(Note: I hate my internet. That's all I have to say to you right now.)
Cloud shifted his grip on the Airsoft gun gingerly, as if it were a newborn baby. His teammates, Roxas and Axel, eyed him a bit oddly. When Cloud noticed this, he narrowed his eyes at them.
"Hey, you two carry around an over sized key, and a couple of rings," he spat. "I'm use to weilding something a bit. . .oh, I don't know. . ." he swung his arms in a wide arch in front of him, as if he were trying to slice his teammates through the middle, ". . .bigger?" Axel tilted his head, his fine brows knit, his mouth open slightly in an 'o'.
"What's your point, Head-In-The-Clouds?" Cloud rolled his eyes at the name. Axel gripped the bottom half of his gun, cocked, and pulled the trigger. Cloud intended a shot to the face, but instead got a shot in the arm. Regardless of the change of aim, it stung. He clutched lightly at his slight wound, mouthing 'ow. . .' in frustration.
"You pussy, that didn't hurt," retorted Axel, his lips curling down into a frown.
"Hey!" came a voice from across the small, wooded land behind the diner hall that the boys had chosen as an airsoft field. The three boys turned to see Leon, Sora and Riku approaching them. Leon had his gun by his side, signifying that he wasn't going to attack them. "Don't waste my bee bee's on your own teammate, Axel."
"Yes, sir, Lieutenant," replied Axel, flicking a sarcastic salute. Leon ignored it.
"Alright, does everyone still remember the rules?" Everyone, including the usually oblivious Sora, grinned lightly.
"Ten hits, you're out--"
"The barbed wire fence--"
"You can hit anywhere but the--"
"--is the boundary on the--"
"--balls."
"--far right while the--"
"Oh yeah, and--"
"--beginning of the tennis--"
"--no-one can use--"
"--court is the boundary--"
"--a fallen teammate's gun."
"--on the far left. . ."
Leon stared vacantly at his opposing team and teammates. Axel swayed his head to the side and shrugged loosely.
"Well, eyes and balls. . .heh. . .eyeballs."
Rolling his eyes, Leon tapped his gun against his ankle. "Sounds about right to me. . .alright, you have five mississippi-seconds to get to your side of the field, on my mark. Oh yeah. . .and Cloud?" Cloud raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement. "Don't complain about your gun. It took Sora, Roxas and I a lot of effort to bring these extra ones, and they're about the size of a shotgun, so be thankful we didn't bring the pistol sized guns." Suppressing a teasing grin at the flash of a glare that passed over Clouds eyes, he took a deep breath, and turned on his heels. "Go!"
Immediately, everyone followed suit, making for their side of the woods, adrenaline already beginning to pump through their veins. Cloud wasn't quite quick enough to get behind a tree, and as Leon counted to five-mississippi, he brought up his gun, aimed masterly, and pulled the trigger, the shot hitting Cloud in the back of the head. Cloud rubbed the spot, as he slipped behind a tree, gritting his teeth in anger for having probably been the first one to have gotten hit. He heard snickering to his left, and turned his head to find who it was. Though it was dark outside, he could still make out the similar-to-his spikes lodged into the boy's head, twitching as he laughed.
"Sora, what are you doing here? This isn't your side." Sora's laughter died shortly. He looked to Cloud, then to the other side of the field, then back again. Both stood still waiting to see how the other would react. Cloud gripped his gun by his side defensively, tempted to use the play weapon as a sword, and bash his friend's head open. But what good would that do him? Both boys turned their gun toward each other, and began open fire, pulling their trigger and cocking blindly, being hit by bee bee's.
"Hey, what's going on?" came Roxas' voice, revealing himself from behind a tree next to Cloud and seeing who he was shooting at. He rolled his eyes as he recognized Sora's figure, not even holding up his gun. "You idiot, what are you doing on your opposing team's side?" Sora dared not open his eyes, for fear of being shot in them. But he recognized his brother's voice.
"N-Never mind that!" he mustered between the process of cocking and shooting. "Help me out!"
"I'd be glad to help you out, if only you were on the same team as me."
"Hey, what's going on over there!?" came Leon's voice, approaching the three, gun in hand. Roxas raised his own gun, and shot, to which Leon returned fire.
Eventually, after being hit several times by bee bee's, Cloud and Sora ran out of ammo, and watched in amusement as Roxas and Leon met the same fate as themselves. Leon's lips curled down as he saw Riku come up behind him, his eyes examining the wooded floor, sprinkled with glow-in-the dark bee bee's.
"I think you four are out. . ." he observed calmly. "How fortunate for me. And I didn't even have to lift a finger. I guess I win this game." Roxas knit his brows, his eyes glancing over everyone present.
"Not quite. . .where's Axel?" At the mention of the question, everyone's eyes began to look around for the red-head. "Axel!!" called Roxas. "If you can hear me, answer! The game's over."
As if on cue, Roxas' call was replied by a scream, not too far away. The five boys listened. The scream was repeated, a bit more frantically than the last, followed by a bowelly snarl. It sounded like a wild animal.
"C'mon!" Roxas shouted, Keyblade appearing in his hands, running as fast as his legs would carry him through the leaves and dirt. The rest followed close behind, Sora and Riku's Keyblades appearing in their hands as well.
It took no time at all to find Axel, and what he was screaming about. The six boys were greeted by two sets of white-hot, souless eyes plastered into black-as-hell bodies, logo on their bellies.
"Bears. . .?" Roxas mused aloud. His statement recieved a nervous chuckle from the red porcupine near him.
"Well. . .that's what I thought they were when I first saw them," Axel twirled one of his weapons as they appeared in his slender hands with a thin stream of fire. "They're more than bears. They're Heartless." Sora's head cocked to the side as he watched the bears' white eyes teeter back and forth, keeping his focus strong, refusing to be shaken by the souless gaze.
"Never seen Heartless like these before," he inquired, poising himself as one of the Heartless' gaze came to him.
"Neither have I," replied Roxas, following suit, "but they can't stay. We have to destroy them."
"Right behind you," called Axel, his grip becoming more firm on his chakrams. He glanced over his shoulders. "Cloud, Leon, back up. These guys don't look too happy." The two backed away from the clearing reluctantly, cursing themselves for not being prepared for battle. One of the Heartless reared onto two legs as Sora charged at it. Dodging it as it's upper torso came crashing back to earth, making the ground rumble, Sora side-swiped the beast with his keyblade. Like the effects of ricochet, the keyblade bounced back, backlash hitting him like a blow.
"These guys are tough!" he called to the other three in battle, hopping backward as the Heartless swung at him with massive paws.
"I've noticed," replied Roxas. "Riku, trying hitting one of them head-on. Your keyblade has a point." Flashing a glance in Roxas' direction, he nodded, gripping his keyblade tightly, and charging at Sora's Heartless as it reared up again, it's dark, tattooed underbelly exposed. The keyblade sank into the Heartless' body, and the beast unleashed a great roar. In a rage, it swiped madly at Riku. His movements weren't quite fast enough, and he was hit in the side of the face, send flying, and landed unconscious, yards away, to which Leon and Cloud rushed to his aid. The injured Heartless looked daggers at his remaining opponents, and prepared himself to charge.
"We need to kill these things, fast!" Roxas groaned, and called over his shoulder. "Axel, do something!"
Axel beamed at Roxas' words, despite the heat of battle, and stepped in front of the other two. "Stand back, boys, I've got this." His neck twitching to the side as he popped his neck, Axel released his weapons, allowing the element in his body to manipulate them. He could feel the fire move from within him to the chakrams. The weapons encircled him rapidly, forming a bright red ring around him as the chakrams began to ignite into fire. Faster than Sora and Roxas could blink, the fire spread from Axel, and consumed the two Heartless in a fiery blanket, leaving them to rear onto their hind legs, then fall the the ground, roaring madly. When the bears ceased to move, Axel raised a hand casually, and snapped. In an instant, the fire was gone again, leaving no trace of having been there in the first place, except on the charred bears.
"Well. . ." Sora noted, cautiously approaching one of the bears, and poking it with the head of his Keyblade, "That was fast. . ." Axel shrugged, as if the feat had cost him no energy.
"It usually doesn't. My fire burns my enemies from the outside and the inside. They're dead. . ."
"Enough talk of the Heartless," said Roxas, urgently, seeing Leon and Cloud readily picking up the limp Riku. "We need to get Riku to the cabins, and get rid of these creatures."
"Shouldn't we take him to the nurse's cabin?" asked Sora.
"We'd get in major trouble if anyone found out that we were in the wilderness here," said Leon, hoisting Riku's arm over his shoulders. "Besides, he'll probably only have a concussion. That's nothing to worry about, as long as he doesn't go outside the cabin for a while."
(Note - Sorry about the long pause. I hope this chapter was detailed enough. I know that it's longer than my usual ones, so the critics out there who like longer stuff, here you go. :3 As for what's gonna happen next, it's a prototype plot line, and it's between my laptop and I, so I'm not telling anything. Stay tuned, review as you go, and we'll both be happy campers, I promise.)