The Ranger

As we walked up the flight of stairs, I already hated the uniform designated for Cadets. To start with, I'm not a big fan of the red fabric. It would absolutely make it hard to tell where, if anywhere, that I've been hit. In the heat of battle, shock and adrenalin will already make me less sensitive to pain, so I may pass out when the battle is over. Not to mention that the fabric was super itchy, not to mention tight in some places. I doubt it was the right size, but that's just something I'll have to complain about later. When we made it to the next floor, Zack turned around and waited for a few seconds for me to catch up.

"Each branch of the Peacekeeping Forces have their own training floor. The infantry has practical training and practice rounds, but we have access to the fun stuff. Our rooms are design for simulation combat that can be cranked up to a super lethal degree," Zack explained, as we entered through the sliding door to the entire floor.

We walked down a hall until we hit a fork. That's when I realized the whole floor, which was a substantial size, was designed for four separate training rooms. I noticed two doors to each room, and asked about that, "Why two doors per room?"

Zack answered, "Excellent question, the door in the center leads to the room itself, while the doors at the far ends lead to the control rooms. Once in a simulation, the control room is the only place that can switch the settings."

Absorbing the information, I asked, "Isn't that a tad dangerous?"

Zack gave a cocky grin and said, "Our phones can link up with the computers manually. Not to worry yourself, I'm just going to load in terrain, then we can get started."

We walked into the vacant room, which was currently a vacant field of grass. I could even feel a light breeze against my face, and wondered just how far the simulation would go in terms of immersion. Would it also simulate smells, sounds, or even the weather? Zack did a few squats and stretches, while I did some arm stretches. When he finished, he did a little hop to his feet and gave a super determined look. If he were a court jester, and I a king, I'd have him executed for looking at me like this.

"How's your swordplay?" he asked, sounding super serious.

"Never had the opportunity to use a sword," I answered.

"Okay, we're going to have to work on that extensively then. Draw your weapon and adopt a fighting stance then," he commanded.

I pulled the blade from my back, then planted my feet firmly to the ground, with the blade tracing my right leg, and my left arm up slightly. Zack took his blade out and charged my position. I could barely keep up with his speed, and he would have made quick work out of me. I stumbled back into him, which made him give a loud sigh.

"You're going to be a bit of a challenge to train. Okay, bend your knees a little and try to keep me in you line of sight. Don't let the enemy get behind you, or you'll wind up dead," He said.

I tried my damnedest, but he was quick. Overall, I'd say I kept him in my sight about thirty percent of the time, with the rest being him running in my blind spots. I heard him running straight up behind me, so I spun around in time to see him swing his sword right towards me. I tried to dodge, and if he hadn't stopped himself, I'd be taking a trip to the infirmary, or the morgue.

"Not bad, seeing as I wasn't making things easy for you. You managed to not just use your sight, but also your ears to position me. Maybe you won't be a complete nightmare to train. Now we're going to work on your swordsmanship," Zack proclaimed.

I got back into a defensive stance, and prepared as he dropped into his. While his blade was a bit longer than mine, I had the advantage of being able to fight in more confined spaces. I didn't see how this would help me here though. He lunged at me, blade high in the air coming down on me. I swung the blade from my back right leg up and we clashed firmly somewhere in the middle. I side stepped away from his attack, then lunged forward with a thrust from my blade.

He spun around and slashed horizontally, forcing my blade away. He attempted a thrust attack, which made me withdraw a bit. Not as lucky as he, I felt the steel of his weapon slice through my side. He pulled his weapon back a bit, and started with something about my well-being. I seized the advantage and flung my blade right to his head, stopping short about a foot from it. He was wide eyed and slack jawed. I saw the surprise melt into almost pride and admiration.

"Well done, always jump on an advantage where you can find one," He praised.

I smiled a bit, and let the blade waver down towards the ground. I drop to one knee as grasp my side, feeling the wave of pain strike a bit now that it isn't being completely blunted by adrenaline. It wasn't too serious, but stung quite a bit. I reached into my left pouch and pulled out a blue vial. A quick swig, and the pain and bleeding stopped. I got back to my feet, my arms burning from blocking his earlier blow and attempting to dehead him left them sore.

I looked at him and asked, "What can these simulations really do?"

He laughed at that and went into his phone. With a couple buttons pressed, the room populated a dummy holding a sword. Zack looked up and said, "You'll be fighting what I throw at you now. Take out as many as you can, and keep in mind that if you get hit, you'll receive a mild shock." He took a few steps back and said, "I'm gunna make sure your footwork is solid."

I got into stance, and then ran towards a dummy. He made a horizontal swing, which I matched. When his blade flung back, I crashed into its body with all my weight thrown into a shoulder charge. It recoiled back, and I did a horizontal slash. Fake blood sprayed from the wound I'd inflicted, as it fell down. I turned and now there were three hounds trying to encircle me. I had a brilliant idea, I took a few steps back, sword held so that it was at the ready. All three jumped at once, one on each flank and one at my front. I impaled the one that jumped at me from the front in a running motion, and upon trying to remove its body I was bitten in my leg.

Zack wasn't kidding, the bit did indeed send a shock, but I wouldn't let that stop me. I kicked it away and the other tried to strafe me. I held my blade steady, no beast on it now, and did a side step while I slashed the simulated hound. It split in two, the third onlooking, I readied up again. I smirked and though about doing something potentially stupid. I quickly switched the Materia slot, which was surprisingly easy to do, and dodged while the beast tried to pounce. I quickly pulled a round ball out and loaded it into the slot. The beast was now trying to circle me, it got ready to pounce, and I took this as my chance to strike. I held the blade out, it was wobbling from the weight on my arm, and I pulled the trigger. I expected recoil, but I guess it being magnetic in nature prevented it from actually sending the blade back. The round ball flung from where the hammer was supposed to be and flew out of the barrel at high speed. The beast was hit right in the head, stood there for a second, then collapsed down onto the hard ground.

I fell to my knees again, swapped the Materia back and began to pant hard. My arm was completely on fire. The weapon, while beautiful in design, was excruciatingly heavy. I looked up to Zack and he nodded approvingly. He had been recording me on his cell, so I gave him the finger.

"Language, Abe!" Zack said, as the simulation ended.

"Already training your newbie, puppy?" came Angeal's voice over the intercom.

Zack jumped and said, "Angeal!"

I chuckled and called out, "He calls you puppy?!"

"Abraham? I thought you were assigned to the Turks?" Angeal asked.

"Seph convinced me that this is where I belong, not out there playing James Bond," I replied, knowing full well he wouldn't get the reference.

Angeal walked into the room and gave Zack a glance. He saw, as I had too, the confusion that held strong on his face.

"You two already met? How are you not wetting your pants?" Zack asked.

I laughed a bit, and winced at the pain that shot down my arm. "He and Sephiroth recruited me," I replied.

"YOU'VE MET SEPHIROTH, THE SEPHIROTH!" Zack shouted.

My ears rang a bit at the outburst, and Angeal shrugged. I got up and asked, "Anyway, how'd I do?"

Zack snapped out of it and said, "I'm going to have to train you hard to become better. Consider today the hardest day I'll have for you for a while. We're going to get you up to scratch, then handle the sims afterwards."

I nodded, and looked back to Angeal. When my sight went to Zack once more, "There's no harm, I suppose, in telling you how I came to be in Soldier. Not here, of course. Show me our apartment?"

Zack gave a quick smile and we went out of the room. Angeal didn't follow, I guess out of respect for our privacy, and the fact he already knew the truth. We walked up to the second floor and made it to his room. He pulled out his keycard and swiped it across the access panel. The door slid open to reveal a rocking bachelor pad. I entered, and immediately hit the couch. Zack gave me a curious look, then asked, "You're not going to look around first?"

"Zack, you may want to sit down for this," I said, gesturing to an adjoining chair.

He sat on his seat and then I began. "I am from another world," I started.

Zack laughed, but then looked at my face. "You're crazy," he said in a definitive manner.

I shrugged and said, "Until yesterday I've never been on this planet. Please, believe me when I say that I know how this sounds."

He nodded, but didn't say anything. I took this as my queue to continue my tale.

"I was born in a place called Arkansas, in the country of the United States of America. I joined the Army at eighteen years old, and never looked back. I miss my family, and would love to find a way back to them, but I fear that won't be possible. When I came to this place, Angeal, Sephiroth, and Genesis all captured me. They were going to interrogate me, but the chopper crashed and I proved myself capable as an ally. I was going to join the Turks, but when Seph described what Soldier was I volunteered for this instead," I stated, giving a super simplified version.

Zack looked into my eyes, hoping that I was pulling fun at him, but looked down. "It's not that I don't believe you, but you know how this sounds," he admitted.

I nodded and said, "Confirm it with Angeal if you need to. I didn't expect to survive that day. I'm not entirely sure that I am even here right now, even though I know in some small way that I am."

Zack sighed and asked, "What was your time in the army like?"

"I would ship out all over the world, and fight people who wanted to kill me," I replied, again giving him the watered-down version.

I got up from the couch and said, "Lets put this behind us, and look to the future. I'm here, and alive. I probably won't tell another person as long as I live on this planet. I'm Abraham from Midel from now on."

Zack looked up at me, and asked, "What's the last thing you remember about the other planet?"

"My squad were about to be attacked by the enemy forces. I then woke up in Wutai, not remembering how I got there," I said, but then remembered a small part that I'd chocked up to fear. "I remember a lot of green in the corners of my vision," I added

That seemed to mean nothing to Zack, who then stood up and put a hand on my shoulder. "If Angeal trusts you, I don't see why I shouldn't. He is an excellent judge of character. Anyway, how about a tour of our apartment?" Zack asked, going back to his enthusiastic self. I gave a smile and nodded.

On the left, immediately from the entrance, was a small kitchenet. It was just big enough to cook something, but just small enough to fit the both of us and no one else. On the other side of the kitchen, on the right side was a small bathroom. Walking straight from the entrance was a rather nice living room. In the corner was a dining table, in the middle of the room were a couch and recliner, a flat screen tv was mounted to the wall but wasn't big, and there was a bookshelf in the other corner. There were two rooms on both sides of the living space. Each was identical from a practical sense, and both had an adjoining bathroom that was quite spacious compared to the guest bathroom.

With the tour over, I checked the clock, and asked, "Food then sleep?"

Zack quirked his eyebrow, because it was only 18:30, but I then put his thought to rest. "I have a mission at 0500. And I haven't slept well for the last couple days. I was drugged into sleep, but it wasn't restful," I stated.

After some ribs, we both waved eachother a goodnight, and I fell on my bed. I loved the nice, compfy feeling of the comfortor, then I set the alarm for 03:00. I placed my blade on the desk in the corner and passed peacefully into slumber.

End of Chapter.

This one was originally only 1.6k words. Now it's over 2.4k words. I'm happy with it, and now I hope that all of you can be too. Hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you guys later.