A loud bang sounded through the forest.

Smoke rose into the sky not far from where they stood.

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

A few students panicked. Others stiffened.

Soraya tensed in preparation. "Seems like our luck for the day ends here."

No one moved for a second or two.

"That’s definitely class B. What do we do now?" Farida asked quietly.

That shook them out of their stillness.

Carrots started rolling up her sleeves.

"Take them on." She said, like it was the most obvious solution.

Reggie spun toward her.

"Hey," he half shouted. "I know you’ve got all those muscles and all but think about the rest of us, would you?"

Carrots scoffed.

"The only person I’ll consider worrying about is the Zero among us. The rest of you’ll be fine."

She spoke with such normalcy, as if Yesu had always been with them. Her eyes barely even drifted in Yesu’s direction.

For some reason, her actions spread a strange warmth in Yesu’s chest.

She smiled.

"That’s very kind of you, Carrots." She said offhandedly.

Carrots snapped her gaze to her, muscles tensing.

Yesu went on, oblivious as always.

"But I think we should retreat. They haven’t spotted us yet."

A lanky boy with the name tag James nodded immediately.

"Absolutely. Why waste energy fighting when we can just start finding our base instead? We’ve already acquired fifteen Scales, that’s no small feat. If they try taking it from us... I don’t think we stand much of a chance." He said.

Reggie was quick to support.

"Exactly. We’re running out of time anyway."

The search party pondered briefly, divided.

Soraya had been staring silently at the fast evaporating smoke in the sky.

"Retreat." She said finally.

They wasted no time.

The party began heading in the opposite direction.

Almost in a run.

Soraya went over to Yesu.

"You still recall the way to base, right?" She asked.

Yesu blinked.

The image was still clear in her head.

"Of course." She told her.

Then all of a sudden, the ground beneath them shook violently.

The party halted.

Something was moving swiftly between the trees.

On automation, everyone took a defensive stance.

Except Yesu, who just stood scanning the surroundings.

They waited.

And waited.

Until finally, the attack came.

The ground beneath opened up.

Every one of them got pulled down into it.

Till only their heads and shoulders remained above the earth’s crust.

They went still for a moment in shock.

Then they struggled.

"Shit..." Came Reggie.

Farida inclined her head in his direction, all the while struggling.

"Language." She said mindfully.

Carrots groaned in exasperation.

"Seriously, Princess?" She didn’t even bother looking at her. "We’re trapped in the fucking earth, we can say whatever the hell we want!"

Finch shook desperately in mock cry.

"And we haven’t even had lunch." He whined.

"Shut it. All of you." Came Soraya, trying to bring calm to chaos.

She looked around.

"Damn it." She said under her breath. "We don’t have an Earth User."

She steadied her breathing. "Okay. Everyone, start thinking of possible ways we can get out of this."

"There is no way."

A sharp voice came from one of the trees.

The party desperately scanned the surroundings.

A boy emerged from behind a tree, wearing a camouflage uniform similar to theirs.

11-B was boldly printed across his jacket.

He smiled in satisfaction on taking a good look at them.

"You guys were much easier to take down than I thought."

Then he took out a walkie talkie from one of his pockets and pressed the button.

"Competition secured."

In the next second, members of squad 11-B began dropping down from trees like spies.

11-D stiffened in alarm.

And even more, when two familiar figures emerged from behind a shrub not too far away.

Yesu’s forehead wrinkled.

Roshan.

And Patricia.

Farida gasped quietly. "APG Prep."

Reggie struggled harder. "Soraya..." he called out in desperation.

Soraya’s jaw tightened as the Prep students approached.

Patricia spoke first.

"A little birdie told us you guys acquired fifteen Scales. Care to share?"

Like her appearance, the manner in which she spoke was gentle. As if her class had just walked over to borrow crayons for art lessons.

Soraya’s reply was equally gentle, but not as effortlessly.

"Go find yours."

Roshan sighed in framed helplessness.

"We did try to but you see, this forest appears to be rigged. So we had to come begging. What other choice do we have?"

Soraya didn’t skip a beat.

"Get lost."

Her squad members snapped their heads to her in surprise.

Roshan laughed despite himself.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked, gaze flickering to each one of them. "Your squad seems to be in a pickle. And from what I’ve confirmed, you don’t have an Earth User available."

He crossed both arms.

"There’s still four more days before the trials ends, so no one will be coming out here for a while. How are you going to get your squad out then?"

Soraya glanced at her squad members.

They stared right back at her.

She sighed deeply, looking away.

"What’s the deal?" She asked with gritted teeth.

Roshan smiled. "Now we’re talking."

He moved closer to them.

"Hand over the Scales and I’ll give my squad member the go ahead to release you."

Soraya cocked her head.

"Everything?" She asked thoughtfully.

Roshan straightened.

"Of course. Since we’re begging, why not go all out?"

Soraya looked him in the eye.

"Don’t you think that’s kind of pathetic?"

Both squads froze.

"I mean," she went on. "Begging doesn’t seem like APG style. Let’s do business instead."

Roshan squatted before her, intrigued.

"I’m listening."

Soraya looked at her squad again before speaking.

"One person per Scale. You release a member, I hand over a merchandise."

Roshan thought about it.

"You are ten in total. What will happen to the remaining five Scales then?"

Soraya didn’t hesitate.

"We keep them. Business completed."

The boy who had trapped them laughed in scorn.

"Seriously?" He asked. "Do you really think we’ll go along with your whims? You’re the ones who needs help."

Soraya shrugged.

"I presume we all have the same directives. So we both know neither of us has much time left."

No one said anything for a while. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The time was already past four. They all knew she was right.

Roshan pondered for a few minutes. Then he smiled at last, seemingly pleased.

"We’ll take the deal."