"My goodness look at you. Other than Trackstar, none of you even look like you have the potential to handle battlefield conditions." Drill Sergeant Perry taunted, his voice dripping with disdain as the girls lined up in front of the obstacle course. The course starts off with a few vaults, some of which can be jumped over with relative ease before getting to a low wall which must be vaulted over. There is a tunnel that any kid would be enthusiastic to crawl through before reaching the monkey bar obstacle which must be used to cross over a ditch of mud. Afterwards, there is a barbed wire field which must be crossed by crawling under the wire. A few solders with machine guns stand at the ready who are clearly aiming just above the wire once the girls start crawling through the wire. Past the wire, an imposing observation tower rose tall at the end, and despite its lack of a ladder or apparent way to climb it, Emi couldn't shake the feeling that they’d need to scale it somehow. Otherwise, the course is going to be a breeze for her. She doesn't know how her squad mates will prevail. This is all a simulation after all but the girls would have to be quick to commit to physical actions. It might as well be the real deal.
"Trackstar! You're the team leader so set the example for your squad mates who will follow you lead. Prove to me your so called track experience and I might set my doubts aside. The rest of you better keep up or you'll be in the shitter. Understood?!"
"Yes, Drill Sergeant!" The girls answer clearly.
"Right then, on my mark..." He prepares his digital timer on his hand. "Trackstar, Get a move on!"
Emi sprints through the obstacle course, getting through the vaults like a natural. It's all of the familiarity of doing track. Chiara, Hikari, and Mai follow suit in that order but other than Mai who wishes she could rush ahead has to slow down as Chiara and Hikari make it through the vaults in a very clumsy manner. Their skirts certainly don't make it easy. "Come on! Hurry it up ladies! Move like your life depends on it! If this were a real battlefield, you'll all be left behind by your squad leader and left for dead!"
Emi and the others eventually make it over the low wall. Emi dives down into the grown and crawls through the tunnel as quickly as she can, using her elbows and feet to push her quickly through the tunnel. Chiara doesn't have any issues going through the tunnel surprisingly enough as her small frame gives her plenty of room to quickly get through the tunnel. Hikari is next followed by Mai who is right behind her when they crawl through the tunnel. "Nice panties, Hikari," she teased, her voice barely audible over the sound of shuffling feet and scraping elbows. Hikari’s face reddened with fury, and without hesitation, kicks Mai in the face with the force of her boot, giving her mild damage to her health bar on her heads up display. Mai groans as she holds onto her nose. "Ow!...Can't take a joke? Jeez" Mai finally gets through the tunnel with a quarter of her health depleted.
The monkey bars were next and Emi was able to get across them with ease. She has fond memories of playing in the playground with Tomio as a child and the monkey bars were one of Emi's favorites. She pulls through the bars like a natural, crossing over the mud pit and plants her feet at the end of the mud pit. When Chiara makes her attempt over the bars, she struggles, trying to hang onto the first bar while attempting to let go of one hand to reach the other bar, she loosens her grip and starts hanging with one arm, unable to get her other arm to the other bar before completely falling into the mud pit. "Oh Christ, you didn't even make it half away. Get out of the mud and try again Mouse!"
Chiara gets up from the mud pit, crawling out of it back onto dry land, she's completely drenched in mud and can only wipe her hands on the ground before attempting to cross the bars again. She tries to move her arms with more force and meaning when she grips onto the first bar and then lets go to quickly grab a hold of the next bar and slowly but surely she starts to learn the motion. "That's it...now hurry it up, Mouse!" Hikari and Mai have to wait for Chiara to get across first. Hikari does not want to end up dirty as Chiara so once she's across, Hikari follows the same method as Chiara going slow but steady, eventually getting to the other side of the mud pit. Mai done this before and gets across albeit with the extra weight of her RPG-7 launcher and rocket bag which weighs her down significantly.
The barbed wire obstacle is next. Emi gets down in the prone position as she did with the tunnel obstacle and starts crawling the moment she gets under the barbed wire, the machine gunners with their M240Bs begin to open fire just barely over the wire. The loud crack of the gunfire and whizzing of bullets just above her startle Emi enough to stop in her tracks. "Hey...Hey! Why are you stopping Trackstar?! Don't worry about my machine gunners! Keep your head down and you won't have to deal with a respawn. Hurry it up!" Emi takes the Drill Instructors words into consideration and continues to crawl under the barbed wire. Her clothes are starting to get dirt from the ground and all of the debris from the machine guns firing just above her. It's bit more stressful than she imagined, but it's not the first time she's been under fire in this game. The other girls see Emi getting through without any problems and crawl through successfully as well. Except for Mai who gets her RPG-7 Launcher stuck on the barbed wire at one point while she's crawling. "Watch your equipment! If my machine gunners hit your rocket propelled grenades, you're going to make a mess of yourself and my obstacle course!" Mai lifts her hand just slightly above to move the barbed wire off her RPG launcher and quickly squirms over to the other girls waiting at the base of the observation tower. Emi's eyes are focused on the top of the observation tower. She doesn't show it but she's starting to feel a little anxious about what's to come next.
"Looks like you ladies managed to get through my obstacle course. I wouldn't say you were particularly fast. My Nan could get through the course faster than any of you. Let’s be honest here; I'm probably expecting too much from you." The Drill Sergeant is firm and condescending with his praise. Now then." He points to the top of the observation tower. "We have to get to the top of that observation tower. But God blimey, someone forgot to give us a ladder! Do you want to know why there isn't a ladder?"
"Tell us Drill Sergeant!" The girls reply in unison.
"There's no ladder because battlefield conditions will not always be straight forward. This isn't an arena shooter where every path is seamless...and I swear.." He eyes glare towards Mai with her red nose from where Hikari kicked her. "If Rudolph here thinks she can just rocket jump her way to the top with her RPG...then that would be rather amusing to see even though we both know that will fail miserably. Am I right Booomer?"
"Yes, Drill Sergeant." Mai groaned, still holding onto her nose in agony.
"But lucky for you ladies, you have a scout in your squad. Mouse! Come here for a moment, you're going to receive an early Christmas present today. Perhaps a few actually." Chiara walks up to the Drill Sergeant as he offers her a rope with a grappling hook attached. She takes a hold of the grappling hook and rope from him.
"Thank you Drill Sergeant!" Chiara walks back to her previous spot next to Emi and the other girls.
"As a scout to Armadillo squad, your specialty is all about infiltration and movement, and even though you'll will be operating alone for most cases, sometimes your equipment can be used to help your squad get across impassible terrain which makes you an essential part of the squad. That grappling hook is just one of the tools you'll be provided with to help your squad. Now, let's see you throw that grappling hook to the top of that observation tower. Make sure you find a spot for your hook to latch onto securely because you and your squad will climb that rope all the way to the top. Get on with it!"
Chiara steps forward with the grappling hook in her hands. She takes a deep breath before swinging the grappling hook over her head. With a forceful trust, she throws the hook into the air as it lunges over the railing of the observation tower. The hook latches onto the railing once she tugs it, insuring a steady latch. Chiara does a little jump and makes a soft "Yes" from her successful attempt.
"Nice throw Chiara." Hikari remarks with admiration.
"Well done. I wasn't expecting you to do it on the first try. Now lets see if it's sturdy enough to climb to the top." The Drill Sergeant moves over to the rope and starts to climb his way up. If I fall, your paying for my medical expenses Mouse."
"Understood Drill Sergeant!." Chiara says proudly as she watches the Drill Sergeant easily make his way up the rope to the top of the observation tower. He looks down from above before shouting. "Well I didn't fall to my death, that's promising. Alright Mouse! Get up here! The rest of you follow her lead!"
Chiara starts climbing up the rope. She's feeling incredibly confident with her new ability. She doesn't even show any restraint as she makes her way up the rope. It's been a long while since Chiara had felt her confidence this high. Once she makes it to the top, she looks over the edge and waves down to the other girls as she calls out "I made it!" Drill Sergeant Perry nods approvingly as he awaits the other girls to get up.
Emi gulps before going up the rope next. Climbing isn't really an issue for her as she has the strength to pull herself up. But the entire time she's climbing, she's keeping her eyes up towards the sky. "Don't you look down Emi...don't you look down....don't look down....don't look down." Emi echoes in her mind as her nervousness starts to get the better of her. She eventually makes it to the top but that's just the beginning of her problems. She stands up in the observation tower with Chiara and the Drill Sergeant. Her eyes peak over to the side and she notices how high above the ground she is which causes her face to nearly go pale as Chiara's skin.
"Emi...are you alright?" Chiara asks noticing an usual look to Emi's expression.
"Y..yeah....It's nothing...don't worry about me. I'm good."
Hikari and Mai make their way up without any issues. Once all of the girls are up on the observation tower, they all look over to the bleachers and wave to Longhorn Squad who is watching their progress from the ground level.
"It's a pretty lovely view up here isn't it Emi." Hikari asks as she looks over the edge.
"Uh...yeah....it is." Emi says in a uneasy voice.
"Alright ladies, this isn't a scenic field trip. We have to get ourselves down. But we aren't going to use the graphing hook this time. Mouse, here's your next tool of your trade. On the corner of the observation tower, the drill instructor grabs what appears to be a crossbow and a bag of different kinds of bolts.
"A...crossbow?" Chiara sounds a little confused as she takes the bag of bolts and the composite crossbow.
"Yes. A crossbow. It's more than just an antiquated weapon. You can take out enemy combatants with standard bolts if you want to give them a medieval take down but there's more versatility with a crossbow that you can get out of it compared to your standard firearm. You can fire explosive bolts to take out group of soft targets. A nice advantage of the crossbow is the fact that it is going to be significantly quiet compared to suppressed firearms which might come in handy when you need to have absolute stealth in your mission. In this situation, your bolt bag will contain a zip-line bolt. You'll be using that to create a zip-line for you and and your squad to get off this tower. Just load the bolt onto your cross bow and make sure you aim your bolt at an angle that will allow you to repeal down easily. Too steep of an angle and you'll repeal down at such a force you'll be calling out for a medic assuming you are still alive when you reach the ground. Your plate carriers should have a hook to attach to the zip-line so you can repeal down."
"Understood Drill Sergeant." Chiara takes the crossbow and loads the zip-line bolt. She uses mental math in her head to determine where she should aim the bolt towards the ground. She finds a spot that seems ideal and takes aim, carefully squeezing the trigger bar on her crossbow. "THUNK" the bolt glides towards the ground and punctures the earth below. Chiara grabs the zip-line from her crossbow, detaching it and tying it to the iron post of the observation tower. She sits over at the edge, latching her hook onto the zip-line, She turns around and smiles at the girls. "I'll see you at the bottom." She pushes herself off the edge, the hook on the plate carrier hangs onto the strong zip-line supporting her weight as she zips down towards the ground. The wind rushes through her reddish hair and muddy clothes while she makes her way down to the ground. Her feet make contact to the ground successfully and she sticks her arms out in a "tada!" pose once she makes her landing. Chiara gets some clapping and applause from Longhorn Squad from the bleachers.
"That looked fun. Let me go next." Hikari enthusiastically noted as she repeats what Chiara did before zipping down the line. She holds onto the brim of her skirt to keep it from lifting as she zip-lines down. She lands safely next to Chiara, turning her head around to see Mai making her way down next. She steps aside expecting Mai to nail the landing but unexpectedly she fumbles the landing and trips onto the ground.
"You're alright Mai?" Chiara asks.
"Yeah...yeah...I'm fine. Just blundered my landing....Hey..don't laugh Hikari." She gets up back onto her feet
The three of them then look up to the tower and see Emi hasn't come down yet. The Drill Sergeant is getting impatient with Emi.
"What's the hold up?! Your squad is waiting for you Trackstar! Get down there! Hurry it up!"
"I.....I can't Drill Sergeant!" Emi cries in a terrified tone. "I...I can't do it..."
"My God, are you're pulling my leg Trackstar?! Aren't you supposed to be the squad leader?!
The members of Longhorn Squad watch the commotion from the bleachers. "Seriously. Why doesn't she just repeal down?" Fio comments while she looks through her digital binoculars.
"Emi has a phobia of heights." Tomio sighs, crossing his arms as he leans back a little. It's been something that's bugged her entire life."
"What's there to fear? This is all a simulation. If she falls to her death, she'll just respawn anyways.
"It's a phobia Fio. It doesn't matter if it's real or not, the illusion of height and danger is still there."
"Still, she's not setting a good example for her squad." Ramirez remarks from the side. "Someone like her wouldn't even make the cut for warehouse crew with all the climbing we have to do."
"I would had expected Chiara to be having trouble with this trial...Emi was doing so good up until this point." Kimberly shakes her head and shrugs. "Worst case, if she calls it quits here, I can probably find someone from the forums to take her place for Armadillo Squad."
"Kimberly. Don't talk like that!" Tomio says with frustration. "Emi's a good friend. I want to believe she'll get through this training. I believe in her." He focuses his attention back to the observation tower. "Come on Emi...please.." He murmurs to himself.
"Trackstar! You are proving me to exactly what I was thinking about when I was inspecting your squad. You really are a spineless coward who is incapable of leading your squad! You think heights are going to be the only thing to scare you on the battlefield?! Are you seriously going to let your squad down in a match if you can't even get down from heights like this?"
"N...No Drill Sergeant!" Emi cries out again...her body feeling more conflicted between fear and determination to not let her squad down.
"Then stop wasting time and regroup with your squad! We can't be here all day!"
"Emi! Please come down! You'll be fine! I promise!" Chiara shouts with all of her might from below! "We can't do this without you! We need you Emi! I need you!"
"Ch...Chiara!" Emi calls from above. She grabs the hook from her plate carrier and slowly makes her way to the edge of the tower. Her thoughts go wild with fear "Oh god....no...no...no....Emi....come on...don't cop out now...please...it's just a simulation Emi....just....do it Emi!" Emi sits at the edge of the tower, her legs dangling as she hooks herself to the zip-line. "Whatever happens...it's all just a simulation...here I go..." Emi closes her eyes as she pushes herself off the edge. Her eyes remain close as she feels the wind breezing through her as she zip-lines down. She slowly opens her eyes and realizes she's not that far off the ground anymore. Her boots plant onto the ground gently. A sigh of relief escapes her mouth.
"Emi! You did it!" Chiara rushes to Emi and hugs her tightly, nearly knocking her balance.
"I'm really pathetic Chiara..." Emi mutters as she returns the hug.
"Bullshit. You did great Emi! Make room!" Mai interjects as she joins in on the hug.
"Hpmh...well I suppose I have to join too." Hikari reluctantly joins the group hug. All the girls of Armadillo squad surround Emi to congratulate her on overcoming her fear. The drill sergeant finally makes his way down the zip-line to address the girls.
"Well that took longer than I would had liked but you all did it. That concludes the physical training section of the course. But we aren't done just yet. We'll be covering combat next in addition to the rules of war. This is just one third of your training before I can even consider you worth of being Mil-Sim Tournament worthy. Are you all ready for what's to come next?" The Drill Sergeant addresses the girls as the break away from their group hug.
"Yes, Drill Sergeant!”