Man it is time for a major rewrite again. Reading this back over I can see I have a long way to go before this story is anywhere near how I want it. I guess it makes sense, I just want to make the story perfect somehow… or as close to perfect a story set in my own universe could be. Gah! If my old dialogue was any cheesier you could shred it over pasta! Well time to get to work. I'm also changing the order of some events and how things happen so the edited chapters may not flow with the entire story. I'll try to fix everything as soon as possible but for now everything may not fit quite right.
It was long before the crack of dawn and John was standing over the sink with a toothbrush in his mouth. The boy spit the foamy paste into the porcelain sink and raised his head to see his hair was sticking in every direction. His eyes were almost shut as he attempted to hoist himself up in front of the mirror but was too tired to even do that. He knew Sakamoto was waiting for him and was not about to call upon her anger to get him out there. He buttoned his jacket and raced for the door.
Upon exiting the building he could smell the saltiness of the sea, being so close to the water presented these scents. The morning was incredibly cool, the sun had not yet risen to warm the land and once again being so close to the sea didn't help. The cold wasn't unbearable nor was it unpleasant, it was almost refreshing to John as he started to become a little more aware. He got a good night sleep, unlike the hospital beds Sanya's was actually quite nice but it didn't prepare him for waking up so early.
Rounding the corner and walking down to the shore John found where Mio was conducting her regular morning exercises. Yoshika had beaten her down there and was already speaking with the Major. He was happy to see her, maybe this training wasn't going to be all that bad. John approached the two and Sakamoto put on a firm expression.
"You're late" She said bluntly. John looked down at his watch and saw it was exactly zero four hundred. He was very confused.
"Unless my watch is off I'm on time" He responded.
"Exactly. If you're early then you're on time. If you're on time then you're late. And if your late then you aren't worth my time" She said and crossed her arms.
"I'll know for next time. I apologize" he said humbly not about to question her decision. When it came to rank her word was law above him.
"As long as you acknowledge that then were crystal clear. Let's get started then." She smiled and picked up a wooden katana, tossing it to the boy. He jumps to attention and grabs it out of the air clumsily.
"What's this for? Aren't we going to train in the striker units?" He asked holding out the sword in front of himself.
"You must learn to walk before you can run" Sakamoto told him as she tossed a sword to Yoshika as well.
"So… this is walking?" He asked as she put her palm against his back and pushed him into line with Yoshika along the shore.
"Follow my movements" She said raising her Katana over her head and swinging it down in front of herself. She let out a grunt with every swing and then raised it again repeating the exercise. Yoskia began to follow her and John shrugged and did the same. Pretty soon the three were swinging the swords in unison, taking steps forwards and backwards in a line. Soon John was starting to feel the burn in his arms from the work, it felt pretty nice. After quite some time Sakamoto stopped swinging and allowed the two to rest for a minute.
"Alright, that's enough walking. Now we start running" She said as she pats Yoshika on the back and the two begin to follow her in a run around the base.
"I thought running was going to be the flying part" John asked Yoshika as they began to fall behind the Major. The two were panting as they talked, the running was wearing them down.
"No, the walking is arm exercise. The running is… well running. Then the flying is flying" She responded between breaths.
"Such a strange system" John responded with an equal amount of spacing between the words.
"Hurry up you two!" Sakamoto shouted at them and they started to pick up their pace. Before long they had caught back up to her, in part to the fact she had slow down. They ran around the entire base and were now trudging up the hill towards the runway. When they reached the end of the runway Sakamoto stopped and the two started to huff and wheeze beside her. She put her hands on her waste and looked at them angrily.
"Did I say you two could stop? Finish it off! End of the runway and back!" She shouted and the two looked up at her, by this point John was doubled over and Yoshika was laying on her back. They didn't say a work as John reached out a hand to the girl and got her back on her feet. They slowly started to jog down the runway and then got back into their running pace. Sakamoto stood there at the end of the runway with a smile on her face as the sun pushed higher into the sky.
The run was over and the three were now sitting on the side of the hill recovering. Yoshika passed the boy a big, olive drab, canteen. With a big swig John quenched his thirst.
"Not bad for a light day you two. I feel like we could have done a few more laps on the ramp but we'll save that for another day." She said, hearing this made Yoshika and John feel uneasy as the boy passes the canteen back to Yoshika.
In the distance the three didn't notice that they were being watched. From her window Perrine Clostermann was spying on the group will ill intent. She was getting more and more frustrated with every passing moment.
"Gah! If it wasn't already enough that Yoshika got to spend extra time with the Major, Now this new guy is taking her attention away as well!" She shouted to herself. As she observed them she could only see their lips moving but after John said something the other two started to laugh. This annoyed Perrine even more.
"I don't like that guy one bit" She gritted her teeth.
Back outside the three were swapping stories as they sat around in the grass. The sun was warming the area and it was becoming a lot nicer out.
"So John I heard you saw some action in your time, how are you with a gun" Sakamoto asked.
"I guess I can hold my own. I'm not a crack shot or anything" Not about to boast and then embarrass himself. It had been some time since he was actually in combat and he was a bit rusty.
"Hmm. That's not very reassuring. Maybe we should find a way to test that" She responded making John fell a bit nervous, He wasn't ready to start another private lesson and this time live ammunition came to mind.
"What did you have in mind?" John asked immediately biting his tongue on the question wishing he had just let it go.
"What do you think Yoshika, the range may be good but that doesn't exactly replicate what combat is like. I want to see what he's really made of" She said as the girl started to think.
"What about paintball?" She asked.
"What?" John responded.
"Yeah, we have plenty of equipment on the base. When everyone wakes up we can split up around the nearby forest and have a skirmish." Yoshika said proud of her idea.
"Even better why not an all or nothing match. Witches verses John, I'm pretty sure you have some skills that would test us eh John?" She asked the boy.
"Uh… That sounds awful. Do I get any assistance at all?" He said scratching head not really sure what he was getting himself into.
"I'll be on John's team if it's alright?" Yoshika asked, Sakamoto looked at the boy and he gave a very nervous nod. He wasn't sure if she would make the best team mate but if that's all he could get he was going to take it.
"Then it's settled, you two can get some rest now. When everyone is awake we'll have our game. Hopefully it won't be a short one John" She laughed and rose up, walking away from the two.
"What am I getting myself into?" John asked himself as he saw a hand reaching out to him, this time Yoshika was helping him up. He gripped it and the girl pulled back hard to get him on his feet.
"Don't worry, I got your back" She said as they started to walk back towards the base.
Back inside the base John stumbled back to the door of his room. He was already exhausted from the early training and ready to get some sleep back. He pushed through the door and began to toss his clothes onto the ground in order to get back into the bed. John saw Sanya was still in the bed and the pillow was still between them. He saw the soft looking object and knew Sanya would probably not be in the bed for much longer. In his sleepy mind he couldn't see anything wrong with the plan, sanyas back was to him and he slowly reached over and pulled the pillow to his side. Fluffing it a bit he placed it under his head and took a deep breath. It was incredibly relaxing and comfortable. The boy didn't last a minute before he fell into a deep sleep.
His movements did not go undetected though. The movements the boy made had caused Sanya to stir a bit. She did not completely wake up but she did start to roll around a bit. Without the pillow between them she couldn't find anything to grab on to and pulled the nearest thing against her. This Just happened to be John. She wrapped her arm around his chest and pulled her leg over his. She quickly fell back into a deep sleep as the two lightly breathed.
In the hall Eila was walking to the kitchen to grab some breakfast when she passed Commander Minna. The Commander was holding a small box in her hands when she caught the girls attention.
"Morning Eila, can I ask you to do something for me?" Minna said.
"Sure, what do you need" Eila replied still rubbing her eyes, she was tired from the long night.
"I am swamped with paper work right now and need to get back to my office now. Could you deliver this to John's room." she said handing Eila a package.
"Yeah, I'll get right on it." said Eila taking the package and heading towards where the boy was staying. The box had some weight to it and she was curious as to what it was.
Inside the room Sanya was able to hear John heart beat and that rhythm kept her asleep. The boy was so exhausted he couldn't feel a thing, they were both heavy sleepers so it would take a bit of work to wake them. Lucky for them Eila was on her way to help them get up.
"Sanya? John? Are you up?" Eila asked as she opened the door and walked in to see John and Sanya holding each other in bed. She saw the girls leg wrapped around his and her face turned red. She gripped her fists and was ready to tear someone's head off. Out of the present company you could probably guess who was the most likely to receive her rage.
"What do you think you're doing?" Eila shouted waking John up and causing him to kick back in fear. He sat up but felt a weight still dragging him down. Looking down he saw Sanya was still asleep on him. The boy was shocked and rolled out of the bed once again.
"Ouch that hurt." He said rubbing his back and looking up to see the platinum haired girl standing over him.
"oh, morning Eila" The boy said with a smile.
"You Idiot! You think that you can just play that off like nothing happened!" Eila exploded, the boy was now actually afraid as he stood up and took a few steps back. The girl wasn't letting up and followed in stride.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He said putting his hands up and back against the wall.
"Don't play dumb with me! I know your type" She said poking her finger into his chest.
Sanya had woken up with all the noise and was just watching everything unfold. She couldn't help but laugh at how funny Eila was acting.
"Eila its fine. He didn't try anything. Whatever happened must have happened when I was sleeping." Sanya interrupted with a smile. Eila was not amused, she looked back at the boy looking for him to give his side.
"I just got back from my training about an hour ago. I don't know what kind of guy you think I am but I passed right out when I hit the bed." He said as she tossed the box at him. Again he clumsily fumbled for it.
"Whatever you say Sanya" Eila said walking out of the room red in the face. "That package is for you John. Put on a damn shirt" Eila said closing the door behind her.
"I can see what you meant, she is starting to grow on me" John said rubbing his head.
"She's a nice girl. You just need to get to know her." Sanya said as she got out of the bed and started to get dressed. She sees John is still holding the box.
"What's with the package?" She asked as she adjusted her tie.
"No clue." John said opening it. Inside the box was a Britannian flight uniform. John had remembered that he needed a new uniform because his old one was destroyed in the accident and he had been wearing the clothes that the hospital had provided. Under the uniform was another smaller box.
"This is strange" he said holding it up. When he opened it up there was a large side arm in the box along with a note. John was shocked to find this gun because he was so familiar with it. It was the Mateba-6 auto revolver that his father had designed and the same gun that he had used as his side arm of choice during his time before the 81st.
"But only they would know I used this" he mumbled examining the gun. It looked like an average revolver except that it was combined with a pistol so it would move on a rail making it more accurate when it fired. It also fired much faster with it being double action revolver but it also shifted when it fired to load the next bullet faster. It was also very powerful for a side arm, its stopping power was impressive. John had easily put down many enemies with it in his time.
John then noticed there was a note on the bottom of the box. He pulled it out and opened the dry paper.
"Four men on four nights." he read "They will return more powerful to take what is mine. Prepare yourself." John just thought to himself for a moment "what could it mean. Who sent this… it can't be"
"That's a nice gun." John heard from Sanya breaking his train of thought.
"I haven't seen one like that before." She said as he held the gun up, its dark metal did not reflect much light.
"Yeah. It's special… "He said putting it away.
"So the other night Yoshika told me you play the piano" John said and the girl smiled and nodded.
"I have been playing for a while now. My father taught me how to play, Do you play?" She asked the boy.
"Not much. Maybe you can teach me sometime" He said
"That would be nice" She said with a smile.
"I may need to find things to do to pass the time until my injuries heal. I guess I could work out and train with the major as well." He said stretching his legs a bit still feeling the sting of the morning run.
"Your body already looks good as it is" Sanya started but cut herself of, she was embarrassed that she let that slip out. Seeing him with his shirt off had distracted the girl. The boy was a soldier and took care of his body as such, below the bandages there was a large amount of muscle on his lean body. The only thing Sanya could compare him to was Barkhorn, they both had lean yet tone bodies.
"Uh, Thanks" He said though his mind was swimming with thoughts, He couldn't tell if she was hitting on him or not. He wasn't the kind of person who interacted with girls much so the fact that she was embarrassed by the comment she made was setting off some flags.
"Oh, no! I uh… I meant that by… uh… your just" she started to stumble over these words and it started to really become clear to John. He didn't know how to react to this so he just changed the subject.
"So today were playing paintball, that'll be fun" John smiled and the girl stopped speaking for a bit.
"Yeah, that'll be a lot of fun" Sanya replied thankful that the boy changed the subject from her babbling. The boys stomach than began to growl. The girl giggled upon hearing this, John must have been hungry from the morning exercise and didn't even realize it.
"Let's go get some breakfast first. You're going to need the energy." She said opening the door and the two started to walk out but John felt an uneasiness in his body. This wasn't fatigue nor was it hunger, it was a drain of energy that was eating him up from the inside. He stopped his walk and Sanya noticed him.
"What's wrong?" Sanya asked the boy.
"I'll catch up with you, I forgot something back in the room" He said turning around and opening the door once again. Sanya thought it was strange but it was too early for her to dwell on it. She just continued on her way. John returned to the room and opened the small suitcase that was sitting at the foot of the bed. Below some white shirts was a small metal device. It was bulky and had wires and motherboards visible on its surface. Turning a large disk on it ejected a glowing blue plate. He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled a similar plate from the core in his chest. Switching the two he placed the old one back into the device and began to feel refreshed.
"Looks like using the core for long periods of time without replacing a fresh one can do more harm than good. I'll have to keep that in mind." John noted as he continued to run ideas through his head on how to illuminate the problem. This core was meant to extend his endangered life, with a side effect like this he wasn't sure what the point of having it would be.
After meeting the others for a quick breakfast Sakamoto rallied the group outside for the game she had planned.
"Hey John, smile" The boy heard as Erica grabbed his attention, there was a flash and the boy was blinded for half a second.
"Woah, warn a guy" He remarked rubbing his eyes. Erica was toying with a small camera she had found in the base. She was taking photos of everyone and probably wouldn't stop until she ran out of film.
"You like it? I think it's from Fuso" She remarked and prepared to take another photo.
"What do you think you're doing with that, were about to start a training exercise" Barkhorn scolded the girl.
"Come on Trude, at most it's a game were playing. Now get closer to John and act like your friends" She said holding the camera up to her eye and waving her hand at the girl to get next to the boy. Barkhorn was embarrassed about the comment.
"Come on captain, show the camera your good side" John said walking over to the girl seeing as she wasn't ready to humor Hartmann.
"What a silly thing to say" Barkhorn crossed her arms as John put his arm around her shoulder. She blushed as the flash exploded capturing the moment.
"Fine, are you happy now" Barkhorn said and then pushed John's arm off.
"Yes" Hartmann said with a big smile.
"Alright everyone, gather around. Were about to start" Sakamoto said as Erica put the camera away and the group formed a circle around the Major to hear what she has to say.
"Today we'll be changing around our regular training. Instead of air to air combat drill I thought we could relax a bit with a nice game of paintball, Idea courtesy of Yoshika" she said and the little girl from Fuso smiled.
"Here's the deal we were originally going to split the teams with John and Yoshika against all of us but I think that's still a bit unfair." Sakamoto continued.
"Yeah, for you all" Yoshika remarked, John was surprised to hear this confidence from the girl who was so quiet and calm all this time. He just chalked it up to competitive spirit.
"Although John has the most experience in the field I believe it's only fair to give him one more teammate to even the game off a bit. Besides, it would be too quick a match to just gun these two down" Sakamoto laughed. From her pocket the Major pulled out a deck of playing cards and started to sort through them. When she had a small handful she spread them out in front of her.
"Now there is one black card in my hand and all the others are red. Whoever pulls the black will be on John and Yoshika's team." Sakamoto said as the girls all picked cards from the Majors hand. The girls then started to talk amongst themselves to see who got the black card.
"Darn, I got a red one" Shirley said exposing her card.
"What about you Barkhorn." She asked the girl beside her.
"I also got red" The Captain responded.
"Darn I was hoping I would get a chance to take some shots at you" Shirley remarked with a laugh.
"If you were only so lucky to line up your sights, if we were against each other I would have taken you down within the first minute" Barkhorn shot back at the girl.
"Aw Yoshika, I got red also. I was hoping to be on your team" Lynne said showing the girl her card.
"It's alright Lynne. Maybe next time" Yoshika said.
"What about you Sanya, What team did you get" John asked the girl beside him. She flipped her card to reveal a red diamond.
"Guess I'm red also, what about you Eila" She asked her friend who let out an audible sigh.
"I got the black card" Eila said revealing a black ace in her hand. John didn't know how to feel about this, although it was just a game it was still being used to evaluate his skills as a soldier. He wasn't sure if having Eila as a team mate would jeopardize the outcome of this skirmish. He could see she wasn't thrilled to be joining the black team either.
"So it's settled, Eila is now on John and Yoshika's Team. You three will have fifteen minutes to gear up and head out there. I hope we can all learn something from John while were out there. Everyone stay vigilant and good luck" Sakamoto said as the three grabbed some weaponry and ammunition before walking into the forest.
"Major, we aren't exactly foot soldiers. Do you think we have what it takes to fight someone with a few years of experience" Lucchini asked Sakamoto after the three were out of range.
"We will find out soon enough. Everyone split up into groups Barkhorn your with Hartmann, Charlotte with lucchini, Sanya and Lynette, finally Perrine your with me. We will split up to cover more ground and capture them with numbers coming from different angles. Stay in constant radio communication. Once you are hit with a paint ball in a vital point you will drop you weapon and return here."
"Yes ma'am" they all replied in unison.
"Let's go get prepared" The Major said as they started equipping themselves to search for and eliminate the others.
John pushed through the bushes with Yoshika and Eila as they attempted to find a good spot to hold out and defend themselves from the others.
"So what's the plan John?" Yoshika asked as she moved branches out from in front of herself.
"In situations like these it's better to avoid direct confrontation" John said.
"And what's that supposed to mean" Eila asked in a cynical manner.
"It means it's easier to fight the enemy using traps rather than trying to fight them directly. In a firefight they have numbers over us and that almost always determines the result." He said.
"So how are we going to set these traps" Eila asked still not exactly thrilled with this idea.
"I just need to find a good spot first" He said scanning the area.
"So… Suomus right?" John asked a question that Eila didn't realize was directed towards her.
"What was that?" She responded.
"You're from Suomus, is that right." He asked trying to get to know the girl, he had commanders on the battlefield who had used questions like these to get to know the men in his platoon during patrols.
"Oh, Yeah. I used to be part of the 24th air force unit before I was transferred out here" She said as she took a large step over a big puddle.
"Is it nice this time of year? I always heard the sights up there in the mountains would take your breath away" John asked as Yoshika started to smile, she could see that the boy was chipping away at Eila's shell and it wouldn't be long before she was a little less harsh against him.
"It's always beautiful up there, no matter the time of year. When the sun hits the snow just right it would ignite like fire" She said with a smile.
"I'll have to see that someday. I always hear people raving about how great the east is. What did you do up there, ya know, before the war?" He asked as he walked over to a running stream and used it to fill his canteen.
"Normal stuff, School and magic lessons. I used to hunt a lot with my Father. Our country has a lot of great hunters and my father loved to take my sister and me out there" She said she started to laugh out loud as she remembered this.
"There was one time when my sister Aurora and I were out with him, and he had been tracking this huge buck for about three-"She said as she strapped her gun over his shoulder and used both hands to express the animals size. She cut herself off before she could continue when she realized what she was doing.
"I see what's going on here now. You're just trying to be all friendly to me so you can take Sanya away from me! She's my friend and I won't let you" She said grabbing the boy by the collar of his jacket.
"Woah woah. I think we should just calm down" Yoshika said.
"Hold on Yoshika, I'll handle this. Do you really think I would do something like that" John said as he felt her grip loosen a bit.
"I… I don't know you that well. I'm just afraid for my friend. It's not that I don't trust you… But I can't put all my trust in a person I just met." She said letting him go. The boy pushes the Canteen into her chest and she takes it. He smiles to her.
"Maybe get to know me first, then decide." He said with a smile and continued to walk up the stream to lead the group. Eila looks down at the canteen and then up at the boy. She smiles and takes a sip of the water, it is cool on her lips.
"So what did you do… before the war and all" Eila asked from the back of the group, John's ears perked upon hearing this. He wasn't sure if she was going to come around.
"I was a farmer. Carrots, potatoes, wheat. Used to get up early and go to bed late. It was good, pretty peaceful." He said.
"Any animals on that farm?" Eila asked as she and Yoshika moved up closer to the front. John chuckled as he thought about this.
"Yeah, we used to have some Beautiful horses and cows. I used to love riding the Mustangs, had one named Butterscotch. She was the fastest horse I'd ever seen" John said as Yoshika giggled.
"Don't laugh, It's not funny" John joked. The three then reached a point john was looking for. The area was perfect for what he was trying to do.
"Alright, this will have to do. Let's set up here" John said pulling out some rope and extra paint from his rucksack.
"Wait, set what up?" Eila asked.
"Our first trap. We don't have much time but if we can man enough traps within a good perimeter we should be able to take home victory." John said.
"So who is going to be covering this one" Eila asked.
"You can take it if you want, here, hand me the canteen." John said as she passed him the disk like water container. He bent down and poured some of the water into the dirt. He stirred it with his fingers turning it into a muddy paste.
"So what do I have to do?" She asked crouching next to him to see what he was doing.
"All you have to do is pull the rope when they walk by the trap and the pain will go off. They won't know what hit them and won't be able to react fast enough. Once it goes off you can pick off any stragglers." He explained.
"And what if they see me first?" She asked as john pressed his hand into the mud. She was very confused about what the boy was doing.
"You just need to promise you won't get mad" He said.
"What?" Eila responded before the boy reached out and pressed the mud against her face. Her face became red and she grabbed him by the shirt again and tackled him into the ground.
"You idiot! Why did you do that?" She shouted at him and shook him on the ground.
"It's camouflage, it will keep you hidden a little better. I told you not to get mad" John said trying to not laugh about the situation.
"That doesn't make it better you idiot" she shouted at him when their fight was interrupted by a red flair entering the sky high above them. Eila got off the boy and they got to their feet.
"Looks like the others have started. We need to move fast" John said.
"Wait John" the boy heard Eila say as he turned to see what she needed. He was met with a muddy slap to the face by the girl.
"Now you can go" She laughed as the boy just smiled and shook his head. They still had some setting up to do before they were ready to defend themselves but the boy was glad Eila was being nicer to him in a way.
"This is creepy" commented Lucchini as she followed Charlotte through the forest "how are we going to find them in a place so big" She said as the other girl scanned the dense tree covered horizon.
"We just started, have some patience. We'll find them sooner or later. Besides, we have like three other teams flanking them right now. It won't be long before this is over." Replied Charlotte
"So what do you think about the new guy?" Charlotte asked the girl as they pushed through the thick branches trying to get back onto the path that they were following. The dirt road was thin but it had a straight cut through most of the forest. The others were also following these roads to try and cut off the small team.
"I haven't seen much of him since he first arrived but he seems nice. I heard Eila yelling at him this morning; that was funny" The girl chuckled as she remembered the occurrence.
"Yeah, Eila has really been digging into him these past two days. I'm surprised she went along with them without putting up a fight, you would think she would want to be on Sanya's team in a situation like this" Shirley laughed
"She probably feared fighting Sakamoto's word above her distaste for the guy" Lucchini responded knowing that she would probably do the same in that situation. The Major was not some on to be talked back to, even if it was just a game.
"What were they even fighting about this morning- huh?" Shirley started when she heard something crack off of the trail that caught her attention. It sounded like a twig being stepped on and the crunching of leaves.
"Hold on" She whispered to the younger girl behind her as they clutched their weapons, pointing the barrels towards the direction of the sound. Charlotte started to move forward between the trees when her foot caught on a wire.
"What the hell" she said looking down. Suddenly the sound of a gun shot went off and a paint ball hit Charlotte square in the chest.
"Gahhh!" she shouted as the paint exploded over her jacket in a burst of orange.
"I have you now!" Lucchini shouted as she ran ahead to catch the shooter. She saw the direction the shot came from and started to flank it.
"Lucchini wait stop" Charlotte screamed as Lucchini ran into the forest. It was no use as the girl was already upon her target.
Lucchini looked into the distance and saw the end of a bright orange rifle sticking out of a bush.
"You're making this too easy" she shouted and she unloaded into the bush. There wasn't any sound from someone being hit so she inspected the area further. She was shocked to find the rifle was held in position with sticks and a rope tied to the trigger.
"What's going on here" Lucchini asked herself as a shady figure covered in leaves and branches approached from behind her.
"My turn" The girl heard someone giggle from behind as she revealed an orange pistol from her side.
"NO!" Lucchini shrieked as her back was hit multiple times by the orange orbs of color. The paint staining her white uniform with a very bright color.
Lucchini turned around and saw the girl remove some of the leaves revealing herself to be Yoshika. Her face was splattered with three lines of mud and she was wearing a green army jacket over her uniform. Her arms and legs also had some splotches of mud on them to conceal herself.
"Yoshika? What happened to you" Lucchini asked seeing the girl's appearance.
"John had an extra jacket and told me to use it to cover my white uniform. It worked really well, you walked right by me" The girl laughed as she scratched the back of her head, she was feeling pretty proud of herself.
"And the trap? Did John set this up?" She asked.
"Actually I'm pretty proud of this, I came up with this one by myself" She said picking her rifle back up and pulling the thin rope off of it.
"That was a dirty trick Yoshika, I'll get you for that" she yelled at the girl as Yoshika started to jog off to a new position. She knew others would be looking for her now after all the noise she made.
Three gun shots went off in the distance, Erica and Barkhorn's heads swirled around in the direction of the sound. They clutched their rifles ready for whatever may be coming but the sound faded and it was quiet once again.
"Did you hear that?" Barkhorn asked her friend.
"Yeah, do you think the others already found them? I was hoping for some action" Hartmann responded with disappointment not showing much confidence in the other team.
Soon a call come through on the radio from Charlotte who was now back at the meeting point.
"Hey guys, Yoshika got Lucchini and I. Were out" She said in a sad voice
"That was fast. I wasn't expecting Yoshika to get those two, good for her." Barkhorn said, she then pressed against her ear piece to heckle the Yankee.
"What did I tell you Yeager, I knew I would last longer than you" Barkhorn laughed as she heard the radio pick back up.
"Shut up! They got the drop on us! Once they're on you I bet you won't last nearly as long" Shirley responded angrily over the channel, she didn't like being outdone by the Karlsland officer.
"We'll see, I think Hartmann and I can hold our own against these three" She replied and took her finger off the button to cut off the communication.
They continued to walk through the forest when they found footprints along the trail that lead to a stream. They had spent most of their walk close to the path but stayed in the forest to be protected. They stepped out onto the trail to follow the footprints.
"This is not good. We should stay in the forest and under cover, they have a better chance of seeing us before we see him." said Barkhorn
"You worry too much. You heard Shirley, Yoshika isn't even close so if anything we have even numbers with John and Eila. With our skill they don't have a chance." Erica said as she walked toward the stream.
"Hay look over there we must be getting close, see." She points to a paintball gun that was left on the ground on the other end of the stream.
"I'm going to go get it, who knows if we'll need the extra ammo" Erica said.
"Wait Hartmann it could be a trap" Barkhorn shouted at her.
Hartmann ran over to the gun and grabbed it of the ground but as soon as she did that an explosion of paint blasted her onto her back. Hartmann Sat up and wiped the paint from her eyes. She walked back past the river and towards Barkhorn. The girl was trying to contain herself, normally Barkhorn was level headed but seeing her friend like this it was hard for her to not crack.
"It had to be John, I just know it… I'm gonna murder him. I'm going to kill him when he gets back to the base" Erica mumbled as she walked past the girl and headed back towards the starting point.
"I told you" said Barkhorn trying to hold back a smile from being right.
"They must be close, I can't let my guard down" Barkhorn said to herself after her friend had staggered far down the path.
Soon the bushes started to move around her, she looked one way and the sound would stop with a quick snap or rustle. Then from behind her she would hear another sound from the forest. It was all starting to make her very frustrated, she was waiting to see someone to shoot but there was still no sign of a person.
"Damn it. Someone come on out so I can shoot you!" Barkhorn screamed the stress of waiting had started to get to her. There was silence for a few moments, then a flock of birds escaped from a tree, Barkhorn swung around in fear. The snap of their wings against the branches and the noises they chirped was very alarming. Barkhorn was starting to think the situation was just getting to her and she was just imagining things.
"Maybe it was just a lone booby-trap that they had left behind" She said to herself as she lowered her weapon and watched the birds fly away.
"That wasn't the only booby-trap" Barkhorn hears a boys voice and swings her gun around to the direction it came from. From above her she hears the sound of twigs breaking and something dropping behind her back. She can almost feel the wind brush her as someone else had snuck up on her.
"There's also this one!" Eila laughed as she wrapped her hands around the girl and grabbed her chest. Barkhorn is taken by surprise and her cheeks turn red as she drops her weapon and attempts to remove the girl's hands. John dives from the bushes into the open and pops some paintballs into the Captain's stomach. The girl screams in a mix of anger and embarrassment, looking over her shoulder to see Eila has a wide grin on her face.
"You bastards!" Barkhorn said pulling Eila's hands from her breasts and pushing the girl away. She covers herself in embarrassment, crossing her arms high above her chest.
"Eila, what the hell was that?" John asked also a bit embarrassed from what he witnessed.
"What? You said to grab her when she came through?" She smiled at the boy.
"Not… like that" He said seeing he didn't exactly give her a specific way of going about her task. Barkhorn stomped off back to the base in anger while they were talking, not about to waste her time with these two.
"That was great! They didn't even see us coming, let's go take out the others!" Eila said becoming excited from winning the small fight.
"Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Sakamoto is still out there and I don't think she'll be as easy to trick" John said picking his rifle up from the ground and wiping off some of the pain splatter from it.
"I think we can take her if we stay one step ahead" She responded.
"That's the spirit, let's see if we can't regroup with Yoshika as well" He said hopping up onto a rock and scanning the environment for a second and deciding where they should head to next.
"Hey John…" Eila said quietly to him.
"What's up" John asked stepping down towards her.
"I just wanted to say I'm… sorry about being such a jerk... you're actually not that bad of a guy" She said as she bit her lip a little and didn't want to make eye contact. John smiled upon hearing this, he could see what Sanya was saying about giving it time. He was actually really enjoying the Eila's company these last few hours.
"Thanks Eila, you're not so bad yourself." John said putting his hand on the girls shoulder, she finally looks him in the eyes now that he has accepted her apology. The two smile to one another as John breaks away to lead the way through the forest.
"Just no more groping people" He commented as they walked up the path. Eila grins and runs up behind the boy.
"Really? Like this?" She questioned as she wrapped her arms around the boy and grabbed at his chest. The boy's eyes went wide and he spun around attempting to break the girls grasp on him. Like Barkhorn the boy nervously covers himself as Eila finally lets go, laughing at him.
"Like I thought flat as a board" She giggled as the boy's face turns red.
"It's not like I have those anyway!" John shouts at the girl and continues in a huff as Eila attempts to conceal her laughter.
Over the radio Perrine hears a voice come on.
"This is Barkhorn and Hartmann, We were just eliminated. The three are setting some clever traps" She said as Sakamoto stopped walking and put her hand to her ear.
"What did they trick you guys with, maybe we can use the information to our advantage?" Sakamoto asked as there was silence over the radio for a moment.
"We don't really want to talk about it" Hartmann responded bluntly.
"What? But-"Sakamoto started but then there was a rustle in the bushes around them. The two quickly cut off their radios and ready themselves.
"Is it them?" Perrine asks as Sakamoto pulls the eye patch from her face and scans the area. She slowly looks over her surroundings until she sees a figure running through the forest. She spots John hopping over rocks and bushes as he attempts to flank them. Drawing her weapon Sakamoto takes a shot at the boy. John feels the paint bullet hit his right hand throwing off his balance. Falling to his hands and knees the boy quickly pulls himself back up and throws his back against a tree. The Major continued to shoot until he hid, riddling the tree with orange paint.
"Did you hit him?" Perrine asked, unable to see through the dense forest at what the major was shooting at. The Major restrung her patch and lowered her gun.
"I think I just winged him. He's still good to play" She said when they heard the bushes behind them rustle. Projectiles fly from the two's blind side and riddle Perrine's back with paint. Sakamoto spun around and opened fire. Yoshika was hit multiple times by the Major and fell backwards.
"Miyafuji what the hell!" Perrine shouted at the girl as she clutched her back.
"The others are still out there, you two are out" Sakamoto said running out to where she saw John go down. She pressed her back against the large tree seeing the orange spots she had left from her missed shots. She heard some crackling from behind the tree and knows the boy is still there. She points her gun around the corner to the surprise of empty space.
"What the hell? I could have sworn he was behind this tree?" Sakamoto said when she heard the pop of a gun above her and a pain on the top of her head. She felt her hair and pulled her hand back to see orange paint covering her fingers. She looks up and sees John hanging out up in the tree.
"Hi" John smiled and waved at the girl. She smiled back and just shook her head in disbelief. John hopped down in front of his superior.
"Nice shot" She said picking the paint from her straight black hair.
"Thanks, you got me pretty well also" He said showing his hand, still painted from the bullet.
"Is this how you fought when you saw human on human combat?" Sakamoto asked.
"Yeah, you never want to take on your enemy head on" John explained.
"So what was it like, you know. Having to fight against other humans instead of the Neuroi. I had heard about small insurrections popping up around the world" She said
"It's… different. We always act like were at total peace with one another as we fight this enemy but there are people that are still trying to tip that balance. I guess we'll never really have peace without violence" John responded as he looked at Perrine who had removed her jacket and was attempting to wipe some of the paint off.
"That's a way of looking at it I can agree with" Sakamoto responded, she was about to continue the conversation but John put his hand next to his mouth and began to shout.
"Hey Yoshika, You dead?" He called out to the girl. Yoshika jumped up from behind the bushes where she had fallen. Her white uniform was now covered in paint and her hair had a mix of leaves and orange spread about it.
"Yeah, Major Sakamoto got me" She said sadly.
"Eila, Where were you on that one" he called out and the girl popped out from the nearby bushes. Sakamoto was surprised that there was an actual trapped planned for them.
"Sorry, my gun was jammed and I missed the jump" She said
"Well I must say I'm impressed. Using yourself as bait to draw our fire and then having these two pick us off. Well done" Sakamoto said patting the boy on the back.
"Again sorry about that, I don't know what happened." She said.
"Here, take this one. The teams are even now, we just need to find Sanya and Lynne." John said handing the girl Sakamoto's weapon.
"Alright, let's finish this" Eila said checking the weapon and seeing it was half empty. She reloaded it and the two walked off into the forest.
With a click on the radio the Major came on the radio" this is Major Sakamoto. Perrine and I are down. Lynne and Sanya, you two are the last of our team"
"So it's three on two?" Sanya asked.
"No, I'm back here as well. Sakamoto shot me when we jumped her" Yoshika chimed in over the channel.
"Two on two won't be that bad" Lynne said to the girl.
"I wouldn't be that sure. Their team has been working well together, don't drop your guard just because we got one of them." Sakamoto said. The radio went silent and the two were now alone.
"We've been out here for a while now. I think the sun is going to start setting soon." Lynne said looking up past the trees. The sky was starting to turn a dark blue as the group had spent most of the day out in the skirmish.
"Let's hope we find them soon. It'll be even harder to fight them if the sun goes down." Sanya said. The two heard some rustling in the bushes and stopped. They took aim in the distance and waited for something to happen. From behind a tree Eila swung herself out and started to fire on them. Although she took them by surprise she was only able to hit Lynne before being pelted by the two. John jumped out from his cover and opened up on Sanya but she was able to avoid his attack by hiding behind some trees. She continued to run into the forest as John checked up on Eila.
"They got me, go after her and finish this" She shouted at him as he nodded and started to chase after the girl.
Sanya continued to run as she dodged around the trees, trying not to allow a straight line of sight to exist between her and her enemy. She knew if she could just get some space between herself and him she should be able to get the advantage. She jumped over a fallen tree and felt something wrap around her leg. In an instant she was pulled into the air and left dangling from a tree. She screamed as she attempted to pull herself free and her gun dropped to the ground.
"This seems like a bad place to hang out" John said walking out from the thick brush.
"Ha ha, very funny. Now let me down" Sanya replied, her tie was now dangling in front of her face. He skirt was also falling down around her waist as she attempted to push it back up.
"I would but I'm kind of enjoying the view" John laughed as he walked over to where the rope was tied down.
"You're an idiot" She shot at him in embarrassment.
"And you're in a tree, ya know I wasn't even sure anyone would land in this thing" John started to brag as the rope suddenly gave. It was not tied down well enough and the knot came out without him even touching it. Sanya screamed as she was about to plummet head first, John reacted quickly and dove to save her. Luckily the boy was able to get beneath her and break the fall before things ended badly. The two lie on the ground completely out of energy. Sanya lay on the boy clutching his jacket tightly and straining to keep her eyes closed. She slowly opened them to see that she was safe.
"John… you…" She started to say.
"I'm really sorry about that. I guess the rope just gave" He said expecting her to sing praises to him about saving her.
"You idiot!" She yelled at him and started hitting him as he attempted to defend himself.
"Hey, I did save you didn't I" He responded.
"Yeah, after you put me in danger. Again" She continued to yell as he grabbed both of her hands and stopped the beating.
"Yeah, but I still ended up doing the right thing. Isn't that all that matters?" He says and she is silent for a few seconds. She sighs and stops fighting his grip.
"You're lucky you saved me for real at least once or I wouldn't take that excuse" She said, she soon realized that she was still sitting on top of him. Her legs on either side of him as he gripped her hands.
"Your eyes are really beautiful…" John said softly not realizing he was speaking out loud. The sunlight was now beaming across the horizon as it was starting to drift lower and lower in the sky. This gave the boy a last look at her stunning green eyes.
"What… oh… thanks" she blushed.
"Oh… I didn't mean to say that… out loud" He said embarrassed that he had let that slip out.
"Your heart beat… I can feel it even now" She said putting her hand on his chest.
"What?" John said confused about this fixation.
"This morning when I was sleeping I could hear your heart beating. Lynne had told me about what was happening to you. It shocked me that your heart sounded so strong even in a situation like that" She said feeling the beats begin to accelerate beneath her hand. She moved her hand a bit lower and felt a hard object below his shirt. She slowly started to unbutton the jacket as John grabbed at her hands for a second. She looked him in the eyes and he released her, for some reason he trusted her. She continued to open his layers until she saw the bandages. She slowly moved them out of the way until she could see the blue light and scarred tissue that surrounded the core. She put her hand over her face when she saw the device.
"So this is what woke me up last night?" She asked.
"Yeah, I kept it a secret so you guys wouldn't think I was a freak" John said looking disappointed in himself.
"You're not a freak because of this." Sanya said as she leaned in closer over him. Her tie dangled above the core now and gently touched its frame.
"Then what am I" he asked as he saw the girl coming in closer to him. She wasn't sure what was happening.
"A boy with a good heart" She smiled above him. The two were waiting for the other to do something as they held in their position. For some reason there was an attraction between them that they couldn't explain. Maybe it was the moment or the positon that they were left in but they just felt like being close to one another.
Sanya finally couldn't take it anymore and moved in closer to the boy's face. Slowly placing her lips on his. John was a bit shocked by this but went with it. Closing his eyes he allowed the girl to take control and he was going along for the ride. He pulled her by the tie as she wrapped her hands around his head, allowing her elbows to drop into the dirt.
After a short time the two returned to their feet, they knew the others would be looking for them soon. They grabbed their stuff and were about to get moving when Sanya got Johns attention.
"Hey John one last thing" She said as they boy turned around to look at her.
"What's that?" he asked and was met with a paint bullet to the chest. It stung like hell and the boy grasped at himself, the girl was not far away from him and he almost dropped to his knees from the stinging.
"if you ever look up my skirt again I'll make sure it's a real bullet" She said with a smile and started to walk away into the woods. She turned around and waited for him to follow her.
"I think I'm in love" John said to himself still clutching his wound.
Well that took about three days to completely revamp and edit. I made it about three times as long as well but I think it is a bit smoother and more fun than what I had before. I knew before even starting the editing process that this would be the most annoying chapter to edit because it was kind of random to begin with but I think I handled it well. I also added like an extra seven thousand words on top of completely removing the entirety of what was there originally… but it was definitely worth it. Leave a review if you have anything to say , I love the feedback.