Towers And Gods Light Novels Episode Two: The Floor of Tests

## **Episode Two: Floor of Tests**

Find it on youtube here: Towers & Gods Ep. 2- Floor of Tests - YouTube

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Please leave a comment of what your opinion of the LN is and anything you'd like to change or fix!

### King of The Sea Arc

The scoreboard (not constantly updated, but just a visual for what the scoreboard looks like)

#### **Chapter One: The Water Dragon**

As the regulars travel in their two boats separately, with Damien, Eden, and Victor on one boat; Wu, Brac, and Gasu are on the other boat. Damien stands proudly at the back of the boat, looking at his handy work with his arms crossed, a big smile across his face. Plumes of smoke rise from the jungle as the entire thing is a rampant inferno, covering most of the island except for the clearing in the center where the flag resides. Birds scramble away, rodents being only able to stand along the shoreline in horror as they watch their lively hood end due to the only habitat that can sustain them be destroyed.

Fish peak their heads up to see the commotion, saying to each other 'Bubble-bubble, swim-swim' and things of that nature. Insect bodies smolder and burn. A whole ecosystem of life snuffed out by the actions of Damien. The island weeps for the life that had lived on it for so long undisturbed, now just a perished memory; the fire now just a scorched reminder of once was and never will be again.

From across the way, Damien sees Wu on the other boat, also smiling at him while winking. He gives him a thumbs up, also thrilled by Damien setting fire to it all. Damien waves back to Wu with enjoyment and friendship. Smoke begins to smother what birds and insects remained in the proximity. As they get further from the island, the fire and the thrill of the spectacle leave Damien and Wu's minds.

Everything returns to normal as all the regulars mostly stay in silence as they paddle, with Gasu and Brac rowing while Wu drinks on one boat, and with Damien and Eden rowing on their boat, while Damien plays a trading card game with Hresvelgar, getting slapped with the Dark Magician as Hresvelgar throws the cards in frustration. Damien rows one handed while doing this and wins the card game, flexing his amusement and skill at games. Even having lost, Hresvelgar takes all the popcorn that was bet and hordes it all away. Victor rests on the boat, trying to heal from his wounds before the next fight arrives.

Wu finally having a chance to talk to Gasu, decides to initiate it, saying, "Gasu... What was that back there?"

"Look, first off-- I'm sorry. I lost my head a little bit back there," Gasu replies with a stone-cold face, but then slight shame flickers in his eye lids and the sides of his lips as he speaks.

"Don't apologize; I just want to know what happened," Wu reassures Gasu.

"Look, all you have to know... is the Ten Families, specifically these Khuns, they are worth nothing. They aren't to be trusted an inch," he says as he thinks about his personal experiences with the Ten Families. "And I personally think it's a huge mistake that we are letting this fool in our party."

Wu doesn't even give him a breath before he starts laughing at Gasu's statement, "Gasu! Why do you take everything so seriously, my boy? I feel you though; You're right! We can't trust any of them. I don't like that man either. The way he took a sip from my beverage just rubbed me the wrong way. I know where you are coming from, but Eden's in charge now so let's try and get along until we finish this test. And then..." He trails off as he chuckles to himself, "You can do whatever you want to him."

Gasu turns away from Wu, peering out over the water of the vast, calm ocean. "Trust me, you don't know how I feel, but I can be professional."

"I do trust you, and I feel like I know you. You'd be surprised how much I know how you feel. Let's leave it there for now; no need to worry too much. Have a drink my friend! We are setting sail again," Wu responds to Gasu, with Gasu not really seeming interested in Wu's words. Although Gasu doesn't seem much interested in anything but battle and killing Victor. Silence befalls them again as they row toward the island. The sun is shining down on them as a beautiful day on the sea. The gentle breeze, refreshing after a fresh kill from combat. Everything has settled down now, the water being still, hardly any waves to speak of. Everything calm as could possibly be. Then suddenly, Brac feels something on his oar, pulling or stuck to it.

Brac looks down in the water, not mentioning anything to anyone else at first. He looks around in the water, not seeing anything there. The water isn't perfectly clear, and with the light from the sun reflecting off from the water, it makes it particularly difficult to perceive anything to with much detail. Brac could tell from the way his paddle acted and no sign of any physical object, he could tell that it was a living creator that had done this. Then he notices a couple of bubbles next to where he was paddling rise up.

"Uhhh.... Hey guys... There seems to be something under the water. I'm not entirely sure what, but I saw bubbles. Uh, You guys want to come over here and help me out? Brac don't like water." Brac says this kind of confused with hesitation and embarrassment very reluctantly. He searches back and forth looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"Sure Brac.. You know fish live in the water," Wu says sarcastically and somewhat annoyed as he acts like Brac is nagging him to do a chore, "Sure, let me take a look." Wu walks over to Brac's side of the boat, while Gasu does turn his head for a moment but continues paddling, causing their boat to veer off to the left from the path that Eden's boat is directing toward since Brac no longer paddled.

The Gourd Man inspects the water half-assed at first, but as he continues to look, he puts a little more effort into it. He can only see his own reflection in the water and sunlight, with some seafoam and alge on the surface, which he takes note that he looks pretty good for being this drunk as he checks out his own reflection. Gasu continues paddling, kind of minding his own business, when he also notices his paddle hitting something, turning to look at the origin much faster than when Brac did due to his honed reflexes.

As he quickly darts his eyes over, out of the corner of his peripherals: a skinny but giant fish like tail flailing silently out of the water. It returns back into the water before his eyes can fully turn over to the side. The aquatic being submerged faster than someone as fast as even Gasu could get a good glace, but he does see its silhouette disappear under the raggedy raft. "Guys, there's definitely something under here."

Wu turns to Gasu, sounding like he is annoyed as he says, "Yes Gasu, FISH... Fish live in water." Gasu keeps his calm, but also gets irritated from Wu not believing him. "It wasn't an ordinary fish."

Brac interrupts their conversation to convey some information that he thought they needed to know as he says, "Well... I just wanted to say that I'm hungry and if it's a fish, Wu, lift it out of the water and I'll whack it."

Wu, full of confusion and irritation even more so than before, turns to Brac saying sarcastically, "You have a harpoon man!" Wu points to it as he says this, gesturing that Brac could fish with it, like what it was made for. To Wu, it feels like everyone else is making up this story of something under their boat to mess with him.

"Harpoons aren't used for fish," Brac says with a very serious expression, his white hair flowing with the gentle breeze as the other two look at him in an awkward silence for a moment.

On the other raft with Eden, Damien, and Victor, everything is normal. Unlike with Brac, Wu, and Gasu, nothing out of the ordinary has happened so far. It has been mostly silent up to this point, as Victor lays on his back with his arms resting under his head in a casual position. The other two, Damien and Eden, row the boat while he rests up. Feeling fatigued and uncomfortable from her injuries, she turns to Victor while still paddling. "Victor, do you have any healing proclivities up your sleeve? We both got hit pretty hard back there," she mentions while she looks at Victor's chest, which had been struck by Boulder's massive club in their fight with Team Grey.

"Unfortunately, I do not. But luckily, we are able to rest and catch our breath here. You know, let the shinsu do its work," Victor smugly responds, acting as if he doesn't have that bad of wounds. Damien shuffles through his things to see if he has anything for Victor to help him feel more at ease. He is able to manage finding a week old, somewhat crushed up candy bar on his person, which he gleefully pulls out and offers it to Victor. "Oh, thank you my good man. Where did you find this? Normally you aren't supposed to take that many things with you when you enter the tower."

"I don't know, Victor. Here take it!" Damien gladly hands over the chocolate bar to Victor, not explaining where it came from.

"Well thank you, thank you! You know what? I was getting a little hungry. Thank you very much!" Victor reluctantly accepts the chocolate bar, then puts it in his pocket to save for later. While these two are having this conversation, Eden starts to notice that the other boat is starting to veer off course, with the members on the boat acting strangely as they look down in the water, seemingly searching for something. Having a growing concern for what might be happening over there, Eden makes her Pocket visible mode, allowing her to call Wu over it.

"Uh, Wu?" Eden asks over the pocket, sounding a little confused about their behavior on the other boat.

"Quiet, quiet. Eden's calling," Wu addresses Gasu and Brac before answering the call from Eden. "Eden! What's going on?"

"What's going on over there? Y'all are lagging behind."

"I don't know. I think they are too lazy to row. They are talking fish in the water. Of course, fish live in the water-- I don't see what the problem is," Wu says to Eden over the Pocket with an irritable voice. He thinks for a moment then says to himself under his breath, "Maybe I should row." He considers this for a moment when Eden responds to him.

"Okay, well we need to make it in time, so you know. Let's keep the pace going as fast as we can," Eden says as she looks out at the sea for more islands, worried that they aren't going to get enough points to pass the test.

"Eden says to row faster!" Wu says this to the group as Gasu and Brac continue to inspect the water for whatever is beneath them.

Brac voices his opinion of this declaration by Eden saying, "Tell her to shut up!" Eden hears this over the pocket, but Wu quickly reiterates to Eden. "Brac says to shut up. His words, not mine."

Eden ignores this statement saying, "I think it would be advantageous for us to get onto land as soon as possible so let's make that a point of urgency..."

Wu decides to lighten up the mood in their conversation, also wanting to keep tabs on Victor. "By the way, how is it going with the Khun on your end of things?"

"You know, he's uh, laid back and relaxing while Damien and I do the work, but that's fine," Eden responds as she gives Victor a sideways glance.

"Alright, well I'll tell them to speed up. It seems that they are afraid of something. Maybe I'll take a closer look. I'll call you back," Wu tells Eden.

"Wait, wait, what do you mean something?" Eden is concerned about this vague statement, curious for Wu to clarify what he means.

"Well, Brac and Gasu claim that they felt something with their oars in the water. I don't know, IT'S PROBABLY FISH!" Wu explains over the Pocket loudly, causing Eden's ears to ring. She can tell that he is annoyed with whatever is going on over there. He continues saying, "Fish live in water," still not believing that there is any danger or reason to be concerned about some fish swimming in the sea.

Eden sighs out of frustration, "Well, whatever it is, we need to get out of the water so let's try to make that a priority."

"Alright, we're going," Wu says as he hangs up the call on Eden happening over the Pocket.

After this conversation with Eden, everything seems to be normal with nothing bothering them in their boat again for some time. With things back to normal, Brac and Gasu begin to paddle normally again. Everything appears to be easy going from here on out as the two groups continue to search for islands to conquer. A few minutes pass and they become in sight of an island in the distance. The regulars try to figure out where they are on the map, when Victor gets up from his lazy state. "Ah, that is island that me and Team Grey managed to capture. That is a millimeter island." As they get closer and closer, they start to see their black flag flopping in the wind over the island. Eden activates the visible mode of her Pocket.

"Well, good to know that they automatically update upon the demise of other teams. Alright so we need to push passed this to get to the next islands that we had originally planned to get to, seeing as this one is secured. Keep an eye out though if you see any other rafts nearby in case we need to defend our turf," Eden says over the Pocket and to the others on the boat with herself.

Victor and Wu both respond to her with the other regulars in Team Black having heard her, but they do not respond to her whatsoever, especially Brac who does not want to take orders from the black-haired lady that in his mind was bossy. She had no right to be his leader. The team continue to press forward toward the next islands, which they now can navigate toward even if they can't see them due to knowing where they are on the map now from Victor's assistance by making them aware of further features on the Pockets that they weren't aware of before such as a compass.

Everything is going normally until suddenly, both boats of regulars simultaneously hear water splashing from some kind of creature. They turn to see a dark figure approaching the boat, except for Brac who is just trying to focus on rowing and Wu, who just basks in the radiant, warming sunlight while he sips on his gourd, seemingly off in his own world. Damien, Gasu, and Eden all pull their paddles out of the water in the commotion of everything, while Brac's still in the water as the enormous creature grabs onto his paddle, much to everyone's surprise. He enters tug of war with this creature, struggling to keep his paddle in his hands. "Ugh, what is this on my paddle? I can't move it. Guys-- help me, somebody help me!"

"Brac, what are you talking about," Wu now says as he looks over to Brac, still taking sips of his gourd during his gaze. "Why can't you help me," Brac yells to Wu with beads of sweat going down his head as he struggles to keep himself on the boat and his oar in his hands, fighting the monster for dear life. The boat starts to tug toward Brac's side due to this, but Wu notices nothing because of his gourd drinking.

Noticing Brac freaking out at this point, Wu stands up, addressing Brac. "Alright, alright, alright, alright! You're really cutting into my drink time, god damn it!" Wu reluctantly gets up off the floor of the boat, gourd in hand, approaching Brac's side of the boat. "What's wrong with the paddle?" Wu grabs on to Brac's handle with as firm as a grip as he could, trying to assist Brac with whatever the issue is with his paddle.

"It's stuck!" Brac exclaims to Wu and Gasu. As they struggle to pull the paddle, the two regulars fly backward. The two of them in shock at the sight of the end of the paddle, partially bitten off with teeth marks engraved into the 'blade' of the oar. Gasu now seeing it is also put into a state of shock and surprise.

"What the hell was that," Gasu asks Brac and Wu.

"I guess it wasn't a normal fish, I'm sorry," Wu says back to Gasu somewhat in a mopey voice as he comes to the realization that he owed Gasu and Brac an apology for not believing them about the sea creature below that they had seen prior to attacking Brac's paddle.

"Damn it Wu, I knew something was wrong," Gasu says, irritated with Wu's ignorance.

Brac looks at Wu, deep into his eyes. "Wu, you know what I'm going to say, right? You remember earlier when I said you you know, 'lift it out the water and I'll smack it' **WHY DIDN'T WE DO THAT**? Like I'm- I'm just curious." While talking, Brac is visibly upset and talking also with his hands as he scolds Wu for not listening to him sooner. Wu goes to answer him saying, "I was--" but then quickly cut off by Brac, again continuing to say "Sorry? Oh okay. Okay, okay, okay, this is your fault. This is not my fault. I'm gone." Wu tries to argue with him, but Brac ignores him or overlaps Wu's voice with his own, out doing him with his very loud and deep voice that overshadows Wu's.

Meanwhile, on Eden's raft, Damien and Eden had just lifted their paddles out of the water after having seen the shadowy figure drift under their sea vessel. "That was uh, not good," Eden declares to the group as she takes a big gulp, thinking of how bad that could have ended if they hadn't reacted fast enough to the creature's swift and sudden movements.

"What's wrong," Victor chimes in, not having noticed the creature or seeing its shadowy form appear under the boat.

"That was weird, not just fish in the water apparently," Damien adds to Eden's statement, ignoring Victor like he's not even on the boat. Out of nowhere Victor raises his voice, seemingly yelling at Damien and Eden, "QUIET EVERYONE, quiet!" A moment of silence befalls the group on Eden's boat, as Victor sticks his ear out to the water, listening very closely-- focused on something that only he can hear. Then a loud crash occurs as all the regulars feel their boat almost capsizing as they feel a powerful force smashing into the bottom of the raft, again seeing the very large shadowy figure under the boat. Part of its tail is again seen flailing out of the water for a split fragment of a second, as it disappeared as soon as it appeared with little time to process what they had just seen or experienced. The three of them clutch to the boat for safety out of their immediate shock, but as the rocking of the boat settles, they look at each other, unsure of what to do next.

"Ugh, just our luck! I thought we would have a normal test. Well, I've heard rumors anyway. Turns out they were true: there's creatures in the water," Victor addresses the group with a grimace expression on his face. Not even the blue-haired man from the Ten Great Families is prepared for an encounter by a giant sea creature this early in the tests.

Eden now staring at Victor somewhat with disgust for not mentioning this until now begins saying with irritation and sarcasm, "Good to know now. What kind of creatures, Victor?" The boat has now stabilized, as Damien, Victor, and Eden all look back and forth out to the calm sea around them searching for the creature's return.

Damien now panicking from the shock of what all just had happened, looks to the others, his emotions seen in the expression on his face of both horror and utter demise as he tells the group, "It has to be a water dragon!" Damien thinks back to his days on the twenty-first floor working in the corner store, reading stories on his breaks. Sometimes, those stories contained the myth of the legendary water dragons which he thought were the utter craft of fiction. "OH NO," Damien expresses as Victor looks at him confused by what he is even talking about. "I'm sorry?" Victor asks as Damien continues to panic, overshadowing any questions that Victor may have.

"A water what?!" Victor says now grabbing Damien by the shoulders, trying to get Damien to find a grip on himself and calm down.

"A water DRAGON!!! We're all doomed," Damien expressed to the group, just hysterical as could be as little comprehension was possible for him at the time.

Victor, confused and skeptical of Damien's assertion, responds calmly but somewhat irritated, "What? They wouldn't put... Okay first of all, a dragon---"

Victor is cut off by the ramblings of a mad man as Damien continues to freak out, flailing about as Victor tries to hold him still and calm him down, "**A GIANT SEA SERPENT THAT WILL SWALLOW OUR RAFT WHOLLLLLLLEE**!" Damien considers all the things in life he never got to do as he contemplates his death by the fins of the giant water dragon that was about to consume him and his newly formed friends in Team Black.

"Damien! Damien, calm down," Eden reasoned as she slapped him across the face to get him to snap back to reality. "If it is a water dragon, it can smell your fear so you're really not helping this situation now."

Victor interjects as those Eden has a one-sided conversation with Damien while his muttering is incomprehensible. Victor attempts to be the voice of sanity and reason as he addresses the group, "I think the more accurate answer is that this is some kind of eel. It's long and slippery. I managed to get one good look at it."

As the commotion continues on Eden's raft, back on Wu's raft, there appears to be some rationality returning to the regulars, as Gasu decides to call Eden in response to Brac and Wu arguing and the appearance of the sea creature damaging one of their paddles. He makes his Pocket visible mode, then calling Eden. "Yes," Eden answers annoyed due to Damien's strange ramblings still going on in the background. Gasu can hear some of it but assumes this is just normal Damien and chooses to ignore it, addressing Eden directly and calmly. "What's going on over there," Gasu says over his Pocket to Eden.

"Uhm, we uh, encountered what you may have encountered earlier and uh Damien is convinced that it is a water dragon, which it's not. Victor seems to think it's an eel. If it is an eel," Eden is saying to Gasu as Damien's loud shouting and ramblings now interrupt her, overlapping with her voice.

"**LEVIATHAN!!!!! IT'S GOING TO GET US ALLLLLLLLL**," Damien continues running back and forth flailing and panicking. Victor and Eden kind of just look at him shaking their heads with disapproval and shame. They both regret having taken a boat ride with Damien in this moment.

Eden continues her conversation with Gasu over the Pocket, "If it is an eel, we definitely need to get out of the water and pull our rafts onto land. These things will destroy us." During this conversation between Eden and Gasu, Wu starts to remove his 'Monkey Business' T-shirt, throwing it on the floor of the raft. He doesn't hesitate as he jumps into the water, leaving both Gasu and Brac in shock, eyes bulging in dramatic fashion O.O

Brac creeps up behind Gasu and says into his unexpecting ear, "......I *TOLD* you," then he continues to just stand there silently behind Gasu, breathing into Gasu's ear awkwardly occasionally.

Eden, Damien, and Victor all see Wu jump into the water as well, displaying their confusion and shock as he does so. "Oh wow, um. That was pretty brave of him," Victor says out loud.

"Are you insane," Eden also out loud, into the Pocket in case Wu could hear her display her concerns to him.

"God damn it," Gasu says, thinking of how he should have stopped Wu from diving into the dangerous unknown waters that lie below.

"Maybe this party wasn't as wise as I had thought..." Victor says under his breath, with Eden quickly responding saying, "Shut up, Victor!"

Wu is swimming around in the water, having issues trying to see as it is salty water thick from the shinsu levels in it. The water stings his eyes, but Wu thinks to himself of all the times that have come before that were much worse situations than this one. He can make out shapes of objects in the water, like the bottom of the boat far as he can tell, and then he sees the shapes of multiple eels in the water. He is unsure of how many. As he tries to count them to figure it out, one of them swims at him rapidly. As it gets closer to him, he can see it much clearer, but only a glimpse as it brushes passed him, barely missing his torso as it jets passed. He can't tell much of the figure's details as he fixates on the circular mouth full of hundreds of sharp teeth heading directly at him for a second attempt.

Wu pushes his body backward with his hands and feet, trying as hard as he can to get out of the trajectory of the creature heading directly for him. He is able to push himself out of the way at the last second, Wu's heart beating out of his chest from the ordeal. Quickly, Wu swims back up to the surface, gasping for air as his head emerges from the water. He spits out some water as his arms flail about to grab onto any surface he can on the boat. He is able to grab onto the side, pulling himself out of the water, flopping over onto the wooden planks that make up the floor. He looks with widened eyes to the others on board.

"Brac, you were right! I saw it. I'm so sorry. I need to drink; Leave me alone," Wu says still shaken by his encounter with the sea creature as he searches for his gourd which is mysteriously missing.

"What are you doing?!" Eden yells over the Pocket to Wu.

"I just wanted to check," Wu says, flipping his shirt back on and rummaging through the boat in search of his missing gourd.

"You saw leviathan?!?!" Damien asks in shock at the terrifying image he pictured in his head filled his thoughts.

"There's no leviathan, it's something far more real," Wu says still stunned from the encounter.

"Look, everyone! We're almost---" Victor says as he looks over to the island that is now in view. "We're going to make it to the island soon. I don't think we should fight these things. I think we should try to make it to the island and then we'll be safe. They can't make it onto land."

"Exactly. We need to double time it to this island," Eden says as she points to the closest one in view. "That needs to be our number one priority. Other raft--"

"I'd just like to point out," Brac interrupts Eden, "that we don't have a stick," pointing out the damage to the oar to Wu and Gasu who can see it. "We're down one."

"True," Gasu adds to this statement made by Brac.

"It's gone? Completely?" Victor asks over the Pocket, not close enough to see the damage to the paddle.

"It's in half--" Brac exclaims to Victor.

"Wu, maybe we should just leave that raft and you all come board ours so we can get to the next island. Maybe it will serve as a distraction for the eels. Maybe it will take more interest in that," Eden says to the regulars on Wu's raft.

"Gasu, you think you can take us closer? I'm too weary, but once we get there, I'll help paddle with the last undamaged paddle we have left," Wu says.

"Damn it," Gasu says as he picks up the undamaged paddle and tosses the broken one to Brac. "Brac, double time it. We need to get to that island," Gasu says deciding to not ditch the raft since they are very close to the island.

The regulars paddle with all their hearts as their lives depend on getting to the island before the eels can capsize their boats. The side with Gasu clearly shows more effort on his end due to Brac's paddle being broken, with the boat veering off course away from Eden's raft again and rocking in the water. Suddenly, they feel the force of an eel crashing into Wu, Gasu, and Brac's boat. The force isn't as intense as it was earlier, but it is quickly followed by another crash. Then another. Brac and Gasu paddle and paddle the best that they can. Eden's boat also is struck by the force from an eel as she and Damien also paddle as fast as they can, not looking back to see how many eels are in pursuit.

#### **Chapter Two: Team Yellow**

***Pocket Timer Notification: One Hour, thirty-five minutes remaining.***

As they get closer to the shoreline of the water below them becomes shallow again instead of the deep, open waters that they were over previously. They notice that the eels are coming in for another strike, this time Brac not wanting to make the same mistake as before, pulls up his oar out of the water. They all do the same thing, pulling their oars out of the water completely between each row to avoid the eels damaging more paddles. They get closer and closer until finally the collisions from the eels stop completely and the members of Team Black respectively look out to see that none of the eels are following them any longer as they reach the shore. Gasu jumps ahead before either boat can reach the shoreline, showing that like Wu, he too can do a flip off the boat onto shore.

"Brac, pull your boat onto the shore so it can't be damaged in the water, and I'll pull my raft onto the land as well," Eden calls out to Brac, still aboard her respective vessel.

"Got it," Brac says into his Pocket to Eden. "This is the only time I'm listening to you, but I got it."

"...You elected me the leader you... ugh whatever," Eden responds with surprise and irritation in her voice, deciding it wasn't worth the effort to argue with Brac.

"I elected you, not once!" Brac responds to Eden as she rolls her eyes, since Brac didn't get to voice his opinion while they were selecting a leader. "Brac did not say but a word."

"Okay, alright," she says somewhat under her breath, deciding to brush the conversation off. "Damien, Victor! Scout around and see what you can see while we get these on land."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Damien responds with enthusiasm with a firm salute to Eden.

"Sounds good but are we sure that our other teammates are okay," Victor asks as he looks over to other boat, noticing that Wu still has not gotten off.

Eden sighs deeply. "They are fine," she responds, not wanting to address Brac again.

"Alright. Damien, shall we go," Victor asks, now looking at Damien still standing there holding his salute to Eden.

"Not too far though. Just keep an eye out and see if you can see a flag," Eden adds with both Victor and Damien agreeing to her command.

Damien, now no longer saluting, looks to Victor. "Still have that chocolate bar?"

Victor lets out an awkward chuckle, "You know, I saved it for later. Yeah, let's save that for later."

"Well... Like I kind of want some of it," Damien says, just giving Victor a long look with his hand out, waiting for the chocolate bar to be returned.

"Oh here," Victor says as he pulls the candy bar out of his pants pocket. The candy bar is unopened, slightly smooshed. It seems to be partially melted inside the wrapper as well. Damien awkwardly stares at the chocolate bar, then looks at Victor, wondering why he hadn't even opened it. After this odd interaction, the two then head toward the center of the island in a quest to find the flag. Brac is still pulling their boat onto the shore while Wu sits on the ground by himself, looking dejected. He contemplates his thoughts and the experience he had with the eels. He also wonders where his gourd is.

As Damien and Victor reach the center of the island, they look up to see a yellow flag on this island, which had been obstructed from their view by the very tall trees that were found on this specific island. The two contemplate on what to do as they walk closer to the flag post.

"Ah, team yellow. One of the front runners I believe," Victor says out loud to Damien.

"Well how should we proceed? I think we should just take the flag out and put ours in," Damien responds.

"It doesn't seem like anyone is here. They aren't stupid enough to just leave part of their team," Victor adds to Damien's statement.

"That's two to nothing," Damien declares with enthusiasm.

"Mind if I do the honors," Victor asks as he looks over to Damien for permission.

"Yeah," Damien says as he hands Victor their team's black flag. Victor doesn't hesitate, as he pulls out the flag, catches it, then puts in their team's flag. Their Pockets immediately get a notification showing the change of points now showing that yellow team went down by five points, meanwhile their team went up by five points. This puts Team Black at twenty-five and Team Yellow at thirty points. Damien cheers with joy with Victor joining in afterwards. This was an easy task to accomplish, and no blood was shed, making it a win in both of their books. Damien and Victor head back to the others.

While Victor and Damien go scout ahead, Eden searches for something to repair the damaged paddle. This leads to her only finding a single piece of weathered driftwood that had once been part of another boat like theirs. It is in pretty bad condition though as Eden inspects it closer. As she approaches Brac and Gasu who are keeping watch for other regulars or boats, she shows them the board. "I don't know if this will be strong enough, but it could help. Brac, do you think you could attach this to your paddle to potentially fix it?"

"Brac doesn't know how to make things, but I can give it a try," Brac says to Eden.

The two are incredibly cheerful, this being noticed by Eden upon their return.

"You changed the flag as I can see," Eden says, referring to the point change in their Pocket scoreboards.

"There is nobody on the island that we can report," Damien says to Eden, gleefully saluting to her as he is saying this like he is one of Eden's pirate lackeys.

"Um," Eden says awkwardly as she sighs at Damien's behavior, "Wonderful."

Suddenly, the regulars are alerted to the fact that one of their islands were claimed by another team. "Flag has been taken." Team Black notices that their points go down by five points, while Team Light Blue goes up by five points.

"They went back," Eden points out, they having taken the island that had been set ablaze by Damien. "Damn it," Gasu also exclaims.

Brac sighs and under his breath says, "This is why Brac said to take the middle island." He doesn't make it a secret of his distain of his idea not being accepted by the others as he purposefully clears his throat to make sure the others hear his opinion on the matter. Everyone ignores him though as Victor begins to voice is thoughts on the matter.

"No, no it's fine! If I remember correctly, Light Blue only has three teammates. They're desperate right now and if the eels are going after them as well, I wouldn't worry too much about that team." Victor sighs at the end of his sentence, trying to boost the morale of his teammates. "It's only five points. We're near a ten-point island anyway."

"I agree with Victor. We are too close to all of these very nice prizes. We should just focus on taking all of those," Damien says as he agrees with Victor's statement.

"Alright, we'll let that one go. Let's head to the ten-point island and maybe potentially scout the main island and the one to the north," Eden says, trying to come to an agreement on their plans that lie ahead.

"I think we should take the smaller islands to the south, and THEN move toward the center island," Damien suggests.

"We don't have a lot of time though, is the only thing," Victor says as he notices the time left on his Pocket timer.

"I think if we go to those islands further to the south, then we aren't going to have enough time if we did have to make a last ditch to the middle island to win if all of our islands get taken. We need to be within striking distance of the main island," Eden says with Victor quickly agreeing with her as he nods his head. "If we go around the northeast side of this island," Eden continues as she points it out on the map to the others in the group that are part of the conversation, "we could potentially scout the main island while heading to the ten-point island to the northwest of us."

"Fair enough," Damien agrees.

Not long after Damien says this, they all are interrupted by a louder noise from their Pockets. \*Dun-na-da-dadah\* "Kilo Island has been claimed," the announcer says over their Pockets. They notice that there is now a crown next to Team Orange on the scoreboard, meaning they claimed Kilo Island.

"Oh, Team Orange just took the main island," Eden acknowledges.

"That's incredible," Damien declares.

"That's also bad. That pushes us potentially into fourth place or tied with fifth at the worst. If that's the case, then we are in trouble," Eden says back to Damien.

"I mean every team will have seen this, right? I say we keep on going for the islands we're going for and then head over to the main island," Damien responds.

"Brac would like to point out that if we keep going for the small fries, we will never catch the big fry," Brac adds to their conversation, still trying to convince them to go straight for Kilo Island. "We are at a loss. We need the middle island."

"This is worth considering, you have a good point," Victor says, now beginning to sway in Brac's favored plan.

"I think that because everyone got this notification, I assume everybody will probably make a beeline for the island. If you just happen to show up late and clean up the scrubs, we'll take it no problem," Damien says making a fair point as well.

"You know what I was wondering? Why has no one taken the main island up until this point? It's been an hour and a half," Victor postulates to the others of Team Black as he implies a meaning behind why it wasn't taken earlier in the test by other teams.

"That is a good point," Eden says as she realizes where Victor was headed with this line of questioning.

"--Because they couldn't," Gasu answers back, as he too comes to the realization of why it was unclaimed until this point in the test.

"Maybe it was a big fight," Damien suggests.

"There's got to be something else on that island that's not a competitor," Gasu declares as he wonders what could possibly be waiting for them on Kilo Island.

At this point, Wu finally emerges from the water without no one having noticed he was no longer sulking by the shoreline. His gourd was now in his hand as he dumps out any salt water the tip may contain before opening it. Wu remains not acknowledging anyone else as he opens it and takes a sip from his gourd, changing his demeanor to a more friendly vibe. Damien is the first to approach him, as he readies the candy bar to be offered to Wu. "Would you like some of my chocolate bar, Wu?"

"Where did you get this," Wu asks Damien as he inspects the now crumpled up partially eaten, half melted chocolate bar.

"I don't know," Damien responds, actually wondering about that fact himself.

"Sure, handsome," Wu agrees to accepting a portion of the chocolate bar. Damien breaks off half of what remained of the delectable candy, then giving that piece to Wu. He then takes a couple bites as his eyes light up with pleasure. "It tastes good. It goes well with my beverage. What are we talking about?"

"Chocolate bars," Damien responds to Wu, not considering that he could be referring to what they were talking about before Wu's arrival.

"Well that too, but I heard something about the center island," Wu says, looking around at the others to wait for a response.

"Well, we are planning on taking the center island in a moment. Or maybe now. I'm more in favor of swooping in at the last minute like a hero and taking the center island at the last second," Damien informs him while giving his own thoughts on the matter.

"Eden's the boss, what does she think?" Wu says now looking over to Eden.

"It's true, I will go with whatever Eden says," Damien says as he also turns to look at Eden for her decision over the matter as leader of Team Black.

"I don't think it's advantageous for us to go to the main island right now. If everybody got that notification, as I'm pretty sure that everyone else did, people who might have that very same idea. If orange team is weak and have a battle with the next team, then the next team, and the next team, they will all wear each other down while we can pick up these nearby islands. THEN we could go scout once the timer gets down a little farther," Eden decides the plan as she tells the group. Victor agrees with Eden's plan.

"You are aware that the weaker teams are picking up the locations that we've already taken," Wu points out to Eden in case she didn't know already.

"True, but if they have to deal with an eel soon, they might not even be an issue," Eden responds.

"I think the best chance for the weaker teams to stay in this is if they take the middle island. Once they got that notification, I'm sure that they would have to go there," Damien says.

"I also think that's their only hope, because even light blue team. I mean if they could take a millimeter island, maybe one centimeter, but meanwhile we're taking islands. They aren't going to catch up in time," Victor says to the group.

"Gasu, listen to him. Why is he so keen on taking us to the middle island," Wu says skeptical of Victor as he talks, knowing Gasu feels the same way about Victor.

"No, I actually have a different plan: we should just focus on what we came here to do which is taking the centimeter island that is directly northwest from here," Victor responds, not really acknowledging Wu's distrust for him.

"I think the blue one is trying to get us to fail," Brac says also beginning to be skeptical of Victor.

"Brac, that was my plan," Eden says slightly irritated by everyone's distrust and disdain of Victor.

"I think that the blue one's plan is a bunch of bull. Primarily because if we get the center island, let's say for example: we sit, we wait, we ambush, we'll be full of energy and ready to pounce on the last remaining team that has been in a skirmish for the middle island. Whereas if we continue to go from island to island the weaker teams will just constantly take our islands. Let's go to the middle," Brac says with annoyance of the others for their trust in Victor and distrust of Brac's plan, as in his mind it is the most logical thing to do. It saves them time, effort, and guarantees a win. The different members bicker about it for a few moments. Then Victor speaks his mind to the group.

"What if we do this. Now I understand you all don't trust me, but just hear me out. What if we take as many islands as possible and then during the last remaining amount of time, we can then see what the situation is like on the main island, and maybe we can swoop in for a victory," the blue-haired man with the spear suggests.

"Listen, Khun. I won't let you dictate our party's future. Even if Eden agrees, I disagree. If that's what you want to do, I'm staying here. I'll keep an eye out and I'll contact you as soon as anything changes," Wu says, pointing his finger at Victor as he rudely addresses Victor, distrusting the Khun and his plan outright.

"I'm just voicing my opinion, that is all," Victor says, shrugging his comments off.

"We need to move. We can make plans as we go. Our original goal was to get to the centimeter island to the northwest of here. Let's accomplish that goal. If we get any other notifications, if light blue starts picking up islands behind us, we can either continue north on a north-west projection for the three ahead of us, or we can potentially scout the middle island and see what's going on. It will give us more time to get updates for the middle island and we stay in proximity instead of going back to fight," Eden says as she wonders why they are wasting so much time disputing this as they should just go with the plan, they had already decided on earlier.

"Great plan! I am just going to go use the little frog's room, but I completely agree with Eden," Damien says as he leaves the group to go find a bush or a tree. They all start to agree with each other that Eden's plan is what they will follow through with doing.

"I would agree, I will go with whatever the team decides. I don't want to seem like some kind of threat to you all," Victor says trying to be friendly and complacent.

"You're not yet, so let's keep it that way," Eden responds with a little wink at the end.

"By the way-- never mind," Victor begins to say, but quickly stops his train of thought.

"What is it, Victor?" Eden gives him a curious look as to what he cut himself off from saying.

"Well--- Forget it," Victor says, again cutting off his comments premature.

"Don't speak, you're already pissing off my friend," Wu says angrily, directed at Victor.

"We have to work together, whether we like it or not," Eden says, squashing the bickering once again. "So, let's just put aside our petty differences for now and let's finish the test. This is what our lives literally depend on. So put aside all of your other little grievances, and let's get to work, okay?"

"I would prefer not to die," Wu says, regrettably.

"I would prefer not to die too. Alright, Boats in the water! We're heading toward the northwest side of the island. Anyone with keen observation keep your eyes on the middle island if it's visible, and we are headed toward the centimeter island to the northwest of here. Does that make sense for everybody?" Eden lays down that momma voice on the other members of Team Black, declaring that THIS is what they are doing, and they are doing it now, not to waste more valuable time. "Alright, let's go. Double time it!"

The same groups separate to leave on their rafts, but this time Wu offers to row for his group as he hasn't rowed the entire time. They push their boat off the shoreline and back into the water with Wu and Brac now rowing after Gasu hands Wu his paddle. "Take a load off my friend. There's no need to strees. I'll row for now," Wu says to Gasu. They set off toward the island, arriving without a hitch. When they do finally reach their destination, they see that there is a giant yellow flag on this island. The regulars all look to each other and begin to discuss.

"Alright, again boats out of the water. We don't want eels eating our boats any further. Let's go together on this one. I have a feeling that team yellow--" Eden begins to say as they all hear a voice calling to them. "Ah-hoy!" They all turn to see who is calling out to them, seeing an individual in a dark cloak that covers them almost entirely. They have a scythe as well, giving them an ominous feeling. They notice that they are very far away, with the cloaked one being accompanied by other regulars, this most likely being the members of Team Yellow. The regulars are waving to Team Black. They are very far away from them though, so no immediate danger falls upon the group of regulars belonging to Team Black.

"Oh boy," Victor says, putting his hand over his face for a moment. Eden notices this, addressing Victor, "What team is this?"

"I have a feeling that this is the yellow team. They seem very confident, and this is probably their island," he responds to her.

Eden hearing this lets out a big sigh. "Wonderful. What do you think? Talk, fight?"

Victor wonders for a moment as he speaks out loud. "Why would they yell out to us like this? Something seems off."

As they look at the distant regulars of yellow team, four of their members begin to enter their boat, leaving the cloaked man still on the shoreline, indicating that he is most likely the leader of Team Yellow.

"Well, I wouldn't mind going and introducing myself," Victor says optimistically as Damien also gives a friendly wave back to the members of Team Yellow. The cloaked figure waves back to Damien.

"Do you think we should talk to him," Eden asks the members of Team Black.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Brac says with goosebumps appearing all over his skin as he feels a strange sensation coming over him that he isn't used to.

"It definitely feels like a trap," Gasu points out his concern.

"Why are his teammates leaving," Brac says with a chill coming over him. As they are discussing this, the cloaked figure climbs up into their boat as well, starting to row away from the island, towards the island that Team Black had just left that they had claimed. Seeing this, Brac realizes that they are going to steal their island and their points that come with it. "Kill them! We must KILL THEM," Brac says outraged by their trajectory toward their island. "They are going to take our islands."

"Wait a minute," Gasu interrupts. "Why would they leave this island completely defenseless after they just saw us get here?"

"Because we're point swapping," Brac suggests.

"We're gonna get more points out of this aren't we," Damien asks.

Wu, beginning to grow skeptical of Victor even more than before asks, "Victor, what more do you know about them?"

"I know nothing, aside from the fact that they are currently in second..." Victor stops as he realizes something. He continues his train of thought by saying, "We should look at our scoreboards. Pocket, Visible Mode!" Victor's pocket appears in front of him, and he looks at the points of each respective team. They now notice that Team Green now has fifty points, Yellow's at thirty, Black and Dark Blue are at twenty, White is at five, Pink is at Zero, Light Blue is at five, and Orange has a crown, with the other two teams being eliminated. "This is not looking good for us," Victor says now flustered by the scoreboards. This now makes them tied for fifth instead of tied for fourth.

"No, it's not," Eden agrees.

"Ever since you joined, we've been going in the wrong direction," Wu points out, paranoid that Victor is to blame for them falling in the placements of points.

"You're really gonna pin this on me?" Victor says defensively.

"Once we take this flag that changes everything doesn't it," Damien says out loud to the group, realizing that this would take ten points from Yellow and put ten points toward their point total.

"I'm just making an observation," Wu claims as he takes a sip from his gourd, making his opinion of Victor well known to the others.

"Damien has a point, Damien has a point," Victor says as he thinks about it, completely ignoring Wu's statements about him. "Are we just going to let them row toward our other island?"

"I mean think about it this way. I feel like they've probably set up some kind of trap. They seem very confident. Why else would they leave? Why else would they point swap, unless there was no intention of point swapping, and they have something set up for us inside the island." Eden and Victor agree with Damien's observation of their situation.

Brac's dismal feeling from seeing the cloaked guy and his observation of his scythe, he put it together that the leader of Team Yellow must have been like someone he had faced before when he was growing up in the middle portion of the tower. He thought of his memories of training with Caine to learn how to fight and use his abilities. "Guys, I don't think it's a good idea to take this island."

"Why's that," Wu asks, curious about why Brac would be saying this when he would be the last person that Wu expected to say this.

"They guy that was wielding the scythe. If-- If I remember correctly, they have some pretty diabolical abilities."

"What makes you say that," Wu asks, even more curious than before. Damien also chimes in as he says, "Explain," also curious of what Brac has to say. "Never mind," Wu says, now remembering earlier when he didn't trust in Brac about the eels in the water. "I won't doubt you again. I already doubted you about the fish."

"I don't doubt you, but I'd like to hear more," Damien says.

"Well, in the time that I was being raised in the middle portion of the tower, my adoptive father put me up against a guy that was wielding a weapon similar to that. He had crazy shinsu abilities that I couldn't quite figure out. But let's just say it would be a bad idea for us to mess with that guy and I think that in a straight fight period. Him being near us, he's too confident; he's too cocky. I don't like it."

"Brac? Brac, are you-- are you afraid of him?" Victor has a curious yet mocking look on his face as he addresses Brac.

"I'm not afraid of him! I'd kick his butt, BUT he's not in front of me, so let's just not mess with this island and let's... you know..."

"What's the harm in taking the island? No one's here," Victor asks, somewhat chuckling at Brac's fear of the cloaked individual and his excuses.

"You can go take the island, Brac is staying right here," Brac says as he points at the ground and crosses his arms, somewhat pouting at the thought of the great Brac being afraid of another individual.

Wu is developing a very abnormally large grin as Brac talks. He jumps up onto Brac's hulking shoulders, standing on them while looking down at Brac. He doesn't even look up at Wu or acknowledge his presence. "Are you scared, Brac?"

Brac is getting annoyed as they can see a vein popping in his head and his face grows purple from anger. "Fear is not in Brac's vocabulary." Victor, Wu, and Brac start to go back and forth with quips and bickering that begin to annoy Eden.

"We're wasting valuable time, gentlemen," she finally says to the three of them.

"You think we should just take the island, but proceed with caution," Damien asks the group. "Or do you think we should just avoid this island and go?"

"I would agree. That seems safe to me." Victor says.

"Either way we have to be careful," Damien adds.

"Yeah-- Let's go," Gasu says, agreeing with Damien for once.

We'll need to be very, very careful," Eden mentions to them to keep them aware of dangers and traps on the island.

The six of them make their way toward the center of the island, noticing that the center of it being somewhat like a hill. There are different trails with thick trees and foliage on each side of every trail. This makes it a little more difficult for the regulars to stay grouped up, but instead traveling in a straight single-file line. Suddenly, Damien stops everyone by putting his arm up in their path, as he senses a hostile source of shinsu, most likely coming from a trap. "Everyone, hold on. I can sense shinsu coming from up ahead. It seems to be some kind of trap. We need to really think about what we have to do next."

"Does anybody know how to dispel the shinsu or at least maybe move it to another area to give us time to change the flag," Eden asks the group, still not fully sure what everyone is capable of.

"I have a big pair of scissors," Damien points out as he pulls out his giant scissors from his arms inventory.

"What do your scissors do, Damien?" Eden asks almost sarcastically.

"I hit people with them," Damien says with a serious look on his face.

Wu's eyes light up and grow to the size of dinner plates as he sees these magnificent golden scissors. He's been curious about them since the first time he laid eyes on them. He rushes over to Damien now kneeling, beginning to touch and fondle Damien's scissors. "Are you gonna show us what the scissors do, are you gonna show us what the scissors do???"

"Stop being weird, bro. Stop touching my scissors," Damien says awkwardly and uncomfortable. He pulls the scissors away from Wu's reach as a sad expression now fills his face, almost reaching his hand back out to the scissors. Then he turns his head, feeling dejected. He drops to the ground and pulls out his gourd, now drinking profusely from it.

"It's okay! It's just a little weird. You just start touching my weapon without asking," Damien says in an apologetic manner, trying to hold the scissors for Wu to inspect and touch again, but Wu doesn't listen to a word that Damien says, ignoring his gesture as he is now too insulted to be interested in anything but drinking from his gourd. Damien just stands there very sad now as well, with his jaw dropped. He didn't mean to hurt his friend's feelings.

Now that their interaction is over with, Victor decides to go back to the task at hand as he says, "Speaking of shinsu, I assume everyone here made a contract with the administrator?"

"Of course," Eden and Gasu say in unison. Brac, Wu, and Damien also clearly showed their abilities to use shinsu up to this point, with Gasu being the only one who hadn't used a shinsu ability yet.

"The administrator? What's that," Wu says, possibly messing with Victor or genuinely curious. It's hard to ever tell with Wu when he's asking questions.

"When you came to this floor, everyone made a contract, correct," Victor again asks, possibly picking up on Wu's mocking tone.

"I'm joking, I'm joking. Sure," Wu says, continuing to drink from his gourd, now bored with the topic. "Whatever you say."

"If it's a genuine question, I can help answer it," Victor points out.

"I mean, clearly some people here don't know, so um. Explain it, Victor," Damien says awkwardly fumbling over his words and hesitating.

"Well, to use shinsu you have to make a contract with the administrator of the floor. Now, some people are able to use some forms of shinsu without making a contract but it's very rare. Now of course, I made the contract straight away, but I wanted to see if you all had," Victor explains, maybe fishing for information from the others or to see if any of them were irregulars. His intentions may have been to actually help those in the group who hadn't made a contract or understood the rules of making a contract. Either way, the rest of them don't really take him seriously in this line of questioning since most of them had displayed uses of shinsu already.

"Is that really true, Victor? You made a contract," Gasu says, thinking about something else unrelated to the conversation involving Victor.

"I did," Victor replies as he holds out his hand and creates a baang of lightning shinsu.

"What's your point? Why are you asking us this," Wu says obviously irritated even more than he normally is at Victor and his line of questioning.

"It might be helpful in dispelling the ***SHINSU TRAP*** that we are in front of," Victor says mockingly, showing some of his irritation with Wu right back. "Just a thought.."

"Daaaaaang," Damien says at hearing this remark by Victor, noticing that was a very well landed burn onto Wu. Wu though, having been drinking since he got there, is in a different phase.

"I have a feeling that not all of you have made the contract. If you would like, you can go off somewhere alone and make the contract," Victor says, still adamant that someone there hasn't made a contract yet.

Eden activates her shinsu bow, looking at Victor with a sarcastic look. "You've seen this already, ya dingbat?"

"I'm not saying all of you, but... fine, fine, fine. Let's forget I said anything," Victor says with his hands up in a defensive posture very much flustered by their responses to his line of questioning.

"Look, we don't care if anyone has or has not made a deal. Let's figure out how to dispel or distract or set this off safely so we can get to the flag. I don't know if Yellow has had anyone else try that or walked in unknowingly and that's probably how some of the teams got killed. We need to overcome this quickly, because they are getting islands behind us. We need to make up ground," Eden says as suddenly, they get a notification on their Pockets.

*DING: "Flag has been stolen."*

They notice that after this notification, their points go down by five, putting them at fifteen again, while Team Yellow go up five points, putting them at thirty-five points.

"See? This will only even out the deficit that we're currently under," Eden points out to their team.

"I Still say we should have went to the middle," Brac says under his breath.

"That's still an option, Brac," Eden says now irritated even further by their nonsense.

"We are in fifth place right now. This is not good," Victor points out.

"Everyone back up," Eden commands.

Damien readies himself in a crouched posture. He suddenly uses his Frog Style: Jump to completely jump over the area where the shinsu trap is. They watch in awe and shock with how far into the air he jumps with the distance he travels. The trap seems to be behind Damien now as he pulls out his scissors, prepared to destroy the shinsu trap.

"Woah, woah, woah. You've jumped across! That's amazing!" Victor exclaims, cheering Damien on. "Why don't you just go plant the flag?"

"You know-- Very good point. I didn't think about that. Thank you, Victor," Damien responds as he nervously admits his lack of insight onto his previous plan to destroy the trap.

"Perhaps we shouldn't mess with this trap," Victor suggests.

"Yeah, we could use it to our advantage," Eden points out to Damien.

"That's true," Victor exclaims, agreeing with Eden's point.

"Alright, I have an idea. I'm going to put a mark here and I want you to park there. I'm going to go put the flag in, and then I'm going to use my jump again to jump across. Then we can leave," Damien states to the group on the other side of the shinsu trap.

"Sounds good," Eden agrees.

"I'm going to go quickly replace the flag, be right back guys," Damien says.

"Make sure there aren't any traps on the flag," Eden reminds him to proceed with caution.

"Burn the jungle," Wu shouts over to him, squeezing that notion into Damien's mind.

"I'm pretty perceptive. I think I'll know if there's any more traps," Damien says to himself as he walks further onto the location of the flag. As he walks up to the top of the hill a little further, he sees the flag. He inspects the flag for traps, not seeing any. He switches out the flag pretty quickly, causing their points to go up by ten, and Team Yellow to lose ten points. This puts Team Black at twenty-five points, and Team Yellow at twenty-five points. This brings a smile to Damien's face, but before he goes back, he immediately starts grabbing stuff to start a fire.

Damien is so excited to start this fire, he is rubbing the twigs together, causing it to spark and ignite. Embers fly from the twigs onto his robe (cape), without Damien noticing. The embers burn a hole into it slowly starting on fire from the flammable material the cape is made out of. While Damien holds up the sticks now in flames, he notices the fire on his cape for the first time. He lets out a yell of horror, the others hearing this but unable to specifically see Damien.

"He's in trouble! We have to get to him; we have to help him," Victor says, getting ready to proceed to help Damien, rallying the others to do the same.

"I-I-I'm not in trouble, I just did something really dumb! You can go back to the raft! I'll take care of it," Damien shouts back to them, flustered by the predicament he is in as he tries to stomp out the flames on his cape. He is ashamed to have the others see him on fire or the others laughter at the sight of him on fire from his own creation.

"Are you sure," Victor says, confused by what Damien means from his statement.

"Yeah totally," Damien says back, still trying to put out the flames.

"What did you do," Brac asks, curious as to what Damien could have possibly done as his imagination goes wild.

"I-I-I don't want to say, because I don't think you guys will think I'm very cool if I say it," Damien says awkwardly as he struggles to stomp out the flames on his cape. They begin to grow more and more along the bottom of his cape.

"Did you burn the forest," Wu asks Damien, hoping that he did for their shared amusement from watching nature burn.

"Uh... I.. burned something!" Damien responds, now dropping to the ground to roll around in an attempt to put the fire out. The fire does manage to be snuffed out, but his cape is pretty damaged with the burns having scorched it in some places more than others while other parts in the middle are now frayed and missing, but most of it is still intact. After this embarrassing feat, Damien gets up and returns to the rest of the group without starting anymore fires. He leaps over the shinsu trap, returning to the other side. There, Eden and the others still remain as they are talking.

"We need to get back to the rafts quickly. I don't want anyone to mess with them. Let's go," Eden says to the group, not noticing that Damien is back. Wu immediately begins laughing, half ignoring Eden's statement. She and the others turn to see Damien standing there awkwardly in shame of what had just happened as Wu's laughing intensifies. Eden sighs as she turns back toward the path to the shoreline, directing the others to follow. After a few moments, they do arrive back to the shoreline to see their boats still intact on the shore.

"Alright, where are we headed." Victor asks Eden. They look at their Pockets to see that they have an hour and ten minutes. As they are looking at their Pockets, no other teams are dead at the moment with Team Orange with the win, Team Green at fifty, Yellow and Black at twenty-five, Dark Blue at twenty, White at five, Pink at zero, Light Blue at five, and both Team Grey and Team Brown are dead with skulls next to their team's color on the scoreboard, having been eliminated from the test.

"Well considering we didn't have to expend any health or fighting, do you all think we should go to the middle island now, or should we continue progressing northward?" Eden is thinking about heading toward other islands since they still have so much time left to claim the middle island. They are tied for fourth after all, but they are still in danger of being eliminated if Team Yellow and Light Blue keep taking their islands, putting Dark Blue in front of them.

As Eden is considering what to do next and for a response from others in the group, Victor begins to speak. "Maybe we should see which team holds that island, because--"

Victor is cut off from Wu interrupting him. "I'm tired of your suggestions. Let Eden run the show." Victor smiles, but he does stop talking.

Eden, confused, looks back and forth between them. "I was asking for input?"

"You trust him way too much. We just met him and granted you just met us," Wu says, admitting that they all are new to each other.

"I was going to say, your case isn't a strong one if you are going off of time knowing each other," Eden says. She laughs a little bit as if it was much of a difference---" Eden says as she is interrupted again by Wu finishing his previous thought.

"However, that doesn't mean we all have to acquiesce to what he wants to do. That's my point," Wu says, now getting irritated by Eden not seeing that Victor is a shady guy who could turn on them at any point.

"I don't think any of us have acquiesced to what anyone wants to do, including the leader who you technically elected," Eden says.

"Hmm. Sure," Wu says back, defiantly, but coming to terms with Eden's statement.

"I want to say that Brac didn't elect anyone, but I guess," Brac interrupts their conversation, giving his input for the first time since they had begun bickering.

"Yes. Thank you for reminding me. Thank you," Eden says somewhat irritated that Brac has to bring that up every time she mentions that they elected her to be leader.

Damien raises his hand. "I elected you. I am very happy with my vote!"

Eden blushes at this statement, looking over to Damien then back to Wu, Brac, and Victor. Gasu sits in the background silently observing all this conflict between them, not wanting to get involved as he doesn't care what they decide as long as it means he gets his goal of climbing the tower to find what he climbs for. "Wonderful," she says, "We need to make time. We need to stop squabbling on petty little things and we need to have a plan of action. I'm looking for input. Should we keep searching for smaller islands, and leave the knockout dragged out fight for the middle island to happen later, or should we go and take it and try to hold it?"

Gasu, finally wanting to give his input, speaks for the first time in a while. "What team has the middle island?"

"Orange has it," both Wu and Eden say, with Wu saying it more like he's asking a question.

"The meter island is pretty close to us, isn't it? Just directly north. Those are worth twenty points. If we get that, it would put us at forty-five points. Maybe, it would even be minus the yellow team's point total," Damien says.

"Okay, I didn't know that Team Orange had the middle island, you're right. We need to go with your plan. It's the only way," Wu suggests.

"I think we could take the northern island, and then go to the Kilo Island. I don't think it's that urgent," Damien points out.

"We still have an hour and ten minutes," Eden adds to Damien's suggestion. "Let's go to the island to the north of us. Hopefully we can take it unopposed, or the least amount of resistance, and then with the time remaining, potentially make our way toward the middle island. I'm still not sure that's the best idea, because you're going to have a lot of desperate teams fighting. If we come in second, we're still going to survive, but---" Eden goes to finish her thoughts on the matter, when Victor begins to speak too but immediately cuts himself off. "Victor, you may speak.. Speak."

"Are you sure, gracious team leader, beautiful goddess of the team?"

"You don't need to lay it on that thick, just say what you are going to say," Eden says, rolling her eyes in response of hearing what he said. Internally though, she does blush a bit at the mention of how beautiful she is. The others though, are disgusted with Victor's response, both feeding off of each other's thoughts and comments.

"Stop kissing ass, Victor," Brac says, while Wu adds to this saying under his breath, "This man."

"Well... Survival is number one and I would agree. I think we should see which team holds that island first, then make our decision."

"Alright, let's go. In the water," Eden commands.

#### **Chapter Three: Consensus**

The team separates into their previously established groups that have rowed the boat prior to arriving here. They head off after pushing their boats off the shoreline and back into the water. They are rowing when they notice that there has been a change to the scoreboard. This puts Orange still in first place, Team Green at fifty, and Yellow, Dark Blue, and Black all tied for fifth at twenty-five, with Dark Blue having eliminated Team White from the game. Team Pink and Team Light blue keeping their point totals as well at zero and five respectively, with now three teams having been eliminated, being Team White, Team Brown, and Team Grey. They immediately all make their Pockets visible mode and begin conversing with each other over the Pockets.

"That's not good," Wu says, as the regulars of Team Black feel their hearts drop at the thought of imposing death upon losing this test. "We've got to deal with this yellow team."

"Ugh, this is not great," Victor agrees.

Then suddenly, they all hear the Pocket ding again, as they notice that the scores have changed yet again. *"Your flag has been stolen."* Yellow goes up to thirty points meanwhile Team Black drops to twenty points. One of their Centimeter Islands were taken.

"I knew it," Wu says under his breath in dismay.

Damien, still remaining optimistic though, says, "As long as we go for this north island, we'll be up another twenty points."

Brac doesn't hesitate to speak his mind as he says, "But the points mean nothing IF the middle island isn't taken," trying to slam on Damien's optimism and Eden's leadership skills having laid out these plans that are currently crumbling on them in Brac's mind.

"Alright, let's go to the middle island. This is a bigger problem than I thought it would be," Wu says.

"You know I just reali-" Victor begins to say, but then remembers that Wu, Brac, and Gasu don't want to hear him talk, but he continues, "May I talk," he says, not waiting for an answer, confidently continuing as he says, "Maybe not an issue, maybe this is a good thing. Teams are being eliminated and pink is still sitting at zero points. What if we just end up with four teams? Right now, there's only seven teams remaining. We practically only have five teams competing with each other, as Light Blue only has five points, and Pink has zero points."

"You're not wrong," Eden agrees.

"Perhaps this is an okay situation after all," Victor says as he thinks of their course of action next.

"The pink team is actually really smart," Brac says, noticing what their plan of action is, which Brac would have done too.

"You think so," Victor asks Brac, somewhat puzzled by his statement.

"I mean isn't it obvious what they are doing?" To Brac it is very obvious. The others look at him really confused at this point, until Brac continues explaining it and the other regulars start to understand their plan. "They have no points," Brac says kind of gesturing them to keep their gears turning.

"They're hiding on the main island and waiting for a moment to strike," Eden says almost like she's asking Brac a question.

"Exactly. They're using my plan. I hate those guys, but they're smart," Brac responds.

"I agree with the course of action. The yellow team is a problem. Let's keep moving. It's the only way," Wu says, sounding very sad and somewhat really drunk at this point. The other regulars agree.

"We're going north then, correct," Damien asks, just confirming what the plan was.

"Yes, we're going up to the meter island," Eden declares, as they continue north bound toward the meter island that reside before them in the distance. Ten minutes pass, and the meter island comes closer and closer into view. This is the biggest island that they have seen thus far. They see how large the island is, with cliffs, trees, hills, and sand everywhere. They can see the flag up on a hill in the center of the island as they approach. They realize that they only have an hour left and that it is going to take some time to climb up it alone. Since the group has been on the rafts for long durations and haven't seen much battle for a while, they have healed up quite a bit of stamina, health, and shinsu, aside from what Damien had used to leap back and forth over the shinsu trap. He is still roaring to go, regardless.

Damien starts doing stretches, readying for a jump and a run toward the flag. "I'll go scout ahead," he says.

"Well, I for one, think that three of us should head towards that location, and three of us should guard the rafts," Victor says. "That's my opinion."

"I'm going; I'm bored," says Wu.

"I volunteer to take the flag also," says Damien.

"I think we should definitely guard the rafts at this point. Pink could technically be stranded at this point on one of the tiny, tiny islands," Eden interjects.

"That is true," Victor adds to Eden's statement.

Eden continues with her thought, "They might not be dead, but they might not even be lying in wait." Victor agrees with Eden. She continues as she addresses the rest of the group, "Who would like to guard the rafts? Damien, you need to come with us for the shinsu sense."

"I'll guard the rafts," Brac says as Eden is talking.

"I'll guard the rafts along with Gasu and Brac," Victor says.

"Sounds good. Alright, Wu, Damien, let's go," Eden says, with the members of Team Black being in agreement with one another. The three of them head through the jungle together. As they do, Gasu, Victor, and Brac communicate.

Victor looks over to Gasu as he sees Eden, Damien, and Wu leaving. "Hey, uh. Would you mind if we spoke for a minute?"

"No, not at all," Gasu says in a monotone voice as he couldn't care less if they spoke or not.

"You wouldn't mind," Victor asks, needing reassurance of Gasu's statement.

"Speak. Quick," Gasu responds.

"Well, I was just curious. You seem to have some kind of vendetta against me. Is there anything that I can do to make you feel... more comfortable," Victor asks, with a curious face and soft, friendly tone to his voice.

"Actually, now that you mention it, there is," Gasu says with a positive tone as he ponders Victor's question. He pauses, building up suspense for what he is about to say to Victor.

"Yeah?" Victor says as he waits for a response, curious about what Gasu has to say.

"Kill yourself," Gasu says with no emotion in his voice as if he were asking Victor to fetch him something like it were any other simple task. Brac starts laughing at this comment by Gasu, notably affecting Victor's demeanor for a moment, but he quickly composes himself.

"Well, I can't exactly make that accommodation, but perhaps you'd like to," Victor says as Gasu cuts him off.

"Alright, then stay out of my way," Gasu says as he immediately turns and walks away from Victor toward the rafts, putting some distance between them before he strikes Victor down with his katana.

"Well, I tried," Victor says out loud under his breath, regretting his decision to try to talk to someone as hardheaded as Gasu. Brac continues to point and laugh at Victor as he walks over toward Gasu. "Thank you.. Thank you, Brac," Victor says with an irritable tone, but somewhat chuckling himself. "Appreciate that."

Meanwhile with Eden, Wu, and Damien, they are traversing through the jungle in search of the flag. They don't notice anything, or any signs of others having been there. It does take them quite a while to climb the hill though. After clearing all the thick foliage and the steep parts of the hill, they can finally make out that the flag is green as they approach it. Closer. Even closer, yet still far enough. There is a spiraling path that goes up the hill, which they muster through. Damien and Wu have an easier time climbing the hill to the flag, whereas Eden starts to get winded and has cramps in her legs and feet.

They finally arrive to the top of the hill, with the green flag towering over them all, fluttering in the slight breeze. Damien and Eden start to replace the flag, but Wu is looking out from the top of the hill, it making a good vantage point. As he stares out over the water, he can see in the distance to the northeast, that there is another island, this time a Centimeter Island with a green flag hoisted high enough for him to see over the trees there. With the flags being switched out by Eden and Damien, the Pocket scoreboards update with Team Green going down to thirty points, and Team Black going up to forty points. This finally puts them in second place.

"Eden, the island directly across from here is also green. We can go there first," Wu says to Eden as he looks back over to her and Damien now finished with changing out the flag.

"We could," Eden says as she thinks about it for a moment. "I wonder if that is the trajectory that green took."

"It could be a trap though," Wu mentions as he also considers something else. "Maybe they are already at the center island."

Damien checks the time left on the Pocket Timer, seeing that there is only fifty-five minutes left, which he shares with the others. They start making their way back down while they talk about it further. Before they can reach the bottom though and return to the others in their group, their pockets notification sound. "Flag has been taken!" They notice that their points went down to thirty, while Team Yellow's points went up to forty.

"Is Yellow coming back behind us," Eden says in shock.

"Yellow's following our trail," Wu notices, agreeing with Eden.

"They took the south most Centimeter Island-- The island that we met Victor," Damien points out.

"I can't believe this," Wu says in frustration and disbelief.

"Wait... They took that one? That island's on fire though," Damien says as he thinks about the mayhem that the fire would have caused for any normal regulars.

"That fire has probably went out, Damien, I'm sorry," Eden says reluctantly, patting Damien on the shoulder while she says it. She can see how distraught that Damien is over his failed fire trap strategy.

"But it's only been like an hour," Damien responds, still dumbfounded by this new revelation. "Fires last like a long, long time!" He is so sure that the fire he set would still be raging.

While still conversing, they do reach the others, also having noticed the change in points and having heard Damien venting his frustrations over his fire. Wu says, "The fire should still be blazing. They must have found a way through." Wu tries to reassure Damien that the fire is still going, even if it may only burn in their imaginations and their hearts.

"We do know that their team is stilled. They probably had someone who could go in," Victor now joins the conversation.

"My strategy.... **Nooooo!**" Damien lets out a dramatic 'Darth Vader' No to ensure everyone knew how disappointed he was that the fire didn't stop their flag from being taken.

"Maybe they had someone who could jump like you, Damien. Okay," Eden sarcastically says as a joke.

Wu begins to pat Damien on the back, whispering in his ear so no one else could hear, "We'll start another fire." To which, Damien immediately starts laughing out loud for everyone to hear.

"I can't believe that there's a second Damien out there who can jump as good as I can," Damien says still laughing as he thinks of a second version of him out there somewhere, but one that puts out forest fires and doesn't wear capes. Everyone gives him an odd look of concern as he stares off in the distance, clearly lost in thought.

Ignoring Damien's comment, Wu continues their conversation. "Eden, what do you think? I feel like a confrontation with the yellow team is inevitable, but we should still proceed and grab the next green island, in my opinion."

She sighs as she shakes off her conversation with Damien about the fire. "I guess that's not the worst idea, because there is another Meter Island very, very close by. We could be converging on teams though, very soon. I don't want to get locked down in a fight where we couldn't get to the middle island if things go really south."

Wu nods his head in agreement. "Which is bad too. We can't afford to leave anybody here."

"I think, in my opinion, I'm starting to like the idea of taking the center island," Victor interrupts.

"What changed.... Khun," Wu says, skeptical of Victor still.

Victor, feeling frustrated, says in a mocking tone, "Because now that time is running out, our team... Our team, first of all, we have six members. All of us are pretty strong, I would say. We can all hold our own--"

Damien interrupts Victor to add onto his train of thought, saying, "We're fairly well rested too. I actually, I agree. I think that we're at our full strength and we'll be able to take on any team that's straggling on that island right now. Also, we want to have a foothold before the last thirty minutes, I'd say."

"Right," Victor says, surprised that someone else is agreeing with him for a change.

Wu even, now kind of disappointed in himself for even siding with Victor, hesitantly asks, "What's the strategy. We're not going in there blind."

"Well, we should discuss it with everyone, I think," Damien suggests. They spend a while discussing it, with many of them bringing up their own ideas and strategies.

"I don't want to get into the water, because I'm still worried about these eels. Let's just figure it out now before we go to the middle island," says Wu, thinking about his encounter under the water with the eels.

"We can do that. I also like the idea of making a b-line for the other Meter Island," Damien says.

"That would be thirty points technically, if we could get both of those islands," Eden adds.

"We'd have to split the party for that," Wu says as he looks at the timer counting down more and more on his Pocket. "I don't think it's worth."

"We don't need to get both, but I mean like, just skip the Centimeter Island entirely and head to the Meter Island," Damien elaborates.

"If we were going to do that, my idea would be to split the party with two people going ahead to scout the Meter Island to scout, see if there's anyone there, and if there is abandon it and meet at the middle island, if not then grab it and then meet at the middle island," Wu suggests.

"...Either way, my brain's starting to hurt," Victor says, as he rubs his temples, trying to process all their plans and suggestions.

"The problem is, this yellow team has been on hot on our tail basically for the last two islands. So, the smaller islands that we take, we are going to run into yellow team," Gasu declares, fed up with Team Yellow taking all of their flags.

"They haven't been hot on our tail, they've just been going back the way we came from," Damien says.

"Either way, they've been taking our islands a majority of the time," Wu says, pausing for a moment. "That and the individual that Brac saw, was also part of the yellow team, no?" The other members confirm that the scythe wielder that Brac saw, was in fact part of yellow team.

"He clearly has something against us. I don't know what it is," Wu says, thinking about what they could have done to piss of the yellow team.

"Brac, are you still shaking from that encounter? Are you okay? Do you need-- Do you need any words of advice or... I know that it was tough on you," Victor says with a smug smile on his face as he directs his questions toward Brac.

"Gasu told you to go kill yourself, I think you should go do that. Get-Get out of my face," Brac says, embarrassed by the others knowing his fear of the scythe wielder.

"Wait, Gasu did what?!?!" Damien lets out in shock and surprise, as he turns his head to Brac.

"Oh, you should have been here! It was hilarious," Brac says, now laughing about it as he recalls five minutes ago when Gasu told Victor to kill himself.

"Listen, all of you. I said to put aside the petty differences until we get passed this test. If you can't do that, then maybe you should go to another team," Eden says to the group, standing up for Victor, but mostly tired of the team being so divided when they should be focused on passing the test.

"Eden, I'm trying," Wu says in a quiet, scared voice while Eden continues, "I am SICK of this." She does not look amused, and the others can very much tell she is upset.

"Gasu, I'm proud of you," Wu shouts over to Gasu, giving him a thumbs up.

"Let's focus on the task at hand. We should go to the middle island, or immediately go for the other Meter Island," Damien interrupts, while suggesting what he thinks the options should be to vote on.

"This test is just a big circle. Everyone's taking each other's islands. What if instead, we just go for the win," Victor says, basically agreeing with Brac's original plan.

"That's so contradictory to what you were saying just a little while ago," Wu says, being accusatory to Victor yet again.

"No, because time has passed," Victor points out, pointing to the time on the Pocket, which the others were aware of the shrinking amount of time they had left to pass the test. "We have about fifty minutes remaining. It's a guarantee. I want a guaranteed win, right?"

"If you say so. It's up to Eden. She still leads us," Wu says, still being unable to accept Victor as a member of their team.

"I agree. That is true. Eden? It is your choice," Victor says as he goes back to being quiet.

She sighs, frustrated by all the drama between the others, as well as the decision between the two options. "I see the advantages and disadvantages of both ideas. I think a lot of teams are thinking like us. Thinking that while other people battle it out, they can pick up the islands that are being abandoned. Which is what I think that yellow is doing. However, if yellow is in the southeast part of the map, they have about the exact same distance to the middle island that we do, but we won't know if they are making landfall on the same area we are. They are going to be on the other side. I'm wondering if other teams are going to start converging on the middle island, especially the desperate ones who may be lying in wait or down in party members. That's going to become difficult on such a big island. Holding that for an hour could be very, very difficult. Especially if we are fighting a war on five to six fronts. We would have to make an alliance in order to make that work." The others nod their heads as they listen to her, agreeing with a lot of what she is saying.

"Which isn't impossible," Wu agrees to forming an alliance with another team.

"It isn't impossible, but it is very treacherous," Eden says.

"If we can find a team to align themselves with us and we set up a perimeter, we should be able to preempt everyone that comes. I still agree with Damien. We could also just take the Meter Island then converge at a more apt time," Wu adds his input.

"I agree. If we aligned ourselves with a team, we could make a deal and that deal could be a majority of us fight for the center island, almost as two teams, and one or two individuals from that team can collect all of our islands. That way, we aren't fighting them; they can take our islands and we both have a guaranteed win," Victor says in a sly tone. "We allow them to take our islands and in exchange, they help us win."

"But they could also counter that by breaking their group up, they're more at risk to lose to another team. I don't know if they would be so keen to do that," Eden says, pointing out the flaw in Victor's suggestion.

"It depends on the group we choose," Wu adds, thinking of teams that have little or no points probably having a better chance of saying yes to them.

"It seems like yellow team is very focused on just getting the most points: not taking the middle island," Damien notices as he relays his observation to the rest of the group.

"Correct," Eden says. "And green seems to be the same as well."

"I don't think yellow or green are more so focused on taking the islands to get more points, but more so to use those as beacons to figure out where teams are. When you take an island, you realize that you lose points. So, in realizing that you lost those points, all you really have to figure out is where did it come from. So that you can know where enemies are," Brac points out his thoughts on the matter, showing that he is very tactical and thinks outside of the box when not bullying Victor or trying to 'Stealth.' The others hadn't thought of it that way before.

"That is a good point, because we technically have only encountered three teams," Eden says, referring to Teams Light Blue, Grey, and Yellow. "That was impressive!"

"That was kind of a big brain observation," Victor points out, patting Brac on the back and making him blush.

"Genius. You are an incredible genius," Wu says. Brac starts to laugh and feel flattered, somewhat full of himself now.

"That's because I am trained in **TACTICS**," Brac says as he points upward with a big smile and his face turning purple as he blushes... Purple, because he's blue!

"But it also confirms that the yellow team has a vendetta against us for whatever reason," Wu says.

"I don't know if they necessarily hold a vendetta, I think it's just that we're the closest team to them, just like when we encountered Teams Grey and Light Blue," Eden points out.

Wu disagrees saying, "I don't know. That one interaction makes me think that there's something more there."

"I think that they thought we were going to walk into a trap. Potentially maybe that's how the entire brown team was killed. They might be cocky, thinking their traps are invisible to other teams," Eden suggests her thoughts on the matter.

"So, what's the decision then? We have to make something happen," Wu says with a sense of urgency.

"I'm for taking the Kilo Island, but uh. I don't mind whatever we do. I think it's-" Damien says as he's being interrupted.

"This isn't a democracy; Eden chooses," Wu says, interrupting Damien.

"And I value your opinions," Eden says.

"Yeah, but you still choose," Wu says, having been pretty loyal to her decisions and leadership so far, deciding to keep following her lead. Other than the bullying Victor. He thinks to himself how he's still going to definitely do that still.

"I say we opt for your guys' original plan. Brac was wrong. We need to take an island that's closer to the main island so that we can see any of the remaining enemies that are coming in. It's just too obvious that they would want to take that island before they get to the island." The others are shocked by Brac's change of heart, as he has declared that going to Kilo Island was the only option from the start. Everything else was just pointless to him, until now.

"I think it makes the most sense time wise, and in terms of getting an advantage. We can still access the situation when we get to the middle island. Plus, when we get into the very final minutes of this confrontation, somebody's gonna have to hold some of our points, in case we can't hold the middle island," Wu suggests to the group. "So, unless we make an alliance, I think it's actually problematic. Victor, what do you think?" This is the first time that Wu has ever asked Victor for his opinion, which shocks Victor more than being struck by lightning shinsu.

"Yes sir. I'm all for taking one of the northern islands, but if we do so, we have to do so quickly. We only have about fifty minutes remaining. This island in the middle is big. I think we need to make an alliance fast, and we need to get to that island to see what's happening. Then, take the flag at the last minute."

"Let's go there first, Eden," Wu now says. "We can assess the situation. We don't need to make a play, but we are close enough to the other islands that we can depart from there and grab them after the fact." The regulars continue to argue and disagree with one another for some time until they finally come to a decision to head to the middle island. During this disagreement, Wu makes it verbally apparent that he still doesn't trust Victor. The regulars push the rafts into the water, heading toward the giant land mass known as Kilo Island.

#### **Chapter Four: Arriving at Kilo Island**

As the regulars on Team Black head to Kilo Island in their respective boats, some notifications appear on their Pockets. Green took some points from Dark Blue, Dark Blue took points from Light Blue, putting Green and Yellow tied at forty, Team Black at thirty, Dark Blue at twenty-five, Orange with the win, Pink still at zero, Light Blue at zero, White, Brown, and Grey all being eliminated from the test. Then when the timer reached only forty-five minutes remaining in the test, suddenly the Pockets light up and the announcer's voice can be heard over their Pockets. "Regulars! You all have been doing a fantastic job during this test! Unfortunately for you, we have a new rule that we are adding! Now that it has reached forty-five minutes, as of this moment," as the announcer says this, the regulars notice that their Pockets all such down, no longer showing any visuals on them or responding to commands or inputs other than their communications. The announcer continues with her sentence as the regulars mess with their Pockets, "you are not able to tell how many points each team has." Team Black discuss this amongst themselves.

In preparation for their arrival to Kilo Island, Damien decides now is the time to reveal some information to the other members of his team. "I have this move. It takes a long time to channel, but it hits a very specific area. If i hit someone with this move, it will completely devastate an entire team, I guarantee it. So if I start channeling the move, a very obvious beam of light will shine in the area. If you are able to push into that beam of light while staying out it yourself, I can finish them off. If the situation calls for it at least." The others look at him for a moment, having already seen his move being channeled before, but didn't take it too seriously since they didn't see it completed.

Wu is the first to talk as he asks Damien, "What is the range?"

"It is a pretty big range. Fifty feet, I would say," Damien says as he puts his hand on his chin while rubbing it as he thinks of the exact range.

"Okay, I trust you," Wu responds.

"The most important thing is to not be in the beam of light yourself," Damien warns the others.

"But wouldn't you save that for a last resort," Wu asks.

"It will be a last resort, but it is an extremely devastating move that is in our pocket in case we need it," Damien confirms. The others just soak in this information and mostly don't converse for the next five minutes as they continue to travel to Kilo Island. They are about halfway there, with forty minutes remaining. The regulars begin to notice that the sky in general is starting to get dark, as the light begins to dim with each passing moment.

"Well, I guess it's almost bedtime," Victor says jokingly. Eden lets out a single, monotone chuckle, with the others not even reacting to Victor's joke. "I'd be fine with a nap, if I'm being honest." The tension between everyone is high as their anticipation of their upcoming battle for Kilo Island.

"I'm not tired," Wu says, with Damien quickly following up saying, "I'm too excited to sleep."

"We need to stay as aware as possible, but we can shift off if people do need rest," Eden points out.

"Absolutely," Victor agrees, thinking about nominating himself for first to nap. Since it is getting darker, it is becoming more difficult to see. Even in this diminished lighting, somehow Wu can see through his shaded sunglasses, noticing another raft off in the distance heading toward Kilo Island. He makes the observation that it isn't that far from their own raft either.

"There's someone approaching. I can't tell who it is, but they are on their way. They will be there shortly," Wu makes the others aware of the raft as he points to it as he talks.

"Well that makes sense. This is the center island and we're getting close with time," Gasu says.

"I have a crazy idea," Damien begins to say. The others can already tell the idea will be crazy, because it's coming from Damien. "Alright so we have two rafts, so we send one of them over to the raft approaching the island, but we set some sort of trap to set it on fire."

"We're in the middle of the ocean?!" Victor is puzzled yet amused at Damien's suggestion.

"No, no, no. He's not wrong. This might actually be a great distraction," Wu says, excited by the thought of fire.

"I know right, it's an incredible idea," Damien exclaims as Wu and Damien share their joy over being pyromaniacs.

"No, it's actually a great idea. We don't have to expend any of our forces. What if I set the fire on the raft and we have everyone else on the other raft. It will distract the other team."

"...and what if this doesn't kill them," Gasu begins to say.

"No, it doesn't have to kill them," Wu says. "It's going to startle them."

"But then they will know where we are," Gasu says.

***END OF EPISODE TWO***

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#### **END OF CHAPTER NOTES:**

##### **Story/General Notes:**

Damien burns the forest, destroying all life on the island and cremating the bodies of those that were killed. Wu approves of this with amusement

Gasu and Wu talk about Victor, neither liking nor trusting him due to being a Khun. Wu does note for the first time that his power of deduction while Victor drank from his gourd, gave him a bad feeling about the blue-haired man. Wu doesn't note the importance of whatever is under their boat at first, to later regret it for not trusting Brac and Gasu.

There are such things as weird creatures in the tower, such as the eels that are witnessed by the group in the King of the Sea arch, though not confronted in a full-scale battle. It will be interested to see what other creatures reside in the tower in floors that are higher up than their current floor. Damien had read a story at some point while on a break at work about Water Dragons, thinking that these eels were one of those Water Dragons and that they were all going to die.

The famous candy bar scene shows Damien asking for his candy bar back, seeing it completely untouched by Victor. This shocks Damien.

Brac claims he doesn't know how to make things, but he is willing to try.

Wu is increasingly suspecting Victor of sabotage, not getting good vibes from the blue haired Khun.

Brac had experience against a scythe user like the one in the cloak from Team Yellow. He is fearful of this individual. He couldn't quite figure out what the abilities he had were though. Brac grew up in the middle tower, being trained by Caine to learn the skills he has today.

Damien has keen observation and perception. He can also sense shinsu better than others.

As Victor and Wu converse about making a contract, Wu mentions that he is in a different phase due to drinking a lot, which is important for later. This is left unresolved or undisclosed to the others to the end of this episode. Maybe this will be revealed in episodes to come.

Victor is very certain that not all of the members of Team Black have made the contract with the administrator to use shinsu. They spend ten minutes conversing about this fact. Could this be foreshadowing to an irregular in their midst?

Damien tries to start the jungle on fire but burns his cape instead. His cape now has burn marks in it.

The team argues a lot about which plan is proper to do.

Wu, Gasu, and Brac often are mean to Victor.

Eden stands up for Victor often enough but could be because she just wants to focus on the win.

Damien is destroyed when Team Yellow get passed his fire trap, with Team Yellow probably feeling the same way when Team Black did the same with their Shinsu Trap!

Wu actually asks Victor for what his opinion is, after countless times of telling him to shut up.

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##### Quotes:

(In order of appearance. Please tell me if you have a favorite quote you would like to add, or if any of these are out of order or wrong! Thank you for your help!)

"Uhhh.... Hey guys... There seems to be something under the water. I'm not entirely sure what, but I saw bubbles. Uh, You guys want to come over here and help me out? Brac don't like water." *-Brac, Chapter One*

"Sure Brac.. You know fish live in the water," *-Wu, in response to Brac, Chapter One*

"Yes Gasu, FISH... Fish live in water." *-Wu, in response to Gasu, Chapter One*

"Well... I just wanted to say that I'm hungry and if it's a fish, Wu, lift it out of the water and I'll whack it." *-Brac, talking to Wu, Chapter One*

"Harpoons aren't used for fish," *-Brac, in response to Wu, Chapter One*

"I don't know. I think they are too lazy to row. They are talking fish in the water. Of course, fish live in the water-- I don't see what the problem is," *-Wu, in response to Eden, Chapter One (To which he immediately says "Maybe I should row..."*

"Tell her to shut up!" *-Brac, in response to Wu saying Eden told them to row faster, Chapter One*

"Alright, alright, alright, alright! You're really cutting into my drink time, god damn it!" *-Wu, in response to Brac and Gasu, Chapter One*

"Wu, you know what I'm going to say, right? You remember earlier when I said you you know, 'lift it out the water and I'll smack it' WHY DIDN'T WE DO THAT? Like I'm- I'm just curious." *-Brac, addressing Wu, Chapter One*

"A GIANT SEA SERPENT THAT WILL SWALLOW OUR RAFT WHOLLLLLLLEE!" *-Damien, to the rest of Team Black, Chapter One*

Brac creeps up behind Gasu and says into his unexpecting ear, "......I TOLD you," *-Brac, to Gasu, Chapter One*

"There's no leviathan, it's something far more real," *-Wu, in response to Damien, Chapter One*

"This is the only time I'm listening to you, but I got it." *-Brac, in response to Eden, Chapter Two*

"I elected you, not once!" *-Brac, in response to Eden, Chapter Two*

"Brac would like to point out that if we keep going for the small fries, we will never catch the big fry," -Brac, to Team Black, Chapter Two

"Great plan! I am just going to go use the little frog's room, but I completely agree with Eden," *-Damien, to Team Black, Chapter Two*

"It might be helpful in dispelling the SHINSU TRAP that we are in front of," Victor says mockingly, showing some of his irritation with Wu right back. "Just a thought.." *-Victor, to Wu, Chapter*

"Kill yourself," -*Gasu says to Victor, Chapter*

"Gasu told you to go kill yourself, I think you should go do that. Get-Get out of my face," -*Brac says to Victor, Chapter*

"That's because I am trained in TACTICS," *-Brac says to the group as they are praising him, Chapter*

Wu disagrees saying, "I don't know. That one interaction makes me think that there's something more there." *-Wu says to the group, referring to the Scythe User when he was talking about why he thinks Team Yellow had a vendetta against them. This is foreshadowing of what comes in future episodes, just like Wu said here, Chapter*

"I have a crazy idea," Damien begins to say. The others can already tell the idea will be crazy, because it's coming from Damien. "Alright so we have two rafts, so we send one of them over to the raft approaching the island, but we set some sort of trap to set it on fire." "We're in the middle of the ocean?!" Victor is puzzled yet amused at Damien's suggestion. *-Damien says to the group with Victor responding in laughter and shock*

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##### Characters:

###### ***The main cast:***

**Eden -** displays her leadership role during much of the episode. She sides with Victor a lot, being the only person that stands up for him.

**Brac -** displays his brute strength when wrestling for the paddle with the sea creature. He also is a little salty at Wu and Gasu for not listening to him sooner. Brac is good at tactics!

**Wu -** shows he's not afraid of dangerous situations or asking for permission as he fearlessly jumps into the water to get a closer look or encounter these sea creatures. Through a lot of this episode, he is very skeptical of Victor.

**Damien -** shows an immense fear of Water Dragons. Is completely broken by the fact that Team Yellow got around his fire trap.

**Gasu -** shows that he can't stand Victor just like he did in the last episode, going as far as telling Victor to kill himself.

**Victor -** shows a knowledge of rumors and talk about the creatures that are in the testing area. No one listens to him except Eden, while he is often bullied or mistreated by Wu, Gasu, and Brac. He is very clever and good at planning things.

**Hresvelgr -**

###### ***NPC:***

**The Test Announcer**

**Scythe Wielder-** Brac is shown to be afraid of this individual. They wield a scythe and are very confident in themselves, but also seem to be friendly, giving Team Black a friendly wave. They also might have something against Team Black, as they seem to be taking all of their flags.

###### ***Creatures:***

**King Sea Eels-** show an aggressive nature as they attack the boat and do some force as one wrestles with Brac over the paddle as well as crashing into the boat. These creatures are described as long and slippery. They have elongated jaws and scary bulging eyes with a thick fin running down its spine, small fins lining its underbelly but having notably a thick and durable body, as it is able to move the boat and cast a shadow seen from above. They move relatively quiet as the group don't really notice when one is upon them. They are also very quick, having appeared and disappeared very quickly. Additionally, they may or may not travel in groups, as more than one are present during the encounter with Team Black.

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##### ***Weapons:***

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##### ***Additional Comments and Notes:***

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