Prism and The Red Wolves

“Who’s gonna wake him up?” Srell asked his teammates.

The other members of RED-1 stood around Prism, who was lying down in a cot against the wall and fast-asleep. They’d spent Saturday and Sunday resting within the lobby of The Center, and it was time for the last week of Prism’s bootcamp to begin.

“I’ll digest all of this raw mana a lot better if you guys can let me sleep undisturbed for the next two days.” Prism had told his teammates and Gnapp not long after he’d returned from absorbing most of the convergence of mana that hovered above the skyscraper.

Ursun had agreed to allow Prism’s request, and had set up a separate area in the lobby where Prism wouldn’t be disturbed. Unbeknownst to Prism, Ursun and his fellow commanders had already factored in two days of rest for Prism and the rest of RED-1 before the difficult final stretch of Prism’s training. But no one in Pack Command had imagined that Prism would essentially be hibernating during that time.

“I’ll do it.” Jaik said gently to Srell before leaning down and giving Prism a light shove on his shoulder.

Prism was turned away from Jaik and laid facing the wall. Jaik could see Prism’s youthful face at peace, eyes closed with his full lips slightly parted while he lightly snored. Prism’s long eyelashes quivered after Jaik began to shove him awake. Prism resisted the urge to wake up, even going so far as to groan loudly in his sleep.

“Come on, buddy. It’s time to start your last week of training.” Jaik leaned down further and whispered sweetly into Prism’s ear.

Prism groaned again and simply pulled his gray cotton blanket up further over his head to cover his ear in a sleepy fit of defiance. Jaik sighed and chuckled, not having the heart to make any further attempts to wake Prism.

“Enough of this childishness.” Ursun said.

Ursun took a few steps forward and ripped back the covers from Prism’s half-naked body, nearly knocking Jaik over in the process. When Prism slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Ursun’s menacing face, Prism got the jolt he needed to finally get out of bed. He leapt up in only his briefs and ran to a nearby crate to grab his clothing. His teammates laughed especially hard at his frantic behavior; none of them were a stranger to being forced awake during an exhausting mission. It only took Prism a minute or so to get fully geared up, just like the rest of RED-1 already was.

“About time. Now walk with us over to the center of the room. I need to brief you on your last training mission.” Ursun said to Prism before the commander and the others turned away to start walking.

The middle of the lobby was a large empty area of the blue marble room. The only notable feature of the area was the striking large circular design on its floor. The marble floor medallion depicted the sun with a gentle smiling face at its center, with the planets around it in larger circles that represented their orbits. Æba was the fourth planet within the star system, and was represented as a larger circle than the other planets within the orbital circles. The silvery lines of the monochrome design composed of simple symbols and shapes had caught Prism’s eye the first time he’d stepped in the lobby, but he hadn’t considered it notable enough to discuss it with anyone.

While they all stood around the center of the floor design, Ursun withdrew a small black device from a pocket of his utility belt. With a click of the device, the sun-portion of the floor medallion soon began to rise from the floor, revealing a tall, circular elevator with metallic doors. Prism smiled at the new development, intrigued by what he’d find beneath The Center.

“This elevator leads to Battle Undercity, a sprawling underground complex that mirrors the city we now stand in.” Ursun said to Prism. His voice was loud enough to boom through the cavernous room, as though he was announcing the plays of a sporting event.

“It’s practically a trip to the underworld…” Srell said snidely to Lorias, who chuckled quietly. Both of them got an irritated stare from Ursun, which made them suddenly stand at attention.

“What’s your culture’s “underworld” like? I’ve read some of your religious texts, but I haven’t seen much spirituality amongst any of you since I got here. I’ve been pretty curious abou-“

Prism was feeling quite energized from his long rest, and he felt himself becoming euphoric in the same way he usually became after communing with a new world. But one look at Ursun told him that it was not the time nor place to ask such questions.

“For the next five days, we will make our way through the Undercity until we reach its deepest depths, overcoming a series of challenges in the process. The challenges will mimic real-world scenarios, such as rescuing hostages or sneaking past a guard patrol. Our team will be awarded a maximum of 100 points upon completion of each challenge, and there are ten challenges on each level. Only through the accumulation of 500 points will we be able to descend to the next level of the Undercity. There are a total of 10 levels that will get increasingly more difficult, hence the need for five days. This final portion of your training will be even more grueling than the last three weeks, so stay focused and continue to work with your team.”

Ursun’s explanation intrigued Prism even more. Ever since he’d woken up, Prism could feel a true expansion of his powers in addition to his budding giddiness. He saw the varied challenges of the Undercity as an excellent way to try out and demonstrate his new capabilities.

“And no explosions or corrosive magic. We don’t need the Undercity to collapse on our heads.” Srell said sneeringly to Prism, who was smiling without even realizing it.

“That’s right. Please warn us before you use any destructive abilities down there. Some of the rooms are cramped and ill-suited for anything but small arms fire.” Leanna reiterated.

“Right, of course.” Prism simply said with a big smile and dismissive wave of his hands.

“We can continue your briefing on the ride down. Time to go.” Ursun said while clicking his elevator remote again.

The doors to the round elevator opened, and everyone stepped aboard. The silvery circular booth was roomy despite containing six fully-geared adults. With another click of his remote, Ursun had the doors close and the elevator begin its descent.

“Gnapp said that he’s already adjusted the difficulty of the Undercity based on Prism’s performance in The Center.” Leanna said with a raised hand and a matter-of-fact tone.

“Oh, great…” Srell said with a sigh of disappointment.

“It’s actually possible that he lowered the difficulty from what he’d set it to earlier, especially after Prism almost died from those two knights.” Lorias humbly suggested.

“That would be nice. Gnapp is a reasonable man, after all.” Jaik nodded to himself as he smiled hopefully.

“So uhh…how could this Undercity be even harder than what we faced last week? You guys are only human, and many of those machines could have very easily have killed all of you…” Prism’s voice was full of worry, especially when Srell’s anxious eyes met his own.

“Battle Undercity isn’t a gauntlet full of killer androids, like on the surface; it’s more of a rat’s maze full of complicated skills tests.” Leanna explained.

“Don’t get her wrong; there are still going to be some killer androids for us to destroy.” Srell said a bit too energetically.

“We’re mercenaries. Killing and destroying hostiles is what we’re already good at. It’s the more precarious situations that give us a hard time, like safeguarding the lives of civilians during a firefight or quickly making it out of a building that’s about to be destroyed by incoming missiles. We need to be able to handle those incidents just as effectively as we handle our enemies on the battlefield." Ursun spoke strongly and nobly.

"Oh, I get it. We'll be facing more specific field scenarios." Prism said while nodding to himself while the elevator continued to descend.

"That's why this stage of training is so important for our elite forces. Our RED teams have to be able to do what others can't. They have to be well-rounded and professional, disciplined and adaptable." Ursun said while staring firmly at Prism.

"And as RED-1, we're the best of the best. People expect a lot from us. Don't forget that!" Jaik said energetically to Prism, breaking the seriousness that had filled the elevator booth.

Prism looked over and smiled at Jaik, glad for the reprieve from Ursun's ardent explanations. Everyone then felt the elevator begin to slow before it came to a complete stop. The doors then slid open, revealing a big open room that looked a lot like the interior of Pack Command HQ.

The room's gray epoxy-covered concrete floors glossily reflected the rectangular lighting that ran along the ceilings. The slate-colored concrete walls reminded Prism that they were indeed deep underground. The room was set-up like an industrial reception area, with seating at the edges of the room as well as a few lockers and crates lining the left and right walls. A standing electronic kiosk was near the wall in front of the elevator, along with a sizable metallic arched gate.

Ursun wasted no time walking across the room and to the kiosk beside what Prism assumed was the room's exit. The kiosk featured a large vertical display screen that came to life when Ursun approached it. He was soon tapping away at it, reading descriptions of what the first level of Battle Undercity had in store for him and his team.

"Come on, kids. Let's get Prism acquainted with how things are done down here." Ursun yelled back over at everyone still lingering near the elevator.

Prism followed his teammates over to Ursun, and was quickly given a crash course on reading the Undercity's kiosk. The kiosk showed what the next three "event rooms" contained, and would display the team's score upon completion of each event room. Prism learned that they were standing within a "prep room", which existed between each event room. Each level of the Undercity was separated by a relief room, which was accessed only once the Undercity's participants had cleared the level above it.

"The relief rooms are well-stocked with food and fairly comfortable beds. We'll want to sleep in relief rooms and not prep rooms." Srell explained to Prism.

"So that means that we should clear a level a day, then." Prism stated aloud.

"Some of the event rooms will have quite intensive and time-consuming activities. We'll want to pace ourselves, for sure." Leanna explained further.

"Fortunately, it looks like our first three event rooms aren't too crazy." Jaik said while leaning over to see what was being displayed on the screen that they were all standing around. "Smartmine Avoidance, Defend the Transport, and...Secure the Hostage. Standard stuff." Jaik read aloud.

"I'm sure these simple scenarios will have an extra twist added in to keep Prism on his toes." Lorias said slyly.

Prism glanced over at Lorias and gave the sword-wielding merc a slow nod. Prism knew that he'd need to stay ready for anything, and that his teammates would need him to keep them alive given their organization's wanton use of deadly force during training. Lorias seemed to know what Prism was thinking while the two of them looked at each other. Lorias gave Prism a half-smile before the tall blonde gripped the hilt of his sheathed variable sword.

The first event room of the Undercity featured a sizable maze that the six teammates navigated while doing their best to evade the detection range of numerous round smartmines that had been placed on some of the floors and walls of the maze. The smartmines were small black spheres the size of oranges, and could adhere to nearly any surface. Their meter-long range of detection was a sphere around them, and what made them "smart" was their ability to roll around and change their location every few minutes without detonating themselves.

"These are shock mines. They won't create an explosion, but they will send out enough electricity to stun us, even with our shock-resistant armor." Leanna told Prism when they came across a cluster of the smartmines for the first time within the maze.

"You should unsync yourself and scout ahead. Go get a feel for the maze so that you can navigate us out of it faster." Ursun said to Prism shortly after Leanna's explanation.

"I would, but I actually can't unsync and resync anymore. Well, not without almost dying like you guys did." Prism told Ursun a bit too flippantly.

"Explain." Ursun said with annoyance after crossing his arms.

"Since I've fully incorporated Æba's mana into my being, my body is more..."Æban" now. Your world's matter seems to abhor shifting in and out of reality, and now I have that weakness as well." Prism said with an apologetic shrug.

"Noted. We continue as usual, then." Ursun said calmly. Prism's explanation was reasonable enough for him, it seemed.

"Couldn't I just send a few jolts at the smartmines we can see, so that I can deactivate them for us?" Prism asked with a raise of his hand. He was ready and willing to try out his new powers.

"If you trigger one, the rest of them will be alerted to our presence and roll over here en masse. We'd probably die from so many shock mines discharging at once." Leanna stressed.

"Ah, they are "smart" indeed. I'll let you guys lead the way, then." Prism said disappointedly.

By the time they'd made it through the maze, Prism had learned how to manually avoid smartmines. The Red Wolves' armor provided a fair bit of protection from electromagnetic scanning, which had saved them from what otherwise would have been close calls with the smartmines. Prism was itching to use the new level of magical ability that he'd gained from incorporating Æba's raw mana into himself, and he hoped that the new few event rooms would give him that opportunity.

"Hmmm...looks like we only got a 90 for completing that event room." Leanna said with a frustrated bite of her lip.

"Ooo, I see. Looks like Prism grazed the mines' detection range one too many times." Jaik noted while reading the event room's detailed report.

"It's always the newbies that knock off points." Srell said with a snarky shake of his head.

"I'm sorry; I'll do better next time." Prism said with a heartfelt bow to his team.

"It's fine, we'll just have to complete six event rooms instead of just five this level. Keep your head up and let's keep going." Ursun said to Prism before activating the kiosk and opening the gate to the next room.

"Did you guys really expect to get a 100 on these events?" Prism quietly asked Jaik while they followed after Ursun.

"Yes, yes we did. My team and I got through the first level with five 100s when I went through here a few months ago." Jaik said plainly. But when he saw Prism's expression turn dour, Jaik rubbed the smaller teammate on the back and reassured him. "You're pretty new to all this. Don't let it bother you. Our people aren't usually allowed to even step foot in Battle City until they've already logged hundreds of hours in real missions."

Prism smiled up at Jaik and told the young merc that he was alright. Jaik's words did make Prism feel a lot better about being given the opportunity to train alongside an elite team in such an exclusive place. It reminded Prism of why he was going through the strenuous bootcamp in the first place.

They all stepped into a room that was large and mainly featureless, save for a few concrete slabs arranged around a large black military vehicle. Prism figured that the long concrete blocks were there for cover. When he saw the others begin to run behind the slabs and crouch down, he was quick to do the same. Only seconds later, the gate had closed behind them, and a familiar tone echoed through the room, announcing the beginning of the room's event.

Several white androids clothed in black combat gear began to run out from openings that appeared and disappeared in the walls around them. The androids were armed with automatic rifles, and began to raise them up to fire upon the vehicle behind Prism and his team. Before the androids could unload their magazines, RED-1 shot them down, making quick work of them. Prism, who was also shooting at the androids, was surprised by how quickly his team had defeated them.

"Stay focused. The first wave is always the easiest." Jaik said resolutely to Prism when he saw his teammate begin to relax.

Right on cue, a second wave of androids began to stream out of the walls and towards the vehicle that they were tasked with protecting. While his teammates continued to fire at the hostiles, Prism looked back at the vehicle and reached his right hand out towards it. Prism's irises became light gold in color while he manifested a barrier of light around the transport to protect it from the gunfire that rang out all around it.

"That's gonna get us a 100 for sure!" Jaik shouted passionately while he fired his PAW and helped to dispatch the second wave of androids.

Eight waves of enemies later, RED-1 was walking out of the event room and checking their score. Another hour had passed, and Prism was beginning to understand the importance of only doing a few event rooms on each level. If each task was so intensive, then being forced to do six or more rooms would be exhausting and therefore increasingly dangerous.

"Our first 100!" Jaik yelled happily when he was the first to see the kiosk in the next prep room.

Prism smiled widely before hugging Jaik. The two of them began to jump around with glee, which made their other teammates smile. Srell grinned up at Lorias, who gave his partner-in-crime a reserved smirk. Leanna giggled while she retrieved some ammo from a crate along the wall. Ursun walked over to Prism once the two of them had finished their celebrating.

"Let's keep up the good work." Ursun said while placing his meaty hand on Prism's much-smaller shoulder. "We'll take a ten minute break before continuing." Ursun said while walking over to have a seat on a nearby metal bench.

While Jaik explained the next challenge to Prism as they sat on a bench on the other side of them, all Prism could think about was how he could best serve his team.