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Post by zhi on Oct 19, 2008 3:27:17 GMT -5
The Crawlers lumbered by, closer than Zhi had ever seen them, the ground beneath his feet seeming to shake as the massive armored vehicles thundered past. Enormous iron wheels spinning, tearing chunks of earth from the ground and launching the crushed dirt into the air, Zhi watched in awe as the monstrous machines passed by, only a few meters away.
They were a lot bigger close up, he thought, inspecting them. Several of the Crawlers appeared to have taken damage, huge dents in their armor and one, with what looked to be a huge chunk of stone sticking out of it. The young foot soldier could only imagine the sheer amount of force each dent would have required, though, honestly, he felt confident that “the other guy”, the Earthbenders who’d opposed the Crawlers, probably weren’t breathing any longer.
Once the Crawlers had passed Zhi and the Sergeant by, they seemed to pause between the two and the bulk of the Fire Nation’s forces. The young soldier couldn’t be certain of the exact words exchanged, but he could just make out the sound of someone shouting up ahead, possibly a Crawler crewmember. They were likely organizing the regrouping infantry forces.
Sergeant Zhuk, the man in charge of Zhi’s platoon, had ordered his men back from the smokescreen; at least eleven were missing since the battle had begun and he quickly ordered his remaining men, numbering in the high thirties, to regroup and take on a new formation for combat against Earthbenders. When the Captain in charge of the Lucky Eight had pulled up before his regrouping forces he’d paid him little attention, though he quickly caught the last of the man’s words.
"You can clean up after us."
That one stung Zhuk’s ego a bit, “Ahh, get moving, you sardines!” he shouted, waving a large Platypus Bear paw of a hand dismissively after the Crawlers as they began to turn back toward the dissipating smokescreen. Turning back to his men, Zhuk motioned for them to advance, “Move out!” he shouted, nostrils flaring, ready to charge into what lay behind the smoke.
The nonbending Spearhead platoon began to move forward once again, the other nonbender platoons falling in behind them. To the flanks, once again, the bender units formed up and moved out, many launching searing balls of flame over the field and through the smokescreen. Zhi and the Sergeant were only a short distance from their advancing comrades when the Crawlers roared past them again, this time, heading back toward Earth Kingdom lines. The lead Crawler zoomed by, a bit closer to the young soldier than he would have preferred, causing Zhi to quickly skitter to the side to avoid the great spiked wheels of the onrushing war machine.
Before he could turn back and watch the Crawlers speed forward, Zhi heard a familiar voice calling and turned to spy his friend, Shen, amongst the advancing Spearhead platoon, recognizing the faces of his friends and comrades; he knew it to be Zhuk’s unit. Overjoyed to see that his friend had made it safely back to friendly lines after the two had become separated in the smoke, Zhi bolted over toward him. “Shen!” he shouted, waving frantically.
“You’re alive!” shouted Shen, as his friend squeezed back into the platoon. “Good to see you back amongst the living, Private,” came the familiar voice of Corporal Hue, only two or three men down the line. Zhi grinned at his friends and settled back next to Shen in the line. “You look.. like you’ve been through alot,” said Shen, looking over Zhi’s dirty and blood stained uniform. “I was.. but I found some help in the smoke and… the Sergeant!” he shouted, turning to look for the giant-like man who’d carried the wounded bender and led the young soldier out of the smoke.
It was too late; however, the Sergeant had likely reached his own unit and blended back in amongst the other Firebending infantry. Though Zhi had hoped to thank him and the wounded fellow for their help, it didn’t seem like that would be feasible now and the he quickly turned back toward the front. Zhuk’s platoon was quickly picking up the pace, breaking into a full charge in the wake of the Crawlers. “You think they’re waiting for us on the other side there?” Zhi asked Shen, holding his spear at the ready as they ran forward.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” replied the farm boy, gritting his teeth. Onward the troops surged, spearheads aimed forward, ready for blood, Firebenders at their flanks, showering the unseen enemy up ahead with a hail of flame.
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Post by vu on Oct 27, 2008 13:02:12 GMT -5
It may not have been his eyes that were doing such. But, if Vu had later decided to review what had happened to him, maybe he would think that his mind was glazing over instead at this moment.
A hand clamped down on a leather vambrace tied to his forearm. Talismans he felt against his skin. The caress of a divine feather he could felt heat and a pulse from as if it was still attached to the bird. A gift from the goddess Agni herself, patron spirit of the Fire Nation. And ashamedly as it made him feel, was the cloth it was lovingly protected in. A scrap of material, a more human gift from that dancer with the fake sounding name, an Earth Kingdom woman presumably.
There was too much making him recall the past. Even the phrase "respect the enlightened one and the spirits without counting upon their assistance" he was taught at temple took him further home. A nutty, toasty smell of his parents' roasted twig tea in the morning before taking them all to temple. A scent of warm spring rain from the pond monks had constructed outside outside, crowded with lily pads, lily shaped frogs, lotus flowers and the flocks of turtle ducks that waddled rather than fly when congregating there.
"We're almost there," one of the drivers shouted.
Here! The images in his head cracked, the rumble of the engine and bounce of the machine shook it apart. It became glass hitting the floor. This is where I am! Acknowledging the stink of his own sweat falling over his goggles and sliding down his cheeks. The acrid smoke curling his nose hairs. The jostling the bounced his insides about while his lungs were filling, his chest and belly pressing against his armour.
In the now!
Reckless, the six war machines thundered forth side-by-side in one row. Just left of the center a brief gout of appeared in the forward turret as they neared the Earth Kingdom soldiers' wall of smokescreen. Barely a moment later the war crawlers attacked in unison. A creek of flame from each one's turret that expanded into a river until uniting to form a tide, smashing through the smokescreen. In the brief moment the smoke was forced to part they could make out what was on the other side before the curtain pulled closed once again, hiding sight of the explosion and then enveloping them.
Almost immediately upon exiting from the curtain one of the iron machines near the flank dipped into a hole. Grapple hooks fired before a group of earthbenders could capitalize on the moment to bury it, instead being smashed and gored through as the grapples flew forth. From the others, fireballs struck with concussive force, pulverizing, flattening and filling in the earthbenders makeshift obstacles while trying to scatter the benders themselves.
Only forward and side hatches of his turret open, Vu swiveled from side to side in his chair, arms swinging in wide horizontal archs as they alternated in lobbing fireball after fireball from each hatch.
Just us, he thought to himself, and the footsoldiers following us. We don't need the main force to step in and finish this. We can do this ourselves, watching the earthbenders scattered to all sides of him and his platoon. Anyone of them that remained or snuck behind them would be handled by the benders and nonbenders soon enough, but he had to remain moving forward. Burn down any chance of them to regroup, he told himself. Force them to flee. Destroy their benders and the ones who can't bend will collapse with little effort from us.
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Post by zhi on Oct 30, 2008 2:58:13 GMT -5
It had taken Zhuk’s Spearhead platoon only a few minutes to charge across the field separating the troops from the smokescreen. Though they had suffered losses, the group moved forward at an even speed, a surging tide of red armor and bloodthirsty steel. The other infantry units had joined up on their flanks, forming into one large V formation of spearmen in the center with the two bending units at the far flanks, ready to increase their speed and encircle the enemy as the non benders engaged them head on.
Zhi was uncertain of the exact number of men charging forth alongside him, he knew though, that he had never been involved in such a large scale battle before. His prior experiences with combat had been on a smaller scale, though no less deadly. The first had taken place at night in a densely forested valley, while the more recent involved urban warfare in a small town that the Earth Kingdom military had fortified. He’d lost friends in both instances and two more only a few weeks later to an ambush launched by resistance fighters in the same small town they’d seized from the enemy.
At least he knew for certain now, that both Hue and Shen were alright, though he couldn’t be sure that he’d not lost one of his other comrades during the current battle. The young soldier had noticed a few familiar faces missing from the formation, though he could not concentrate on such things as Shen shouted, catching his attention. “We’re coming up on the smokescreen!”
Zhi gave his friend a quick nod and prepared himself. He’d seen the Crawlers roar through the smoke, parting it with a great stream of flames, though the persistent smoke had closed back behind them, seeming content with concealing what lay upon the other side. As he stared into the inky blackness, drawing ever closer, the young soldier could not help but feel a tinge of apprehension. When he’d been lost in the smoke, alone and easily caught off guard, he’d felt so helpless, could that happen again? he wondered.
Once again, Zhi plunged through the smoke; the suns light seeming to fade away, like an oil lamp running out in the middle of the night. For a moment, the young solder was blind, but felt a nudge from his left – Shen. Reassured by the presence of his friend and the sounds of his comrades all around him, Zhi continued on without slowing. At last, Zhuk’s platoon burst forth from the smoke, soldier after soldier appearing through the darkness one after another like a great wave.
Before them, a group of some twenty or so Earth Kingdom soldiers seemed to be regrouping, though they appeared extremely disorganized and some even stunned. Zhi noted only a few were benders, the rest were non benders and a few cavalrymen. The Crawlers had steamrolled the majority of the enemy force and these stragglers seemed to be a few of those who had survived the assault.
“Get ‘em!” Sergeant Zhuk roared, pointing to the regrouping Earth Kingdom troops. The majority of the group had not noticed the charging platoon and most looked shocked and dazed, uncertain of how to react when they did. Several turned and attempted to sprint away while a few braver ones, a pair of cavalrymen who had retained their mounts, actually charged forward to meet the onrushing Fire Nation infantry.
The cavalrymen had misjudged the size of the force coming through the smoke and, by the time they had fully realized the extent of the mass formation, it was too late to turn and attempt a retreat. The Firebenders opened up at long rage, catching the soldiers who were attempting to flee, picking them off one at a time with precise bursts of flame.
As the first Earth Kingdom rider made to swerve away from Zhuk’s men, they were upon him. Zhi had tried a good stab at him, but the men in line before him had already caught the cavalryman and his mount with their spears. The Ostrich Horse had gone down shrieking while its rider had been killed instantly by a strike to the right temple. The second cavalryman, however, had just managed to turn his beast and had swiped at the infantry with his slashing spear.
The spear’s thicker blade chopped the spearheads off of several of the Fire Nation soldier’s weapons and a second swing had cleaved into one unfortunate soldier’s arm, below the bicep armor, severing it just above the elbow. The other Fire Nation troops quickly mobbed the man and a precise strike between the plates of the Ostrich Horse’s head armor had dropped the beast near instantly. The rider to, was quickly overrun and speared multiple times as he fell.
Confronting the two-man suicide cavalry charge had not slowed Zhuk’s troops down in the least and they moved on, though a few had remained behind to see that the man who’d lost his arm received the proper medical care. The few Earth Kingdom troops, who stood and fought, as they saw no alternative, were quickly wiped out and the Firebenders finished off any who tried to run.
Zhi could spot the Crawlers off in the distance, still surging onward through the retreating Earth Kingdom troops; it seemed the battle was drawing to a close. The young soldier began to feel the adrenaline wearing off and his breaths became labored; he was looking forward to a nice bath, a square meal and a good night’s sleep, “Do you figure we’ve seen the last of them for the day?” Shen asked, jabbing his spear in the direction of the retreating enemy.
“I would think so,” replied Zhi, nodding, he certainly hoped that would be the case.
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Post by vu on Nov 2, 2008 3:17:43 GMT -5
"No," Vu was answering the question that came from below, tugging the goggles to his neck and wiping the drenching sweat from his face with a naked hand. "I am assuming, from the look of it, that our ground pounders are not interested in obtaining prisoners," placing a hand to his brow to view the fighting further behind the war crawlers from out of the main hatch. Before them the remanants of the Earth Kingdom forces on this day were still in full retreat. Earthbenders obviously being the fastest, followed by the cavalry, as they skidded or slid or burrowed or propelled themselves away from the fighting. And if not for his orders, Vu's platoon could have easily ran down the retreating footmen. Their machines may not have been able to run down a man in full sprint but those men would tire out in the end and they would be in attack range long before then as it was. We will let the soldiers catch up, Vu said to himself whilst observing his platoon. The commander of each machine reporting no injuries, their vehicles however would need the sort of maintainence you could not readily obtain on the field. Besides a few missing sashimono, or war flags, consisting of a black flag with a red elephant head in the center surrounded by eight Fire Nation emblem flames that identified their unit, almost of all of the six machines had a score of varying size dents as if they were attempting to mimic the moon's surface. At least one had a chunk of rock stuck lodged into an engine--Vu suddenly realized that may have been why they were moving so slow in a single column. One had only the use of one engine, well the other engine with a figurehead in it could probably work... then explode. And there was another that had a large, conical spike of earth shoved into one of its port holes or turrent hatches for the firebender. No doubt the man was probably given quite a scare but there was no injuries from him though the drivers complained about the smell. As for the ground pounders, the infantry, who were still in the last throes of their fighting the straggling retreaters? They were his comrades-in-arms but not his men. Not under his command. And they were expendable enough and expected to take loses. The best he had to worry about was, like always, having to load the wounded atop his machines as they left the battlefield. Meanwhile the others could just walk and limp themselves away from the field, after they finished debasing themselves by looting the bodies. [Vu has left the thread]
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Post by zhi on Nov 4, 2008 5:28:59 GMT -5
“Over to the left!” shouted Sergeant Zhuk, herding his men out of the way of the platoons just now emerging from the smoke. The other soldiers leapt forth from the smoke, expecting a fight, but the lot of them quickly slowed to a trot, noticing the considerable lack of enemy forces present to oppose them. Zhuk moved his troops over and collected them into a more condensed group so that he could address them. Zhi and Shen crowded in amongst their comrades and gave the Sergeant their attention; both boys were feeling thoroughly worn out from the battle and leaned upon their spears to alleviate their weariness. “Alright,” said Zhuk in his usual gruff tone, his gaze moving over the faces of those assembled, “we took losses, we always do, but we did our job. Twelve down, of those; eight KIA, two missing, two more wounded,” he said, listing off the numbers as if they were simply scores in a Kuai ball tournament or the like. For the young soldier and his friends, it soon became clear who was missing. As he had noted before, Zhi began to notice that several men he’d known were not present amongst the group and he soon put names to those faces missing. He knew of the man who’d lost his arm, that fellow would survive, he was curious about the other wounded man as well, but held his tongue. “Hue, take your Lance and search what’s left of that damned smoke cloud for wounded then meet up back here, we’ve got a ten klick march to the Western Lake Base ahead of us,” Zhuk said flatly. Several groans erupted from those present, but no one voiced a complaint directly. “Corporal Cheng?” the Sergeant asked, looking around for a moment before it dawned on him that the other Corporal under him had been killed during the battle. He quickly turned to a fellow in his mid twenties, “Corporal Lu, take your Lance and help the other platoons collect the bodies of our comrades for proper burial and whatnot,” he said, seeming to age a decade as he spoke, a hand rising to wipe the sweat from his brow. The newly promoted Corporal Lu took several deep breaths and led his new Lance over to begin the grim task of colleting the dead. Hue too beckoned to those under his command and the soldiers moved sluggishly at first to follow after him. “You think we’ll find anyone else alive?” Zhi asked Shen, quietly as the two walked along with the rest of the group. “Yeah, I’m sure we will,” replied the farm boy nodding slowly, though his tone seemed uncertain. Both knew they would, more than likely, end up with the same task that had been assigned to Lu’s Lance. A good deal of the smoke had cleared, thankfully and the soldiers were able to see clearly now, across to the other side of the field. On Hue’s command, the group fanned out as they began to search for any signs of life amongst the various crumpled bunches of green and red armor – this was the part of the job they never showed in the recruitment manuals and pamphlets and it was by far one of Zhi’s least favorite tasks. Carefully approaching the body of another spearman, Zhi knelt and rolled him over, only to find the man’s face and front horribly gored. Stumbling backward a few steps the young soldier averted his gaze and moved away from that one. After a few more unsuccessful inspections, a shout caught his attention and he turned toward the source, a feeling of elation sweeping him up, though he knew better than to get his hopes up too high. “Got one here!” shouted Shen from a few hundred meters away. Zhi jogged over to his friend and found him kneeling beside a badly wounded GI. The man’s right leg was severed just above the knee and it appeared he had been stabbed through the left shoulder as well. It was evident, though, that someone had helped him, a white cloth handkerchief had been folded up and pressed against the shoulder wound while it seemed a small leather belt had been synched around the man’s right thigh as a makeshift tourniquet. “Hong? Hong.. please, forgive me.. I’m so sorry…” the man muttered, staring up at the sky past the two friends. The young soldier crouched down beside the wounded man and carefully removed his helmet. This seemed to get his attention and he turned his head toward Zhi, “Hong?” he asked, staring. “No, no, but we’re here to help,” replied the young soldier softly. “Over here! Need a stretcher!” Shen shouted, waving to the others. Soon, Hue, the Lance’s medic and two other soldiers carrying a stretcher arrived. Before they could load the man onto the stretcher, however, the medic looked him over. While this went on, he turned his gaze back to the sky as if the medic wasn’t even there and mumbled, “We were engaged… Agni… if I could only… see her once more…” “You will, you’ll see her,” said Shen leaning into the man’s line of sight. Zhi stood by; watching as the man was lifted up and moved off, still muttering about “Hong”. He had remained silent for a time and finally spoke, addressing the medic, “What are his chances?” he asked, trotting along beside the older fellow clad in a white, blood stained apron over his uniform and armor. “If he hasn’t already lost too much blood and infection doesn’t set in, he may survive,” said the medic in an impersonal tone, making no effort to make eye contact with the young soldier. With a slight nod, Zhi slowed and rejoined his friend. After an hour and a half of searching the field for life and then, roughly halfway through, transitioning to body retrieval, Hue’s Lance rejoined the main group and prepared to move out. As Zhuk’s platoon began their march toward the base on the Western Lake, the Crawlers moving off, far ahead of them, Zhi gave a last quick look back at the battlefield, now quiet. Slowly, his gaze shifted ahead and to the right, off toward the barely visible walls of Ba Sing Se. As weary as he was, both physically and emotionally, he kept up, one foot in front of the other, onward. In honor of those who had given their lives, those walls would fall and the young soldier hoped he would live long enough to see that day. [Zhi has marched on out of this thread]
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