Commanders Course (Old Ver.) [Girls' Frontline Fanfiction]

Chapter 13: Warning, Anomaly Detected

     "Come on, Aiden! Just two more obstacles! The last one is practically a cakewalk! Or in your case, a cake fall!" Leon yelled with his hands by his mouth. Not much of a motivator, but it's something.

     "Why... Am I... Doing this... When I Just booked in?" He grunted as he passed the second last obstacle. What stood before him was a steep, dirt hill incline. The last obstacle. He always stumbles and falls to the finish line. Maybe today would be different.

     He gasped, hard, and pushed his jelly-like legs onward. The top neared with every step. His muscles were burning, lungs on the verge of collapsing, and beads of sweat stung into his eyes.

     But he never stopped for a second. He fell, but he never stopped. On all fours, he clambered up, digging into the dirt with his nails and pushing forth with whatever foothold he could get. Finally, he had reached the top.

     "The finish line is in sight! Go, go, go!"

     With a bag of sand weighing him down, he could no longer stand back up. No matter how hard he tried. The finish line was just at the bottom of the hill, indicated by a wooden post with a red flag tied to it. Curling up and tucking himself tightly, he rolled down the hill and made it through, albeit dizzy and disoriented.

     "Time!" Leon chuckled at the dishevelled man that lay in front of him. Aiden sluggishly took off the bag, packed with sand, and laid on his back to catch his breath. He stared at the darkening evening sky and watched as the clouds float by. "Sit up, Aiden, you'll feel better."

     "How'd I do?" He grimaced then exhaled sharply. "Did I beat the fifteen-minute mark?"

     "You're about three minutes short. Eighteen-o-one." He showed the stopwatch.

     18:01.13

     "God.. Damn it." He wiped his sweat with his dirt-caked hands and sat up. "Failed, huh?"

     "Not entirely." Leon walked over to the bag of sand and raised it effortlessly with a hand. Despite his scrawny demeanour, his strength could not be overlooked. "The Basic Obstacle Test does not require a bag of sand."

     "W-What?" Aiden cocked his head and spat out muddied saliva. Leon turned the bag over and poured the sand out before shaking it clean.

     "You've been lugging around ten kilos worth of sand, now imagine doing the test without it."

     What he had said clicked immediately. He would definitely be quicker. Aiden nodded and wiped his dirty hands on the side of his combat pants, dirtying them further.

     "Good hustle, man. Come," he put out a hand. "let's wash up." Aiden took it and was yanked to his feet. The force nearly popped his shoulder off its socket.

     After a quick cold shower, Leon accompanied him to the mess for dinner. Most of the trainees stayed in their dorms while others, that were around, sat to chat about their weekends with a warm beverage in hand.

     Leon and Aiden chatted about the different phases of physical test. There were three: The basic, intermediate, and advanced obstacle tests, each one progressively harder with various degrees of conditions.

     "You don't have to worry; after a few months of training, your body could adapt to the strenuous activities. The instructors are good at keeping track of what needed to be worked on, but in the downtime, it's just self-discipline."

      Aiden scoffed as he had been eating steak and oily seafood for the past two days.

     "Heya!" Vyra tilted her pose and waved with a smile. "Welcome back, guys!"