Spy School - Reversed

Chapter 2: Training

Made by: Cosmic and Marsh

Edited by: April and AMX

Bens POV

The room was filled with 9 students, each of different heights. Joshua split us into groups of three to train with. I was introduced to my training companions, Nestor and Diana.

Nestor had hazel eyes and brown hair. He seemed friendly enough when he came up to me, but when I saw him with the other kids during training, he wasn't so "friendly" after all. Either he was trying to get on my good side, or he's double-faced and a manipulator.

Diana had blue eyes and seemed pretty basic and non-threatening at first glance, but after a couple of minutes with her, she seemed pretty scary- like she wasn't afraid of painfully eliminating whoever looked at her wrong. How Ironic, I thought. Diana means heavenly and divine in Latin.

Do you know those games where you have to describe things in three words? Well, my training could be described in two: Excruciating Pain.

For a small "warm-up," (more like heartburn) we ran 3 miles around the interior of the training room. Not surprisingly, I came in last, and I stumbled and coughed from the exertion. Noting down the times of each of the runners, Joshua announced we would have a 1-minute water break.

"Be grateful that I'm giving you any break at all," he added.

I was about to scream, "CHILD ABUSE!" but I didn't want to die just yet.

Instead of drinking water like the other people, (pretty surprised they even bothered with water), I promptly threw up in the nearest trash can. Joshua smirked as he saw me hunched over, spilling the contents of my guts out into the trash can. I was surprised that I even had anything left in my stomach, considering I haven't eaten anything in a long time.

After that, Joshua set up stations where each of the groups would do an "activity" before switching to the next station. It was like those you saw at summer camps, except far more deadly.

The first station we got assigned to was the shooting range. We were given snipers and were expected to hit a target 150 meters away while laying in uncomfortable positions. As I picked up a gun from the "spare gun" basket, I noted how heavy it was. The metal coating and the deadly stillness of the weapon unnerved me. There was no way I could even hold this up for 5 minutes, much less shoot straight with it.

Diana and Nestor took their positions. They loaded their guns, and fired. The two bullets whizzed through the air and impaled themselves into the targets. Diana's bullet hit the ring just outside of the bullseye, and Nestor's hit the 3rd ring.

I lifted the gun and aimed it at the target. My finger tensed on the trigger as I fired. The bullet soared through the air, missing the target completely and embedding itself in the wall. My training partners looked at each other, not sure what to say.

"I see you haven't improved your ability to shoot," Joshua said as he walked up behind us.

I gritted my teeth. "I specialize in figuring out plots and doing calculations, skills which have been useful in the past."

"Useful only because your girlfriend saved your behind a thousand times." he said mockingly.

My cheeks turned red, "She's not my-" I began, but Joshua interrupted, like the jealous ex-boyfriend he is.

"Nestor, Diana, teach him how to shoot straight. I need to see improvement if you're going to become an agent. "

The next thirty minutes were spent teaching me how to properly hold, aim, and fire a gun. I made considerable progress, seeing how I could hit the target, although nowhere near the middle, most of the time.

We switched groups, and thankfully, this time we were to listen to a lecture on poisons for the next 45 minutes. The person teaching us was an old man with white hair that may have once been black. He droned on and on about poisons, their odors, where to find them, and a lot of other things...

Nestor and Diana looked bored out of their minds, their feet resting on the tables, in an unfocused and lazy manner. Either the professor didn't notice, or he didn't care. I was pretty sure I was the only person who got something from that lecture, as I memorized most of the presentation.

"I don't know how you listen to that old man drone on and on," Nestor whispered to me. "When are we even going to use anything we learn from him?"

I shrugged, "I don't know, but I guess I'm just good at memorizing things. Who knows? Maybe one day, we'll have to use the information,"

Diana walked beside us, listening. "Honestly, who uses poison these days." she said. "Just shoot the enemy in the face and they'll be done for."

The next station was unarmed combat. I groaned inwardly, realizing that I was about to get beaten up by Nestor and Diana.

To my relief, my two companions chose to go against each other first. The instructor at the station told us that the only rules were no eye-gouging, no choking, no clawing, and no murdering, though Diana seemed pretty disappointed about the last rule. Other than that, it was free for all. As far as I knew, I was about to get very, very, injured.

I watched Nestor and Diana go against each other. I had to admit, their fighting styles were unique in their own way.

Nestor went more for solidity, each punch, kick, and block rigid and powerful. Diana's style was more for speed, as she lunged in and out with jabs, and sometimes even circling around Nestor and coming in at random intervals.

It was a close fight, but Diana managed to win when Nestor fell for a feint and she managed to hit him in the face, then tripping him and bringing him down.

The instructor gestured towards me as Nestor stepped down. As we began to spar, Diana lunged forwards, and I barely managed to step back before another attack came. I blocked this one, feeling the force of the blow on my forearm, which immediately began to bruise.

Before I had time to figure out where Diana was, I felt a sharp pain in my back, and I toppled forwards, falling face-first onto the floor, my bones aching.

I got up, and stepped down from the sparring area, hoping that the training didn't last long.

I stepped into my rooms, trying not to wince from the dozen cuts and bruises I had from sparring with Nestor and Diana. A small hole had opened in the wall, and inside was a bowl of pasta, along with some water and a slice of pizza. At least the food here was better than the ones at Spy School.

I hungrily devoured the pasta and guzzled down the half liter of water.

As I was about to take a bite of the pizza, however, a strange smell hit my nose.

My mind raced as it tried to make out what the smell was. There was a distinctive fruity smell to it. Weird. The pizza didn't smell that way. Then it hit me. There were at least half a dozen different poisons with such a smell. Either someone was trying to kill me, or SPYDER had a very, very, very, extreme way of taking tests. Probably both.

I picked up the pizza gingerly, as if holding an explosive, and I threw it in the trash can. Right after I did, a voice came up from some hidden speaker.

"Congratulations. Looks like Agent Benjamin Ripley was paying attention during training."

Then the person said, "Damn it, you there, send an antidote to room 43, and-" and as the voice realized he was still announcing something, he shut it off.

I never even got to eat my pizza either... I shuddered. It looked like my next few days here would be much harder than I had anticipated.