The training for me was rigorous. I had to climb up a steep grade while dodging laser blasts then upon reaching the top I had to go back down using my optic blasts to deflect various objects being shot at me. I reached the ground and proceeded to run toward the balancing floor. I began leaping from platform to platform trying my hardest not to fall. I was in the middle of the floor when I landed on one platform that immediately buckled sending me crashing into the floor.
I kept my head above water as my friends, Aaron and Alex tried to keep from laughing but did show concern for my well-being. I swam to the shore where the training had started and climbed out of the creek. “That was not fun,” I said.
“Glad I didn't go first,” Alex said.
“Are you okay, Brian?” Aaron asked. “Who knew that log wasn't secure?”
“Wish it was just a little warmer today,” I shivered. “Okay, so we're going to have to rework that part of the course.”
“Maybe we can find another log we can toss in or maybe there's a path further down the creek,” I suggested.
“Why do we have to go through this training?” asked Alex.
“So when the time comes we can defend our country from Ganthet,” I said, in a dark and foreboding tone.
Ganthet was our main adversary. He is, or at least was, an archaeologist who believed he was destined to rule humanity. He had the great fortune of finding the Seven Rings of Emtrion, powerful weapons from Double A's home planet of Emtrion. Ganthet was now hell-bent on ruling the world. We were here to stop him at every turn. We are the Cat Rangers.
The Cat Rangers was a team led by me, Fuzzytail who could use his optic blasts with pinpoint accuracy. The other team members were Alex, as Abracadabra, a skilled magician and sorcerer and Aaron, as Double A, a cyborg. Our headquarters was located in a small wooded area by a creek just a quarter mile from our neighborhood. Our hideout was located a little ways down the creek near a tree that had fallen over which became the steep grade in our training.
“So how should we modify the training?” I asked.
“No time for that now,” Aaron said, lowering his voice to be Double A. “There's a monster attacking the city.”
I looked at an imaginary computer screen that Double A was standing in front of and glared. “Gargantua?” I asked.
“Of course,” Double A answered and soon the Cat Rangers were racing downtown to stop the monster.
Gargantua was a massive brown, almost wood-like creature, accidentally created when Dr. Michael Kirkwood was bombarded with radiation while doing research in an arboretum. The Rangers raced downtown to see the giant monster tossing cars into the building and seeing the citizens scatter. We gathered in an alleyway to come up with a plan for the disposal of the monster.
“Aber,” Aber was Abracadabra's nickname. The name came from a cat that Alex used to own. “can you use a freeze spell to stop Gargantua?”
“I can try FT,” Aber said and flew off toward the creature. FT was my nickname as the others didn't really enjoy the name Fuzzytail for the name of their leader. I had also taken my name from a cat I knew and I guess I didn't think the name through but what I lacked in a good name, I made up for in leadership and abilities.
Aber was just out of Gargantua's sight when he spoke his magic words, "abracadabra" and a bright light of shapes and shadows flowed from his hand and toward Gargantua. The spell did not work as well as we all had thought, it just annoyed him and he swatted Aber down onto the street. That's when Double A and I attacked, emerging from the alley and leaping onto the monster, taking him down. Double A used his arm cannon to keep him subdued while Aber worked on conjuring up a bigger spell.
Gargantua overthrew Double A knocking him several blocks away and leaving me and Aber to face his wrath. Aber barely got a shield spell up to protect himself from Gargantua's fist and I fully opened my visor to unleash my optic blasts onto the monster which at least knocked him down.
“The militarys' on it's way!” shouted a policeman from the sidewalk. “Just keep it busy until they arrive!”
