CHAPTER 11
Ballad and Collective III
1
The morning sun slowly rose over the horizon of a large forest. The Sonic Underground van slowly sped through zigzagging through the trees toward their destination. They finally arrived at the place known as Sanctuary. It looked like a cross between a futuristic city seen on shows like The Jetsons and the tree city of elves from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Sanctuary was almost as big as a city built onto a tree with large canopy domes covering over the small buildings inside. There was only one access to get in there and that was through a bridge due to the place being surrounded by a think and heavy flowing river to prevent enemies from attacking. There are also a series of boats along the boarders for an escape in case the bridge went out.
The van zipped along the bridge toward the front entrance of Sanctuary. Immediately entering in, Ryan looked out the window and spotted a huge mob of children furries playing around in the yards surrounded by a fence to prevent them from wandering in the road where the van drove through. Manic parked the van along the side of the road immediately following the doors opening. Sonic, Sonia, Manic, Cyrus, and Trevor stepped outside.
"Glad we made it," Cyrus said.
"You sure I'll be safe here?" Ryan asked from inside the van.
"Of course. Robotnik doesn't know where this place is," Sonic said. Finally, Ryan stood up and stepped out of the van. His khaki-colored boot stepped on the dirt of the forest floor and Ryan immediately noticed all of the children stopped playing just to stare at Ryan.
Ryan understood why the kids were staring at him. He was a three-dimensional human in this supposed two-dimensional world. At the same time, Ryan looked slightly scary. He was a tall five foot ten man with defined muscles. His dark-red puffy hair extended down to his shoulders. Plus, he was wearing a nearly-skin-tight black T-shirt tucked into battle dress uniform pants bearing the new American Army digital camouflage pattern. Clipped to his pants is a sidearm and, even though the kids cannot see it, behind Ryan clipped to his pants is a Heckler and Koch knife. Slung over his shoulder is his olive-drab bag hanging off of his right side. The bag was shifted a little to the back allowing him easy access to his gun. For the first time ever, since coming to this cartoon world, Ryan felt like an outcast.
"You okay Ryan?" Sonic asked from behind noticing Ryan's posture.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ryan lied. He quickly thought of something to say. "This place looks like Knothole."
"Huh?"
"Sorry, wrong show," Ryan quickly said, realizing he was in a different universe. It would not surprise him if Sonic standing next to him had no idea who Miles 'Tails' Prower was.
"We can give you anything you need, Ryan," Sonic said. Ryan smiled at that, and he knew exactly what he wanted.
"In case Robotnik does find me here, I need guns," Ryan said in the same tone that Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, said when asked what he needed in the film The Matrix. "Lots of guns."
"Sorry, we don't have any but we have a bunch of metal and a metal shop," Sonic said Ryan nodded. That was fair enough. Luckily, Ryan was a firearms expert, so he could make the guns out of scratch.
2
FOUR YEARS AGO
"I want to see slow movement because we're going live-fire on this one," Colonel Moss told the 17 recruits, all wearing their black gear, while inside of the briefing room right next to a door leading to the Kill House. A Kill House is a training house used for Close Quarters Battle students. "Go slow! Go slow! Let's begin."
The recruits got up and readied their MP5's. This was not the first time they would be using live ammunition, but it was the first time they would use it in close quarters. It was simple, break into a room, stick along the walls when making entry, identify the targets if they are civilians or hostiles, see if hostiles even have a gun, and trigger squeeze. After many weeks of training, everything was becoming involuntary in movements with the recruits. The only thing that was not voluntary was the squeezing of the trigger, which was good.
Ryan, along with three other recruits, waited outside a door for their turn to shoot targets. They all lined up in single file along the wall with their hands on each others shoulders. None of them were expecting what was on the other side. They all kept their submachine guns pointed in the air to prevent them from sweeping the muzzle along one of their fellow recruits.
"Go!" the instructor shouted.
The recruit up front swung the door open and quickly stepped inside. He side-stepped to the left and Ryan, trailing behind him, side-stepped to the right. He brought the muzzle of his MP5 down and started shooting at the targets. There were posters of humans of all different kinds. Ryan was quickly able to identify the ones with the guns and burst live fire on them. In a matter of seconds, the shooting stopped. Ryan looked around and saw all four recruits standing side-by-side covering the room.
"Okay, come out," the instructor told them.
They all exited the room cautiously. One by one, they patted each other's shoulders and slowly stepped outside the room, back into the hallway, keeping the muzzles of their guns off of each other. The instructor stood in front of them.
"Roselyn, you swept Perreault's head badly," the instructor said to recruit Roselyn. Ryan looked over at the recruit and immediately noticed a look of sorrow on his face. Ryan was just glad Roselyn did not accidentally pull the trigger while doing it.
Back at home, when Ryan was young, he used to play video games of military combat all the time. He believes that CQB is his biggest strength when it comes to combat. However, his weakest strength would have to be urban combat, but he was unaware how well he will do in combat in an urban environment in the near future.
3
PRESENT DAY
In the metal shop of Sanctuary, the triplet hedgehogs gathered around Ryan as he pulled out a book from his back about firearm assembly.
"You two know how to carve and sculpt metal and how to work these tools?" Ryan asked the hedgehogs.
"Yeah, I made my motorcycle with this stuff," Sonia said.
"I made my board with this stuff," Manic said.
"Outstanding. Follow these instructions," Ryan said handing them the book.
Hours and hours later, the four have goggles on while they make and assemble all sorts of gun parts. Sonia made all the bullets, Sonic and Manic made all the gun parts, and Ryan assembled the parts together. Just as the sun was setting, they have accomplished in making several different types of guns such as the brand new XM8 Carbine. Ryan was a trifle disappointed when, back at home, the Department of Defense has discontinued the M8 program. It was a shame because the M8 was going to be five guns in one, an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, a light machine gun, a CQB rifle, and a grenade rifle.
"Let's test," Ryan said as he held firmly on his brand new XM8 Carbine. He never actually got the chance to fire it back at home due to its cancellation. While in the Special Forces, the most advanced weapon he used in combat was the Rx4 STORM which just entered in service a year ago. The mission in Kuwait where he had to get close to a summer home alone with the microphone, the one with the Stinger missiles, Ryan had an Rx4 over his shoulder at the time.
4
"What do you mean Ryan escaped?!" Robotnik yelled. In front of him are a nervous Sleet and Dingo.
"Well, you see, sir, he was there but he must have left before we got the chance to nab him," Sleet said with a nervous tone in his words. Robotnik however, immediately loosened his cool. He felt calm as he decided to use his contingency plan.
"It's okay. We can try again on someone else," Robotnik said. He turned his chair around and faced a computer.
Like last time, Robotnik has no idea he is being taped. Aleena sat in the adjacent building wearing a black hood and mask as the laser microphones and video tapes recorded Robotnik's every move.
After typing a few things on the computer, Robotnik turned around again.
"Okay, the program is at its end of charging," Robotnik told the two bounty hunters. "Within 24 hours, the Dimensional Matter Displacer will activate again."
"I thought you said it would take days," Dingo said in his dumb-sounding voice.
"Math error," Robotnik sneered, suggesting that it was most certainly not a math error. Robotnik must have lied to Sleet and Dingo so, in case Ryan would ever get information out of them like he did, they would accidentally end up giving Ryan false information. "But this is good. You see, once we open the portal, we can activate a blocking beam on it, preventing any human from going through it, like Ryan."
"So, he will be stuck here forever?" Sleet said, not really a question. He rubbed his hands together sinisterly. "Ooh, great plan, Doctor Robotnik. He may be Special Forces, but he cannot hide forever."
"Exactly," Robotnik sneered back.
"Well, can't you just place that blocking thing up right now in case he does come?" Dingo asked. Sleet was about to smack him behind the head again until he heard Robotnik humming, indicating that he was deep in thought.
Robotnik turned around on his chair and started typing on the computer again. He initiated the blocking program, but it said there was nothing to block from. Robotnik spun his chair around again.
"For the first time ever, you actually used your brain, Dingo," Robotnik said with a hint of glee. In Robotnik's mind, however, he was thinking 'or what was left of Dingo's brain.' "Unfortunately, the blocking program needs to have something to protect."
Dingo stood there confused.
"It's like a virus blocker for your computer," Robotnik said, "but you don't have a computer. In this case, the DMD is a computer, and the human shield is the virus blocker. Until the DMD is activated, the human shield won't work. So, we got to wait 24 hours before we activate the human shield, and then, Ryan will be trapped here forever."
Aleena recorded all of this on her laptops around her. Again, she had to send the message to Ryan and quickly. She whipped out her PDA and used the attachable pen to write in the following note:
DMD about to activate by midnight tomorrow night. Robotnik installed human-blocker to prevent Ryan from going home. Must take out blocker before stealing the DMD programs. Hurry, time is limited.
–Aleena
Again, she saved the video files on her laptops and sent them as attachments on her PDA message. She finished by tapping the 'Send' button on her pad with the tip of her pen.
5
FOUR YEARS AGO
It was just like the patrol the 17 recruits had many weeks ago. This time, they are now fully equipped with all of their gear, weapons, and live ammunition. Sergeant Stevens and Fox are joining them as well in part of the training exercise. Ryan was equipped with a standard Colt M4A1 rifle, as well as most of the other recruits. The ones with the larger bodies, such as Davis, have M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. The ones with the medium built bodies have a grenade launcher on to their M4's.
The 19 soldiers slowly crept through the woods, not making any sound. All of a sudden, a small explosion was burst. The instructors set up a metal barrel with a remote explosive in it to create chaos. Immediately, all 19 soldiers dropped and returned fire. Live bullets sprayed along the field like fireflies in the dark.
"Peel one, peel one!" Lieutenant Falcon shouted.
Again, they were going it, the squad was peeling. Ryan lay prone as he burst several round off in the distance with no enemies. Soon, his magazine clicked empty. He got up, tagged the shoulder of the closest recruit, and ran back to the peeling recruits. As soon as he reached them, he reloaded his M4 and started firing again, doing an outstanding job of not hitting his fellow recruits. In fact, all of the recruits were doing a good job of not shooting each other.
"Leapfrog! Leapfrog!" Falcon announced. "Red, move up first!"
Ryan was part of the red element. A leapfrog acts just like a peel except it is used as an offense. There are two types of leapfrogs, one of which is when one element stays behind and firing on the objective while the other element ran forward in a diagonal to prevent crossfire. As soon as the running element moved to a cover position, the shooting element would run forward while the other shot. The positions constantly changed. The other kind of leapfrog is just the opposite, which is what the recruits are doing. One element would run forward toward the objective in a diagonal. Once they were out of ammunition, they would drop, roll, and reload. At the same time, the other element would get up and run forward while firing at a diagonal. Again, once they were out, they would drop, roll, and reload, and the other element would get up and do it again. Shoot, drop, roll, reload. Get up, shoot, drop, roll, reload. Get up, shoot, drop, roll, reload. This leapfrog is used when there is not a lot of cover in the field.
Ryan, along with the red element which was half of the recruits, ran forward toward the explosion while firing at it in full automatic. Their rifles clicked so they dropped and rolled to their left once. While Ryan was reloading, he felt and heard the bullets from the other element wiz above him. He saw their boots zip by him as they fired their weapons.
Soon afterward, Ryan heard the second element's ammo run out. That was time for his element to get up and do it again. Ryan and his element ran forward as they fired on the fake objectives at full automatic. Ryan did not even notice he almost stepped on Falcon's hand. However, even if he did, it was a high doubt Falcon would have felt it due to the hung amounts of adrenalin. Their weapons' clicked, so they dropped, rolled, and reloaded.
"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Falcon shouted. Soon, everyone, who eventually leapfrogged into a straight horizontal line, stopped firing their weapons. Empty brass shells lay scattered all over the forest floor. Soon, the area was quiet. They all lay prone on the forest floor with their reloaded weapons pointing forward, as if they were waiting for something.
"Outstanding work, people," Moss told them over their radios. "Come on back."
The 19 soldiers set their weapons on safe and began the short trek back to base camp. Upon arriving, they were greeted by Colonel Moss and the rest of the instructor staff. Even though the sun just set and it was twilight, the recruits could easily see the pleased looks on the instructor's faces.
"Outstanding job," Moss told them. "You guys communicated, you moved as a team, had rear security in your movements, Falcon you call in for a fake air strike despite the stress you were under, overall great job."
The 19 soldiers were pleased with each other. At the same time, they were also tired. The spent the rest of the night either in the recreational room or, like Ryan, immediately went to bed.
6
PRESENT DAY
Ryan walked around the dirt path of Sanctuary as the sun was slowly setting, humming a tune. He heard a twig snap behind him and instantly snapped his back in the direction of the sound. Behind him was Sonic.
"Hey, Sonic," Ryan said with a chuckle.
"Hey, Ryan, what was that cool tune you were humming?" Sonic asked.
"Oh, it was the song played at my graduation," Ryan told him, dazing off in the sky remembering that day. "That song is almost 50 years old, yet it really describes the job that I undergo on a daily basis."
"Really? What is it?" Sonic asked.
"Ballad of the Green Berets," Ryan replied with a grin. This gave Sonic an idea. Every once in a while, the Sonic Underground band perform their songs for the children of Sanctuary. It was almost concert time for them, but Sonic had an idea first.
"Can you sing?" Sonic asked. Ryan did not have a good singing voice when it came to harmony songs due to being so flat, but he could sing songs that sounded like he was talking, which was like Ballad of the Green Berets.
"I guess I could, why you ask?" Ryan asked.
"Well, my siblings and I are going to put on a concert for the citizens here," Sonic said, "and, after hearing your humming, I wanted to know if you'd like to be the opening act?"
This was something Ryan was not expecting. He was not really used to speaking in public. In fact, public speaking is the number one worst fear among humans. The only time he sang in front of a crowd was when he sang several Bruce Springsteen songs at a family reunion, which he enjoyed doing.
"Well, I guess I could," Ryan said nervously. He never sang in front of strangers before, but he hopes that it will be an enjoying experience.
7
Dusk was setting in Sanctuary. There was an outdoors wooden stage set up. On the stage a set of drums, the same kind Manic uses, a piano on one side with a synthesizer adjacent to it, and a racks of guitars on the other. Several large speakers stood on all different sides of the stage. In a large group in front of the stage seemed like hundreds of different furries. Most of them are children, but there were a majority of adults there as well, most likely to be parents or chaperones.
Ryan stood backstage nervous. In his bag, he seems to have found a beret. He remembered packing the beret in while trying to escape from his home from Sleet and Dingo. The beret is, obviously, green. On the front is the flash insignia, shaped like a U with the two tops connected. The flash insignia on his beret is fully black, meaning he is part of the Fifth Special Forces Group. Pinned on the front of the flash insignia is a metal clip of the Special Forces emblem, a banner with the motto De Oppresso Liber with two arrows crossing over each other and a dagger up the middle. Had Ryan been an officer, the flash would have his officer insignia rank instead of the Special Forces emblem.
"I'm a little nervous," Ryan admitted as he slid the green beret on his head. He tucked the huge portion of his hair behind him so it does not show. Ryan wore his usual attire but kept his gun, with holster, and knife hidden away in the guest bedroom that the members of Sanctuary gave him for the time being.
"Ryan, just relax," Sonic told him. "It's okay to be nervous. Let it out right here before going on stage. Remember, you are representing the music of the Sonic Underground."
Ryan grinned hearing that. In every episode of 'Sonic Underground,' the triplets play a short song that mainly describes the theme of the episode. One of the reasons it was cancelled was because of the songs used, but Ryan did enjoy a lot of the songs. Some he was not fond of but he liked most of them.
Ryan exhaled, trying to calm down. Soon, he was able to control his stress. He let out one long sigh and remembered the lyrics in his head. He gave a look up at Sonic and nodded.
"I'm ready," Ryan told him. He then turned his attention to Manic. "You remember the beat, Manic?"
Manic nodded in reply. Earlier, Ryan taught him the beat of the song. Soon, the two stood up and walked out on the stage.
As soon as Ryan got on stage, a single spotlight shown on him. The furries of Sanctuary clapped for him, they seemed to have got themselves used to seeing a human amongst them. Ryan slowly approached the microphone, which has been extended high to Ryan's height. Manic sat at his drum set ready to play.
"Uh, hello," Ryan said almost nervously in the microphone. There was a tint of feedback, but the furries watching him seemed impressed with what Ryan had to say. "As most of you are aware, I'm a Special Forces Operator of the United States Army on planet Earth, we are commonly known as Green Berets. This song is special, written back in 1964 by a former Green Beret, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. This song was written by him that explains the true heart of what Green Berets are."
Ryan turned and faced Manic. He gave him a nod and Manic replied by drumming his drum set in a smooth military rhythm. Ryan faced the audience again and felt nervous. He stood there with both arms at his sides with his mouth less than a centimeter from the microphone. Then, Ryan began his song:
Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret
Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret
Trained to live off nature's land
Trained in combat, hand-to-hand
Men who fight by night and day
Courage picked from the Green Beret
Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret
Back at home, a young wife waits
Her Green Beret has met his fate
He has died for those oppressed
Giving her his last request
Put Silver wings on my son's chest
Make him one of America's best
He'll be a man they'll test one day
Have him win the Green Beret
Manic finished by tapping on the cymbals. Ryan stood back and bowed, keeping his arms at his sides, like in Japanese tradition. Ryan was surprised to hear clapping and cheering just as the song came to an end. As he straightened back up, he let out a nervous sigh. Ryan then walked back to the microphone.
"Thank you," Ryan said in the microphone. "Now, let's give it up for the Sonic Underground!" The furries in front of the stage sheered as Sonic and Sonia ran on the stage. Ryan shook Sonic's hand and Sonia's as he walked by. He then walked up to Manic and shook his hand. Although no one was able to hear him, Manic understood Ryan's lip saying 'thank you.' He ran off stage to listen in on the Sonic Underground's band.
Little did anyone realize was something important. Not too far away, in Cyrus' guest bedroom, his laptop was beeping with the message sent by Queen Aleena. Unfortunately, no one picked up on it for a while.
8
FOUR YEARS AGO
The rain poured down hard, but the recruits seemed to care less. This training exercise was completely different. This time, their rifles bore an electronic device on the muzzle of their firearms and the rifles were loaded with blanks. The devices on their rifles are called MILES, Multiple Infrared Laser Engagement System. When a blank round is fired, it sends out a laser pulse, just like in laser-tag games that children used to play. Strapped on their bodies and around their boonie hats are laser sensitive sensors. If they get hit by a laser pulse, a buzzer will go off, indicating that the recruit is killed.
It was the final test of the recruits in the collective phase. They had a mission to sneak to a makeshift enemy base and capture a warlord known to be there. The rain came down hard on them in the night. One of the elements, Ryan's elements, bore Ghillie suits as they crept slowly toward the large makeshift enemy base. It had a barbed wire fence all around the complex, four watch towers, and a main building in the center. Most of the instructors are within the base wearing foreign battle dress uniform attire and brandishing AK-47's with MILES gear on them as well.
Falcon came up with a plan. He leaned close to Ryan and whispered quietly in his ear while pointing at the watch towers.
"Perreault," Falcon whispered, "take out the four watch towers and rip right in with gold element on the south eastern side of the base. Red element, move in from the north and hold a perimeter around the building. We'll come in through the barbed wire using clippers. Ready, go."
Red element, not Ryan's, did as they were told. They slowly crept their way toward the north compound entrance. Ryan laid prone while aiming his ACOG mounted on his M4. Luckily, he equipped his rifle with a silencer. He aimed for the watch tower with the lowest light, so the others would not see him. Ryan inhaled, exhaled, and squeezed the trigger, emitting a soft snapping sound.
In the watch tower, the instructor heard his MILES gear buzz. Only the person wearing the gear can hear their own buzz. He wondered where it came from, but he decided to just lie down in the cabin of the tower he was in.
"Lead, this is Perreault, one watch tower down," Ryan whispered in his radio.
"Good work, take out the rest. Update me on your progress," Falcon told him over the radio all the way from the southeast of the compound with wire clippers in his hand.
Ryan steadied his aim on the closest watch tower guard, completely unaware that one of theirs was taken down. He did the same routine; aim, inhale, exhaled, trigger squeeze, and the gun emitted a soft snap. Again, the instructor in the watch tower heard his own buzzer and dropped.
"Lead, this is Perreault, watch tower two taken out," Ryan whispered.
"Good, take out the watch tower near the south east entrance to cover us," Falcon mentioned over the radio. Ryan did the same again. He aimed for the individual in the tower and shot him.
"Lead this is Perreault, watch tower three taken out."
"Outstanding, take out the remaining watch tower and regroup with us."
"Roger that," Ryan whispered. Again, he aimed his M4 rifle at the last tower and, again, shot the guy. All four watch towers were taken down. "Lead, this is Perreault, watch towers taken down, moving to you."
"Copy that," Falcon replied.
Ryan slowly made his way down the shadow paths of the compound as the head rain bore down on his boonie hat, making the camouflage darker. He met up with the other recruits at the end of the barbed wire fence. Falcon gestured everyone to pull out their wire cutters. Each one did so and they all slowly clipped away at the fence, leaving a big hole.
With the hole in the fence cut opened, the recruits had access to the inside. The nine recruits slowly crept their way to the back of the complex while the other ten remained to the north in case of emergencies. The recruits checked the windows if they were wired. They were not. Slowly, they creak opened the windows open and piled inside the building.
Inside the building, the search began. Their intelligence said that the commanding officer would be on the second floor. So far, no resistance. The nine recruits, with their weapons ready, slowly crept up the stairs leading them to a hallway. The hallway had three different doors. Instead of risking going from room to room, they decided to check under the doors.
Ryan holstered his M4 over his shoulder and pulled out an optical cable. The optical cable had a small PDA screen on it, showing what the camera shown. Ryan cautiously stuck the cable under the door and the screen shown that the room was empty. They moved on to the next room and it shown three instructors dressed like the enemy, but none of them was who they were after. They finally checked the last room and say the target with three other soldiers as well.
Falcon decided to go for a clean double-action sweep. That means, two sections will accomplish two tasks at once. Four of the recruits will break the door with the three soldiers and the other four, including Ryan, will breach the room with the commander. Falcon will stay in the hallway as a lookout.
"Check the locks," Falcon whispered. They slowly did, both of them were unlocked. "Breach, bang, and clear on my mark." The recruits readied their flash bangs, which were the only real-life weapons they had with them. "Three, two, one, go!"
The two doors were flung open at the same time and the flash bangs were tossed in. The eight recruits burst in the rooms and gunfire was heard. Ryan himself shot one of the three soldiers with the commander. The instructors' buzzers went off so they dropped playing dead.
"You! On the ground! Get on the ground!" Ryan shouted, aiming his M4 at the commander. The mock commander got down on all fours and one of the recruits handcuffed him.
Outside, the instructors playing terrorists heard the gunfire. Just as they were about to make entry to the complex, the ten recruit element at the north gate open fired on them out of surprise. Within a second, all the instructors' buzzers went off, so they all dropped in the mud.
"Lead, this is Davis, exterior is secured," Davis said in his radio.
"Good work, hold position," Falcon told him over the radio. Within a minute, the nine recruits exited the complex with the handcuffed commander. They began performing a silent peel toward the extraction. A silent peel is exactly like a peel except no gunfire, just coordinated movement to watch every corner as they move.
Quickly, the recruits make it to a large grassy field which is supposed to be their extraction. The 19 soldiers gathered around with their cuffed mock commander.
"Is that everybody?" Falcon shouted out. After a count, Falcon tossed a smoke grenade out in the clearing, emitting a huge puff of yellow smoke. In several minutes, three Black Hawk helicopters arrived.
All 19 soldiers carried the commander to the Black Hawks and boarded in them one at a time. The helicopters lifted in the air and headed back to Fort Bragg just a few miles away. Ryan himself felt full relief that he made it all the way to finish the Collective phase of his Special Forces training. The biggest relief he felt was that graduation was only seven weeks away. Problem is, his true limits will be exposed in those seven weeks to come.
TO BE CONTINUED...