The two AI construct recruits Ajani and Jia-xin and human recruit Megan tentatively moved forward past the starting line for the Punisher's Cane obstacle course. All three of them were at the end of their reserves, with hardly anything left in order to continue. This didn't stop the Drill Sargeant AI constructs from following behind each of them shouting insulting recriminations of their strength and endurance, getting more and more vicious the longer the AI and human recruits delayed rushing forward.
So, this is what they did. They rushed forward, conscious thought became harder as the obstacle course intensified in difficulty yet again.
The weather increased in tempo and lightning strikes. Peals of thunder resounded and interfered with the pounding beats of the ambient music blasting out from all directions as the wind changed direction at random moments when you least suspected to.
The ramp at the end of the one hundred metre sprint was now made of steel instead of wood. The monkey-bars had sharp spikes now. The horizontal bars were now electrified.
Jia-xin, Ajani and Megan continued, supporting and encouraging each other all the way.
The diving board was missing, which meant you had to run and jump forward enough to clear the gap and hit the underwater tunnel. The underwater tunnel was now full of strong currents that tried to force the remaining AIs and human recruit into traps and inhibit progress. The river after had now become a rapid churning river of death.
The shifting sands had become pools of quicksand which would suck you under in a heartbeat.
The barbed wire over the trenches were now electrified. Ajani was obviously struggling as his size did not allow for smooth passage as he was almost continually electrified as he squeezed through.
The ropes on the rope climb were now not only covered with grease but were now frayed at certain locations so gripping it could cause the rope to tear apart flinging the recruit down onto the solid ground.
The flying fox ropes were now also frayed and split at points getting the recruits stuck and needing to jump around and twist the handles to navigate past them.
They lost Ajani to a particularly heavy trap in the corridor which broke through his defensive barrier of energy and sent the large AI construct flying into the wall behind at an eye-wateringly fast velocity and hitting it headfirst an immediately falling unconscious as he slid to the ground.
*ATTENTION, RECRUIT AJANI HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED*
Jia-xin looked at Megan. Megan looked back at Jia-xin. Both nodded in acknowledgement; a silent command passed between them.
Megan raised her hand and gestured. Jia-xin grabbed Megan's wrist as Megan's hand gripped Jia-xin's wrist.
They ran forward together. Jia-xin would pull Megan out of the way of a swinging hammer, Megan would jerk the AI construct out of the way of sharp blades as their synergy took form and synchronised their movements together. Megan revelled in the feeling of having a partner who moved so in sync with her own, the power the two presented together not just being a one plus one equals two but more like a two to the power of four, exponentially increasing the precision they could show alone. The traps in the narrow corridor could not even touch the shadows of Jia-xin and Megan as they threw each other past trapped blades and ran circles around large hammers swinging ponderously from side to side.
Laughing in delight, the two continued their push together as they ran toward the now imposing looking building that now had the appearance of a modern fortress with nail gun turrets firing blunt bullets designed to incapacitate foes and bars on the windows.
Spinning around in seemingly random directions the AI/Human duo rushed forward, gracefully evading bullets and compressed air drafts so strong they could blow a person over. They crashed through the entrance and wreaked havoc on the small spider robots and now much larger simian-like monkey-bots that jumped around throwing little glass tubes of corrosive fluid that smelled like death.
Taken the stairs to the higher levels Jia-xin and Megan ambushed the assassin bots on the balconies above the auditorium and stage, their synergy increasing with every defeated foe. They jumped together down onto the stage and rolled in separate directions to bleed momentum as they faced off against four guardian robots, two with hammers and two with shields. The robots split into a hammer/shield combinations and burst toward them hoping to keep them separated and unable to coordinate.
Unfortunately for the robots this was exactly what Jie-xin and Megan had anticipated and both of them evaded and dodged in directions which crossed paths in ways to work the robot duos against each other. *CLANG* as a hammer connected with the other robot's shield and *CRASH* as the shield was pushed out of position and happened to knock a hammer wielding robot to the side.
In no time at all Jia-xin and Megan were past the guardians and running down the winding track. The AI and the human expected the dodge balls blasted at them at increased speed and various angles.
What the duo did not expect was the hail of rubber bullets fired from hidden sniper nests in the distance. Jia-xin fell unconscious before she even knew what hit her.
*ATTENTION, RECRUIT JIA-XIN HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED*
Megan felt something at the last second and evaded being struck in the head. This didn't mean she evaded all the bullets though as she was hit multiple times on her arms, legs and torso leaving nasty bruises and debilitating spasms. She pushed with everything she had left, taking more hits but continuing on and refusing to give in. Running gave way to walking eventually devolving to crawling to end finally as she dragged herself past the finish line before falling unconscious, unable to continue.
Megan woke slowly, her eyes protested against the light, her body protested at lack of rest and her muscles just protested as she attempted to sit up on hard hospital bed she lay on. Looking around as her eyes adjusted, she was surprised to see Drill Sargeant Atkinson standing to her right and to her left was Major Igor the Medical Officer that had done the medical examination previously to entering the 'Punisher's Cane' obstacle course.
Major Igor leaned down while pushing up his wire rimmed glasses higher up his nose as he exclaimed, "Well done Megan! The results of your examinations were exemplary across all physical metrics our current systems can identify. You have an absolutely extraordinary threshold for pain which indicates that you can continue to function even under the most strenuous of circumstances although I must caution you to be careful as a there are good reasons why humans have the capacity to feel actual pain."
He leaned back and took on a much sterner expression as he continued, "That being said your energy manipulation skills leave much to be desired, and our systems could not detect any abilities or augments that have been fully integrated not to mention you have no spell-arts. By this point in your cultivation your energy sense should stretch beyond your body by a factor of at least one hundred to two hundred metres, but we have been unable to detect you even using energy sense at all, let alone at the appropriate size."
Megan gave a confused look as she asked, "Energy sense?"
Major Igor nodded and made a note on tablet device he always appeared to have at hand, then said, "As we suspected, we will need to teach you these subjects within your upcoming training." Looking up Major Igor addressed the Drill Sargeant, "She is all yours Sargeant, I will go get the Sense Room prepared." Turning sharply toward the doorway Major Igor walked unhurriedly out, and his footsteps could be heard walking away.
Drill Sargeant Atkinson walked briskly to the doorway of the room, turned to face Megan as she lay in bed and shouted, "Right, Recruit Megan, stand up, step forward and come to attention!"
Megan quickly stood, shaking off the slight light-headedness. She then stepped around the bed to stand in front of the Drill Sargeant and snapped to attention.
Drill Sargeant Atkinson looked down at Megan with stern look of approval and barked out, "At ease recruit." As Megan relaxed and placed her hands behind her back the Drill Sargeant began to pace in front of her as he explained, "Recruit Megan, today, you rest. Starting from tomorrow morning at oh four-hundred hours you will report to the courtyard for parade drill and calisthenics. Then report to Mess-hall for breakfast. After this you will report to classroom designated in your HUD and complete courses on Augment/Ability theory and integration, Energy Sense, Battle-Tactics, First-aid and Humanity History. From here you will report to designated training ground in your HUD, and you will be taught combat, both unarmed and with multiple types of ranged and melee weaponry. Then you will report to Mess-hall for dinner, then to barracks for debrief and sleep. At the end of every week cycle you will run through the Punisher's Cane to assess your progress. Your training is completed when you are deemed to have sufficient competency. Any questions recruit?"
Megan had none, "Sir no sir".
With a decisive nod, Drill Sargeant Atkinson stated in his semi-shout, "Very good, recruit Megan you are dismissed." Turning around on his heels the AI-Sargeant in charge of The Punisher left the room.
Megan stood just processing for a few minutes. Deciding it had way too long since her last meal she eventually left to follow directions on her HUD to the Mess-hall to have something to eat.
Walking into the Mess-hall Megan was taken back by the noise as she walked in only to be absolutely floored by the exclamations from all the AI recruits as she walked into what was obviously some kind of celebration going on.
"Meeeeeegan! Yay! Come join us, Megan! Way to go Megan!" the AI's shouted and gestured as they surrounded her and led her back to a table laden with snacks and drinks. It appeared that all the recruits were allowed to decompress after a hard engagement like the gruelling exercise that was the Punisher's Cane obstacle course and allowed to indulge in one of the most ancient of humanities vices, imbibing alcoholic drinks! Of course, Megan was aware of the proclivities of some alien species that enjoyed what ultimately was the self-destructive practice of taking in poison but in limited or refined quantities that produced euphoric feelings, hallucinations or just lowering of inhibitions to behaviour to induce joy or ease social interactions. Thus, Megan was introduced alcohol and liquor, shown how to mix a cocktail and warned of something called 'Roofies' and 'Sleazebags' which didn't make any sense to her, so she mostly nodded her head and drank, which appeared to be the right answer, every-time.
Megan awoke to red lights, alarms, nausea and most disturbingly a sensation she was not alone in her room. Wait? Was she even in her room?!?
Finally rousing from a deep slumber, she first had to focus on the alarms on her HUD that was flashing red for attention.
**WARNING** **WARNING**
User Megan, hydration levels have reached critical levels, please administer hydration procedures immediately to avoid risk of minor organ failure.
**Dauntless Empire advises safe consumption of alcoholic products in future recreational activities**
Megan moaned and dismissed the messages and looked to get up but then realised another issue. There were multiple limbs encumbering her including two different arms and a leg slung over one of her legs. Additionally, to her horror, she also appeared to be entirely naked! Not even one piece of clothing covering her body. Despite that she appeared uninjured and was actually quite warm and cozy.
Fearing what she would see but also absolutely sure that it had to be done she looked to the left and found the face of Jia-xin, sleeping peacefully on her shoulder, looking down she quickly looked back up, yes, she was naked too! Well, at least it wasn't just her right?
Taking a deep breath Megan gathered her courage and quickly looked right, was that a naked Levi!?!
With a thought Megan's clothing instantly covered her from her neck to her feet as she burst up from the bed they all lay on limbs and bodies flying everywhere as she decided dealing with this was not something she could process right now as she practically flew into the bathroom, slammed the door and stood panting in confusion and almost panic, what did she do last night!
She needed a moment, making sure the door to the mess she left behind was locked she took care of her immediate need and drank cool refreshing water using a handy cup dispenser on the wall, gulping down enough water to stop the alarms on her HUD. She turned and entered the shower cubicle and stood under scolding hot water as she concentrated to pierce the mind fog that seemed to cover her memories of the night before. First, there had been a lot of drinking, so much drinking! Sweet, sour, fizzy, overpowering and subtle. Humanity appeared to have an endless supply of imagination when it came to alcoholic beverages, and it looked like Megan had attempted to sample every one of them.
There was dancing and conversation, then Megan noticed Ajani and Helga leaving together in the midst of catcalls and whoops from the rest of the AIs. So, Megan was naturally curious and with the alcohol fuelled lack of inhibitions Megan had asked and the AIs delivered answers.
Many answers. Confusing answers. Answers probably that should have gone unanswered.
Eventually, only Jia-xin, Levi and Megan were left and the offer was made. Apparently, AIs, especially are all geared for the practice of sexual intercourse, most particularly in special environments such as The Punisher as there were really no real-world repercussions from the act within these places. It was considered to be 'just a good time' and AIs were considered consenting adults just the same as anyone else.
That being said, Megan had not gone 'all the way' and really only gone as far as what was referred to as 'third base', the reason given that she was way too drunk to make a decision like going 'all the way', especially on a 'first date' scenario as Jia-xin referred to it as.
To be honest to herself, Megan had to admit, she kind of liked it. The textures, the smells, the sweat. There was an almost primal instinct that took over and she probably would have done more considering how uninhibited she had felt at the time. She realised, this was a part of being human, even if the thought of a male member entering... NOPE. Not going there. Megan shook her head sharply the fog in her mind clearing as her body worked out the last of the toxins. Almost 0400 hours, she needed to get to the courtyard to report for her first classes.