Jim jogged across the grass towards his classmates. The fields before him had been divided into sections. Each four man team stood in their own zone. Jim trotted over to the only squad of three. Braxton bumped shoulders with him as he fell into line.

"Now remember, the barriers will dissipate all blasts, however I do not want you shooting wildly for no reason. These are live charges and I expect you to treat them as the weapons they are." Instructor Gru stood before them as he spoke. "I will not accept any willy-nilly weapon swinging, impetuous shooting, haphazard decision making, or giggling." Someone in the crowd snickered. Gru fixed him with a glare. "I said no giggling."

Gru turned back towards the stunned expressions before him. "Alright boys. Step into your zones. I'll set the shields up. Wait for the signal, then go."

"What are we doing?" Jim followed Varian and Matt into their sectioned off patch of grass.

"Moving target practice. The shields will display various opponents, we need to take them out as quickly as possible." Braxton flicked the safety off. The other three boys followed his lead.

Around them anchor points lit up. A glossy wall grew up and out of them, joining together to create a shimmering bubble around the boys. Through the translucent walls of their enclosure they could see that each other team was surrounded by a bubble shield of their own. Gru stood alone in the middle of the field. "As soon as you see your first opponent, you may start."

That was the last they saw of their instructor. Without warning the bubble turned black, plunging them into darkness. From the ground grew trees and bushes. Long vines looped between branches and a thick mist filled the air. What little sunlight penetrated this deeply in the jungle washed everything in a soft greenish glow.

A sudden sound on their left had all four boys spinning that way, guns raised. A monkey hung from a vine and studied them with wide eyes. He swung himself back up into the trees and disappeared.

"Do we know what we're defending ourselves against?" Jim asked in a low voice. He slowly lowered his gun to face the ground again.

"No," Varian's reply was tense. He too brought his weapon down. "We weren't told."

Braxton kept his gun trained on the trees around them as he scanned their surroundings. "We'll know it when we see it."

From the right came a scream. As the boys whipped that way a colorful bird took flight, his blue and yellow feathers standing out against the brown and green background. Matt let out a shaky laugh. The air filled with whoops and howls. Something else screamed in the distance. Birds called and bugs sang. Braxton spun toward each new sound, his gun raised and ready to shoot.

Matt set a hand on his shoulder. "Let's try walking a little. See if the scenery changes, or if we're in a fixed location."

Varian spoke up. "I think, based on my calculations, we're in a fixed location unless all of us move together. I did some wondering and nothing has changed, but there was a small shift when we all scrambled this way after that, uh, whatever it was shrieked."

Jim shrugged. "Then let's pick a direction and walk."

Varian took the lead. He seemed to have something in mind as he guided them through the dome. As he had indicated, the scenery changed with them as they wondered. Every time they reached the edge of the dome the boys would loop back to the other side two at a time so as not to lose their progress.

Jim felt like he had been walking for miles. Maybe he had been. He couldn't tell time in this dense jungle. The humid mists were doing nothing to cool him off. If anything he was sweating more for the thick heat that it trapped against their skin.

"Where are we going, Varian?" Braxton demanded. "This is stupid. We've done nothing but walk in a straight line, and no enemies have appeared. We're probably going to wander out of the combat area."

"We're going east now!" Varian replied brightly. He spun ninety degrees to his right and started walking that direction instead. "Come on then!"

Matt grabbed his shoulder. "Let's take a break. What's the plan? Where are we going?"

"Mostly in circles." The bright young boy shrugged as he looked up at his companions. "What, you guys didn't notice?"

"Notice what?" Jim asked.

Braxton crossed his arms. "We're in a closed circuit, aren't we?"

Varian nodded. "Yes. That's the fifth time we've passed this tree with the broken branch. I noticed it when the simulation first loaded. I'm certain it's the same tree."

Matt pinched his nose. "You could have just asked me to keep track of it. Hang on. Let me think." he drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This is so much easier if I actually know you want me to remember something," he grumbled to himself. After a moment, he nodded. "Yeah, you two are right. We've been going in circles."

Braxton threw himself down to the ground. "Great. So we've been walking for who knows how long to get nowhere and do nothing. We're going to fail this assessment. How have we not run into any oppositional forces yet? Are they just laughing at us while we spin about like tops?"

Varian sat down in the wet grass beside him. "I don't know."

Matt flicked the safety back on and settled in next to them. "Let's just sit and see what happens."

Jim sank to the ground beside his friends. "Sure. You guys want to hear what happened when I went to see Mister Boots?"

Braxton groaned. "Let me guess. It's about Sy?"

"No," Jim answered defensively.

"Surprising. Alright, let's hear it." Braxton replied. Matt swatted him and nodded for Jim to go ahead and speak.

The bubble popped.

Cool air surged into what had been their humid dome. The mist dissipated into the air. The boys blinked and sheltered from the sudden surge of light as they reoriented themselves to the surroundings of the field.

"Good work, cadets!" Instructor Gru grinned at the lot of them. "Most of you did very well. Some of your teams did simply awful." Varian flinched and looked away. They hadn't shot a single thing. Gru continued. "Do you have any idea how many innocent animals you killed? I told you not to shoot until you saw an opponent!"

Around the field boys exchanged looks with each other. Several of them were discussing their experiences in hushed whispers.

"Not every scary situation is one that requires a gun. What if there had been a native that was approaching you to help? Would you have shot them the way you mowed down those monkeys? If you want to carry a gun, you need to be responsible for how you handle it! You can't just shoot everything you see!" Gru sighed heavily and pressed his face to his fingertips. "You have much to learn. A happy trigger is a still trigger."

Gru gestured to the lockers. "Put your guns away and get out a freeze ray. We're going to play freeze tag."