Fanon:The Moouan Republic Vs. Malsynthia

Before the story, a big thanks to TheGoldenPatrik1 for inserting the story template!

Accren
Of course, I saw them first. I was out on deployment with my spotter, Mach, and two new scout recruits. No one knew if the rumors were true, but some soldiers and civilians had reported seeing weird things: moving bushes on the edge of their vision, rapid flashes of color in various places. These were not conclusive, but the military was on medium alert and we had been deployed into the area to provide early warning. "We left the arctic thirty minutes ago and we're already a quarter of the way to the river. I'm exhausted. Can we stop here?" a recruit questioned. "No. It's almost sunset and we're supposed to be halfway to the river by then. We can take a break when we get there. In fact, we need to pick up the pace. Let's move, people!" I replied. "Ah, an energizing patrol! Nice to get off the practice range and out into the wild!" Mach exclaimed. The recruits groaned. My ever-excited and eternally energized spotter used a repeater crossbow for when enemies got close, he opened fire with his incredibly fast repeater crossbow while I snipped off distant troops with unerring accuracy. Together, we were a force to be reckoned with, having trained and fought together for so long that we developed a perfect combat synergy.

We reached the designated point exactly at sundown, where we began making our hide, a critical part of any sniper's training. The hide is designed to conceal the sniper, blend them into the environment, and delay the enemy's advance. Picking the hide's location is just as important as making it well. Since we use bush gear, we found our places next to trees to hide our weapons. We also made sure to factor in the choice of location. Our deployment itself was kept secret, lest any enemies catch wind of it and are more cautious, so we made sure that wherever we were, there was a better place to gather from nearby to help us avoid being discovered. We split up into pairs, with each one occupying a different hide, which was itself slightly split up. Mach took one recruit and I took the other. We were to work in shifts to keep the area monitored at all times.

I took the first shift with my recruit. I'm not outgoing, although I do open up to Mach. My work has trained me to precise and to isolate emotion. I pondered the meaning of the sightings, constantly refining my ideas until I came to the conclusion that it had to be some sort of enemy force scouting us. Our patrol was to find out more specifics, but by that time, it was shift switch. The scout went over to the other side and woke up Mach and the other recruit. Their shift was uneventful, but barely twenty minutes into our shift, I heard footsteps. Quiet, yet distinct. The recruit didn't hear it, yet years of being in the field had honed my senses. I alerted him with hand signals. He replied that he was ready, but just as he loaded his crossbow, four figures glided across in front of us, right near Mach's hide. My suspicions had been proven correct. Mach and I were light sleepers from our training, but he didn't hear the stealthy footsteps of the newcomers. I observed them closely from prone, allowing the moonlight to illuminate them. Two wore shadow wings and booster hats and the other two wore bush gear. One of them with shadow wings and a booster hat began making hand signals to move west, toward our territory. I took careful aim at him for good measure, but he didn't touch our traps. Unfortunately, in trying to keep his formation in order, he spread them out in a diamond formation and one of the groups wearing bush gear fell into a pit trap placed by Mach. This immediately woke all of us up. We probably could have gotten off fine, except for the fact that Mach's scout got spooked and fired off two shots from his crossbow. These bolts did no damage but instead alerted the enemy to our presence.

Mach
I knew we had been discovered for sure, but I was uncertain as to the exact size of the enemy force. What I did know is that we needed to move. The ideal situation would have been to escape without being noticed, but I didn't know if that was possible. I checked my repeater crossbow while Accren surveyed the scene. "They're moving in from the north, south, and east. The groups seem to be about forty people each, so we're seriously outnumbered." he informed us. The recruits looked at us inquiringly. "I need one of you to go report this to the FOB." Accren ordered. "Copy that. I have a crossbow, so I can delay them more. I'll go." one volunteered. "Good. Depart immediately, stop for nothing, and tell them to send a small reinforcement team across, halfway south of the plains." Accren counseled. "Roger that." And the scout was off at top speed. "We're going south. Scout, get that shield ready and go ahead. Mach, your repeater and samurai armor for medium range. I have my sniper for long range." We all equipped monkey tail, with the recruit using booster hat to go ahead.

Only thirty seconds after, he reported contact. The next second, multiple bolts and musket balls hurtled past us, accurately synchronized to decrease the apparent reload rate. "Having made contact, we need to neutralize this group ASAP to avoid be encircled," he ordered. "Roger that," I replied. I gripped my repeater and released a stream of bolts on the enemy force. The scout began pulling back toward us as one of the enemies rushed him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Accren crouch, take aim, and fire a single and precise shot. The bullet pierced the heart, killing the enemy instantly. As more rushed the scout, his rifle became a blur, in multiple places at once. He was almost as fast as my repeater, and his Marksman Cap made the bullets impossible to dodge. I raced toward the scout and opened fire again. With closer range, I felled ten enemies in seconds. Accren stood up from his position, still firing. He had already obliterated seven enemies, but their overwhelmingly superior numbers had enabled them to close the distance rapidly. "Shift to close range!" Accren shouted over the noise of combat. I loosed one more burst from my repeater crossbow, and Accren fired off a couple more shots. However, In the interim, the range had gotten so close that my burst ripped through a single enemy only a katana's distance from me. The scout and I equipped daggers and dove into the melee. I slashed left and right, tearing through an enemy a second. The scout, however, was struggling to hold his own against a katana. I took one slash to the arm and gobbled a cookie just as the enemy katana brought his weapon down on the scout. I rushed at the katana, but I knew I couldn't reach them in time. Just as I feared the worst, a bullet from Accren's sniper embedded itself in the katana's chest, knocking him back. This was just the opening I needed. I leaped upon the adversary and finished him off. We pulled back slightly, using our daggers defensively while Accren provided overwatch. Ten seconds after, Accren plunged into the battle, felling foe after foe with precise and powerful strikes. In less than half a minute, it was over.

"They will find this soon. We need to hide. Let's head east by the river, the current will help us outpace them." Accren said. We wiped our daggers, then donned booster hats and monkey tail. I was energized by the battle. Accren checked his map. "We're halfway past our border. Let's cross the river and set up camp at the designated place. This is war, and we must be ready."