“‘Riotous Rawkers’ – spelled with ‘r-a-w-k’,” Bill said, index and pinky fingers raised in salute.

Jill stopped walking and stared at Bill.

“Bill. Don’t make me kill you.”

Bill shrugged. “Hey dude, just throwing out ideas. No idea is a bad idea, right?”

“I disagree,” Jill said. “But you’re right we need more ideas. I just need some time to come up with good ones.”

Kaden, Bill and Jill stepped out of the elevator and walked toward the large training room across the lobby.

Kaden looked up at the leaderboard. No changes yet. He was still at the bottom, as was his team. He wondered how the scoring worked and what he could do to move up the leaderboard.

A group of about thirty interns milled about the inside of the room. They did not have long to wait.

Right at the top of the hour, Alexander Wolfe strode through the entrance. He was as impeccably dressed as the first day, wearing a light gray seersucker suit and salmon shirt. No tie today, Kaden noticed.

“Alright, let’s gather around,” Alexander called out, his voice carrying across the room.

A loose semi-circle formed up around Mr. Wolfe, who turned to look at Carol, who was walking up behind him carrying a case.

“If you pass today’s training, each of you will have access to one of these weapons. You’ll be able to check it out of the armory on this floor for use in these gyms, but will not be able to take it beyond this floor.

“Today’s training will be very simple. This is the Company’s standard issue gunsword,” Alexander said, holding up a pistol-shaped device.

“I’ll give you a basic overview. There are two primary modes – pulse beam and short sword. There are various settings, some on the weapon itself. If you link the weapon to your mobile, you’ll be able to access and change those settings with your peripherals.

“To pass today’s training, all you need to do is hit the target,” he said, pointing to a simple bullseye about 20 yards away.

Kaden studied the weapon in Alexander’s hand. Gunmetal gray, almost blue; about the same size as an average pistol. It had two barrels, over-and-under style, and the trigger guard was larger than a normal pistol.

“Let’s all remember – safety first. Do not hurt yourself or someone else. You must follow basic firearm safety practices,” Alexander said, holding up the weapon for all to see. “Don’t point the gunsword at yourself or anyone else. The gun safety is located on the handle here. Load a cap at the base here,” Alexander continued, pointing quickly to each part. “Trigger here.” With a smooth motion, he loaded a capacitor into the gun, turned off the safety, and aimed at the target downrange.

A small pulse darted across the room, striking the bullseye in the center. The sound of the shot, a low thwump, reached Kaden’s ears a moment later. Alexander removed the cap, turned slowly and placed the pistol and capacitor on the table.

“Who’s first?”

No one jumped forward. Alexander pointed to the individual on the far left of the semi-circle. “Let’s start with you and go in order from left to right,” he said, motioning the blonde-haired man forward.

Kaden did not know his name, but had seen him around.

“Your name,”

“Braiden Nichols,” the man replied. He sounded nervous.

“Go ahead and load the weapon, turn off the safety, and take a shot.”

Alexander added, “You should see a red dot show up in your HUD, when you point the weapon down range. Use that to aim.”

Braiden reached cautiously for the pistol on the table. He picked up with his right hand. Then switched it awkwardly to his left. He loaded the capacitor, and pointed the gunsword down as he searched for the safety.

“Other side,” Alexander suggested.

Braiden found the safety. He toggled it off and adjusted his grip. And then he shot himself in the foot.

Thwump, and a flash, and then Braiden’s strangled scream. He dropped the gunsword and fell to the ground, clutching his foot. Smoked curled from the top of a hole in his shoe.

“Tsk tsk,” Alexander clucked, picking up the weapon. He put the safety back on and set the weapon and cap back on the table.

“Carol – be a dear and please escort Braiden to the hospital on sublevel one,” Alexander said.

No one moved but Carol and Bill, who had run forward to help out. Bill helped Braiden to his feet, and Carol took one of his arms over his shoulder.

“Let’s get out to the hallway and I’ll bring over a wheelchair,” Carol said to Braiden.

Bill made to follow, but Alexander motioned him back. “Need you to stay here, Mr. Smith. I’m sure Ms. Roche has everything in hand.”

No one moved, shocked by the accident. How could the training continue?

“Next,” Alexander called.

When no one moved forward, Alexander said, “It’s unfortunate that Braiden failed the training, but we will continue. Do your best to learn from Braiden’s example. Remember the Company motto – in this case, the ‘greater good’ is to continue your training.”

Alexander paused, making eye contact with each person in the room.

“There are many ways to fail – and Braiden happened upon a rather unfortunate way of exiting himself from the program. As I said – safety first. If you can’t keep yourself and others safe during this exercise, you will fail.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Reminder – there’s only one way to pass – hit the target.” Alexander pointed to the next in line. “You’re up.”

A young woman with long black hair walked confidently to the table. Kaden recognized her immediately. Although it had been years since he last saw her, there was no mistaking her. She used to live in Kaden’s neighborhood; they went to the same elementary and middle school.

“Mariko Asano,” she said to Alexander. Her voice was clear and unwavering, but her hands shook as she picked up the pistol, loaded it, and pointed it downrange. Then she turned off the safety and focused on the target.

“See?” Alexander smiled and turned to the group. “We’re already learning!”

Thwump. She missed. Her hands were shaking badly.

“Go ahead and take another shot,” Alexander said. “Do you see the red dot in your field of vision when you point the weapon down range?”

She pointed the gun toward the target and squinted. Then she nodded her head.

“Take a deep breath; let it out slowly. When the red dot is over the target, squeeze the trigger,” Alexander said.

She took a deep breath, and then another. She focused on the target and slowly squeezed the trigger.

Thwump. A hole appeared in the corner of the target.

Clap, clap, clap. “Good. We have our first pass.”

Mariko grinned in relief. Carefully, she set the pistol on the table and moved to walk away.

“Ah – unload it for me, if you will,” Alexander asked, as he motioned the next person forward.

Kaden tried to catch her eye, but she did not look in his direction.

Each person in line took a turn with Alexander and the pistol. Most hit the target on the first or second shots. Only two missed three shots in a row. Apparently neither had worn their Company specs to class – glasses or contacts – so they had difficulty aiming the weapon. Alexander failed them both.

Kaden was towards the end of the line. When it was his turn, he walked up to the table and picked up the weapon. While he was unfamiliar with this particular weapon, he did have basic firearms proficiency from his time in the service. He was a decent shot, but he had never put in enough practice to develop any real skill. Even so, Kaden had enjoyed his time on the range. Despite Braiden’s accident, Kaden was looking forward to his turn.

When he raised his weapon and aimed downrange, he frowned. He did not see a red dot. Aiming as best he could, he squeezed the trigger. He missed.

He looked to Alexander and said, “I don’t see the sight. The red dot isn’t there.”

Alexander just raised his eyebrows, as if to say Not my problem.

Kaden tried again, but he was unfamiliar with the weapon and without the help of the augmented reality sights, it was difficult to aim the pistol. He missed again, if barely.

Keeping the weapon pointed down range, Kaden turned his head to Alexander. “There’s no sights on my HUD. Is there anything else I should be doing?” he asked.

Alexander shrugged and glanced over his shoulder. “Well… I suppose there is … One of your fellow interns is interfering with your HUD.” He shrugged. “Unfortunately, not my problem. Something you’ll have to deal with by yourself, I’m afraid.”

Kaden frowned. “So you know that someone has found a way to interfere with my HUD, and you won’t do anything about it?”

Alexander nodded. “That’s correct. Think of this challenge as part of the test.”

Kaden lowered the weapon, fuming. What should he do? Think!

“All I have to do is destroy the target, right?”

“Correct.”

“Do I have to stand here to do it?”

Alexander smiled. “I never said where you had to stand. You can move around if you like.”

Kaden just shook his head and took a deep breath. Okay - you got this. Just destroy the target.

Holding the gunsword in a two-hand grip out in front of him, Kaden walked forward towards the target. Five steps forward, and he kept going. When he reached ten steps, he felt something change. He almost stumbled as gravity doubled.

Gritting his teeth, Kaden activated his gravity counterward and kept walking. After five more steps, the gravity doubled again. Kaden grunted and kept going. Three more steps and the gravity increased again. Now it was all Kaden could do to stand upright.

At first Kaden thought he would just walk up to the target and take a point blank shot. But this close, it was almost impossible to hold his arms out steady with the increased gravity. Reviewing options, Kaden thought about moving backward to where the gravity was a little less and taking a shot from there. While that would probably work, it didn’t feel right. He had made it this far; he wanted to take it all the way.

Kaden strode two steps forward. The target was now only two steps away. With his left hand, he switched the weapon mode to sword and pulled the trigger. A golden blade shot out of the gunsword’s lower barrel, thrumming with the release of mana energy. With a heave, Kaden slashed out, cleaving the target in two.

Kaden released the trigger, put the safety back on, and removed the cap from the weapon. He then walked slowly back to the table, all eyes in the room on him. He placed the weapon back on the table under Alexander’s watchful gaze and then moved back to his place in the semi-circle.

“Wait,” a voice protested. “He passed?!?”

Alexander shrugged. “Yeah sure, he met the training objectives – specifically, he ‘hit the target’ while not hurting himself or someone else. He achieved the desired result; therefore he passes.”

Voices grumbled in protest. Kaden looked around, but no one met his eyes except Patricia. Her stony eyes bore into Kaden, and the signal was clear. She wanted him gone. Iqbal and Roger were also in this class, but they were looking anywhere but in his direction. When his gaze came to Mariko, she looked away. There’s no way she doesn’t recognize me, he thought.

“Let’s keep going, we’re almost out of time and we have a few left,” Alexander called, motioning the next person forward.

Everyone else passed on the first or second trial shot, including Kaden’s teammates. No one else had the same problem with not being able to see the AR sights as Kaden. He noticed Patricia continuing to glare. Suspicion continued to grow in Kaden’s mind.

Alexander glanced at his watch.

“Excellent! We’re done five minutes early. Enough time to grab some coffee before my next meeting.” Looking around, he spotted Carol, who had just returned to the room.

“You’ll take care of returning the gunsword to the armory, won’t you? Thank you so much!” And with that, Alexander strode quickly from the room.

Not a word about Braiden, Kaden thought. Safety first? Whose safety?

A notification signaling the completion of the training popped up on his glasses.

Congrats! You have a new ranking: Aura Affinity: Amber.

He made a mental note to ask about the aura affinity. He had no idea what it meant, and it had not come up in any official training yet.

“Hey team – here’s another idea. I think you’re going to love this one,” Bill said, pausing for dramatic effect.

“Monster Bain!” Bill pulled pistol hands, firing at Jill and Kaden.

Jill turned and stomped from the room.