The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

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The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by SEAL » Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:12 pm

All the talk about rival teams inspired me to write a story. I worked on it a little at a time, and now it's finished. It follows two fictional teams who have faught with each other for a long time, and have become bitter rivals. This may not be how I want our teams to end up, but it's how I pictured it would be with two large neighborhood teams.

The Battle of Fern Forest, a Fictional War Story by SEAL:

As I stepped out of my 2005 Audi A4, I felt a blast of hot air hit me in the face, as if someone had gone the opposite way of water warfare and had shot me with a hair dryer. The morning was one of fog, dampness, and humidity; thanks in part to the two full days of rain beforehand. I knew it was going to be a tiring war as I opened my trunk to unload my armory.

A few things about myself; I am an 18-year-old college student who loves sports. Baseball and football are the two main ones, but I am also the leader of the New Eastville Soaker Forces, a hardcore water warfare team. In the town of Selvina, the next town over, are our biggest rivals; The Glorious Twenty, as they call themselves. We like to call them "The Scumbags". Today we would be our 16th war, the 4th of the season. My team had not won since war number 5, thanks to a few of our key members leaving the team. I badly wanted victory after many losses. I was able to scrape together 13 people for the battle, but as their name suggests, the other team had 20. The battleground was to be Fern Forest, one of 3 areas that we fight in. We had not used it since the 11th war, and I was excited to fight there again, as it was my favorite fighting area. I started filling my trusty K-modded CPS 1700 from a nearby hand pump, as I awaited the arrival of my teammates. Fitted with 50 balloons and a professional camo paintjob, the 17K had been my ally in 12 of our wars, and I was very attached to it. Since water was scarce in Fern Forest, I brought along one of my SC Power Paks in case I were to run out.

My full team arrived within the next 10 minutes. A rather sorry looking lot we were; most of us didn't have much camo; either just shirts or just cargo pants, and camo cloth wrapped carelessly around most of our blasters. Our arsenal was lower-class, thanks to most of us not having much money. Our enemy had a better arsenal, though they weren't quite as hardcore as we were. They never camoed any of their blasters, preferring to keep them stock so they could sell them later. Our team was set up like this:

Me aka Everest (Captain) w/ CPS 17K & SC Power Pak
Madness (Second-in-command) w/ CPS 3000
Lucky (Squad leader) w/ CPS 1000 x2
Headrush (Squad leader) w/ WWF Undertaker & MD 4000
Maim (Squad leader) w/ Flash Flood & SC 400
Trout (Scout) w/ MI Defender (nozzle drilled) & homemade 5L aquapak
Blade (Scout) w/ XP 270
Vertigo w/ Monster '01
Booze w/ Colossus & Point Break
Rhino w/ Hydro Cannon (nozzle modded to shoot 45 feet)
Pinnacle w/ Blazer & Tarantula x2
Necro w/ Vindicator & Stream Machine & STE Triple Shot
Phase w/ Douchenator WBL (short barrel) & XP 90 Pulse Fire

The enemies had a pair of 2000s, and two or three of almost every other type of CPS blaster you can think of, except for Splashzookas and 1-3-5s. They also had an SS 300 and a few other high-end air pressure blasters. This has been the main cause of our previous defeats, but I knew we had superior skill and tactical knowlege.

Once we'd all filled our blasters from the rusty old hand-pump, I called everyone together and gave them my idea of an inspirational speech. I wouldn't consider it world-class, but my team was pumped either way. The smell of victory was in the air. Soon came the call from the enemy leader, informing me that they were ready. I took off immediately after putting the phone away. I wanted to take full advantage of the hill in the forest, so I needed to get there before the enemy. Being so outnumbered and outgunned meant I had to go on the defensive. The gametype was OHK, as usual.

I had the team fall into the speed formation, which was more-or-less single file. I planned it so we'd have balanced coverage no matter where the enemy may attack us from. We moved quickly through the waist-high ferns that gave Fern Forest its name. The hill I wanted to get to was about a half mile away, but we kept a good pace. I take pride in the fact that every single player on my team is in good shape; we actually train for these wars. At one point I ordered the squad to a halt, thinking I heard someone talking. But after a few seconds of listening, we deemed it to be a false alarm. Pushing through some thickly tangled vegetation, the hill came into view, lurking in the fog like some giant monster, waiting for us to draw near.

At this point I became very cautious, and shifted the team into the assault formation. The top of the hill was shrouded in mist, so there was no way to tell if the enemy was there or not. If they had started at the creek, they'd have time to get there, but if they started at the north parking area, they probably couldn't have got there by the time we got there. I had Trout and Blade break off and go ahead to check out the hill. Phase followed them about 50 feet behind, ready to let one off if the oppostition was sighted. The rest of the squad stayed behind in the defense formation. Prepared for the worst, the subsquent attack was not of the devastating nature.

"Watch the right!", someone yelled. A squad of enemy troops had suddenly appeared out of the fog, closing in on my men by the hill. I shouted for the team to loop around and cover the scouts while we would try to gain the high ground. Phase launched a balloon at our opponents, which didn't land a hit, but did hold them back long enough for us to get to a better position. We were caught in a good ol' Mexican standoff, but at least we hadn't lost anyone yet. I only counted 10 people in the opposing squad, which meant that they had halved their team for better coverage. That also meant that there was another half somewhere in the forest, where their leader must have been. As we shouted random insults at each other, their squad leader said something into his headset (yes, they had headsets). I knew he was summoning the team captain and his squad. This was not something I wanted to stick around for, as their captain was unquestionably the best warrior on their team, in both the fighting and tactical aspects.

In a surprise maneuver, my whole team moved toward our foes, attacking their left flank with a barrage of shots. They had a 2000 which they moved to engage us, but Phase, who had reloaded his WBL, blasted another balloon directly at the 2000 user. He tried to jump over it, but it smashed into his leg. He was out! Using this as a momentary distraction, I signaled for my whole team to leg it out of there. We ran into a batch of short pine trees, and kept going until the enemy was out of sight. They had not decided to pursue us, thank goodness, but they still had contact with their other squad, so we started moving way to the left of where they last saw us. The early-morning mist was starting to fade away; stealth would be harder now. At this point I had no other plan but to try and find one of the enemy squads, and take advantage of their smaller numbers. I had a feeling that they would regroup though.

I simply had the team move forward in the 'Arrowhead' formation, ready for attack from any side. There was no plan other than "find the scumbags before they find us". Simple enough, but we were walking on and on without finding so much as an unfilled water balloon. After maybe 20 minutes of nothing, Madness suggested that we turn around and check the woods behind us. I agreed, though I was a little hesitant. My thoughts were that they had regrouped and were going the way we had gone after skirmishing. Since we had went away from where the enemies saw us going, they likely wouldn't be following us.

Retracing our steps for about 10 minutes, we encountered a deep valley that nobody remembered seeing earlier. It turned out to be part of the unnamed creek that winded through the park; we call it "the refilling zone". It took a bit of arguing, but we decided on going along the left side, which was slightly higher, and looked like it would be easier to fend off attacks from. We moved along it in a column formation, focusing mainly on the side facing away from the ravine. Most of all, I didn't want to get pinned up against the ledge. We kept an eye on the far side as well, and it turned out to be a good thing, because after a couple of minutes, Headrush spotted movement across the gulley. We all turned to see the entire opposing team on the other side. I signaled for everyone to hit the deck. Laying there, I clicked my tounge twice, and gave the signal for Phase to launch a balloon at them. He nodded, and moved into position.

The entire enemy team jumped as the balloon escaped the barrel, creating a kind of 'wave' effect. One of them dodged out of the way, only to expose his teammate, who suffered the rubber water carrier straight to the chest. So far, the only two kills had been with the WBL! I was glad that I spent a weekend building it. The other team couldn't do much besides yell at us across the gulley. I can't honestly say that they were a nice lot. I calmly told Phase to reload the launcher, happy that the opponents didn't have one. They realized that it was a bad idea to stick around, so they moved back about 100 feet, and started moving away to the right. They were likely heading for one of the crossings. I was then faced with a tough decision. Should I take the whole team and try to intercept the enemy and nail them as they cross? Or should I try to set up an ambush elsewhere?

Ambushing seemed like the best choice to me. There was plenty of concealment, and our opponents would probably cross the bridge before we even got there, and we'd be facing 18 with our 13. Until we'd eliminated enough people, I didn't want to risk open combat. It was to be hit and run. We settled on a spot behind some large trees, and waiting, hoping they'd come by while looking for us. It was dead silent. I sat where I would be able to see anyone coming my direction, my finger on the trigger of the 17K. It seemed like an hour, but I finally saw their captain's silver and purple CPS 2000 through the trees. Soon the whole squad was in view, slowly making their way towards us. My heart was pounding; I could barely hold still. Nothing compares to the thrill of having the power to shoot your enemies while they are completely oblivious to your presence. The temptation to attack before the right time is immense. But I had done this before.

As my brain was on the verge of sending the signal to leap forward to the rest of my body, a dude on the other team suddenly jumped away from where we were hiding, yelling out in alarm. We'd been spotted! Without a second to lose, I jumped out to trigger the ambush. My target had the second 2000, which pretty much matched my 17K in range. If we hadn't been seen, I could have eliminated him; but as it was, he saw me coming and I was forced to skirmish with him. It was similar for the rest of my team. We were now just trying to survive. I needed to get my team out of there. I signaled for everyone to move back. We desperately had to find better ground. I found out that Madness had managed to eliminate two opponents, and Pinnacle had nailed another, but got himself hit in the process. We now had 12; the enemy had 15. I couldn't afford to lose many more people. Fortunately Phase hadn't shot the Douchenator yet, and our foes were nervous about getting too close.

We were able to hold them back as long as the WBL was still loaded, but two of them were sweeping around to attack the flanks from behind. To counter this, I had the whole team keep moving back while moving in on one of the live wires (what we call an enemy who's actively doing something offensive -like flanking- instead of just standing there and shooting at someone). Necro and Vertigo moved in on the guy (who had a 1200), and started skirmishing. The other live wire was trying to sweep around even farther, and the rest of the enemy team had started to spread out, obviously so they'd have more room to dodge. We didn't have much time. Vertigo landed one on his adversary, and we quickly began the hasty retreat. Basically, we sort of ran away from them, while Phase and some of the heavy gunners stayed at the rear, keeping them at bay, mostly with the launcher.

It seemed that there were no defendable areas anywhere. I could've sworn that there was a cliff somewhere around. Where the hell was it? My mind was racing, our opponents were spreading out and gaining. Our chances of survival were about as slim as the chances of Hasbro making a CPS-rivaling blaster. Shots were fired; Rhino almost got hit. They were practically upon us when, like a gift from the water war gods, a thick row of bushes and small pine trees came into view. I knew where this was; we call it "The Jungle", for its impenetrable nature. Why was this a good thing? Well, ever since we agreed on fighting in Fern Forest for our next war, a large amount of us went there to do some scouting and setup, about a week before the battle. We had created a bunch of barricades, and even set up some traps in what we thought would be busy areas. While none of the former would help us in this war, another thing we did would end up saving the day, at least for the moment.

While preparing the battlefield, we had come across the Jungle area, and figured it would be perfect if we could lure our enemies in and pick them off while they struggled through it. The problem was that we would have a hard time as well. So Madness came up with the bright idea of running home for some hedge clippers, and making some paths. That was exactly what we did; in fact, we made a whole maze of pathways through the Jungle that the Glorious Twenty weren't aware of. We headed straight for these pathways, shoving through the thick outer layer of bushes to get to them. Once we were in, we spread out, keeping everybody about 50 feet away from each other. I could hear our foes squabbling. Some of them wanted to just go in and get us, others wanted to surround the Jungle, then move in; and one person wanted to retreat and wait for us to come out. Fortunately for us, the leader decided to attack with a horseshoe pattern. Once I'd got the word around, we settled in appropriate positions and waited.

I personally didn't see much action, but my teammates reported that our plan worked out pretty well; Madness racked up 3 kills on his side, Maim Flash Flooded another, and Headrush also got a hit. The only fighting I got was when someone had broken through our defenses by eliminating Rhino. I wasn't able to avenge him, but I did drive back the offender. After all of this transpired, we had 11, and they had only 10. For the first time in eight wars, we had the number advantage. But we weren't in the clear yet; the enemy still had superior weaponry, and even though we eliminated a 2000 user in the Jungle, he simply handed it off to one of his teammates before he walked out of the forest. I decided that we could extract ourselves from the tangled mess of greenery. For while the paths made it possible to move, it still wasn't the easiest thing in the world.

Once I'd gotten the word around, we started moving toward the opposite side of the Jungle from where we had entered. I didn't know where the other team was, but we kept a lookout for them. Fortunately not many of them wore camo, and I don't think any of their blasters were camo painted or covered. We ran into one, but he didn't even notice us and screamed bloody murder when I shot him in the back of the neck. It was my first kill of the battle, but I was worried that the enemy might figure out where we were from the scream. That and the guy would probably tell his teammates where we were, even though that was supposed to be against the rules...

I sent "Trout the Scout" forward to check the area outside the Jungle for hostiles. The rest of us waited just out of sight. He whistled, signaling that all was clear, and we pushed our way out of the spiderweb-like patch of overgrowth. Not 10 seconds after we all stumbled out, an opponent appeared from behind a tree. Lucky charged him with both 1000s blazing, and wiped him out, before leaping back as two 20X streams flew out of nowhere. Soon the entire enemy team knew exactly where we all were. But we now had an 11-8 advantage. It felt like showdown time. We all sprinted to a nearby clearing that was full of boulders. We had already planned to use it for combat when we scouted out the place. It was here where we'd have our showdown.

I gathered everybody near the middle of the clearing. Some of the boulders could be used as cover, which we planned to take advantage of. We had the number advantage now, but they still had better weaponry. Our foes advanced to the edge of the clearing; although they did have superior blasters, they were still being cautious. It was a typical OHK standoff. These surprisingly didn't happen to us much due to the fact that our opponents would always overpower us with numbers and weaponry. My heart was pounding its way out of my ribcage. Victory had not been this close for a long time, and I didn't want to let it slip away like it did in our 8th war.

Two opponents started circling around us; I sent Maim and Blade after them. As they dueled, Phase blasted a water balloon at the opposing leader, but it missed. Vertigo and I put some pressure on the right side of their defenses. Everyone else skirmished cautiously. No eliminations were made for almost half a minute. Then Phase reloaded the WBL. He launched one at the group that we were trying to cripple, which struck the ground at their feet, making them jump back. We seized this chance, charging in, guns blazing. Vertigo and I got one kill apiece, but he got a little too greedy, and in the process of trying to make a second elimination, received a 2000 blast to the shoulder.

At almost the same time, Necro let out a war cry, and charging forward, unloaded his Stream Machine at the enemy squad. Double kill! It was now 10-4; we prepared to end this once and for all. Everything went by extremely fast at this point; Blade and Maim were taken out by their two adversaries, and Necro was blasted by the leader's 2000. But we still had greater numbers; Lucky, Headrush, and Booze destroyed the two flanking enemies, while the rest of us went on an all-out charge against the rest. We were unstoppable in our lust for victory.

I rushed the captain with murder in my eyes. My trigger finger behaved like it had overdone it on the caffeine; wave after wave of 17K shots flew at my target. In one desperate last attack, he charged me, unloading the pressure chamber. I felt the full force of the blast strike me in the side, but Madness came out of nowhere and point-blanked the Glorious Twenty's captain right between the shoulderblades. The lone remaining enemy hightailed it, only to be caught by Trout, the fastest member of our team by far. The war was over. We jumped on each other, yelling and screaming, shooting our blasters into the air. Victory never tasted so sweet.

This war was all the more incredible when you consider the odds my team had to overcome. The team with smaller numbers and lighter weapons isn't supposed to win. My team broke those rules with skill and determination. War #16 was the best one by far, and we are already planning #17. Hopefully it will be just as memorable as this one.


So did you enjoy it? It was kind of fun to write; I'll probably write a few more short stories like this, but I also want to focus on "the big one", that I've been slowly working on since January. That should be epic, if I ever finish it.
~Hotel Oscar Golf~

We probably won't be back, but the legacy lives on.

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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by marauder » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:18 am

I could visualize it very well. I like wars where there is a variety of weaponry and you have to adjust your tactics because of it. There's more glory in battle :goofy:
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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by Fishfan » Mon Oct 29, 2012 1:57 pm

Wow. That is a great story. I couldn't stop reading it. :)

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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by SEAL » Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:45 am

Thanks. I like writing stories like this, but unfortunately I don't always have the time to do so. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the one I'm working on before the League season ends.

So how many points does this qualify for? :goofy:
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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by Poseidon2000 » Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:49 am

If I were you, :goofy:, I'd wait till the new season so you could rack points.
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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by SEAL » Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:39 am

Why? I can still get points now. I probably won't even participate in the League next year (or at least not accept any prizes), unless maybe the grand prize is a 2000.
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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by Poseidon2000 » Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:43 pm

a max-d 2000. yeah. :p
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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by Fishfan » Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:51 pm

9/10
Maybe could use a little more dialogue. I don't know, maybe it's better without it. If it is, you get a 10/10

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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by SEAL » Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:16 pm

I usually use dialogue for my stories, but I wanted this one to be written as if it were a real battle report from a real forum member. With the exception of Scott's Downpour 2011 OHK report, nobody really uses much dialogue in their war stories.
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Re: The Battle of Fern Forest (Fiction)

Post by Fishfan » Mon Nov 05, 2012 6:22 pm

Ok. It's still very good.

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