The Reluctant Ranger Chapter 22 - Training

“That is concerning,” Carlos said, leaning over a claimed table under a pavilion at the same park they had wrecked only a week prior.  Whatever the training session had been intended for originally was now thrown out the window in favor of a crash course on hostile Rangers and what that meant for the team, as well as the city.  “You’re sure this is the Ranger you saw?” 

“Positive,” Devon said.   

An image was being displayed on a tablet set between them, a bit blurry, but depicting a Yellow Ranger alongside an Orange one.  He zoomed in to show a yellow sunburst set against the white of the chest of her uniform which almost seemed like military fatigues in design.  

“There’s no mistaking that symbol.”

Carlos nodded, then started flicking through the images, all looking to have been in the aftermath of the same attack.  Both Rangers were surrounded by destroyed automatons, directing what looked to be salvage operations, but that was where the similarities ended.  There were other people in the fore and backgrounds, armed with military style rifles and wearing tactical gear. 

They weren’t wearing any insignia to denote allegiances, but Carlos seemed convinced they were salvagers that peddled Sylan tech on the black market.  Nicole looked over the images on her own phone, the packet having been forwarded along their group chat by Carlos.  

“So, who are they?” Nicole asked.  “A group of evil Rangers or something?” 

Carlos shook his head.  “Nothing of the sort.  You know that we’ve had Rangers die in the line of duty.”  When everyone nodded, he continued.  “What most don’t know is that we’ve also had Rangers desert their teams.” 

“Not surprising,” Grace muttered, her eyes flicking towards Jeff for a moment.  “Clashing personalities and ambitions could always fracture teams.  Add in how power can corrupt, and yeah, makes sense.” 

“Speaking from experience?” Devon asked. 

Grace glared at him with a thunderous expression.  “Grew up in what could best be called a cult that tried to sell me off, so yeah, I suppose I am.” 

He held up his hands in mock surrender, but Nicole could tell that would be a source of contention for some time to come.  As long as the asshole didn’t try anything stupid, she would tolerate the prick, but nobody was going to mock Grace in front of her and get away with it. 

“Enough of that,” Carlos said sharply.  “I wasn’t expecting to have to brief you on external threats beyond the Sylan forces today, so I don’t have much prepared otherwise.  I’ll be sure to get some of the reports we have about this group sent to each of you in due time.  For now, I need to help you prepare to face whatever threats might come.” 

“How are you going to do that?” Kayla asked. 

Carlos grinned, then in a flash of gold, a Ranger stood in his place.  “Trial by fire, now come at me and let’s see how you stack up.” 

Nicole shared a glance with her fellow Rangers and soon they all formed up.

“Roll the Dice!”

A prism of color flashed through the vicinity, and their full team stood, transformed and ready.  Nicole adopted one of the stances she could remember from her karate classes as a child and a few of the others also fell into loose stances.  Carlos walked over, inspecting each of them.  He stopped in front of Jeff first. 

“You’ve had some combat training,” Carlos said. 

“I have,” Jeff said, his purple dragoon helmet bobbing in a nod.  “Ten years of Judo, and I learned the basics of a pole arm since I liked the whole look that ended up becoming the core of my Ranger motif.” 

“That’s good,” Carlos said.  “This goes to all of you, if you have a weapon but no experience using it in a fight, we’ll be working on that.  You need to be intimately familiar with each and every tool you might bring to bear in combat.  That will be a major focus of this training.” 

He moved on, inspecting Kayla next.  “You’ve never fought before.” 

Nicole could almost picture her smiling sheepishly up at the man.  “How could you tell?” 

“Your fists,” he said.  “Thumb on the outside, otherwise you risk breaking fingers, Ranger or no.  I’ll be running you through some basic karate drills and sparing.” 

“It’s a date,” Kayla said, cheekily. 

Carlos continued on, seemingly unphased.  He stood in front of Devon next, eyeing how he held his sword and shield.  “You’ve had some experience with this arrangement.” 

“LARPed for the last five years,” he said with a shrug that bobbed his shield. 

Next, Carlos stepped in front of Nicole.  “Now, I’ve seen you do some fire and rescue stuff, but how well can you fi—” 

Carlos barely stepped back, dodging her foot by less than an inch.  A few shouts of surprise sounded from her companions, but the whole purpose of the time they were spending in the park was to train, and the fastest way to see where someone needed to improve was to do a practical evaluation. 

So, Nicole put her gymnastics experience to use, snapping off acrobatic kicks and well grounded punches towards the veteran Ranger.  He blocked or redirected each and every attempt she made to hit him, but she didn’t let up for a moment.  If he wanted her to stop, he was going to have to make her.

She could almost see a grin on Carlos’ face, despite the helmet.  Nicole knew she was outclassed, she just didn’t care, not when there was a point to be made.  Their acrobatic contest was brought to a sudden halt when Carols decided it was done.  He hooked his arm under her chin, slammed her into the ground, and promptly pulled Nicole into a crippling joint lock before she could recover.  She wasn’t in pain, her flexibility was better than ever since becoming a Ranger and she doubted that he could actually make it hurt without breaking something. 

“Good initiative,” Carlos said, then released her as he stood back up.  “Each of you will need to be able to fight far better than that if you hope to survive your first months as Rangers.  Pay attention when I am demonstrating something, don’t drift off just because you think you’re good enough.  This is your life that you are wagering when you do.  I’ve lost good friends over the years to hubris, seasoned veterans who knew what they were doing, all because they allowed themselves to grow complacent.” 

Nicole shook her arms loose, they weren’t in pain, but she had pushed herself and she knew that even if she felt okay, it didn’t mean she was.  Grace reached out, taking hold of her free hand and squeezing it, her helmet tilted in question.

“I’m fine,” Nicole said.  “He wasn’t trying to hurt me.” 

“Were you trying to hurt him?” Grace asked. 

All Nicole could do was nod, because she had been trying to land a blow, to show him that she could do something.  She’d only known him for a few days, but he had already earned her respect, and she wanted to show that she wasn’t some helpless girl just waiting for a solution to fall into her lap. 

“You know how to use that axe?” he asked. 

Grace turned back, picking up the battle axe.  “Ah, I know how to chop wood.  Did a lot of that before moving up here.” 

“Better than I expected,” he said.  “I’ll see if I can find a proper tutor for you.” 

Grace rubbed the back of her helmet, flinching when she realized it was blocking her hair.  Nicole giggled, only for Grace to playfully smack her.  Kayla chuckled down the line and the moment of levity spread just long enough to lighten the mood. 

“Alright,” Carlos said, clapping his hands.  “Let’s get started on combat drills, no weapons.  I want you all to be able to fight without them, and a lot of the skills you learn from this will translate to your weapon training as well.” 

From there, he had each Ranger pair up, and took Devon for his demonstrations.  Naturally, Nicole made sure she ended up with Grace.  Various techniques were shown, and he ran through them like an instructor for a two day self defense class would.  Spending just long enough on each one to make sure that the students understood the basics and started to develop some muscle memory. 

She’d taken one such class shortly after her parents were killed, just to try and reclaim some semblance of something in her life.  It hadn’t worked, which was partially why she had devoted so much of her focus to her gymnastics only to fall on her face.  It didn’t escape her that she was now doing the same with her Ranger activities. 

“This is so weird,” Grace said, moving through the motions of a throw, making sure she had each step down before attempting to speed up.  “When people think of Rangers, this part of things doesn’t really come up.” 

“It rarely does,” Carlos chimed in, having overheard Grace’s comment.  “Yet, it is essential that a Ranger knows how to fight.  There’s only so much you can do with random flailing and superhuman strength.” 

“We aren’t randomly flailing,” Devon said.  “I know how to fight.” 

“Yes, you know the sword and shield well enough to look like you know how to fight with them,” Carlos said, summoning his own weapon.  It was a hefty looking hammer with a pry bar built in.  “But can you honestly say you have extensive experience fighting to the death with these weapons?  What about with your bare hands?  Have you killed someone with nothing but your fists?” 

“We’re fighting mutants and machines,” Jeff chimed in.  “Why would we need to be prepared to kill?” 

“Because you never know when someone else will decide to try and kill you instead,” Carlos said, his voice suddenly soft.  “The world isn’t a cheery, simple place.  There are groups that want to welcome the Sylan with open arms, and some of the more extreme members will kill a Ranger if given the chance.  The Atlanta team lost a member to a suicide attack by one of those extremists.” 

“You’re shitting me,” Kayla said.  “There’s idiots like that out there?” 

Carlos shrugged.  “There’s idiots of all shapes and sizes out there, and people of all walks will find things to believe.  Just go online and read some of the conspiracy theories out there.  Some are convinced that the Rangers are government actors and the invasion is all a false flag operation to curtail our freedom.” 

Nicole had to snicker at the sarcasm he had layered into his voice for that last part, hell, she could practically picture the eye roll that went with it.  Despite that, she wondered just how widespread those beliefs were, and what role Maraline might have had in spreading them.  Was that the entire purpose of her little act?  To sow doubt? 

It made an unfortunate amount of sense, and was certainly a valid strategy for a conquest.  Information warfare was every bit as important as military might when waging war.  At least it was in the games she enjoyed playing when she was younger. 

“That’s so stupid,” Grace muttered. 

“Is it though?” Carlos asked.  “You’re the first group that’s had mundane contact with an actual Sylan, how do we know they aren’t trying to flip you to their side?  How do we know they haven’t done that in the past with other Ranger teams?” 

“I didn’t get that impression from her in any of our conversations,” Nicole said.  “That doesn’t mean she wasn’t, she could be a far better actress than any of us give credit for, but she seemed to truly believe every word of what she said.” 

“Propaganda isn’t limited to just our side,” Jeff said.  “Just think back to some of our past civilizations.  The Spartans and Feudal Japan especially, with the warrior culture, they were willing to do things we would never consider in the name of honor.  The Sylan probably aren’t much different.  Maraline might very well be every bit the victim in this.” 

“Even if she is, it doesn’t mean we show mercy,” Carlos added immediately.  “In a battle for survival, not every death will be justified.  Innocents die, those misinformed of the righteousness of their cause die.  It’s nothing new, and each side will believe they are fighting for what is right.  Such is the nature of war.” 

Right, they were at war.  That truth was something she knew, but it really hadn’t settled into her mind just yet.  People were fighting to survive, and there wasn’t much normals could do in the face of the Sylan invaders.  The Automatons that made up the bulk of their army were nearly impossible to damage with regular guns, and heavier ordinance was difficult to bring to bear against foot soldiers. 

Nicole had to accept that she was now a soldier, preparing to fight in a war for the future of the human race.  The stakes were far too high, and the responsibility was positively suffocating.  She reached out, pulling Grace into a sideways hug, taking comfort in the closeness.  Her fellow Ranger hugged her back. 

“Okay,” Nicole said, stepping back.  “I think we’ve talked enough.  We’re here to learn to fight, so that’s what we need to be doing.  We can worry about other things once we’re sure we won’t be dying on the battlefield to stupid shit.” 

Carlos gave a sharp nod of his golden helm.  “Well said.  Back to work everyone!” 

Nicole turned back to her partner, to Grace, and squared up.  She knew she had a lot to learn, and she could think of nobody she would rather be going through her training with. 

*** 

Nicole practically limped back into her apartment, Grace helping carry her through the threshold.  “Told you not to try that,” her friend muttered.  “But no, you had to try it anyway.” 

“It worked, didn’t it?” Nicole said with a chuckle.  “A bit of pain now is worth it to know I could do it if I needed to.” 

“Still stupid,” Grace said, shaking her head in exasperation.  “Did you really need to juggle your fucking knives like that?” 

Nicole huffed, and let herself fall onto the sofa.  “Dexterity matters!” 

“Not getting cut up by your own blades matters too!” Grace said in exasperation. 

Rolling her eyes, Nicole snaked her good leg out and entangled it with Grace’s and pulled her off balance.  She yelped, and promptly fell over, landing atop Nicole in a mess of limbs.  The pair struggled for a moment, giggling as they did before Nicole paused, finding Grace’s face so close to her own. 

“Hi,” she said, voice barely a whisper. 

Grace looked back, biting her lip as she did.  “Hi yourself.” 

Becca came out of the bathroom at that same moment, hair up in a towel and toothbrush in her mouth.  She took in the scene, blinked twice, then turned around and shut the bathroom door behind her.  Nicole looked up at Grace, who was looming over her red-faced with an impressive blush. 

“So, back to my place?” Grace asked.  “My roomie should be out.” 

Nicole couldn’t help but laugh, nodding her head in agreement.