DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Metal Gear is created by Hideo Kojima and owned by Konami. Genshin Impact is owned by miHoYo.

METAL GEAR SHOGUN

Episode 5
WAR IS NOT A GAME

Ei carefully and stealthily traversed the forest, checking ahead for any enemies. She held the AK rifle steady, trying to aim it straight ahead so she was able to react to anything that may come by. The somewhat low light of the forest made it hard to spot much, but she was able to discern nothing hostile.

Seeing how the coast was clear, she motioned for the other child soldiers to follow. Seeing her signal, five African boys aged from seven to nine years old crept forward out of the shadows. They followed behind Ei, ready to stop or shoot if she gave the order. All of these children, Ei included, had all been adopted by George and raised to be soldiers. She was certain that they must have been orphaned at a young age, much like she had been.

"How much longer?" One boy, Andrew, said. He was asking Ei if they were approaching their objective, one they had been ordered by George to retrieve.

"I don't know." She responded, softly. Turning to another boy, the one who held the map they shared, she relayed Andrew's question. "Charlie?"

Charlie unfolded the map and pointed at a specific place shown on it. "Father left us here first." He spoke. "The sun's kept moving further left, so that way must be west. That means we've been going north, for around 100 minutes."

"So where are we, then?" A boy named Hugo asked. Charlie traced his finger up from the point he first indicated, stopping almost parallel to a second point marked on the map.

"Around here, I guess." Charlie answered.

"Which means we go this way." Ei added, pointing in the direction she presumed to be east. "Let's keep going."

The child soldiers kept trudging through the forest, keeping their eyes and ears open for anything that might be coming. Ei had grown to care about the lives of the other children, having spent a majority of her time with them ever since she was first brought into the Army of the Devil. A little over seven months had passed since George had taken her in, and his other child soldiers were her only other form of meaningful human contact.

Most of the adults aside from George treated Ei with little to no care, often talking down on her or even abusing her if she disobeyed. And even George had moments where he was cruel as well. The children, however, had treated her as one of their own. Perhaps it was because George had told them all to treat each other like family, but there was something else holding them together. Fear. Fear that they would have to see people like them get hurt, and fear that they themselves would end up in harm's way. They would often console others who got hurt on missions they were sent on, and even grieve for those who lost their lives. Ei found it rather comforting how they would go to these lengths for those who were not related by blood.

Either way, they were still fighting as soldiers, and that meant they had a chance to be killed, one way or another. And Ei, too, was now vulnerable to the cold embrace of death.

Traveling further, the group came to a steep wall of rock. They stopped, trying to circumvent the new obstacle.

"What do we do now?" Hugo asked. "We can't all climb up that thing."

"There's lots of trees here." A boy named Francis said. "We can climb up and get to the top of that."

"Thank you, Francis." Ei said to him. "I'll go first. When I reach the top of the wall, I can help pull anyone else up." With that, she looked around at her surroundings, eventually finding a tree close enough to reach the top of the rocky wall. She jumped up to the branch closest to the ground, pulling herself up onto it and using it as a stepping stone to reach a higher set of branches. Eventually, she was able to reach a branch that stuck out just enough that it hung over the top of the rock. She grabbed it and climbed across it before hanging off the end and dropping down onto the wall.

"Okay, who's next?" Ei asked. The rest of the child soldiers continued after her. First came Francis, then Andrew and Charlie, then another boy, Jeremy. Finally, it was Hugo's turn. He nervously clambered to the highest branch, barely hanging on to it. He inched his way forward, slowly but steadily inching his way forward. Nearing the end, he anxiously reached out for Charlie's hand, but the branch he was hanging onto lost its integrity and snapped. With nothing left to support Hugo's weight, he fell below.

Hugo landed on the rifle hung over his back and cried. The other children were shocked.

"Hugo's been hurt!" Jeremy spoke. "What do we do?"

"We've gotta keep moving." Andrew said. "Father told us to complete the mission."

"But we can't just leave him here alone!" Francis responded.

"Everyone." Ei called their attention. "We'll have someone stay with Hugo to keep him safe, while the rest of us keep going."

"Won't that mean we'll have less of a chance?" Andrew questioned. "If we all go, we'll have five guys instead of four."

"I know, but it's not safe here. One of us can protect him from anything dangerous that might arrive."

The other boys whispered among themselves, debating what Ei had said. Just as it began to seem that they were arguing in circles, they heard Hugo's voice call out.

"Hello…?" He cried. "Are you still there…? Is anyone out here…? I'm scared…" The other boys stopped and listened. They then made their decision.

"I'm gonna stay with Hugo." Francis said. "You guys go on ahead." With that, he carefully scooted closer to the edge of the wall they had just climbed, looking for a way down.

"Okay, Francis." Charlie acknowledged him. "We'll keep going." With that, Ei and the other children pressed onwards.

Another twelve minutes had passed. Ei, Charlie, Jeremy, and Andrew had left Francis behind to tend to Hugo's injuries, leaving them to complete the mission. Eventually, the four arrived at their destination: a building made of brick, seemingly abandoned and with one of the walls on its second floor blasted open. Ei and the other child soldiers took cover behind a bush.

"So what's our plan?" Charlie asked. Andrew decided to speak up.

"I say we run in there, take what we need, and shoot whoever tries to stop us." He suggested. "It's a good strategy."

"No, Andrew." Ei spoke up. "If we do that, we will be overwhelmed in less than a minute. We can't just run in guns-blazing, or we'll be spotted."

"Oh yeah?" Andrew responded. "Do you have a better idea?"

"I'll sneak in with someone else here. The rest of you stay here in case we're spotted. If that happens, then you can rush in to distract the enemy and divide their forces."

The child soldiers gave some thought to Ei's strategy. Its logic seemed sound – at least better than Andrew's idea – and they all agreed to act out her plan.

"I can come with you, Jacqueline." Jeremy spoke up. "Charlie's not much of a fighter, and Andrew's too trigger-happy."

"I see." Ei responded. "Now, remember. We don't want to kill anybody if we don't have to. Only shoot your gun if there is no other option." Jeremy nodded, acknowledging her statement. Shouldering his AK, he followed closely behind Ei as they both snuck closer to the edge of the building.

Surrounding the building was a ring of barricades made of sandbags. Ei counted four enemies stationed behind them: all child soldiers, like them.

"Jacqueline…?" Jeremy whispered. Ei motioned for him to follow, and the two silently traced the outside of the ring of barricades. Eventually, they found a spot where the enemy combatants were stretched thin – only two sentries posted – and scanned that side of the building. There was an open dumpster up against the wall, and a metal door. That was their way inside to their objective.

That said, they couldn't get inside with those sentries keeping watch, so they sat and thought of a way to bypass them. Jeremy tapped Ei's shoulder, showing her a rock he picked up off the ground. Winding his arm back, he tossed the rock over the barricade and into the building's wall. The two sentries noticed the sound and walked off to investigate.

"Okay, let's go." Jeremy whispered. He and Ei rushed over to the building and pressed themselves against the wall to the left of the door. Ei experimentally took hold of the door handle and pulled, but it did not open.

"What now?" Ei asked Jeremy. Just as she did, she heard footsteps from the inside and motioned for silence. It seems someone inside had heard her mess with the handle and came to investigate. The door opened and an African boy walked out, holding an AK. Ei quickly rushed behind him and restrained him, touching his throat with her knife. "Don't move…!" She whispered.

Jeremy relieved the boy of his weapon, taking out its magazine and putting it in the black vest on his chest. He then assisted Ei in moving the boy over to the dumpster and lifting him up to dump him inside.

"Remember," Jeremy insinuated. "You aren't going to make a sound." The other boy nodded. Ei noticed the other two sentries coming back and touched Jeremy's shoulder, bringing him inside and closing the door.

Inside the building, Jeremy and Ei looked around. They had been told by George to infiltrate the building and bring back a folder marked with a stamp of a skull on it.

"We should split up." Ei suggested. "We can cover more ground that way, and it will lower the chances of both of us being caught." Jeremy nodded in agreement. Ei walked over to the left side of the lower floor, while Jeremy took to the right near the stairs. She checked inside some of the various cabinets and on top of tables, but could not find what she was looking for. Looking over to Jeremy, she gave a thumbs-down gesture, indicating she found nothing. Jeremy returned the gesture, then motioning her to come upstairs after him.

Trailing behind Jeremy, Ei peeked around the corner of the wall beyond the stairs. Jeremy had already entered the second floor, searching for the folder they were instructed to retrieve. Suddenly, a light-skinned boy with red hair of around nine years of age snuck up behind Jeremy and pushed him into the wall, hurting him. Jeremy tried to collect his bearings and fight back, but the light-skinned boy grabbed him by his clothes and threw him to the ground. He then took out a knife of his own, pressing the blade against Jeremy's throat. With that, Jeremy dropped his AK and lied on his stomach with his hands behind his head. The other boy pulled a radio from his belt and activated it.

"Ryan, this is Tom." He spoke into the radio. "We have an intruder, over."

[Did you neutralize them? Over.] A young African voice responded.

"Yes, but he may not be alone." The boy, Tom, answered. "Tell the troops to stay alert, over."

[Roger that.] The voice over the radio spoke. [Over and out.] Tom placed the radio back on his belt.

Tom took Jeremy's AK and held it, scanning for anyone who was there. Ei hid behind the wall by the stairs. Tom, however, approached the stairs, as that was where Jeremy had come from. Seeing no other option, Ei leapt out of her hiding place and swung her knife. Backpedaling, her opponent raised the AK and fired a few rounds, but missed by a small margin. Ei grabbed the gun and tried to wrestle it out of his hands, but as the gun had now fired, it was only a matter of time before she would be surrounded.

Tom managed to get another shot off with the AK before Ei pushed it into his chest and threw it out of his hands. Tom then drew his own knife and wound up a wide slash, but it was easily avoided. Grabbing the hand that held the knife, Ei twisted it, forcing Tom to drop his weapon and simultaneously quickly moving to his backside, pressing her own knife against his neck.

"You're done." Ei said to him. Tom made no effort to resist, lying on his stomach in the same position Jeremy did. She then sprang into action, frantically searching for the folder she had to find. Looking at the table in the middle of the room, she saw what she was looking for and took the folder, quickly placing it in her jacket. However, she now had to escape, and the sound of doors opening downstairs quickly drew her attention. She was cornered.

BGM:

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – African Battlecry
By Ludvig Forssell

Ei had to act fast. First, she had to do something that would buy her enough time. Afterwards, she would need to capitalize on her opportunity and make her escape. The first part was somewhat easy. Directing her attention to the chairs organized around the table she had just ransacked, she pulled a few of the chairs over to the stairs and tossed them down, temporarily blocking the way up.

Now for the hard part: actually getting out of there.

First of all, she obviously couldn't go down the stairs. That was where the enemy team was. Second of all, she was on the second floor, so climbing out of the windows wouldn't cut it. Studying the floor once more, she saw the hole that had been blasted out of the wall. Peering over the edge, she saw the last of the child soldiers on the opposing team were getting ready to enter. Thinking quickly, she made a leap of faith to the ground below, landing on one of the child soldiers, an act that mostly broke her fall. Now outside the building, Ei began to run.

Looking behind her, Ei saw the child soldiers notice her plan of action, pouring back out of the building from where they entered. Raising their guns, they let off some rounds at her, narrowly grazing her. But another source of gunfire elsewhere drew their attention away from her. Looking over to the other noise, she saw Andrew and Charlie shooting in their direction, providing Ei with covering fire. Her escape was now almost certain.

A minute or two of running later, Ei found herself close to the rendezvous point George had told them about before. Only a few more meters remained. She could see a Jeep parked in the middle of the dirt road between the trees. Running faster, Ei stayed determined to finish the mission. However, she was struck in the leg by a bullet, and she lost her footing and stumbled to the ground. Rolling over to the nearest tree she could find, she hid behind it and peered around its edge, seeing her last opponent.

Ryan, the leader of the enemy team. Another African child soldier, around three and a half years older than she was. Ryan noticed Ei peeking from the tree and fired another burst from his AK, prompting her to hide back behind the tree.

Ei couldn't do much with a wounded leg. Rather than make a foolish attempt to dash to the rendezvous point – an act that would give her a few more bullet holes – she bided her time, waiting for Ryan to come closer. Listening carefully, she concluded that her foe was around three or four meters away. That was her chance. She rolled out from behind her position of cover, clasping her AK and holding down the trigger. Ryan, not wanting to risk getting shot, ducked to the ground. It was then that Ei ran over to her foe. Every time her wounded leg made a step, a shot of pain rushed up through her body, keeping her senses sharp. Ryan and Ei simultaneously trained their rifles at one another, locked in a standstill.

Ryan made the first move, swinging the rifle like a club and striking Ei in her ribs. The pain from the blow to her side combined with her gunshot wound made her reflexively double over and drop her gun. Ryan then wrapped his arms around her neck in a strangle hold. Now currently being choked out, Ei began to lose consciousness. But she couldn't be beaten just yet. Mustering all the strength in her arms, Jacqueline grabbed her knife and jabbed it into Ryan's arm, dropping his grip with a scream of pain. She pushed herself up off the ground and made a mad dash towards the Jeep. She ignored the pain that coursed through her, finally reaching her destination, and banging on the door of the Jeep twice.

BGM end

"One hour, fifty-eight minutes." George's voice called out. He emerged from behind the Jeep, holding a stopwatch in his hand. "You've edged out your record yet again. I am impressed."

Ei took the folder out of her jacket, handing it over to her adoptive father. He inspected it, verifying its authenticity. A few seconds passed, and he silently nodded. He grabbed a radio from his belt and spoke into it.

"The training exercise has been concluded." George instructed. "Cease fire immediately and tally all damages. I'll review your performance upon our return." He clicked the radio, turning it off. Turning to Ei, he tossed a small roll of bandages to her. "Here. Patch yourself up." Ei did so, wrapping the bandage around her leg, stopping the bleeding.

She limped over to George, who was making his way over to Ryan. He kneeled down next to him, grabbing the knife Ei had stabbed into his arm and pulling it out. George returned the knife to its owner while Ei handed the roll of bandages over to the leader of the Small Boys' Unit. He took it, tightly covering the cut she had made in his arm.

"So, Ryan." George began. "Seems like Jacqueline is gunning for your spot. What do you make of it?"

Ryan grunted, shaking off the pain. "It doesn't matter to me, Father." He answered. "I'm just a soldier. All I do is kill."

George let out a hum of acknowledgement and turned back to his daughter. "And what about you, Ripper?" He asked. "Are you seeking to prove yourself and rise to even greater heights?"

"No…" Ei gasped. "I'm fighting for my life…"

"Hmm… And if you had to, you'd even fire on your comrades?"

"No, that's not it… I didn't want to hurt them…"

Indeed, she actively tried not to hurt the other members of the children's platoon. George had insisted that they all participated in "war games," a series of simulated battles that would improve their combat prowess. The child soldiers were divided into groups, given an objective, and scrambled to complete it. However, the means to which they completed the objective were often dangerous. To George, anything was fair game – cutting, kicking, biting, stabbing – even shooting each other with real bullets which could kill them. Due to Ei developing a feeling of camaraderie with the other child soldiers, she couldn't bear to be responsible for any of their deaths.

Wait… the other children… Hugo and Francis were still in the forest! She ran off, hoping she would be able to find them before something happened.

"Jacqueline?" George shouted. Ei didn't listen. She kept running back to where she came from, ignoring the fatigue and lingering pain she felt. Several minutes later, she arrived back at the top of the rocky wall they had climbed before. Below, she saw Francis and Hugo… and a very large snake.

The snake was about four times longer than the children were tall. It slowly slithered over to the two boys, one of which lay helpless on the ground. Flicking its tongue, it inched closer, moving in for the kill.

Ei managed to shout out an exhausted warning for the two. But by the time they had heard, it was too late. The snake lunged forward and bit deep into Francis' chest. Francis screamed out in pain, profusely bleeding from the bite marks on his front and back. A burst of gunfire rang out, and the snake jerked back violently before it stopped moving entirely.

Ei looked over to the source of the gunfire and saw George, having followed her through the forest. The rest of the child soldiers were following him. George walked over to the unmoving snake, flipping it over with the barrel of his AK. It was dead.

"Fa… ther…" Francis groaned. George and the other child soldiers looked over to him. His breathing slowed as more and more blood left his body. Eventually, his last gasps of life escaped his mouth as he died from his wounds. Ei felt a burning sorrow in her chest. She had only wanted for Hugo to be safe, but now Francis was dead. But if she had simply left him there, Hugo would be the one who died. It was an impossible ultimatum – to save one life at the cost of another – that she could not answer.

"Seems like this python wanted to have a meal." George broke the silence. "But it looks like you'll be having the last laugh. He wanted to eat you, but you'll all be eating him. I'll have it taken back to base camp to be processed into rations." George seemed unbothered by Francis' death, as much of the other adults were. However, he seemed somewhat glad that he was able to "avenge" his death.

Ei cried to herself, having lost another comrade. Prior to her arrival on Earth, she had viewed the loss of mortal life as inconsequential – if they died, they could merely be replaced – she could simply make more. But here, she learned the cold, hard truth. It didn't matter whether or not she made new life to make up for those fallen… the lives that had been lost were irreplaceable.

Thank you for reading another chapter of Metal Gear Shogun. There will be several minor timeskips as Ei progresses through the civil war, each period showing a different mission. Here, I showed her being put through part of the Sears Program, George's way of training child soldiers. I'll show different things as we go along, so stay tuned.

-Azzy Asbourne

Music: watch?v=ABGoYxdRDAE