All characters belong to Koijima Inc. I'm not making any money off of this. This takes place before the Metal Gear series.
To Catch a Moth
By Marie Nomad
Solid Snake wandered around the outside complex of Foxhound. He had just been recruited and he wanted to get to know the area as well as possible. He heard of all the incredible soldiers that managed to get recruited into their ranks and the one that he wanted to know most of all, the one he heard about all his military career; Big Boss.
The young man paused when he saw the old warrior standing out in the middle of the field doing a series of punches in the air. They looked random but knowing the great warrior, he was doing his CQC moves. Snake studied the moves and tried to copy them. Several minutes passed and Snake became absorbed in the strange punches and blows.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Snake jumped and saw Big Boss staring at him.
"I… I was just copying your CQC moves." Snake replied feeling a little embarrassed.
The old man shook his head. "I was not doing that, you young fool. I was catching moths."
"Oh." Snake nodded not knowing what to think.
"You have no idea why, do you?"
"No, sir." Snake looked down feeling his psyche going down.
Big Boss stared at him intensely. Snake found himself getting smaller under his gaze. Why does he always have to look at him like that? "Allow me to show you." Big Boss reached out and snatched a moth. He released it back into the air. "Now, you do that."
Snake went as fast as he could and caught the moth. He opened his hand to see it crushed in his grasp. "I caught it."
"Ugh. Now, try it with only one eye opened."
Snake shut his right eye and aimed for another moth only to miss it entirely. "Damn."
"You see?" Big Boss tapped his eye patch. "Ever since I lost my eye, I had problems with depth perception and that screwed up my aiming abilities and hitting. These moths enabled me to practice compensating for my disability."
"That makes sense." Snake said in awe. It was hard as hell for him to do it, but Big Boss had to cope with losing an eye for life. "You are incredible, sir. But, may I ask, why not use some of the training tools inside?"
Big Boss glared at Snake and replied, "Sometimes, only natural things can truly do the job right. Science may be able to create but they cannot do God's work."
Snake blinked at the remark. "Huh?"
"Never mind. I have work to do. Go ahead and keep on training. I might even show you some real CQC maneuvers."
"Yes, sir!" Snake saluted and started to catch moths. He nearly smiled when he heard Big Boss muttering how much he is like at that age.
The End?