The last few days were kind of exhausting for Steven and the gems. What with gem miss almost eating Lars and the cool kids. As well as a mishap with onion and the duplicator, which Will took. And to finish it off Amythest falling off the cliff, cracking her gem. So they had to go through a whole adventure to get to roses fountain and get it working.
And because it was raining he and the gems as well as Connie, who came over to hang out were watching a movie.
They were watching the Predator with Arnold shwarzeneger.
Pearl and Garnet didn't want Steven watching something so violent. But the protests from Steven and Amythest as well as lion oddly eventually wore them down.
"Get to the choppa." Arnold yelled from the movie. The predator was chasing after them. Arnold then got up and mowed down the predator with a rifle.
"Of come on, that's not how rifles work! Does it have a bottomless mag or something." Will commented.
All of them who didn't know much about guns looked at him.
"What, I know more about, how to use and probably have more weapons than any single person." He said.
Amythest,Connie and even steven looked at him with stars in their eyes.
"Uh oh." Quasar said.
Timeskip
They stepped out of the warp pad at the barn. And will immediately walked out in front of them. His armor materialized on him, giving an intimidating appearance.
"First rule, never point at another person, unless they are trying to kill you. Second keep your finger off the trigger until your ready to fire. Third keep the safety on until your ready to fire or are in a battle zone. Am I understood!" Will said.
"Yep" Garnet
Thumbs up. Amythest
"Indeed." Pearl
"You got it." Steven.
"Yes sir." Connie.
"Yawn" lion
"Alright then. I am going to give you a weapon I think will suit you. You might use something different depending on the mission. But you will start off with these.
He walked up to each of them. A UNSC weapons appearing in his hand.
He gave garnet a chaingun to match her strength and fighting style. He gave Pearl an smg and an energy sword for her quick fighting style. He gave Amythest a shotgun. He gave Steven a M6 Magnum for his shield and passive style. "Remember this one has a lot of kick." Steven nodded his head. He then walked over to give Connie one but stopped.
"How would you like to fight, full auto rifle with medium range. Semi from long range, or close quarters with a shotgun or smg." He asked.
Connie seemed to ponder this for a moment before she gave her answer. "I think I would be suited for longer range. My sight has gotten a lot better, and I'm steady." She stated.
"Designated Marksman rifle or sniper." Quasar asked from his shoulder.
"What's the difference." Steven asked.
"DMR or designated Marksman rifle is a semi automatic rifle that fires large bullets from a 15 round magazine. Like a heavy rifle round, suitable for medium to long range. While a sniper rifle fires a heavy anti-material round out of a 4 round magazine. It is super heavy round that packs a punch. But also kicks is suitable for long to ultra long range and is big." He explained.
"I'll take the DMR." She said.
He handed her a 2.5 foot long rifle with an above rail with a 4x scope up top.
"Alright I have targets set up down there. You will take turns doing it to adjust for your different weapons. Garnet you will be shooting out to sea, seeing as that things can shoot through a lot." Will said.
3 hours later
All of them were getting to be remarkably good with their weapons. Connie was a terrible shot at first, but gradually improved. She could be an excellent Marksman in no time.
Steven almost dropped the Magnum the first time he shot it. But steadily got used to it and even got decent hitting the target.
Pearl had absolutely no idea how these worked beside from he saw Will do before. But after it was explained to her she memorized what she needed to do quickly.
Amethyst was horrifying to say the least. She was ruthless with the shotgun both to the targets and to the people around her. 'I have a feeling that's not going to end well' Will thought to himself.
Garnet was actually pretty good with the big chaingun. Almost as good as his fellow Spartan Jorge. She learned quickly and had a smile on her face in her face the entire time. 'hhm might be Ruby doing that'.
"Come on instructor, show us what you can do." Amyhtest said to him after Garnet twas done shooting.
"Prepare to get schooled." He said.
He summoned a sniper rifle. The 6 foot long rifle looking small in his hands.
He walked down on the hill facing toward Beach city.
"Why are you aiming towards town?" Steven asked concerned.
"Don't worry, I'm aiming for the lighthouse." Will said.
"But that's almost 4 miles away. The longest shot in history is only 1.3." Connie said.
"Quasar get me stats."
"Distance:3.924 miles, wind speed:4 miles per hour northwest, gravity: 9.8m/s, bullet drop estimated to be 50 feet."
Will aimed the rifle 15 degrees into the air. 2.4 degrees to the right, magnify visor to max.
"20 bucks says he misses it." Amythest said to Garnet.
"Deal, and no messing him up." She answered.
There was a loud crack as the rifle went off. Pearl took a pair of binoculars out of her gem to see what he hit.
"Bullseye." The Spartan and AI said at once.
"What are you taking about, you didn't hit the light house." Pearl said.
"Look at the light at the top." Will said.
Pearl looked up at the small light at the top of the lighthouse. And gasped as she saw a hold punched clear through the dead center of it.
"How did you do that, that thing can't be any bigger than a blowtorch." Pearl asked.
"I was the second best Marksman in my class. Linda was the best. She could take that little part at the top of it off at 5 miles." Will said.
"I gotta try that." Amythest said as she walked over to aim at the lighthouse.
"Amyhtest, absolutely not." Pearl said as she walked over to stop her.
"I can do what I want P." She said back.
"No you can't, not when it threatens the safety of those around us." Pearl said.
"I can do the same thing that he did!" Amethyst yelled while she dropped her shotgun to her side.
"I will not let you, you've only used it for less than a day while he's used it for several decades." She said back.
"Why don't you just trust me!" Amethyst yelled.
"Because your trying to shoot something 4 miles away with a shot.." she was cut off as Amethysts shotgun went off. In her anger at Pearl she accidently pulled the trigger.
Amethyst paniced and dropped the gun. Pearl looked down at her chest to see the hope blown straight through it.
"I.. I didn't mean to." Amethyst stammered.
"Pearl book." Steven ran over to her.
"It's alright Steven I'll..." She never finished and she poofed. Her gem falling to the ground.
Will came over and picked it up. He then went over and took the gun from the still shocked Amethyst. He unloaded it and put the safety on.
"You'll get it back when you learn to not let your anger control you." He said emotionless.
Amethyst felt like a puppy that just did something bad. And now she felt like crap for it.
"Is Pearl going to be alright." Steven asked.
"She'll be fine Steven. When their physical form gets to damaged to function they retreat I to their gems. Where they rebuild themselves." Garnet said.
"So she's going to be alright?" Connie asked.
"She'll be fine. Her gem wasn't cracked." Quasar replied from the helmet speakers.
"Connie I'll take you home." Will said as he summoned a red motorcycle from his gem as well as a black helmet.
Connie out on the strange helmet. Will had dematerialized his armor into his gem. Now wearing a pair of jeans, a green t-shirt and a pair of pilot goggles.
She said goodbye to Steven before putting on the strange helmet and got on the bike.
Will immediately took off. She.clung tight to his back as the took off down the hill and toward the road.
The helmet abnormal to Connie as she rode down the road to her house. The blue visor was different then normal sunglasses and the metal that made it up felt tough but light. But she didn't have time to dwell on it as she get to her house.
"Thank you." She said to will.
"No problem." He said.
She was about to give the helmet back when he stopped her.
"Keep it. It's a lot more than a motorcycle helmet, its made of titanium so it will be useful for training." He said to her.
"Wait so I can keep it, and your going to train me." She asked excitedly.
"Yep, in just 3 hours you've proven to be quite the sharpshooter. And you might be as good as me someday."
"Thank you." She said as she walked to her door.
Connie heard one of her parents come to answer the door. "Oh Connie, how was Steven's." Her mother asked as she opened the door.
She walked inside and then answered. "It was fun. We watched a movie and then hung out. But one of Stevens Aunt's had an accident so I was brought home."
"Is she okay."
"Yes, she should be fine."
"Oh, then who brought you home because I didn't see Greg's van."
"Steven's uncle brought my home on his motorcycle."
"What! what have I told you about motorcycles."
"That their dangerous. But it was fun. And he gave me the helmet."
"Fine, but please ride in something enclosed next time."
"I will." Connie.said as she went upstairs into her room.
She opened her door and turned on the light. She set the little silver and orange box that holds the DMR on her nightstand. She then took a better look at the helmet.
The color was all black. With a simple curved design. There were only 2 things that weren't black. The dark blue visor that let you see. The other was four words in silver paint.
"What is 'ODST'." Connie thought.