A/N: Sorry for the slow updates, I've been busy and all, sorry!
A month or so past since I got here. Hours of training's been drilled into me day after day, and I've gotta say, it's surprisingly tough. They also told me not to use my power so I wouldn't rely on it, which just made it harder.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted!" I say to Jason and Katt, who joined me for my break. We grabbed some sodas from a vending machine and lounged around in the hallway. "Thank God my training's almost over."
"Isn't it over already?" Jason asked. "Thought you only had to stay a month."
I took a sip of my ice-cold cola, a cool sting traveling down my throat. "Well, yeah, now I just need to pass the final test. Something along the lines of beating a team of soldiers on my own or something."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Katt asked fearfully. "You could hurt yourself!"
"Heh, I'd be more worried about the soldiers," Jason mumbled.
"Relax, it's just an exercise. We use paintballs and everything,"
Footsteps approached us, and I turned to see Uncle Pete and Professor Perry standing in the corridor.
"Well, your final test is going to start soon. You ready, little man?" Pete said, buying a beer from the vending machine.
"Sure, I guess." I reply, standing up. "When can we start?"
"Now is fine if you're up to it," Perry said.
"Okay."
"Well then, Pete will take you to the grounds. Katt, Jason, come with me and I'll take you to the spectator stand."
Katt and Jason wished me luck, then disappeared down the hall with Professor, leaving Pete and I to head for the grounds. We began walking in the opposite direction, and Pete starts explaining.
"Okay, you're going to be up against an team of three soldiers in a paintball round. You need to get a shot at the head on each of them to win. You'll be fighting in an environment made to resemble Raccoon City streets to get a feel of using territorial advantages. Basically, anything goes out here, as long as you get paint on their heads."
I nod my head in acknowledgement as we stop at a mechanized door.
"Well, this is it. Good luck kid." Pete waves goodbye and walks off as I stare at the door. A faint hiss is heard as the door slides open, and I step in.
The door closes as I examine the surroundings. Big, crumbling buildings, beat-up roads, overturned cars. Yep, it was a pretty good remake of Raccoon City.
"Nick, can you hear me?" a voice boomed on a loudspeaker. "Well, don't bother answering, because I can see that you are."
"Professor Perry?"
"Correct. I'm here to get you started. First off, you should know your opponents have been given a head start in preparing for you. Just a handicap for your D.A. Moving on, to your left will be a small crate. Your supplies are in there."
I turn left, and sure enough there's a crate. I step over and unbuckle the lid, throwing it open. A paintball rifle, a grapple gun, and two smoke grenades.
"Just to inform you, your opponents are also much more heavily armed than you are. Just letting you know." Perry boomed.
"Well, isn't that dandy." I roll my eyes and pick up my gear.
After strapping everything onto my utility belt and loading my rifle with a paintball clip, I feel pretty damn manly.
"Time to kick some ass." I say to nobody in particular, and pump my rifle. Man… Always wanted to do that.
I trudge through the recreated streets of Raccoon City, eager to meet my competition.
Click.
Judging from the sound on something I just stepped on, I'd say they're nearby.
"Shit, a mine," I curse silently. Looking down, I see a gray pod sitting under my foot, cleverly hidden in a pothole. It seems my opponents are as stupid as I had hoped.
Grabbing a nearby rock, I place it next to my foot, then carefully edge my foot off the mine, all the while pushing the rock where my foot was.
Slowly… Slowly…
Click.
Phew, safe! I take a breath of relief and look at the mine I had just outsmarted.
"Ha ha!" I congratulate myself on a good job, until I see a glint in a window, followed by the sound of paintballs whistling in my direction. I manage to throw myself out of the way and into a nearby alley, the concrete sidewalk getting bathed in the colors of the rainbow.
I peek out to take a look at my enemy's position. Third floor up, second window from the left. I look through my stuff and finally devised a plan. I whipped out my grappling hook and look up. The building's too high up to go all the way, but I should be able to make it to the third floor.
"Hmph!" I throw the hook up, aiming for a conveniently broken window. The hook secures itself on the edge, but I pull a few times to be on the safe side. Satisfied that I wouldn't plunge to a painful death, I start scaling the wall.
I reach the window and climb into a hallway. After a short walk to the other end, I see my good friend, scouting the ground for movement.
"Hey, asshole!" I yell out, catching his attention. And just as he looks up at me…
SPLAT.
I bludgeon his face with a well-placed ball of colors, almost knocking him off his feet.
"Nice work, Nick! Two more to go!" Perry shouts out confidently.
"Yeah, whatever." I mutter. I was about to head downstairs, but saw another trooper on the ground, shooting at me like mad. And if that wasn't enough, another one was already in the building, taking aim from the base of the stairs of my floor. "Oh shit."
Barely avoiding more shots, I return fire while breaking for the stairs heading up. Busting out onto the roof, I look around for options. One of them's on his way up already, and the other one's taken to lobbing his paintballs onto the roof, almost getting me once or twice.
To be honest, using my strength occurred to me here and there, but they specifically told me not to, which is just unfair. Party poopers…
Anyway, I was running out of time. Looking around, I finally decide on an action. I step over to the edge furthest away from my grenade-lobbing buddy on ground floor, take a deep breath, and burst into a run. I knew it was crazy, but it happens in movies, so it's possible I'll survive this, right?
I hear more shots from behind, meaning the trooper had finally reached my floor. Add his shots to the grenades, and I was caught in a blizzard of funky colors. Stains befell my uniform constantly, yet luckily I had yet to get a headshot on myself, and I kept running. As I touched the edge, I leapt with all my might, aiming for a window a few storeys lower than my own. During this time, I saw the soldier on the ground, staring at me in disbelief. I used this time to fire a few quick shots during my freefall, managing to get him square on the head. Two down, one to go…
Unfortunately, I didn't quite hit the window I had aimed for, instead slamming half into the wall, and half through the window a floor lower. Spinning in midair, I slammed onto the floor hard, sliding off into the wall.
"Damn, I'm pissed." I cough up some soot, and I think a pebble or two, before getting up and dusting myself off. Looking outside, I see that the last guy isn't quite like the others. For a start, he seems to have much more balls than the other two, as I see him leap off the building much like myself, but with more grace, and without striking his face onto a brick wall. That, and he did land in the window I was aiming for. Show off.
I turn around, expecting him to head down the staircase. Keeping my sights trained on the stairs, I back off near the window sill. Big mistake. A large force attacks me from the back, sending me hurtling down the hallway. Taking a quick glance behind me, I see the last trooper, holding onto the grappling rope he had used to swing down to my level.
"I like you, kid. You got balls." He said, grabbing his rifle, which was strapped onto his back. I used this time to barge through a nearby door. Another big mistake. I barged into a toilet. There was no escape now.
"Well, shit." I hear his footsteps nearing me, heavy boot after heavy boot. I check my rifle - only one round left. He's almost here.
"Gotcha!" he yelled as he kicked the door down, but was instead invited to a face full of smoke. "Argh, my eyes!" he look away, coughing, blinded by the smoke of my two grenades, which I set off just a moment earlier.
"Urgh…" he slowly moved his hands away from his face, hoping that his vision would return. Well, I hope it did, because then he'd see the barrel of my rifle in his face.
"I like you too."
BANG.
"Congratulations, Nick! You've passed the final test!" Perry exclaimed while Katt strangled me in worry and Jason punched me in congratulation.
"And we've also got your team ready to move out with you at Raccoon." Uncle Pete informed me. He turned and called out to the hallway. "Hey, you guys can come over now!"
"Well, suck me sideways."
Standing at the corridor, were three very familiar soldiers, all holding icepacks on their heads. I think I'm going to like this team.
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N: I know I'm updating slow, I've just been bogged down with other bits and pieces lately and hardly have the time to write jack. So sorry for the wait, and hopefully, I'll start hauling ass and working faster. Har!