Fan Fiction ❯ Endless Power ❯ Boot Camp ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3

Boot Camp

Neo quickly slipped off the bus and landed, hard, on the dusty ground.

"Welcome to boot camp," said a gruff voice next to him.

Neo looked around. There wasn't a building in sight. As far as he was concerned, he was standing on an endless dust trail in the middle of nowhere. Beside him, Max had just jumped and landed. He too looked awed. They seemed to both be thinking the same thing.

"No advanced technology? Where in the world is this place? Why the hell am I here anyway?!?"

"We don't have all day you know!" said the same gruff voice from before.

"Huh?" said Neo, startled, "I was…"

"Looking at the scenery. I know, but you boys better get your butts inside before the storm picks up," said the man.

Neo stared.

"Well? Are you deaf or something?!?" the man sputtered, spraying Neo with spit.

Neo ran towards what seemed to be a piece of metallic on the ground, with Max following him like a gunshot coyote. And then the strangest thing happened. As they approached the piece of metal, they were suddenly lifted from their feet and into the air. Seconds later, they landed on something hard, and all was lost.

"Junior…" said a voice, "you there man?"

"Huh?" said Neo. His head was spinning like a top and he was very confused. "What happened?"

"Ya musta hit a rock of somethin dude. Anyway, ya came through da hard way. Don't blame ya. All the new people we get don't find their way around fer da first week or so."

Neo felt even more confused. He was already pretty bashed up, and now, a person who probably didn't even graduate from middle school was trying to explain the situation.

"What's your name?" asked Neo.

"Stan, Stan Maral. Wass yours?"

"Neo," said Neo.

"Glad ter meet ya partner," said Stan, extending his hand.

Neo shook it and Stan pulled him up. Neo turned around and observed that he had fallen on an extremely hard steel platform.

"What kind of portal was that?" he demanded.

"Er… one of da old fashioned ones, I would say. This is afta all da oldest army camp in Quadrant 3," replied Stan.

"Quadrant 3?" asked Neo.

"Ya…"

Stan's voice drifted off.

"Quadrant 3!?! You've got to be kidding me right? I'm not mister Map Quest. Where on this friggin planet did that blasted John son-of-a-gun sent me. And where the heck is Max?"

"Dude!" exclaimed Stan.

But his voice sounded very far away as Neo began slipping into the darkness once again.

"Next up, Ali and Gorgon!" shouted the announcer.

The crowd roared with approval as both fighters stepped into the ring, which was made of expertly cut gannon, the strongest known metal in the universe. Someone not familiar with the tournament probably would have thought that the current match was a joke. Gorgon was a big, mean killing machine, as the crowd described it. His reputation was known far and wide, and he was feared throughout many of the galaxies. Ali, on the other hand, looked much like a boy and no one had ever heard of him before. It was obvious who was going to win. But Balem knew better…

Ali concentrated all his energy into his hand, and then into the piece of hard metal he was holding. A blazing flash of white light suddenly erupted from the metal piece and shaped itself as a sword. The crowd cheered. Gorgon, however, grinned and a steely glint flashed over his dark eyes.

"I'm much familiar with your energy sword," cackled Gorgon. "And I have devised such a weapon myself. Prepare yourself for… Energy Bomb!"

Continuing to laugh, Gorgon focused his energy into his hand and slowly, the energy started to gather there. He could feel it in his bones…

"Ha! Beat this swordsman!" Gorgon hooted, as he began to juggle what appeared to be a small sized ball. It was blazing with light.

"Eat my energy bomb sucker…"

Gorgon stopped in mid sentence.

"Where'd you go you filthy little brat?"

"Here I am!" shouted Ali, as he suddenly appeared behind Gorgon.

"Huh?"

Gorgon didn't even have enough time to turn around before he dropped to the floor in five pieces, dead. The crowd was silent. Then suddenly, it burst into a thunder of applause that seemed shake the stadium off its foundation. Ali relaxed his grip and the sword disappeared. Then he quickly clasped the piece of metal onto his belt and jumped out of the ring.

"Well, will you look at that!" shouted the announcer, who seemed a bit taken back by the quick victory. "Our youngest contestant finishes the match in just under 3 minutes! This must be a tournament record. Let's look at the finishing move in slow motion."

The four big screens located around the stadium flickered on. The crowd saw Ali suddenly appear out of thin air, and then make five consecutive cuts that finished Gorgon off. His movements were so quick that it was even hard to follow in slow motion. The people were simply stunned. Such movements had been seen in other tournaments, but never by someone as young as Ali. Never by a boy…

"Lieutenant Baker, I'd like yer ter meet Neo from the Institute of Magic," said Stan Maral. "He's here fer da er… special assignment."

"Let me speak to Neo in private. You're excused," said Lieutenant Baker in a gruff voice. "And drop the accent will you?"

"Yes sir!" exclaimed Stan.

He snapped a quick salute and was gone. Baker quickly got up and shut the door. He then produced a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket and offered Neo one.

"I don't smoke," said Neo. "It's bad for you."

"Like I've heard," said Baker sarcastically while holding a cigarette next to his desk.

A small robotic hand swooped from under the table and lit it.

"But the world isn't the same anymore is it?" asked Baker, taking a deep puff. "The world just isn't the same…"

"So…" started Neo.

"Right! Back to business," said the Lieutenant, as he cutoff Neo with a careless wave of his hand. "First timer right?"

Neo nodded his head.

"Mr. Hopkinson has told me quite a lot about you," continued Baker. "You are gifted, am I right so far?"

"Yes sir," said Neo, trying to imitate Stan's crisp salute.

"Hell, if I'm supposed to be one of these soldiers, then I better start acting like one," he thought to himself.

Baker sighed and got up. He started pacing to and fro, stopping every few seconds to take a blank look at the ceiling.

"The people at W.L.T.W. think that they have found another power don't they?" asked Neo.

"No son," sighed Baker, almost looking sad. "No they didn't."

The words sank to the bottom of Neo's stomach like a stone. He suddenly felt like a tiny fish in a shark pool.

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Neo with anger in his voice.

"It means that I don't give a damn whether you're something special or not. You train just like everyone else here. Don't think that you can slack off just because you're a psychic. That doesn't happen under my watch you understand?" shouted Baker.

He was obviously mad too. It seemed to Neo that Baker was a guy who gave orders and didn't like people challenging him for power.

"Figures," he thought. "That explains the sarcasm and the tough guy attitude."

"Now," continued Baker, suddenly becoming much calmer, "exit the door and find the training facility. It's the large double doors on the right. You can't miss it."

Neo stood still. He wanted to get as far away from Baker as possible, but he still had a million questions to ask.

"Well?"

Confused, Neo quickly rushed outside and swung open the double doors on his right. The noise seemed to blast him off his feet. It sounded like eighty machine guns going off at once. But what was ten times worse was the fact that the roaring kept on going and going and going…

Endless…

Neo plugged his ears tightly with his fingers, but it didn't help a bit. The roaring just kept on going. He scanned the room quickly. There were rows of large plasma computer screens.

Endless rows…

Soldiers in uniform were wearing virtual reality visors and seemed to be training on a virtual battlefield. The screens showed their progress, weapons, life points, and other stats. It was also what was making all the noise. Obviously, whoever designed the system had made it so that visitors could watch and hear real-time sounds from the virtual reality training.

"The system definitely wasn't designed for military purposes," thought Neo. "When gathered in large amounts, these things can sure make a hell lot of noise!"

Suddenly, something moving caught his eye. He whirled to the left. No, not a something, but a someone…

"Max!" Neo roared over the machinery.

"Neo!" replied the scientist, eagerly shaking Neo's hand. "Looks like you found your way to the training facility!"

"Wait!" shouted Neo. "Let's go outside and talk! I can't even think over this machinery!"

Neo quickly headed for the door, while Max followed him like an eager puppy waiting for a stick to be thrown. He closed the door after Max, shunting out the noise from within. This seemed to be an utter relief for the both of them.

"So…" started Neo.

"No need to be shocked Neo," said Max, trying to explain himself.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHERE WE ARE?" shouted Neo, who clearly couldn't take any more of the clueless attitude.

"Uh, Quadrant 3?" whimpered Max.

"You're damn right we are!" shouted Neo. "How can you stand this? How can you be somewhere that you don't know?"

"Well, uh, it's better than the lab…" Max trailed off.

"BETTER THAN THE LAB? IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY?" shouted Neo, almost on the verge of screaming.

"Now listen Neo," said Max.

His voice was dead calm, but Neo could see him edging back as far as possible.

"I didn't ask to be brought to this place. Now, the people here might not be pleasant and this whole army camp might not of been what you expected it to be, but you have to learn sooner or later that you can't have everything you want in this world. Expect the unexpected, that's all the advice I have for you Neo."

There was kind of an awkward silence as Neo took all of this in. Finally, he turned to look at Max and nodded.

"You're right Max," Neo admitted. "I just have to get used to this strange place. After all, the world is depending on me isn't it?"

"I knew you would understand Neo," said Max, giving him a firm pat on the back. "So, how about some lunch?" he offered.

"Sounds good Max, sounds good…" agreed Neo, as they walked down the corridor to the cafeteria.

Little did they know that security cameras were following their every move…