RP: Fort Ready Class 6

Makoto got to the ground and started coaching the others coming down. "Easy, if you're not confident, make a smaller move! If we're late, we're all late together. No need to injure yourself on the first day!"

The clumsy cadet who'd made the one-point landing early was perfectly fine, he turned to encourage the others. "Don't worry, there's no hard stop. It's like landing in a balloon!" he said, laughing. Then he tried to take his first step.

Freyja giggled as the other cadet flipped head over heels towards the back, his clumsy attempts at recovery only accelerating him. The neko and Yamataians could use their gravity control to help steady them, but others had to be a little more away of their centre of gravity.

(OOC: Probably should have done this as several post over the last two weeks...guess I have some catching up to do.)

----------

Maybe the long way would have been better...

The left path had narrowed into a small trail that led through an overgrown part of the forest, the ground saturated with moss-covered tree roots and deadfall. There was little indication that anyone took this path regularly, despite the information at hand to the contrary. Jairen carefully made his way down the trail at a light jog, hopping over the roots to avoid disturbing anything. Might as well leave it the way I found it, he thought.

The trail descended as he continued, leading down the hillside as a fairly steep angle. Here the tree roots were mostly bare, a few showing evidence of footprints heading both up and down. It was a natural stairway which Jairen bounded down two steps at a time, pausing slightly at each landing to adjust his balance before the next leap.

As he reached the bottom step, a yelp of surprise came from up the hill, somewhere to the north. Jairen paused on the root, turning his head to locate its source, though there was little chance of success. The foliage surrounded him on all sides, save for the path, so whoever had made the cry remained hidden to him. It was likely one of the nekos, he decided from the sound of it. Hope she's alright, he thought as he pressed on, part of him wondering which 'she' it was.

Ahead of him there was a small stream, maybe three meters across, with an old weathered log laying across it. "Heh, how...convenient," he chuckled aloud as he stepped onto the log. "Seems like it's sturdy enough..." Holding his arms out for balance, he started to make his way across the makeshift bridge, sliding his right foot forward cautiously and pressing down. Finding it quite firm beneath his foot, he shifted his weight onto it and drew his left foot up behind it. Rebalancing on his rear foot, he repeated the process, sliding his way across the log bridge.

He could hear someone talking as he reached the end of the log, definitely female this time. He looked upstream towards the voice, his view unobstructed by the forest this time. The stream traveled about a hundred meters to the small lake which fed it, and which in turn was fed by a waterfall. Over the lake, two figures were floating down slowly, talking to one another as they traveled. Their bright-colored hair gave away their identities, and their voices echoed off the cliff face across the water, though the actual words were lost to him from the trickling noise of the stream beneath him. He shook his head. "Nekos..."

The trail resumed on the other side of the stream. It was surprisingly clear compared to the previous one, save for a few overgrown bushes that jutted out into the path. Jairen watched the nekos float their way across the lake's surface to the shore, then saw the blue-haired one (Shizuko, I think?) take off running through the forest with great speed. It seemed to him that wherever her destination was, it was in the same direction that the trail led, which meant it was time to move. Tightening his jaw, he sprinted down the trail at top speed, ignoring the branches that slapped his arms and face as he raced past.

He could see the forest thinning as he ran, the trail ending in a clearing ahead of him. Pushing himself to the maximum, he burst out of the woods into...

----------

(OOC: And now I'm caught up. )

A ditch. Which Jairen promptly splashed into.

In his rush Jairen had discovered the terminal ditch at the end of a firing range, the shallow bottom littered with metal bullet heads and the working ends of various other ordinance.

As the rest of the group crossed the river in varying stages of grace they found themselves at the more preferable end of the range at the edge of the clearing.

Jairen would get to experience the lovely sensation of being under fire at the wrong end of the rifle much earlier then most recruits did. While the fire was quickly waved off and the range quieted, at least a dozen or so shots hit the targets all around him before the sergeant at the other end got all of the fire stopped. As the sergeant got right on the favorite pastime of drill sergeants everywhere (yelling), the rest of the squad would meet up with Itsuki once more at the proper entrance to the range, though their instructor wasn't very obviously concerned about the occurrence of a recruit ending up in the ditch.

Oh, they were for it now. Makoto stood at attention when the squad fell in with Itsuki.

"Well, I guess we were late after all." huffed Freyja, hands on hips as she pouted. "Let's see what chibi-sensei will do next."

"She'll kill us if she hears you call her that again," Makoto hissed at Freyja.

The eruption of gunfire from the far end of the range caught Jairen by surprise. Oh, great, he thought as he threw himself gracelessly to the ground, covering his head with his arms. I'm gonna get fragged on the first day...how could it get worse?

The gunfire died off abruptly, replaced by the sharp booming orders of an obviously annoyed sergeant. Jairen lifted his head cautiously, looking down the field towards the voice. He could see the other recruits standing at the far end of the field, looking towards him. A few were talking to each other, hiding snickering grins with their hands. Yeah...that would do it...

Picking himself up, he hurried to rejoin the group, brushing his uniform off and preparing for the inevitable chewing out he was about to receive.

An annoyed look appeared on Shizuko's face as she spotted the instructor at the firing range, so she waited for the others before heading over. Jairen's antics got a glance, but nothing more. So they all were late...what was going to happen to them now? A punishment of some sort, presumably.

As Jairen approached the “sergeant” became a rather annoyed looking Nito Juni with his arms crossed waiting for him to pass. The mans finger steadily tapped his arm from its perch in its counterparts elbow, he eyed Jairens soiled uniform, eyes harsh.

“Report to your instructor for poor uniform and lax firearm safety. I'll deal with you later myself after shes had her share.” He said, finally. “Lets hope you have more sense next we meet.” finished the warrant officer, gesturing with his head to release Jairen back to his comrades.

- - - -

As the group of cadets approached their instructor she turned to them quietly, and cleared her throat. “I see you've arrived.” She said simply, nodding towards the open ground in front of her. “Form up.” she ordered. Telling them to get into formation. Perhaps the chewing out was yet to come.

Makoto quickly fell in and stood at attention. He was glad he was not Jairen right now. Pissing off an officer was not a good situation to be in.

Since they were at the firing range, Makoto could only assume they were here for target practice. However, it remained to be seen whether they were the targets or the shooters. Right now, he felt that the former was more likely considering the Juni's mood.

As other formed a rough formation the previous group of cadets on the gun range finished up and started disarming their weapons, leaving them on the table for the new group to use. An armoury tech quickly stocked up the ammo at each station while the other group marched away.

The neighbouring Nito Juni sauntered up to their instructor, a giant above the rather small Toushan. It was almost comical when he bowed to her in respect, greeting her simply "Toushan-san, the range is yours. I can assist if you wish?"

Toushan returned the bow although she replied in Nepleslian instead of Yamataian "No thank you, Cray, I will be fine." The taller Nepleslian nodded and marched away. It wasn't long before the cadets could hear him yelling instructions to his group of cadets.

By now their classmates had arrived, those that could sweat looking much worse for wear. Anyone looking at Toushan would notice a hint of a smile appear on her lips before hurriedly disappearing again.

It was time for some school'in.

Rikou seemed to be simply amused by it all. Of course, she'd been digitally trained in the use of weapons before, but never actually had the opportunity to use or even touch one, and so, this sparked some bit of primal interest programmed into her species since long before the young Neko's time.

Rikou grinned benignly as her red eyes seemed to gleam slightly for a moment. "Ah! This looks like fun" the royal decided, looking to Toushan-sensei for further instructions.

Makoto felt a little uneasy. He had used pistols in the past but never anything larger or military grade. Even the big game hunters he had faced were only using powerful civilian grade weapons. The weapons on this range were probably on a wholly different level.

He wondered if anyone else felt that slight unease.

When the rest of the students had assembled Toushan commenced the briefing. She pulled out her side arm, unloaded to show the class. "This is your standard Type 33 Service Pistol. Unless you're inexplicably incompetent, each of you will receive one of these as your own at the end of your training."

She then loaded it and aimed down range at a volumetric target that helpfully appeared. "Of course, it has your standard fire. As such." The volumetric target acquired a smoking hole as Toushans NSP blasted through it. "However, you also have Heavy mode. Observe." The gun in Toushans small hands whirred as if it was about to explode before the end seemed to erupt for a split second and the target was blown into scrap volumetric pieces that sizzles away as the computer gave up rendering them.

Satisfied Toushan put her weapon away carefully before turning back to the class. "Each of you will receive a training weapon set on stun, you'll have a few minutes to familiarize yourself with them on the range before we go to the next set of training."

"Oh yes, front two rows will be Team Red, back two will be Team Blue. You'll find out what for soon. Pick up your weapons and practice if you need to." Toushan dismissed them.

The early-comers were all in the first row, so it looked like the group was staying together in this one. Two armoury techs began placing stun NSPs on the arming table for the recruits to take, plus three mags for each.

Toushan seemed to be the 'learn fast or die young' type of teacher.

Knowledge of the weapon was, of course, pre-programmed for Shizuko and the other 'newborn' nekos in the class. But "pre-programmed" knowledge was like classroom knowledge: Nothing, when compared with actual hands-on experience.

Shizuko went up to the arming table and gathered an NSP and (after counting the spare magazines present and mentally dividing them among herself and the class) a magazine or three as spares. She wasn't sure if she would have time to acquire spares before whatever they were going to be doing as teams, so it was best to be prepared. Stowing the clips on her person, with at least one in her right sleeve, Shizuko took position at one of the firing lanes and waited for the others, using the time to inspect her weapon and take practice aims downrange, avoiding putting her finger on the trigger as she did.

Makoto was Team Red. He couldn't tell who else he knew from the bus ride was on his team so he stepped out to take one of the pistols. Weightier than what he had used. The real thing would obviously be far deadlier than this training version.

He also made sure to pick up the three magazines for the pistol. After securing his new equipment, he fell back into formation.

Rikou arose and made her way to the tables, picking up a training NSP and inspecting it, to the best of her pre-loaded knowledge. it fit her hand perfectly, but then again, it was supposed to, and that didn't surprise her at all. The red-eyed girl made her way toward a shooting booth at the range, and called up a target.

Sliding a magazine in, Rikou took aim, and waited for her perfect moment to take a shot- The NSP fired and, not surprisingly, hit the volumetric target. Of course, in perfect conditions, under no stress, and with ample time to aim, it was a feat most anyone who could walk a straight line could accomplish.

Freyja practically skidded to a halt in front of the arming desk for her weapon eagerly, taking it up and examining it. She looked keen as mustard to get started.