Luna and Don caught themselves before falling flat on their noses, and looked forward. In front of them were three laughing kids and a tall, dark haired, dark skinned, short haired man, complete with large muscles. He wore a dark green sweatshirt and black sweatpants, with some dark green running shoes.
"You two are Luna and Don Berrents, correct?" he said.
"Yes, sir," Luna said.
"That's good. You two go stand next to Fillina. Good. Ok then! All of you have a weapon of choice in mind, correct?" Everyone but Luna and Don nodded.
"I'm going to call names to make sure everyone's here. After you say, 'Present!', say you're weapon of choice. Connor Phillips!"
"Present! My weapon of choice is a mace!" a blonde, short boy said.
"A mace? We haven't had someone who used a mace in a while now... Jose Dominguez!"
"Present, sir! My weapon of choice are bombs!" a tall Mexican brown haired boy answered.
"Oh, you like making bombs, yes? Defuse bombs, study them, etc.?" Jose nodded. "Awesome! We always need an EOD tech. Fillina Abbey!"
"Present! My weapon of choice are knives!" the fair skinned, blonde haired girl next to Luna and Don yelled.
"You mean throwing knives?" the man asked.
"Not just throwing knives sir, all knives!''
"Grand! Next, Luna Berrents!"
"Present sir. Um, I don't really have a weapon of choice, sir. I can't choose between a bow or a sword called a zanbato."
"We have just the weapon for you, Luna. We, the government officials that is, have been making prototype weapons that can be used by slayers. We've recently come up with a zanbato-bow. A bow combined with a zanbato. Press a button on the hilt, a string comes out of a thin compartment hidden in the blade. Press the button again, it goes back in the compartment. Lightning fast. You'll need a quiver, and some arrows, of course, but until you get tired, you'll always have some form of attack. Next, Don Berrents!"
"Present, sir!" Don tried to yell. "Unfortunately, I don't have a weapon of choice."
"Do you have any, er, what's the word... oh right! Do you have any interests?"
"Um, I like AI stuff and robotics, but how does that-"
"Don, you'll be pleased to know then that you can sit down inside the base, or where ever you want for that matter, and control a robot that you will be issued, and slay demons without getting hurt yourself. The best part is, you can even tinker around with the 'bot, make it more weapons, defenses, whatever. All right all of you, I'm going to press this button on the wall here, and target dummies and such, and weapons, will come in. Then I'm going to train you in each and every weapon you prefer. For example, Jose likes bombs. All of you will be learning to use bombs. Also, I'll be training you to use other weapons, should you need to use another weapon during battle. After, I'll be teaching you all to defend yourselves and then give you extra tips. After all the training is done, you'll be on your way," the man explained. "Any questions?" Every hand shot up.
"Well, uh, Connor?"
"What's your name sir?" Connor asked. The rest of the hands went down.
"You all had that same question? Well then. You can call me Mr. Stevens." Mr. Stevens pressed a green button on the white wall, and all the other white walls revolved twice, and once they were back as they were before, target dummies, different weapons, and other things lined the walls. Twenty feet higher, a slot in the left wall opened, and another floor, made of metal and was sort of like a bunch of chain link fences with smaller holes put into a floor. Against the right wall, a stairway of the same look came out of the wall, and on the left, a metal ladder. On the second, once hidden floor, robots with red marking were standing, unmoving.
"All righty then. First, we'll learn to use the mace. There are two types: the chain mace, and the normal mace. The chain mace is a handle with a chain attached, and at the end of that chain is a spiked ball. The normal one is a handle, a short pole thing, and either a spiked ball at the end or there are spikes sticking out from the widening pole. Pick up a mace that you think will be easier to use for you," Mr. Stevens commanded. Connor immediately picked up a chain mace, and Luna, Don, and Fillina picked up the maces that had a spiked ball on the end of it. Jose equipped himself with a mace with spikes along the widening pole.
"In front of you are target dummies. I want you all to completely destroy them. Don't worry, they'll be replaced quickly with fresh dummies. Destroy as many as you can in two minutes. Now, listen: If you smash in the head, it's not dead. Most demons have more than one head, more than one brain, and sometimes even more than one heart. Smash in it's heart and all it's heads."
The dummies in front of them were shaped like different demons. Connor's dummy had five heads and large claws, and Luna's was small, but covered in spikes, with large sharp teeth and small, razor sharp claws.
"In case you're wondering, these dummies are all replicas, made of straw or wool or feathers and canvas, that other slayers have defeated. There are some rarer dummies that can prove difficult. To make this a little more realistic, after tons of research we've finally been able to put the real brain or brains and the real heart, or hearts, inside the dummies, and put in a tiny bit of wiring. These dummies act exactly like they did when they were alive.
"Now, ready, set....GO!" Mr. Stevens yelled, pressing a yellow button that made a timer pop out on the wall higher up than the dummies, yet lower than the next floor. There were immediately battle cries and yells to pump adrenaline in whoever was yelling's veins and such, and by the time Luna and Don had finished two, Jose had finished off three, Fillina one, and Connor five. Luna concentrated on her dummy, and swung the mace on top of one of the demon's heads. The one she was fighting had three, and apparently two hearts, all marked. After swinging the mace a third time, since the thing had dodged the second, she managed to hit both heads and ripped them off with the mace. She spotted the mark on the dummy's left foot that marked a heart, and she ran under the dummy's flying claws, jumped over it's right foot, and smashed the mace into the heart, yelling as she did so. She swiftly climbed onto spiky back found the last heart: right in the center of it's back. She smashed into the back repeatedly, since the heart was deeper in. After ripping and digging out the stuffing, she finally saw the actual heart. Green, overlarge, and bumpy, she grimaced at the sight of it. She was about to ram the mace into the heart when she hesitated. She'd been killing things, even though they were only dummies. It was like she was bullying the dummies, but much more harshly. Luna hated bullies. She took a step back, and another. Soon the dummy literally bucked her off, and she flew off its back.
"Don't hesitate! If you don't kill it, it will kill you!" Mr. Stevens scolded her. She reluctantly got up and after a few tries, finally got onto its back and rammed the mace into the heart. She'd smashed in the head of next one when a loud ringing echoed through the room.
"Time's up! Drop your maces!" Mr. Stevens yelled. Luna wondered if he'd added time to the timer, and Don felt as if two minutes had been ten instead.
"Next students, we'll be working with bombs. C4, pipe bombs, grenades, mines, you name it. Head to the middle of the room," Mr. Stevens commanded.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
An EOD technician is someone who basically studies bombs.
