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Gunsmoke

by Wanderer D

Chapter 8: Chapter 08: Jungle

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Gunsmoke

by Wanderer D

Chapter 8: Jungle

"So, Vice Principal Luna said to wait!"

Applejack strummed her guitar. "Well, makes sense to me."

"Oh, who cares, anyway?" Rainbow Dash spoke up, guitar in hand. "Like, she couldn't even be bothered to open the door when we went over to apologize."

"Rainbow Dash." Applejack glanced at her friend with a frown. "Ah told ya that Sunset explained she was just listenin' to her headphones when we arrived."

"And you believed her?" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "When was the last time you saw Sunset Shimmer wearing headphones? She's not Vinyl Scratch, Applejack."

"Rainbow, dear, I do believe you're making a big thing out of a little incident," Rarity said, patting Rainbow's back.

"No, I'm not," Rainbow Dash said. "I just decided I don't care. If she thinks we're too lame to hang out with, I don't see why I have to put up with it."

"Um, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy approached slowly. "I don't think—"

"Listen, we're here to practice, right?" Rainbow Dash interrupted, looking at the others. "Sunset already ignored me and Pinkie Pie, so I say we ignore her and do what we came to do. We're going to win the competition at the fair, so that's what we should concentrate on, not on Sunset."

When the others just exchanged glances but didn't argue, Rainbow Dash took her place. "Come on girls, it's time to practice."

The sphere of light grew and grew, until it was the size of Desert Mirage. She grunted and suddenly it expanded in size. "This is as big as I can make it right now," she said to the air. She could feel the exhilarating rush of magic through her veins. It was almost like taking a deep breath after holding it for far too long.

Having her magic taken away had been the worst thing about becoming human. And after getting it back, not being able to control what little she held onto was almost just as bad, except for the visceral knowledge that she was complete now that she had it back.

"Cut it by half, again."

She maintained the magic output as the sphere slowly became smaller and smaller. When it was her size, she bit her lip, gauging the power level. "Cut it in half again."

"Again."

When it was the size of a beachball, she nodded. "That works. This is roughly what I have right now, power-wise, in the real world."

Knowing that Twilight could hear her, even if she couldn't really respond, she spoke up again, "I'll go adventure around a little bit."

And with that, she was off.

This time, she headed out to one of the jungle areas of the game, useful minor spells already flashing in her mind. As she ran, her footsteps faded altogether, then her footprints disappeared. She grinned as wind enveloped her form and helped her run even faster than ever before. She ran past several monsters without them even being able to react to her presence.

She forgot about everything. She could have shot them, but she was having too much fun already.

Magic. She was using magic again, and there was no fear of overpowering, or harming anyone.

Her HUD lit up with a text message from the Surgeon reminding her about the battle later on, and announcing a meeting before it. She replied, assuring him she'd be there.

It was then that she ran off the cliff.

The door to the lab opened, startling Twilight. "Oh, hey Lemon Zest!"

"Hey," the other girl replied, taking off her headphones and closing the door behind her. She walked around the single bed in the center of the room, giving Sunset an odd look, before walking up to Twilight and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Lemon!" Twilight gasped, blushing. "What if we're seen?"

"She's under. She can't see us, and Spike is doing his job at keeping the girls distracted perfectly." Lemon Zest rolled her eyes. "Besides," she said, grinning, "otherwise I'd get jealous of another girl spending time with mine." She blinked. "She can't, right? See us, that is."

Twilight chuckled. "No, she can't." She reached down and turned off Lemon's still-playing mp3-player.

"This is as big as I can make it right now," a voice came from the speakers at that moment. "Cut it by half, again."

"Huh," Lemon Zest followed Twilight back to the computer, where she sat down and slowly turned down a dial. "That was Sunset? She sounded... different. Older?"

"Yep, that's her, and the reason she sounds older is that you can use a voice modulator when you create your character. It can do a lot of stuff, make you sound older, younger, deeper, higher." Twilight replied, pointing at one of the monitors that showed a young woman in armor and mantle, arms held forth and hands extended. A huge sphere of light had formed in front of her.

"I thought she was playing Gun Gale Online," Lemon Zest muttered, looking around for a chair before dragging one to sit next to Twilight. "Isn't that like, guns only, no magic?"

She watched as the sphere of light in the monitor became smaller, followed by Sunset's modified voice: "Cut it in half again."

"So, why is it," she pointed at the screen. "That Sunset is creating magical...things in there?"

"Again."

"Basically, it's because of that," Twilight pointed and Lemon Zest followed the direction of her finger.

"A book inside of a home-made microwave?"

"It's not a microwave!" Twilight glared at Lemon Zest, who only grinned in response.

"That works. This is roughly what I have right now, power-wise, in the real world. I'll go adventure around a little bit."

Lemon Zest gasped. "She can do that in this world?!"

Twilight meeped. "Please don't tell anyone!"

"Relax, Sparkles, you can trust me," Lemon Zest hugged the blushing girl. "But that's some impressive stuff right there. I thought she and the others could only pony up."

"Well, the other Rainbooms are not like Sunset," Twilight explained, turning to quickly type at the keyboard.

They could both see Sunset's character running incredibly quickly, but most of the space in the monitor was covered with windows analyzing and displaying several fluctuations. "This screen records and analyses Desert Mirage and most of the visual information we get," she explained, then pointed to a screen above it that was scrolling several numbers. "That analyses and calculates the output of power she's displaying in-game, and..." she tapped another screen. "This one records the inter-dimensional fluctuations and magic output in relation to Sunset's demands of additional power."

"I guess those computer monitors over her bed keep track of her vitals and neurological processes?" Lemon looked at the Amusphere. "My guess is you track most of that through the Amusphere itself, right?

Twilight gave the other girl a hug. "Yes! That's correct!"

Lemon laughed. "Well, Crystal Prep doesn't send slouches to the Friendship Games." She looked around the room in barely contained awe. "I have to admit, Sparkles, this is quite the setup. Where did you get the idea to do this?"

Twilight sighed. "Well, for one it was Sunset... she discovered that while she couldn't use her magic using a normal Amusphere, she could... feel pain when shot."

Lemon Zest blinked, eyes wide. "Wait, what?! But... that's impossible, right?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, but it is almost impossible unless you mess around with the programming of the Amusphere, which she didn't. When she found out others couldn't feel any pain when shot, she came to ask me if I had any idea what was going on. I discovered that her unique physiology had a lot to do with that... in other words, her magical senses were seeping into her connection to GGO and that's why she feels some pain when bullets hit or graze her."

"And she still goes in?" Lemon Zest whistled. "That takes guts."

Twilight sighed. "She has reasons."

Lemon Zest gave her a look, but didn't comment, instead turning to look at a screen. "Oh, look," she said just as Sunset's vitals started spiking on the monitors. "She's jumped off a cliff."

"...and we don't know if more magic means that the pain will increase, or worse, start affecting your real body!" Twilight poked Sunset's arm. "Don't ever do that again!"

"Ow. I know, I know," Sunset sighed. "That'll teach me to text while moving at high speeds."

Lemon Zest snickered from where she was sitting.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Whatever. We'll try this again tomorrow. At least now we have a reasonable power input for you to use in-game without losing too much control."

"Fine, fine," Sunset growled, pushing Twilight's hand away. "Anyway, I should get going. Did you get any interesting readings?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes, I did. But I'm going to have to ask Prof. Sombra for another computer. I want to have it doing a dedicated analysis without it being connected to the magical artifact."

"Well, I'll leave you to that. And with Lemon Zest," she grinned at Twilight's blush. "Aww. That's cute."

"Watch it, Sunny," Lemon half-threatened.

"My lips are sealed," Sunset replied with a smile. "See you later girls!"

Desert Mirage stepped into the bar and her ears immediately picked up the tune of Misery's Crown. Oddly appropriate to her situation and on the tame side for the locale. She scanned the crowd, quickly spotting the far table where The Surgeon, Coyote and Thunderbird were already seated.

She made her way through the bar, nodding at the occasional "Good luck tonight!" from a few of the bar regulars. She sat down next to Thunderbird and ordered a drink. "I take it you guys have seen the other registered teams that passed to the next round?"

"Hard to miss the copycats, the resurrected squad, and the rockabillies," Thunderbird muttered.

"It will certainly be a learning experience," Surgeon said, waving to the Lion and Nightmare Moon, who had just arrived. "Two teams with completely different tactics than our own, and one that has the potential to act just like we do."

The Lion took a seat to him, while Nightmare Moon sat next to Mirage, giving her a smile and her hand a squeeze in greeting.

"Solo falta Heavy Collar," Coyote spoke up. "Where is he?"

"He's performing a mission for me," Surgeon said. "He'll be here soon, I just got a message from him."

Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. "What sort of mission?"

"Recon." Surgeon grinned when Nightmare Moon tilted her head. "You'll see. Although his mission brings up something I'd like to try."

"And what's that?" Mirage asked.

"I was thinking we should clean up level 45 of the Endless Tunnel."

Coyote choked on his drink, and Thunderbird gave Surgeon a look. "Are you nuts? They literally just passed level 44! We have no idea what's down there! Not to mention, it took them six squads to do it!"

Surgeon's grin didn't disappear. "Yes, but imagine what message that sends to everyone."

Mirage rubbed her temples. "You. You want just our squad alone to take down a level boss in the Endless Tunnel. We're talking at least a level 85. That place is crazy."

Thunderbird nodded quickly to her words. "Dude, they're saying there's 120 levels to that thing, and that the monsters will go over level 100 by level 50. It's designed for multi-squad attacks. Hell, the last few levels are probably going to be server-size affairs!"

"Even more important for us to make our mark now, then, isn't it?" The Surgeon gave each of them a look. "I don't intend to just win the international competition, which is big enough, I want our team to be the stuff of legends. Even X-COM had the support of several other squadrons when it took down the special event."

"So you want to show up everyone?" Mirage asked, still quite unable to believe his audacity.

"I say we go for it," Nightmare Moon said, making the others look at her in surprise, but the Lion nodded as well.

"We don't have anything to lose by trying," Lion pointed out. "And it would be an excellent exercise on teamwork, even if we fail."

This calmed the others down, and another hand-squeeze and reassuring smile from NMM made Mirage roll her eyes and smile. "Fine, I'm in."

After a moment glancing at the group, Thunderbird threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "Gah! Okay! Why not?"

Coyote could be heard muttering something in Spanish, but he finally sighed and nodded. "Who wants to live forever, right?"

"I do!" Heavy Collar announced, marching up to the group. "But then again, I'm cool that way. You know how else I'm cool?" he asked.

"I'm sure you'll tell us," Mirage muttered.

"Yes. I'm cool..." he produced a tablet out of his pocket. "Because I have the recording of an actual battle from the Kings."

The Surgeon smiled. "Let's get this planning session started then..."

"Wait!" Mirage slammed her fist on the table. "There is one thing we need to fix before we continue."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"The squad name."

"Well now, this is unfair," Heavy Collar declared from the bushes.

"Tell me about it," Mirage muttered.

They were at the edge of a dense jungle, just where it ended and a wide span of sand, bookended by two large lakes that expanded until the edge of the field met.

The sand bridge was relatively long, and met the half-standing gates of a huge wall that allowed entrance to a small hill with a stone staircase, that contained at the very top, a large temple in the middle, flanked by two towers.

"This is not going to be easy at all."

"We'd better report back to Surgeon," Mirage muttered.

"I'll go after you, I want to set up some traps in case those guys are idiots and abandon their position."

Mirage nodded, pulling her mantle's hood on and running deeper into the jungle. She found the others gathered around Surgeon, who had drawn a crude map on the floor.

"We didn't see any of them move out, but it would be stupid of them to give up their advantage," Mirage said, sitting down and sighing. "That place is a fortress. We can't go around since the edges of the wall reach to both ends of the field."

The others nodded. "I imagine their two snipers will be up in the towers," Nightmare Moon said. "It makes the most sense, since they can cover just about all of the area from there."

"They're also crumbled enough at the top to provide plenty of cover, so even if you took one down, the other would have you made, and then shoot you without a prediction line showing up." Mirage added, and Nightmare Moon nodded in reply.

"And let's not forget they have an explosives specialist with them," Coyote pointed out. "And two minigun users."

Surgeon nodded. "Given that there's little chance of us climbing the walls, I imagine those three will somehow be covering the middle ground. When we start moving over that stretch of land, they can take us down in that small area, and if they don't, their snipers will. It's a natural choke point, made worse by solid cover. We'd be decimated in seconds if we attempted a straight attack."

"What about their gunslingers? They have a dual wielding and a submachine gun." Lion asked, pulling out his tablet and going over the notes.

"If they're smart about it, patrols or support for the minigun users," Surgeon said after a moment of thought. "If they're not... they'll have them static somewhere. Maybe protecting the snipers, given their PvM experience." He glared at the map, before turning on the radio. "Heavy Collar, are you still at the edge of the jungle?"

"I was on my way back to you, why?" the reply crackled through.

"Go back to the jungle's edge... but follow it north to the edge of the map, keep an eye on the wall. Let me know if there are any holes in it."

He glanced at Thunderbird. "If you don't mind going south, please do the same."

Thunderbird nodded and set out running.

Heavy Collar's voice came from the radio. "There's a few holes on the wall past the lake, boss."

"Not here," Thunderbird's report came in a minute later. "But I see a large drain that goes through cleanly."

Surgeon nodded. "Excellent."

"What are you thinking?" Nightmare Moon asked.

Letting out a long sigh, Surgeon shook his head. "We don't have many options, but this might be down to Coyote, Mirage and you."

The three looked at each other.

Surgeon grimaced. "The rest of us run a high risk of getting killed on the first wave, but there's few other options to do this." He glanced up at a huge, nearby tree. "This guy looks like it goes over the canopy."

He glanced around. "There's another one nearby to the west." He raised his radio. "Collar, Thunderbird, do you guys see any very large trees where you are?"

"There's one right behind me," Collar responded. "Not quite at the edge of the jungle, but really close. Why."

Surgeon grinned. "Oh, just an idea."

"I've found one as well," Thunderbird said.

"Good, mark them on your maps and come here. I have a plan." He turned to look at the others. "Now, let's see what we have in our inventories, shall we?"



Next Chapter: Chapter 09: Ride Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 25 Minutes
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