I was lead through the hallways, turning multiple times, until finally we entered some sort of training area. It was a large circular area that many Furs were sparring in, along with Scales, and a few humans here and there. Some were fighting with their own species, but most were fighting with another that wasn't of their species. A female Purple and White Wolf Fur was sparring against a man, and when the Fur caught my eyes, she seemed to be distracted long enough for the man to grab her arm and flip her over him and onto her back before laughing and helping her back up, her eyes seemed to never leave mine, and I caught myself also staring at her.

I tore my gaze away and looked at the other sparring rings going on: A female Cougar Fur sparring against a Female Arctic Fox Fur, a human woman sparring against a sort of lizard Scale that looked like a wing-less dragon. There were similar species sparring as well, Fur, Human, Scale, male, female. It all seemed like it was just a giant thrown together squad of species that decided to put aside their differences to fight each other in here.

We were just about to go through the next door when the same Purple and White Fur came up to us, running. I raised my eyebrow as she stopped looking at me for a second longer than probably needed before turning her attention to the General and Maria.

"Sir, I saw you walking around with, uh, who is the new guy?" she asked suddenly cutting herself off. I motioned for something to write with and the General looked around for a second before digging through his pockets.

Marie scoffed amused and brought out a notepad and pen before giving them to me. I internally growled, rolling my eyes due to the humiliation of not being able to tell my name aloud before taking the time and writing down my name.

"Umbra, huh?" the Purple and White Wolf Fur said with a lit of interest in her voice, like she was trying to commit the name to memory. "Are you not speaking because you're shy? Or because you literally can't?"

I wrote down that I was wrongly mute and she asked why and I had no reason to hide the truth: my throat was damaged by a bunch of assholes and didn't heal enough to save my voice. She "oh'd" and apologized saying she didn't mean offense and asking me to forgive her if I was offended. I just dismissed her with a wave of my claws motioning for us to move on.

"Well my name's Luna" she said awkwardly and I looked at her slightly interested now. That was a fitting name, and she was a very pretty Wolf, "I take it you're new here?" Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I was suddenly glad for the new fur because my face would be a deep red right now. I nodded and she smiled asking if she could show me around. The General was a little shocked at first but he stepped aside to let her through. She thanked him and then came to stand in front of me as the General and Marie left.

The two of us stared at each other for a bit longer than we probably should've. Then she suddenly took my hand in hers and shot ahead to the next room. It was a shooting range, she explained that the guns were kept in the armory over on the north side of the range. She also showed me what the small boxes in rows along the walls were for and that they were actually elevators.

She showed me that once a single person or a team stepped inside with their choice of weaponry all the person had to do next was scan their ID card and choose a level. There was an set of buttons that would take you down or up to whatever environment you wanted to go to for field practice. There were four levels, Arctic, Desert, Modern City, and Moving targets with an environment that changed every so often.

I realized that we were sill holding hands, but either she didn't seem to notice or she didn't seem to mind as she lead me from room to room. Eventually we got to the quarters area, where she stopped at a Black line along the walls, floor, and ceiling of opposite ends to a large area split into two sections. The left being the rest area with couches and comfy looking chairs, and the other side filled with tables and games of all kinds.

The side were she left me was labeled 'Male Quarters' and the side she went to was labeled 'Female Quarters' respectively. The center Ares in between seemed much more than just a chill area suddenly. The Purple of her fur seemed to be turning lighter around her cheeks as of suddenly noticing something embarrassing.
She was silent for a while, and we both just continued to stare at each other for a long while. I eventually got out the notepad and pen that I still had from when Marie gave it to me.

"I, uh, That's the lay out of out building, I hope I didn't miss anything," She said and then came over and put her hand over my notepad as I opened it to write my thanks. "I already know that you're trying to thank me about this, but you really don't need to. It's my pleasure to show you around."

I was more than a little surprised, she was really perceptive, and seemed to be a really good judge of character for people that she had just met.

"Um. There are bathrooms in every room, you will probably be sharing with another person, they may be the same species as yourself or different. It shouldn't matter much, everyone knows, and respects, the rule of not judging others based on their appearance. Even if you are with a human or Scale and suddenly changed into another species. I don't think they'll care much about it, though you'd probably have to say something to them about being mute." She cringed as she said it, "sorry." I just shrugged in response.

"Oh. Breakfast starts around nine since the Scales aren't usually up till around nine, or later depending on their species; dragons usually sleep till lunch anyways. Just don't wake one up. I accidentally woke up my roommate once and she nearly ripped off my head.

"Lunch is from noon to two, and because of the Scales' sleep schedules, and dinner is also a little later than what I would think is Normal. It's served at nine or so, I'm still getting used to eating Dinner late. Though they do serve Dessert on Mondays and Fridays so it makes up for the late Dinner." I nodded in thanks.

"Um. The sparring, the ranges, and the gyms are open 24/7, and there is no kind of curfew  here nor someone that wakes everyone else up at dawn, so you don't have to worry about that. Not very many people are up that early anyways, so I wouldn't have to worry about that, just be quieter after ten if your going to be there late at night. Everyone here knows how to defend themselves, thanks or no thanks to the combat classes, so attacks don't happen often. When they do their usually ended quite soon with little injuries and practically no deaths." She looked at me, probably trying to  guess what I was thinking. I just stepped back and dipped my head in thanks. She seemed to get the implication that I wanted to rest and stepped back.

"Okay then, um, have a good night. Sorry." She did a tiny wave, and I nodded back. I think that she got that I was telling her the same without writing because she just smiled wryly and seemed to sprint down the hall of the women's hallway. I cocked my head at her behavior for a moment before shaking my head and turning around. Wait I wasn't given anything that said where I was supposed to go. I put my hands in my pockets and I was surprised when I felt a set of keys.

I pulled them out and read what they said, room 318, I looked to my left and saw that I was at room 499 and 500. So I started walking, scanning the doors pointlessly until I reached my supposed door. I looked at it for a second wondering who I would be sharing a room with, and then I shrugged, unlocked the door, and went in making sure to take out my key before shutting the door behind me. I didn't need to turn on the light to look around the room. There was a bed on the far side of the room, bare and near the window, and there was a long table in the middle with a lamp on it. The only thing separating the pair of beds.

I looked at it for a second before looking at the bed and realizing how tired I was despite having slept for weeks maybe longer, so I just collapsed on the bed and passed within a second.

--------------------------------------------

When I woke up I first noticed that my virtual eye automatically came on when I was awake, and it turned off when I slept. I also noticed that it was still dark out, and there was another figure and scent in the room. I smelled a scent of fire and the musk, someone that seemingly had passed out on their bed as well. I smirked, it seemed that my roommate was a hard worker as well. I turned to the side and put my feet on the ground. Then I stood up and went to the bathroom to take a shower for the morning.

I turned on the light, closed the door, and then went to take off my shirt but a flash of red in the mirror stopped me. I looked at my arms to see that they were covered in red fur, right, I was covered in red Fur now. That was something I would have to get used to seeing. I took off my clothes and looked into the mirror. Everything looked normal, I mean except for the muzzle, fur, claw-tipped fingers and toes. Not to mention my slightly higher stance, stronger muscles, and lack of visible scars that I had gotten before changing. I had changed a lot these past few weeks, and this new me was going to be a strange new challenge.

I turned on the shower and stepped in, washing my head, arms, body, legs, and I had to bend around to wash my tail. Then I rinsed off and stepped out of the shower, grabbing one of the many towels in the rack hanging from the wall by the shower. Once I was dry I wrapped my lower self in said towel and stepped out of the bathroom. My old clothes were in tatters, pretty much scraps of fabric. Holes all over them and now they were too small for me.

The pant legs had reached further than I thought they would still, but the sleeves of my shirt had been to my elbows. The only reason the shirt still had fit was because the fabric had ripped open pretty much every seam along the entire front and sides. It was basically a stretched-to-fit ripped up shirt.

I looked around for some clothes and suddenly there was a noise outside my door. I went over and cautiously opened it only to find a set of clothes hanging on the handle. I looked around for a second before grabbing them and going  back to the bathroom to get dressed. After seeing nothing that looked like a tracker or bug I put them on and found that they were exactly my size.

I came out of the bathroom and checked the door again to find a package on the floor in front of me. I lifted the lid a little and smiled as I saw the very guns that I had chosen as my weapons of choice, and I knew they were the same ones because I had scratched my new name into their frames.

I stepped out of the room, checking my pockets for the keys before I closed the door, and realizing that they weren't there I went back inside, to the bathroom, and grabbed them from my old pant's pocket. Then grabbed those clothes, and left the room closing the door behind me and locking it.

With my new room's keys in my pocket, my old clothes under my left arm, and the package holding my guns and ammo hanging off my back. I turned and walked down the hallway, about halfway to the door there was two hatches in opposite sides of the wall: one labeled 'incinerator' and the other labeled 'wash'.

A I shoved my old clothes down the incinerator hatch, a blast of hot air welcoming them and blew into my face. I closed the hatch and went to the door leading out still about a  hundred rooms away. I finally reached out and kept on until I reached the area that I was aiming for. The box room with elevators leading to different shooting areas.

I turned and went right to that side armory, and as I passed the boxes I saw that all of them seemed to have a sort of light. Telling that they were occupied maybe. It was a pretty cool system, but I bet that it was more complicated than someone the system just registering a button pressed. I stepped into the armory room and found a locker that wasn't being used, I found a couple of boxes holding locks inside of a code locker with locks and a code printed on the bottom of the box telling the lock number and combination to unlock the lock.

I sat down and took out my guns from the box that they were in and I checked them over: refilling the mags with bullets, then loading and unloading them. Then I put them in the locker safe and then secured it with the lock. I looked at the combination again unlocked the lock, put it back on, trashed the lock combination's paper, and then tried again three minutes later.

I was able to get it open, finally something good that also came from all of this, an almost or maybe even supremely perfect memory. I grabbed my guns, stuffed the lock in my pocket and felt something else there. My keys were in my left pocket, I put the lock in my right pocket and my hand brushed my back right pocket, there was something already there.

I pulled it out to see that it was a card, or at least it looked like one, but it was too clear to be one, so what was it. I put it in my back pocket to mess with later, and then I went to the main hallway with my weapons in their rightful places. I was glad to see that there was still no one there, then again I had only been in the weapons room for ten minutes at most. I went over to the closest box and inspected it, circling around to see if there were any hidden compartments for ammo, alarms, or passageways, but all I saw was the entrance into the elevator itself and then the walls of a metal box. I shrugged, I was hoping for something, but it wasn't surprising to find that there was nothing else besides the door inside of the elevator.

I arrived back around to the front of the elevator doors and they were already open, apparently there was a sensor or something telling it when a person was waiting. I stepped into the elevator and the entire interior turned green for a second before an array of buttons came up and the doors closed. I looked at them curiously; they weren't labeled with numbers but rather pictures: a snowflake, a sun, a building, and a person mid run with lines behind them, moving targets probably. I chose that button and the elevator started to move down. Several screens in the walls also caught my attention. There were choices on the screen for armor, ammo, and gun choices. I shrugged and grabbed a vest because, why not. Then I grabbed some extra ammo, I was planning on being here for a long while, probably until or past breakfast.

There were selections and amounts that the system allowed me to choose. So I chose three extra mags for each of my guns, and a medium vest. The elevator actually spit them out at me, I mean not literally, but they did seem to come from no-where as did the vest. I grabbed them a little surprised at the fact that they were real and not some stupid fake crap that was quickly put together. I was strapping in the sixth mag to my vest when the elevator doors opened, and what I saw was not a shooting range, but a metal box of a room. I stepped out of the elevator and the doors snapped shut behind me, making me look back at them and glare. Now what?

Suddenly the room began to change, and I was in some sort of apocalypse setting, abandoned and empty cars all around on the entire length of a highway that was weigh longer than the actual room looked to be. I looked around skeptical, and moved to touch one of the cars.  The cold, hard metal was real, it was like a simulation, but why was I given real bullets? Suddenly a bright light interrupted my thoughts and a shot rang out. I ducked behind the car that I had been next to just as a large chunk of the street was taken, the bullet would've gone right through me, and I did not want to find out what would happen if one actually did.

I clipped my Scar to my vest and let it hang down, then I un-slung my sniper rifle from where it was on my shoulders. I looked through the car's door where there was supposed to be a window and I saw the flash again and ducked as there was another boom from a rifle and car was hit shattering all of the windows. I raised my rifle, putting it through the window area of the car and I zoomed in adjusting for everything that might effect the billet. Even the wind was real here, but it was pretty low at the moment, so I didn't have to adjust much. Once I saw my shot I squeezed the trigger and it took a second but then there was a flash off Human silhouette and I looked above me as something flashed.

New Game
Player: Umbra
Status: Easy setting
Kills: 1
Damage taken: none
Healing Items: None

I looked at it confused, what the f*** was that? I didn't get to think about it further as the car was shot with more bullets, and at a high rate of fire. Of course there were ground troops coming in at the exact time I kill the sniper. I put my sniper rifle back onto my back and raised my Scar before standing up and nailing each one of them in their heads. Five targets, five bullets...I liked that.

I stood up and looked around for more threats, but there didn't seem to be anymore at the moment.

Wave 2/5
Easy mode
5...4...3

I looked up again as there started a count down, only five stages to easy mode huh? I smiled, I think this was going to be a lot more fun than shooting targets that moved back and forth. I didn't want to stay there though, so I moved back a little more towards the center of the bridge, and then the countdown hit one and there were three flashes, two at either side of the short bridge, and one up in the tower at the same side as the other sniper. I dropped my machine gun and pulled out my sniper rifle again, before aiming at the forming sniper, but all I did was wait until the head of the sniper formed and I pulled the trigger. There was a flash a second later and no more sniper, I quickly put my sniper back on my back, and raised my machine gun once more.

This went on for a while, I lost myself in the situations, one sniper, many snipers, and there were patterns that I started to figure out, but that changed during level nine of hard mode. I had just shot the head off of the closest rifleman and then a section the bridge blew up.

The concrete just exploded upwards, and I cursed and jumped over to the other railing onto the other side of the bridge as another loud boom sounded and the section of the bridge that I was standing on exploded. I found that items from the hostiles that I 'killed' seemed to go onto my character automatically and the points just stay up near the message board for use in the game Store. Now I had a few grenades that I could use, as well as flash bangs, and healing supplies, of which I haven't needed to use yet.

That really was a nice place for cover, well, until the Tank down below started to tear apart the bridge I was on.