(Hal POV)
"We're going to have ourselves some sparring. Jordan, you go first. Ke'Haan will fight you and you better make sure that he doesn't embarrass you too much. Otherwise, I'll make you do drills till you puke your guts out.", Kilowog tells me.
I simply nod and get ready. Ke'haan is one of the teachers next to Kilowog, so he has a lot of experience. I am not worried about losing or winning, but rather getting as much out of this as I can.
"Go!"
Ke'haan attacks me with a basic blast of energy. I create a pyramid, with the tip pointing at the incoming energy and split the blast apart without much effort.
Then I shoot the pyramid towards Ke'haan. He doesn't think much of the attack and punches the pyramid with his fist. He is lucky that I didn't use much willpower to create it, or he would suffer.
*BOOM*
I don't think about it, though, and already prepare my next attack. I predict his next possible moves and create a few balls that I shoot towards him. I make the balls bouncy so that they are elastic and harder to predict.
Ke'haan has already destroyed the pyramid and simply created a shield to protect him from the balls. Since he handles this passively, I go on the offensive. I change the properties of the balls that fall on his shield and make them very heavy.
If they were 10 kilograms before, now they are 100 kilograms and about double the density. Ke'haan is surprised about this and realises that his shield won't hold.
*CRACK*
*CRAAACK*
Many cracks start to appear and he is almost pushed into the ground. He manages to keep his focus though and strengthens his barrier. He also adds two more layers to it and flies towards me, dodging around the falling balls.
Seeing him approach, I kneel to the ground with one leg and touch the ground. Ke'haan has already arrived in front of me and is about to punch me when something happens that he hasn't expected.
The ground underneath him rises into the air, taking him with it. He has not seen this coming and is pressed against the pillar as it ascends into the air.
But my chain of attack is not yet finished. Another giant green pillar forms in the air, and I make it fall down, crashing into the ascending pillar.
*BOOOM*
Ke'haan is sandwiched between the two pillars and gets hurt quite a bit. But he manages to stay conscious and stand back up again. There is blood running down his body. Kilowog comes in between us.
"That's enough, Ke'haan. He beat you. This is not a fight to the death, but a sparring. Stop 'ere.", he says, but Ke'haan doesn't want to hear anything.
"No! This is a fight, and the pathetic human thinks he is special, while we all know that humans are useless and their planet is a backwater one.", Ke'haan spits.
The only reason Ke'haan was this hurt was because I tried out how much willpower I could use without killing him. So, I was using about 170 WP, and this was his limit. I don't think he can show me anything more than this, so if he pushes it, I'll see that I can turn it down a bit. Otherwise, he would die, and I can't kill someone as soon as I join the Lantern Corps.
Kilowog tries to stop his fellow teacher, but Ke'haan doesn't listen. I can tell that he's angry about being 'humiliated' by the human rookie. I must say that I don't care about his feelings. He is a Green Lantern; his will should be stronger than this. But like many people in the current age, he lacks common sense.
His ring glows brightly, and he pushes Kilowog to the side. A giant sword appears in the air and descends towards me. I can see Kilowog's expression, which speaks of worry and slight anger at the actions of his fellow teacher. But he doesn't stop the fight. I can only assume this is because of my performance this past week.
I create a big shield that blocks the sword and shields me from Ke'haan's vision. I use this chance to do multiple things at once. I create two swords on both sides of the shield and have them lock on Ke'haan and attack him. Apart from that, I also creat a tunnel that leads underneath Ke'haan's position and create a giant bear trap there. The dirt is dug up and only supported by a few beams, which I also form.
.
Ke'haan has created spaceships that fire at the swords I created.
*BOOOM*
The swords are destroyed, and he sends the spaceships in my direction. The shield, which is still standing, changes form and turns into a big cannon.
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
The cannon shoots three times and destroys the spaceships of Ke'haan. The bullets shoot towards him, and he erects a giant wall to block the attacks.
*CRAACCKKK*
The bullets hit the wall and started to crack it. In response, Ke'haan begins to create a suit of armour for himself. It looks quite basic, and I don't think he understands the technology or makings of armour like that and while that isn't technically necessary, he also lacks the willpower to make it powerful enough without knowing the details. That will make it weaker. But in the end, it doesn't matter.
The bullets break the wall, and Ke'haan finishes the suit for himself. He has a sword and shield in his hands and runs towards me. I don't know why he is running instead of flying, but I can assume he is using all of his remaining willpower to create the suit. Too bad for him. In this instance, I spring the bear trap.
The floor underneath Ke'haan crumbles, and the giant trap snaps and easily breaks through his armour and energy field. I stop, though, and make sure that he won't get killed. For good measure, a big wrecking ball smashes into him and finally knocks him out for good.
*BOOOM*
"..."
"..."
"So ... did I pass?"
Kilowog didn't answer me and just went to check on Ke'haan's condition. He was fine, so I didn't have to worry about anything. Killing was forbidden right now in the Green Lantern Corps. I will have to be creative in taking villains out for good. But I know that after Parallax is discovered in the power battery and the Sinestro Corps war happens, the Guardians will allow the killing of villains within measure.
Ke'haan was taken to the medical wing and was taken care of. I was looked at with mixed emotions. Some of them saw me as an evil 'human' who did what humans did. Others saw my strength and willpower early on and understood that taking out a trainer was no small feat.
I was just happy with the training I got. I understood my shortcomings and where I could improve to grow stronger and more skilled. Battles or sparring against experienced Green Lanterns was the best way for me to improve my skills. And I think there will be enough time for that.
.
"Ya didn't do it gracefully, and ya didn't do it easily, but as far as I'm concerned, yer not completely useless. You earned your badges. So let's light 'em up!", Kilowog told all of the freshly graduated recruits.
""" In brightest day
In darkest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power ... Green Lantern's light! """
We finished the basic training and were now let go to our respective sectors. Mine was 2814, and I had enough to deal with there. Earth was, after all, a magnet for universal problems.
.
.
(3rd Person POV)
"Why was I not notified immediately, Guardian?"
{You were engaged in battle with the Manhunters. We did not want your focus disrupted.}
"Ridiculous. When has my focus ever been disrupted?"
{It is true. Your record is far superior to that of your fellow officers. Your sector is nearly clean of the chaos that once claimed it. You have been called the 'greatest' by many.}
"...Have I?"
{That is why I ask you to venture to Earth where you will contact Abin Sur's replacement and investigate the circumstances involving his death.}
"What of proper protocol? Salaak has not downloaded the official mission to my ring, Guardian."
{This mission will stay between us. And you can call me Ganthet.}
"Ganthet? Why have you taken a name when no other Guardians have?"
{So that you know me.}
"Green Lanterns partnering up? This goes against your territorial edict."
{I am asking you to break that edict ... for your mentor and friend.}
"Well then, Ganthet ... I am on my way to Earth."
.
At Edwards Air Force Base - Hangar 44 -
"This is the sixth message I've left, Carol. You call me back and we can smooth all of this tension out over dinner ... or you can consider my endorsement of Ferris Air's aeronautics voided. On top of everything else that's happened this week, I'm sure you and your father don't need that.", Hammond says on the phone.
"Dr. Hammond."
"What is it?"
"It took us a few days, but we've finally disassembled the alien craft's thrusters.", the employee tells him.
"What?"
"We've disassembled the thrusters. We can reach the fuel chambers, but we're hesitant about opening..."
"Hesitant? Use your common sense.", Dr. Hammond tells him and goes to do it himself.
While Hal was training on Oa, the Air Force recovered the spaceship of Abin Sur and took it for examination. There is another problem though ... and that is the passenger that fell out of the spaceship before it crashed.
.
"Your helmet, Dr. Hammond-"
"Do you hear that? The fuel chamber's empty. Like your heads.", Dr. Hammond says and opens the chamber.
*TSSSS*
"You see? There's nothing to be afraid of.", he says, but as soon as the chamber is fully open, a peculiar rock appears, and an explosion happens, blowing all of Dr. Hammonds's clothes away.
*BOOOOM*
"Close the door!"
"What is it?"
"The ship's fuel isn't a liquid! It's powered by some kind of rock! Looks like a meteor."
"Get Hammond clear!", the workers say and take Dr. Hammond, who hasn't suffered any physical wounds for some reason out of the hangar.
"He's going into convulsions!"
"NnNNnnNn!", Dr. Hammond is holding his head in pain.
.
(Hammond POV)
'Hammond's so creepy.'
"Wh-what did you say?", I ask.
"Medic! We need a medic!"
'Looks like he's all right. Too bad.'
"God. I hope he's all right."
'That moustache makes him look like a paedophile'
"What's wrong with his head?"
'Hector Hammond is a loser.'
'Terrible taste in suits'
'He's always calling Carol Ferris. Like some kind of stalker.'
"Shut up."
'His breath is terrible.'
"SHUT UP!", I scream and some kind of wave spreads through the surroundings from me and kills the people. I don't know what is happening. I ... I am glowing orange for some reason ... what is this flame? What is happening to me ... and what is this I am hearing?
'What the hell did he do?'
'I did not sign up for this!'
'We should just shoot this &*ç&ç'
"Stay where you are."
"A money for your thoughts?", I ask the guards who are aiming their weapons at me.
.
.
(Hal POV)
I exit out of Hyperspace. I took my time on Oa before returning. Why would I leave Oa which has such a broad database about almost everything you can think of in the universe? I need quite a bit of information before I start my work.
I also plan on doing a lot of studying. I will take a few courses and get myself a few Ph.D.s. Not many ... just in physics, maths, chemistry, biology, engineering and a few others... as I said not many.
I have come to understand that imagination is good, but if you know how your gun works and what it is made up of, like the molecular or even atomic structure, what you create with the ring is just that much more powerful. With my willpower, I can do anything and it is time to get to work.
The first order of business is my body. I won't be content with the normal weak human body I have. Should something happen and I lose my ring or it has no power left, then I need a backup. Especially the energy compartment interests me greatly and I have a few ideas on how to circumvent the problem of limited energy reserves ...