Enlistment(Story Solo)

…17. 18. 19. 20. Back to Attention. Junko was a changed person… Literally, Physically, Mentally. Every mistake was punished, Every jagged flaw filed to smooth. And she was hating it…

--

Junko walked into the recruiters office as it opened… The older man looked up in surprise, but he sat down behind his desk and Junko signed up for the United States Army…

She reported to Reception, and was expecting to get processed in and move straight into Basic Training. But no, 3 weeks of sitting around doing nothing… NOTHING, but physicals, getting vetted, shots, issuing uniforms, and Parading around doing drill.

Nothing but that… And it all probably could have been done in a day, minus the drilling.

Junko was begging to go to boot camp by the time they shipped her off… that lasted about 5 seconds after she got there…

“Drop and give me twenty soldier”

“Why”

“Drop and give me fifty soldier”

Junko broke by forty, falling to her knees…

“WHY have you fallen to your knees SOLDIER!!!”

Junko didn’t answer that… The Sergeant ordered 20 more, which were completed with difficulty…

--

That was the last time the word “Why” was uttered out of Junko’s mouth. And even though she had wisened up to the fact that she was a soldier again, she was the most picked on, the being volunteered for all of duties in the book. Her time at basic isn’t going all that well…

3 Weeks Into Basic

Junko knew more about modern firearms than she had ever wanted to. M16A2, Gas powered, burst fire. Junko had cleaned, inspected, and disassembled every part of that weapon. Never Fired it… Not until today…

Their training unit was start firing today, and they were marching in formation with full gear on, the only thing that she was praying for… “Squad, drop and give me twenty!” resounded through junko’s ears, twenty pushups wasn’t much now… 3 weeks, of high stress, high demand training, had certainly changed that. 17. 18. 19. 20. Junko snapped back to attention. She had changed… Every jagged flaw sanded and smooth. She hated it. The raw open sores of where her free time and free choice were branded into her mind…

Marching forward, keeping step keeping time, they arrived to the firing range…

- On the range
Proned, Junko aimed the rifle down range, the sights centered on the bull’s eye of the target. It was a normal target, not a silhouette, either way, it was about to be gone. The Sargent called out some warning not to shoot each other, something about more paperwork…

“Open fire!”

In an instant, rifles open fire across the range, some hitting the targets, some… Not… Junko hadn’t been firing yet, but it didn’t take long for the Sargent to call out, “My Grandmother could shoot better than this!”, Junko flicked off the safety, aimed once more, relaxed, and pressed the trigger lightly. The Rifle jerked in her grip, almost jumping out of the cradle of her arms. Junko settled herself, and tightened her grip, pushing the stock into her shoulder, and squeezed again, this time the weapon hardly moved, and every round struck true, Again, Again… The effect was the same, every round striking true, and by the time the clip was empty, the target was peppered with holes In the center.

The sergeant was standing behind junko as she backed out off the range, the rifle safetied, the clip out of the weapon. “Private Tenshi, One day you might even make a name for yourself, Now drop and give me twenty!”

A compliment… of sorts…

--8 weeks into Basic—

“Yeah… camping…”

It was wet, it was cold, and it was raining, She was soaked, through most all of the clothes she brought too, wearing them on your body is much easier than carrying them in your pack, her harness was weighed with blank ammunition, ammunition that in all effective purposes is just a boom, but with no projectile… In theory…

Junko was shivering but the dull rhythm of the march prevented her from stopping to warm up, It must have been 10 miles already, her feet were absolutely destroyed, the moisture and the wear from her boots made every step feel like nails tipped with acid were being jabbed into her feet.

Junko COULD use reiatsu to heat her and her comrades up a little, but steaming dry in a rainstorm is a bit conspicuous. Also, Junko had pretty much forgotten about that trick… and almost forgotten about her powers as a shinigami.

Junko dealt with this via zoning out, concentrating on the action of moving one foot in front of the other… Repetition is something she had gotten used to… She wasn’t a squad leader, but her battalion had moved to this training exercise, a couple of days ago, it had nothing but learning to keep camp in woodland warfare…

But this march was marking the halfway point of this grueling exercise…

--2 days later—

It was dusk, the perfect time to strike from the cover of rain and the ill lighting. From their cover the squad moved forward, torward the entrenchment. Safeties off, fingers on the trigger, the sun falling to the west, the squad open fired upon the not so unsuspecting foes…

--

Junko heard the snap of one a rifle before she realized she was under fire, she hunkered down in this fox hole, earth spattered up around her, as the incoming fire was taken by the wall of her fox hole. Junko got up, water dripping from the barrel, and identified her target, or targets, and returned fire. Ammunition flying from the barrel of her rifle, she took down one, and then took cover back in her fox hole.

By this time, the rest of Junko’s squad had been roused of the skirmish, and had also let loose a torrent of rounds at the foes, who quickly hit the deck to avoid being targets.

Junko popped up again, but quickly ducked again, forced to by incoming fire. Up again, return fire into the ferns, The fire stops, so she assumes the target is down. She ducks, reloading, not focusing on speed, but on precision.

She rechambered a round, and popped up again, this time scooted to her left, she could see the opposing squad closing in around her, she choose a target on her right, and fired a few rounds in that direction before being forced to take cover again by fire from her left…

They were surrounding the encampment, and Junko could hardly see them through the rain, hitting them was harder…

The calls from behind, “Out!” signified someone had run out of ammunition, Junko tossed one of her magazines in the general direction and distance of their foxhole, hoping it reached them… Junko was the odd one out, literally, the original squad of 14 had been sliced into four foxholes, with Junko being in her own, she was in the back of the line, or the front… depends how you look at it… And right now, she was in the front, and she was being outflanked and surrounded.

Fire came in from the sides, and popped a few rounds in the general direction of the incoming. Junko popped up, and found 3 people making a run around the left flank, Junko flicked the select fire and poured fire into them, spending an entire magazine, but dropping all of them. Junko turned, to see an attacker not 4 feet from her hole, weapon drawn, aimed at her… PopPopPop… and Red…







…Paint

Junko slumped, playing dead, for about 30 seconds, before the sergeant called out, “Alright you maggots, out of your holes!” Junko got up, the paint was washing off her uniform already, but her chest would have welts for days.

“This exercise…” said the sergeant before pausing to pace down the line of the defensive squad.

“Was a complete was a complete success”. The sergeant waved his hand, and the offensive squad game out of the forest, they must have numbered 30 or more…

7 didn’t have the remains of paint on them…

“These are your fellow trainee’s, you will have the… pleasure, of taking their place after they are dismissed…”

The sergeant said like it was some kind of sin, “Pack up your things… you get to march back to base…”