Sarah: “You... want to team up?” she asked skeptically.

  Selena: “um... Don’t you want to disqualify us?”

  Axel: “huh? no, can we even be disqualified?" he asked, raising his eyebrows "I don't remember that when he explained the rules"

  Xarus: “oh..., yea we can be, but Mr Garris didn't tell us for some reason”

  Axel: “of course he didn’t” he sighed

  Hayden: “well there’s no requirement to fight each other so we aren’t going to go out of our way to do that” he stated calmly

  Ranni: “But if we did want to fight you guys, we would definitely win” she said confidently, puffing out her chest proudly.

  Sarah: “oh yea...? how’d you figure that?”

  Ranni: “The three of us are pretty strong, honestly I’d feel bad for anyone dumb enough to pick a fight with our team” she stated, a smug smirk crossing her face.

  Selena: “they probably the top of the class in terms of strength” she begrudgingly admitted

  Sarah: “Wait, they are?”

  She nodded "Unfortunately, Honestly it's hard to tell for sure at the moment, but I'd wager they'd be in the top 10 of our grade at the very least. I Can’t believe those three ended up on the same team, only person who can contend with them in our class is Maxius I’d say”

  Sarah: “Who’s that?”

  Selena: “he’s… eh it’s not really important, you'll meet him eventually anyway” she said, shrugging nonchalantly.

  Hayden: “So… getting back to the original topic, do you guys want to team up with us? or not? I mean, it’s a good deal for you guys”

  Selena: “Yea, it is a good deal for … So why do want to?” she asked, her voice full of suspicion

  He shrugged “it's Axel’s idea, I don't really care if we team up or not”

  Selena: “Your idea?” she turned to Axel “Why?”

  Axel: “heh, I’m just curious” he said, smiling brightly.

  Selena: “W-What?”

  Axel: “Yea! I mean, have been going to school together for years” he said, nodding thoughtfully.

  Selena: “um... so?” she said, not sure where he was going with this.

  Axel: “Xarus and Sarah are new though"

  They both jolted in surprise as their names were suddenly tossed in.

  Axel: “I mean, I don't know anything about them, So working together will be a good opportunity to learn!”

  Sarah: “but... couldn’t that be done by fighting us?

  Axel: “Well I guess, but I didn’t want to do that” he shrugged.

  Sarah: “I-I see”

  Ranni: “So what’s your answer?” she asked, tapping her foot impatiently.

  Selena: “J-just one moment” she said, grabbing Xarus and Sarah by their arms and pulling them away from the other group.

  Selena: “What do you guys think?”

  Sarah: “We should, right?” she said “I mean, you say their top of the class, so that's already good, but excluding that three extra people is a advantage by itself”

  Selena: “Top of the class in strength, That’s important”

  Sarah: “Of course”

  Sarah: “And You’re being awfully quiet” she said, turning her attention to Xarus, who had been silently listening to them.

  He turned the handle of his sword, flipping it around in his hand “well, I haven’t really had anything to say”

  Selena: “right... but what do you think about the team up idea?”

  Xarus: “well, I don’t see anything wrong it”

  Sarah: “That’s a weird way to phrase it…”

  Xarus: “Uh s-sorry” he stammered awkwardly.

  noticing the strange gloomy atmosphere hovering around him she quickly said “it’s fine, it’s not a big deal!”

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  Selena: “ok, that settles it I guess, We’ll accept their offer” she stated, Xarus and Sarah nodded their heads in agreement.

  They returned to the other team who were patiently waiting where they had left them. They were talking with each other but upon noticing them walking back they finished their conversation.

  Ranni: “So…. have you decided”

  Xarus had expected Hayden to ask since he seemed to be the one who was, well not in charge per se, like them it didn't really seem like they established a leader of their team, but out of the three of them the one who looked like the most suited to that role was Hayden.

  Selena who had decided by herself, with no complaints from Xarus or Sarah, to be the spokesperson for their team gave her answer “Considering that our opponent is a teacher, we have decided that it would be beneficial to accept your offer of alliance” she said, standing up straight to make herself look as tall and commanding as possible.

  Axel: “Wow, so formal”

  Selena: “Well anyway, have you guys got a plan then?” she asked

  Axel: “For what?”

  Selena: “what do you mean for wh... To capture the flag obviously?”

  Hayden: “Uh… oh... That would be a no…”

  She sighed loudly and an awkward silence filled the air.

  And thus their alliance began.

  Xarus, Sarah and Selena wished them good luck as they entered the clearing and headed towards the flags, confidently approaching Mr Garris. He stood with his arms crossed, lazily watching the group of three as they strode up to him.

  Hayden: “so, we all know what we’re doing right?” He asked

  Axel responded with a thumbs up and a charming smile.

  Ranni responded with a bored “yes yes, I’m on defence” pouting in displeasure at her assigned position.

  They stopped a few feet in front of him, a tense silence pervaded the air surrounding the three of them, whilst Mr Garris remained undisturbed.

  Mr Garris covered his mouth to hide a yawn “so… how are you going to get around me?” He asked, his tone was largely uninterested but carried a hint of curiosity.

  Axel: “um... telling you that wouldn't help us”

  Mr Garris: “true, but it shouldn’t really matter, you’re not getting a flag either way”

  Ranni: “now wait a minute, isn’t that a bit premature?”

  He shrugged lightly “I’m not going to let you get a flag, so you won’t” he said as if it was an obvious fact.

  Ranni: “hey! We’re not just gonna do nothing!” She yelled aggressively, taking insult from his attitude she reached behind her back to the case slung over her shoulder, and pulled out 2 cylinder shaped pieces of metal that were held together through a central hinge. She flicked her wrist upwards and the two pieces of metal snapped together, forming a long staff that was nearly 3 feet taller than her.

  Mr Garris winced in discomfort “Ugh, why are you still so noisy?” he complained, raising his hand up as Hayden’s Falchion slashed at his neck, before the sword could make contact with his neck he casually caught Hayden by the wrist of his sword arm, halting Hayden and his sword in place.

  Hayden: “Huh?” he blurted out as Mr Garris, still holding him by the wrist, pushed him backwards into the ground.

  Mr Garris: “Good job, attacking me when you saw that I was slightly distracted” he turned his body to the side as Axel thrust his katana towards him, the weapon pierced the air but missed its intended target.

  Mr Garris: “But you should have waited for a better opportunity” he hooked his thumb around his middle finger.

  Axel: “whoops…”

  Mr Garris released his finger, aiming a flick directly in the center of Axel’s forehead, even though it was just a simple flick, with his strength it surely would have sent him flying backwards.

  But the impact never came. His finger struck a small pink barrier instead, which immediately shattered into tiny pieces from the force of his flick.

  Using the opportunity created for him Axel jumped backwards, putting distance between himself and Mr Garris.

  He turned his attention towards Ranni, who was standing with one arm outstretched towards Axel, while her other hand held her staff.

  Mr Garris: “that was pretty good, must've been hard to time that right” he said, slightly impressed.

  Ranni: “Hah! T-that was nothing!” she boasted, despite the nervous sweat sliding down her face.

  Mr Garris: “... so that was more chance than anything else huh?” he remarked, pausing for a moment before adding “Still impressive regardless” he leaped towards her, kicking up a small cloud of dust where he had been standing.

  Ranni: “wah!” she squealed, flinging her empty hand up as she hurriedly cast a spell. A small pink circle appeared in front of her, lines extended out from the circle and curled into the shape of a rose, the empty spaces between the lines were then filled in, petals formed one after another creating a large shield that strongly resembled a rose. The shield finished construction just in time for Mr Garris’s fist to crash into it. Ranni’s shield shattered like glass, the fragments dissolving into mana before fading completely.

  Despite Mr Garris striking only her shield, the impact still sent Ranni skidding backwards across the grass, she slammed her staff into the ground in an attempt to stop herself, but if it worked at all then it didn't do much as she still ended up crashing right into Hayden who had just gotten back on his feet.

  Hayden: “Come on!” he yelled in frustration as he caught Ranni, the two of them fumbled awkwardly but managed to regain their balance and avoided falling over.

  Ranni: “That wasn’t my fault! He did that through my rose shield!” she shouted defensively, irritation spilling into her voice.

  While they argued, Axel suddenly appeared beside them “yea, this is going as well as I expected it to” he sighed “he’s going easy on us as well”

  Ranni: “That’s easy!?” she gaped

  He nodded “Yea, he’s not using his sword or his magic”

  Hayden: “He... doesn't have a sword though?”

  Axel: “Not right now, sure, but if he needed it he could bring it out”

  Hayden: “What? From where” he couldn’t see a single place where Mr Garris could be keeping a sword, he wasn’t carrying any bags and there weren't any weapons on the ground either.

  Axel: “It doesn't matter” he said, not bothered to explain “we really should just worry about him” he looked straight at Mr Garris, who was casually strolling towards them.

  Mr Garris: “Your teamwork needs work, but it’s good you at least understand how to work as a team” he said, nodding approvingly “But it’s not enough to get past me” he smirked teasingly.

  Axel: “buuut, what if something unexpected happened?”

  Mr Garris frowned “Like wh-” he tried to say but then a brilliant blue light shot in from his side, flying straight towards his head, but before the projectile could make contact with him he leaned backwards slightly, the blue light flew past him and continued soaring through the air, eventually stopping when it hit a tree on the other side of the clearing.

  A loud and frustrated “Dammnit!” could be heard coming from behind the trees in the direction where the light came from.

  Mr Garris: “... really?” he sighed in disappointment “You thought that would hit me?”

  Nervous sweat beaded Axel’s face “Uh… was hoping it would yea” he said.

  Ranni: “come on! How’d you even dodge that!” she yelled furiously.

  Hayden: “all that set-up” he lamented, sighing in a mix of disappointment and exhaustion.

  Mr Garris: “Yes Yes, very sad, I’ll finish this quick-hk!”

  Once again, he was interrupted, but this time, instead of a blue light, it large, dark blur slamming into his head.