After a fun weekend trip with some friends, this story came to me. It's a little short, but I just felt I had to write this. Hope you enjoy it! And remember: Things are not always what they appear to be.

I ducked behind one of the gray rocks of the field. My heart was beating wildly, fiercer than I had ever thought possible. With my free hand, I batted away the beads of sweat that collected on my brow. I gripped the handle of my gun anxiously; not often did things like this happen. Normally I was just the sneaky guy in the corner, staying out of sight of everyone while I picked their pockets. Staying out of sight, now that was normal. That was lifeblood, a requisite, for this too. But this... this was war.

I heard a shout of dismay to my left, and watched another soldier clad in his dark blue and black suit fall. I saw his purple jeweled hand fall from his gun; Dimitri. He was the third in my squad to fall already. His armor, that he had complained clashed with his eyes only a few minutes before, was speckled with the green ammo of our opponents. Now only the pitch hitters were left of my group; Panda King, and myself. The Dynamic Duo.

Now was where things got fun.

I popped my head above the flat rock to survey our surroundings; rocky and mountainous. This was a very craggy forest, with a small stream that ran through the middle. It was littered with fallen comrades, both blue and green soldiers, and lost ammo of the different sides. I could barely tell it was them, even with the glow-in-the-dark material the ammo and armor was crafted from. My goggles were muddy from my sweat, it would have taken too much time to wipe it away; seconds counted in this.

My brown eyes widened, and I ducked just as a glowing blue bullet whizzed over my helmet. My heart, though I hadn't thought possible, beat even faster. I exhaled, just as the King bounded behind the bolder beside me.

"This is magnificent!"

I gasped a reply, "How long have we been doing this?"

He laughed heartily, and grinned. "It feels like days, does it not?! Ha-ha!" His eyes glowed with a fierce fire, much brighter than the bullets that flew over the rock's top and landed a couple of yards past us. "I have never felt so alive in... in years! Do you not feel the same, Cooper?"

"W-Well..." I chuckled nervously as my tail twitched with anxiety, "That's certainly one way of putting it."

He slammed me on the back, taking away my balance momentarily. "Come, Cooper!" He yelled happily, "I shall show you the glorious charm of battle! Follow behind, and cover my backside." He bounced over the rock, and bellowed "FOR GLORY!"

I thought about making a remark on how anyone could miss it, but I didn't want to take away his enthusiasm. I brought up any amount of courage that I had left, and charged off after the Panda. "For Glory!" I said in a voice that didn't exactly sound confident.

It went so quickly! And from what the King had told me, I was 'Like a phoenix on the Battlefield'. The two of us went up against 16 other soldiers (tells you how good the rest of my squad was), and Panda Kind took out six of 'em; I took out seven! Seven! He was right, this war was... exhilarating! I hadn't felt so alive since... since never, actually!

And everything was going perfectly for us; we dodged left and right from the spray of green bullets, bounding over or around every rock and tree in our path. I would have tried to climb them, to get a better vantage point of the land, but the bulky gun in my right hand was too cumbersome. I was so used to my cane nowadays. But anyway, everything was going perfectly.

And then it happened.

I noticed a white gleam in the distance, and pulled King behind one of the larger stumps of the forest. With a whisper, I asked the Panda if he saw it. He did.

"You wouldn't happen to have any of those fireworks, would you?"

"My fireworks are pieces of art, raccoon. Though effective for warcraft, they are not honorable in these... what do you call them... Ne-"

Then an explosion ripped our ears. The bullets flew from right in front of us, Bentley must have found a way to make a bullet grenade. I noticed it fast enough to dodge it, but... King wasn't so lucky. As he fell, I saw two figures run out of the darkness; Murray and Bentley, I guessed, from the green suits they wore (and Murray's girth).

I climbed to the top of the boulder, and fired a shot at the wheelchair-given turtle; direct hit. He groaned in distress as it hit him. I laughed as he wheeled away, and at the whirring noise of his suit. He was officially out of the game. "Sorry pal!"

Just as he turned into the darkness, I thought I saw his smile. And before I could do anything, a raccoon in a green armor leapt down from a tree below. He slammed his gun into my suit, knocking me off of the rock and onto my back on the hard forest floor. It knocked the wind out of me. Before I could say or do anything, I saw him grin at me through the glear helmet he wore. He raised his pistol dramatically at me... and fired.

Bwa-Bwoa-Bwa-Bwoawaaa...

The tune that advertised my failure came to my ears just as I got my breath back. I gaped, confused, at the raccoon at the top of the boulder. He dropped down, and flipped the gun in his hand like a sharpshooter, blowing on the barrel like it was a revolver from the old west.

"Sorry Sly... But I warned you. I am the King..." Gregory took off his helmet as Bentley and Murray walked up to him, giving him a high-five. "The King... of Nerf battles."