A/N: So, more interactions with the crew. And the movie nights are a success. Things are all fun and games with that.

And we get some more character development. How far will it go? You'll have to see. For now... let's get some training.

And it will be filled with PAAAAAAIN!

Oh, and as a small little reminder... I should've made this clear earlier, but I love feedback. So any that you might have to give is perfectly all right. Unless you flame it, in which case I'll roast marshmallows with your words.

And another note: if you haven't played Heavy Rain, beware, because this chapter will contain heavy spoilers for that game. Like, I mean heavy. You have been warned.

"I have a shotgun!"

-Chris Redfield

Chapter 6: Growing Pains

All right, it's time for shotgun training. This will be fun. I think? It's a shotgun! It's going to be pretty sweet, I should think. If it was anything like pistol or assault rifle training, that is. But I'm sure it will be.

Now all I need to hope for is that hoardes of the undead come running right at me and it'll be insanely awesome! Or not, since I'd probably be the weak guy, so yeah... Still, it'll be nice to see what goes down with shotgun training.

So I meet Ash in the cargo hold again. This time, she doesn't pull any tricks on me, instead opting to go with just standing in the center as I walked in, adorned in my armor yet again. She nods, and I see she holds a shotgun in her hands. She's not wearing her armor, I guess because I'm just training without actually firing at her. Huh, I guess aiming a shotgun isn't too hard after all. I smile and nod.

"Hey, Ash," I reply. "That the model I'm gonna be holding?"

"Yes," she says. "It's a bit tough to use, but you did good on Noveria, so..."

Oh, more of this? "My God, is everyone saying that just to cheer me up?" I ask. "Sure, I faced an asari commando and a unit of geth. But I almost died! And I probably would have if I didn't have Garrus with me!"

"Well, not many rookies face an asari commando and survive," replies Ash with a shrug. "So I guess you should feel pretty good about yourself."

"Well... I guess..." I say, shrugging. I still don't feel totally self-confident. "Ah, well. I guess we should get this whole shotgun business out of the way."

Ash nodded, holding the gun out to me. "We should," she said. "We've got all day, but I've got a feeling we'll be here for a long time."

I nod. I don't take that as a good sign. Maybe it's because I'm a bit thin for a shotgun. Or maybe it's because I'm a violist and my arms are too valuable to just risk like that. Either way... shit, Ash, any confidence I had about this just went flying out the window. Ah, well. It's a shotgun. It's awesome.

I take the gun in my hands, and... wow, it's actually surprisingly lighter than I think it is. I give the surroundings a quick look around, and smile perkily when I look around.

"You know, this would be better if we were in a zombie movie," I said cheerfully. "Those things are never complete without at least one guy swinging a shotgun around the place shooting the dead. That's really the one thing that would make this better."

Ash's mouth turns into a kind of smirk that wants to hold itself down but can't despite her best efforts. "Yeah, that would be pretty... cool," she admits. "I think we're getting off topic, though."

I nod, looking around at the crates as I see that she's left a target on some of them. I look at it. Man, these things are caricatures of fat people, I swear. I mean, why is it that the circles always radiate out from the belly? It's like an invisible fat person? With all the body fat being invisible? Or is it just a blob of mass? I don't know. I hope he can tell the difference between a spoon and a ladle, at least...

Right. "So, what do we do with this?" I ask. "Recoil training?"

"Recoil training," says Ash. "I think aiming shouldn't be too hard given the ammunition."

"True enough," I replied, nodding. I walk in front of the target.

All right, this is going to be pretty sweet. I'm holding a shotgun. It's loaded. And I'm going to shoot it. I can almost imagine the Also sprach Zarathustra quotation rising above me as I take aim. All right, bum buuuuuuuum... Timpani strikes, orchestra rises up, and then...

I hear Ash stepping towards me. Well, it's the C Major chord, so, here we go.

I fire the shotgun.

And I was not prepared for the recoil, which sent my arm flying back behind me. I hit something soft behind me, and the impact causes me to stumble forward a little bit. Wait, I hit something soft...

Oh, shit!

I turn around to see Ash on the ground behind me, clutching her stomach and groaning in pain. She's slowly attempting to get on her hands and knees as she clutches her stomach, her breathing shallow.

"Oh shit!" I shout out. I then rush to her side, placing my hands on her shoulders. She waves them off, not very happy at the moment. "Shit, Ash!"

She moves to reply, but she then vomits right in front of me.

...

Shit, did I do that?

"Ah, crap..." I mutter, shaking my head. "Ash, I'm so sorry! If I hadn't-" I shake my head, bringing watching as she manages to breathe in a little easier. "Ah, shit." As she sits up, I kneel under her, slinging her arm over my shoulders as she groans. "I'm taking you to Dr. Chakwas. Shit, I..."

I shake my head, moving towards where the elevator is probably going to be.

Shit, I owe her big time after this...

"And that should be all. I have to admit, this is one of the stranger injuries I've ever come across in my time with the Alliance."

"I'll bet. It's not every day someone else injures someone this badly because of shotgun recoil."

"Right..."

Ash and I went over to Chakwas. I was expecting Chakwas to be pissed, but surprisingly when I explained it to her she was far more perplexed than anything else. I guess this is a rather strange injury. Yeah, yeah it is. No question about that. So she treated to Ash's stomach pains, and cleaned the vomit off of my armor. We sit in the medbay, giving her a few seconds to rest before going back down to the cargo hold.

"I guess I got the recoil direction wrong?" I asked.

"Very wrong," replied Ash in a sour mood. "If you had just waited for me to instruct you, this wouldn't have happened."

Oh, dear... "I know..." I say, looking down at the ground. "I was just distracted. That's all. I know, I know, but I was wielding a friggin' shotgun!"

Chakwas was quick to reprimand me. "That does not exactly mean that you can be distracted," replied the doctor. "I would feel sorry for whatever gets shot by a shotgun..."

"So would I, but hey," I say with a hand gesture. "I do have to admit, that was an unexpected side effect of the recoil. Twenty years from now we're all going to be looking back on this day and laughing our asses off."

Ash shrugs. "I guess I will," she says. "I mean... how much more awkward could things get?"

Oh, dear. You have no idea Ash. "Uh... remind me to tell you of that time I killed a fly with a jury portfolio in front of my colleagues in a composition class," I replied. Yeah, overkill is fun. Especially on a carpet floor. I swear, my friends at the conservatory never let it lie. Looking back, I wouldn't either, as it was just so awkwardly funny it was ridiculous.

Chakwas rose an eyebrow at this. "It's a story worth talking about?" she asks.

"Oh, boy," I reply. All right, here we go. "See, I have this gift of making things extremely awkward for various people. I remember that I had to turn in everything I had written over the course of the semester during a composition class we were all required to take. Well, there was this fly flying around the place. Big, big one. And then it landed on a desk that I was sitting close to. I called attention to myself, and killed it with my pieces."

Ash shrugs at this. "That must have gotten a few leery stares."

I snort, shaking my head. Oh, boy. "Not by a long shot," I reply. "Because then I ushered its not-quite-dead body onto a carpet floor and stomped on it at least eight times."

This got a chuckle out of the Gunnery Chief. "Really?" she asked. "I'll bet you were making a big deal about it."

I gave her a glance, crossing my arms as I look at her. "Ash, I grew up in a subtropical area," I reply. "Of course I was making a big deal out of it! Flies are the most annoying fuckers in the universe!"

At this, both Ash and Chakwas were showing signs of bemusement. "Yes, you were definitely making things awkward then," replies Ash. "I hope things don't happen that way throughout shotgun training today."

"So do I," I reply, rubbing my arms softly. "After this, I'm not sure how it could get any worse, though..."

"We'll see," says Ash, turning to Chakwas. "Sorry for the trouble, doctor."

"It's part of my job, isn't it?" asks the doctor with a soft smile. "If anything else happens... don't hesitate to come up."

"We'll keep it in mind," says Ash. "Now, back to the cargo bay."

I nod and get off the berth I was sitting on. I follow Ash out of the med bay and into the cargo bay, cracking my knuckles as I wait for another opportunity to use my shotgun. Or... Hang on...

"I'm not in big trouble with the whole stopping Saren bit, am I?" I ask.

Ash shakes her head. "Shepard doesn't need to know," she says. "I may not like that you got distracted like that, but it wasn't exactly in your control."

"I see..." I say. "I... I'm sorry about what happened down there, Ash. It was stupid what I did, and... I'll try not to accidentally injure you throughout the rest of the day."

She nods, smiling. "That would be appreciated," she says.

I look away nervously, but before I can start feeling guilty for myself I feel a hand place itself maternally on my shoulder. I turn to Ash, and then see that she isn't really that angry. Hm... That's... Okay, so everything is good.

All right, I think we'll be in good hands with that. Just remember not to injure her and you should be fine...

When we get downstairs again, I can't help but look at the target. I find that even if the recoil did... horrible things to Ash, I still hit my target. Well, at least the shot wasn't completely full of fail. But that's not good enough.

"Right," I say. "So, anyway, before we got interrupted by that incredibly epic fail..."

"Yes," says Ash with a nod. "I was about to correct your stance on the shotgun to fix the recoil. You're actually lucky that I was there. If I hadn't been there, you probably would have been knocked to the ground."

I nod. "Okay," I say. "So how do I deal with the recoil?"

"Well, there's the wrong way, which you did earlier," she said. "And then, there's the right way. And that means you have to let the barrel of the shotgun rise so that it goes up instead of behind you."

Hm... "So I sort of let the gun swivel around instead of letting it fly straight back," I say. "Is that right?"

"That it is," she replies, smiling and patting my shoulder. "Just take care it doesn't hit you."

I blink, shaking my head and positioning my shotgun. "Knowing the fail that just happened, I would bet my money on it happening," I say.

Right. With that out of the way, let's see if I can fire the shotgun right this time. So I cock the shotgun, and this time I do not let the fanfare get in my head. And now Ash comes up behind me and fixes my arms slightly. Okay, now I feel like a ten foot tall smurfy cat. And now, I'm likely remembering it so they don't have to. Oh, dear, the implications of that statement are crazy...

Right. With my posture fixed, I look at the target. With a frown, I pull the trigger.

Wait, shit, I forgot how to make it happen! F-

Oh. I guess my twitching is a good habit after all. Up goes the shotgun, in goes the round-

Ow, fuck! My shoulder!

"Ow!" I nearly lose my grip on the shotgun as I feel something very uncomfortable against my shoulder.

Ash is by my side in an instant, looking at my shoulder with a disapproving shake of her head. "Right," she says. "I wouldn't say you'd have to raise the barrel up that high..."

"Ow..." I say, gripping my shoulder. "It's just, I think I tried to help the recoil..."

"Don't," says Ash. "I adjusted your grip to work with that. Don't let go of your shotgun."

I nod, but still grasp my shoulder. "Ow, that kinda hurt," I say.

"Well, fortunately it's nothing too serious," she said. "The rounds were out of the gun by the time the barrel hit you... And the results aren't too bad..."

I blink at this, forgetting the dull pain in my shoulder for the moment. I look at the target, and I see that most of the shotgun blast tore into the poor guy's head. I smirk at this. Boom headshot indeed.

"Huh, I'm not doing too badly," I say, holding my shoulder. "I'm gonna wait first, though. Let the pain go away."

Ash gives me a disapproving look. "You know that you won't have time to let the pain go away on the battlefield," she says.

I tilt my head to the side. "I know," I say. "But still, I'm off the battlefield. I'd like to indulge a bit, if you don't mind."

Oh, dear. The gunnery chief blinks at this, not sure what to say to that. She crosses her arms, giving me a deriding look. Oh, shit, I think I pissed her off...

"Just don't get used to it," she says. "I don't want to have to drag your body off the battlefield because you couldn't brush off some pain."

I nod, rubbing my shoulder lightly. It kinda hurts... Well, wait a minute...

"Actually," I say, glancing back to the targets. "I'll probably be getting worse in the battlefield anyway. So that's something that I need to get used to."

"I'm not sure anyone ever gets used to getting shot anywhere," says Ashley. "But... that's one reason why you can't really hesitate."

"Yeah," I agree. "You know what? Forget the pain." I raise my shotgun again. "Let's just do this."

I can see Ash smiling out of the corner of my eye, and I actually feel a small amount of pride swell in me when I see that.

Okay, prime it, and... Wait, shit, I'm thinking about the power drill death from Heavy Rain again. Madison Paige is one tough chick, I can tell you that much... It's shocking how her fate there is up to the player. Whether you let her get drilled in the ovaries or not. Actually, that sounds really, really, really painful. That would be a terrible death if there ever was one. But then, so is getting a power drill to the heart, if you do the QTE well enough. Yeah... power drill deaths are not fun... It's a good thing I beat my first playthrough of Heavy Rain when I did. I don't know what I would've done with myself if I hadn't beaten it before coming over here, as it really is a cool experience. I got Ethan and Norman to survive, and I saved the kid, so... It's too bad I couldn't save Madison. I'm such an idiot for making her jump out of the window of Scott's apartment. Should've trusted her lampshade hanging when she checked. Note to self: burning apartments are not fun. Especially when you're trapped in one. It's still kind of tough to believe that the Origami Killer was a controllable character. But then, I began to see it coming when Scott neglected to mention the box and the cell phone to Lauren. So...

I raise the shotgun. Fortunately, I've got pretty good muscle memory, so I position it as Ash had adjusted me before. I stand there, a small grin on my face as I look to the target. All right, we're firing this gun...

Now.

Oh, hey, the recoil isn't so bad. It doesn't hit me, it doesn't hit Ash, the bullet hits the target... Everybody's happy! I smirk at this, noticing Ash nodding at the clean bullet holes in the center of the target out of the corner of my eyes. Right.

Time for a movie reference!

"Groovy."

And fortunately, shotgun training went pretty smoothly from there. Well, as smoothly as it can go when you constantly get on your instructor's nerves, anyway.

We just went over basic aiming rules after that, different places to hold it, and that think. I asked her if we could saw off he barrel like in some zombie movies, but she was very much against it. Well, damn... It would have been badass to have a sawed-off shotgun. Cause then... well, actually, I don't know what would happen... But it would still be damn awesome. Ah, well, looks like a missed moment. And then, we tried aiming in all these other positions. I nearly whacked myself in the face with the barrel of the shotgun by accident at one point, and very nearly shot Ash... But other than that I think I'll get the hang of the shotgun. Preferrably sooner than later.

It'll be interesting to see what I do once I bring this thing into battle, anyway. It sits on my armor's magnetic strip now, just under my pistol. Fun times will come about, I'm sure of it. It's currently resting on the table, and I look at the armor. It's rather light battle armor, but it does its job nevertheless. So I'm good with that.

So, yeah, shotgun. Fun times abound. Is it odd that we'll be coming up with a mission where we'll be facing mindless clones? That will definitely be good for a slew of zombie movie references, I'm sure. But probably not, given how dire the situation is. Still, I should be able to come up with something, right? Right? We'll see what happens with that.

For now, I'm looking at the odd thing Benezia gave me. I still have too many questions about it, but honestly... I like shiny things that I can hold in my hand. I've taken a closer look at this thing. It does indeed feel a lot like that pen from Percy Jackson that Chiron gave to Percy at the start of the movie. I wonder if a Pierce Brosnan look-alike would show up to give me something similar. If they did, it would be absolutely hilarious. But, Benezia is close enough to a mystical entity giving me something, so I guess I should still have my quota filled. Um... I wonder.

I wonder too about Benezia. I don't think biotics were supposed to be able to stop time. Maybe this object is going to go about doing stuff behind the scenes? Maybe it helped Benezia stop time? I dunno. Whatever it is, it's certainly more than just a paperweight.

Might as well add that to my farewell note.

I tuck it away in my pocket, feeling the weight of it next to my cell phone.

I wonder how my frat brothers are doing right now. We still hadn't rushed in the new class when I got here. And I can't exactly talk to them again. But, parts of them will always be with me. For the life of me, I don't think I'll ever be able to forget DeCarlo's whole "rape me Lord" bit. It was blasphemous as to be not safe for work, but it was so damn funny at the same time I really didn't care. Especially how fucking loud he was saying it: cats from China could've heard him yell it all out. Also, the team building excercises where we got to yell at Mark for messing us all up. And especially when we were walking around Boston late at night saying that we were trying to get Matt and Sam to lose weight. Ah, those were good times.

It's too bad I can't really talk about them in detail. But hey, what can I do? I'll always be in the fraternity spirit no matter what.

Once a Sinfonian, always a Sinfonian, as they say. Long live Sinfonia.

And... now I'm getting homesick again. Well, there's something reflective in reminiscence. I wonder what Thane would go on about when recounting his more pleasant memories when he loses himself to solipsism. I also wonder how much reminiscing Liara will do when she has to work against the Shadow Broker, too. That'll probably be big when they get to ME2 without me. I'm not planning on joining them, so... Although, if I did stick around for some unaccountable thing, I'd probably think a lot about home and what's going on there.

Eh, we'll see what happens. For now, I'm shooting for home. And when I shoot for home, I'm pretty sure I'll hit.

Well, best not to think about that. 'Cause I've got a shotgun! Geth troopers, you better look out, 'cause Art is in the house!