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Date: Sunday,
August 18th, 1996
Number of Participants: 10 (5 vs 5)
Type of Battle: Team 1hK
A grin slowly spread across my opponent's face like a plague, infecting
his facial expression and contorting it with a twisted egotistical
glare that burned right through me. Dave and I had always been enemies
when it had come to water warfare. Even as kids we always found
eachother on opposing teams, often finding ourselves dueling it out
over the most strategic positions on the battle field; a "fight to the
death" as we would say. I glared back at him and lowered my Supersoaker
slowly to my side. My lip trembled as I spoke, more out of anger than
out of fear, "A fight to the death is it?" I asked, already knowing the
answer that he would give me. Dave snarled at me and spat at my feet, a
challenge for me to fight back. "A fight to the death it is." He
replied. It was short, but it was all that I needed to hear.
We each headed our separate directions back to our forts. I treaded
lightly, trying not to leave a trail back to my team's hideout. A fight
to the death was the way we reffered to elimination games, that is, if
you get shot, you're out for the rest of the battle. Dave, being two
years older than everyone else in the neighborhood was naturally the
best water warrior on the battle field. While everyone else wore
camoflauge into battle he insisted on wearing a white shirt, a bold
statement of his prowess and skill on the battlefield - no one could
beat Dave. He was armed to the teeth, chosing raw power over
stealth and mobility. This is where our fighting styles
differed. Dave would carry an SS 300 into battle, along with two
XP 35s he kept at his side. If he found you, you were dead.
He had never lost a battle. Whether this was because of his skill or
not I wasn't sure. I suspected that he had cheated on more than one
occasion, there had been so many times that I had come so close to
hitting him, only to hear him say that he hadn't been touched by my
shot. My second in command, Andy, had sworn he had shot Dave in the
chest, but Dave had dried himself off before he could confront him. I
looked down at the red drops of condensation, forming on the outside of
my tank; one thing was for sure, Dave would not be getting away this
time.
I was almost back at my base by now, the forest began thinning out, the
trees were further apart, and there was more room for a team to
maneuver. Our fort was hidden away from the casual eye, high up in the
branches of the oldest oak tree in the woods. We had built it this
summer with lumber that Andy's dad had left over from adding onto his
house. We hadn't used it until now, and I was eager to see how the
little fort would hold up in the heat of battle.
Everyone was gathered around the base of the tree when I got there,
Andy had already gone over the plans with the team, and they were
awaiting my orders. I unzipped my backpack and pulled out a clear
cylindrical container filled with red powder. "This, gentlemen, will be
the key to our victory." I said, adamantly, holding up the container
for everyone to see. "Now, I want all of you to put some of this in
your reservoirs, and then shake it up." I gave the container to Karl,
who scooped some of the powder out and dumped it in his reservoir.
There was a look of doubt on Karl's face as he mixed up the red powder.
"Why are we doing this?" he asked, "There's no way in the world we
could ever beat Dave."
"Ah, but we can." I responded. "The red stuff is Kool Aid powder, if
they get shot, there's no way they can hide it."
Evan burst out laugh, "Kool Aid powder, that is sooo sick, that is
incredibly sick." We all laughed at the idea, and then headed out into
the woods ready for battle.
By the time we approached no man's land I was beginning to think the
Kool Aid had been a bad idea. If we hadn't given our position away
already from being so loud the swarms of mosquitos following us were
sure to do the trick. We took position behind a fallen tree and waited
for the enemy to come. This was the last war of the year, we had two
days until school started again, and I was not about to forfeit another
summer's worth of battling (along with bragging rights for the rest of
the school year) over to David Cunningham. We had been humiliated so
many times before, and I was ready for revenge.
Time was going by ever so slowly, minutes dragged on into what seemed
like hours, and hours into what seemed like days. It would be an
understatement to say that I was tired of waiting. Something felt
wrong, they had to be nearby, something was up, I could feel an ambush
coming. I signaled to Andy that I was going to climb a nearby pine tree
and see if I could spot them. He in turn signaled to the rest of the
team to cover me if I was fired upon. Grabbing hold of the first branch
I hoisted myself up into the tree, scrambling a little at first, but
then finding my footing. Pine resin oozed out of the bark, and covered
my hands, and it didn't help the situation at all. It was getting all
over my hands, as I clung tightly to the tree, I was unable to let go
to be able to clean myself off, or to fight off the hordes of mosquitos
that were swarming around me. I readjusted my footing so that I was
able to free my right hand from the tree. I swatted at the mosquitos
for a moment and then began to climb higher up into the tree. Once I
reached the upper branches, which where about 50 feet from the ground,
I stopped climbing. Resting on a forked limb I peered out into the
forest for any sign of Dave and his team. After about five minutes I
noticed that the underbrush on the opposite side of the creek was
moving - moving like there was something underneath it. I fumbled with
my backpack for a few seconds and then pulled out my trusty binoculars.
I could barely make out the five silhouettes moving quickly throw the
foliage, but I knew they were there nonetheless. I signaled Andy with a
quick motion towards the enemy's general location, and Andy in turn
readied the everyone else.
I put my binoculars up and readied my Supersoaker 100, pumping it many
more times than I was supposed to, just to be sure it was going to
shoot far enough. My hand stuck to the handle of the gun, the sap
oozing out from between my fingers. "Just a few more minutes until
sweet victory." I thought. I could see that they were trying to
outflank us, moving to right, over the creek and towards our position.
This wasn't going to work, we had spotted them first, and had already
countered their maneuver. Beads of sweat had formed on my forehead from
the intensity of the situation, and they dripped down my face bit by
bit with each second. I didn't bother to wipe my face, choosing to
focus entirely at the task at hand. My breathing became heavier, they
were almost in range now, just a little closer and - they were here! I
opened up fire on the unsuspecting kids below me, drenching them with
sticky red kool aid. The rest of the team let out a volley from their
guns and charged through the brush towards the enemy. Dave countered
with a barrage of shots from his SS 300, taking down two of my
men. Andy and Chuck ran out to his left, armed with XP 55s and
chased Dave out of his hiding place. We had soaked three of the
five, and Dave and his remaining teammate were running for their lives!
I couldn't let him get away now! I'd never live it down.
I scrambled down the tree to the lower branches, scraping my hands and
legs along the way, and then jumped to the ground from one of the lower
branches. I felt the adrenaline rush through my body and I took off
running towards Dave's tunnel fort. I knew that's where he was headed,
he always hid their during hide and go seek when we were younger, and
nobody could ever find him. It was by chance one day that I literally
stumbled over the tunnel, curiosity got the better of me and I found
him hiding inside. My lungs were gasping for air, and I felt like I was
going to collapse, but I kept running. About five-hundred yards from
the fort I saw him, pumping his gun frantically. I stopped in my tracks
and called him out in challenge, "Dave! I have come for revenge." Dave
turned around in panic, but eased up when he saw that I was alone. That
evil grin of his made it's appearance once again, and I could tell he
was scheming. I let out a warcry and charged him, firing rapidly with
my Supersoaker. Dave stepped to the side and fired back - I dodged. We
circled each-other like wolves, testing the other to see who would
strike first. It was then that I saw Dave's SS 300 was leaking badly,
he had to be running low on water! I rushed him and fired, forcing him
to back up and return fire. Even though his gun had superior range I
was good at dodging ... and he was almost out of water. Dave reached
for the pistol at his right side, he had to be out! I rushed him,
blasting out ounce after ounce of red Kool Aid in his direction. Dave
fell backwards on top the fire ant mound just as I shot him. He was
COVERED in Kool Aid! I let out a cry to let the rest of my comrades
know we had triumphed, "VICTORY!" Dave was screaming to, but not from
celebration; the ants were all over him, and they were mad! The rest of
my team pulled up just in time to see Dave run off into the woods
screaming, soaked to the bone and covered in fire ants. Revenge never
tasted so sweet.
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