AN: This is a bit of a longer chapter than the last few ones. However, I wanted to cite back to one of the characters I'll be focusing on instead of waiting until another chapter. Connects a bit here to the whole workout/training/experiment session with Obsidian. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 6
I wondered why I was nervous at the very start of the experiment. I thought that I might be put through painful experiments despite the reassurances. However, they turned out to be right, but looking at the kinds of experiments the panther doctor gave me appeared to be more like a tiny worm in comparison to being stuck in a huge tank. Maybe G.U.N is just paranoid with people with powers these days?
The whole session felt more like a workout period. I wondered if this is what people usually do when training. I doubt it would make them really fit, but it seemed to have some sort of effect on me as well. Or maybe that is due to never using this kind of equipment before.
The next few exercises were nearly possibly some of the basic exercises I took on a daily schedule.
The punch bag wasn't that much to me. I was only required to punch it with different jabs. The panther scientist guessed that I could tear it out when using the ruby. I didn't think it would be true since it wouldn't be possible. Weren't punchbags invisible and too bulky to make a hole through?
It turned out that when using the ruby, it gave me super strength.
When I activated it on the second trial, I found myself suddenly feeling uptight. And then without warning, I slammed my fist into it.
The punch bag's chain came off and it bounced off the wall. It flew right at the panther scientist, even knocking him right into a table filled with beakers and glass containers. As expected, nearly everyone began to panic, but the only reaction he had was a small meow and using his tail to try to write notes on the clipboard nearby.
The calisthenics wasn't too bad. Sort of. There were a few common exercises such as push-ups and jumping jacks, though the former I attempted using only my feet with the support of the ruby. One thing I learned was that I wasn't really used to having super speed. The panther scientist strangely told me to try to do some sort of dance by just using my arms for the movements.
The first trial wasn't that bad as I used my hands to move in a traditional dance I learned from an Arabic turf in the desert. On the second trial, it nearly looked more like I was waving my arms around wildly for no reason. I couldn't even see if I was doing the moves rightly since I just shook them all over the place.
I only got a grip when I ended up accidentally slapping the panther across the face. I swore I heard his neck bones crack.
"Oh god! Oh god!" I exclaimed, pulling back. "I did not expect that to happen!"
"Able to swing hands around at a fast pace of nearly…10 circle formation per second," he muttered, writing in his clipboard without turning his head around. "Currently unable to match said speed with control."
There was one exercise that got the panther to tell me to take a break. I kind of realized what the purpose of the steel-made dumbbells was for. I have never seen something like those before since it wouldn't be crafted this fancy! The task was to lift a 50 kg dumbbell over my head for as long as possible. As long as I try not to lower my arms or use my tail to support my balance.
Shouldn't sound too bad.
The first time without the use of the ruby, it was short. I carried a lot of heavy things, but I couldn't really carry them for a long time. I struggled a little with keeping the dumbbell above my head and after feeling my arms trembling, I dropped them.
"OK," said the panther, writing on his clipboard. "I'm surprised that you held it that long for 30 seconds. Around that time, your arm muscles were at their limit of tearing down."
I huffed, wiping my forehead. "That I can tell."
"I actually hypothesized that you would hold it long since you grew up doing countless missions that included carrying heavy things. Especially needing to hold them above your head."
"Not really. We just grab and try to carry them however we want to."
"Oooh, understood then. That's something I should take note of before."
I huffed a little. All these exercises weren't too bad so far. Maybe it might be a good thing and having a slow approach to an understanding about my powers. I still found it weird since it wasn't too intense for testing a magical stone. This was more of mundane activity.
On instinct, I found myself panting. A sweaty forehead and in response to feeling my fur wet, I grabbed the headband to wipe some wet parts. Probably need to thank Topaz for allowing me to have a sweatband.
It still looks stupid.
On the second try, I activated my ruby and it proudly gave me the strength I needed. To my surprise, as I held the dumbbell high above my head, I didn't feel my arms trembling. The dumbbell felt more like a wooden box that was filled with fruits. To me, that felt much lighter than before! And I wasn't struggling or sweating.
The panther immediately wrote down on his clipboard, checking the monitors. "Interesting! You have exceeded after 30 seconds without needing to drop the dumbbell. Your arm muscles aren't reported to be sore at the moment and your grip isn't loosening."
A minute already passed and I decided to be a risktaker for this procedure. With only one hand carrying the dumbbell before proceeding to balance it on my finger. I grinned, putting my other hand on my hip as I kept my head high.
The agents watching us were shocked by the super strength I was granted with the ruby. Half of them were staring at the glowing ruby on my chest while a few looked jealous. One looked down at his arm - his beefy, muscular arm - before looking at mine as if comparing the muscle differences.
"Lucky him," he growled. "I had to sacrifice shower AND dinner time to train at the gym and yet this guy can hold up a 50 kg weight with scrawny arms?!"
For some reason, I felt cheeky to tease him a little.
"Hey!" I said, flexing my other arm as if flexing a muscle. "I had experience before with carrying heavy objects! You'll eventually get used to lifting these kinds of things that you wouldn't even feel like you were carrying anything at all!"
Case in point, my arm suddenly began trembling as it abruptly became tired.
My eyes were directed upwards as the bar of the 50 kg dumbbell met my head.
WHACK!
The next thing I knew was lying on the table with my headband replaced by some bandages. A couple of agents were snickering nearby while the panther scientist was checking for any other injuries.
"Obviously, you got yourself a concussion," he said, trying his best to not sound flat as he calmly looked back at his clipboard. "But fortunately, that was the last procedure for today's experiment."
"What was my high score?" I asked, chuckling giddily.
"2 minutes and 30 seconds, but let's not count that as a high score since the ruby granted you strength to hold it for this long. It appears that you didn't feel the pressure for a while as your arm muscles didn't get sore gradually."
"Yeah, that's the thing," I said. "I actually didn't feel my arm getting tired and sore when the dumbbell crashed onto me."
"That's surprising. Comparing that to the other tests, it seems that you don't struggle much when it comes to using your strength. Your stamina just dropped suddenly. The rest of the tests nearly resembled more of natural tiredness strangely. It's a bit inconsistent alongside possible extraneous variables, but incredible how the ruby can enhance your bodily systems and muscles."
"What does it really say?" I asked.
"It may not be accurate for now," explained the panther, looking back at his clipboard. "But from these exercises, the Phantom Ruby prototype can enhance your muscle work, stamina, breathing patterns and heart rate twice or triple than your normal rates and patterns. It just seems to crank its powers up to support you for a limited time."
I smiled, feeling happy to hear this. At first, I didn't know why I felt happy. However, I felt relieved. Maybe it was due to enjoying the previous exercises, but it must be due to hearing that the prototype wasn't exactly unlimited. That could mean I wouldn't need to rely on it too much since it would boost my speed, stamina and strength for a brief while. Not for making me into an unstoppable machine.
This would invalidate everything Eggman tried to accomplish with his weapons. However, we didn't really get to test out the other abilities of my ruby prototype.
"I'll be analyzing the data collected," explained the panther, placing his pen in his jacket pocket. "You did good work for today. I'm surprised that you didn't withdraw from them or need to take an extended break. I'll be sending you off earlier today. You'll be notified of any significant results."
An idea came to mind. "Hey, erm…I know that it might not be conducted today, but would it be alright if we can…try another experiment?"
The panther raised an eye. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we did this for less than 2 hours and there are about 2 hours left until noon. I just thought maybe I could try out in the training room next door to test on my ruby. You know, to…see the more combat effects it could do."
He scratched his chin, considering it. "You know, we got that already set up for preparation. We even stored them for other agents who have powers. I can inform the commander and my team about this, but are you sure about it? You did a lot today."
I shrugged. "I think I can try out some more. I don't really have anything else to do for today, so I want to be doing nothing for the next two hours. Like you said, this is the best way to test it out, right?"
The panther glanced at the agents who answered in a couple of mumbles I couldn't really hear.
"Suit yourself," he finally said. "But it'll take 30 minutes to set up the equipment for the next planned experiment. It may not take long, so just…take a break outside."
Later, I was minding my own business on the sidelines of the training room as a few agents and scientists came in to set up the equipment they needed. I thought of lying down and using the parka jacket as a pillow, but for some reason, I was buzzing with new adrenaline. Was it coming from the Phantom Ruby prototype?
With enough time to think, I was surprised myself that it convinced me to trust the panther in doing his experiment. Something I thought I wouldn't believe in. Maybe it might come from my better judgment, but that voice definitely came from the ruby. I wondered why I chose to believe it after the many times it lashed out at me whenever it wasn't happy.
I still don't trust it. It was still Eggman's weapon. It might be dangerous. But yet, it was happily relaxing without saying much to me. In fact, I could barely feel its power. The energy inside me felt more natural. One could question if it was manipulating me, but I didn't want to go into that yet. That could be saved for another experiment.
"BAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Jerking upwards, I spun around to find the source of the person screaming…coming from a small tablet two female agents were watching, laughing their heads off.
"...wha-?"
"BAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
I hissed, pulling on my ears as their device let out a deafeningly loud scream.
The two agents laughed again before one noticed how strung I was.
"Oh," she said politely. "Sorry about that. We're just watching a video."
"And what kind of video are you watching with someone screaming?" I said, gripping the ends of my jacket.
"Oh, you mean this scream?"
"BAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Growling, I nearly felt compelled to throw the device right out through the window. If there were any windows around.
"That one," said the other agent. "Like to see?"
"Hold on, let's not," said the first agent, looking embarrassed. "It's a bit too cheesy."
"No, no, no! It's really funny!"
"C'mon, don't you think it's outdated?"
"But wasn't that guy we were told about who joined G.U.N? I don't think he would understand the full content on first impressions."
"It might be weird though…"
"OK," I said, coming towards them. "What is this all about?"
On their small device was an image of a goat. A video of it to be precise. It just looked around innocently before-
"BAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
The second it opened its mouth, I jumped back, nearly losing my balance.
One of the agents burst into giggles.
"You think this is funny?" I said, narrowing my eyes.
"No, no, no," she said, waving her hand. "I'm laughing at the silly goat. It's funny!"
The goat screamed again when it opened its jaw. I could only stare blankly at it, hearing the scream again in contrast to its peaceful, normal-looking face.
"That more sounds like the scream of a hyena," I mumbled.
"No, seriously, that's how goats scream!" said the second agent.
"Not always," pointed out the first agent.
I didn't really get the concept of watching something this absurd on a handheld computer. "Why would you be watching something like this on that small tablet?"
"Cause it's funny."
"Yeah, but why on that?"
"It's a phone! You can basically do anything on it."
That wasn't something I heard of before. From what I saw from Eggman, he seemed to only use his computers for mostly work, coding and creating new robots. Some of the files he had appeared to be made in his own free time for his own recreational purposes. The only thing that really looked like fun was a recipe PDF Cubot created with a picture of a gutted fish.
It seemed that in this society, people were using these devices for their own entertainment. This is different from the type of entertainment I usually enjoy. Most of them include drama performances, extremely deadly hide and seek, and the occasional murder on the street back when I was a child.
"So…you…can do more than just calling people?" I summarized.
"You can put it that way," said the second agent, shrugging. "And it can access things you can't really get."
"BAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
"OK, OK, I get it," I said, squeezing my ears. "But can you please stop that goat screaming? With tender and care?"
"Sure then," said the first agent coolly. "I'll just grab some headphones."
"You said that you don't have headphones," pointed out the second agent.
"Then we might as well lower the volume."
They did, but I could still hear the muffled scream of that annoying goat. If goats really are like that, I'm gonna feast on one.
"Wonderful," I muttered, turning away.
"Mr. Obsidian!" called the panther scientist. "You can come forward now!"
I decided not to think too much about what else these agents were watching on their phones during their free time. I think I already saw enough since it wouldn't be really good for the results of my ruby.
As I exited the training room, I noticed that he strangely had a certain area of the floor taped. In bright yellow tape as if they were investigating a crime scene. Looking around, I spotted a few groups of agents already playing around with the other facilities in this room. I thought that they booked this room for the experiment already.
"So, apparently," said the panther. "It turns out that I booked in a bit too late and we're tight on schedule. But this should be big enough to start the second part of the experiment without interrupting or hurting anyone around you."
"Are you sure about that?" I asked. "I'm not sure if…it would be a good idea to do so when there are other people running around."
"All I can see is that they won't be bothering you that much. But don't worry. No one is going to come here. And if something does go out of control, then we can…"
He trailed off when he noticed a few agents entering the sidelines. Apparently, it was as if anyone could be the researcher of experimenting on my prototype. One agent was grinning maniacally with what appeared to be a tranquilizer dart gun.
The panther just gave him a blank look.
When he noticed that this wasn't really the right time, the shooter's smirk faded and he quickly hid the gun behind his back.
"Now," explained the panther. "We are going to be testing your combat skills, endurability and some potentially basic abilities to use magic. So the first thing we will start off is watching you try to take down a couple of dummies."
That didn't sound too bad.
"Bet that I wouldn't need to use the ruby for this," I said, stretching my arms.
"Yeah, but we are still testing your stamina, muscles, breathing patterns and heart rate," said the panther, pointing to the vitals still attached to my body. "We've discovered how it enhanced those patterns and rates during regular exercises. Now we have to see how you do it on the battlefield."
I curled my lip. Would that even be a good idea? Who knew what might happen if I use it while I beat up the fake dummies? I didn't really want to let it go out of control, but I decided that maybe a tranquilizer dart to the arm would be much better than being crushed by the collapsing ceiling.
"I should probably give you a heads-up as well for the other tasks," continued the panther. "A few others include-"
BLAM!
I screamed, jumping upwards as I felt something that shot my tail. In fact, this activated the ruby and it sent me flying upwards at least 3 feet above the ground. In a panic, I patted my body to feel if there were any bullet holes. And I looked back at my tail. There was red liquid dripping from a circular shot.
There was chuckling from the sidelines. The same shooter and another agent wielding some kind of gun with red liquid leaking out from it. One agent between them bonked their heads together, unamused.
"You idiots!" he snarled. "He didn't say fire yet! Now we might lose our privilege with using these things!"
I looked back at my tail, lifting it upwards. Wiping my finger on the red liquid, I took a sniff. It smells like paint.
The panther shrugged. "This is one of the lower training rooms for those new. Also some of the safest. Good thing that nobody else brought REAL guns here."
"Erm…is this a normal thing that happens here?" I asked nervously. "Using PAINT of all things?!"
"No. Artificial blood are banned from shooter weapons." He shrugged. "Whatever. You're a trained mercenary, so you probably get used to the sight of blood, fake or not."
The idea of having fake blood for this kind of thing was pretty shocking. I thought this was gonna be much cleaner and friendlier than being in the desert. How much trauma were they used to train their agents to become resilient and bloodthirsty? Well, they aren't exactly children anymore, but it was kind of red-flag-ish when they are using this room for a starter level.
I don't think I have that much of a problem, but…maybe a little bit with others around.
"That's…reassuring," I said.
"Can you please get down?" said the panther flatly. "You're scaring the children around here."
It was until I noticed a few who were training staring at me. I couldn't read what their expressions were, but it didn't appear to be a good thing. Flustered, I lowered myself, trying to rid the green aura around me. It was when I got a good look at the majority of the agents and soldiers training here. The panther said that this was one of the lower training rooms which could mean this was the place suited for the rookies.
Zero wouldn't mind this since he would say that the new ones, especially if they were young, have to be intimidated by those above them. However, I didn't really want to act like this, not to mention that the ruby on me could resemble a monster to others. Fortunately, some of them were just surprised before going back to their business.
Looking back to see the three agents arguing with each other as they fought over the paint gun, it made me wonder if they got it much easier of becoming trained soldiers. Or killers on the other hand.
"Let's go on," said the panther, trying to switch topics. "Anyway, maybe we'll explain about testing your ruby's power later. Let's start now."
Stepping outside the taped area, he pulled out a switch and pressed the red button. I took a step back when I noticed the tiles opening up to bring up several sets of dummies to the surface. At first, I wasn't sure why they needed to bring the dummies this way since there were already a couple of sets lying on the walls.
That is until the arms of the dummies began moving.
And clenching their mittens into fists.
And despite having stiff bodies, they were even able to lean forwards and backward.
At least one ended up leaning back too much that it could have broken its invisible spine.
"Good luck!" called one of the agents from the sidelines casually.
I shrugged. Oh well. This could be a bit more fun than training on inactive dummies.
It didn't take me long to take all of them down. Normally, I like having my taser along with me since it would give them a shock. But it was more about hand-to-hand combat. And I got enough in my body to take them down. It was surprisingly easy since the dummies couldn't move to another spot. I had to give credit that their programming gave them enough intelligence to make them cunning since only a couple landed one or two hits on me, but I easily brought them down through a punch, kicks or straight-up tackles.
By the time I was done, almost every one of them had their arms, heads or pieces of their bodies ripped apart. I smiled a little, feeling that this was close to the many fights I participated in when back with my squad. Normally, I wouldn't actually try injuring opponents this badly, but these were fake dummies, so it should be fine.
"So you wiped the floor without that much sweat in under 2 minutes," said the panther, writing this on his clipboard. "I noticed that there is a small amount of the ruby's power that helped you a little bit, but it seems to have kicked in during the action. Now, let's try activating the ruby's power for the second try."
The shredded dummies disappeared under the floor and were replaced by new dummies on poles. Cracking my knuckles, I let my ruby have some control and do its thing.
Before I knew it, it kicked in and I wasn't able to tell if the new energy felt suddenly natural.
Not stopping to understand what this energy meant, I charged toward the dummies at an intensely high speed. Without even caring to see my targets properly, I ran through the same procedure of taking down the fake dummies, only stopping when sliding to make a turn. By the time I made it to the other side, the dummies were mangled to the point where you could almost see the mechanics inside them.
Dropping onto one knee, the ruby cooled down and let me take a few breaths. The green aura slowly faded away, but I noticed that there were some faint tails glowing from somewhere. I wondered if that came from my face.
I noticed that I already attracted a few agents around. Some of them were impressed by what they saw. However, the panther shooed them away, clearly not wanting them to be too close.
He remained to have a professional mindset, but his eyes were wider than before. "Somehow, you gained great accuracy, aim and reflexes when you use the Phantom Ruby prototype. Interestingly, all of this only took 30 seconds which could mean that you could take down a group of 10 people for approximately half a minute."
That wasn't what I expect. Before, I didn't have that much control of how fast I could be. However, me being able to land a hit on each of the dummies without just using my speed to rip them apart meant something…
"Tell me," said the panther. "Were you in control when using your ruby?"
I had a thought about it. On the first time, I felt like I was in the zone. During the second time, it felt…quite different to how I thought I might be controlled. And it was nearly in the same way of fighting the dummies on the first try. And as I sped right through them, I felt invincible. I felt as if…I knew what I was doing.
"Somewhat," I said, scratching my chin. "When using the ruby, I had no idea what I was doing. But when doing the entire fight, I was…onto those dummies anyway. Concentrating on beating them to the bone. Something told me to go already. It was as if…the ruby just gave me a push."
The panther nodded, writing this on his clipboard. "It's like it took over, but played a bit of your own personal objective. But that's a theory for now. We need to learn more."
I gulped a little, hoping that would mean the ruby wouldn't control me. "OK, so what's next?"
A loud bang from the sidelines and this time, I leaned back. The red paintball splattered against the wall without losing its accuracy.
"I miss!" said the same shooter.
"Not yet, idiot!" said the sane agent.
"OK, that's the next task," said the panther, stepping away nonchalantly. "I think they waited enough. Good luck!"
And so, here I am being their shooting practice target.
It was just red paint, but after they managed to get a good snipe at my tail, I rather not know what other body part they aim for.
As I kept myself from leaving the taped area, I had to keep dodging every paintball they shot. At first, I was scared of what these kids could really do with a gun replica. However, after a while, it turned out that not all of their shots were impressive. I know girls who could shoot much faster (though to say the least, Fender probably had the least aim with guns).
And it wasn't too hard as I thought. Since this IS an experiment in which they took everything literally, I had to keep moving every part of my body. Especially with the ears and tail since I had to move them aside in case I get hit. Usually, I don't really worry about it since I sometimes get hit on the tail before shrugging it off. But it was as if training your reflexes. I probably looked like some acrobatic guy wanting to show off his dance moves by then as the agent kept trying to get a good shot at me.
After a few gruelling minutes, the panther finally ordered the agent to stop firing, much to his disappointment. I bent down, panting. This was probably more hardworking than running on a treadmill!
"OK," said the panther. "So I can see that you can outlast being shot for quite a long while. Would have did it longer, but this data is good enough. Now, let's see what will happen when you use the ruby."
I wondered how that would go. I let the ruby's energy kick back in. The faraway sound of the gunshot went off, but for some reason, a voice in my head told me not to move a single muscle.
I didn't want to trust the ruby on getting my face painted red as if I ripped someone's throat using my teeth.
Apparently, I didn't even need to worry about it.
For a brief moment, when I should have felt the paintball splatting on me, I only felt my body…distorting. The warm glow overtook me. I growled a little, feeling my mind getting dizzy. If that wasn't enough, I kept seeing green glitches over my eyes. But it quickly passed over without prolonged effects as my body seemed to return to normal. To a physical degree, I hope.
The shooter had a look of disappointment and shock.
Even the panther lifted his eyes wider in surprise. He turned his gaze to where the red paintball splattered at. It was shot in my direction, but it painted the faraway wall.
"Whoa…" he whispered. "I…never thought that happened."
"Wait," I said. "So…I didn't really get shot?"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The shooter tried shooting another few rounds at me. I didn't even need to move or be conscious about this. To my surprise, I could see my own body turning transparent with green glitches as a couple of red paintballs flew right through me. Through my own body. As if it wasn't even there after all!
I found myself nearly hyperventilating at this point. I could have died if I didn't have a ruby and if this was a real-life situation!
How the hell could this ruby really turn me into a ghost? To say that it could warp reality, including my body, was understandable, but I didn't like the thought that it could change the molecules of my body into something else.
And the consequences of what that could cause.
"Did you…activated this kind of power?" asked the panther.
I shook my head, snapping out from my brief shock. "I-I didn't know that would happen! The ruby must have done this to my body! I didn't even think how I could use it before those bullets fly through me."
"Huh. I see then. It appears that it has some kind of defense mechanism to keep your body safe. Like the previous trails, it automatically responds to physical events. Especially threats."
There was yelling coming from the sidelines. The three agents right there were in a scuffle over discussing what weapons they should allow using for the experiment. Eventually, the same shooter brought out what appeared to be a machine gun, ignoring his comrades protesting against the idea. And then, he started firing.
This time, I used control of my ruby's powers to defend myself. The red paintballs hit me, but a thin body-shaped shield protected me from feeling the wet paint. From those watching, it would look like you were seeing me getting covered in paint from head to toe. Once the shooter stopped shooting, I easily shook the paint off.
Like a candle being melted into a puddle, the red paint dripped down and splashed around me, separating itself from my body. Not even a stain on the white fur parts!
"Oh, c'mon!" yelled the shooter in annoyance. "I nearly got him this time!"
"Face it, dude," muttered the second agent. "We will never catch up these guys."
"At least I'm more able to carry these heavy weapons than you guys."
"Hey!" piped up the third agent. "I can pick up an anvil as much as you can!"
"You don't even know how to pick up girls," said the second agent.
To my surprise, their bickering escalated with one nearly reaching out to strangle the other. This would look like something back in my birth town. Violence was a common thing. But I thought not in here due to Topaz telling me not to kill any non-sentient animals. It was much tamer here, but it was weird seeing these agents more than willing to throw a few punches at each other.
So much for this civilization appearing friendlier. A part of me felt relieved that I wasn't the only one with wild looks.
"OK, boys," said the panther, sounding quite fed up. "That's enough of your squabbling for today. Let's not create more extraneous variables here for our participant." He turned back to me. "Unless your ruby could really send neural signals to make you emotionally stone, it appears that it could make you invincible. This ruby would be one of the most powerful gems in the world!"
"You think so?" I asked. "I'm still kind of…curious on the side effects."
"Well, how do you feel now?"
How do I feel? I wasn't sure about the usefulness of the ruby stuck to my chest. Seeing how helpful it was, it would guarantee that Eggman could make a couple of prototypes for his own army and make them invincible. That would be a huge problem, especially what it could do to Zero. Thinking back about Zero made me worry how he might turn out to be.
However, I didn't really feel too different. It was still confusing on how I could do hand-to-hand combat and exercises so quickly than usual, and yet feel the flow of it. I wasn't sure if it was me defending myself or the ruby being the one to protect since I didn't even think about getting shot the first time. From that, I felt quite safe…and somewhat close to feeling normal before I had the ruby.
I kept trying to find hints on if it was manipulating me, but so far, the ruby didn't try to lash out or take full control of me for its own purposes. It just merely acted like a force to steer me in the best course of action.
I hesitated to answer, not wanting to fully admit it. "...g-great. It was…actually kind of great. Though, not taking any chances…I don't know why I'm feeling like this is not too unnatural to me. You know?"
"Interesting," said the panther. "And do you feel that it might be harming you mentally?"
I thought about it. "Aside from the few headaches, not really. But maybe it increased my worries or…"
The panther wrote on his clipboard when I couldn't choke out another word. "This will be noted down, but from what I can find from the data and observations, you seemingly remain the same. The enhanced privileges of the ruby only made you much faster and endurable to physical activities and attacks. If the ruby hasn't been bothering you that much during the tasks, that would mean that it's obeying you, is that the case?"
"You think so? Because I'm not sure if that would be the reason. The ruby was feisty to me a couple of times before."
"We'll see about that."
An idea came to mind. "Say, erm, can we try something out? Perhaps grab one of those…spears there?"
"Oh, you mean the javelins?" He was pointing at a shelf carrying a couple of javelins on display. I nodded, confirming that they were what I wanted to use. "Sure then. But be careful."
He collected one, pulling it out from the shelf. I noticed that he looked kind of eager to hold it. He spun it around and a childlike smile appeared over his muzzle. It didn't last long when he tossed it gently to me.
The javelin was surprisingly coated in black and white stripes without a single scratch on it. I wasn't familiar with javelins since some towns I visited called them spears. The best ones were made from gold or bronze. This javelin in my hands looked equally unbreakable and the sharp tip shined under the ceiling light.
Curiously, I moved my finger close to the sharp tip of the javelin. I felt inclined to touch it. It would be a silly idea since that was an easy way to make a hole in your finger. However, there was something mysterious about getting to touch the sharp point of a knife or a blade. I couldn't help it, staring at the sharp tip of the javelin…
Then, I slowly poked it right through my finger. Or at least it attempted to poke through. My hand glitched, becoming transparent. A fresh green aura surrounded it, making it look distorted. I found myself in awe as I watched the sharp tip poking through the other side of my ghost finger.
The panther flinched, but when he saw that I wasn't injured, he relaxed.
"Sharp objects can't hurt you as well?" he asked, coming forward to me.
"Yeah," I said, trying to poke the javelin through my now-invisible chest. "This feels…rather intriguing."
"You think so?"
"M-Maybe I should stop there," I said, pulling the javelin out. "Sorry, it's kind of weird, but it feels oddly satisfying."
"Getting poked by any kind of sharp object isn't really pleasurable."
"I know, right? Especially when you've seen a couple of battles including knives, spears and blades. But even when that's out of the picture, it feels a bit strange to me. And enlightening when it creates a hole in the body."
The panther raised an eye. "Thoughts of sadism, am I right?"
"No, no, no," I said, shaking my head. "It's kind of more like…curiosity."
"Huh. Never thought of that. Well, I should have thought of that because of the hot-blooded hatchlings here."
"I have to wonder why."
"BAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
On instinct, I whipped around. I didn't stop to notice that a green, holographic knife formed in my hand as I tried to look for the source of the scream.
I didn't need to.
"Sorry! Sorry!" called the female agent, desperately tapping on her phone. "I didn't mean to!"
Geez, this was a bit out of control of using phones here.
"Yep, sex and murder on their brains," remarked the panther dryly. "I know what that was like. Every time you download a video." His eyes suddenly became glassy as if he was recalling a flashback. I tried looking at where he was staring, but he wasn't looking at anything in particular. It only took a few seconds and he returned to reality, noticing that the knife in my hand was slowly trying to form into a real-life knife. "It appears that you CAN create objects into reality."
"Wait, what?" I said, turning around.
And just like that, the knife disappeared.
"It appears that since this is a prototype," explained the panther. "It doesn't really have the same ability as the real one to create objects out of illusions to inflict physical damage or impact on reality. If you are able to, you would be able to fasten many construction sites in Central City."
I looked down at my ruby. It was humming in pride over its little, short-lived creation. "I'm guessing that Eggman didn't really trust me to have a more powerful prototype."
"Given your situation, I believe that's a good thing. Now, shall we try out other tasks or are you done for today?"
The rest of today's experiment was trying to see if I could do the basic tricks of using a magical gem. As I tried them out, I had to wonder if anything could be possible to do when utilizing a reality-warping rock. I was already able to fly in the air, use super strength and speed, and turn my body into a ghost-like form and now I could form fire in the palm of my hand or create an energy orb that could be used as a projectile or a weak battery.
While I remained skeptical, it didn't look too bad so far. The ruby didn't play any other funny tricks on me. It seemed to be on good behavior as well. The worst was whenever I get headaches if I appeared to have gone over a limit (I learned that the hard way when trying to use holographic fire on my head) or it hummed non-stop as if wanting attention. The panther took note, but he didn't look too worried about it.
It was already a few minutes before noon and the panther decided to wrap up today's experiment. We returned to the lab so that he could remove the vital chips, but for some reason…
"Would it be alright if I can keep them on?" I asked. "It actually kind of feels nice."
The panther was dumbfounded. "Why's that? They're not for recreational purposes."
"Yeah, but I got used to them. It feels nice having them on." I scratched the back of my head. "It's a bit silly, I know."
The panther just chuckled. "You sure have the energy like those hatchlings out there. Always a bit carefree with the danger outside and not knowing that something will pop out from the ground to eat you up. Today's generation is nothing but trouble."
"Nah, trouble finds you," I pointed out. "And I know already that there will be something that will pop out of nowhere."
"Suit yourself."
The panther finally removed the last vital chip on my body and I swung my jacket back over me. I slapped my inhibitor rings back on, feeling lighter once again. The ruby sighed in my mind. I nearly complied leaving the green sweatband behind, but I just stuffed it into my pocket for safekeeping. As I turned to leave, I realized something.
"Wait a minute," I said, raising my hand. "I forgot to ask your name. You know me by Obsidian. What's yours?"
The panther scientist's stoic expression dropped and he smiled. He returned the handshake. "I'm September. Doctor September. That's actually my first name."
That is an interesting name. I thought there would be simple and meaningless names in civilization since in the desert, it was much wilder. But for someone who went by 'September', there must be a nice variety.
"Nice to meet you, September," I said back.
The panther nodded. "Nice to meet you as well. Thank you for your participation. Enjoy the rest of today."
This might take a little longer to read since I want to include this in. Well, more of someone to include.
I noticed a lot of agents exiting the training rooms. They seemed to be of different ages at different training rooms with the youngest taking what I suppose to be the 'safest' training rooms. I wondered if I would be stuck with the lower rooms since I clearly had more experience and could easily be a fighting teacher myself.
Look, I know Molly told me that she registered into G.U.N at 18 years old, but it felt a bit concerning that there were a couple of young rookies joining this military. Shouldn't they wait for a little while until they are midway through their 20s or 30s? I was starting to question if this was due to them needing money or just wanting to join for the fun of it.
Remembering back to the experiment, there were a couple of trigger-happy people. They weren't exposed to violence, blood or poverty before! How could they gain such eager thoughts in shooting? Given that September did tell me about downloading videos or something, there goes everyone's bright innocence in having a bright future.
These training rooms kind of reminded me of Fender. The crazy mechanic of my Jackal Squad. She would be more than happy to join the training and possibly destroy a room. It would be a bad idea to have her here, but it would be funny to watch her spread the mayhem by breaking down a couple of walls with her gadgets. She would get along so well with the rookies…
I wonder what she would think of this place. G.U.N might look strict, but they seemed to be loosening up for new soldiers.
There was gunfire going on in one of the training rooms. Its door didn't appear to be as flashy as the others. I thought everybody was already out for lunch, so maybe a few stayed back to practice some more. I felt curious to see who was in there and so did the ruby.
Though, as I approached the door, it suddenly screamed in my mind not to open it. I rolled my eyes as it already sounded like a little child complaining.
It turned out that it was right.
I was greeted by the barrel of a gun right up my face as soon as the door opened.
"Oh, there you are, hermano," said Molly casually. "Everything good?"
I wouldn't call THIS good since you wouldn't have a gun pointed at your head regularly. I scolded myself for acting nervous since I had been pointed with knives and other canines' noses before.
"Um…yeah, I'm good, I'm good, Molly," I said.
I noticed Molly's shoulders drooping, lowering her guard. But she didn't lower her gun.
"How did you exactly know I was here?" she questioned. "Were you stalking me?"
"I-It's not what it looks like!" I said, profusely sweating. "I just heard something and I came to check out. And please lower down your gun!"
"I can't," said Molly bluntly. "I have to stay on focus."
"And what's to focus on having my forehead as your target."
"This is an exclusive sniper gun," hissed Molly, moving her gun away. "I can't lose good eyesight on aim for this!"
"I don't think it's a good idea having it up to my head like this."
"It should be fine. The safety is on." She turned it around to her back and pressed the trigger. A loud bang and the target hanging from the wall had a new hole in it. "Now."
"Please just don't wave it around," I said, shivering.
"Can't promise that," said Molly before running back to concentrate on the targets.
Stepping in, I looked around this small training room. It appeared to be more built for long-range shooters. A couple of guns were on display, hanging from the walls. There were some in glass displays which appeared to be the more powerful guns to use.
The target Molly was shooting had a couple of holes in it. Actually, she must have covered the whole thing since the circular target looked like it needed to be replaced. The hole in the center revealed that there was even a hole in the wall!
"I'm supposing that you aren't that much of a shooter type, huh?" asked Molly out of nowhere.
"Guns are rare where I come from," I said, running my hand through my mohawk. "We usually go melee unless we have crossbows or bows."
"Well, you're gonna need to learn how to use guns like these or you'll be killed in one shot."
"So, do you like shooting a lot?"
Molly lowered her sniper gun. "Well…it's not really great. My Abuela told me that we shouldn't rely on using guns too much as we could be dealing with weapons made for monsters. However, this is a safer way of going undercover and attacking."
I sniffed the air a little. "You seem to be tense. Am…I provoking you now?"
The purple cat groaned, rolling her eyes. "No, I'm not tense."
"You definitely are. Remember-"
"You can smell me, yeah, I know. You don't know everything, jackal."
"She's kind of right, Mister," said a nearby sniper training alongside her. "Little Molly here just has a couple of insecurities that she'll miss the spot."
"Hey!" snarled Molly, whipping around. "I never miss the spot! I've been practicing here for my entire life to get it right!"
"Eh, but you know that veterans don't miss the spot. That jackal bandit is probably gonna be our lucky charm from now on. Most of the former criminals are too busy to hang around."
"Don't be swayed by them. He might be incompetent."
"I'm over here…" I grumbled.
The rude sniper snorted, turning around as he put his hands on his hips. "Well, the more rebellious ones are the best people. I mean, look at him. Look back at me. Don't you think that we find him rather…enticing~?"
Molly didn't bother looking at me. She stared at the rude sniper for an awfully long time before looking…downwards. I couldn't tell if she was looking at his boots or crotch.
"Maybe you can try licking his kitty, then you'll probably know what I mean," said the rude sniper.
In response, Molly turned off the safety and pointed her gun at him.
"ALL THREE OF US ARE NOT EVEN AT THAT STAGE YET!" she yelled. "YOU HAD TOO MANY GIRLFRIENDS ALREADY!"
"That's a lie!" said the rude sniper, putting his hands up. "They all just drive me mad!"
"Says the guy who encourages one of his exes to drink wine mixed with your s-"
"OK, I think that's a little too much there," I said, pulling Molly back. "Just stop."
The purge cat huffed. "Don't think I will."
"Anyway," I said. "You're…scared of missing the spot?"
Molly rolled her eyes. "Don't dwell on it. Everyone always fears of screwing things up."
"Technically, you kind of screwed up by pointing a gun at people's heads as a defense mechanism."
"And you got your face smashed into a speeding truck yesterday," said Molly bluntly. "So we're even. Think you can use guns without having one smashing right into your face?"
"I don't feel that guns are my kind of thing," I said. "That feels like cheating."
"So what do you do? Claw your way up through the walls to pounce on people?"
It was my turn to roll my eyes, feeling annoyed. I decided to play along with this. Underneath, I noticed a small shelf of small spears. With a giddy smile, I took one out, presenting it to the purple cat.
"Well, can you do something like this?" I teased.
I jumped back and kicked the spear upwards. It went soaring through the air and I didn't even need to look. Sort of since it went through the center hole of the target. Looking back, judging by how dark the hole was, it must have cut right through the wall deeply!
"How's that?" I said with a smirk. "Not sure how much effort you really put into just using guns. Not that impressive you can use with them?"
Molly slowly turned to me and without any emotion, she replaced her gun's bullet clip with a purple clip. She kept her eyes on me as she turned her sniper gun back and shot two bullets in different directions. One ended up shooting a lampshade hanging from the ceiling and the other hitting the rude sniper behind her.
"AAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH!" screeched the sniper in over-the-top agony. "I have been shot! I have been shot!"
But as far as I could see, the only thing that shot him was purple paint. On the shoulder. And the lampshade above him was coated in purple.
"Really?" I said. "Is that all-?"
"Shush," said Molly, putting a finger over my mouth.
"But-"
"Wait for it."
"Are you trying to stall me?"
"No, just counting in my head in hopes that it would come."
"You're clearly stalking."
"And where's the fun in it when you take too long with someone waiting for you to hurry up?"
"OK, you ARE stalking me."
"Technically not. Wait…I think it should happen…"
The rope holding onto the lampshade got the worse as when Molly shot it, it broke a couple of strings from it. As the remaining strings couldn't hold on, they eventually broke and the lampshade came crashing down onto the rude sniper's head. Blinded, he let out another scream and tried to run. Only to end up tripping over his dropped gun.
I looked back at Molly. "No one likes a show-off."
"Unless what they show off is reinforced the fact of how THOROUGHLY skilled they are," answered Molly, a smirk crossing over her muzzle.
I clenched my teeth, nodding in agreement. "Damn…that's true."
Molly shrugged before she turned back to target shooting. "Well, at least you're…not bad in body strength."
"Oh, well…thank you, Molly?"
"Just saying it as a fact, Obsidian," said Molly quickly.
"Oh. You know that it's about lunchtime now, so perhaps you should take a break?"
"I'm sticking around here for the rest of the day," said Molly, waving her hand. "Go off to play with something. Shoo. Shoo."
"Just offering. I don't really mean it in that way or what the jerk implied about you doing…whatever what's with me. But perhaps a chat or two? I'm thinking of even trying to find Antoine and Matthew again."
Molly lowered her gun, considering it. For a moment, I thought I saw her blushing a little. However, she shook it off and didn't lower her guard.
"W-Whatever," she said. "Just go. I'm not interested."
I sighed, shrugging. "Fair enough then. But nice seeing you again here today."
Molly chuckled a little. "You curious little dog. Funny that I'm not a cute little cat with many obsessions."
"You already have an obsession with guns."
The purple cat went back to shooting down the other targets in her sight. I made sure to step over the rude sniper who was performing dramatically about his supposed 'death'. Molly would eventually tell him that he just gotten shot with a purple paintball. So far, she was snarky, but she wasn't too bad.
Sure, she is pretty cranky and I learned that she can hold a grudge like no one else's business. However, she is dedicated to her job which shows how serious she is. She should chill a little, but at least she wasn't too reckless like the rookies I saw so far.
Might be an exaggeration that she isn't bad, but I'm curious about her for some reason.
AN: The entire scene of Obsidian meeting up with Molly takes some inspirations from a scene in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (specifically, the part where Molly holds her gun casually at Obsidian) and a scene from The Suicide Squad. While Molly is stern and no-nonsense, that doesn't mean she isn't sane. So, thought that her carrying around at least one gun would be pretty funny and using it for defence without thinking through if it is necessary in a certain situation. :3
The goat screaming comes when I remembered a scene from Family Guy. Also a bit of a slight reference to Thor: Love and Thunder, especially to those who have annoyed reactions towards screaming goats.
I don't think Obsidian is really ready to know what Gen X have been looking up on their computers and phones, lmao. Just type in a female character's name and there goes his mind. Also, it provides as a contrast to the usual seriousness of fighting in the outlands and the usual carelessness of using weapons as toys in modern society.
The panther's name has been decided to be 'September'. Honestly, that was a name I used for an OC meant to be for the next entry of my Forces United series. But similar to Molly's situation, the old draft was deleted and so I used the name for the new character here.
I'm not sure if there are certain training rooms in military bases that are categorize by level of each soldier and the kind of ammo they are allowed to use in those rooms. Would that be the case that the lower soldiers have to use fake bullets first in training before using the real thing on missions or going to higher-level training rooms? Let me know if that's the case.
Thank you for reading this chapter! If you enjoy this story, be sure to follow or favorite this story, so you can get updates about this story. If there is any feedback or constructive criticism you want to share, let me know in your review. It would be nice to hear open thoughts so that I can know what to improve.
Until next time, keep on rocking!