It was early morning and there I was, completely catatonic, taking a shower in my bathroom, inside the individual stalls of the private dormitory area. My head hurt, my feet hurt, my arms hurt, every muscle fiber in my entire body hurt. Still, I was determined not to give up, because I was preparing for the last day of training. EVER.


    "I can''t believe it''s already been three months of this Spartan routine..."


    As I was zoning out for a while, frozen in something like a semi-fugue state, I started thinking about the life I left behind. Suddenly, my thoughts took me to remember my pet goldfish, Goldberg... It was sad and lucky that he died of old age about a week before all this shit happened, because I never got to go back to my old apartment.


    Soon the bells will ring through the speakers all over the Academy, telling us that it is time to do our tasks for the day... Just thinking about the face of that crazy bitch makes me shiver.


    "Oof! I can still hear her screechy voice in my head, giving me orders."


    When I got out of the shower and finished putting on my new all-black outfit, the aforementioned siren signals started to sound. The time had come, since that day would be the ''final test'' for me that would decide whether or not I would pass the training course... And, holy shit, I didn''t even want to think about what would become of me if I failed.


    The preparations were over and I was ready to begin, so I took a deep breath and left my private quarters, heading one last time to the training center that has been my bane for the past few months. It was now or never!


    A few minutes later, I arrived once more at that cursed arena and realized through the glass that separated me from my mentors that, besides Bella, Lincoln was also there. They were accompanied by a small woman with a somewhat familiar face, probably another Agent, who was typing something on her laptop. All three of them were watching the training course together from behind the bulletproof security glass. I, unfortunately, was already inside the arena, because the path I took led me directly here. It had been my standard morning route for the past three months.


    Link greeted me, shouting from where he stood.


    "Hey, Agent G! Good luck with the final test!"


    "Thanks, man - I mean - Agent L."


    "Do like you did in the training sessions and you''ll be fine!" Bella shouted, her voice loud as ever, "Just stay alive until the end of the course and you''ll pass."


    Wait, I thought I heard her say something about ''staying alive''... Hahaha haha ??ha... WHAT?!


    "S-STAY ALIVE?!" I widened my eyes and clutched my ass, "What do you mean by that?! Aren''t the weapons and everything fake like always?"


    "Nope." she smiled sadly at me, "Today everything is real AND highly lethal. Good luck, Agent G."


    Oh no... OH GOD NO! PLEASE NO! NOOOOO!!!


    Then the sirens placed in the corners of the training course activated in a single continuous blast, indicating that the final test was about to begin. However, this time it would not be an ordinary training, which was already brutal, but it would be the real deal.


    "I''m screwed, I''m so screwed, I''m so fucked!!"


    I knew the sequences of the training course that we had trained to exhaustion like the back of my hand, BUT executing them all at the risk of dying was too much for my poor ojisan''s heart. It was at that moment that I heard a female voice in my earpiece.


    "Agent G, this is Agent P, can you hear me?"


    It was the petite woman on the other side of the glass.


    "Y-Yes." I replied, as I pressed on it to activate the microphone.


    "Inside your gear, you''ll find a yellow gun that resembles a regular police force taser." she told me, her voice calm and contained.


    "Oh, I''ve seen that before, it''s already on my belt."


    "Good job! The name of this gun is the NM T-50, it''s a .50 caliber pistol and a powerful taser, displayed in a double trigger fashion. The top trigger fires the bullet and the bottom trigger activates the taser."This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Okay, I think I got it."


    As soon as she finished her explanation, I could hear a suspicious little whistle coming from Link.


    Wait a minute... Don''t tell me that back at the Town Café he accidentally pulled the wrong trigger and blew that guy''s head off by accident?! Maybe the total carnage that followed could have actually been avoided, huh? Welp, anyway...


    "Good luck, Agent G." Agent P, the voice on the other end, said honestly.


    "Thank you."


    Then, immediately, a few small security robots, flying drones, and fixed turrets all "came to life" at the same time all over the arena. This was the final warning for me to prepare myself, because now the final test had truly begun.


    *ZAPT*


    I heard a loud buzzing sound passing right by my ear, and to my shock, my cheek started bleeding. Thankfully, it was only a superficial wound, but it came from one of the automated flying drones.


    "So they''re really using lethal ammunition, huh?" I said, as I smiled unexpectedly at the adrenaline rush.


    As chaos took over the small training arena, I ran around the course, protecting myself from the countless bullets that were coming my way. There were several things scattered around the place that I could use as cover or barricades, such as destroyed vehicles, concrete pipes, and even trenches.


    "HOLY SHIT, WHAT DO I DO NOW?!" I thought to myself, crouching behind an old rusty bulldozer, "Calm down, Gus... It''s raining bullets now, but I have to remember my training and wait for the time for them to reload."


    So I waited for the right moment to act, while I readied my NM T-50 and took a deep breath. When the fire stopped, I left my cover, running and screaming like a crazy motherfucker.


    "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! I''M COMING TO GET YOU PIECES OF JUNK!"


    It was surreal how the unending Spartan training had conditioned my entire body to constant adrenaline, making me an unstoppable force. It was awesome!


    "Take this, take that, TAKE IT ALL!" I said, as I acrobatically jumped from one side to the other across the arena while firing back at my targets, "GET FUCKED!"


    I couldn''t believe how much my aim had improved in such a short time. I hadn''t missed a single shot!


    "I am a bad motherfucker!"


    One by one, my targets were being destroyed. As I got rid of the last one and prepared for the victory cry, another robot, bigger and badder, entered the arena. This hunk of metal looked like a mini panzer. It immediately machine-gunned me, and since I had little time to react, I was hit by some of the bullets, causing me to cough up a few gushes of blood from my mouth.


    "OOF!" as I ran for cover in the nearest trench, "If it weren''t for this bulletproof suit, I''d be dead already..."


    Then I was able to remember something from one of my previous runs on this course. These electric machines are vulnerable to electricity. So I looked at my stupid yellow gun and had an idea. I waited for the right moment, once again, and then jumped right at the damn thing, firing my taser at it.


    The panzer robot was immediately electrocuted and exploded in a sea of ??flames and debris, while I landed like a badass, with my back turned to the fire and all.


    "That was the true power of the Nevermore Model, my one and only masterpiece!" exclaimed an excited Agent P.


    Heh, I never doubted myself. (*Lie*)


    "I... I did it!" I whispered with some difficulty, as my vision was getting blurrier and blurrier.


    And then, just like that, I fainted and fell to the ground like a falling potato. However, I was in pure ecstasy, as I had just passed the hardest test of all! LET''S GO!!!


    ***


    After a while, I woke up in the local infirmary. As I groaned as I stood up, I realized that I had been healed with bandages all over my body. Then I noticed that my friends, the other agents, were all gathered around me.


    "Rise and shine, Agent G." Link said with a smile.


    "Tch... Congratulations on your success, my dear subordinate." Bella didn''t look happy at all, since she''s a mean bitch.


    "Thank you, guys!" I said, as I cried like a little girl.


    In the end I was grateful that the constant nightmare that had been the last few months had come to an end.


    "You did a great job, Agent G." said the short woman, as I finally met her, "I''m Agent P, the team''s tech specialist."


    Wow, she''s kind of cute. Her silky black hair in a ponytail, her clear blue eyes, her fair skin, her uh... her small but perfectly shaped breasts. Damn, she really is such a pretty lady! But I feel like I know her from somewhere... ''Agent P''... P like in... PENNY?! NO WAY!


    "Agent G..." Agent B showed a salty, angry vein on her forehead as she clenched her fists at me, "Don''t look at her while drooling like she''s a piece of meat!"


    "N-NO! You got it all wrong!" I exclaimed, fearing for my life, "It''s just that I could have sworn I''ve seen her before, somehow..."


    "I think you must be mistaking me for someone else." Agent P laughed.


    There was no way I could have been mistaken. She was definitely Penny, or more specifically, Penelope Jones. We were also in the same class in high school, but she was such a typical "nerdy girl with thick glasses" back then that I barely recognized her. I guess she must be wearing contact lenses these days... And didn''t Link have a crush on her or something?


    "But I''m sure tha-"


    Suddenly, the lights started flashing, while an emergency alarm blared through all the speakers.


    Agent X, interrupting our little reunion, told us through our earpieces to come to an urgent meeting in the conference room.


    "Attention all Agents, come to headquarters right now! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!"


    "Get dressed and meet us there, G." Agent L told me, as the three of them hurriedly left the infirmary, "Don''t be late!"


    And so I changed as quickly as I could, which made me act very clumsy while putting my amazing suit back on. Then, once I was ready, I left the room to go after them, wondering what all this commotion could have been about…