Cayden's Crusade

The CER

Another month have passed. None of us have been choosen to fight against the army in the ring, yet. Another month of losing to them. This made our team lose a little confidence if all our practices will work against them.

Our lessons with Prof Samuel is getting more complicated as well. He is already showing us videos on how to extract poison from the dweller's mouth which we have discussed before. Then he would give us assignment about it, probably to check kung may natutunan ba kami sa video.

We wanted to complain why we have to learn it on the video and not in person. Ever since, puro lang mga videos and ipinapakita sa amin, no hands-on exercises. But, nobody have the guts to complain at baka dagdagan pa niya ang asaignment na ibibigay niya just like last time.

The only good thing for now is that we are already allowed to use the Computerized Exercises Room. It's the same with Role Playing Games except that our physical body does the fights againts computerized digital images of dwellers and mercenaries using our actual weapons.

"Did you see that? One slash to kill the viper!", Cassius said inside the CER.

"There he goes again", Aloutte said rolling her eyes. "As if we haven't done that already".

"Just give him a chance", Zinny said. "It's his first time."

We all laughed. Cassius was the last to kill a viper with one hit.

" Clovis did it first and he did not brag about it", Aloutte pointed out. "Brick and Laszlo defeated the mercenaries on their first step inside the CER and they did not make a big deal out of it."

The first level of the exercise was to defeat mercenaries, then the isopods which were pretty easy to do because of their slow movement followed by the vipers. We were stuck on this level because the vipers were too fast. If we were dealing with real ones instead of 3d images, we would have died already, or maybe became goblins. The fourth level was against the goblins then the colossal. The final level, which is a team exercise is the combination of the different types of dwellers and mercenaries.

It's already getting dark so we decided to go back to the bunkhouse. We practiced again the blocking moves inside the confines of our bunkhouse.

"Good night, guys", Zinny said. Katatapos lang nang practice namin at matutulog na.

Inayos ko ang higaan ko. Nakaharap ako sa bintana, at nakita ko na naman ang isang taong tumatakbo. Umiling ako. He's becoming a daily sight to see. Whoever he is, he must be crazy enough to risk his life being out of his bunkhouse five minutes before curfew. Hanggang ngayon buhay pa rin naman siya, I thought. I wonder hanggang kailan siya tatagal na ganyan.

I lay down my bed and closed my eyes. And in the darkness, I saw again her beautiful pale green eyes.

The next day, wala siya sa upuan niya pagpasok namin sa classroom. Nakakainis dahil hindi dapat ako makaramdam nang ganito. I felt empty na wala siya pagbungad namin nang pinto. Maybe, nasasanay na akong nakikita siya sa upuan niya tuwing pagpasok namin.

Alam kong lahat kami nagtataka rin kung bakit wala siya pero walang nagsalita.

Umupo na kami habang hinihintay namin si Sir Samuel. Dumating siyang may hawak-hawak na mga papel.

Tiningnan niya kami isa-isa. "So I have here the report from the CER that all of you were able to kill the vipers already. Is that correct?"

"Yes, Sir", we chorused.

"Good! Now, we will have a team exercise. You have one month to coordinate your teamworks and role to pass this team exercise. If you pass, we can continue with the hands - on classes."

"And if we fail? ", Cassius asked.

Prof Samuel smirked." You would not want that to happen".

He guided us to the CER. The complex was empty, considering that the armies still uses it during Mondays to Wednesday during our classes.

"The armies uses the training ground at this time to avoid distractions", Sir Samuel said as if reading my mind.

Bumukas ang pinto sa CER at iniluwa siya. Naglakad siya papunta sa amin. May hawak siyang case at nilapag ito sa mesa na nakapwesto sa labas nang pinto.

Sumunod kami kay Prof Samuel na naglakad papunta sa mesa.

"Alright, guys. Here is the deal", sabi niya. Hinawakan niya ang case. "This is the most important item during your missions. This case is made lightweight as possible for easier handling. There will be five of these, so you should choose within your group kung sino ang limang case holder niyo. That leaves the other ten to assist the case holder protect it and fight the dwellers as well."

He showed us a map. "We made adjustments on the CER so that you're enemies will only be vipers and isopods. Study this map as well since this is how we set up the settings on the CER. The five red dots are where the cases is located which you have to find. The green dot is the extraction area in which you have to be there within 2 hours."

"Alright, so the goal is get the five cases and be on the extraction area within two hours, right? ", I repeated.

"Yes. We will give you 30 minutes to think about how you will do this as we complete the set up of the CER".

We gathered on the table and discussed our gameplan. We divided the team into five groups with three members each. Isang case holder at dalawang assistants na tutulong against sa mga dwellers.

Si Zinny at Myron ang kagrupo ko with Zinny as the case holder. Five minutes bago kami sumabak sa exercise, tiningnan ko si Prof Samuel na may kinakalikot sa control system ng CER. Nasa likuran niya ang isang kaklase namin. This time, I wondered if she is really our classmate. Hindi siya kasali sa exercise at lagi lang siyang nakasunod kay Prof Samuel nakikinig sa nga sinasabi niya. I have no idea what they were talking about dahil may kalayuan ang control room sa mesa namin.

Tinawag na kami ni Prof Samuel at pinapasok sa CER para magprepare. Binigyan niya kami wrist watch. Nang isuot na namin, nagbago ang display nito showing the same map we studied earlier.

"Once I close this door, mag-uumpisa na ang exercise. And don't forget to press the button your watches", Prof Samuel said.

We pressed the button on our wrist watch as the door was close. We heard the usual woman voice everytime we do the exercise. "Simulation will start in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1".