| THE PLANET OA
| Sector 0
"If I die in the ol' warzone..."
The barren terrain of Oa crunched underfoot, as the troop of four recruits of varying species pounded through a formation run. It had been two weeks since the human from Earth had joined the Green Lantern Corps, still chasing after Apros' charge to learn how to master the ring on his hand.
"If I die in... ol' war..." the young monk stammered in reply, having long ago lost track of just how far they had been running. When they had started, he had tried to use a metered pace to help keep track of time but now it was taking every fiber of his being to not merely keel over. And die. Death would be nice actually.
"Box me up and send me home!"
"Box me... send me home..." the boy struggled to repeat back the words through ragged breaths that choked on the thin atmosphere of Oa. For this physical training exercise there were no rings worn. Instead, the green gemstone rings dangled from retainer cords around each of their necks - or equivalent appendage - as the troop pounded through mile after mile of desolate terrain.
"Pin my medals upon my chest..."
"Seriously?" a female voice asked in hushed tones, prompting the monk's eyes to glance over at the beautiful, butterfly-like Papilloxian running beside the much smaller youth.
"Are we there yet?" the young woman quipped dryly.
"Tell them Guardians I done my best!"
The continued cadence was a guarantee that the answer to the delicate flyer's question was...
no.
"He's a machine..." the boy uttered under his breath.
"Are you kidding?" a male recruit questioned from behind where the monk and the butterfly ran at the head of the formation.
"Chaselon fell out more than a click back."
So he was
worse than a machine.
That prospect was hardly inspiring, the monk thought to himself, as he turned his eyes over to the drill sergeant taking them through their paces.
And then some.
From what Kai-ro had been told, the porcine-like monstrosity was known as a Bolovaxian. Tusks protruded out from a broad, strong jaw, as the sergeant's footfall seemed to shake the earth as the barrel-chested Lantern plowed across the landscape without so much as breaking a sweat.
They'd been out here for
miles. And Kilowog didn't even look like he had broken a
sweat.
"Heart of gold and suit of green," the drill sergeant barked, switching cadence without any break in the rhythm as the massive creature maintained the brutal pace across the terrain.
"Meanest poozer you ever seen!"
It may have been another three miles before they'd stopped, or even five or seven. As Kai-ro's legs crossed the invisible finish line, he found himself incapable of walking. Instead, his knees buckled and the boy face-planted in the Oan dirt, never so grateful to simply collapse. Around him, the four other recruits similarly crashed beside where the monk had found solace in near unconsciousness.
"Form up!"
Struggling to their feet, the four recruits still standing fought to remain upright as they made every effort at standing at attention while their knees wobbled like jell-o in an earthquake. The boy wasn't certain their was any part of his body that wasn't in pain.
The Bolovaxian started down the line, pausing in front of Markot Five. Pivoting sharply, the sergeant was suddenly in the orange-skinned recruit's face.
"Two-five-seven, how many recruits are in this line?"
"Sir, four, sir!"
"And how many recruits are in my division?" the sergeant growled.
"Sir, five, sir!"
Pressing his boar-like maw into the recruit's face, the Bolovaxian roared,
"Did you sad sacks of Slyggian **** just leave a man behind!?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Are you proud of that, poozer?" Kilowog barked hoarsely, rearing his head back as he looked over the remaining recruits with a palpable contempt.
"You motherless, monkey-****ing, jack-wads can't yell cadence, but you sound off when you leave a man behind?" the sergeant demanded, ducking down to get into the monk's face. The Bolovaxian's hot breath blasted the youth in the face as the sergeant shouted,
"You are the lowest forms of life on this planet!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"THEN WHAT ARE YOU STILL STANDING FOR!?" Kilowog demanded, drawing back to his full height as he jabbed a finger down at the ground and ordered,
"Down!"
All four of the recruits dropped into the ready-position for an exercise that was something of a cross between a push-up and a burpee. In the down position, the weight of the body was in the shoulder and bicep muscles, causing pain as it rested there over time.
Which, for the sergeant's purpose, was precisely the effect that he intended.
"This is the GREEN LANTERN CORPS. We do NOT leave a man behind," the Bolovaxian lectured, taking his time to pace up and down the line before he ordered,
"Up!"
A collective sigh of relief pass up and down the line as the recruits popped up from out of the down position, shifting the muscle groups now supporting their weight.
"If one of you fails, YOU ALL FAIL," Kilowog barked.
"Down!"
This time, he left them there. One by one, their arms began to wobble as badly as their knees had earlier. Kai-ro was the first to collapse under the exhaustion, joined shortly after by Larvox and Markot Five. R'amey actually managed a minute longer, but then she hit the dirt.
"Seventeen," Kilowog's voice snapped, prompting the larval-like recruit to immediately pop tall.
"Ring up and go recover one-four-one-six," the Bolovaxian ordered in a quiet rumble, his voice cracking like thunder as the recruit donned his Green Lantern uniform and started to fly away.
"Double-time, seventeen, double-time!"
And then there were three.
Helping one another get their faces out of the dirt was a struggle. Getting to their feet was a neigh impossible task. But they managed. And, still, Kilowog demanded more.
"All right, poozers, now that you're warmed up it's time for combatives," the sergeant announced, pacing in front of the line before stopping square in the center of where the three recruits stood. R'amey to the left of him, Markot to the right. And Kai-ro right underneath the Bolovaxian's snout.
"And your opponent for today's dance will be me," Kilowog added, his mouth contorting into a disconcerting visage that might have been the Bolovaxian equivalent of a smile. Pounding his right fist into his left palm, the sergeant asked,
"So who's first?"
He saw the motion and his weary brain hadn't been fast enough to realize what was happening. R'amey moved, the boy's head turning to the left and then to the right as reality sunk in. R'amey and Markot had both taken a step back, leaving Kai-ro standing before Kilowog as his very unwitting volunteer.
"Wa cao," the monk swore under his breath, shoulders slumping in defeat.
A thousand reincarnations as a dung beetle would have been better than this.
"Two-eight-one-four!"
2814. The sector as mapped by the Guardians in which Earth resided. It had become Kai-ro's
name, as if he hadn't already had one. Knees still wobbling, the young monk did his best to snap to. Chest out, head high.
"Sir!"
Reaching up, the boy took hold of the ring suspended around his neck and prepared to remove it so that he could slip it on.
"Did I say you could ring up, two-eight-one-four?"
A gasp of surprise choked in the monk's throat, as he stared up at the massive Bolovaxian with his jaw agape at what the sergeant was suggesting. Letting go of the ring, the boy took a deep breath and merely stood, waiting.
He didn't have to wait long.
"Don't like offense much, do ya, poozer?" the sergeant growled, moving to bridge the gap between the two.
The sergeant was pulling his punches. Even wearies, the monk was still more than capable of avoiding the sergeant's initial swing, the boy's movements blending the energy of the sergeant's attacks so that he was nimbly avoiding confrontation. It worked for the first punch, Kai-ro getting behind the larger creature and staying there as best he could, before a fast sweep of the Bolovaxian's short legs put the monk flat on his back, shortly before a club-like green construct propelled the youth into the air.
A green line shot through the air, wrapping itself around the child and yanking him back, delivering him into the waiting hand of the sergeant as the Bolovaxian lifted him effortlessly in one hand and then let the boy drop to the ground, spilling him onto his backside.
"Why didn't you ring up!?"
Sitting up, internally remarking at how now even his pain had pain, the boy stared up at the sergeant in complete confusion.
"You said..."
A sharply raised, fat finger silenced the youth.
"Rule number one: Never let the enemy dictate the terms of the engagement," Kilowog barked hoarsely.
"You got an ace up your hole? You decide when to use it."
The boy scowled up at the boar-like warrior, staggering to his feet as he pulled the Oan ring off from around his neck. Looking down at it for a moment, the youth slipped it onto his middle finger and was again startled as the transformation swept across his body in a jolt of green energy.
It was...
a rush.
Taken off step, the transfigured boy Lantern looked up.
...and saw a large Bolovaxian fist.
Again, the monk went sailing through the air. And, again, a green construct line snapped out, seizing him and yanking him hard back to the earth.
"Rule number two: Never take your eyes off your opponent."