The first two months passed by just like that, without me taking a step out of the military camp. If I did not have permission to use my phone on occasion, I would have been completely cut off from the outside world. Thankfully that was not the case, and I had the opportunity to talk with my parents as well as friends.
During these two months, the "Super Rookie" title affirmed itself, and it became what most of the soldiers who came into contact with me, or heard about me, called me. I blew my chance of being called "Super Soldier" during my first firearms/shooting lesson. Heck, I would have probably even lost the Super Rookie title if not for the speed at which I improved my aim and firing rate.
My superior body strength, control, and eyesight made sure that I improved with each shot, so after using the first few shots to get a handle on the gun, I improved rather quickly. Once I managed to reliably hit the moving targets, I was upgraded from the starting range of 10 meters to 25 meters at the end of the second shooting period.
Not long after that I was once again upgraded to the 50-meter range, followed by the 100-meter range, the 200-meter range, and the 300-meter range, which was apparently the usual "certainty" limit of the gun I was using. I had no idea if the "small caliber" guns were better or worse in my last life. Anyway, 300 meters seemed to be the point all soldiers could reach with enough training, so I naturally had to go beyond that.
The maximum distance the bullets of the handgun I used had, before it lost the potency to cause serious harm was 500 meters, so I naturally went ahead and worked on ensuring that I could release sure-fire shots at that distance.
Another reason I had to do work on the 500-meter range, was that I was not allowed to move up to a superior firearm before I managed to move up to that particular gun in the firearms service class, and for me, doing that took longer than becoming a good shooter.
Still, two months was enough for me to upgrade to the rifle-type firearm, and while I was currently only at the 600-meter range with that one, the maximum potent range for it was close to two kilometers. A soldier could be considered to become a competent shooter once he or she could hit a moving target at an 800-meter distance with that rifle without wasting time.
I seriously doubted that there were many, if any, people who could have done that on Earth, but the people here were just built differently, so I had no trouble accepting these things. Oh, and a nice side effect of all that shooting practice, was that my various long-range abilities saw an increase in accuracy as well after only a few "adjustment" attempts.
Aside from my shooting ability, my physical capabilities had completely won over all my fellow soldiers as well as the instructors. Aside from some of the instructors and superiors, my physical abilities were currently the highest at the border camp, so the soldiers respected me for that even though I was a newbie and a temp at that.
My only possible shortcoming, at least in the eyes of the other/regular soldiers, could have been my Pokemon. More precisely the lack of any truly strong ones since they knew I was doing my practical year, but the notion quickly died down once one of them recognized me as the winner of the global student tournament slightly more than 3 years ago and shared that with the rest.
That I had been working/interning at Oak Labs during the last 3 years also became common knowledge shortly after that, and no one doubted my strength after those two facts. The fact that I used to be a successful intern at Oak Labs raised my reputation more so than my being a global student champion.
I was about to finish the first week of my third month here, and I only got to witness any kind of conflict preparation once, at the end of my first month here at the camp. I had not been allowed to participate since I was seen as a total newbie, and because the camp's modus operandi was to deal with problems before they arrived at their doorstep, I did not get to witness the operation.
All I knew was that the sentry and early warning system detected a Pokemon horde moving in our direction, so a troop got dispatched to either redirect, repel, or stop the oncoming horde, and since I did not get to see the horde, the troop was obviously successful in their task.
Oh, I also learned that the border camp's classification of incursions was relatively different from the regular one, which simply called all of them tides. They divided the potential attacks into 4 kinds. The smallest kind of incursion was the grouping or mob as some of the soldiers called it.
Anything below 7k Pokemon was classified as a grouping/mob, but that did not necessarily mean that the attack was weak since this title only described the number of foes. The "threat level" was like many other things determined through stars.
If the peak strength among the assailants was at the silver stage, the attack got assigned a single star. Accordingly, it was 2 stars if the strongest members were at the gold stage, 3 stars if they were at the dark gold stage, 4 stars if they were at the platinum stage, and 5 stars if they were at the palladium stage.
This threat level assessment applied to all four size classifications, and not only to the grouping/mob. Additionally, if the number of "peak" level Pokemon was above a certain level, or if there was a suspicion that there was one or more Pokemon of a higher state among them, then a .5 was added to the "threat level".
Moving back to the size classifications. The next "size level" after the mob was the horde. Anything above 7k Pokemon, and below 100k was classified as a horde. Frankly, I was not surprised everyone else already called this a tide since that was a big number of Pokemon to face.
Nonetheless, it only got more exaggerated after that. The third "size level" was the swarm, and anything above 100k Pokemon, and below 1 million was classified as a swarm. That left us with the fourth and final official military size classification, the tide.
It was no surprise that they used something related to the sea for this one considering the numbers involved. Anything above 1 million attackers was classified as a tide, and such a number of assailants easily gave off the feeling/impression that one was facing a "sea of enemies".
Anyway, I could not help but think back to that occasion because the same warning siren began to go off once more. Everyone began to move to certain designated areas, and I moved to the central training field along with every other soldier of our brigade who did not have certain assignments to execute.
It took less than 5 minutes for the area around me to be filled with soldiers in neat files and rows as far as I could see. I had managed to position myself in the second row at the front, so I was able to see Colonel Sheppard moving to the front of our lineup. As soon as he was in position he began addressing us without any delay.
"A 2.5-star horde of approximately 18000 potentially hostile Pokemon has been spotted by our surveillance, so we'll be acting accordingly. Major Box and the 2nd battalion will move out to prepare for any eventuality. Major West and the 3rd battalion will be at ready in case the 2nd battalion requires assistance. Everyone else shall remain alert but otherwise return to their usual duties," he declared before Major Box and Major West stepped forward and approached him.
They talked for a bit before salutes were exchanged and Colonel Sheppard walked away. Afterward, Major Box stepped forward and began to address us.
"Soldiers of the 2nd battalion are to get ready to march within the next 5 minutes. The assembly point is the northern gate. Everyone else aside from the 3rd battalion and Mikail Geo is dismissed," she ordered, and I could feel the gaze of nearly everyone around me when she singled me out like that.
If not for the time and place we were in right now, I was sure I would have been swarmed. However, as it stood, no one even made a single comment and instead saluted before vacating the field, or rather it was everyone aside from the 3rd battalion members that left.
"Recruit Geo, follow me," Major Box said, before moving some distance away. Seeing how I had received an order from a superior officer, I followed after her. I saw Major West stepping forward to address his battalion as I did, but I ignored that and focused on Major Box instead.
"At ease," she said after scrutinizing me for a moment, and I took a slightly more comfortable stance, but did not break eye contact. I waited for her to speak up, which she did a few seconds later.
"It appears that your instructors have deemed you to have reached a sufficient level since they conveyed some time ago that you were ready for some field action. Colonel Sheppard decided that the current situation is a good opportunity for you to gain experience, so you will be accompanying my 2nd battalion on our mission," she explained, though it seemed that she was not completely happy with the situation.
"Yes, madam," was my simple response. I could understand where her slight discontent was coming from, and I was not planning to react to it in any way. It seemed my swift as well as curt reaction pleased her since she gave a satisfied nod.
"Alright, while you might have earned yourself some kind of reputation during your time here, you are still just a rookie, and this is still your first field mission, so I expect you to behave accordingly. When you are given an order, I expect you to follow it. You are not allowed to act as you please, and if you notice something I expect you to notify a superior. Under no circumstances are you allowed to act on your own accord," she proclaimed, before looking a bit thoughtful.
"Actually, belay that order. You are allowed to act as long as it is to save the life of your fellow soldiers, but only if your actions do not jeopardize the life of any soldiers or yourself," she revised her order, and I gave her a salute together with a "Yes, madam!".
"Excellent!" she said at my reaction. "You'll be joining Squad Alpha, which is directly under my command. Immediately head to the armory and pick up your allocated field gear as well as a gun and rifle. You better hurry since you only have 3.5 minutes until you have to be at the north gate," she shared with me, and I briskly headed to the armory after giving her a final salute.
The personnel at the armory was already expecting me, and they handed me everything I needed before directing me to a makeshift changing cabin they set up. Once I had changed into my field gear, I strapped the gun to the holster at my right leg, before I held the rifle in a patrol carry position.
Afterward, I left the armory and jogged to the north gate since I only had around a minute until the allotted 5 minutes were up. Thankfully I made it on time, though I was still the last one to arrive. Consequently, my arrival attracted the attention of the other soldiers, which was not a bad thing in this situation since it also attracted the attention of the Alpha Squad, which sent one of their members over to me to "pick" me up.
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