The Final Battle

by Anna Wu

  Chapter 22: Firearms 101

  Jimmy's alarm went off as soon as he finished attaching a metal beam into the asteroid's ground. It shot fifteen feet into the sky, and there were several red lights and speakers on top of it. There was only one wire coming from it, and it led to a large, pulsing red button that he had put in his tent.

  Jimmy looked down at his watch and saw that he now had fifty-nine minutes until he had to meet Nick. He dusted his hands off and left his tools near the metal pole. Setting of at a crisp jog, he went around the camp and gathered the fifty-eight other kids he needed.

  Forty-five minutes later, a large crowd was following Jimmy as he led them to Nick's makeshift firing range. "Where are we going?" Sheen asked. All that Jimmy had told them was that he needed all of them to follow him for special training.

  Jimmy saw Nick near the horizon, who gave an almost imperceptive wave. Jimmy nodded back at him, although he knew that Nick couldn't see the gesture from that distance. Jimmy stayed quiet and ignored Sheen's question until they approached Nick several moments later.

  Jimmy pulled ahead of the rest of the kids and motioned for them to remain where they were. He then ran up to Nick. "Is everything ready?" he asked Nick.

  Nick nodded. "What were you doing before you came over here? Hangin' with Cindy?" he slyly inquired

  Jimmy smiled and shook his head no. "I was setting up an alarm system in the middle of camp in case there's an emergency. I'll talk more later. I believe you have a class to teach. See ya," Jimmy said while turning around and preparing to head back to camp.

  "Whoa, slow your roll there, cowboy," Nick said while spinning him back around. "Neutron is skipping class?" he asked with a smirk.

  Jimmy didn't understand what Nick was getting at. "What are you talking about?"

  Nick chuckled as he looked down at Jimmy's confused face, an expression that he was getting used to seeing on his new friend. "Did you even look at the list I gave you of who's getting a firearm?"

  Jimmy nodded. "Of course. How do you think I knew who to bring here?"

  "Well, was your name on it?" Nick questioned.

  Jimmy began to say yes, but he realized what Nick was getting at. "I'm way too busy to let you teach me, Nick. Especially today. I have to refill all of the rockets' fuel, monitor the rocket's thrust pattern, check with Libby on control team's status, gather," he was about to continue when Nick shook his head.

  "You going on this mission?" he asked.

  "Duh," Jimmy told him, somewhat forcefully.

  "Well then you're learning how to man one of these bad boys," he said while pulling a pistol out of his back waistband. "Anyone misses one of these classes, they don't come. Goes double for you, chief. I don't need any friendly fire coming from our captain. Sets a bad example," Nick playfully explained while handing Jimmy the gun. "Now gather the grunts and line 'em up," he instructed while walking back to his firing range.

  Jimmy stared after Nick for a moment before realizing that he was right. If he was going on this mission, which he definitely was, he would need to know how to use a gun.

  "Hold up," Jimmy said while running after Nick.

  "What?" he asked while turning around.

  "I need to talk to everyone about our battle strategy. You want to talk first, or should I?"

  Nick thought for a moment. "I'll go and you can be a sort of half-time show. I'm not the best at public speaking. I'll need a break."

  Jimmy nodded and ran back to the crowd of kids far behind him. "Alright," he began to explain as he slid to a stop in front of them, "we're here. Nick is the only one of us with training in firearms. He is going to teach us how to use them. All of you have been hand-selected by Nick and myself to carry a gun. We feel that you are the best candidates."

  Everyone seemed to smile at this flattering comment, especially Sheen. "You're trusting me to carry a gun?" Sheen asked.

  Cindy looked at Sheen in disbelief. "You're trusting him to carry a gun?" she shouted.

  Jimmy stared at the two of them. "Sheen, you've proven yourself brave on many occasions, especially when you jumped on the League of Villain's rocket to rescue me. It was incredibly stupid, but it was brave. And don't all of those Ultralord games involve shooting?"

  "Only everyone one of them!" Sheen screeched as he realized that playing video games had finally paid off.

  "Alrighty then," Nick interrupted as he strolled up to them. "Everyone follow me to our highly advanced training facility. And Jimmy, please explain to everyone my authority."

  As Nick led everyone to his firing range, Jimmy told everyone the extent of Nick's power over everyone. "As you all know, I'm in charge of this mission," he said as he humbly as he could manage, which wasn't much. "But in any aspect with guns, you go to him. If you need a gun, need ammo, have a question, anything, you ask him. He's the only one of us to have any knowledge of firearms, so we're going to listen to what he says with respect. This isn't a game, guys. It's life or death. For all intents and purposes, you are soldiers, and he's your general."

  Nick nodded, satisfied with Jimmy's explanation. "That's right. I'm in charge of combat operations at this point. You have all been hand-selected to serve in this army. Are you going to let me down?" he shouted. There was silence in the crowd. "I said, ARE YOU GOING TO LET ME DOWN?"

  "Sir no sir!" Jimmy shouted while giving a crisp salute, setting an example for everyone.

  "And the rest of you?" Nick asked.

  "Sir no sir!" they all shouted while saluting. Cindy seemed the most hesitant to acknowledge Nick's power over all of them.

  "That's right, I'm right," Nick growled as he inspected the disheveled crowd. "What the hell is this? Do you think you're going to fight the Yolkians in a pathetic heap? I want ten rows of five kids. Move!" he shouted.

  Everyone looked to Jimmy, who simply nodded and moved aside to lead the first row. Cindy started a row to the left of him, and Sheen did the same to his right. Quickly, everyone else filed in.

  "Alright, today we will learn the basics of guns and, if we're lucky, get in some target practice."

  "Now this," he said while pulling out a pistol, "is a 9mm Glock 22 pistol. It is a standard pistol used by police forces in many countries. It carries fifteen bullets. Everyone got that so far?" he asked. Everyone nodded.

  "Now, here's how this works. This is a magazine," he said while holding up a black, metal, rectangular box up. "Fifteen bullets fit in this. You put them in yourself. But we'll have them all already filled up for everyone by the time we get to the Yolkian planet. But, that's beside the point," Nick told everyone.

  "You put the magazine into its slot here," he instructed while pushing it into the gun's magazine shaft. "Then pull back the magazine slide like this." Nick, holding the gun with his left hand, pulled back the magazine slide with his right and let it spring back into place.

  "At this point, a round, or bullet, is now inside the chamber. It is ready to fire. Hold the gun in both hands for the best accuracy. Put it straight in front of you, look over the barrel, aim, and pull the trigger." Nick did all of these things except pull the trigger.

  "Now, this is how you take the magazine out. Simply pull the magazine catch with your thumb. The magazine will eject. Then pull the slide back, and that will get rid of the bullet in the chamber. Everyone got it?"

  There were nods, murmurs of confusion, and just plain blank faces in the audience. "Alright, try it yourselves. Jimmy, hand out the guns," Nick instructed.

  Jimmy walked up to a box of fifty guns and began passing them out. Nick pulled empty magazines from another box and passed those out as well. Once everyone had a magazine and gun, Nick went over the instructions again, and everyone performed the actions he described.

  "Good, that's very nice," he told everyone. "Now, these pistols are semi-automatic. That means," he paused to smile at Jimmy, "that you have to pull the trigger to fire a bullet. If you hold the trigger down, only one bullet will fire. If you hold the trigger down on an automa
tic weapon, like an assault rifle, bullets will continue to shoot out until the magazine is empty. All the guns that we have are semi-automatic. Does everyone get that?" Everyone nodded.

  "Yeah, we get it," Jimmy told him while repeating the definition in his mind.

  "Alright, before we go over the shotguns and rifles, Jimmy needs to go over something with you," he said while walking up to Jimmy.

  "Go get 'em, James," Nick laughed while patting him on the back. Jimmy returned the friendly gesture with a nod before pulling an easel and a large picture of a Yolkian out of his hypercube. After he placed the picture on the easel, he performed his usual nervous tic of clearing his throat before addressing the crowd.

  "Alright, this will only take a moment. After Nick and I gathered the guns back on Earth, I realized the obvious. Yolkians are not humans. While that may appear to be both a completely stupid and completely useless observation, it will have a huge impact on how we will attack our enemies. To sum it up in laymen's terms, bullets won't kill them. They're made up of green goo, not flesh and muscle. Shooting them would be like shooting a heap of pudding. It simply will not harm them."

  Nick's eyes glazed with anger. "So why the hell did you make me give that gay little speech?"

  Jimmy held his hands up in a defensive manner. "But just because the guns won't kill them doesn't mean they won't be an invaluable asset. Look at this blueprint," he instructed everyone. As everyone turned to the easel on his left, Jimmy took out his metal pointer out of his pocket and extended it.

  "Once a Yolkian is removed from his portable shell, it is an immobile heap of, well, goo. It can barely move, can't carry any weapons, and provides no threat other than being sticky. So this is how we will attack them."

  Jimmy held his pointer in his hands and cleared his throat once more. "The Yolkian shell has two basic components. The bottom of the shell contains all of its circuitry and mechanics. The top is merely a glass visor to see through."

  Jimmy pointed at the Yolkian's glass screen. "If you shoot this screen, you will most likely frighten the Yolkian, destroy its sense of balance and hopefully make it fall over, and, if you're lucky, shoot one of its eyes. This is not your main target, however."

  He pointed towards the bottom of the Yolkian's shell. "This is your main target. A single bullet should do enough damage to destroy the shell's circuitry. This will render the shell immobile, and therefore the Yolkian no threat."

  Jimmy retracted his pointer and put it back in his pocket. "Now, if you are in close quarters, smashing the shell to pieces will also do the job. But remember, our main target is their leader, Goobot. Once you immobilize a Yolkian, it is no longer a threat. If you have the opportunity, you can kill it by stomping on it or ripping the goo out between its eyes. That appears to be where it's 'brain' is. But if you're in a dangerous situation, don't pause to kill an immobilized enemy. It is just a waste of time. That's all I have to say," he finished up. Jimmy began to put his easel and picture of the Yolkian back into his hypercube.

  Nick stood back up and faced the crowd again. He gave a quick salute to Jimmy, who returned the gesture while straightening himself up. "Alright, we still have a lot of work to do before target practice. Onto the shotguns."