a huge shockwave knocked him right out before he had a chance to process them. Electricity flurried throughout his circuits and forced him into an immediate state of rest, but still let the new information and simulations run directly up and into him. The messages shut off and the machine whirred with power and activity. He was now in his trial.
Almost ten minutes after XR had started, Buzz had walked out of the post-trial room. He still had the same face coming out as he did when exiting the M.P.T., a mostly blank expression with a hint of...regret? That's what it looked like at least to the LGMs who hadn't been in the room with him after his trial, at least. Even then, given the looks the LGM who had escorted Buzz out was showing, they still didn't know everything. Obviously, they expected a quick bounce back. He was the Pride of Star Command, after all. Even the heaviest things like almost suffering the loss of his friends or being betrayed by his best friend weren't enough to bring him down. Whatever was in the trial definitely challenged him, possibly more than anything had.
Buzz kept the attention of most of the LGMs for some time, enough for the console adjacent to the M.P.T. to finally start beeping, an indication that the trial was almost about to end. It had only started beeping a few other times, a bit longer than Buzz, but nothing to be too worried about. The console was built in a way where the emotional and mental state of the user could be tracked, only in seriously harming events would the console actually read out its warnings, which hadn't happened before. Right on schedule, a small bunch of LGMs waddled over to the door just as it began to swing open and let the light of the Science Bay hit the sleeping robot. XR didn't do anything in response, and instead remained perfectly still until they began tugging at the two cables. They popped off easily, but the reaction that burst out of XR in the form of a shrill scream made them jump back like they had been performing surgery on him with no anesthesia. The robot had to catch his breath, staring deep into the wall before him and not minding the activity going on around him as more LGMs scurried over. Just like Buzz, he soon calmed down, but instead of a saddened aftermath, he was more of a jumpy fritz. His eyes never stayed in one place as he jumped out and followed the LGM into the post-trial room, his treads never stayed quite on track without a slight bump or recoil. He still tried to be himself, all confident and not seeming too interested in the whole thing, but even the slightest bit of attention on him could show that whatever he saw or dealt with in the M.P.T. had dug up some sort of PTSD.
After XR had finished up all of his tasks for the entire day involving the trial, he didn't feel like doing much else other than getting a nice long nap in the charging unit. He still had plenty of time to burn since half of his team had yet to have their trials, and better yet, he found out that the last trial ended before RGN started! He sighed, resting on the cold metal keeping him supported and energy flowing through his metallic self. It felt so relaxing...so calm...he had finished that horrible trial...he would never have to see...that…
The stress and fatigue from the trial softened XR's energy, letting him fall deeply asleep. He kept reminding himself it was over, even while half awake. The warm feeling of the charging bed and wires were comforting company, a comforting piece of company to have. Buzz almost walked right in on XR, but after seeing his limp body, all he did was give a small smile and head off to his own room. It had been almost an hour after his own trial, enough time for him to truly reflect and get ahold of his emotions. XR rolled over like he was under bed sheets, a very peaceful sight to Buzz. Their discussion could wait for later. For now, all the space ranger could do was sit in his room and wait for his next mission report, as the Pride of Star Command always did.
Rangers went in and out, an endless cycle for at least a few good hours. The LGMs didn't take many breaks, leaving them completely exhausted when they got to Rocket, the last trial-taker of the day. His test seemed to go on the longest, even though the whole thing was less than half an hour. The sore little aliens decided to just hurry everything along as soon as everyone was out and close up the Science Bay for the day. They didn't dare question Nebula in person, but their unanimous thinking left them to wonder about the true nature of them all, the rangers who seemed to be so affected by their trials. Were the other species really that...independent? Although working for the same cause, each had a differently layered mind and challenges, driving them all to become blossoming rangers. The LGMs shrugged off the feeling after thinking the same opinions. Perhaps it was better to get some rest and prepare for the next batch of rangers coming tomorrow. It was the end of the first day, the beginning of most rangers' curiosity towards the M.P.T., and the incoming impact that was sure to leave a scratch on some more than others…
Hello all you awesome people! Once again, I'd like to thank you all SO much for reading my work. You guys truly mean so much to me! Speaking of which... HUGE shoutout to the amazing Princess2k12 for favoriting Sweet Revenge! You're amazing! If any of you have any questions or would like to make any requests, feel free to IM me anytime! I always love to hear your feedback! Don't worry if the first chapter of this short series left you a bit confused, trust me, it's supposed to be like that, and I promise to have another chapter up soon! Additionally, we may just get to see the trials of everyone, including everyone's favorite Wirewolf...hehehe...Again, thank you all SO SO SO much, and I'll see you guys later!
-Kittywizard