“Get MOVING SIYO!”
Siyo resented the Drill Instructors, they wanted the world from you, and when you gave them it, they always said it wasn’t good enough. Siyo was running the standard courses with his fellow recruits, on the desert surface of Rygosha, which was a planet in the middle of nowhere, and all it had was the training grounds. Although he hated the planet, he just kept looking forward towards his goal. He wanted to command, he wanted to command his men into battle, and follow them. He wanted to destroy all foes to the Raiken, and bring good to the galaxy. Siyo paused for a second and regretted it.
“SIYO, STOP DAYDREAMING AND GET ON WITH IT!”
Siyo used his 6’ 11” frame to jump and grab the top of a fifteen-foot wall. He hopped the top, and grabbed a metal stave. He vaulted over a huge hole, and slammed the stave into a wooden door on the opposite side. The searing heat from above didn’t even slow him down. He had been here for far too long to even notice it. Twenty two Cycles into training, he ignored the heat, the cracked ground, the desert that they were in. He hit the ground and crawled under the light barriers. These light barriers would knock out anyone who touched them. It was not a fate that Siyo wanted to experience again. He came up to the final obstacle, a ring set into the ground. He picked up a new stave, and waited in the middle. Another recruit showed up about ten seconds later, grabbed a stave, and charged Siyo. Siyo parried the initial charge and used the back end of the stave to clock the recruit between the eyes. His vision blurred for a second, and then he recovered, but it was too late. Siyo came in for the knockout blow and whacked the stave into the back of the recruit’s head. He fell to the ground, unmoving. A Drill Instructor nodded and dragged the recruit off of the ring. Siyo had no time to prepare as two more recruits finished the course, and both came running at Siyo. Siyo had to retreat to gain some time, and he jumped up, and smashed the stave onto the recruit’s helm. He stood still, cried out in pain, and fell over. The second recruit had the advantage, and he used it. When Siyo landed, the recruit swept his legs, and Siyo fell to the ground. Siyo rolled out from beneath the recruit, and came up swinging. The recruit had no chance against his barrage, but in out of Siyo’s line of sight, a recruit came behind him, and brought the staff down on his helm. Siyo’s vision went black; the last thing he felt was hitting the ground, hard.
Siyo awoke in the infirmary, and the pain from his head rushed to meet him. He fell back down, and noticed a new guy standing at the door. As soon as Siyo met his gaze, he turned, and left. Siyo was wondering who the mysterious figure was when the Head Drill Instructor strided in.
“Let’s go Siyo, It’s time for supper, and then the camp’s favorite game. Hide and Go seek. You up for it?”
Siyo remembered that it was sixth rise of the moon, time for the games. He got up and nodded to the Instructor, and he ignored the pain that his head cried of. He walked out of the infirmary, and headed to his bunk. He wasn’t hungry. It was time to prepare for the games. He checked under his bunk, and pulled out his trunk. He opened it, and the first thing he saw was his family back home, from Oushino. He shoved aside his memories, and grabbed the two most important things in the trunk, his armor, standard issue to the military, and his mock Photon Rifle. Instead of firing it’s usual lethal light rounds, it fired negatively charged ions, which stunned whatever it shot. He suited up and hoisted his gun up; there would be plenty of flashes of light across Rygosha’s horizons.
Siyo moved out of the barracks, and started towards the game grounds. He wanted to be first, and ready when it was starting. Next to the grounds was a firing range, Siyo contemplated on practicing when another recruit showed up.
“I heard you got one in the back of the head Siyo. Someone got past your guard this time?”
Siyo turned and looked the recruit up and down. It was hard to tell who it was with the full body armor on, but Siyo recognized the voice. It was his friend Ranyk. Ranyk was second in class at the boot camp, and he always wanted to beat Siyo. Ranyk was a better shot, and he was great at twirling an Ion Sword. However, Siyo had better leadership and tactics, but Ranyk would always be his right hand man.
“Yeah, he snuck up behind me, wasn’t even a honorable battle, though I did knock three of them down.”
“You’re slipping, better improve, or you’ll lose your spot.”
Siyo could tell Ranyk was grinning behind his visor. Siyo picked up his photon rifle, and casually shot down the range. He got two bull’s-eyes with three bullets, at one hundred fifty meters. Ranyk thought of this as a challenge, and he un-holstered his Slicer pistol. He took aim, and hit the bull’s-eye five times with five shots, at one hundred fifty meters.
“Now you’re just showing off, time for some real game.”
Siyo walked over to a weapons rack, unlocked it, and picked up two long-range rail guns. Siyo and Ranyk raced back to the one thousand meter firing zone, and scoped in. Siyo hit a button on the side of the platform, and a ticking sound began. Light projections began to shoot up from the ground, and Siyo nailed the first one. Siyo barely saw the second and third one as Ranyk pinned them.
“Are you going easy on me Siyo? I know that you can do better than let me get two in a row!”
Siyo grinned, and he hit the next three.
“I was just warming up, you know how I roll.”
The firing practice continued for another half-hour, when he heard the drill instructors coming.
“Time to rack them up Ranyk, Hell’s Janitors are inbound.”
Siyo grabbed his rail gun, and Ranyk’s, and stored them back in the locker. The Drill Instructors just entered the firing range when Siyo returned from the locker.
“All right, Recruits, you know what time it is! Grab your armor if you haven’t already, pick up a rifle, and head in there! Last man standing gets another recommendation to command.
Siyo already had a couple recommendations, and he planned to head off with his dad’s older friend, Rilsamis. Rilsamis was the shipmaster of the Volcano Class Cruiser, Eternal Hope. Siyo and Ranyk nodded to each other, and ran off into the grounds.
