Author's Note: The reason why I put this fic on a hiatus because I feel dispirited due to the lack of reviews. Perhaps the reason this fic doesn't recieve much reviews because the story is deteriorating in quality. Maybe you are right. Hopefully with this chapter I would redeem myself. Well... if this fic recieves lack of enthusiasm from you guys, I have decided to abandon it all together and start working on a new one that I've been considering over the past few weeks. Please enjoy.
Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.
Chapter 5: The Training Part I - Basic
"Okay girls, here is your standard entry-level cadet uniform." Bridget said as she passes out the light violet colored uniform to them. The uniforms were folded evenly and wrapped in transparent plastic bag.
"Great… and where are we supposed to change?" Rhonda asked her.
"Changing room's over there." She pointed at a door with a sticker sticking on it saying 'Toxic Waste Substances,' which was obviously the bathroom. A little joke made by a member who had a good sense of humor.
"Don't you guys have a real changing room or something? Or at least a locker room, instead of that cesspit?" Rhonda asked her back again.
"Yeesh, aren't you picky?" Bridget sighed with frustration.
"Hey, she's got a point!" Helga interjected with a smirk. Rhonda was ticked off at the comment.
Bridget continued, "Besides, there is no need of having a changing room, since all us are ready to perform our duties every time we step our foot on the streets. Even off-duty we keep on the alert. Understand?" And the girls nodded. "Now go change."
One by one, they stepped into the bathroom and change. And when each time somebody comes out, they commented to each other on how nice they look. Rhonda was the most pleased of them all. "Hmm…" she thought as she looked at herself, "Perfect fit, not too shabby, the color goes great with my complexion, not to mention sexy, and I look great!"
"We designed them not for the fashion sense, Rhonda. Considerable attention was taken to design to uniform, like stealth, camouflage, comfort, heat resistance, et cetera."
"Say, how come we don't get the berets like those other girls?" Nadine pointed to the other members, who were wearing the same uniform as they do, but with berets on their heads.
"Like I said earlier, you girls are the entry-level member. You'll get the berets once you've completed your basic training and your apprenticeship with your mentors."
"Yeah, whatever." Helga intervened, "Okay, Princess here is happy with these clothes, we're all uniformed, and we're all ready. When do we kick some ass?"
"Not yet," Bridget informed with a chuckle. "You'll have to do a month's worth of basic training before we can let you out in the field. Follow me."
The girls followed Bridget to an elevator, where it would take them to the lower levels of the headquarters' complex. After the ten seconds elevator ride, they reached a very wide, open space underground complex that houses the training facilities that would rival any army boot camp in the nation. It had the standard obstacle course, a martial arts ring, a swimming pool to train the agents for an underwater simulation, a shooting range - not for guns, but to practice aiming their grappling hooks and other whatnots, and a stealth simulation arena. There were a few agents there practicing in that place. The new agents were impressed by the sheer magnitude of it.
"I must say that I am absolutely impressed by this facility." Phoebe said with awe as she and the rest of them walked out from the elevator.
"You guys have a pretty kick ass place despite having such limited funds." Helga complimented with a sarcastic tone to Bridget.
"Thanks." Bridget replied with a smile. "This place used to be an underground complex to store ammunitions cache and bombs during the Second World War. But after it was over they moved them someplace in the mountains, and abandon this complex altogether. And then we came in, leeched it and act like we own the place."
"Cool." Helga nodded. The new recruits followed Bridget to the front of the obstacle course control unit, where they were greeted by a slightly plump, angry, but highly disciplined agent, whose age was just as the same as Bridget.
"Ten-hut!!" she yelled as she stood on attention, and the two coordinators behind her rose up from their seat and saluted Bridget.
"At ease." She replied, and the two coordinators resumed monitoring their post.
"These are the new agents, Linda." Bridget said, spreading her arm wide at them.
"Fresh meat, huh?" she said mockingly. "These girls are pathetic. TOO skinny!" she yelled at them. Bridget gripped her lips to prevent herself from laughing.
"Oh yes… the obligatory hard-ass drill sergeant scene. It's like as if I'm in a bad fanfic or something…" Helga thought, rolling her eyes.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" she barked at Helga. "DID I JUST SEE YOU ROLLED YOUR EYES, MISSY?!" she screamed loudly in front of her face, spraying some… well, you know.
"Uh… no sir, I mean yes, ma'am…" she cowered back. Helga wasn't pleased with the first impression, and neither do Linda. The could feel the aura, the electricity in the air, they began to hate each other.
"My goodness… if she manages to make Helga to recoil back, then she's must be tough… I better not play around…" Lila thought as she looked at Helga, who was being slightly out of character. Really, she would've fight back and punch that drill sergeant right on the nose, but noooo…
"I see you girls lack discipline! You came here to me and I see you not in attention position! And for that, ALL of you will do 50 push ups!" she yelled angrily, but Rhonda was flabbergasted.
"50 push ups?!" she cried. "There is no way I'm ever going to do that!" she whined as she crossed her arms.
"Ooh… I wouldn't say that if I were you, Rhonda…" Nadine thought, imagining the worst.
"What's that?!" she strode to her. "Well, boo-farking-hoo!" she yelled at her. "If you won't do 50 push ups, well I guess I'll have to give you a hundred push ups then since you don't like the first one I instructed!"
Rhonda gasped in horror.
"Any further objections from any of you, I will have my leg," she pointed at her leg, "kick your ass," she pointed to them, "so high you'd kiss the moon!" she pointed to above. "Now do those push ups, and then get to the obstacle course, GO, GO, GO!!"
"Well, see you around girls. Be sure to come here everyday after school." she smirked as she waved at them. "This is just the first step on your way to agentship. Ta-ta!"
---
Time for some montage! Cue the military drum music! The first week they were struggling to keep up the pace with the rest of the other agents (C'mon, they're newbies!). Even the easiest training such as running around the complex for 30 laps made them whimper in exhaustion. On the few final laps, Rhonda couldn't take it anymore and dropped down wearily to the floor. Linda came to her, violently threw a bottle of water onto the floor and left her in disgust. Weakly, she grabbed the bottle, opened the cap and chugged the drink down. Lila missed the gymnast bar and dropped down onto the mattress. She got a scolding from Linda. Phoebe couldn't balance herself on the log and she fell down to the mud hole. Linda sighed at the poor performance. Helga couldn't rappel down and accidentally tied her legs like a knot, and left dangling on the ropes upside down. Linda smacked her forehead. Nadine ran as the walls from either side fire paints blobs at her, but she couldn't manage to avoid them, and because of that all of them hit her, and she lied down in a puddle of red paint. Linda shook her head in disappointment.
The second week, things were started to get better. Rhonda could finally keep up, although barely. Lila no longer missed the bar, but couldn't do a single movement. Phoebe could finally balance herself, although wobbly. Helga could finally rappel down, but slowly and Nadine finally manages to get past with only little red paint on her shirt. Their hard work had finally started to pay off, they think. To the shooting range, Lila shot the hook at the target perfectly, but not tightly, and the result was she fell down crashing as soon as she swung to the other side. Helga, shot it perfectly and tightly, but she didn't know how to stop and crashed onto the wall on the other side. The three other girls couldn't even manage to hit the target!
But on the third week, it was a brief week of relief, as everyone had their own shining moments at least once. At the martial arts ring, Helga beat down all of her sparring partner there. Phoebe was ecstatic to see her friend kicked the snot out of those senior members. After she threw someone out of the ring, she cracked her fists and neck and looked at Linda threateningly. Linda felt challenged by it, but she scoffed it out. It just wasn't a good time for it, she thought. Helga then went to Phoebe and gave her a high-five.
"Wow, Helga. You know kung-fu!"
"Correction, I know jujitsu!"
Rhonda gazed at the gymnast bars, snickered at it and powdered her hands. She then jumped to the bars and did a lot of gymnastic motions and movements. She swung, flipped and tossed herself over and over on the bars and finally, she did a somersault flip and landed on her feet perfectly. Everybody cheered and Rhonda was proud on her performance. She gave them a bow and walked pass Helga over to Nadine. Helga herself was impressed.
"Since when did you learn to be a monkey?" she asked sarcastically as well to inquire.
"Well Helga," she replied pompously, "I guess mommy did a right thing after all. Five years in ballet class and three years doing gymnastics does produce some good results."
Nadine was at a corner of a building, completely in dark. She carefully placed her steps one by one as she stalk. Her tracking skills which was honed during the time she was at the Rocky Mountains to assist her mother (who was a zoologist) in observing mountain lions and during her trip in the African savannah had became significantly helpful in this stealth simulation. She had to remember only one rule: be quiet as much as possible. She crept along the walls and saw a window above her head. Slowly, she opened it and went into the building. She switched her night vision on, and found what she had looking for: the 'hostage'. She grabbed the doll, and slowly crept back outside. After a few paces, she was home free.
"Stealth rating: 98 percent," announced someone at the booth.
"Booyah!" Nadine reacted joyfully, putting her fist up, and Rhonda gave her a high-five.
Lila was at the archery range, eyeing at the bull's eye many yards away from her. Her eyes narrowed, she pulled the arrow back and released it. The arrow shot forward fast, and hit the target perfectly. She took yet another arrow, and launched it. It hit on the same place as the first one did! She took another, and hit on the same place! Everybody there was amazed by her skill. She was like a modern, female version of Robin Hood! But then, she placed the bow down and took some shuriken from a box next to her. With one of her eyes closed, she threw the shurikens - all five of them, at the target. Miraculously, all of them hit the bull's eye. Phoebe and Nadine who was watching her, was deeply impressed.
"Nice hand-eye coordination skills." Nadine complimented.
"It's a pity that they won't let us use guns…" Lila replied to her with a smile.
Onwards to the weapons handling - close range combat. Everybody in the complex was there to see the match. In her hands, Phoebe was holding a broadsword. Her opponent, a tall, pony tailed blonde girl, was holding the same weapon. They sized up each other, and they went into ready stance. Cue suspenseful martial arts dojo music.
"Hey kid," somebody next to Helga called.
She didn't budge her face to her and replied, "First of all, don't call me kid. Secondly and finally, what?"
"Is that your friend over there, that girl with the black hair, Phoebe?" she pointed at her.
"Yeah. What about her?"
"She's going to have hard time fighting with that girl. We call her 'Sal the Slayer'. I should know, we've all fought against her, and all of us got defeated by a mile."
"Phoebe's the Fencing Club Captain in my school, so I don't think she'll go down that easily. In fact, I think she will win this match."
"You're being optimistic. Not to get your spirits down, I was the Captain of the Dueling Club in my school myself, but Sal... overwhelmed me." Helga began to worry. What chance does a girl that Helga had defended and protected over the years have against that so-called slayer?
"Why doesn't she use that fencing sword?" Helga thought nervously. The opponents glared at each other. The whole complex went into silent. Phoebe grinned and she made the first move, her foe widened her eyes in anticipation. Phoebe charged at her, but her opponent fended it off. Their swords clanged and clashed with each other, with each every hit produces a spark. Every swipe and slash came with a "Hyeah!" and "Argh!" from them. They locked their blades and what looked to be a stalemate, but then released, and Phoebe flipped her body away, performing an uppercut with her sword, and her adversary's weapon flung out from her hands and landed in front of the crowd. The crowd gasped. Linda was pleased. Helga smiled. Phoebe went back into ready position, motioning her hand (like Morpheus did to Neo) as she smirked. Her foe was impressed by her performance and grabbed a katana sword, a much lighter weapon than Phoebe's.
"Two out of three?" she offered.
"You're on." Phoebe replied, narrowing her eyes with a grin across her face, placing the sword in front of her.
She went back into ready stance, and yet another battle rages on. Her foe lunged forward, but Phoebe manages to block the attack in the nick of time. Indeed, the lighter and more maneuverable sword was proven too much for Phoebe, and after many blows, her sword hurled out from her clutches, and pierced the wall near the crowd was standing. Cheers erupted for them both on the excellent sword playing. Phoebe's opponent grinned, twirling her sword. By now the crowd was very thrilled, and some of them even placed bets on who will win. Phoebe smiled with a scoff, and walked over to the weapons basket. She took out the fencing sword – broader than the usual one, played with it a little and wielded to have a feel for it. She then pointed the sword at her foe. Her opponent rolled her eyes as if she wanted to say "Oh, please…" sarcastically.
She was overconfident, there's no way that puny sword would take a katana out, and not to mention its fighting style was completely way off. Little that she knew, Phoebe was excellent at handling that particular sword. And the fight was on! The both charged to each other as they shouted their own battle cry, and the first clang made the crowd shivered in awe. It was a magnificent fight, they dodged each other's thrust and slash, sidestepping and parrying the attacks, jumping and ducking to evade, and blocking each other's hit. It was the longest two minutes of their life, and neither one of them wants to be defeated. But suddenly, Phoebe saw an opening, and it could be the finishing blow! After the last clang, she went for it!
The very tip of Phoebe's sword was at Sal's throat, and if she made one sudden move, she would be a goner. Her opponent stared at her nervously. She could feel the cold steel of Phoebe's sword. The audience was dead silent, quiet as a tomb. Phoebe smirked, and lifted her sword away from her. "You're dead." She taunted good-naturedly, and gave her a bow of respect. Her foe extended her arm to Phoebe to shake hands with her, and she did. Sal felt that she had finally found a member worthy to pass her 'Slayer' status down.The crowd erupted in cheer, applauding at the excellent swordsmanship. And the loser had to pay the winner her bet. Phoebe felt she was the epitome of badassery. The Queen of Ass Kicker. Oh, if only Gerald were here to see her in action…
"Yeah, Phoebe!" Helga whistled.
"You go girl!" Rhonda shouted.
"That is ever so great!" Lila said joyfully.
"You're the girl!" Nadine pointed at her delightfully.
"Damn Phoebe, that was great! And I thought you only knew fencing!" Helga said proudly, placing her arm on her shoulders as she gave her a towel to wipe her sweat.
"Well Helga, there are lots of things that I haven't told you yet!" she told as she wiped her face. The gang walked away from the crowd, who was chanting Phoebe's name.
"Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe!"
It was the fourth week, and everything was running smoothly for them. Rhonda could outrun everybody in the complex. Lila could do the gymnastics maneuver perfectly, though not as great as Rhonda's, but still perfect nonetheless. Helga could rappel down like a trained marine. Nadine dodged the projectile without any of them hitting her, and Phoebe could balance her body just like a ballerina. And at the shooting range, even Spiderman would be proud of their swinging skills.
It was the final week, and Linda called all the freshmen to stand on attention before her as she paced back and forth in front of them. "I must say… that I'm very impressed, with all of you - including that pigtailed blonde girl over there." She said, but still in a serious tone. Helga was pissed off, but kept her cool. "And I believe that all of you have what it takes to be an agent, just like each and every one of us here." She said with her arm spreading wide, implying the agents training in front of them. "But," she paused for dramatic effect, "your training is not completed yet. Like Bridget said before, you have to undergo two weeks of field training with your mentors. Even before you set foot on this place, your mentors have been specifically chosen to your merits and personality. I believe you've met them before…" She said, and she pushed a button near her. And a few moments later, five recognizable individuals emerged from the elevator.
It was Farrah, Natalie, Cady, Elaine, Bridget and they walked over to them. They stopped before them. Except for Bridget, they all stood attention.
"Status report," Bridget inquired, motioning her hand so that Linda could give her clipboard to her. She then flipped through the papers, checking it.
"All potentials did their training flawlessly, including Helga. A splendid job, if I may say so myself."
"I hate her." Helga thought, gripping her lips.
"Good." She replied. "Ladies!" she boomed to all of the potentials, whom now a more disciplined, obedient and systematic individuals, "at ease." And the girls went to ease.
"As you may have known, these agents in front of you are the ones whom you first met when you were offered with the job. These agents also will be your mentors, who will teach you to learn the ropes, instruct, and make sure you won't screw up during real life event if one should happened. Tomorrow at 10 PM sharp, all of you are required to report to your mentors at the headquarters, failure will not be tolerated!"
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" the girls shouted in unison.
"Good. And all of you earned yourself a good rest because you're gonna need it to get ready for tomorrow. Dismiss."
How was it? Do you think it has improved? Or it has pass the point of no return? Are there any errors? Write and tell me what you think in the review.