Introspection

Chapter 3 - Squad Green

"How many adventures did you guys go on? Were you like his cheerleader or his girlfriend?"-

"Philbert. Enough." Xavier cut as he narrowed golden irises to the ferret across from him. "Sonic or not, all this means is that Amy was trying to pull the wool over our eyes. That she's got an advantage." He slid his gaze to Amy, who inhaled sharply in response to having attention placed back on her. "An advantage I intend to utilize for my, our, benefit."

"Oh? And what exactly do you have in mind, Xavier?" Amy crossed her arms in response, grateful that the owl's attitude served as another outlet to channel her emotions into. "I don't appreciate being used and in case you forgot, there's only so much we can do to improve our odds. Especially with you dragging us behind. Thanks to me, at least you won't take forever on the rock-walls. You're welcome, by the way." She emphasized her point with a huff before shoveling a spoon of yogurt into her mouth.

"Hey, that brings up a point. How in Chaos did you manage to climb every other day last week? You were seriously struggle-busing." Gunner took the queue for the change in subject. Even if it earned him a pointed glare from Xavier who pushed his empty tray to the side, giving himself enough room to cross his arms on the table.

"Because I'm small and light. And a lot of the other cadets are big and solid." He lowered his voice and threw a nod in the general direction of the other squads for emphasis.

"I don't follow." Gunner added, receiving a roll of Xavier's eyes.

"Think about it, Rope-Cat. You honestly think I was actually climbing those walls every day? Friday I twisted my ankle on the balance beam; the rest of the week I was able to keep up with the crowd just fine. For the climb, I was using their shoulders, feet, and hands to push myself up. Hollow bones make your weight hardly detectable." He scoffed as his eyes jumped between the two infront of him.

"So you're a cheater?" Amy, no less than growled at him.

"I like the term "opportunist." He retorted with a shrug.

Amy's fists white-knuckled against her biceps; it didn't go unnoticed and Xavier's shoulder seemed to tense in response. If it weren't for Gunner softly resting a hand against her arm, he was certain she would have pushed herself across the table to throw another slug at him.
"Look. First of all: Thats fucked up. But in all seriousness, Xavier has a point. Amy, if you know members of the Freedom Fighters, you gotta know some of their tricks. Climbing techniques, long distance runs, fighting styles, or levitation! Anything?!" The ferret snapped his fingers in thought and it seemed to break the tension between the other two. "After marksmanship training, back in the barracks, let's come up with a game plan."

"We're running the course blind though." Amy reiterated Dimitris' point from earlier but Gunner only smiled in response.
"Yeah but aren't plans on the fly kinda the "Freedom Fighter" thing?"

"No Gunner. They're kinda Sonic's thing, but I get your point. We kinda know what to expect from the course. At least for the big obstacles, we know they'll be part of it no matter what." Amy exhaled as her eyes shifted between them. Xavier still sat cross-armed but his shoulders had laxed again.

"The last thing we're doing is approaching this on impulse. And, to be clear, if I don't think any of your ideas are good ones, we're not doing them. Freedom Fighters be damned, I'm not risking my weekend off on a gut feeling." He scoffed before pushing up from his seat. "Now finish eating so we can go see the puppy. I'm not cleaning toilets."

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As the cadets crested the eastern edge of the Training Yard tarmac, their boots hit a sloping yellow sandhill. The "Sandlot" as Dimitri'd affectionately called it, was a 400 x 200 yard firing range that recessed 10 feet into the terrain. Multiple sand berms encased paper targets that were spaced into 50 meter intervals down range. Behind the targets, were thick backstops of sand that would catch bullets that were on target. As for those that strayed, baffles were raised within the fire lanes to ensure the rounds were caught and suppressed. The Fire Line, that Dimitri had mentioned, was an obvious trench. Carved about 12 inches wide and 8 inches deep that spanned the extent of the range front.