I open up my eyes and stare at my ceiling. ‘Sometimes I wake up and wish this was all a bad dream.’ I then look down at my scarred elbow and armor. ‘But it never is.’ A single tear drips down my cheek. ‘It never is.’ I shake my head then get up. I walk to my bathroom still trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. ‘I haven’t taken my armor off in three days. I really need to take a shower.’ I enter my bathroom then lock the door behind me. I look down at the sweat soaked and scuffed light grey carapace and sigh. I slowly peel the sticky black bodysuit from my skin then throw it into the corner near the door hinges. I look down at my thin and slightly toned body. ‘A couple weeks of work and a couple life or death scenarios is all it took to burn off that layer of fat. Why didn’t I try this before.’ I chuckle grimly then place my hand on the water controls and turn on the hot water.

I step into the combined bathtub and shower and let the water run over me for a couple minutes. I open my eyes then start lathering my body with soap and cleaning it. After about 20 minutes and a couple latherings I step out of the shower clean and refreshed. I grab my towel and start drying myself off. After I’m finished drying myself off I hang up my towel then gather up my armor, bodysuit, and cloak. I walk into my room then start the process of preparing my breakfast. After I eat a filling breakfast of fried eggs, hash browns, and bacon I wash my body suit and clean my armor by hand. Once I’m finished with all my menial tasks I put my armor back and cloak back on and grab my rifle I exit my room and walk over to Charlie’s.

I raise my arm and knock on Charlie’s door. “Rise and shine Charlie.” I yell. The door opens and a disheveled Charlie peeks out from behind it.

“What do you want Josh?” He asks while rubbing his eyes.

“It’s time to train Charlie.” I tell him with a grin. Charlie sighs.

“Fine, let me get ready. Give me like 5 minutes.” Charlie says then slams his door. I place my rifle on the ground and sit down next to it. After about 5 minutes Charlie walks out in his armor with his carbine in hand and drone in tow. “All let’s go.” He says as I push myself off the ground. Once I’m on my feet we start to walk towards my room.

“So what happened after I fainted?” I asked Charlie curious as to what he did while I was knocked out.

“Well after you fainted I brought you up to your bed then I continued testing out my drone for a bit. Then I tried using my chakra. At first it was hard but after a couple hours I was able to get the hang of it. Now I can slightly strengthen my physical attacks or give a slight boost to speed.” He informed me.

“That’s good, hopefully we’ll be able to gain better control of our powers before we’re sent on another mission.” I say as we enter my room.

“Yeah.” Charlie answers. We head towards the door to my basement and then our training began.

For sixs days Charlie and I did physical training in the mornings. Starting off with a one hour run, then doing push ups and sit ups for an hour, and then repeating the process for six hours. I was better able to keep up with Charlie due to my enhanced stats and I even improved some over the week. Charlie also improved along with me. We both pushed each other to do the best we could. The physical training also helped me acclimate to my enhanced stats.

After physical training we would rest and eat lunch. After resting we would do weapons training and skill training. Since I had limited ammunition for my pulse rifle and because it already had an aim assisting feature I shot it very little only using a single powercell for the whole week but I did practice quite a bit with my laspistol. Charlie also shot very little to conserve ammunition, so both of us ended up training with our energies. He practiced enhancing his limbs and control . I told him about the tree climbing exercise and we decided to adapt that to just wall climbing. At the end of the week Charlie had a very bruised back but could now climb walls with bit of concentration. I focused on expanding my essence pathways and quickening the manifestation of my claws and sphere. I also practiced controlling the sphere and speeding up its exit from my influence.

Charlie and I sparred quite a bit during the weapons training time as well. Charlie was significantly better than me at hand to hand combat but I improved quickly. Soon Charlie was enhancing his movements with chakra and I was using my demonic essence covered claws in our spars. Through these I confirmed that the extended claws do also cause immense pain along with being quite good a cutting,

Once our weapons training time ended we rested and ate dinner then we started combat training. I would change my training room to different environments and we would plan out how to deal with different situations along with running drills.

On the final day Charlie and I relaxed and enjoyed ourselves before the terror we knew was coming. Then the morning arrived. Just like every morning I got up and I was standing outside, armor and cloak dawned, backpack strapped, and rifle in hand. My laspistol was holstered on my right hip. I had the hood of my cloak up and the shadows of the hood hid my face. I looked towards Charlie’s door as I leaned against the wall. Soon he exited his room. Armor dawned, carbine at the ready, drone in tow, and backpack strapped.

We gave each other a nod then walked towards the stairs. We stopped then looked up at the ball of light that was The System. Soon its mechanical voice entered our minds ‘Please enter the light in 30 seconds.’ It proclaimed and grimly we did as it told. We entered the beams of light. ‘Entering mission world. Mission Parameters: Survival. Scenario: Yautja hunt. Difficulty: 15 man. Side Mission: Introduction.’

Then we entered the familiar dream like state.