you're in the jungle, baby / you gonna die

[lucetimods]

Who: All draftees
What: Fighting the Third Party... and perhaps the wildlife.
When: June 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. (Characters will be pulled out at 11:59 of the 6th.)
Where: An as-yet unmapped by the Malnosso tropical rainforest.
Summary: Here are your details. Try to stay alive, won't you?
Rating: Anywhere from PG to R.

No cut for you. Most of you will know how this works by now; if you don't, follow the lead of the others, or perhaps look to the last draft's fighting post for ideas. Don't forget to use your handy dandy character tags. Go forth and conquer thine enemies!

Comments

Day 4, Early morning

[endgames]

[Even if he wasn't able to go out with the offensive forces bright and early as he should have, the extra rest it earned him has done him well. His chakra reserves are still low, but in another hour he thinks he'll be able to go out and join them again.

In the meantime, he's trying to make himself as useful as he can around here before he goes. Things some pretty quiet around here at the moment, but it looks like someone's standing by the cannons anyways.]

Hey Archie. You're up early too?

1/2

[simplestgift]

[Kennedy was staring pretty firmly into space before this. So close to going home, and then...someone spoke and he didn't hear a word that was said.]

2/2

[simplestgift]

Hm?

[endgames]

[...]

Heh. Maybe 'up' wasn't the right choice of word. You awake there?

[simplestgift]

Yes-yes, of course. [A bit of blinking, then he looks back out.] The pressure changed.

[endgames]

In the air? I felt that too. [For morning, the sky is darker than it should be.] Must be bad weather coming. Tch. Like we need more things going wrong out here.

[simplestgift]

Any news from the scouts?

1/2

[endgames]

[He raises one hand to touch the earpiece at one side of his head.]

They haven't been out long enough to get back. I'll radio Naruto though, and see if he's picked up on any-

[endgames]

[His voice cuts off abruptly and he goes stock-still, attention immediately on the area ahead of them.]

[simplestgift]

...Shikamaru?

[endgames]

My radio just died.

[Just going to drop low and hang out with you by those cannons now, still scanning the treeline.]

[simplestgift]

What...what makes it do that?

[endgames]

One of two things, usually. Dead battery... [He turns to look at the trees over his shoulder - but no, it'd be unlikely they'd gotten that far past them.] Or a Shifter.

[simplestgift]

[Archie immediately straightens and scans the area, listening, hand over his pistol.] That sounds as good as any warning. And it's going to rain, damn it all.

[The cannons people just got used to will be rendered useless.]

[endgames]

We can still fight in the rain.

[Hi, we have no such thing as gunpowder in the Naruto universe, all of our explosions are with magic.]

[simplestgift]

Not with cannons, and wet powder.

[It would be a different thing on a ship.]

[endgames]

[The hell? That seems so inefficient.]

...so you're saying these things are going to be useless soon as the rain hits?

[simplestgift]

No. I'm saying they'll be useless if the powder gets wet. If it's monsoon season here, with no real shelter or anything else to keep the powder dry, it's inevitable. Not to mention there has to be a spark to set off the powder, and if the flint...damn them to hell.

1/2

[endgames]

[...and suddenly, it all clicks into place - why the houses in the trees they found earlier would be abandoned like they were, even though the Third Party would logically want to cover as much ground as possible. Not the best of shelters, when a monsoon hits.]

Shit. I'm gonna make a guess that is. We'll just have to make use of them while we can.

[He takes his eyes off of the trees to Archie, a dozen plans running through his head. He needs more information before he makes the best one though.]

[endgames]

[He forcibly relaxes his shoulders and adopts a more laid-back grin. He's still dead serious when he speaks, however.]

First things first though. Fast as they are, the Third Party should've been on us now. That they aren't means there's more of them, and that they're just waiting until everyone is in place and the offensive task-forces are farther away. There's a good chance this is an ambush then, which would mean they're hoping to catch us off guard.

Act casual - they'll put things in motion ahead of schedule if they realize we're on to them, and if they're coming from that direction we're gonna be two of the first people they'll see. So we're just two guys goofing off, yeah?

[simplestgift]

...Remaining here alone sounds a bit like a death sentence. It takes several men at once to keep a single cannon in action.

[endgames]

[Work with him, Archie.]

We're not going to for long - just until I get a plan. Is there anything we can do with these cannons that doesn't require several people?

[He can send Archie to get those people if he has to, but he doesn't want to waste time if he doesn't.]

[simplestgift]

[Okay, fine. He stares at the cannons, the powder, the shot, the trees, and...

...all that shrapnel...

...damn.]

Blow them up.

[It's a tough admission--Kennedy tends to sort of bond with his guns. But they're going home soon, and this is the best use the guns can be put to before the rain starts.]

[endgames]

[Shikamaru discreetly raps his knuckles against one side of the cannon, trying to get an idea for how thick it is.]

Yeah - with a good explosion, that should do nicely. [Back to Archie.] I have some explosives myself, but I've never worked with these before. What would we need to do to make sure they go off?

[simplestgift]

Double-shot. Pile the remaining powder around, and set a fuse. The powder will explode first. When the flame reaches the cannons, they'll overheat and explode. It'll take a little time, but it'll mean two explosions.