Army Days

Knuckles stood with the platoon, in front of him stood the canines from Canus and behind were fellow Equestrians. As they stood waiting for their leaders, Knuckles saw his uncle Shining Armor talking to General Delta from Canus and his subordinates. The girl in front of him turned around and faced him. "Hi, I'm Kilo and this is Vesper; we had gone to a military school back home. What's your name?"

"Knuckles Mac Shadow, Mac Shadow is a combination of my parents' names; Star Shadow and Big Mac. I grew up on Sweet Apple Acres and why I'm here is because my uncle and a grandfather on my mom's side were military and an uncle on my dad's side was serving by died with honor serving with an officer from your native land."

"That is one lit story bro" as he looked at the squad next to them but part of the same platoon he saw who spoke." "Heya, I'm Jules and this here is Whiskey; I'm a rocker and a college dropout, Whiskey is a drafted bartender and former employee at a nightclub where DJ-Pon3 is a patron and main performer." As the group talked their eyes turned to the group of officers coming toward them. Jules leaned over and whispered into Knuckles' ear.

"I feel sorry for the bastards who get Corp. Zulu, Zulu is of our Special forces known as the Fire Fangs! 250 confirmed sniper kills and wicked temper or so I'm told. Lt. Foxtrot and Sgt. Echoes are tacticians and skilled hand-to-combatants; Foxtrot is an artillery soldier while Echo is an extraction tactician. 2 Lt. Tango is a demo expert and bio-chemist...she also a skilled pilot."

"Dang it!" Exclaimed Knuckles as Zulu took her spot at the front of his squad line. Zulu's head jerked toward him and she stormed over to his position.

"Got a problem with me kid? Guess what? You're stuck with my hot mess until training is over.....THAT IS A FUCKING LONG 8 MONTHS! So if I were you I'd learn to get along with me....got it!" Knuckles nodded his head and as Zulu walked to the front she punched Knuckles in the arm as she began the short trek. Knuckles noted that Zulu's ear twitched and noted as well that Kilo's eyes for a split moment shifted from hazel to green. Oh dear God, he had thought as he realized that he might get caught in the crossfire of these two women.

As Knuckles lined up with his fellow platoon and squadmates to receive their standard-issued firearms, he saw Kilo and Zulu chatting as if they knew each other already. The other women, Echo, Whiskey, Jules, and Foxtrot chatting away and he also noted that an officer named Tango eyeing Foxtrot. He felt like some of his fellow cadets were related. He was finally handed his gear, he was handed a fine bolt action 30-06 rifle and a semiautomatic 40 cal. hand-gun. As they moved to their barracks to clean their pieces Whiskey swept the room with her rifle and it had barely grazed the snout of Zulu and swept past the nose of Echo and Foxtrot who had just walked in.

"698th platoon! Outside...Now!" As the cadets scrambled outside Knuckles tripped on his shoelace and collided with Zulu; the pair tumbled onto the dirt and a wolf named Asher looked down and made a crass comment.

"He Mac Shadow! While your down with her show her what a good time is like." Zulu kicked Knuckles off and rose to her feet quickly and lashed a Kevlar-reinforced glove outward and it made contact and there was the sound of bone breaking.

"Cadet Asher...that will be a fifteen-kilometer run for you! Sgt. Echo, Lt. Foxtrot take this boy to the track and make him run...and no water for him!"

"Gladly Corp. Zulu" was the reply from Echo. Knuckles apologized for where his hands had landed and he felt awkward as he felt the eyes of someone on him and some laughter. The other guys in the group got nailed by Foxtrot and were dragged off to do one hundred squats with eighty-pound packs. It was just Knuckles and one other canine named Yankee. Yankee was a quiet fellow but he and Knuckles were already proving to be the more respectful lads and they felt lucky at the moment to be able to stay the other young women of their platoon. They tried to show off some but only get shown up by Kilo and the others in the way of speed and agility and move overall stamina endurance. Zulu had pulled Kilo aside and Knuckles saw signs of banter. Yankee tried to flirt but got brushed away with jabs albeit playful.

Four months later

Knuckles and his group were on the firing range and Knuckles had terrible close-range shooting scores. A cease-fire was called and Zulu blindfolded Knuckles and began to blow into a shrill high pitched and almost sub-sonic whistle. His ears picked up the sound and his mind visualized the target and he let a three-round burst fly...the rapport was deafening but his three shots had hit the center. He heard orders being given and the sounds of gunshots rang out and he focused on the sound of the whistle and he made every burst land about two to three inches from the center. As he stood up he carefully cleared his rifle and then drew his pistol. As he fired the brass from the four clips that he had, he heard Kilo comment, "Damn he's good, I'd love to know how Corp. Zulu thinks to utilize his echolocation to his advantage. I bet Jules, that Zulu will have him train under her for the special ops and train as a sniper."

"Kilo girl, I would wager you have a crush on him. I see how your eyes change color as Zulu flirts with him in front of you." Knuckles felt awkward as he realized after four months he had a crush on Kilo.

Partners

As the group got paired up for the remaining six weeks for a survival exercise Knuckles was the odd man out and as Shining Armor was about to pair Knuckles with Sgt. Echo; Corp. Zulu requested to have Knuckles as her partner.

By this time Knuckles was being trained on how to be a sharpshooter and use his new standard-issue sniper rifle.