War Story

By: ctownsoaker

Every year, on the 4th of July, our neighborhood gets together and has a huge water fight. There are usually anywhere from 2-5 teams willing to play. The teams can range in size anywhere from 3-15. My team, with three people, has won the last four years because of our better tactics and firepower. WE usually win easily within a period of 30 minutes to an hour. But my story is about what happened last year. Last year was different because two teams combined to give us a huge battle.

Our Team and Weapons

Me- CPS Splashzooka/XP Triple Play
Brian- Monster XL/ XP310
Nathan- XP270/ Max-D4000

Story

It was another blisteringly hot day in the beginning of July, the 4th of July to be exact. My team and I had been up since 7 in the morning just making preps for the upcoming battle. As usual, we thought it was going to be a 6 man team vs. our three man team. WE were always outnumbered so we always expected a tough battle. We had been fixing up our base. A great new idea that Brian, the defensive leader, had designed. Since his house and yard are small, it included the entire backyard, maybe 20 feet by 30 feet. It was blocked in on one side by a house and, on the opposite side of that, it was blocked in a garage. Then, in the back of his back yard, there was a fence separating his and another persons house. But there was a back alley between the fence and house which led to another street. It was going to be tough to guard with only three men. I am going into such detail because it will be needed later to fully understand the story. Anyway, we had been making coolers filled with water balloons the entire morning and had been storing them in the base. With 15 minutes left before the battle begun, we became notified that another team on another street but still in the same block wanted in on the water war. We agreed hoping that they could help us with the other team. To avoid confusion, let's just call our team Garwood, the original team we were to face, W42, and the newly joined team, Redding. I just named them after the streets they were on. After about 5 minutes after that, a Redding member came and offered a treaty to only go after W42. WE gratefully agreed to avoid an onslaught. Than, we saw that same member casually walk over to W42s base and, with the broken words we could hear, he was offering a peace treaty to them also. It became evident to us that we were sandwiched between two super powers that outnumbered us 18-3. Although they had more men, they were not as skilled in the ways of water battles as we were. So, instead of calling them out right then and there, we let it slip and continued prepping our base. WE even dug a trench 2 inches deep from Brains front yard to our base and put the hose in it and recovered the hose. WE then had 2 hoses in base, one for QFD and one for replenishing balloons and old school soakers. After we had all finished making our bases, the leaders of the three teams met at the tri-intersection of Garwood, Redding, and W42 and decided to have a capture the flag three ways in which u must mount all three flags in your base at one time. Instead of one hit kills, we made it interesting and said that to be eliminated, you had to be soaked. I mean, one hit kills can seem kind of trivial and confusing because people can lie. But, how can u lie that you are completely and utterly drenched, you can't. And, if you are in the sun long enough for it to evaporate some of the water, than you deserve to have some life given back. The assembly then scattered and returned to our bases and awaited the whistle. In our base, it was very tense. Nathan was running around stashing balloons incase of being overrun, Brian was clenching the Monster XL just repeating the words 18-3, 18-3, and this will be the miracle of all miracles if we win! I was eating an apple and looking at my gun, waiting for the first attack. At the last minute, Brian jumped up and yelled, WE NEED TO BLOCKADE THE BACK. THEY CAN COME THROUGH BACK THERE! WE quickly ran to his garage, picked up two trash cans and a nasty old bike and blockaded the back entrance. They wouldn't be able to get through but they could still fire through at an angle. The first attack came and it was truly overpowering. We were hit in the back by 10 of the 12 Redding's and from the front, hit by 5 of 6 W42s. I took a bucket of water balloons and fought off the invasion from the attack. Brian took the front and Nathan took the front. I picked up a balloon and slung it at my Redding foe and hit him in the stomach, having it burst all over him. HE fell down and was easily discouraged to run away. I kept doing that for each Redding but they didn't leave as easily as the first. Brian had successfully fought off the cowardly W42s and now came to the back entrance with his Monster XL and sprayed any foes until they ran away, not eliminated but discouraged. Not a bad first wave, all in all, I was hit by a stream of an XP270 across the shoulder, Brian was not hit, and Nathan had been hit by a few balloons, he had about half of his life. Now was my chance to leave the base and go searching for the flags because I was the best offensive warrior on our team. I picked up the Splashzooka and a pouch of 10 water balloons and quickly made it across the street to the area of the W42s. I hid next to the W42 house in a bush, knowing that the base was in back and the W42s would march from the other side of the house coming to our base for the second wave. Once they had all left and begun attacking, I got out of the bush and started running along the house hoping to have a clear shot at the one defender who was standing between me and the flag I needed. As I turned the corner of the house, what I saw made my heart sink. There, standing before me, were 4 relatives of one of the W42s standing there with guns ranging from Monster XLs to CPS1700. And, to make it even more difficult, there behind them, was the one defender clenching a hose in her hand. I was attacking with huge streams of pressurized chlorinated water until I realized that I had to move to avoid being eliminated. I took out a water balloon and slung it at one of them. Than, I took my Splashzooka and started firing and dodging their streams. They began to fear for their dryness and ran back to the adult gathering. I still had to face the guy with the hose though. Just then, Nathan from out of nowhere came to my aid with an XP310. He ran across the battleground for no apparent reason spraying furiously yet crazily at the guy with the hose. He was half drenched by the time we made it to the other side's safety. WE were about to charge when, from behind Nathan came two of the adults who had been sprayed. They picked him up and tossed him into the pool. HE was eliminated immediately, shattering any of my hopes of capturing their flag on this campaign. With Nathan gone, they turned their focus to me, and not wanting to get defeated, I ran as fast as I could to the quiet, desolate part of the neighborhood in which no water warrior had set foot. I sat there, drinking water and regenerating my strength when I heard something crackled come over the warlike talkie. It was Brian but I couldn't make out the words. I kept asking what he was saying and he became frustrated. He stopped talking over the intercom. In the distance, I heard 10 bottle rockets go off. I smiled remembering that we had decided, prior to the battle, that one bottle rocket would mean that one enemy was eliminated. Suddenly, I heard to muffle voices saying, "I saw him come over here." and "I know he's over here, they told us to kill him so we should!" I instantly dropped to the ground and crawled to safety behind a huge evergreen. Peaking through its branches, I could see that there were two Redding's searching for me. I took a deep breath and jumped out slinging a water balloon at one. I took another and another and another out and kept firing at that one Redding. For the finishing touch, I took the Splashzooka and sprayed him down as the other one watched. He was eliminated and I had only a few spurts to show for it. The other took out his XP310 and started firing. He hit me once with a good beam across the chest but not before I could thoroughly soak whim with a combo of water balloons and Splashzooka blasts. I lit two more bottle rockets to let Brian know. I than returned for base to tell him about Nathan. He was disappointed in him. He gave me a pouch of another 10 water balloons as I recharged the Splashzooka. H told me to go and get the Redding flag because they only had two very wet warriors to fend me off. HE would fend off the assault of the W42s. AS I left, I saw him take off the QFD from a hose and attach a high powered nozzle. AS I entered the base, I was sneaking very quietly to not give away my location. I entered the base without any opposition. I looked and saw a tub filled with water balloons. It was a kiddie's pool filled with water and balloons. I searched for the flag until I found it but when I turned around, the two Redding's were right there coming for me. I quickly snatched the flag and hopped the fence. Only one followed but didn't make it before I returned to the base. He made it to the border of the base before he realized Brian had a hose. Brian thoroughly drenched him and eliminated him. All we had to was get the W42 flag. I took the Monster XL, filled it, refilled my balloons and snuck to the area of W42. I entered the base through the back and took the flag. They finally realized that I had the flag but not by the time I had a healthy lead. I was hit in the back with a balloon and lost control but maintained a healthy pace until I reached the base and we had won!

Posted: 20030612