Chapter 19: Meetings 1
Mark hurriedly filled his canteens full of water and looked at his map. He decided he could take a shortcut and camp farther away from the 3rd checkpoint rewards as he knew the opponents would be harder as he continued up. He was also alone and didn't want to waste energy fighting everyone, especially those who were traveling in pairs and had found partners. He needed to start his search for a good place to stay for the night as it was 3 more hours of daylight left and he had already won one of the 2nd checkpoint rewards. He quickly finished and continued on his own path.
Mal hurriedly got near the stream and filled her canteen right after she made sure he left and figured where he was going next. She decided to leave him for a bit and check everyone else she got her eye on. Since she had seen two possible places Mark seemed to be pointing in his map, she felt confident she knew where he was going to next.
Mark: " Hmm, I have a feeling that I was being followed but that feeling is gone. I wonder if it was that weasel from before. Eh, I guess he got bored."
Mal checked out the other teams. However, it wasn't that she wasn't finding strong people, it was that she couldn't see herself working and trusting any of them. That was where the challenge lays.
Grace and Jolin couldn't trust that they wouldn't be robbed in the middle of the night of whatever they won in the 2nd checkpoint. So they decided to move out of the danger zone as they had been working hard all day and needed to rest before getting to the halfway point. They had also spotted someone hiding in the shadows. They were very good but Grace was good too and was verily able to catch a glimpse of this person. Her and Jolin decided to find this person and catch them. They might get lucky and find a teammate. They needed someone light on their feet and sneaky after all. They followed in the general direction they had spotted the person from. They decided to not go for the 3rd checkpoint just then. They had been slowed down by other teams so they might as well rest or find a teammate. It was after all, not a test about finishing the fastest but about also finding teammates you could work with.
Mal: "ah, I think I have some followers. Well they might just pass my test. If they are sensitive enough to spot me and guess my direction correctly then they might just make the cut. Also it seems like they are pretty strong and trained. They have been able to keep up. Well I can't lead them to my old friend though.
Jolin:" o man, I think we lost them! Ah o Well, seems like a far enough place to look and set camp. I can take first watch and this might just be them testing us as well."
Grace: "alright am getting my beauty sleep."
Jolin:" And am going to fake being asleep, I hope I am convincing."
Mal hears a familiar voice and couldn't be happier to have found the potential person she had discovered at the tunnel. Of course this would be the ultimate trust test. Seeing if the other person would question her in front of people or care about her deception. She could always turn into a guy and prove her wrong. However, she still had to go through the abdominal pains and needed to keep working on her main body. She had been going through headaches every time she changed into her mans body so she wasn't looking forward to jeopardizing everything because she couldn't bear the pains.
Grace:" Hey looks like they didn't take the bait."
Jolin:" yea, one point for them. Also am glad you woke up because you need to take watch next. Let's get up in some trees. We don't need to call attention to us. I can sleep in that tree over there."
Grace:" It's your body. Alright let me help set you up."
As mal was making her way to Mark she noticed a group inching towards where she though mark was hiding. It turns out, she might've not been the only one following him. It would be a 1v2 situation and she had seen mark fight. She would definitely win him over by helping if she needed to.
Mark too finally noticed people closing on him. He knew someone was following him and they were good. It wasn't good that he could detect at least two people inching closer to him. He just stayed calmed and waited.
Mark:" ok if i can't take them down, I will need to escape via the stream of water."
As mark was making a plan of escape, Mal decided to creep from a side closer to the small river
Boom! Fists collided and while Mark was doing great, his opponents were very good too. Mark decided to throw one of his water canteens the opposite way and launched himself into the river, hoping they would take the bait.
Both people tried to follow suit but stopped in their tracks when they suddenly got attacked by rocks from somewhere near the river bushes. Zzzzzzpppp they heard the rocks flow and hit them with great force. They decided that one piece of equipment was enough and ran away before they lost to a stalemate. This way, they won by conserving energy and taking one of the canteens that held water. It also seemed like the other party already had a partner and was just faking being alone. While they were hoping to partially impress the other person, they wanted to eat people who were alone and not already partnered. Therefore they gave up on a good find and went looking somewhere else.
Mark: " I know where you are so just come out and tell me what you want."
Mark slowly pulled himself out of the river and left his stuff closest to the edge in case he needed to make a run for it again.
Grace: " I come in peace. The truth is, I've seen you fight with your teammates. I think me and am combine our strengths and make a team. "
Mark: "Well I still need to check you out more. What is your name anyways."
Mal: "Grace."
Mark:" Mark. It was you who stole one of my canteens right?"
Mal:" believe it or not that was part of the tests. I can make some water skins so I would've been fine but you passed so yea."
Mark:" ha sure, well I saved you the time. I guess we can show each other what we are made of and figure out if we are really compatible. Also you look a little familiar."
Mal:" Well I say you go hide under those bushes over there. I can keep watch while you change your clothes and start the fire. I know you got both of yours wet so you will have to put my coat. Unless anyone else comes looking in this direction, we should be fine with the fire. Plus we really do need to dry your clothes or you will freeze and I Am NoT that close to you yet to share anything. Whether that is body heat or clothes that might not fit well enough to fight in."
Mark: "Fine, I get it."
Mal the made a fire and placed marks both sets of clothes to dry.
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