Shintaro rushed out of a ruined building, sniper rifle in hand as he dove behind cover.
"Where the hell are you guys?!" Shintaro yelled into the voice chat.
The four friends had made it a tradition to play the latest shooter game, Gun-run together weekly.
"I'm racking up points!" Replied Takane, easily dispatching enemies elsewhere on the map.
"Sorry." Said Haruka, I stepped out to grab a snack. He was most likely hiding somewhere on the map while he got food.
Shintaro noticed a bright red Super-hero like avatar clutching a smg running up to his position and taking cover next to him.
"There you are Ayano." Said Shintaro.
Shintaro looked over Ayano's Avatar.
"Thought you were going to change your avatar." Said Shintaro.
"I was, but it grew on me." replied Ayano. "Yours isnt bad either."
Shintaro's avatar resembled himself wearing a black trenchcoat with a red shirt underneath and sunglasses, as opposed to Ayano's which looked like a typical comic book superhero, mask and all.
"So whats the plan?" Asked Ayano.
"The enemy base is just up ahead." Replied Shintaro. "If you can grab the flag, I can cover you from here."
"Sounds good." Said Haruka through voice chat. "We'll be there soon."
Shintaro got into position to cover Ayano.
"Go!"
Ayano made a dash for the enemy base, firing at some enemies as she passed, but more often than not missing.
Ayano was not very good at the game, but Shintaro was.
Shintaro easily picked off most of the enemies that got in Ayano's way.
Ayano made it to the enemy base and took their flag, carrying it on her back.
"Got it!" Cheered Ayano
Shintaro continued to provide covering fire as Ayano made her way towards him, it seemed that their plan would work out, but nothing ever goes according to plan.
An enemy vehicle drove in out of seemingly nowhere, ramming into Ayano. The crash sent her colliding into a wall and knocked away half her health.
"Ayano" Shintaro shouted
If he hadn't been using a private voice chat, the enemy would have known he was there, but the only people who heard him were Ayano herself, Takane, and Haruka.
Four enemy soldiers got out of the vehicle and approached Ayano. They were making gestures towards eachother as though they were talking, but their mouths didn't seem to move. Most likely they were using a private voice chat as well.
Shintaro tried to shoot at them, but upon attempting to fire the first shot, the gun could not fire, he was out of sniper rifle ammo.
"Damn."
Shintaro switched to his secondary weapon, A stockless pump action shotgun.
"They're too far to get a clear shot." Muttered Shintaro.
One of the enemies aimed his handgun at Ayano. She raised her Smg, but the enemy shot it out of her hand.
"Oh no..."
The enemies aimed their guns at Ayano.
"NOOO!" Screamed Shintaro.
Shintaro vaulted over his cover and started charging at the four.
"Get away from her!" Yelled Shintaro.
Shintaro felt he was close enough to use his shotgun and started firing. The first shot missed, alerting the enemies to his presence, while the second shot went directly into one of the enemies' heads, "killing" him. As his body dissolved into code, his friends started firing.
"Stay away from her!" Shintaro yelled.
The next thing Shintaro knew he was being pelted with gunfire, his health in the red. He fell onto the ground.
"No! Ayano!"
Suddenly one of the enemies was hit by a bullet and dissolved into code like his friend had moments ago. Shintaro saw the familiar form of Takane's avatar run past him with her dual handguns, he also saw Haruka's "Konoha" avatar come up from behind and take down another enemy with an assault rifle. Shintaro could tell the last guy was scared. He tried to run, but Takane ran in front of him, pointing her gun directly at his head.
"Boo."
Takane shot him through the head.
Haruka brandished a med-kit and started healing Ayano as Takane approached Shintaro's weakened avatar.
"Thanks." Said Shintaro.
Takane started healing Shintaro with her own med-kit.
"Well we heard you yelling over the voice chat." Said Takane.
Takane cleared her throat and started imitating Shintaro's tone of voice.
"Oh I'll save you Ayano, the bad men wont hurt you."
"I-Its not like that!" Said Shintaro.
The now healed Shintaro got up.
"Well lets get moving." Said Takane, Reloading her guns. "We need to get the flag back to base."
Ayano got up and picked up her Smg before approaching Takane.
"Thanks... For distracting them." Said Ayano.
"No problem..." Replied Shintaro.
Takane glared at them.
"Today people! Today!"
Haruka and Takane got into a defensive position in front of Ayano while Shintaro was right behind her.
"Lets move." Said Shintaro.
They moved in formation, ready to protect the flag and its carrier at all costs.
Bet you didn't expect me to publish this so soon, huh?!
I like to imagine that the quartet would be a serious gaming team working together.