J.E. Clockwork
I laugh at the sniper as I try to get up. The player, without missing a beat, holsters his sidearm then reaches an open hand out to me. Taking it, the “enemy” player helps me back onto my feet.
“I think that was too close to call who got it first.” I dust myself off.
“I’m pretty sure I got the kill.” The player walks ahead of me as I holster my revolver before walking over to the girls who stood casually watching us.
“Nah, I’m sure I said it first.”
“Alright then, let’s call it a draw.” I nod to the player who chuckles in response.
“Fair enough.”
As the player walks away, I step over to see the looks on Rarity and Dash’s faces.
“That was awesome,” Rainbow Dash nods letting her rifle hang from the one point slung across her body.
“Be even cooler if you had managed to shoot the guy.”
“Even then, I have never seen you move like that before.” Rarity looking on with awe towards where the other player had walked off towards.
“It gets rather intense when everyone is this close to each other.”
“Head back to the parking lot to reload!” calls out Big B.
“That is true, how’s the face, Rare?” I ask looking at the growing BB-sized welt on her cheek. She glances away touching it with a free hand.
“It, still hurts.” she could only manage as she winces from the touch.
“You’ll be fine though, like a bee sting, it’ll go away shortly.” I gesture to my right with an open hand, “Come on, let’s get back.”
“Lead the way boss.” Smirks Dash as I start to walk with the two following behind me. I read the double meaning in that smirk too, she didn’t need to say any more about what happened when I pulled her back just a minute or so ago. My hands still feel weird from the incident.
As we venture through the battered base and towards the trails leading back to the first field and parking lot beyond; I look over to see Big B standing in a cubby space in the brush, that overlooked the base, with a nervous Fluttershy walking away from him towards us.
“A-are you guys okay?” she asks worriedly as she joins up with us, “We managed to see what was going on and, and…”
“Well, we all got shot a few times each,” gods bless you and your bluntness Dash, “Rarity took one to the face during the few times she was hit.”
“Oh no,” Shy gasps as she slowes to walk along Rarity, “Are you okay?”
“Not going to lie to you darling, it did hurt, however, as our dashing hero has told us, it only hurts like a bee sting before it goes away.”
“Sometimes,”
“What?” Fluttershy looks at Rainbow Dash.
“Sometimes you feel it for a while longer after getting hit” I cover our verbal tracks quickly, “depends on where you get hit.”
As the girls talked, we all had walked up a span of the trail leading back onto the first field with the parking lot just ahead. Other players milled towards the parking lot as well. Of course, I couldn’t shake the fact that there were eyes upon me and the girls as we all casually entered the parking lot.
As I already know what they are thinking I just chalked it up as one of the many quirks that come with this kind of territory. The earth world Guardianship thing I mean. I just wished the only way to honestly confirm the speculation those stares existed; BUT, until such a thing comes into existence, I’m stuck with simply shrugging off whatever theories around me and my charges are being made.
AND, no, the harem theory is simply out the window here folks, unless you put the word “friendship” in front of that then we are golden!
Anyways…
there were a couple of new vehicles parked throughout this dirt, slightly muddy parking lot, a few familiar by sight some others were new. Word must be getting out about this field, always like seeing more new players joining up. It means the sport is gaining popularity here in the valley.
It also helps that we are one of two operating game fields on the bottom of the state, a lot of folks don’t like the idea of traveling some hours north to just to play for a day. Like McDonald's, the convenience of location is key.
We surround the table as we started to double-check gear and top off ammo.
“So, what do you think is going to be next?” I hear from Rainbow dash as she simply touches up the high cap she took out of her gun.
“I think we are going to switch bases and run that again.”
“And allow us to win again?” She laughs, “If that's what floats their boat then by all means, let’s play!” she slaps the high cap back into her gun before stepping away from the table. Silly girl, she should know better by now.
“Uhm, Dash, mags out in the parking lot.”
“Huh? Oh, bleh.” she glances at me before removing the magazine from the gun.
“While we are here, you sure you don’t want to join us Shy?” I glance to Fluttershy who only was absently looking down at the table.
“It's very nice of you to ask but, Uhm, no thanks.” she blushes as those eyes look up at me.
“Oh shy dear, you should at least try it once,” Rarity urges with a smile, “It may look scary but it’s actually quite a thrill of fun to play.”
“We got extra gear if ya do.” Dash pipes up as she leans against the car, “Not that we are pressuring you or anything.”
“Uhhh,” Shy looks from the other three then back at me, I can assume she is looking at me for help.
“Let it be girls,” I sling my rifle before looking at the two, “If she wants to play or not, it's up to her, am I right?”
As I look at Fluttershy, she looks away absently grabbing her arm nervously, “Uhm, yeah,” she meeps smiling a thank you at me.
“Right, it’s no real push for it-”
“Alright, we don’t have much time left, form up on me!” calls out Big B rallying all the active players towards the center of the parking lot.
“That’s our cue, we good girls?” I ask giving a quick look at each of them.
“Yes, Darling.” Rarity nods closing a magazine flap on her gear.
“Yup, let’s do this boss.” Rainbow was already walking towards the center.
“LET’S PARTY!” Pinkie Pie jumps before raising one of her pistols to the air.
As the three walk towards the center, I pause to look back at Fluttershy who stops noticing me.
“Uhm, Shy?”
“Yeah?”
“If you, uhh, change your mind just let me know.” I smile stupidly as she grins back.
“Uhm, sure, but, I would like to watch (for now).”
“No problem, you are more than welcome to do whatever you wish today,” I assure her with a smile. I had a feeling she wouldn’t really want to play such a scary looking game, however, they say the quiet ones are the ones to truly fear. Also, points for me to at least convince her to watch.
“Th-thanks.”
“FORM UP!” I glance over to Big B before looking back at her.
“Well, see ya out there.” we both head for the crowd of people.
There is the chatter of all kinds, the few topics I pick up by ear were some about the last round and only a few were about me and the girls. I pretend to put no mind towards their talk, it is just talk after all.
However, I can’t help but wonder how odd it looked from an outsider’s perspective. Seeing a bunch of good looking girls hanging around some dude that seems to be loaded with money. Sure, the quick and the oblivious would think that I’m some rich punk that has a lot of friends in truth, well, we all know that these girls are not of this world nor am I really rich.
Just some intelligent guy who knows his stuff and is getting the backing of some off-world Royalty to provide escort and protection of their world’s guardians since there isn’t really anything left for them to do there.
So, just like my realm Jumper friends, they explore other dimensions or realms to spread friendship to other planes of existence.
Of course, they are slowly learning that it’s a challenging task to master.
“Alright, we got some more players,” Big B, begins, “I’ll level them out as we go, as for the next game, we are replaying the same game only difference is switching bases.” he fishes into a shirt pocket to pull out the roll of green ribbon to mark the newcomers to my team.
“New players, you will be filled in on what’s going on as we deploy, remember, green is now In base seven while neutral is in Harvard, DEPLOY!” he orders before the group disperses into the field. Green has to make the march towards base seven while Neutral gets to kick it in the house like base while waiting for us.
“Clockwork!” calls out a familiar voice, I look over to notice a half gillied player toting a sniper rifle with an HPA hose tapped into it. He was taller than me by nearly an inch or so and was good at being a casual bushfighter. I mean, seriously, he would disappear into the bushes which allowed him to score kill after kill followed by casually getting the drop on other players in a match.
“Bushman!” we exchange fist bumps as he walks along with me, the girls glance back but kept walking as they saw me starting to converse with this kid.
“It’s been forever since we have seen you, then you show up today with-” he gestures towards the three ahead of us, “-them, whaaat gives?” even with his headgear on, I can tell there was disbelief on his face.
“Long story to be honest, but they are friends from out of town and I have picked up the important job of taking care of them while they visit.” I look over behind us to see admin was walking towards three with Fluttershy following behind.
“Riiight, ‘important job’” I look back to notice his air quote marks with his free hand. Rolling my eyes I already knew where this is going.
“It’s true, I’m getting paid big to watch them while they are here for a few months, I mean, how the hell else did I manage to get them and myself good gear for today?”
“True, buuut, you are living with four of them.”
“Actually only the other two stayed at the compound today because they had other things to do while-”
“Bro, wait, wait…” he quickly padded my gear to stop me while he gawks at me in surprise, “wait, you are telling me that you are sharing a house with-”
“Six.” we both said simultaneously, I was nonchalant while he said it like a question.
After a stunned pause, he pulled his thoughts back together to speak again, I’m miles ahead of him as I always prepare for the general guy questions, so here we go.
“Have you ever-”
“No.”
“But what about the-”
“Nope.”
“You sure there are-”
“No.”
“Yet, there’s six of them, in your house, you sure-”
“Nooo.”
My quick answers left him stunned again, more than likely couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He then places a hesitant hand on my shoulder with a nod to match the concealed sadden expression.
“I, I weep for your loss, good sir.” I couldn’t help but laugh with him before we hurried to catch up with the rest of the team. To be honest, I’m still wrestling with the reality that they are real and from a different realm.
After falling in step behind the girls, the three look back at me, “what was that about?” Rainbow Dash asks as she starts to catch on the contagious habit of shooting a few shots into the brush for either the heck of it or to check if the mag was feeding. Most likely, for the heck of it.
“Guy stuff…” I simply put, trying to avoid bringing the whole spiel up with the girls, I’m sure they too had run into that conversation many times whenever I wasn’t present. Then again, this has only been their second visit into my world so it’s been sort of a learning curve for them.
Though, many things have caught on in a flash. Of course, my brain randomly takes a knee in giving thanks that even though these mares are in human form they do not pick up the natural habits of the month-
“Right, how many more times some punk gonna ask those questions?” Rainbow Dash bluntly asks aloud, giving a glance to a few players that, to be honest, there are a few other small clusters of other players all caught up in their own conversations to not really pay attention to us.
As we talk, we weave through a trail that exits out into a clearing with a few skinny trees dotting the grassy, foliage-covered landscape. Ahead of us is the huge fallen tree that has been converted into a natural barrier. A set of steps, made out of thick branches and carved earth, led up and over the top of the log while, the trail that wraps around the left side of the log and the remaining trunk of the tree.
There was a corner of the log hollowed out with a small window cut out the side facing what used to be base four. However, it isn’t very useful as there is vegetation growing up high in front of that opening. Walking around the large tree trunk, we ventured through the empty clearing that had the old base from long ago.
“Is that the base?” Rarity points towards base five off to our left as the walls of the base came into view.
“No, that’s base five, Our base is right over there,” I point ahead and slightly to the right. Where partially visible over the top of the thicket of brush, is the base.
“Ooh, that means we can just sprint there and take it,” Dash comments observing the clearings around the base. We have rushed three earlier, however, I don’t think she managed to come out this far. Only Pinkie managed to run out this far on her own. Thus the surprise ambush before the last game ended.
As we made the bend up the path, base seven came into view.
The base indeed is the only base fortress looking base on the field. The base is a multi-room, roofless construction of plywood, metal, and pallets; The two towers that make up the entrance and two other corners of the base were made out of old wooden shipping bins flipped upside down.
The only accessible tower inside the base is walled with a chunk of walling from a hot tub. However, right now, we won’t be needing it. Not yet at the least.
“A bit of a walk, but sure is a scenic one.” Rarity comments as she and the other two stay close to me.
“So, how are we going to do this?” Rainbow Dash asks aloud looking towards the general direction of the base. These are some smart ladies, learning the field will be easier than it was for me years ago. Taking a moment to look over the three that waited for the game to begin.
It kinda confuses me that, well, one, the gear they are using and the guns they carry are all out of my pocket. Rainbow Dash’s kit was the most expensive out of the bunch, mostly because she wanted to replicate what her favorite class looked like from BattleField four. Aside from the fact that I refused to get the AT-4 she wanted, even after showing her that it was sold out.
Rarity’s gear set was comprised of most of the same gear but had to mostly match the french military, however, instead of a helmet it was the barret; it was odd, but in a sense fitting for the fashionista.
Of course, she should have taken upon the face mask when I offered it but she insisted that she would be fine with just the goggles. Pretty much sure she wishes for one now.
Pinkie’s pistols were the tricky part of the ensemble, tracking down the individual CYMA CM.030 pistols was the hard part. The harder part was ordering both guns and the complete setup Pinkie asked for:
Both CM. 030 pistols.
Finding spare batteries, one spare for each gun.
Spare standard magazines.
Getting a high cap magazine for both each was easier out of all of this setup.
The rest of the rig, she just “knew” what to find when we went out to buy camo the other day.
Honestly, I still feel the “hole” left behind when ordering their individual setups, though I’m technically right, any player of this hobby will never be completely rid of the pain of dropping hundreds of dollars on a “toy”. Again, money is no issue here but come on folks. Who in the right mind would just-oh you get it...
I still think the CYMAs were the most painful.
Then again, the reproduction gear I'm wearing dwarfs the price tag of our groups set up, so begs the question, Why am I even bitching?
As my mind argues with itself, I glance over to see mentioned, pink-haired gun girl, looking at me with hands-on-hips. Like Rarity, she didn’t wear face protection (just mesh goggles), so the smirk on her face caught my full attention.
“What?”
“You are very conflicted aren’t you?” she asks gesturing at me, “I can hear your gears grinding from here.”
“Get out of my head.” I point at her accusingly, “I’m still getting used to this.”
“Eh, true, there are somethings you’ll get used too.” she winks at me drawing the CYMAs, did I mention the pains of getting those slides customized? Metallic pink with glitter spatter and ironically her cutie mark printed on the slides of both pistols; even complete with the word “Party” on one gun, and “time” printed on the other. I mean, she has good taste in guns for a baker.
“Wait, the fuck that means-” before I could say anything else, we hear the air horn in the distance.
“LET’S GET 'EM BOYS!” cries out one of the regular players in a fake southern accent as half the herd of airsoft players breaks ranks into a sprint towards the base in question. Among this wave of runners is one of the two HPA players on our team. At least, there will be some heavy-hitting firepower reaching the base before the rest of us could get there.
As the rest of us scattered, forming multiple squads making pushes into different directions: one squad pushed back down the main trail to flank from a side trail leading towards the base, one pushing far-right to flank from the trails along the boundary fence towards the base while one pushed along with me and the girls.
Of course, I can only correct myself that, after a quick glance as we ran towards five, Pinkie had, once again, Houdinied into the brush, I would be worried that she would stumble through some poison oak trying to get to the base, then again, nothing really seems to affect her at all here.
The only one of the six that has some sort of persistent level of Ambient Magic Field to maintain a level of her connection to her mysterious Chaos abilities.
or in short, what makes me, me still in this magicless world as Twilight and I had agreed with, well, whatever that means-
Ahem…
After getting lost in thought, once again, I was brought back to the game when I hear some shots being fired.
“Contact, trail to One!” called out a team player as he and a buddy plant themselves behind some trees facing the trails leading towards Three. Their shots caught my attention as some return fire came flying towards our general direction.
The girls scattered as we moved towards the two trees and the log, that made up some short cover between the trees; I and Rarity took up behind the trees as well (the tree I'm facing is a giant-ass-oak tree and its short leafy neighbor is dense madrone).
Passing on our left I see a squad of five cutting off to the right towards some trails leading towards base six, Knowing that pathway, I know they will be flanking from that directly onto the back fence towards the spawn trail leading into Base Three; AND of course, I see Rainbow Dash tailing after them.
“I’ll help these guys out,”
“Sure, Good luck, we’ll do what we can from here.”
“Got it!”
“What are we going to do-”
“Hit!” the player next to Rarity flinched before lowering his weapon and start walking back to spawn with a dead rag out. She inched closer to the tree, trying to obscure herself more.
“What are we going to do?” She asks over the incoming fire. I lean around the oak to acquire sight on our attackers. Two of them, down the large trail in front of us, peeking up from the cover of the blackberry bushes to let off wild burst fire in hoping to hit the rest of us.
Aiming, I send shots back.
“HIT!” calls out one of them, leaning back behind the oak.
“We gotta push forward, got get them rearing off balance, if Dash and her bunch can push hard along the fence line, we can knock’em out of the base in no time at all.”
“So, that means-”
“Hit!” calls out the player next to me. As he pulls his dead rag out, I place a hand on a shoulder, “Hold up, I’ll get ya.” I gentle help him back behind cover to begin the count for a medic revive. It randomly dawns on me that I should have reminded all of us about the medic rule in play.
Oh well, it’s unlimited lives at least.
After counting to thirty, our teammate was back in the fight.
“Yes Rare, we have to push too.”
“Oh, dear...”
*******
Rainbow Dash
I bring up the rear as I catch up with the squad that is already seeing the contact.
“What do we got?” I ask
“Got-” A hail of BB fire comes crashing through the brush, we all crouch low, the front two of the squad were already creeping forward low with guns raised around the bend in the trail that zig-zagged around a tree and some dense bushes. The rest of us inched forward while a third player followed the first two. A few moments of silence then the sound of small, loud motors rattles out followed by multiple voices calling hit.
“Move up!” called one of the three. Standing up with guns up we moved forward around the bend to be met with the sight of one player reviving another while another waited for us. Scanning around I can see through the thicket the patchy visuals of Jay, Rarity and some other nerd following them as they pushed down the trail in front of him. J.E.’s rifle sounding off as he led the push. In front of him are three other players hiding behind some makeshift barriers peeking out to fire back.
“We got friendlies pushing on the left,” I call out gesturing towards them.
“Let’s keep moving!” Order’s the point man
“Keep going, we’ll catch up.”
We indeed push on. Further up our trail, I can see the gray wooden walls through the brush. Spotting some movement in the windows I turn to fire upon them. Heads dropped down as I unleash a short stream of BBs that smack against the walls.
“Push hard!” calls out the point man before opening up on targets inside. We bonded through the thicket then towards the back of the open base. Incoming shots came from inside but only found the brush all around us.
This base was wide open out the back so closing in from the side was easy as I moved in behind the two of my fellow teammates in. Spotting movement from inside the collection of fallen logs close by, I eyed a human inside, leveling their weapon at us-no-me! Ha! Thankfully, I’m faster than any of these apes!
Panning my weapon, I let loose a short burst into the logs.
“HIT!” called out the log dweller.
As I looked over, I saw the other two clear the base, only two other defenders were sent walking back to spawn.
“CLEAR!” I called out with one other voice speaking up along with me.
“Well played,” Big B spoke from his spot along the wall of bushes, “timer reset for Green! See how long you can hold it this time.”
“So uhh, G-G guys?” one of my teammates said taking a spot in front of the large windows facing the trails leading towards the first field.
“Good play,” J.E. with Rarity and a few other Greens came up to the base. One other Green player kept going forward, probably sweeping forward to flush any opposition away or at least call them out.
“Too easy,” I brag as Rarity and Jay step in. Shortly as they did shots slam hard against the metal walls.
“Contact, side trail!” called out one of the Greens while autofire indeed rains down upon the walls.
“Dig in, we got this!” Jay encourages while we scatter about the base, trying to pinpoint those pesky Neutrals.
“Wouldn’t doubt it at this point, though, you all might not be so lucky twice.” Big B speaks with confidence similar to an old officer observing a rookie’s sparring in a mock battle. Seriously, where did they find this guy? Kicking pirate ass up-n-down the high seas? Raiding bases for loot and booty?
The more I think about it, the more awesome he sounds. To me at least.
“Watch us!” I gloat peeking out one of the front doorways at the admin. I catch a smirk appearing on the weathered, scarred face of the old man who removed the unlit cigar from his lips.
“I have been, and by the way,”
“What?”
“Take cover.” As soon as I heard that, I catch the sound of another pissed off sewing machine followed by incoming BBs slamming against metal. I look to see a wall of BBs flying at me.
“Buck!” I feel several hits my body, “Auugh, HIT!” I crouch yanking out my dead rag. The old man laughs.
*******
Fluttershy
“Grab’er and get to cover.” I hear J.E. order as I see a hand reach out and grab Rainbow Dash on the arm, dragging her out of harm’s way. The sound of those angry toys still frightening to me. Another one rattles close by.
“EEP!” I crouch down with hands on my head, hoping that those flying BBs don’t sting me!
I look over at Big B, who was just standing there, nonchalant and comfortable with death flying all around us. How can anypony be so calm with this craziness going on?! HOW?! Keeping myself low as possible, I watch as Jay leans out the doorway, shooting that wooden gun at some poor soul.
“HIT!” they call out before casually standing up with a hand raised, vanishing onto the trails towards their base or spawn, was it? This whole system of (violent) gameplay isn’t really settling with me, however, I feel as I've been looking at this wrong. I mean, even though it is intense, I can still hear someone laugh from inside while everypony still spoke to each other as if this was a gentle game of shot-put.
It became quiet after that one left.
“What do you think of it?” Big B asks glancing over to me, his voice startles me as I was watching Jay and the girls.
“Back in!” calls out Rainbow dash.
“Uhm, It looks very, uhm-”
“Nerve Wrecking?”
“In a sense, yes…”
“You oughta look more closely,” he points towards the base with an unlit cigar wedged in the metal fingers,
“What else can you see.”
Since the shooting had stopped, it was easier to examine the scene, however, there wasn’t really anything I can see. Aside from talking and commotion, off to our right, I watch several other members of Jay’s team hurry down the trails from their base.
“I don’t-” As I look back at Big B, who nods towards the base.
“-you have a vest on, you can walk in there and check it all out, You won’t be shot at with the vest on.”
“Uhhm, you sure?”
“I’m sure,” he calmly naws on the cigar.
“Okay…” I take the chance, looking both ways double checking that no one else is there.
Cautiously moving forward, I step up to the base. Closing towards one of the entrances, I can see the heavily dented metal outer walls; the wood frames and pallet inner walls are all worn and suffering from the slow decay of the abuse of the natural elements.
Peeking inside, I can see many of the present players, holding the base. Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Jay were among the four closest to me as I walk in.
“Hey, welcome in Shy,” Jay greets, “checking things out?’
“Uhm, Yeah, Big B kinda suggested I walk in here to-” a motor spun followed by the pop of a gun, ending with a loud metal bang on the wall right next to me.
“-eek!” I flinch back into the nearest corner.
I hear a familiar somepony laughing at me, “Ha, made ya jump!”
“Dash!” Rarity scorns
A second later there was a distinct muffled pop of a pistol followed by Rainbow Dash flinching suddenly, clutching her rump, her rifle clatters to the ground, “AAHOW!” she slowly crumbles to the ground holding one of her cheeks, “Buuuck…” she whimpers in between pain-stricken groans.
“Made ya flinch.” I lower my arms to lean to look out at Big B working the slide to his pistol. It has what looks like a long pipe attached to the front of it, “warned you about standing in the opening like that, now get up and head to spawn.” he casually orders, returning the long pistol into a hip holster.
“But she has two more medics,” Rarity peeks out trying to reason to keep her here.
“I think the big guy suggests,” Jay says interjecting, “She should walk it off.”
“I agree…” I glare at Rainbow Dash as she slowly stands up, picks up her rifle before pulling up a dead rag and walks out of the base. Grumbling and quietly cursing at the admin as she slowly limps away.
“Sorry about that darling,” Rarity glances outside then steps over to me, “She was caught up in the flow of things.”
“More like being like some of these jerks,” Jay comments stepping over to another window, watching the trails leading towards the first field.
“It’s, It’s okay, she got what she deserved.”
“Indeed, so, what do you think?”
What a question to ask after that incident.
“Well, uhm-”
“Contact, two on side trails!” Within seconds of hearing him, some distant noises followed with loud impacts against the metal walls.
“Oh no!” I frantically look before watching Jay shooting back before ducking down. I can see BBs fly right through the window right over his head.
“Shy,” Rarity said putting a hand on a shoulder, “Get down.”
Another barrage of impacts added exclamation to her words. Not wanting to leave amidst all this, I simply ducked down beside a wall, praying to Celestia that I don’t get hit through these scarily thin walls! Never could guess that those tiny little BBs would create such a loud sound when fired!
I don’t think I can sink any lower, but I still manage to watch Jay peek up quickly to fire his weapon towards those bad guys. Rarity, steps behind him, bobbed out from behind him doing the same. She is really catching on to this scary sport. After every so shot, while ducking out of the way, she would be reaching towards the back of her Rifle (FAMAS, what a weird name) and wind the clip (or magazine was it?), Jay did explain what that did, but I’m a bit too frightened to remember!
Among these two, I lost track of the three others that were also taking shots back at our-i mean-their attackers. I did hear someone call hit far away over the small, angry machines. Someone just outside the base called hit, then the second attacker took a hit. It went quiet shortly after that.
“Admin, time check!”
“Six minutes, keep it up.”
As fast as the danger came, it went. I still didn’t want to move-
“Shy,” I look up to see Jay walk over to me, “It’s okay now,” He smiles with a hand reaching out to me, “here.”
“Uhm, i-if you say so.” As he helps me back onto my feet, I look around to notice a few other players were watching. Oh goddess, this isn’t embarrassing at all. I turn my head to listen but didn’t hear anything new coming from outside. I should probably get back out and-
“She does know that Admins don’t normally get shot right?” A younger player, about half of J.E’s height, looked over from his perch along the farthest side of the base, one of the side windows overlooking the trails leading towards wherever their team originated from.
“Yeah, we have been telling her that all morning so far.”
“Well-” Rarity says placing a finger to her own lips in thought, “-Not exactly all morning.” she gestures towards me, which she is right, it wasn’t until during the warm-up that someone told me about as long I'm wearing the bright orange i would be safe.
“I understand that,” I spoke up looking from Rarity to everyone else, “It still is pretty crazy.”
“Shouldn’t worry to much,” Jay Says while he steps away from us to crouch beside the large window facing the base one trails; he removes the strange magazine from the bottom of his rifle then produces a speed loader from his gear to reload it.
“We are almost out of time anyway,”
As he spoke, there was some distant racket that catches both of our attention.
“Sounds like our guys caught another push,” J.E. says keeping his eyes towards the direction of the sound, “Betcha anything that they tried to go around to flank us.”
“They tried to what?” The sound of ‘flank us’ really didn’t sound appropriate at all, “you mean-”
“Oh, no, I mean, they tried to go around us to attack from the side, not, yeah.”
“FIVE MINUTES!” calls out Big B.
*******
Rainbow Dash
“Fucking admin, why the hell would he do that?” I grumble as I gently kick the wall of base seven to respawn.
“I was just having fun.” Honestly, they should’ve seen shy the last time I spooked her like that. I mean, when we in our normal forms, it's hilarious to see her jump. Probably the only time in her life that she achieves a higher wing powered is when she gets scared out of her mind.
Well, settled to seeing a human shy squeak like that was just as entertaining. Then, ow, the admin’s handgun. I don’t know why, but I feel honored to be the first out of all of us to get shot by the admin today.
I wonder who is next?
Deciding I would leave Romeo to protect his Juliet, I take the main road (or the main trail was it?) to see what kind of damage I can do before this round ends.
I hear shots fired up ahead, I hurry down the road some more before seeing the exchange going down between my teammates and some neutrals.
However,
As shots came flying by, I hunker down on a side route towards base 5 while looking down the main road towards the obstacles that littered the ground before the large fallen log.
Just ahead, some of my fellow teammates were ducked down behind some brush with two of them pushing up into the cluster of barriers. On the other side, five of the neutrals were pushing hard trying to get around us.
It didn’t take me long to join in on the action. I stood up with rifle leveled and fired several shots towards the wimp trying to walk the steps over the log. One of them made their mark as he stands up with hand raised before walking away. That's a hit!
Stepping out, I push up the road, firing on semi-auto to not only control the fire but make each possible hit more accurate. As the last of the enemies hides behind cover, I lowered my weapon to jog towards the first bit of cover I laid eyes on. A tiny, three wall hut that was facing the log. Getting inside it, there was a single window looking out.
Once there, I kept my eyes on the log.
“Push up!” I hear behind me, the two teammates that were hiding in the brush emerged with weapons up and pushed towards us. I looked around to assess who was around me.
One player in nothing more than just a windbreaker jacket, jeans, and a bulky paintball mask hugs his back against the oak to my front right.
Two players embed themselves among the barriers on the left side to provide a cover of the log and the bend in the main road around it.
A final player, with the fancy rig with the hose sticking out of his gun, pushed ahead with weapon up. Clearing ahead, he checks his left towards some other trails.
“Friendlies on our left, highway!” he calls out before advancing up the steps over the log, reaching the top, he scans ahead of him with his weapon before snapping it towards his right, his weapon quietly popped as he shot at something.
“Contact, three on the right, in the clear-HIT!” he was mid-sentence when he stopped to raise his hand to turn and walk casually towards our spawn.
“Hey, Soldier babe,” The kid in the windbreaker speaks up, “What do you see down there.” he points around the tree towards the log.
“Excuse me, what did you call me?”
“Soldier babe, now whats-”
“I outta shoot ya for that!” I aim my rifle at him, in which he squeaks in fright
“Please don't-”
“It’s clear so far, nothing yet.” I answer his question, “Little shit…”
As I’m about to lower my rifle, contemplating how much time has left a barrage of BBs smacks into outer walls of the hut. I flinch to impacts before sighting in on a pipsqueak peeking around the turn. Three misses later, the kid ducks back.
“Got one around that turn.”
“I thought you said it was clear?!”
“I did, now they came back!”
I waited for the neutral to lean out again, but for some reason I see shots coming out of the bush that makes part of that corner-
“Shit!” I duck down as shots clatter around my little hut.
I stand up, about to shoot out the window when I hear two guns sound off to my left. Looking over I see my teammates drilling the corner. It wasn’t long when I hear the sound of a hit being called.
“Now is it clear?”
“Yes, now it is.” I think it was time to step away from this wooden death trap. As soon as I did though- Something slams into the side of my helmet with a loud audible crack on the hardened plastic. Stumbling from the surprise, I take a knee while looking around to see where that came from. Obviously the little bucker vanished!
“HIT!” I call out reaching for the sky before standing up to walk back to spawn.
AGAIN!
*******
Pinkie Pie
I already have placed myself over on the other side of this field after the game started. It was easy, no one really noticed me yet! Speaking of which, I keep hearing this flat, dried up creek bed being called highway; huh, it’s kinda confusing because this isn’t or doesn’t look like a highway that I know of. Oh well, if these humans know it as such, I can describe it the same way.
Right as I hear Dashy call her hit, I look forward, noticing movement just ahead of me on the other side of the large fallen log. It looks very overgrown with blackberry vines growing more wildly than the mane on yours truly.
Just after that, I see someone move around in the brush, I do believe the other team is trying to move around fellow the party squad to my right to, what was that? Flank, right; to flank around to get the drop on them.
I and the two others behind me have something to say about that!
“Looks like they are moving left onto Highway,” One of my teammates have just said, “Lets-”
“GET 'EM!” I didn’t like the idea of waiting for them to come around the wall of brush just to let them shoot at us. I’ll go ahead and surprise them by meeting them! I run up the trail in front of me following the weaving footpath up and around some old tree debris. Just as I’m about to reach the other side of the log, I hear the rattle of those BB spitting machines.
Perceiving what didn’t get stopped by the bushes between us. I duck low with both pistols popping like mini poppers.
“Contact, highway!” calls out one of those pesky players. Soon, It seemed instantaneously actually, more of those machines started spitting more BBs my way.
“I don’t think so!” I say before breaking into a run further up the trail till I found an outlet trail that gets me the heck out of here and more towards those guys. All the while white specks of plastic fly close by me. They can’t seem to hit anything-
“Aww, HIT!” a neutral player took a hit from friendly fire as the others shoot at me. As I bound for them, I can count three backing away from me and attempt to go around the half tree. One of these silly players scrambles up the steps over the log before getting hit as he reaches the top.
I level the CYMAs at the remaining two, sending free bbs at them. Both of them call hit just as more of them, blazing away at me. Oh boy, this isn’t going to help me win this if I don't’ do something fancy to get the advantage!
THAT'S RIGHT, I notice the hole in the ground close to this main path. Sending more free plastic at them, I dash for the hole in the ground. It looks like some big shovel had punched the earth to make this.
Either way, enough scenery explanation! Closing in on the hole, I leap off the ground into a sideways dive with handguns popping at them as I land inside the hole. The ground in this world is harder in comparison to the ground back home.
During my dive, I managed to knock one of them on the helmet before vanishing into the mentioned hole. Two more, that I noticed before hoof, close in, one of them shooting at the dirt around my little foxhole. You know, it kinda does act like one…
I stand up to pop shots at them.
They both call their hit right as the horn blares in the distance near our captured base.
“WOOWHOO!” I cheer climbing back out of the hole.