Best paint victory ever

My people have always fought each other. By that, I mean for sport. We play Paintball, except it’s sorta extreme. One of the rules are is if you get hit three times, you are out for a minute, then respawn. Why do I say extreme? Because the more people you get out and “exterminate”, the more likely the chance your team will win. 

I’ve been in these battles for a year, and oh my gosh it’s addicting and fun. It’s not like drugs or smoking where it’s bad for you, in fact, taking part in these paintball battles is encouraged. You can start these battles when you’re thirteen, but you only start making money from them when you’re fourteen. 

This is my first ever battle being fourteen, meaning this is the first battle I make money on, so I gotta win. Also, two things. One, the better you are the more money you get, and two there are bombs. If you get hit by one you automatically die, or in other words, you have to respawn. 

Alright, so the battle round began normally, we got ready to fight, waiting for it to begin (Also to point out, you stick with the same team for a week, if you like your partners you’ll stick with them, if you don’t you leave them to find another team you might like). When your team and the other team was ready, it continued. 

Everyone has the same gun until they turn sixteen, that’s where you can change your weapon to a more powerful one. Today was special, besides the fact that I got to earn money, we were going against a team that’s older than seventeen. This never happened, whenever it does you’re sure to lose. This never happens because you get paired with other people your age.

But today I was not going to let them win. This was my first match earning money, I had to try my most, absolute best. 

When battle round 5 started, we all had made a plan together, we all went to our positions. 

Our spawn point and the enemy’s spawn point are across from each other. We don’t know who our enemies are, they kept their faces concealed. We’re supposed to do that so the enemy doesn’t know who we are until the last round, in case we knew each other. If we did know each other, it may reflect on how well we do and change the outcome of things. This way the game is already set in a pre-determined course before things get messy.

There is also a different location or map where we fight every day. That’s another reason why today was so special. Today’s map was my favorite.

This map was the most dangerous, it was a huge circle, and it was fun. In the middle of the circle were a bunch of obstacles to hide behind, you can even get damaged by some of them if not careful. The left and right sides had high platforms, meant for snipers, it’s the only map with a place for the snipers. Underneath the platform, there are some hiding places where you can protect the snipers, or attack them. 

The weapon you begin with has two settings, you can change it to a sniper, or a regular rifle. The bad thing about this, however, is the weapon can be very heavy, and you can only change the setting twice in the game, once in a round. There are ten rounds, first to five wins, each round ends if our or the other team of five exterminates everyone the other team twice. 

We planned to surround the enemy and force them to the middle. I was to be a sniper this round, all the others were going to be the herders, or the people to trap the other team into the middle by herding them there like sheep (We all like to use this term because we used to live in the country).

When I got to my sniping station, however, I found that our plan was not going to work. In the sniping station, you could see where everyone was at; there’s an invisible screen showing heat signatures where the people are. Problem is, if someone was running to the sniper station to take you out, you wouldn’t see them. That’s my blind spot. 

Now, back to the problem with our plan. The other team was trying to do the same thing, or something similar, so we all are going to the same positions, just on other sides of the map. 

That’s bad because that means I not only have a sniper to fight off, which she’s on the other side of me, but it also means our herders down below are going to have a hard time. 

We had a minute to get into positions before the round started, which, during this time, our Paintball guns won’t work until the minute ended. 

I got ready by aiming my paintball gun at the sniper across me, ready to take her out as soon as the buzzer sounded. Half of me was behind the safety of a wall, the other half was out the window, aiming. 

After reloading, I went out into the open again, aimed where she was going to appear, then fired. I shot her right in the chest, knocking her backward for a second. 

Once again I hid behind the wall to reload. As I did so, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs toward me. I aimed my gun at where the person was going to appear. 

“It’s me, we’re in a pickle,” one of my teammates panted. 

“What pickle?” I asked aiming my gun back at the other sniper. 

The other sniper wasn’t there, she must be moving locations. 

“We took one life from them, so one of them is out. Problem is, there’s one person on the other team who’s good, he’s your favorite person,” he said. 

“Who? Caleb the destroyer? Or is it Mr. Unbeatable?” I asked. 

Those two people are the most famous in paintball fighting, but they also are the worst. They gloat a lot and can be huge butts sometimes. Mr. Unbeatable is the master of Caleb the Destroyer, who is his apprentice. 

“Yup, even worse it’s both of them and their original team. There’s only me, you, and another one of our teammates left. I tried calling you on the walkie, but you didn’t answer. I assumed you were busy so I ran over here, getting shot of course,” he explained.  

“Oh, sorry, my walkie hasn’t been working at the beginning of rounds, gotta get that fixed. Where’s our other teammate?” I asked, looking at the heat scanner, then trying to turn on the walkie, succeeding. 

“Last I’ve seen him he was surrounded, maybe he’s respawning,” he shrugged. 

I found where the other sniper was, she aimed at me. 

“Get down!” I shouted right as she shot. I ducked in time, but my buddy didn’t, he got shot, one more to go for him. 

“Crud,” he swore. “There’s almost nothing I can do to protect you now. You have to win this for us, there’s no way I or the other guy will,” he said before going back downstairs. 

I aimed at the other sniper who was aiming at me, fired, she dodged it, I quickly reloaded where I was, fired at her again this time successful. She fell to the ground, her body dissolving into molecules, which were vacuumed to the other team’s spawn where she respawned. 

There were four total enemies left, my buddy was fighting one, while our other herder came into the action, knocking one more out. There’s a total of three left. 

I looked for another target, I found someone peeking behind an obstacle, with a 1 above their head. They were at one shot left, so I fired at them, which caught them by surprise as they disintegrated. To my surprise, it was Caleb the destroyer and he was fighting the second to last herder, who died because he didn’t dodge in time, crud. Okay, two of them are respawning, my buddy down there is fighting off one. That one left that’s fighting right now is Mr. Unbeatable, the best player at paintball. Or at least the most famous.

Another second passed while I waited, there was nothing for me to do, Mr. Unbeatable was in my blind spot. 

Finally after what felt like years of waiting, the last of our buddies were completely out, leaving me alone to fight off three enemies. Even worse, I’m a sniper, and these guys are the best of the best. Luckily, I haven’t changed the setting on my gun yet, so I can change to a rifle at any time.

I heard Mr. Unbeatable’s footsteps coming up the stairs, coming for me. The stairs were the only way down unless I wanted to take away a damage point leaving me with one left. 

That’s when I got the idea, I’m going to do something no one has ever done, usually when the snipers are the last person alive, their team surrenders. But I was not going to. I had to win this battle.

“I order you to surrender! If you lose us this battle just because you didn’t surrender…” our team’s leader shouted over the walkie.

“Chill, I’ve got a plan going,” I objected.

For those who haven’t played this game, there’s also another rule. Only people who are still in the game can surrender. Which means I had the outcome of this game in my hands.

After I made my choice, I disabled the heat scanner seeing no one was in range to shoot me, and jumped out the open window. My team screamed and raged at me as I fell because they thought jumping out meant that we lost the match and that I was ignoring my teammates, which is another big no-no. Losing is worse than surrendering in this sport. 

Halfway down, I felt the other sniper’s paintball hit me in the leg, making it recoil a little.

To cushion my fall, I threw a bomb at the ground, (our own bombs don’t do damage to us somehow) the force from the bomb knocked me upwards a few feet, stopping me in midair, then I prepared myself to roll as soon as I hit the ground. 

It worked, it cushioned the fall and I didn’t lose a damage point.  

I looked up and smiled at Mr. Unbeatable, who was gaping down at me through the window. That moment of victory ended almost immediately when he threw a bomb at me. 

I dodged it by lungeing behind a blue barrel, blue was our team’s color. I looked behind me to the other team’s barrel, to see someone poking out of it. I shot him in the arm, he recoiled a little in shock, still unbelieving what I did, quickly reloaded then hit him in the stomach with another shot. He was out, looks like my buddies got a shot on him earlier. 

Knowing Mr. Unbeatable was coming toward me fast, I ran to the other sniping base. Running up the stairs, I met the other sniper. Shooting her once made her get out. Wow, I did not notice my team did so much damage to these guys. 

“Hey guys… how much health… does Mr. Unbeatable… have?” I asked, running out of the sniper area and into the middle, where the enemy was supposed to be herded into. In the middle was a barrel, I slipped the lid off, and climbed inside to catch my breath. 

“One shot till respawn,” someone answered. 

“What’d you jump out the window for!” our captain shouted. 

“I’m alive, aren’t I?” I demanded, switching my sniper to a rifle. 

“True, but you’re not going to win!” he shouted, making my head start to throb. 

“Maybe, maybe not. Give me a chance, while you guys are at it, stop yelling! I’m going to go deaf before I win this game!” I whispered. 

“There you are, you little punk,” a voice towards the left side of the barrel said. 

Oh no, he heard me. That’s okay, I wasn’t going to be in this stinky barrel forever anyways. 

“What! How! I never miss!” he shouted, chasing after me. 

Good, I want him to chase after me. I was running towards the enemy base, with a plan in mind. 

Our bases both have a shield, the plan was to shoot him, have him respawn and force him out of the shield then shoot him again before he knew where I was at, but it backfired. Instead, this is what happened. 

“You’re a great warrior, my friend,” he said, catching up to me. 

“And a beginner too, I’m only fourteen, this is my first match getting money,” I explained. 

“Oh, so that explains the desperation,” Mr. Unbeatable said, chuckling. 

“I’m not only desperate, I’m also encouraged,” I said, then shot him. 

As I shot him, he immediately shot me back. Wow, he has good reflexes.

“Meet me in the middle,” he said, his body disintegrating. 

“You’re on,” I replied disintegrating too, my ears went first, then my lower body disappeared up to my head. 

When you respawn, you get to see your exterminated/out teammates for a few seconds. 

“What’s your plan?” my team asked. 

“To wing it,” I smiled then respawned. 

As soon as I appeared on the battlefield, I ran to the middle. 

“To wing it! Are you crazy!” My captain shouted on the walkie. 

“Hey, I said not to yell. It’s worked so far, right?” I asked. 

I know all about Mr. Unbeatable. He always makes plans as soon as something happens. I on the other hand react to what’s happening around me as it happens. That’s how I survived so long, I’m unpredictable, whereas Mr. Unbeatable isn’t as unpredictable. He usually has the same plans for everything. It’s easy to figure them out after half a year’s practice or playing this sport, and watching him play. 

Now I’ve never gone against Mr. Unbeatable, I’ve only seen him on t.v. Which, I’m guessing this battle’s on t.v, I wonder how Mr. Unbeatable’s fans are reacting to this. I mean, a fourteen-year-old is kicking Mr. Unbeatable’s butt, I must be so popular right now!

“So, you’re pretty good, but I’m better,” he said when I met him in the middle. 

“Let’s see about that,” I said before he shot at me. As I rolled to dodge his paint, I fired at him, which hit since he wasn’t expecting it. 

He grunted in frustration, then fired continuous paintballs at me. Now, people usually don’t do this unless they’re desperate, this is the first time Mr. Unbeatable did it, I smiled as I hid behind a wooden block. Why do people only do this if they’re desperate? Because it wears out their gun, and it could easily jam it up unless the shooter doesn’t stop at a certain time.

I reloaded since I was at one shot left till reload. He was still shooting at me, even though the block was blocking it all. I chuckled, I’ve never seen this guy rage before. It’s hilarious. 

“You realize we’re on t.v, right?” I asked, jumping out as he reloaded. “Your fans probably disapprove of you raging in the middle of a tense battle,” I said not shooting at him even though he was vulnerable. 

This was the worst insult to do to someone, to wait for them to reload. However, people don’t mind if you do it to celebrities, since everyone wants the celebrity to win.

“Don’t just stand there! Shoot me!” he shouted before finishing reloading. 

“Fine, if you say so,” I said shooting him once, which made him angrier. 

He shot at me again, continuously. Before I got shot, I threw a bomb at him, knocking him out instantly just before two shots hit me, getting me out as well. 

Did I get him in time? Or did the shots hit me before the bomb him? As if reading my thoughts, the results were posted in the middle of the common room, where I was taken to respawn.

“Whoo-hoo!” My team cheered.

“Wait, I won? I actually won!” I shouted.  

After the match ended, my team and I spent the rest of the day celebrating. In the middle of the celebration, some reporters came over to my house to interview me. I was the youngest, best paintball warrior in the country. I couldn’t stop smiling or laughing. I even earned twice the money I had expected!

Now here comes the big decision. Since I totally carried my team, the reporters continually asked me if I was going to go in search of another team. Thanks to these questions, even more people showed up at my house, volunteering to join my team.

As I looked into all my team’s grinning, exhausted faces, my heart swelled. I couldn’t leave these guys. Sure they are terrible at defense and get out super quick, but… I just couldn’t leave them. They could get better. Plus, why would I choose another team who wants to be on my team just because I’m famous? Not to mention they’re strangers.

“Nope,” I told the reporters. “I think I’ll keep these guys; because I know that no matter what, they’ve got my back.”

My team ran up to me and hugged me, everyone except our team leader. Once everyone was done hugging me, he took off the leadership pin on his uniform and pinned it on me, making me the new leader.

I nodded my thanks. “After all, if it wasn’t for them, Mr. Now Beatable wouldn’t have been low in health.”