This is my first draft of a decent story I think. THIS HAS NOTHING wRHG RELATED.
Spoiler for Virtnet Warzone:
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“Fort you there?” First division asked over the coms.
“Here First, what can I do for you?” I replied readying another artillery barrage.
“I need another supply drop at the green smoke please send as soon as possible.” First replied. I pulled up my airdrops menu and selecting the resupply air drop It pulled up the map of the siege and I sent the package to first division. The sound of a helicopter taking off could be heard from my airstrip. This is the siege of Cavern high school. So far the plan was working and we were slowly pushing on the wall till it cracked. The school's main army was made of nomad players with only two Turtles and a single Forter. We had a major advantage of them needing to use their attacking armies for defense and we had a high rank infiltrator among their ranks as a backup in case things went wrong. We had this victory in the bag.
“Fort come in Fort.” Called in the second division.
“Fort here.” I replied readying an airstrip.
“We need a bombing run at the south gate. Over?”
“Okay bombing run initiating should hit in thirty seconds.” I watched the miniature B-2’s moves onto the runway and takeoff.
“All divisions division one reporting in. East gate has fallen.” Division one called in. A cheer came over the coms.
“Division nine report to the east gate to reinforce the first.” I ordered
“Yes sir.” And like a stack of cards the school fell under our assault.
“Woo hoo.” My classmates all yelled as we walked onto the campus for the war demands. Our army marched through the school taking down the few pockets of soldiers that refused to surrender. I remained at the cafe across the street where I had set up my temporary forward command center while our commander the class rep waltzed in with his armored battalion to discuss the surrender. I recalled my mobile artillery squad and began to take down the camp. I left the barracks, field hospital, and the defense's up so we could finish healing the seriously injured. Now everyone but the general came to the cafe a sure sign that the negotiations were underway. In the real world my classmates and I were enjoying some biscuits and cups of cocoa to celebrate the victory while the school generals met. I watched comrades celebrating this great victory. I looked at the command tablet in my hand at the long list of medical needs the High Lands unity army required. And looking back down at the medical tents at with soldiers carrying the wounded into the tents. Then I compiled a war report and sent it to everyone. I didn’t like the death toll sixth and seventh division took but we won so those deaths were not in vain.
When the general returned to the cafe about fifteen minutes later he was beaming.
“They gave you what?” I was surprised the General isn't known as a pervert but he has his moments.
“Yep their whole stash.” I looked over at the Pervert cult battalion or the tenth division. They were staring at their tablets not even blinking. I
looked at the war loot that the general had gotten.
“You know you're going to get a lot of flak for this from B-2 army.” I said raising an eyebrow. “And number 2.” The general smiled but his face instantly went pale.
“Heh yep but it will be worth it.” He was shivering in his boots at the thought of number two’s reaction to the loot horde we were bringing back. The Cavern High’s Pervert horde of girl’s locker room footage. File size forty gigabytes and all in sparkling high definition.
Then as a class we all walked back to the school.
“Are you off you bloody rocker?” Yelled number two as the file spread like wildfire through the school. I had started my visual recorder before we entered the room for the punctuality if there was a trial later.
“Oh come on two you know you like it.” said the general, Number two opened her mouth but she didn’t say anything. But being the Spy net commander she had something up her sleeve. She showed the general her tablet but blurring it on my screen. The General face went from a good tan to sunburn red in a millisecond.
“How did you get that?” He asked.
“Trade secret. Now about my demands.” She lazily hung her finger around where the send button was.
“What do you want?” The general was nervous now that can't be good this must be some good black dirt that she has. I set a reminder to look through the bases intelligence unit later.
“I want a copy of that file.” Two said slightly blushing. I was very glad I had my recording on. The news club will love this.
“Okay tell you what you give me that file I will give you this one.”
“Sure but Fort you be the medium I don't trust him to keep his end.” Two said.
“Sure.” I walked over and held out the virtual file and held an open hand. Two handed me the black dirt on the general and I gave her the loot horde file. Then being sneaky I copied the file to my personal hard drive in my backpack before handing the folder to the General.
“Well I got to go do stuff tech points and upgrades to do.” I walked out of the room and toward the courtyard. I picked my favorite spot out on the grass around the track under a maple tree. I looked around at the virtual army men patrolling around and the air strips on the track and the hangars where we kept the planes. It was surprising sometimes how this game was so good it made it feel like reality. I looked at the long list of virtual soldiers. Each with an individual name stats and skills. I needed a lot more in my medical teams so I recruited a lot of doctors being careful with the background checks. The way one army infiltrates another is through recruiting. If your spy gets recruited, then you have a man in their army. That man could do many things like assassination, theft, recon. Hell if you're lucky the player could promote your spy to captain then you could try a coup d’état. I looked down at my tablet turning to the tech tree tab I saw I had fifteen unused tech points. I opened my tree and scrolled far far down to get to some of the newer techs. I had a lot of choices. I could go do the commander tree where I could get three more commander slots this tree has been nicknamed the lazy bastard tree because a commander is an AI that can command say a base or an army. I already had fifteen commanders and five empty slots so I don't really need any more and that tech is ten points. I decided to go with the turret defense tech I got better AA anti-tank and anti-personnel for five points each. Then I looked around at the school. The students were walking around small batches of soldiers followed them as they moved to be in position to protect their leader if needed. Then Konoko the leader of the twenty first division walked over. She has some weird ‘I want you to be mine’ crush on me. That is either because in game I’m a Fort or because she thinks I’m handsome or cute. Oh and being a Fort is a really cool thing because it is proof that you were a part of the game since the beginning when it was a you chose you command style and not a tech tree. Because of the overpowered defenses the Fortifier class was deleted and replaced with the Turtle.
“Hello Fort.” Konoko said smiling at me. She had an entirely female army which is sexist even if it is virtual.
“Hi 22.” I said not looking higher than her ankles.
“Oh come on I have a name you know not only a number?”
“Yep Konoko I know you have a name.” She did a little happy dance. Konoko is one of our air force commanders. She flies with the three other air force divisions we have. She took a seat next to me under the maple tree peeking over my shoulder. I turned to my radar tab and looked at the surrounding area within a three-mile radius. I saw the normal players that live around the school. Each of those players has made a truce with us so we won’t attack them in return they won’t attack us. I took a risk and looked at Konoko. Yep she was giving me a peep show again. She was sitting at just the right angle so I got a good view up her skirt and down her shirt. I immediately turned away.
“Oh don't like what you see?” Konoko asked laying her arms around my shoulders. Then I heard a buzzing sound. I looked up to see a messenger drone coming in for a landing. I put my Virtnet glasses on my forehead and rushed over to the drone. It requested a login which I gave it licit split. It had finally arrived. As soon as I input the code the box under the drone dropped to the ground and the drone took off. I looked at the box in amazement.
“What is that?” Konoko asked as a small group of students gathered around to see what the drone was dropping off. I popped open the lid to reveal a black slab of metal. To tell the truth in reality it didn’t look so cool but this was a new base kit. One comes with the game and you can buy more for a price. This black slab was the starting of a new base and I knew exactly where to put it.
After school which felt like an eternity with the new kit in my backpack I went down to the old docking yard not a mile away from the school. When I was younger I would run around in the warehouse till my parents dragged me home. But now I was going to turn this cove into my own port. I went inside the warehouse which was still filled with rusting steel and rotting wood. I went to the ladder that went to the roof and using a drill I grabbed from my home I screwed the kit to the roof. Then I pushed the power button and watched it open like a flower after winter. Through my glasses I saw the New Fort building screen. To begin a fort, you must build the fort main reactor. I climbed down into the warehouse and built the reactor in the smack center of it. This fort was now operational. I spent the next few hours building up this new fort. I built three dry docks and seven docks. Then added turrets on the docks entrance to deter any enemies. Put in the barracks, research lab, command center, and a training area. All and all a great start. I didn’t see a point in building an airstrip here because I had already started construction on an aircraft carrier and two battleships. When that was complete I set a commander to the command center and set his AI up to focus on Naval production and a strict recruiting policy. After that I went home for some bangers and mash. After dinner I went into my room and sat on my bed looking at the virtual fortress around me. Like most other players my home is my main base and it is my strongest. This is where the bulk of my stuff is. I have a single nuclear launcher on the lawn and the tightest security on the block. And each soldier here was handpicked by me for each individual job. So I let them do their virtual jobs and went on with my life. I cooked my bangers and mash then ate said bangers and mash while watching the latest Warzone News. Apparently the two biggest factions in England have gone to war and there is live footage of the battles as the two giant factions duked it out. After my dinner I walked upstairs and went to sleep.
The next morning was much like any other. I got out of bed went downstairs had a bowl of cereal put on my uniform and my Warzone Fortifier jacket. These jackets are specially built for the players who make it into the top thousand players. But they stopped doing it a while ago and just gave out the patches. I had ten patches including the Fortifier emblem. There was War Beast, Commander, Builder, and two others for faction size and for battles won. Now off to school. I walked quickly down the road to my school. And when I got there guess what I found. A bloody civil war. Apparently the ninth graders weren’t happy about the fact that they were excluded from the last war and walked to name one of their own general so they are fighting the upper classes for the right to command. But in the school in pertaining to the game if a class wishes to do a civil war then I can't get involved. Since I control all the schools defenses I can't join in the civil war at least not in a guns blazing way but that gives me protection from the war's effects such as having to fight. But in the making of the War Zone rules for the school I added in a loop hole. You see all the players at this school have at least ten soldiers that are loyal to me so I can sabotage and they blame it on the other team. But I didn’t really think my intervention was necessary. By the end of first period the Ninth graders were on the run and by second the General was having the peace talks which ended in the Highlands High school Tenth Unity pact.
“So how did the war go I asked as the general took his seat next to me he and Two had happy smiles on their faces.
“Oh a smashing victory by the Highlands Unity army?” said the General.
“So One what next.” Two asked the General.
“One?” I asked
“Yah a part of the agreement stated I would be called One instead of the general.”
“Ok One.” I said raising my eyebrow. Then someone from the School paper came up to Two.
“Hey Two evidence has been brought to the paper that can prove that you are a lesbian. What do you have to say on the matter?” The reporter asked with her recorder out.
“What evidence?” Two asked blushing.
“A copy of the Cavern High pervert horde was found on you and had been watched several times.” the reporter was getting all up in Two’s face about this with honest curiosity.
“And what slime ridden good for nothing twat gave you this evidence?” Two had her devil face on and I could feel the death bringing rage resonating off her in our direction. Since I was the one who tipped them off I would have to stay clear of this conversation. So I got on with my school work. When lunch came around I was back sitting under my maple tree. I was watching the soldiers walk around at my feet making friends, talking strategy, and in general walking around. Did you know that each soldier is programed with their own A.I. so they can think on their own to a degree? They talk to each other they make friend with each other and hell they could even make a family in the battle encampment. I got down on my hands and knees and looked at the soldiers. As I looked closer little data tabs appeared above each of their heads with data like how much endurance, strength, intelligence, accuracy, what weapon they use, who their friends are and what their name is. Then the air raid siren blows. I looked at the radar screen too see three Cloud High bombers on route to us. I opened a link with One.
“Sir Cloud High bombers one mile out and closing orders?”
“Ready defenses for counter attack.” One yelled as students ran around getting to battle stations. Fighters were getting ready for takeoff to get us Air superiority. Then a message came through on my tablet.
“Highlands United army please stand down we mean no harm we just want to talk?” said one of the Cloud High commanders. I checked my radar to find that the bombers weren’t accompanied by a fighter squadron.
“Sir did you get the message?”
“Yes Fort let them land let’s see what they have to say?”
“This is Highland Commander Fort speaking you have been permitted to land on the third runway. Any deviations of course and we will open fire. Confirm.”
“Confirmed. Thank you Fort.” I cleared the third runway and watched for any change in the bombers course. But bombers made a clean course and landed on the third runway. Now it is time to have a talk with one of our three rival schools.
Cloud High school was the next strongest school in this town. They have the strongest air force but their land units are lacking.
“So what does the cloud high school want to talk to us about?” One asked the Cloud High Admiral.
“We have been under attack from a school group from another town that is on a field trip and we require assistance.”
“So basically you're asking us for help?” I asked.
“Yes that is the bare bones of it.”
We spent the next hour talking and discussing what has happened and what must be done. Apparently a school from a neighboring town has gone on a field trip to here to try and conquer us. They built a forward base in their hotel room and are attacking the Cloud High school constantly. They are stronger than Cloud high so they reached out to their rival for help. Not only that they wanted to create an alliance with us. I liked their plan so I agreed to their plan which swayed a lot of the school to go along with it. And so the Two Lands United army was born. The proceeding went surprisingly smooth. We made a designated meeting point for the forward base of attack where two of the clouds commanders were going to meet us at The Plug Cafe which was two blocks from the enemy’s base. I would set up in the cafe then we would begin the siege and if they were out attacking then they would have to either do a full out assault or retreat to defend their forward base. And if they retreated then the Clouds air force could go full out and bomb the hell out of them assuming they could get through the anti-air. If they do a full assault, then we have to kill their forward base before they took out the Cloud base. Neat and simple.
“Okay let's put the plan into action.” One and the Cloud admiral said in unison. I had already put together a caravan for setting up the forward base and sent out a recon unit to scope out the enemy. So I accompanied by nearly the whole school walked to the Plug getting ready to lay siege to the Iron sand hotel. As we left the school we split up to take many different routes to not make too oblivious that we were coming because we all were sure that they had recon squads watching us as their next targets given we were the strongest army in the town. Though that given the middle schools were pretty strong especially Lowlands junior high. They average a couple thousand students and about half have their own armies. But back to the Iron sand war. We all met up at the cafe ten minutes after leaving the school. In the virtual world I could see turrets and tanks by the front entrance and planes taking off from the roof. There were even players by the front door surrounded by small defensive forces. I entered the cafe first and saw two players waiting for me inside. They were sitting at the bar drinking tea and from the color they wasted no milk. They saw me and my caravan they gave orders and talked to who I assume was their commanders. I took a seat by the window and placed my backpack on the ground revealing the Fortifier emblem. I could see them visibly pale and they hush talked on their coms probably. Then on their screens the two words everyone hated the most appeared. Game over. Yep never expected a Fortifier. I had ordered an artillery strike a block away and I was right to do so. I stood up and walked over to the two. I patted them on the back.
“Good game.” I said.
“GG” the one on the right said he had a sad smile on unlike his partner,
“Cheating Fortifier.” Said the one on the left who promptly gulped down his tea and left his partner to pay the bill.
“Not very polite is he?” I asked.
“Nope.” The guy said. On his shirt I saw the intelligence badge. “So may I know the name of my defeater?”
“Fort. You?”
“Itty. Good to meet you Fort.” We shook hands and he played the bill and left. Then rest of my classmates walked in. I set up my base and we started the assault. My mobile artillery was out and moving on the other side of the block moving to the corner for a clear shot on the building to pierce through the wall of the room where the enemy base was. I decided I wanted some music this time. So I put on my playlist of songs that I had collected over the years. The music that came on was perfect the beat mixed with the war's beginning perfectly. Divisions Three and Four dug trenches outside the door which were quickly filled with One’s and Two’s armies. The nineteenth through twenty second divisions took to the air launching from my runway and launching strategic missiles on the tanks on the enemy troops. Then my artillery sent in their barrage on the room wall it broke through and three shells got through. I moved my artillery to the next corner with a line of sight on the while tapping out on the table. The enemy didn’t see it coming. The bouncers at the door went down with a decent fight but still fell to the rain of bullets from the trenches. As One through four broke into the main lobby Cloud High called in.
“They are coming back from behind you get ready.” the Admiral yelled at me. I passed the message onto number One. He ordered three and four to stick by the door in case they got here. I watched through One’s battle cam as he walked into the lobby of the hotel he took a seat by the fire with Two. Now for the hard part. One and Two had to use the remote control function to control their armies because we didn't have a reservation so we couldn't walk up there in the real world. One did a trap test on the staircase and several mines were set off.
“No way we are getting up that way. Nineteen mind giving us a lift?”
“On my way sir.” Nineteen got up from his seat next to me and walked to the lobby accompanied by three fighter squadrons and a wing of transport choppers.
Nineteen took a seat in the chair next to Two and loaded up the armies on the choppers. Then choppers flew up the elevator shafts. Then Ten tapped my shoulder.
“Incoming.” I looked and saw the retreating forces that were sent to attack the Cloud high school. They were running from cover to cover avoiding the swarm of missiles that came from the fighter jets overhead. They hadn’t spotted us yet so I decided to take a step outside. I walked right up to the group.
“Hey your lot from the group currently held up in the Iron sand hotel?” I asked. They all turned in surprise. I gave the thumbs up to the fighter jets who got the message and were redirected to the forward base for reloading and refueling.
“Oh and are you from the Cloud?” Said the player with the Turtle emblem on his shoulder.
“No I'm with the Highlands and I'm here to attack you.” I did my best lazy impression and turned on my heels and walked back to the cafe. I barely took two steps before they gave into my provocation.
“Hey you get back here and fight us you cocky Fortier.” I turned,
“And why would I do that you reptile?” I took a few jumps back.
“Oh see guys he’s scared of us.”
“I bet he’s an imposter.” said one of the other players.
“Look he doesn't even have an army.” said another, this spurred the others on and they charged at me. This as they were about to discover wasn't the best course of action. Truthfully I thought they would just shoot me. They fell in my trap perfectly. As they charged I detonated the mines I had recently placed there when I walked out. Then when their army was mostly blown to bits’ part of my army came out from an alleyway and opened fire turning the remnants of their army to minced meat. I smiled.
“Well that's check. Good game.” I said looking at the players who were devastated in front of me.
“How?” The turtle asked.
“I believe it's called an ambush or is it a cunning victory? Probably the first one. “I said rubbing the back of my head. “And no I am not a faker this jacket is one hundred percent authentic and it wasn't easy to win I'll tell you.” The players walked back to the hotel utterly defeated and I walked back into the cafe Gleaming with victory.
“Check?” Ten asked as I took my seat.
“Well we haven’t taken their king yet.” Ten laughed.
“You are as quirky and odd as ever Fort.”
“Fort this is One.”
“Yes One. Fort here.”
“We need an artillery barrage on the defenses on the enemy base. Apparently while I was taking out the reinforcements One, Two and Nineteen had landed their army and dealt with the outer defenses.
“Okay strike commencing.” I looked at my tablet and ordered my mobile artillery to commence continuous barrage on the enemy base. Then something I didn't expect happened. A blaring sound came from my radar. I looked down to my horror was the one symbol I never ever wanted to see again. It was a nuke. They had a freaking Nuke.
“Everyone retreat! Nuclear warhead inbound!” I ordered over the coms. I changed to my home base control and launched my antinuke missile but I wasn't sure it would intercept in time. I ordered a full retreat to my army. I stood up and left a couple of pounds on the table and with my class on my tail we sped walked out of there. I looked back to see One, Two and Nineteen running to catch up to us. We had cleared the nuke safe distance as the warhead hit the Iron sand hotel.
“They nuked themselves?”
“Apparently we really aren’t wanted.” I said. These people were insane but not crazy. If they nuked themselves, it meant that their whole army died and there was no chance of a spy returning with them.
“Fort get a Rad crew in there when it is safe and look for anything of use.” we walked back to the school for fifth period.
As class started which I hardly listened to my head was walking in circles. Why would they even come here in the first place if they were just going to nuke it in case of spies. And if they had nukes why not nuke our bases. It would be more useful than committing suicide.
“Hey Two did you get any information on that enemy that attacked us?” I asked
“Yes I did.” She handed me a report of what little info she got during the attack. I looked at the report.
“Not much to go off of huh?” I said.
“Sorry I couldn't get more.”
“It is ok you got all we need to know for now.” I looked through the report. Okay so they are operating out of the neighboring town and they are called The Aspen Army. So with this little information what is the best way to go about defeating them? Well first thing we need to do is get stronger. If they are strong enough to nuke their own invading army without a second thought, then they must be pretty strong. I realized even if the Cloud high aerial wing helped us we would be seriously outgunned. I knew what we had to do but that doesn't mean I liked it. We needed the help of the Ocean Fleet and Cavern High Armies.
“One I have come to a thing that I need your permission for.” I explained that we needed the other two schools if we were even going to attempt a siege on the enemy town.
“But why do we even need to attack them in the first place?” One asked and rightly so if we didn't attack them then they have no reason to attack us.
“Because they had no reason to attack us the first time so what is stopping them from doing it again?” I retorted. One saw that I was right but like me he didn't like it.
“Okay fine make the arrangements. We will meet with the other three schools at oh four hundred.” I sent a messenger to the Ocean High fleet and two opened the coms with the Cloud Arial wing. I had decided to go to the Cavern High in person.
I left class a bit early and taking a portion of my troops I walked over to the cavern high. When I got there I had the whole army pointing any weapon they had at my pointed nose. I put my hands up above my head.
“I surrender and I want a talk with your leader.” this took a few seconds to register in their minds.
“Huh aren’t you here to kill us again you Highland scum.”
“If that is what you want me to use force I can.” I tapped out on my tablet. “Okay there is three nuclear warheads pointed at this school ready to fire on my command.” One of them whose mind wasn't grinding to a halt pointed his armies’ guns at me. “And there is a dead man’s switch so if I die then you have exactly two minutes to clear three blocks from your school but nice try. Now if you don't mind take me to your leader.” I had always wanted to say that. The group of armies escorted me into the school to their leader.
“So what brings the great Fortifier of the Highlands to our humble abode?” Their leader who is called General Cram. He was sucking on a candy cigar which pulled together the camo jacket he was wearing.
“One requests your presence at a peace talks in central park at oh four hundred.” I said looking not so trustfully at the cricket bat at his side.
“Oh and what would The Highlands want with us at a peace meeting?” I explained what had happened recently and told him that if he wanted to know more he would show up to the meeting on time. Then I stood up and walked out heading for the park where the meeting would take place.
At four o'clock representatives from each school showed up and joined me. They were glancing around looking for weapons on anyone else. And like that the peace talks started.
“Why did you call us all here?” asked the Ocean Fleet representative.
“Glad you asked.” I said then I produced four folders and handed them out to each party. “If you will open your folders they contain the reason and goal of this meeting.” everyone opened their folder.
“You have got to be kidding me.” said the Cavern rep.
“I wish I were but that there is the absolute truth.” I said. “If you want proof go to the Iron sand hotel and you will find a Radiation zone.”
“So what you shooed them away right?” said the Ocean rep.
“For now but there is nothing stopping them from coming back.” I pointed out.
“Be honest with us Fort?” asked the Cloud rep “Is there anything at all other than this plan?”
“No.” I solemnly said. “I have a grand total of three nuclear warheads with a fourth on the way but they can't reach that far in ICBM mode the only way to get them there at the moment is to bring them manually then do a strategic nuclear drop. But that is a last resort.” I let the folder explain the main plan.
“Well I think it is worth a shot at least.” said the Cloud rep.
“If this goes to plan then we split the winnings evenly?” asked the Cavern rep.
“Yes.”
“Well I guess if we don't then we will just be wiped out later by them.” and so the hour long peace talks ended. The Four Lands Unity Army was born.
“So let’s get a move on with project “Field Trip.”.” I said and the parties were dismissed.
“Project Field trip?” asked One as we walked home,
“Hey it is a field trip?” I said, we both looked at Two the same question in our eyes. What type of swim suit will she wear? We looked at each other then back at her. She glared at us.
“I am bringing a one piece you two perverts so don't get any ideas.” One’s spirits fell but mine didn't falter. She wasn't the only one with spies.
“Lier.” I said.
“Oh what makes you say that?” Two asked. One tipped his head up.
“If you were bringing a one piece then why bother trying on.” In the blink of an eye Two put me in a headlock strong enough to crush a gorilla's skull.
“What was that Fort?” Two asked smiling at me with evil intent that said ‘open your mouth again and you die.’. I gave up and she released my head.
“Now what were we talking about?” Two asked smiling with death threats hanging on every tooth.
“Nothing.” We said in unison, I ran home as quickly as possible because I had thing to do. And because Two was going to kill me if I stayed that was part of it to.
The next few days were pretty boring if I must say because it was all getting everything ready for the trip which is a lot more than you’d
think. First we had to get transport for all the players from all the schools. Next we had to get transport for all the armies and weapons which was dealt with by the Oceans Aircraft carriers and cargo fleets and those who couldn’t fit which was the majority of our army stayed at the Clouds base waiting for us to get a safe landing zone up at the hotel. Then we had to get a few hotel rooms to stay in since we were going to attack an unknown strength fortress we wanted to be prepared. Then for my personal sanity and privacy I gave Twenty-two special orders that would ‘Help’ me a lot. Twenty-two was ordered to stay behind. Phew no more nightmares of her sneaking up on me in my sleep. Now we have everything planed out and ready to go. The four busses were being loaded with players while soldiers were loading onto the carriers. I stepped onto the bus and took my seat. Next to me was One who by the look of his bulging backpack had packed plenty of stuff. I on the other hand had packed the minimal I could. One took out a box of sweets and started munching on them greedily. Two had picked the seat behind us and she kept talking and talking. I eventually tuned her out and brought out a book. My favorite book of all. This was my personal Virtnet Warzone Battle note book. I had written everything I had done in game from battle turnouts to soldier deaths. If I get to first place which I plan too someday I will probably sell them and make a killing off them. I started at the beginning.
“Day 1, The intro starts up.” I read through my first year of battles how I became the top army in middle school in seventh grade. A mere
four years ago. Back then the game was simpler. You made an army on a portable device and you would go up against others with the game. I was the first person in the school to get it and I had looked up all I could find on it for weeks in advance. I decided I would go with the Fortifier because they take less casualties and are based on defense so I would spend less funds on troop recruitment. Then I made it into the top one thousand two months after the release. My jacket was too big for me back then and the tails trailed out behind me. I laughed remembering the good old days.
The trip was over before I knew it and we were at the hotel in what felt to my moments but in reality was probably five hours. We checked into the hotel and walked up to the three rooms we rented for a week. The two connecting ones were for the boys and the one that was private was for girls. We all were tired but now wasn’t the time for lazing about. First me and the two other Fortifiers turned these three rooms into the biggest forward base I have ever seen. By the end of it I would call it a full fortress but the game said it was a forward base. Then we all took a deep breath and relaxed. The Naval and Aerial units weren’t due until tomorrow morning so all we could do now was enjoy the stay and scope out the town. We ended up going to the beach first to my surprise. Nobody object so we all put on our swimsuits and headed for the beach. We all had a blast and Two did wear a bikini. But so was Twenty-two. The problem isn't the bikini as a matter of fact the bikini she chose was almost too scandalous to be worn in public and I would be lying if I didn’t like the view. The problem was that she was there in the first place.
“Why are you here Twenty-two?” I asked trying not to yell,
“Oh I couldn’t miss a week of alone time with you Forty.” Twenty-two said “And my name is Konoko Forty.” Twenty-two smiled at me and I died inside. Well other than a Konoko making it into the bus everything was great. After that everyone went to try the great hot spring baths next to the hotel. I declined the offer saying I wanted to go walk around the town and look at what we were up against.
What I found on my walks was in reality a clean pristine and awesome resort town. But through my Virtnet glasses what I saw was utter destruction and death. It looked like a complete war zone with blow up tanks, crashed planes and skeletons everywhere. It reminded me a lot of the Terminator movie intros. Except without death bots everywhere. As I moved through the wasteland I studied it with further scrutiny. I started noticing small things. Like how some of the corpses were fresh and not decomposed. And how some of the tanks were freshly destroyed. I looked down an alleyway to see the ruins of a forward base. This just opened up even more questions. Then I spotted a soldier that was alive. I rushed over and my general patched up his wounds. I scoured the ruins for more survivors but found none. I walked back over to the wounded soldier. I looked closely and a data tab appeared above his head. His name was Itty and he wasn’t a soldier he was a general. Of something called the Anti Aspen forces. My general picked him up and carried him while I walked back to the hotel. When I got there I had Itty treated for the more major wounds like the several bullet wounds in his torso. I watched the procedure through my general’s eyes. The procedure went smoothly. Itty should be back to fighting condition in a day at most. Now I deleted the operation from the books so no one would know he was here. What really worried me was Itty had abandoned his injured general. Nobody does that without good reason. It was okay if your general died because he or she would just respawn the next day but if you leave an injured general he wouldn’t respawn. He would die and then you start over from scratch. Well unless you are super lucky and someone saves your general. This train of thought kept me up that night until I was too exhausted to stay awake.
When I woke up the next morning boy did I have a heart attack. I felt two things that were soft and squishy on my chest. When my eyes opened fully I woke up in my nightmare scenario. There was a Konoko in my sleeping bag. Well to be exact a topless Konoko but the fact a Konoko was in there at all scared me. Luckily everyone else was asleep at that moment because it was four in the morning. What should I do. That was oblivious get out of the sleeping bag. I squirmed my way out of the warm bundle with the Konoko in it. I didn’t dare think of going back to sleep.
“What I need is some nice night air. Yes, that is what I need.” I put on a shirt and a pair of shorts and walked out through the lobby. I walked out onto the beach my bare feet digging into the sand the calm sea breeze rustling my blonde hair. I looked out on the ocean with the moon falling the sky. Then I saw the aircraft carriers out at sea. I was very excited. I would have my army around me again. I waited the ten minutes till the boats closed on shore and a series of smaller boats took troops to land I ordered only my troops to come to shore and all the others to stay on the ships then I ordered the battleships into broadside for the mainland in case I needed artillery support. With a small chunk of my army I walked back to my room and put on my shoes then took a stroll around town. I walked back to where I found Itty before and lo and behold there was a gathering of about five players there. They all had masks on so I couldn’t see their faces but from the way they were searching I knew they were looking for Itty’s general who was currently standing next to my general. I walked into the alleyway.
“Hello?” I said the five players jumped out of their skin at the sound of my voice. Then they all turned their small armies on me.
“Hands in the air.” it sounded like Itty from the voice but I couldn’t be sure.
“Wait I come in peace.” I said raising my hands. “And to return someone.” I knelt down and pointed at Itty’s General.
“Is that my general?” Itty asked.
“Yes I think it is Itty.”
“It know this guy?”
“The name I go by is Fort.” A look of surprise went over Itty’s face.
“Fort what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to take down The Aspen Army.” I said. The group laughed.
“You taking down The Aspen Army?”
“What’s so funny?” I asked Itty grunted at his team then turning to me.
“You can't take them down it is impossible.”
“And why not?” I asked
“They have an army several thousand strong and a Fortress that can withstand nuclear bombardment.” This didn’t surprise me in the slightest. Anyone with a nuclear warhead unless they are Fortifier has to pick up anti-nuclear missiles when they get the tech for nuclear ICBMs.
“And?” I asked. Itty sighed,
“Let's get out of the open we are wanted rebels.” I agreed and my army walked out from the corner. They looked at the small army that outsized theirs tenfold. I found it pretty funny that they barely had a tenth of a fraction of my force. They took me to their base of operations which was at Itty’s home. We sat around the kitchen table while Itty got tea for us all.
“So if I may ask what are your names?” I asked the four other people sitting around the table. They all looked at me distrustfully. Then the biggest one who was a good full inches taller than me bent over to my ear.
“Look we don't know why Itty trusts you but if you want us to trust you better earn it.” I was starting to get a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I had seen something like this before. Itty walked over with five cups of steaming tea. I took mine gratefully.
“Thanks.”
“Okay Fort why are you here really?” Asked a girl in glasses who looked at me with extreme distrust and scrutiny.
“To do just as I said. Take down The Aspen Army.” I said taking a sip of the warm godly tasting drink. “This is great tea.” I said to Itty.
“Thank you.”
“Itty what happened for you to trust him immediately?” asked a big girl whose attitude and posture reminded of Two.
“Because he was the one who lead the party who attacked the Expansion Plan.”
“You give me too much credit I just was the Forward base it was One, Two and Nineteen who attacked the hotel.” The whole group looked at
me in surprise. Then they noticed the Fortifier emblem on my jacket.
“Wait you are that Fortifier?”
“The one that defeated the First Juel?” they launched questions at me like a AK-47 with an infinite clip.
“Please stop asking questions if you mean the group that was attacking Cloud high then yes that was me.” They looked at me in amazement.
“Now please no more questions.” Itty gave them a meaningful look and they shoved their curiosity back. “Thanks now I need all you have on the Aspen Army?” To my surprise they were a part of the Aspen Army but secretly they were the rebel force against them. The Aspen Army was a giant army run by Julian Aspen at Aspen Private school. The kid was a rich twat that spent a lot of money to get strong super quickly then he took over the town by conquering everyone that played the game. So he was a dictator who ruled by shoving money into the game till he won. His friends became his commanders and they are making the game not fun for everyone else. So we started this rebellion.
“Well Jonah started it but he went public and Julian got his parents to make Jonah’s parents get fired so they had to move.” Itty added. The main base is full of premium stuff which made it super hard to attack while on the run and hiding as rebels.
“So Julien got bored and ordered one of his commanders to attack your town and take it over.” Said the glasses girl as the cloudy sky started to rain a good morning rain. I stood up.
“Well thanks for the info when you see a signal then could please attack from inside the school?”
“Yes but what is the signal?”
“Oh trust me you can't miss it and I will try and make sure it misses you.” I walked outside and felt the rain hitting my head. I pulled on my hood and walked back to the hotel.
When I got back to my room I was surprised that everyone was still asleep. Well it was only six o’clock. I sat on the couch and looked down at my command tab and started giving out orders. If this dictator was like they said, then come tomorrow he would have quite the surprise. I nodded off on the couch only to be awoken an hour later.
“Come on get up sleepy head.” One was patting me on the chest.
“Five more minutes and there's a Konoko in my sleeping bag.” I tried to nod off again but One wasn’t having it. He flicked me in the forehead. I opened my eyes fully and rubbed my head.
“Fine fine I’m up. And I wasn’t kidding there is a topless Konoko in my sleeping bag.”
“A what?” One asked as he walked over to my sleeping bag and peered at the contents.
“That.” I said, One looked at me a look of absolute jealousy spreading on his face.
“How did you?”
“It was her not me.” I said staking my innocence in the matter. This drew all the boys to my sleeping bag. Then I walked over and picked up my sleeping bag then walked to the door and emptied the contents into the hallway.
“Ow?” Twenty-two said as she sleepily sat up and looked at the hallway as I slammed the door in her face.
“Now let’s get started we have a war to win.” I said to everyone, this got everyone moving. We all met out on the beach ten minutes later. As all the soldiers came ashore. I looked at my radar screen and saw the town come to life as enemy planes took to the sky around the towns going on patrol. This definitely reminded me of something from my past but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I heard a far off explosion and smiled. One looked at me raising an eyebrow.
“I left a few presents for them last night.” I said, he got the jist. We went through a big speech from the four leaders and then we Highlands and Cavern High took a walk out on the town while the Ocean and Cloud Highs stayed at base to offer us support. We walked through the streets along with other tourists and people. Everyone looked at their feet in slight horror when they say the junkyard of war. I led them to the Aspen private school.
“Okay that is our target.” I said. They all looked at the giant metal wall that rose above us. It was quite intimidating. Then some high schoolers came out each had their own armies. That equaled our army in numbers. We Backed the hell off if we attacked them straight out then we would certainly lose. We backed up a block then we set up for the war to begin. Me and the Caverns Fortifier set up our artillery and a forward siege encampment. The difference between a forward base and a siege encampment is a siege camp is meant for long term sieging. A forward base is good for a day or two but it doesn’t have the supplies to support an army of this size for long while firing on an enemy base continuously. Then the war began. We fired off the first barrage as the Cloud bombers went in for their bombing run. The enemy reacted by firing a nuclear warhead but we had already expected that. An antinuke missile took off out of its launch pad and intercepted the missile of death. Me and the other Fortifier whose name was Tet synchronized our attacks and we melded into one force as the rest of the army moved forward. They launched a huge wave of soldiers at us and we countered with our troops. Then Ocean called in.
“We are under attack.”
“Keep them from getting naval superiority for as long as you can.” I ordered.
“Yes sir. Cloud send aerial support to the Ocean fleet keep them alive for as long as possible.”
“Right away.” Then artillery shells started raining down on me. Luckily we were embedded pretty hard so the shells didn’t hurt that many soldiers and those who were, were whisked off to the medical tent. We were definitely outmatched here but we still had a chance of winning.
“Fort you there?” Itty called in.
“Fort here how may I be of assistance?”
“We need an artillery strike at our location.”
“Firing.” I changed some of the cannons to face Itty’s location. Then I saw a swarm of fighters flying out from Aspen. Our anti air shot some of them out of the sky but they still swooped over the whole town annihilating everything in their path. Cloud was entirely wiped out and with their air support now crashing down around them Ocean’s fleet was sunk by the onslaught of broadsides from the battleships. Then a swarm of soldiers poured from the walls those rich kids must have bought every single troop they could have. I didn’t know what to do. They were swarming us and it was working.
“Retreat and regroup and the hotel.” I ordered. It wasn’t something I liked doing but the only way to beat a swarm was to get somewhere defensible and wait for them to run out of supplies. We all ran. We ran for the hotel and we barely made it. The swarm was right on our tails and if I hadn’t set those mines last night then we would have been done for. We ran to our rooms and we hunkered down. The problem with swarms is they only work in open areas so the staircase was the perfect choke point. We were holding them there and slowly chipping away at their horde. I didn’t need to resort to my old ways yet. We were putting up a pretty good fight for the beginning but they just kept buying new troops as ours kept getting more fatigued. We had no reinforcements coming. These cheating bastards were taking all the fun from the game and using their money to dominate. That just wasn’t how you play the game. You play the game through hard work and loving care. I just hated to see people using money to take out all the fun from a perfectly good game. I had to try something anything. Then their guns stopped firing. There were a thousand clicking sounds but no bullets.
“Um am I deaf or did they just run out of ammo?” One asked,
“I think they ran out of ammo.” I said peeking out around the corner. The soldiers were looking at their guns in confusion.
“Huh?” said the attacking players.
“Looks like someone's out of ammo?” I said from around the corner.
“Charge?” One asked in a hushed tone.
“Charge.” I agreed.
“CHARGE!” One yelled. And we all ran around the guns blazing tearing through the army and taking back the ground we had lost. It was great to see the swarm scatter and route as their good for nothing commanders ran to the school. We hunted them down until there were no troops left that weren’t in the school, captured or killed. Then we arrived back at the siege camp apparently it wasn’t touched by anyone so we moved back in and continued the siege. The giant metal wall was definitely a premium Item the thing barely stood up to three barrages so it was a beginner wall with a high tier skin to play on fear tactics. After the walls went down all we had to do was walk onto the campus and do the surrender talks. We walked through the gates but Julian had yet another surprise for us. He had a Titan building yard in his base. This scared everyone including me. The Titans construction bar was ticking down. 3...2….1. The Titan was complete. How is this possible unless he bought almost every tech on the tree up to the Titan war machine construction? The Titan was about as tall as my waist which in the game was huge since the soldiers barely reached my shoe height.
“Fort is that what I think it is?” One asked me.
“Yep. That is a Titan.” I said backing up. “We need to get to the beach now.” I said, I needed to put a weapon into play that I hadn’t used since middle school.
“Run for the beach.” One yelled. Everyone else was way ahead of him they took off running at the sight of the war machine. I was typing madly on my tablet. We ran to the beach Julian and his Titan hot on our tails.
“We’re cornered.” Yelled one of our gamers when we ran onto the beach. And we were what was left of the swarm had apparently reloaded and now surrounded us on the beach. I finished typing in my command on the tablet with the word Atlantis. I looked out to sea where the enemy fleet was still afloat.
“Ha ha ha. Looks like you lot couldn’t win after all.” Julian laughed maniacally. I snapped my fingers and the enemy's fleet turned into a ball of flames out at sea. Then My Titan rose from the depths. The Atlantis a submergible carrier that had the firepower of a titan in its many main deck guns. I sighed. I haven’t used this since middle school when I first built it. I had faked it sinking at the end of ninth grade when One took power. I had kept it on the bottom of the ocean floor ever since.
“Fort is that what I think it is?” One asked looking at me in slight horror.
“Yes it is.” I said disappointed. I snapped my fingers again the Atlantis sped to shore where it released its crab legs and walked onto the beach. Atlantis Dwarfed Julian's Titan and was coated in top tier armor plating. I raised my fingers again. The many deck guns rotated and pointed at the small newborn Titan that dare oppose it. Julian thought like the people that challenged me in middle school when War Zone was a Titan fighting game. He thought big meant slow. His Titan tried to dodge left then right to get around my Titan and attack from the side. But he was sorely mistaken Atlantis kept up with the small Titan. I snapped my fingers and Atlantis fired its main guns tearing a hole in the Titan’s shoulder. The Titan remained frozen for a second or two then started moving again. Wait no you got to be kidding me. I keeled over laughing.
“You got to be joking.” I just couldn’t stop laughing. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. But I couldn't stop laughing. Then One connected the dots too.
“Oh that is a good one.” Now One was keeling over laughing. Then Two saw what happened and she too keeled over laughing. Nobody else got. But Julian got paler as I figured out what was his weakness.
“You know a Titan is useless half baked.” I said to Julian. He froze.
“What do you mean?” He stammered. He really didn’t know how to play the game and he didn’t have the patients to either.
“You didn’t finish constructing your Titan and now you pay the price.” I typed out an order on my tablet and the Atlantis lifted one of its front crab like feet into the air above the Titan. Then it brought it crashing down skewering it like a kebab. Then the actual battle began. Julian pressed all the buttons on his tablet and I knew exactly what he was doing.
“One, Two Mind backing me up?”
“Why his Tita… oh shoot.” We saw an army of Hodge podged Titans using whatever body parts they had to get at our armies.
“Okay everyone load your armies up on Atlantis their safer there. And get every pilot into a jet in the hangar.” I ordered as the Atlantis lowered itself to the ground while firing all of its cannons to keep the enemy Titans away. Julian was laughing maniacally.
“Hah you can't beat me I am the strongest.”
“No you are a spoiled brat who doesn’t like losing.” I yelled at him. Now there was no way I was going to lose to him even if I had to rebuild the Atlantis over and over again. Then one of the main guns on the Atlantis stopped firing. I was losing focus.
“Command change view combat Atlantis.” I said and my hud went blank then blue lines appeared showing me a full list of the ship's parts and weapons. The fourth main cannon had over heated. And the others were about to.
“Change weapon firing pattern to PC pattern with precision bursts on the cannon shells.” I ordered and the turrets firing went into a pattern where each gun got a chance to cool down while the others fired. They fired one shot per titan aiming for the reactor.
“Fort all armies onboard.” One informed me.
“Good get those fighters in the air.” I ordered. Oh wait the hangar doors were shut. I opened them and the jets that were stored in there flew out to assist me in the battle. Then a weird beeping sound came from Julian's tablet. He had run out of money on speeding up the building process on the Titans. Good that means he has no more than those here and on route.
One of the Titans got up to the Atlantis and tore at the titanium hull ripping a hole in the hulls outer rim. I crushed it under my Titans leg. Then my first gun failed. A shell got jammed. It missed its firing interval and another Titan got through tearing another hole in the hull just barely missing the joint of a leg. I reloaded that gun and it unjammed the shell then the hull breaches became a problem. That last hit had cut a major power cable giving the hydraulic pressure to keep that leg stable. I shut the valve and opened the secondary hydraulic system. My heart was racing as commands came through my visor. This was a great fight me versus an army of Titans. But one after the other the Titan’s broke through and clawed at my hull. The forward hull was down to sixty percent integrity. Any more damage and I won't be able to take to sea and submerge. Luckily the Titans were getting thinner but I still felt like Julian buying time.
“Sorry Fort but we’ve run out of ammo.” One informed me.
“Okay I guess I’ll just have to win then.” I said.
As I vanquished the last Titan with a crippling blow from my cannons Julian revealed his final Titan. He had been using the others to buy time so he could build this one and by the looks of it he had almost completed it.
“Hah try and beat this one.” Julian was way too cocky for the moment. Well I guess being a rich spoiled prick does that to people. But true this was a battle I had less of a chance of winning.
“All aerial units return to the hangar bay.” I Ordered. One looked at me suspiciously. I kept my eyes on the Titan that now matched the Atlantis in size.
“Hah giving up already?” Julian taunted.
“Nope.” I said then backed the Atlantis into the ocean. I retracted the crab legs and dove under the water keeping a close eye on the hull breaches. If I went to deep, then the water pressure would crush my Titan like an empty soda can but if I didn’t go deep enough then I couldn’t disappear. Julian's Titan ran into the water after mine.
“Where did you go?” Julian cooed. Julian attacked the water. He missed the Atlantis by mere inches. Then I locked onto the Titan and fired all my main guns. The Titan covered its main reactor with its arms that got torn apart by the incoming barrage. I dove up and out of the water and fired at the reactor at point blank range.
“Boom.” I said as the Titan exploded leaving my Titan victoriously floating in the sea. Julian fell to his knees.
“How.” Julian whimpered. Then he broke down into a bawling mess. Then another bigger group of players emerged from the town. They took one look at Julian and turned to us. I prepared to fight but.
“Thank you Thank you so much.” They all said shaking my hand. I was dumbstruck for a moment.
“Wait huh.” I said
“That rich twat.” The supposed leader indicated Julian. “Has been ruling like a dictator since he got the game and we are so glad that someone came and defeated him.”
“Oh I’m not the leader. My friend One here is our leader.” I pulled One forward and stepped back. I brought the Atlantis ashore and unloaded the troops. The crew onboard grateful to see the sun again after years under the sea were lazing about on the top of the ship as the maintenance crew got to fixing to the hull breaches. I had most certainly missed my Titan the Atlantis brought back memories of before when War zone was a simpler game. I sat on the beach watching One talking to the other schools of the area who we just released from the fat encrusted Iron hand of Julian and The Aspen Army. Then I saw him. The top ranked player in England. He walked over to me.
“Hello Spitfire.” I said. Looking at my tablet.
“Hi Arcadia.”
End