Warning: This is based off a manga called Sengoku Strays. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you do! I don't own anything but my OC, and I will probably end up using artistic license to butcher Japanese history, so I would just like to apologize in advance, and I don't mean to offend anyone!

[Narration]

{setting/stage directions}

"Speech."

'Thoughts.'

"English speech."

—¡–!–¡–!–¡— Scene shift/passage of time.

A whole line of text like this without quotes is a written letter or something similar.

WORDS IN ALL CAPS AND NO QUOTATION MARKS ARE SOUND EFFECTS.

Flashbacks and changes in POV will be labeled.

Unless stated otherwise, the POV will be third person omniscient.

If you ever have any questions, please feel free to ask.

{Kiyosu Army Head Quarters}

"My Lord! Nobunaga and Nobuyuki's troops have begun advancing... on both Matsuba and Fukada Castles, as well as toward Kiyosu Castle." One of the scouts reported urgently.

"Hm. And their numbers?" Nobutomo asked as he adjusted his arm guards.

"Sir! Nobunaga and Nobuyuki's combined forces are not even half of ours." The scout said.

"Hmph, so it turns out that two-thousand is all the strength that fool could drum up." Nobuyasu said, smirking.

"..." Nobutomo said as he considered what this could mean. Unlike Nobuyasu, he had realized it was better not to underestimate Nobunaga. "But Nobunaga's troops are an elite force that's highly mobile. Facing overwhelming numbers like this—They will most likely be coming to steal our route! Bring the horses at once! We're also moving out!" He ordered.

"Yes, Sir!" The scout said as he ran to spread the word.

"Will we take it all, or lose it all?" Nobutomo wondered out loud. "Hurry! We can't allow Nobunaga to make the first move!" He shouted to his soldiers.

"Yes, Sir!" They shouted.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

"There it is! The bridge!" Kasane yelled as they all ran towards it. It was huge.

"!?" Ayako said when she squinted her eyes and took a close look at the bridge.

"What... is that cloud of dust—!" Kasane asked.

RUMBLE.

"That's... the Kiyosu forces!" Ayako yelled as the enemy's army galloped towards them. They were already on the bridge.

"What numbers!" One of their fellow soldiers said, unnerved as he pulled back on his horses reigns to stop it.

"Damn! They read through our plan...!?" Another yelled.

"Nobunaga's forces! We have to hold the bridge until Lord Nobutomo arrives!" One of Nobutomo's generals yelled when he saw them. "Archers, aim!" He ordered and the archers stepped forward and took aim.

"Crap! Gorouza!" Ayako yelled, hoping he would understand that meant 'hold up your huge sword so we can jump behind it and use it as a shield!'

"Fire!" The enemy general ordered, and the archers let their arrows fly. Luckily Gorouza had understood 'Ayako speak ' because he had held his sword out to block the arrows, giving the others a chance to dive behind him and his sword as it rained arrows. Ayako looked over at Nobunaga, and was relived to see that he was shielding himself, and that he was safe too.

"Ah! 'Then I guess we'll fight in the shade!'" Ayako said suddenly.

"What—What is it!?" Kasane asked.

"I just realized—we're definitely in 300!" Ayako said seriously.

"'300?' What's that!?" Kasane asked.

"It's an American action movie—three hundred Spartan soldiers face off against the inhumanly large Persian army by forcing them to have to funnel through a narrow valley to fight them." Ayako explained. Kasane sweat dropped. They were in a life-threatening situation, and Ayako was still talking movies.

"And, how did this 'movie' end?" Gorouza asked, smiling wryly as he shielded them. Ayako had explained that movies were a type of moving pictures that told a story to them before.

"They all—" Ayako stopped short, realizing that maybe she shouldn't go into too much detail after all. "Well, it wasn't exactly a happy ending, but I'm sure we'll do much better. They didn't have Nobunaga, or us, and that was just a movie." Ayako said, rubbing the back of her neck and smiling wryly. 'Yeah, just a movie... that was based on a historical event that actually happened...' Ayako thought, sweat dropping.

"Was that supposed to be a pep talk, because if so, you suck at them." Kuranosuke said, vein mark throbbing on his forehead.

"Ugh! We should fall back!" Another soldier said as the others tried to block the arrows with their shields.

"Don't falter now!" Mori Sanza shouted as he urged his horse forward and charged towards the enemy.

"L-Lord Mori...!" The soldiers yelled, concerned.

"Follow me!" Mori Sanza shouted as he leapt from his horse.

WHAM!

Mori Sanza slammed his spear down onto an enemy soldier as he landed.

"How can we protect the lord and our families... if we're afraid of a few little arrows!?" Mori Sanza yelled at them. "Mori troops, advance!" He ordered his men, who let out a mighty war cry as they followed their commander.

"A-Amazing...!" One of Kawajiri's men said in awe.

"Just what you'd expect of Mino's heroic 'Sanza the Spear.'" Kawajiri said, smiling. "We also cannot lose. Kawajiri troops, back up Sanza!" Kawajiri ordered.

"Yes, Sir!" His soldiers roared as they followed him into the fray.

"Let's go!" Ayako said, as she got up and started running for the bridge with Gorouza and Kuranosuke.

"We're covering the engineer unit!" Kuranosuke told Kasane and Inuchiyo, who hadn't heard the order before.

"Ah! Got it!" Kasane said as she and Inuchiyo turned to follow them.

"Ayako, the water is higher after the recent rain we had, so you should go back to our lord if it comes up to your waist, since it'll be difficult for you to fight." Gorouza told her.

"Is that an order?" Ayako asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yes." Gorouza said, smiling. "From our lord." Ayako sighed.

"... Keep the midget out of the water, right?" Ayako said, sweat dropping.

"Something like that." Gorouza said, smiling wryly.

"Shibata! We will also back them up!" Nobuyuki said.

"Yes, sir!" Shibata replied.

"Listen up, everyone!" Nobuyuki shouted, calling his soldiers to attention. "I swear we will return from this safely. We must not lose even one life." He said seriously. "Understood?" Nobuyuki asked, smiling.

"Yes, Sir!" His men shouted.

"Advance! Hold back the Kiyosu forces!" Nobuyuki ordered. "The engineers are bringing the bridge down! Until we hear the whistle signal, we will hold the line!" He yelled as his troops rushed forward, and the engineers kept hitting the bridge's main support and point of weakness with a battering ram.

"Yo." Ayako deadpanned as she walked up beside Nobunaga's horse. "Come here often?" Nobunaga glanced down at her. Ayako was soaking wet from the waist down. She looked like a petulant kitten that had just escaped from being forcibly given a bath. The corners of Nobunaga's mouth twitched slightly as he suppressed a laugh.

'Don't laugh, this is a serious situation, and you can't afford to have the men misunderstand, and get confused right now—No matter how ridiculous and cute Ayako looks, you can't laugh!' Nobunaga silently told himself. "I take it you were too short to stay in the river?" Nobunaga deadpanned.

"I'm not that short! It's the water that's too high!" Ayako retorted, vein mark throbbing on her forehead.

"Hmph." Nobunaga said, smirking. "I don't care either way, just be sure to stay close to me." Nobunaga ordered.

"Hmph! You couldn't get rid of me if you tried." Ayako huffed, smirking as she took up a defensive position, just in case.

"Ah!" One of the engineers cried in alarm as an enemy soldier charged at them. They all had their hands full with the battering ram, and there was no time to grab a sword. "!" He said, flinching as he waited to be killed.

CLANG!

Kasane jumped in front of him, just in time to block the attack.

"T—Thanks!" He yelled.

"Forget it! Leave this guy to me!" Kasane said, determined to protect them.

"Hurry! Don't stop! With these hands... we will protect our land and the lord!" the other men yelled.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

Yoshitatsu grinned ominously as he watched the battle unfold from a distance.

—¡–!–¡–!–¡—

'The signal...' Mori Sanza thought as he felled another enemy soldier.

'Where is the signal...!?' Kawajiri thought as he cut down another. Shibata gripped a chain in his hand and swung.

FWIP.

"Ugh... Ah...!" An enemy soldier cried as something smashed into the ground before him. Before he could see what it was, Shibata pulled back on the chain, and swung again.

WHAM!

The soldier was struck in the head with the large, spiked metal ball that was attached to the chain Shibata was swinging around.

WHISTLE.

"!" Shibata said. It was the signal they'd been waiting for.

"Sanza!" Kawajiri yelled.

"Got it!" Sanza said.

"All troops fall back!" The two men yelled together. Their soldiers all yelled and scrambled as they ran to get off the bridge.

CREAK.

The ropes tied around the bridge's joints loosened as the bridge started to lean, and unraveled.

CREAK.

Kasane, Gorouza, Kuranosuke, Inuchiyo, and the engineer unit fell back to a safe distance, and watched as the bridge began to collapse.

CREAK.

A few of the enemy soldiers fell with the bridge as they tried to retreat back to the other side of the bridge, on solid ground.

CRASH!

A huge section of the bridge had finally and completely collapsed.

"The... The bridge... has fallen!" They all yelled. "Yeah! Kiyosu's route is cut off!" The troops roared triumphantly.