The Shape Shifter

The Outsider remained still in the center shooting lasers at its surroundings, destroying cars and buildings. Rain was dodging its attacks, trying to find the right time to attack. On the other hand, Sami was on the offensive as soon as the battle started. He was not successful at landing any attacks yet, but it did not stop him from getting back up again and rushing towards it. Whenever Sami got close to it, the Outsider unleashed a magnetic field around itself to repel him away. “Dammit, does this thing have any blind spots?” He frustratingly says as he was pushed away for the 5th time now.

“Look-it seems to be changing..” Rain says as she focused her gaze on the Outsider. The sphere expands and revels two limbs. “It has arms now? As if it was not causing us enough trouble while it was only a ball,” says Sami as he got up and prepared his stance, carefully observing the Outsider for any sudden attack. Rain holds onto her handguns with a tight grip. The Outsider was holding two blades now. It locks onto Rain and rushes towards her with rapid speed. “Careful Rain!” Sami shouts. She bends her knees slightly, leaning closer to the ground. Eyes locked onto the Outsider. Right as it got close to her, she jumps and flips midair. In the middle of the flip, as she was facing the Outsider from an upside down view, she fires her guns. A couple of bullets manage to reach it this time, but the barrier immediately returns. “Nice! Looks like it has more blind spots in this form.” Sami says-feeling optimistic again. “Yes but it’s also much faster this time.” He grins as he leans forward, “That is not a problem. Let’s finish this quickly!” The Outsider dashes towards them whilst spinning. They both move out of its way, each on the opposite side. Rain fires her guns again, but the bullets do not seem to be going through this time. The Outsider crashes onto a huge building. “If only it would stay still for a moment…” says Sami in a frustrated tone. “I think the eye is what’s triggering the barrier, we could try attacking from where it’s not looking,” Rain explains. The Outsider now rushes towards Sami with the same spinning attack. It’s too focused on Sami at the moment, I must distract it! thought Rain. She charges towards the Outsider, transforms her guns into two short swords and lunges herself forward after picking up some speed. While in midair, she spins and lands an attack at its legs, making It lose its balance for a short moment. In that brief moment Sami turns around and quickly advances towards the Outsider. This is my chance! He thought as he swings his sword then thrusts it right through the outsiders face. They both fall back on their feet as they watch the Outsider explode and vanish In thin air. The simulation ends.

They wake up again in the cubicles. As they got out they found the rest of the team waiting for them, including Astrid and Jay. “I thought we would be early, but guess you beat us to it first,” says Sami playfully. “Only by a minute or two, we just finished too,” explains Jay. Sami glances over at Astrid and notices that she appears to be troubled. Before he could ask, Aaron begins by saying, “Well done all of you. I imagine this was probably more difficult that you have faced during your simulations. But nevertheless, you did well.”

“Are the Outsiders that we have faced based on real or completely made up ones?” Asks Jay.

“These are made up by the simulation of course but it is based on data we have collected from previous encounters. However, as you may have guessed, these are not very high ranking ones. Do not worry too much though, usually a level B or higher Ranger would be responsible for defeating them. The rest of the team is likely to play more of a supporting role.” He closes his eyes and smiles, tilting his head to the slide slightly, “but who knows, you might find yourself in a situation where you encounter one directly by yourself.” Astrid and Jay’s eyes widened and they had a worried expression on their faces. Cinder; a level B ranger on the team, approaches Astrid and Jay from the back and lightly pats their shoulders, “Now Aaron, do not scare them like this. Just because it happened to you does not mean it’ll happen to them.” She looks at the rookies and says in a firm and reassuring tone, “We won’t let it happen. Those monsters have taken more than enough from us.”

Sami, who seemed to quiet and lost in thought for a few minutes suddenly asks, “From your experience, is it common to face Outsiders that we have already collected data on?” After a short pause, he answers him, “Good question Sami. To answer your question, yes-we do encounter Outsiders that we have collected data on. However, it’s not always the case. And there have been times were we thought we knew everything there is to know about a particular type, but it turns out to be slightly different. Hence, I highly advise you to simply use the database we have just as reference but always keep your guard up, expect the unexpected.”

Haneul nods and adds, “I agree with Aaron on this. Please never assume we know everything. Many rangers lost their lives falling into this trap.” Silence filled the room for a few seconds, the atmosphere felt tense and heavy. Then Aaron breaks the silence, “Anyways, we will be giving you feedback in pairs and individually on your performance shortly. Please wait while we gather our thoughts in the group meeting room.”

After they left, Jay went closer to Astrid and asks in a low voice, “Hey Astrid, listen…about earlier-“ She looks at him with an intense and serious expression and asks, “What happened there?”

“Um well, I think I hesitated for a moment…before shooting the arrows. And so, I failed to hit all of the spots.”

“You…hesitated?”

“…yes, I guess so-“

Astrid was furious now, “What do you mean you hesitated? You think I was not scared either? It’s easier for you since you were just attacking from a distance. Yet you were the one that hesitated?”

“Aren’t you overreacting a little…?” He asks.

“Am I? What about if this was a real battle? How can I possibly trust you? I’ll probably get killed.“ she sighs then walks out of the room.