A Protogen's Misadventures

Training

We followed Jovian around the cave, through different hallways, until we finally reached a room towards the back of the Cave. She stopped us in front of the door. “Before you guys go in, make sure you wear ear protection so you don’t get hearing damage.” She handed us some ear muffs and we put them on. “And remember, keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire and don’t point it at anything you do not wish to destroy,” she said. I was surprised at how well I was able to hear her with the earmuffs on. “How can I hear you so well?” I asked. “These bad boys are advanced, and come equipped with communication devices which lets us talk to each other much easier,” she said. “Any other questions?” she asked. We shook our heads. “Then come on in.”

There were only a few other people in here, all of them other protogens. Most of the other stalls were empty. The range itself seemed to stretch for at least 50 meters. I felt a tug on my arm. I looked over and saw Jack looking at me nervously. “Hey Jack you alright?” I asked. “Yeah, just a bit nervous. Never shot a gun before,” he answered. “Well I think you will do alright,” I said, comfortingly. He nodded. We walked over and chose our stalls, right next to each other. “Are you guys ready to begin?” Jovian asked. “Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said. “Let's do it,” said Jack. “Perfect! We’ll start with you, Evergreen. Here is a handgun.” She laid the gun on the table along with some ammunition. “Shoot that target over there, and good luck,” she said. I picked up the gun and inspected it. I used my visor to scan the gun. ‘A SpaceNArms Model 68, not bad. Looks like it shoots a similar caliber to 9mm,’ I thought. I loaded it and aimed at the target. My visor identified the target as a threat and highlighted it in my vision. ‘Well, this is nice,’ I thought. I took a breath and pulled the trigger.

“Wow, I haven’t seen hits like those since Vitrex!” Jovian exclaimed as she looked at my target. I laughed. “Really?” I said. “Yeah, you must have some natural talent. This will be very useful in combat,” she said. “Let’s go see how Jack is doing.” We walked to Jack’s stall. He was looking at his target. “Is this alright Jovian?” Jack asked. Jack held up his target for Jovian to see. She inspected the target. A few shots had landed towards the center but most were on the farther edges of the target. “It’s not terrible, but nothing that can’t be improved,” she said enthusiastically. “What’s next?” he said. “Well,” she said looking at the clock. “It is getting a bit late so I will lead you guys to where you will be sleeping, and we will continue tomorrow with some more practice in other areas of fighting. For now though, follow me.”

We followed Jovian to a door with a sign over it. BARRACKS. “It’s probably not the barracks you are thinking of. Instead of being a bunch of beds next to each other, it’s separate rooms, so each person has their privacy,” she said, opening the door. The door led to a shorter hallway, with different rooms lining both sides all the way down to the end. We continued down to the end of the hallway. “Here is your room. It’s nothing fancy but it should suffice for the both of you.” She pointed to the inside. A radio beeped. “Jovi, you are needed at the war room,” said a voice. She grabbed the radio. “Coming,” she let go of the radio. “I need to go, have a good night, and be ready for some more training,” she finished. We stepped inside and she closed the door. Why was she needed at the war room?

The next morning, we decided to explore the Cave and to get more familiar with some of the other people here. “You know, it’s been a second since we’ve been able to just walk and talk,” Jack started. “Yeah, about time we get to just explore and not have to be bothered or worried about something,” I laughed. “Heh, yeah. What do you want to go look at first?” he asked. “Do you have a map?” I answered. Jack looked at me with a blank expression. “Hah, I’m just kidding. How about we just walk and see where the wind takes us,” I said. “That works,” he said. The Cave housed many different amenities to suit the needs of all of the people residing here. There was a Recreational Room, with tabletop games and other fun things. There was also a dining room, where people would go to eat their breakfast, lunch, dinner, you name it. “This place has a lot of stuff in it. I wonder how long it’s been here?” Jack questioned. “Who knows, but this is very cool,” I answered. As we rounded a corner back to the main room, we saw Jovian running at us. She had a serious expression on her face. “What happened?” I asked. “Something has come up and you two are needed, ASAP,” she said. Jack and I looked at each other. We both had the same expression. Oh boy.

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Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Things are starting to get interesting but don’t worry, we will not leave the Cave just yet! If you did enjoy, make sure to do all the things such as favoriting, leaving a comment if you have feedback, and cursing at the sun for being too hot sometimes.

Have a wonderful day/afternoon/evening/night, whatever! See you in the next one!