Raika Sharara: The Ranger of Lightning

*Out in the clearing of a forest with red leaf trees, just miles outside of a nearby village in the kingdom of Brister, thirteen poachers are loading up a bunch of foxes into their trucks. The foxes were part of an animal protection program in the area and were worth a fortune. One fox that was being put inside the truck began crying loudly annoying the poacher who bashed the side of the cage scaring the fox who curled up into a ball on the opposite side out of fear*

(Poacher #1): Knock it off! Take a lesson from your friends here and stay quiet.

*When the poacher puts the caged fox into the truck, the fox gets up and bites the hand of the poacher. The poacher screams out in pain as a few other poachers who witness the act laugh at his misfortunate. The poacher who was bitten pulls out his gun and points it at the fox who growls at him baring its fangs and crouching down*

(Poacher #1): I’m gonna blast your brains out!

*Before the poacher can fire his gun, the leader of their group, Delilah, a woman who is a dark-skinned human with braided black hair and red eyes wearing a green top with black pants, a brown poncho, and brown gloves comes up from behind and elbows the side of the poacher’s head causing him great pain as he falls to the ground clutching his head*

(Delilah): No you don’t! These foxes are endangered in this area. Each fox is worth 50,000 credits which is worth more than your dumb ass. So, no harming them if you want to keep living. The same goes for the rest of you. I’ll kill anyone who damages my merchandise.

*Delilah took out a whip and whipped it to a nearby canister causing it to catch fire. This act frightened the rest of the poachers who were all humans as they knew she wasn’t joking. One female poacher who was new to the group a few weeks ago accidently killed a red panda they were trying to capture and Delilah responded by pouring alcohol on her shirt and face before lighting her on fire with her whip. She didn’t survive*

(Delilah): Now load the rest of the cargo so we can get out of here.

*Everyone quickly got back to work loading up the trucks. Unbeknownst to them however there was a female sniper with short yellow hair watching from afar in the tall grass near the forest. The sniper wore a camo pattern long-sleeved military jacket with a black no-sleeve top underneath and camo pattern short shorts. Covering her legs were long black stockings. She also wore black gloves and brown boots. She laid down in the grass belly first and looking out of the scope of her sniper rifle to pick her first target. The sniper sets her sights on one of the poachers near the truck and lines up her shot for a headshot to take him down. Taking a deep breath, the sniper fires. The bullet releases sparks of electricity around the barrel as it flies through the air to its target. The bullet hits the poacher upside the head like a bolt of lightning, and he falls to the ground face first unconscious. The bullet didn’t pierce his head, but instead released a powerful high voltage shock through the body to knock him unconscious. The poachers heard him fall to the ground and turned in his direction to see what happened. One of the poachers rushes over to check on the unconscious man to see what happened. Just as he’s about to bend down and see what happened he too gets shot in the head and falls to the ground unconscious. The rest of the poachers quickly hide behind the trucks or other storage bins they were trying to load as they quickly realize a sniper is in the area and they’re being shot at*

(Poacher #2): We got a sniper! Where’s the shooter?

*One poacher with binoculars hiding behind a storage bin takes a chance to look up and get a location on the sniper. Barely lifting his head above the bin to use the binoculars, he gets instantly shot in the head and falls to the ground backwards unconscious. The poacher sitting next to him watched with a terrified look shocked and scared by what he just witnessed. Scared for his life, the poacher attempts to run away only to get shot in the back of the head and get knocked out*

(Poacher #3): Clyde! Murry! 

*The poacher hiding behind the truck next to Delilah grabs his rifle and is about to head out and start shooting in the direction of the crackling sound, but gets pulled back down by Delilah*

(Delilah): Calm down you idiot! They’re not dead! Look, there’s no blood pouring from their heads.

*Delilah points to the heads of one of the poachers who was shot to verify her point*

(Delilah): Whoever’s shooting at us isn’t trying to kill us. They’re just knocking us out.

*The sniper fired off a few more shots to scare them out of hiding but it doesn’t work*

(Female sniper): Hmm~, not panicking. I guess their boss calmed them down. Let’s see if they’re smart enough to find my location from all the shots I fired.

*One of the poachers hiding underneath a truck who had binoculars in his hand turned on the heat signature function and found the sniper’s location in the tall grass. The sniper of course saw him through her scope. She waved at him before firing at him*

(Poacher #4): I see the sniper, they’re in the tall grass near the for-

*Before the poacher could finish his sentence, he got shot right between the eyes and passes out*

(Delilah):. . . The tall grass near the forest. Alright. You guys charge the tall grass and I’ll cover you. When you find that sniper bring me their head.

*All the poachers nodded at Delilah’s plan and got ready to charge. Delilah came out of hiding first to get the attention of the sniper who fires at her. Delilah deflects the lightning bullet with her fire whip and the sniper fires three more shots upon seeing this. Delilah once again deflects the bullets fired at her. The sniper gives an amused smile*

(Sniper): Well played.

*The sniper attempts to fire another shot only to realize she’s out of bullets and needs to reload. Delilah’s men use this time to come out of hiding and make their way to the tall grass where the sniper is nested in. The poachers are carrying knives, guns, and rope.  As the poachers enter the tall grass one of them steps on a landmine which reaches a wave of electricity and he goes flying through the air while getting shocked. He spins around in the air screaming his head off until he lands falling unconscious. Another poacher steps on another landmine and he goes flying through the air along with 3 other poachers who got caught in the blast. They go flying in different directions with only one of them remaining conscious but too hurt to move. The remaining 4 poachers stop in their tracks afraid to move allowing the sniper to stand up and reveal herself to them from the grass where they see she has different colored eyes. Her right eye was blue while her left eye was green. This was Raika an elite knight who was once part of Brister’s Ranger program*

(Raika): Come on! What are you guys waiting on, attack me!

*The poachers heard her taunt but were too afraid to move as they weren’t sure if she had more mines lying around. Raika pops the joints in her neck while smiling at the poachers confidently*

(Raika): Fine. If you won’t come to me, I’ll come to you.

*Raika begins sprinting to one of the poachers leaving behind her sniper rifle. She takes out dual handguns and approaches the first poacher shooting at his chest and head with lightning bullets where he clutches his chest first before the second bullet hits him in the head which knocks him out and he falls to the ground face first. The second and third poachers try to shoot her but she spins to dodge their attacks and returns fire aiming at their heads. The lightning bullets find their marks and both poachers fall to the ground after staggering for a few steps backwards. Raika ran to the final poacher who slashes at her with a knife, but she parries the attack with the barrel of her handgun and plants the other handgun under the jaw of the poacher who begins to sweat out of fear. Raika pulls the trigger firing off a bullet which sends the poacher flying through the air upwards unconscious and back to the ground. This left only Delilah who saw what happened to her men and was furious. Delilah walked out into the open field where Raika met her. The two ladies have a quick stare down before Raika starts shooting at her. Delilah deflects the bullets once again with her fire whip remaining in one spot not moving. Raika runs out of bullets leaving herself defenseless and making Delilah smile triumphantly as she prepares to attack*

(Delilah): Looks like someone’s out of bullets.

*Before Delilah’s whip makes contact with Raika’s face, Raika spins out of the way to dodge the whip and runs to Delilah where she punches her in the stomach. Raika follows this up by grabbing the whipping arm of Delilah and snapping it with a knee and elbow strike combination*

(Delilah): AHHHHHHHH~!

*Delilah screams in pain as Raika lets her go. Delilah falls to her knees in pain before she becomes nauseous. Raika finishes Delilah off with a lightning fist to the side of the jaw which knocks Delilah out. Delilah falls to the ground unconscious*

(Raika): But never out of ways to fight.

*Raika makes her way over to the foxes in the truck. The foxes upon seeing Raika begin to panic with some growling and barking at her while others were curled up shaking and crying out of fear. Raika just smiles softly at the foxes and begins speaking softly to them*

(Raika): It’s okay. I’m here to save you.

*Before Raika could break the foxes out she hears movement behind her and turns around with a shocked look on her face to see that 5 wolf-like Eclipses have surrounded the trucks. Raika’s look of surprise quickly turn into a narrow glare as she slowly moves away from the trucks to keep the foxes safe. This gets the attention of the Eclipses as one of them attempts to pounce on her from behind. As the Eclipse is in the air, about to land on Raika she turns around to face the Eclipse grabbing a sword-like handle from her waist and pressing a button which unleashes a yellow energy saber. Raika swings the saber down on the Eclipse slicing it in two and letting the divided body parts fall to the ground. Raika turns to face the rest of the Eclipses who charge at Raika determined to kill her. She dodges the first Eclipse by sidestepping it and then cuts its head off with a downward strike. The second one also loses its head with an upward strike. The third tries to slash Raika with its claws, but she slices the front leg off as well as the other front leg to make it fall in the dirt on its side still alive and unable to get back up. Raika dodge rolls the final Eclipse accidently dropping her energy saber. Not panicking she takes out her two handguns and combines them to form a shotgun. Reaching into her pocket she pulls out a shotgun shell, loads it into the gun, and fires it off at the Eclipse blowing its head to smithereens. Raika smiles at her accomplishment, disconnects the handguns and puts them away. She goes to pick up her energy saber and walks over to the remaining Eclipse who was still trying to get back up and fight. Raika takes her saber and drives it into the neck of the Eclipse to kill it instantly and watches it dissolve away. Raika presses a button to turn off the saber and puts it away before going to free the foxes from their cages. Once the foxes are free and reunited with each other they run off back to the woods except for one who stayed behind and sat right in front of Raika wagging its tail at her. Raika smiles, bends down, and pets the fox who begins to yip happily who while Raika begins to blush.  

(Raika): *Chuckles* Cute.

SHADOW E

Author’s Note: Hey guys, Justin aka Nitsuj here. Just wanted to say thank you for checking out this preview. I hope you enjoyed. Fun fact about this character, Raika was originally going to be a man, but I wanted to add more female characters to the story so I turned her into a woman instead. The only problem, I wasn’t sure what female character to based her off of, but then I remember Marina from Valkyria Chronicles, hands down my favorite sniper and character from the game. I just thought she was a cool and badass character when I first saw her and when I read her bio and discovered how she liked animals, I just fell in love with her even more. My plan was always to have a sniper on the team, and using Marina’s personality as a basis for this character was really helpful. Now let’s talk about her name as it can be interpreted differently depending on where you’re from. In Japan, it means thunder flower which perfectly matches her character. I wanted her to be as his fierce and dangerous as thunder but at the same time delicate and beautiful as a flower. In Hindu, the name means pure, clear, tranquil, serene and beautiful which again matches up with the personality I wanted this character to have. Being a sniper or marksman requires a clear and tranquil mind and I believe there’s a beauty to marksmanship. Taking the perfect shot and hitting your target. As for Sharara, this word is Arabic for spark or lightning. It’s a common name among females of the Muslim faith and a name I liked because of the little pet name I gave her when I was deciding her name, my little spark, because she always sparked my imagination whenever I worked on her. Well enough rambling for me. Thanks again for reading everyone. Be sure to let me know what you think in the comment section below. The next preview will be out at the beginning of August. Sorry for the long wait, but I’ll be pretty busy this summer. Working on a big review, a special, vacation (for the first time in over a year), and I’m moving to a new house. So look forward to the next one, have a good day, and I’ll see you next time.

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