/VR-S-019485-D

/INITIALIZING

His eyes shot open, by now the screams familiar. The same ship, the same sounds, the same reverberations. Each time, however, he still tensed up. He remembered when he first did this with only two others beside him.

Today he had a small fleet of sorts to coordinate, and more to do than dodge missiles.

"Flight 059, cleared for launch. Flight objective is general defense of battle group. Good-bye." The mag-locks disengaged in the exact same way as when he first did it, and everyone's engines flared as their crescent-shaped craft peeled away from the Viral Tank and downward, out of the direct fire. In his group he had more than thirty, and it would be a challenge to coordinate them all.

That is, if they had been new cadets on their first assessment, as he had been.

"I want the best pilots to guide the missiles on a collision course with any hostile ships," He barked, he himself looking for a potential target as the tracer warning began to light up. "The rest of you, attempt to lose the missile with decoys or laser fire!" A plethora of acknowledgement lights pulsed, none dark as he spotted today's target; a Ring-Cutter pair, and the wide viewport was the perfect target.

Much larger than the smaller, blinder Shuvvers he used to chase, they featured multiple guns. The two most obvious were located to the sides of the 'windshield' as it may be called by some, but for him, as he hurtled towards it, the most dangerous were the two 'horns' atop it, which were really laser emitters; not very healthy for his fighter-sized ship, he remembered. He glared intently at the viewport once more, thrusters steering him on a close arc. While not actually made of fragile glass, they were tempting targets nonetheless; at the same time, they were also one of the most dangerous places to strike, with the crew more actively able to track him. That, and the difficulty level had been raised for this test.

"All available pilots, VT-0741 Downfall requires reinforcement." A control brain crackled through the radio, monotone as ever as he was jolted from his focus. He grimaced.

"If you are not currently tracking a target or dodging a missile, head for the Viral Tank," He growled, the forces intense as he came in fast on a correction burn; in his peripheral vision, acknowledgements blinked. With Ring Cutters, he had to be fast to dodge the point defenses and the beams of the ship's horns.

"Collision alert, enemy vessel." The nav-computer droned; he ignored it, and began to cycle the lasers as he aimed the ship for a burn past the second Ring-Cutter.

"Yoke's got one on his tail," Someone hissed; a female, somewhat familiar. "He's not going to make it!" He narrowed his eyes.

"Help him if you can, but if he's gone, he's gone," He hissed. "We have no time to listen to your weeping." An acknowledgement light blinked. "Same goes for everyone else!" He growled again, firing his engines as he barely missed the first Ring Cutter, it's guns coming alive as he opened fire on the other one. Said guns soon silenced as the missile sailed into the first one's bridge, detonating and spraying the translucent shards throughout space, the ship lobotomized.

"Attack Squadron requested on enemy contact 29; Viral Tank class!" The Control Brain barked, it's usual flat monotone replaced with one of urgency. He blinked his confirmation light, and his group acknowledged; he had to finish this up quickly and get to it. Gunning his thrusters as lasers flashed past him. He growled softly as he noted the insubstantial damage to the ship. He couldn't run without bringing it after him, and he couldn't stand up to it in a fight.

"Come on..." He muttered, his forehead perspiring as his antennae twitched nervously. His eyes were narrowed, focused as he activated his dampeners, soaring past and behind the ship. He arced around it, facing it's starboard.

"Die already, you stupid machine!" He hissed, spinning the Spittle Runner around and letting loose a pulse-laser burst that raked the side guns. The Cutter spun sluggishly, shrugging off the damage and letting loose a plasma blast towards him. "Dammit!" He barked, diving down. He fired at the weapon systems again as the ship attempted to turn and face him, the ball of energy burning overhead. His eyes twitched a bit as he glared.

"I said, DIE!" He gunned the thrusters again, and charged up a plasma disc as he began to roar at the virtual starship. Then, with a heavy thump, his ship shook as a bright pink disc of ionized gas streaked towards the already-superheated casing of the weaponry. He let himself have a grin as the hostile ship began to vent superheated metals, and began to disintegrate as volatile plasma flowed and fused circuits, the charged starboard emitter going critical. A moment later, a small sun appeared, and with a full-on smile he turned towards the triangular marker designating his objective, and fired the thrusters.

"Situation report!" He barked, approaching the swarm of fire and starships from behind.

"Seven casualties, heavy damage another third of the flight group!" Crackled the panicked voice of Lek. "We can't get a clear shot at the bridge, or any other vulnerable systems!" Ave narrowed his eyes once more. Viral Tanks were hard to crack.

"We're taking too many hits, we need to fall back!" Shouted another cadet. He grimaced again, alone in his fighter as he banked around the gunfire.

"No, you are not!" He hissed. "We stay and complete the objective!" He looked around wildly, lasers streaking everywhere and shots going wide. "Shoot straight, damn you!" He swung into a formation of four, and the five ships streaked towards the Viral Tank. They opened up as they began to spin, and he tried to aim for the small gunpods dotting the bow of the Tank, and hissed in frustration as he missed.

"We can't!" The same feminine voice from before shouted. "We need to retreat!" He growled, banking off again as gunfire filled the space he had been in before, and stared angrily at the machine, then at the smaller swarm of fighters. It was worthless, he admitted; they were like metal hornets trying to kill a metal elephant; flying uselessly into the thing and stinging for all they were worth, but... His eyes widened.

"Those of you too damaged to realistically survive longer, I want ramming speed into the Bridge." For a moment, a few ships hesitated to respond, and the lights remained dark.

"But we won't survive the crash!" Protested the same female. He frowned; she was getting on his nerves.

"Just do it, for Irk's sake! I'd rather this thing die now than waste more time trying to pierce this armor in these tiny ships!" He hissed. An acknowledgement light blinked a moment later; he sensed hesitation. "Now move it!" Then, a few more blinked; five in all. "The rest of you, draw the ship's fire!"

The flight of five peeled off, and he joined them, heading towards the rear in a wedge formation as the rest of the spittle runners buzzed around the front of the ship, dodging, taking, and returning fire. They arced past the tank's starboard, and they began coming up on the Viral Tank's port at a normally alarming speed.

"I hate this!" Shouted a pilot, the lead ship of the formation making a bead for the bridge.

"I know you do." He muttered, the first ship plowing through a laser beam with a fiery blast. Not a moment after, another was shot down. "WHERE IS MY COVERING FIRE?!" He hissed.

"Here it is!" Yelled Lek, and his eyes widened for a moment as he plowed into the gunports. Half a second passed, and he shook it off; he was gone, no changing that. The laser flak around them dissolved, and two ships remained; the ship hurtled forth, however, and the marker remained.

"Finish the Viral Tank." Crackled the monotone Control Brain. For a moment, he sat, frozen. "Finish the Viral Tank." It repeated; the other lights unblinking. Then, he tapped the acknowledgement with a sigh of a mix of relief and disappointment.

"You heard it; open fire on the vitals!" Barked the female. "Burn it out of the sky!" The damaged ship next to him opened up on the bridge, and he was jolted back to reality.

"Let's make some noise." He muttered.

/VR-S-019485-D

/COMPLETE

/TEN LOSSES - ONE THIRD CASUALTIES.

Again, the starscape disappeared, replaced by the letters as the holograms faded out. That could've gone better, he knew, but he sighed in relief.

"Next." He echoed; it had become a ritual to verbally say it, and he waited.

The past few years had been a changing time for him, but it was still something he did. Today, though he was at the top of his class (a position he had worked hard to earn), he still had his own rituals. While he no longer mourned for imaginary crewmen, and did what he could to ignore friends as they fell around him, he did keep that, at least.

There was still much that changed, however. A public shock-flogging can do that. Never again would he allow emotion to compromise him like he once had in battle, lest he be singled out again. It hadn't been long after his first true academy assessment that they had come for him; he'd been studying in the practice arena, and going over some older war history after his loss in the assessment's final arena. Clad in their black goggles and uniforms, and coupled with their height, the overseers were imposing, and had grabbed him without a word. Pain ensued.

He shivered at the memory, pushing it away. Now was not the time, he told himself; now was not the time.

/VR-S-001081-D

/LOADED

/INITIALIZE

He blinked, coming back to reality, and found himself back in an arena. A shock-spear lay at his feet, and his two friends stood beside him, clad in light armor. Wordlessly, they nodded, looking at the opposing force. On the opposite side of the sandy, desert-like arena stood a shorter cadet by the name of Lurch, two somewhat familiar figures to his side. Here, there were a few blocks placed haphazardly for cover, and pillars of reddish stone stood, but unlike the old box arena, they could stare down the other team. Quickly, he grasped his spear, and extended the weapon as he twirled it once, the weight just right again.

He stretched in the lightweight red uniform, taking it in in a glance. For their bodies, it consisted of the common pointed pauldrons, a collar, and a rigid piece of torso plating to protect against weaker projectiles and weapons. Their arms, he noted, were sheathed in a sleek, black gauntlet, ending in a point past the elbow, and with an opening for his gloves on the ends. In contrast, their legs were rather unarmored, save for the belt, which had a fireproof and tear-resistant cloak attached to it. It ran to their ankle or a higher, and though Averii personally loved the cape-like extension, he tensed up, his adrenaline flowing as he had no time to dwell on it.

"I feel like that blue-eyed chick stabbed me in the face once." Mit noted awkwardly; he'd grown a bit, coming up to Lek's neck, with Lek and Ave still relatively tied. They were perhaps a foot taller, but he didn't find it important to check.

"Fancy a bit of vengeance, shorty?" Lek chuckled, before an elbow to the gut interrupted him.

"Focus." Ave deadpanned, and they tensed up.

A moment later, a siren screeched, and they leapt into action. To his left was an 'O' made of rectangular sandstone, to his right a single, fallen pillar; a few meters ahead was Lurch, dashing beside the 'blue-eyed chick'. But where was the other one...?

He more heard than saw what happened to Mit, his choked gurgles audible enough as a purple-eyed female with a cranial implant slew him to his left, the unfortunate Irken caught midstride in the gullet.

That's where she had gone, he noted. Fast. As his friend's body dissolved, disconnected from the match, he leaped onto and sprang off of the fallen pillar, holding his spear tight as he flew like an arrow at Lurch. The green-eyed male's antennae stood up in surprise, and he ducked, raising his spear... And yanked the female between him and Ave, who adjusted her spear too slowly to block. His eyes going wide, he reflexively yanked the point away from the new target, and slammed into her headfirst, knocking the air out of them and sending her spear flying.

Recoiling as the unprepared female was sent into a wall, he rolled and recovered quickly, picking up the spear as his chosen opponent rolled and turned.

"You missed, flog-boy!" Lurch taunted, his rather rectangular head complimented by a relatively square jaw, and a strange, thick and throaty accent. "Now finish the job and get over here, you weakling!" He grinned sadistically, narrowing his eyes. The girl gasped and coughed behind him, unintelligibly muttering in pain. He glanced over for a moment, then back.

"I'll finish the job alright." He growled, staring down the shorter male as they grit their teeth. He twirled the spear once, and then held it out in front of him. "Let's see those brains, then." Lurch frowned, and glowered.

"Can't hit a girl, then. Fine." He rose into a wide-legged stance as he held the spear in front of him, and two spiderlegs edged out of his PAK. "Try a man!" He roared, and he sprung at him like a bullet, the legs shoving him upwards as his eyes widened.

With a bloodcurdling roar, Lurch arced down, but Ave had already dashed out of the way of the enraged trainee. Glancing to his left with a confused expression, he narrowed his eyes once more and growled as the flunk the blunt end towards his face.

"Shocking, is it not?!" He grunted as Ave leaned back in surprise, kept up only by his spear as he held it out behind him. His own eyes narrowed again, and he squinted at lurch as he brought his spear swinging around and into the back of his legs-but only the shaft, which hit with a meaty thwack as he let out a hiss of pain.

"Indeed!" He shouted, dropping back as his own PAK-legs sprang out and carried him out from under the crackling spear of his opponent, and he was catapulted back onto his booted feet as Lurch kneeled in pain, growling at him.

"I am not done with you yet, blueboy!" He roared, more legs emerging from his PAK as he dragged himself at Ave vigorously. Alarmed and somewhat off-guard, he raised his own shock-spear and held it in front of him as lurch sprang forth, and thrust it upward towards his chest, where it met the handgrip - and kept going, sparking and arcing onto his armor as the material melted, caught between the second blade and the end of the spear. His eyes wide, he strained to push back, but it was too little, too late, and the longer of the blades continued into the left armor plate, and beyond.

A spiderweb of fiery pain crackled from the penetrating blade, driven into his flesh as he cried out, gritting his teeth. He shoved hard, and the blade slid out slowly but painfully as he roared at his grinning assailant, before he shoved and slid his own spear towards his head, rewarding him with another hiss of pain as a not-too-small chunk of skin came off. His strength was fading, however, and he could barely hold the blade out as their PAK legs retracted. They stumbled to the side, roaring at each-other, before a sickening yelp of pain resounded from across the arena; a masculine death cry, sounding all-too-much like Lek's. Lurch grinned, and let the blade slide towards him a bit more; their spears wobbled a bit, both weakened by the blood 'loss as translucent pink leaked from both of them.

"Your friend has fallen, Averii; give up!" Ave froze up for a moment, the words connecting. Then, he roared again, kicking him away as they stumbled apart.

"I don't give up! I REFUSE!" He hissed, tackling the disoriented male into the dirt as he discarded his spear. His hands wrapped around Lurch's neck as he glared imaginary holes into his skull. "I REFUSE, YOU DEFECTIVE PIECE OF GARBAGE!" Never again!

"Get off of him!" Yelled a feminine voice, rapid footsteps approaching to his side; he ignored them.

"I! REFUSE!" He repeated, the male's eyes bulging as his tongue fought for oxygen, both fists wrapped around the neck as he squeezed. The steps grew louder, and his skin began to turn slightly purple as the tongue danced desperately, his arms pinned to his sides, useless. His stupid, wormy tongue...

"I SAID, GET-" He yanked at the tongue, ripping it from the oxygen-starved body and sent his fist flying into the approaching purple-eyed female, and floored her.

"-And I said, I refuse!" He hissed softly, yanking the spear from her weakened hands and slamming it into their face. Averii savored it for a moment as the simulated spear bent and broke the skull of the female, crushing the strange implant that ran on the left side of her skull. He discarded the body with a shove, suddenly drained. "...Never again." He echoed, turning to the choking and gurgling puddle that Lurch had become; his own mouth bled, translucent pink leaking from the corners of his mouth as he clutched his side. His mouth tasted of the sickeningly sweet blood, strange for a simulator, but he didn't care as he eyed the body.

"I'm finishing the job." He muttered, and brought his heel down on his skull, which disintegrated as his foot met flesh.

She regarded him with evident fear as she stayed in the corner, and let out a small noise as he glanced to her, then to the laying shock-spears.

"Finishing the job?" She repeated as he picked two up; his own, and Lurch's. He glanced to her tiredly for a moment; her voice matched that of the one who had protested his orders, he noted.

"In a moment. I'm Averii, as you may have gathered." He shook the fluids off of the simulated weapons.

"E-Entra." She stammered. "Cadet Entra." Entra. So that was her name. He leaned against one of the randomly strewn rock walls for a moment, breathing heavily.

"Good to meet you." He nodded, and raised Lurch's former weapon. "Take the spear; I'll give you a fair fight." He sighed.

/VR-S-001087-C

/VICTORY

/TWO CASUALTIES OUT OF THREE.

With a frown, he strode out of the machine, stretching and flexing a bit in his Cadet jumpsuit that he had worn for years; it didn't feel right now. Mit and Lek waited for him by the exit, with sodas in hand.

"So, how'd it go?" He glared for a moment, then softened.

"How's cadet A-1-22-16-66 this assessment?" His partner asked.

"He's gotten quite brutal since we last checked him." He answered. "I mean, Tallest, Nard, he's having his most damaged ships smash into enemy vessels just to stop them!"

"So he's gotten better or worse?"

"Scary, but better, Nard. Most recent assessment was interesting, though. The two team desert arena was his last battlefield." He continued. "Cadet Lurch ticked him off by telling him to give up." His partner's eyes widened under the goggles.

"...Tallest. That can't be good." He nodded.

"With a hole in his chest, he starts to choke him out, and then he rips out his tongue to punch the other cadet that's coming at him; they both died in the same five seconds." They shuddered.

"Ripping out their tongue? Was he still alive?" His partner asked; he nodded simply.

"Medical Techs are going over him now; his body thought he was drowning in his own blood, so his PAK had to restart his heart a few times. Averii, though. He's brutal, but that's what we train them all for. Not quite brutal as that Zim, kid, though." He shivered, his partner nodding in agreement.

"Anything else?" His partner asked after a moment.

"Cadet Lurch tried to use that blue-eyed female, Entra, as a shield to take the hit. Guess who Ave ends up fighting last, and on fair terms?" His partner's eyes widened a bit.

"Interesting."