A Scythe Wielder and Wasps

On the next day, most of the teams had to go through more training sessions, while some had already started patrolling in different areas. One of the teams that planned to continue training for the day was Haneul’s; as she felt that the rookies could still use more practice based on yesterday’s session. However, today’s session was going to be different than the one before. They decided that it might be a good idea to have the rookies team up and fight against one of the higher ranked Rangers on the team. Which may both serve as motivation and way to get to know their team’s skills and capabilities better.

The pairings were also switched this time, Astrid and Rain entered the simulation together. The two were expecting to see a city similar to Harmony, but instead they found themselves in a city that had no sky and it was nearly always dark. The only light was coming from street lamps and some buildings. It was also rather deserted. Not a single soul passing by. Cinder enters the simulation. “Confused?” She asks. Astrid points to the sky and asks, “What happened there? Is this a glitch?”

She laughs then explains, “No, not a glitch. This is actually a simulation of Nox Town. Which is our team’s main area. We chose this as today’s setting to get you familiar with it. But don’t worry, you will get used to it soon enough.”

Astrid’s eyes widened, “So it’s always this dark there? There is no sky?”

“Yup. It is an underground city after all.”

“Right…makes sense”

Cinder nods, “Anyways, you will have time to admire it when we are actually there.” She brings out her weapon-which was a large scythe, and says “let’s start this session now shall we?” Astrid and Rain prepare themselves.

“So, how do we go about this?” Rain asks.

“Pretend as if I was an enemy. Just attack me.”

“Are you sure? Don’t we have an advantage since its two of us against you?” Astrid asks with an uncertain look on her face.

Cinder smiles then quickly lunges herself forward towards Astrid. Astrid quickly prepares to defend with her Axe and shield. But in a split second, as Cinder was so close to Astrid, she changes her direction towards Rain. A feint! Rain debates whether to switch her guns to dual swords or to dodge. Dodging would be difficult right now as the scythe has a wide range… she immediately transforms her guns to swords, blocking Cinders attack. “Nice!” Cinder comments. But Cinder changes her approach immediately after, she uses her scythe to thrust herself upwards. Cinder flips midair and appears behind Rain. She is… too fast. Rain said to herself. Cinder managed to trap her between herself and the scythe.

“Rain, dodge!” Astrid shouts as she approaches Cinder from the side. While Cinder was distracted for a moment, Rain escapes from below. As Astrid got closer to Cinder she hesitates to attack-But…what if she gets hurt for real. I don’t want to hurt another human. While Astrid was slowing down, struggling to swing her Axe, Cinder quickly dodges by jumping upwards. Then she spins with her scythe and rushes towards Astrid. Unable to dodge in time, Astrid decides to defend herself using her shield and Axe. But as Cinder clashed with her, the force from the spin pushes Astrid backwards-despite trying her best to stay firm on the ground.

Meanwhile, Rain appears from behind Cinder and attacks with her blade. Cinder notices and uses her scythe again to thrust herself into the air. But Rain does not take a pause, she quickly jumps after Cinder and attacks with her dual blades. Cinder manages to block Rain’s attacks with her scythe while she was midair. As they were about to land back on the ground, Astrid also approaches them from the other side “Rain, let’s finish this!” Cinder pushes Rain away for a second and assesses the situation. As Rain fell back, she quickly switches her weapons to guns again and immediately fires at Cinder. At the same time, Astrid lunges herself towards Cinder, ready to swing her Axe this time it’s alright Astrid, it’s only a simulation.

Cinder grins, she could feel the thrill as she was fighting with the two. Woah, they’re this good now. This batch is amazing. However- as Astrid’s attack as well as Rains bullets got closer, she suddenly spins- deflecting the attacks with her scythe. Astrid was pushed away, but she manages to land on the ground safely. After Cinder lands, the two stood on each side, carefully observing what she was going to do next. But she puts her scythe away. “It’s over?” Astrid asks. She nods then says, “Well done both of you, I’m glad you actually took it seriously and fought well. Personally I’ve noticed some improvement from yesterday.” Rain was still panting-tired from the fight, she took a moment to catch her breath then says, “Thank you Cinder. You were so fast and skilled.” Astrid nods and adds, “Yes, your skills with using that weapon are amazing.” Cinder chuckles then stood proud with her hands on her waist, “Why thank you! But don’t feel bad about yourselves, this takes time and experience. Hard work too of course.” They all suddenly received a notification on their devices. Cinder opens the message she received and her eyes widened in shock, “What is going on…oh dear.”

The news read, “Neo Tapica’s Ministry of Health announces an outbreak-warns neighboring nations.”

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In a different simulation Kai and Fei were in the middle of a jungle. They were fighting against a group of Outsiders. They resembled big flies/wasps. Kai was excited this time because he had his Cyglider with him; which his team allowed him to use for trainings as well. At first he was focused on running away from the Outsiders until he found an opening to counter attack. But as he was gliding through the jungle, for a moment there he forgot about the simulation. It felt too real. He could feel and hear the breeze that passed by him, the sunlight peeking through the trees and leaves every few seconds, the sound of insects and birds… it was a much different world that Lapis. So this is Neo Tapica? It’s beautiful…I could cruise here for hours, He thought to himself. But this moment of relaxation didn’t last very long as the Outsiders ambushed him from the sides all of a sudden. Oh snap. He quickly extended his lance and used it to push away any Outsiders from him.

Meanwhile, Fei was using the trees and their branches to navigate through the jungle midair. That fool… Why did he have to run away? All to test that toy of his… she thought to herself. Fei was not enjoying these training sessions, she felt that they were a waste of time. She wanted to go into a real battle to fight Outsiders. As she followed Kai using their trackers, she noticed that he suddenly slowed down. She suddenly heard a voice from her transmitter, “Fei! It’s Kai here. The Outsiders all ambushed me at once, need some help please.” Fei already thought as much given that he seemed to have paused all of a sudden. Great, now let’s finish this.

These wasp-like Outsiders not only attacked up close but they could also shoot from a distance. Fortunately Kai had a Cyglider to move around quickly. The Outsiders did not attack randomly though, four of them were scattered around attacking from a distance while three were attacking Kai up-close with their sharp stingers. This is getting overwhelming… he got stung from behind by one of the Outsiders. Ouch! If only the four would stop their constant shooting- it’s getting annoying.

Fei could see Kai and the Outsiders now from between the trees. Four Outsiders were each in corner attacking from a distance. He should be able to handle the ones up close with his lance, these four are probably distracting him with their attacks. She thought as she got her bow and four arrows ready at once. These four are staying still-what easy prey… She runs forward and jumps up. As she is right above Kai, in the center of the Outsider circle, she waits until she reaches the right height then immediately releases the four arrows. Each arrow pierces through their head- where their beams where coming from. Leaving them useless. Fei lands right behind Kai.

“Woah- when did you get here! Didn’t see you coming.” He said with a surprised expression.

Fei quickly dodges an attack from an Outsider that was close.

“Let me handle these ones now. Thanks for defeating the others, that was super-fast!” Kai says in a confident tone as he prepares himself.

Fei frowns, I didn’t do it for you, do I seem like backup? She whispers in a low voice to herself. She retreats back to the trees to have a better view and attack from there. Right before she manages to land on a branch, an Outsider appears from the other side- facing her midair. This was slightly different than the previous ones; it was much bigger in size. Eh-where did you come from…you were hiding?! It launched a beam that was bigger than the other ones. Fei, unable to dodge in time, got hit and fell back on the ground.

“Fei! Are you alright?” Kai asks as he rushes to her side. He extends his hand to help her get up but she turns her head to the side and gets up by herself. Meanwhile, the other Outsiders rush towards them. Kai stands in front of Fei and pushes them away with his lance. He then switches the top of his lance to an axe and pierces the Outsiders with it.

While Kai was handling the smaller Outsiders, Fei was focused on the Bigger one. She runs around it. The Outsider’s eye was following her movements. I should test one attack from here before getting closer, she thought. Fei prepares an arrow and shoots it right towards its eye. But it was destroyed as it got hit by the Outsiders beam just before it got closer. Need to distract it somehow…. While she was thinking, she noticed that Kai was suddenly charging towards the big Outsider with his lance, ready to pierce through. What? You’re just rushing forward like that?! But despite his reckless attempt, Fei realizes that she has an opening now. She jumps on a tree branch nearby, gets closer to the Outsider then quickly prepares and shoots three arrows at the Outsiders eye again. Then immediately jumps above and splits her arrow into two daggers and prepares to attack as soon as she lands on its head. The huge Outsider destroys the arrows using its beam again. As Kai got close, the Outsider launched another beam, but Kai smoothly dodges using his Cyglider and thrusts his lance into its stomach. He then maneuvers his Cyglider to go upwards to tear the Outsider with his lance. The Outsider was immediately preparing another beam before Kai got close to its eye, but Fei was able to thrust her daggers into its head; stopping it from launching an attack.

After the simulation ended, Kai and Fei went back to the training rooms where they notice the rest of their team was absorbed into a serious discussion. “What’s wrong, did something happen?” Kai asks.

“Didn’t you receive a notification on your devices? About The outbreak…” says Skylar with an uneasy tone.

“Outbreak?!” Kai says in a surprised tone as he looks at his phone. “Ah, we did get a notification a while ago but I guess we were too occupied with the fight, we didn’t notice.”

“There appears to be an outbreak of some disease in Neo Tapica. They have just announced it to the public.” Said Lemon.

“Weren’t we supposed to go there sometime this week?” Asks Joshua as he looks at Anushka who was lost in thought.

“Yes, we were going to head there end of this week anyway as part of our usual patrol. But-” Silas adds, then looks at The two Captains and waits for their response.

“We will have to wait for orders from above- Whether there is a change in the usual plan or if we are to go as usual.” Explains Ryujin.