[i]I've been having second thoughts. It's not that I don't like Blair, or Albright, or- actually, Destin and Heather scare me a little. ... She says she's just making sure that we could hold our own in a firefight. But I'm still worried. I've never tried to use a Septan before. Never. I've seen them, and I held one, once, but I've never [u]used[/u] one. ... I guess I'll find out tomorrow whether or not I'm ready. [/i]
~Cole Festwood's Private Journal, entry dated 09.28.291 A.I.


Cole glanced around at the odd assembly. A sabertooth tiger in a military vest, two similar-looking robins and an owl sticking close together, a prim and groomed basilisk lizard, and himself. A scrawny young hyena who was growing more certain by the second that he shouldn't have been there.

"Okay, people," the sabertooth stated, "this is how it's gonna work. There are seven targets out there." She pointed at the specified objects. "You get one shot each. I want at [i]least[/i] one bulls-eye, and at [i]least[/i] two hits beyond that. Simple enough?"

The robins nodded.

The sabertooth turned expectantly to Cole. "You got it?"

"What happens if...?"

"If you don't make it, we start over and try again until you do."

He bit his lip. "Mm."


The male robin, Albright, went first. Before he fired, he glanced back at the owl. "Okay, Jasmint, if I get all seven, can I get a kiss?"

The owl giggled. "We'll see, lover boy."

He smiled and turned back to the targets. "That's all the motivation I need. Here goes."

Blair, the sabertooth, kept track of his shots. "Hit. Hit. Bullseye- you're clear, but if you want to keep going, feel free."

After throwing Jasmint a quick smile, he re-aimed his Septan. "Of course."

"Hit. Hit. H-Miss."

Albright's face, arms, and shoulders drooped. He nodded and sulked back to Jasmint's side.

Despite his failure, Jasmint leaned towards him and gave his cheek a quick, gentle peck.

Albright's expression brightened at once.


The other robin, Heather, was next. She strode next to Blair and took the offered weapon. "Hey, Blair, you said one bullseye and two hits, right?"

"Yeah."

"'Kay." She raised the Septan, squinted at one of the targets, and unleashed a massive burst of prismatic energy from the barrel. It smashed against the middle target, blew it to smithereens, and threw the adjacent targets to the side.


[i]Septa Cannon: One of the primary selling points for the Majarc Septan weapon, even if it is rarely used in practice. The Septa Cannon firing mode is activated by heavily overcharging all of a Septan's cores at once, instead of slightly charging a single core. The resulting projectile is capable of dealing massive damage, at the expense of severe deterioration to the weapon itself. ... Further discouraging its use is the tremendous drain on the firer's Verus. The Septa Cannon is typically only used as a last resort, because the amount of energy required to perform such an attack is enough to leave most furs too exhausted to stand for a few moments. ... Those with extremely high Verus attunement will generally have enough stamina to remain active after use, but it should still only be considered in critical situations where no other alternative is available.[/i]
~[i]Introduction to Weapons[/i], Chapter 1: Standard Firearms


Heather thrust an arm into the air and cheered. "WHOOO! SCORE!" She whirled and jumped around enthusiastically. "Who's the best? Who is the best? Me, baby, ME!"

Blair sighed heavily. "Congrats, lady. You've burnt out a Septan. Guess what just happened to your first cut of our spoils."

Heather's overly-animated celebrations halted. "Wh[i]aaaaaa[/i]t? But... But..."

The sabertooth jerked a thumb at the trailer behind them. "Go get another target from the Hub, to replace the one you just blew up. Then set it up. You wanna sortie under me, you're gonna do it sensibly."

Cole stared at the fuming bird as she ran off towards the trailer. "Albright?"

"Huh?"

"Is she always like that?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

An involuntary shiver ran down his spine.


When Heather returned from her second attempt to fix the targets (the first time, she'd turned one to face the wrong way and hadn't noticed), Blair held out a Septan for Cole. "You're the last one, kid. Let's see what you've got."

Cole glanced back at the basilisk and owl. "Uh, don't Destin and Jasmint need to...?"

"Destin's the hub pilot, and Jasmint's the cook. I don't plan on taking either of them on a sortie."

"Right," he muttered, "so it's just me." He raised a trembling arm, took aim, and fired. He yelped as the recoil jerked his hand away.

The shot slammed dead-center on the second target from the left.

Blair gave him a hearty slap on the back, nearly causing him to drop his weapon in shock. "Damn, kid! You're a natural!"

Cole looked to the side for a moment. Then he looked at the targets. Then he looked up at Blair. "I was aiming for the one on the right."

Blair slowly removed her hand from his back, and moved it to his wrist. "Maybe we should do some more practice."


[i]Note to self: Do not approach Cole while he's carrying any kind of projectile weaponry.[/i]
~Albright Cornfield's Private Journal, entry dated 09.29.291 A.I.


Ten minutes later, Blair and Cole were alone, the others having returned to the hub for lunch. Both the expressions on the fur's faces and the lack of holes in the targets demonstrated the hyena's continued difficulties.

"Too far to the right."

"Yeah."

"Don't get sharp with me."

Cole nearly tried to explain that he wasn't trying to be curt, but decided against it as Blair's glare cut into him. Instead, he turned back and faced the range. "H-Here goes... Again."

"Stop closing your eyes!" Blair ordered, "how the heck do you think you're gonna hit a target if you can't even see it?"

Cole thrashed his arms down and barked right back. "I DON'T!" He dropped his weapon in shock, flinching as if the shout had come from someone else and been directed at him. Much more quietly, he tried again. "I... I don't... I don't think I'm good at shooting. It's hard."

Blair took a deep breath. "Look, kid. This ain't some chapel or a temple or something. We're raiders. We enter ruins. We fight Models and other raiders. As valuable as an Animus scout would be for us, if you can't defend yourself, I'm not taking you down there. You're wouldn't just be putting your own life in danger, you'd be a liability for all of us. And, believe it or not, I don't like seeing my soldiers get hurt from insufficient training. Because that means [i]I've[/i] failed them, in my duty as an instructor."

"I can't even hit one target," he mumbled, "I'm getting tired..."

Sighing, Blair shook her head. "Of course you're tired. You're wasting your Verus. If we keep this up much longer, you won't be able to stand."

"Don't I need to learn how to shoot, though?"

Blair carefully took the weapon out of his hands. "If you're coming with us, yes, you do. If you aren't, it's not so important."

"But-!"

"Get in the hub and get something to eat," she ordered. "We'll try again tomorrow morning, when you've had some time to recover."

Cole nodded and slunk towards the trailer.


Later that night, Albright found Cole sitting behind the trailer staring at the nearly pristine row of targets. He sat down next to the hyena and tried to start up some kind of conversation. "So how'd the training go?"

Cole practically jumped out of his fur. "EYA-Iiiiit went fine. Fine."

Shaking his head, Albright wondered just how long it would take him to get used to his new teammates. "Feel comfortable with a Septan?"

"I... I... I'm not sure. Maybe. Mostly."

He was lying. Albright was pretty sure of it. His voice had taken on that nervous twinge that he'd come to recognize. After a moment's thought, Albright decided to speak his mind. "We know you aren't old enough."

Cole didn't answer.

"How old are you, really? I know it's not 18."

Still silence.

"Even for a late bloomer, you're still too small. Be honest, Cole. If you aren't ready, you aren't ready. Simple as that."

No reply.

"We can always go back to New Festwood and ask there. Or did you lie about your age back when they took you in, too?"


[i]Festwood: Population: N/A (Approx. 170 pre-destruction). ... Even with the assistance of several raider teams and half a dozen separate military parties, by the time the rogue DCA-007 Model could be driven back into the ruins, the town was already entirely decimated. The few survivors mostly moved to the nearby city of Pleadeck, until the eventual establishment of New Festwood in the region between. ... Perhaps the only positive result of the massacre was the unanimous passage of the Festwood Oath, which required any raider or military party engaged in combat with a DCA Model to either eliminate it or battle to the death- retreating to safety was no longer an option. The consequences of accidentally leading a DCA Model back to a village were simply too great to risk ever again.[/i]
~[i]Our World History[/i], 6th Year Student's Chapter


"Fifteen," Cole finally admitted. "I'm fifteen."

Albright started in shock. "Fifteen? As in, ten plus five?"

The hyena rubbed the back of his neck, scrunching down as if to hide away. "Only for a couple months. I'll be sixteen soon."

"You're [i]fifteen?[/i] Are you insane? You're just a kid! You shouldn't be raiding! You shouldn't even be leaving your home town! You-"

Cole picked up a rock and flicked it across the ground. The stone bounced several times, flying in a perfectly straight line. "I don't [i]have[/i] a home town any more."

"That doesn't matter! Why are you even here? You should be back in New Festwood, learning about Animus or whatever it is you wanna do with your life-"

He picked up another, and threw it as well. It followed the same bouncing path. "This is what I wanna do."

"Why?"

Another stone. "Because it's what I wanna do. That's all I need to say, isn't it? I have my reason. That's good enough."

Albright sighed and rested his head in his hands. "I should tell Blair." He paused a moment. "No. [i]You[/i] should tell her."

Cole stared at the next rock for a moment before answering. "I'm pretty sure she knows I'm younger than I said I was."

"But does she know you're only fifteen?"

"What the hell does it matter, anyway?" Cole threw the rock much harder, this time. It ended up hopping right into one of the poles supporting a target with a ringing sound. "I can't use a Septan to save my life, and she's not letting me go into a ruin unarmed."

Albright's ruffled feathers slowly began to settle. He raised his head out of his palms and stared at the shaking pole. "Were you aiming for that?"

"Huh?"

"Can you do that again?"

"I guess," Cole shrugged. He picked up another stone, and skipped it into the target's support again.

Shoving himself to his feet, Albright turned to look at the younger fur beside him. "You seriously wanna go on sorties? Even though we're gonna be facing Models like the one that...?"

"Yeah."

Albright nodded and walked away. "Okay. See you tomorrow."

Cole stared at him as he left, confused by the sudden change.


[i]Impact Mines:
Portable explosives. Since they are not pure Verus, and have a physical component (the casing), Impact Mines cannot be used unlimitedly. Once one's supply of casings runs out, the user must rely on other weapons. Fortunately, since the casings are very small and easy to store, they can be carried in significant quantities. ... They may well be the simplest weapon one could ever find. Simply apply a Verus charge to the mine, place or throw it, and get out of the way. ... Although most modern-day Impact Mines are inferior duplicates created by small-town blacksmiths, Mines of all six elements have been found in ruins. The specific techniques the ancients used to develop wind and earth mines are unknown, resulting in massively inflated prices for the rare devices. ...[/i]
~[i]Introduction to Weapons[/i], Chapter 4: Explosives


As the harsh morning sun cut into the sky, Cole found Blair waiting for him at the makeshift range. She smiled and chuckled to herself as he approached. "Morning, Cole. A little birdie came and gave me a heads-up about something last night."

He froze. Had Albright actually ratted him out?

Blair held out a small, cylindrical package. "Let's try you with some of these."

Cole stared at the case. "What are they?"

Blair used a claw to pry open the box, and shook a small ovaloid onto her palm. "Think of 'em like stones. Stones with a little extra 'oomph.'"


Smiling at her student's handiwork, Blair gestured towards one of the few surviving targets and held up four fingers. "Third one on the left, four seconds from toss."

Cole pulled his wrist back, let a small charge of magic flow into the mine, and whipped his hand out. The smooth metal object skidded and bounced to a halt directly beneath the selected target.

"One. Two. Three. F-"

With a silent flash of light, the ground beneath the target burst apart and a spire of energy erupted in its place, impaling the red-and-white circle.

Blair nodded. "Overcharged that one. Put a little less into it next time. You do NOT want these things going off early."

With a sigh, Cole took another mine out of the package. "Yes, mam."

Much more carefully this time, Blair slid a hand on Cole's shoulder. "Hey, you're doing fine, kid. So far, you've hit four out of five targets dead on. That's one heck of a good score for your first time with these things."

He shook his head and pointed to a partially-intact target lying about four meters away from the rest of the group. "Three out of five. I missed a little on the third try."

Blair grinned. "That's the thing about explosives, kid. You don't need to be perfect. You just need to be close."


[i]I think I might be able to do this after all. ... Blair's so good at being a leader. I wonder why she ever left the military in the first place, if she just ended up forming a raider party anyway? ... I've gotta find some way to thank Albright for this. Hopefully something that doesn't involve dealing with Heather. She [u]really[/u] scares me.[/i]
~Cole Festwood's Private Journal, entry dated 09.29.291 A.I.