Story [Issue 12] Part 1: The Attack

[GoldRock 6,165]

"Leonid forced his way through the thick tangle of forest plants, his tracks grinding and jarring against the hard clay surface. He had been so close to death... Kicking up dense clouds of dust behind him, he staggered forwards, the fine particles coating the piercing, jagged hole on his side and the molten panels on his rear. In the distance, maybe a few hundred metres or so away, he could see a glimmer of white, with just a touch of red, shining through the undergrowth. A medkit. He could also hear a sound he had been dreading - the quiet rustle of a Shaft shifting its turret a fraction of an inch in his direction. Of course, getting there would be easy. Momentum would carry his quick (but unstable) Wasp far enough. Getting there alive, however, would be a lot more difficult...

~~~

Leonid peered through his turret drowsily as he opened his eyes. Rays of sunlight streamed through the narrow windows of the run-down set of barracks he had been posted at. He’d survived chaotic blasts of fire, lightning, and ice in Iran, camped out in Molotov with his squadron, surrounded by hostile snipers and low on supplies, and had even lead the famous charge against Fort Knox, the success of which had earned him the latest star on his epaulettes. Yet here he was, stuck in Forest. Well behind friendly lines; such a sparsely populated area that his seniors based in Magistral hadn’t even assigned it a codename. Still, at least it was a break from the usual havoc of military life...

~~~

As he lay in the barracks, Leonid had a curious feeling that something was wrong. His soldier’s sense was buzzing inside his skull as he leapt to his wheels, securing his Smoky firmly to his hull. He was reminded of the time when he fell victim to a Freeze ambush whilst posted in Iran a few months ago, and shuddered; it had taken hours to defrost afterwards, even with the help of an experienced Firebird. You could never be too careful… He exited the barracks, and made a beeline straight for his chief defender, a toughened Mammoth who was polishing his Freeze by the edge of the complex, just below the forest; he had posted the other defenders along the surrounding perimeter.

“Everything all right, Colonel?” Leonid asked, as the Mammoth looked up from his weapon. In his usual gravelly tone, but with an uncharacteristically worried edge to his voice, he replied “Just sent out a search party, sir, yesterday’s patrol didn’t retu…” There was a sudden movement in the trees above; as both of them turned, a Wasp in all-black catapulted out of the forest, screaming orders towards the foliage. Then, a series of events took place at once as the complex exploded into commotion.

~~~

A dozen identical black Wasps leapt after the first, turrets blazing as they yelled battle cries. The Colonel, using his superhuman strength, bodily threw Leonid a few hundred feet away from the scene, where he landed roughly, battered and groaning as he jarred against the ground, but safe for the moment. The Wasp landed on top of the Colonel, balancing expertly as the Mammoth pulled his weapon onto his hull, shouting for reinforcements. The other Wasps followed suit, each landing on a defender, who struggled to throw them off.

Seconds later, the Colonel blew up as he was ripped apart from below by a silently planted mine, debris scattering as the same was repeated 12 times over, the shocked defenders turning a charred grey and black as they were reduce to crumpled carcasses. The assailants were flung into the air, whilst the surviving defenders attempted to regroup, with the rest of the squadron stampeding out of the barracks, guns at the ready. There was another series of explosions as the Wasps self-destructed upon hitting the ground, the squadron scrambling to avoid the burning fragments sent flying as a result. Then, the main attack began.

~~~

The complex descended into chaos, as countless black-coated attackers soared out of the forest into the battle. Leonid could tell that this was a well-organised assault, not least due to the fact that black was only normally used by Special Forces; this didn’t make him feel any better. It was obvious they were outnumbered... As he stumbled to his wheels, Leonid called to his squadron to retreat (or, as he put it, “Get out of here, you idiots, or you’ll be shattered into a million pieces, and these lot’ll probably stamp on them afterwards, too!”). Not daring to disobey a direct order, the less-experienced squadron members, who had been fruitlessly charging the mass of attackers head-on, gave up as they spun round and fled from the assailants, attempting to reach cover whilst the remaining defenders bore the brunt of the assault.

Leonid started to retreat after his squadron, glad that at least they’d set up a system of radioing their seniors all the way in Magistral, when he realised two significant facts. One: their radio sets had been left behind in the barracks, since they only took the sets with them when patrolling their surroundings, and two: it appeared that a couple of Firebirds were setting the barracks alight, and so with them any hope of communicating with neighbouring squadrons for support. After considering these facts for a few seconds, Leonid turned, and re-entered the turmoil, whilst the last of his defenders were finally destroyed, loyal to the end.

~~~

Leonid dashed through the pandemonium towards the nearest barracks unnoticed, and hid behind it, whilst the attackers raced after the remains of his squadron. Watching the scene in horror, he saw his squadron being forced away from the only safe way out of the complex and into the cover provided by the forest: the slopes, and reach the strip of mines beyond the complex, which the defenders had planted on their arrival at the barracks; only they had known the way through… A couple of his troops charged at it, one nearly making it across, but exploding as he hit a mine at the end of the strip. Some of the squadron began to comprehend that ironically, their own defenders had done such a good job of mining the area that they wouldn’t be able to get through themselves, and turned to face their only other chance of escaping. A 50-foot high wall. Their assailants brandished their weapons, and charged.

As the fire engulfed the barracks, which swayed ominously, glowing timbers giving way and falling from the half-destroyed roof, Leonid dashed into the building, sweeping through the equipment piled by the wall as he was obscured by smoke. He found the radio sets, grabbed one, and placing it into his rear compartment, he sprinted out of the building and away from the flames, colliding with a Firebird coated in black paint waiting just outside the door for his fellow attackers to return from the massacre of Leonid’s squadron.

~~~

Leonid stared at the Firebird, not quite believing he was there. Fortunately for Leonid, the Firebird did exactly the same for the same reason. Leonid had just enough time to notice that his opponent had been damaged in the preceding fight – there were the large, black marks of Thunder shells evident on his hull - when time unfroze, and flames erupted from the Firebird’s turret. He circled Leonid, who turned to follow the Firebird, firing rapidly as the flames danced around him. A flash of lightning abruptly ended the combat, as the Firebird was flung to pieces by a critical hit.

Leonid dashed away from the barracks and up one of the slopes into the forest, now mercifully free from obstruction. Breathing heavily, he reached the cover of the trees, examined the damage to his hull, and saw that his rear panels had been melted, including the rear compartment and all of its contents. One of these rather important contents was the radio set. Swearing under his breath, he turned his gaze to his surroundings, and too late, he immediately saw a black Railgun with his turret glowing as he aimed at Leonid from a few hundred metres away.

~~~

There was an all-too familiar whooshing sound as Leonid whirled around, just as the Railgun shell went right through his side, tearing into his already battered hull. He flipped over and over, barely conscious as he was sent tumbling through the dense vegetation. He skidded along the side of his hull as he hit the ground, stumbling to his wheels as he came to rest in a shallow ditch. He could just make out the sniper who had hit him, silhouetted by the fierce flames enraging below within the complex of barracks, waiting to see if his prey had survived.

Remembering the long months he had spent camping in Molotov, Leonid lay still for what seemed like an age. The flames died down at the barracks below as the attackers overran the last of the survivors, and the sniper, evidently assuming his target to be destroyed, jumped down into the complex to join the fray below, firing a single shell into the air for balance. Leonid realised he was closer to death than he had ever been, as he checked his health bar: 6 HP. He picked himself up, wrenching his eyes away from the horrific scene below him - he could hear screams as his fellow soldiers desperately tried to climb the steep wall into the forest whilst being casually picked off one by one - and dragged himself deeper into the forest, away from the burning complex below.

~~~

And now, we have reached the beginning.

Leonid forced his way through the thick tangle of forest plants, his tracks grinding and jarring against the hard clay surface. He had been so close to death... Kicking up dense clouds of dust behind him, he staggered forwards, the fine particles coating the piercing, jagged Railgun wound on his side and the panels melted by the Firebird he had duelled on his rear. In the distance, maybe a few hundred metres or so away, he could see a glimmer of white, with just a touch of red, shining through the undergrowth. A medkit. More than enough for his 6HP to be restored to full HP - who knew, maybe he could then try to retrieve another radio set if they hadn't all been destroyed by the flames or the assailants. He could also hear a sound he had been dreading - the quiet rustle of a Shaft, almost certainly in black paint, shifting its turret a fraction of an inch in his direction. Of course, getting there would be easy. Momentum would carry his quick (but unstable) Wasp and Smoky combination far enough. Getting there alive, however, would be a lot more difficult...

Leonid moved backwards and forwards towards the edge of the cover he was behind, trying to entice the Shaft into firing blindly and missing. The Shaft calmly rotated his turret to follow Leonid's movement, but did not fire. Leonid decided that his only option was to take a gamble and hope it would pay off, and he poked a slight section of the corner of his hull out from behind cover for a fraction of a second... The Shaft seized what he thought was his chance and fired, missing so narrowly that Leonid could feel the searing heat of the radioactive shell as it whizzed past him. Leonid seized what he thought was his chance, and dashed out from behind the cover, literally sprinting for his life in a race against the Shaft's reload time, filling with elation as he jumped towards the medkit...

~~~

I wonder if you noticed that I used the phrase 'what he thought was his chance' for both the Shaft and Leonid. This is because it wasn't Leonid's chance. He didn't make it. The Shaft, having reloaded as Leonid jumped for the medkit, fired without going into scope as a final attempt to stop Leonid, and it worked. 6HP went down to 0HP, and Leonid's life was taken as his body landed on top of the medkit.

I hope you got all this crystal clear. Three of the squadron managed to climb the wall using their Ricochets, and escape these unknown attackers; I'm one of them. We pieced this story together when we found Leonid's body (after destroying the Shaft) and examined the footage from the standard camera attached to his turret. This is Captain Mstislav of Squadron 8 based at Forest, transmitting to the HQ of Military Operations at Magistral, and we need reinforcements urgently. Over and out."

Military record 110657:
Type: Radio transmission - transcripted
Class: URGENT
Base received at: HQ of Military Operations, Magistral
Planned action: Counter-attack as per tactical plan 124
Action taken: Pending official authorisation by the Emergency Territorial Action Board (ETAB).

[GoldRock 6,165]

This'll be my only article this issue, but I'll hopefully do 4 for the next one ^_^ Feel free to constructively criticise it and whatever, it'll help me to improve my writing abilities.

[puderte 20]

Very Good

Edited May 31, 2013 by puderte

[unholycloak5 1,814]

Very, very, very good! :D

[austinmyles 114]

loved it he should of lived though :P

[GoldRock 6,165]

Thanks!

 

loved it he should of lived though :P

 

That wouldn't have been any fun, though :P

[SilverCenturion 0]

Nice job! Very good work :D

[hogree 4,179]

Top quality article, Rocker. ;) Really love the way you built it up and smashed it in one paragraph so eloquently. Very nice. Borderline best article this issue.

[GoldRock 6,165]

Top quality article, Rocker. ;) Really love the way you built it up and smashed it in one paragraph so eloquently. Very nice. Borderline best article this issue.

 

Rocker? I like it :lol: Thanks! And borderline? Which of my fellow competitors reporters should I be keeping an eye on (apart from you, of course)? :P

[hogree 4,179]

Id say jok this issue.. Though of course, dont let the 3vil hamster out ya sight... You dont know what he could come up with.

[GoldRock 6,165]

Ok, I might hunt down and take his brother @monster0909 hostage sometime, and see if that encourages him to hold his pen back for a little while :ph34r: And as for that 3vil hamster... *shudder*

[hogree 4,179]

Yup that shudder is no foreign feeling to me too... Ive worked out that the best tactic is to feed him Swag for dinner. Swag doesnt really agree with him, and you get rid of two competitors in one go.. :lol:

[legenddestroyer 824]

Oh man, I loved this story. So interesting and you kept my attention throughout the entire thing. Keep them coming!!! And GOOD JOB.

[GoldRock 6,165]

Thanks!

 

Yup that shudder is no foreign feeling to me too... Ive worked out that the best tactic is to feed him Swag for dinner. Swag doesnt really agree with him, and you get rid of two competitors in one go.. :lol:

 

The problem with that is Swag usually does all of the pics and stuff for my articles, so is there anyone else we could feed to le 3vil? Though the 3vil hamster might be taken out of the competition, it wouldn't be helpful, unless he has a laptop w/ Adobe Photoshop and decent internet connection in his stomach or something.

[ExtremeKiller26 443]

Great story, loved it.

[skitee 555]

Really nice story. Brilliant. Best article this issue. -_-

[jokjinari 160]

Really good story. It was an exciting read. But I'm not much for sad endings... :(

[GoldRock 6,165]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be continuing this series over the next few issues, hopefully.

 

Really good story. It was an exciting read. But I'm not much for sad endings... :(

 

Well, I felt like it would add to the story in this case. I don't usually like them either, but I wanted to shock the reader at the end. If you feel sad, then I've achieved my aim *insert evil laugh here* ^_^

Edited June 1, 2013 by GoldRock

[Lhamster 4,081]

Why are there no 3vil emotes on the forum? D: And yes, watch out! :ph34r:

[jokjinari 160]

Ok, I might hunt down and take his brother @monster0909 hostage sometime, and see if that encourages him to hold his pen back for a little while

You'd have to get past my super ninja skills first :ph34r:

[GoldRock 6,165]

You'd have to get past my super ninja skills first :ph34r:

 

I could always feed you instead of Swag to le 3vil hamster.

[jonathanjoseph 71]

I could always feed you instead of Swag to le 3vil hamster.

This conversation is funny!

[DarkLevianthan 7]

Nice job! Very amusing read

[JamesM10 14]

I think the audience speaks for itself. Good job nub! ^_^

[GoldRock 6,165]

Thanks! I know it was good of you to read my article, you don't need to refer to yourself so much though, nub ;)