Chapter 21: New bonds
*Early morning the next day*
Jolin: "so what's the deal with both of you?"
Mark: " Well I verily met her so I can't say but he seems solid. His face is too pretty but he can definitely handle himself."
Jolin: "Oh. Ok."
Mark: " Well grace and him seem to be talking closely."
Jolin: "Eh, it's already a surprise grace found someone she does talk to jaja."
Mark: "Well you guys seem solid and I was convinced by your courage yesterday as well as your strength and capabilities shown yesterday during your battle."
Jolin: " Me and grace think the same of you guys."
While Jolin and Mark were jogging and chatting, Grace paired with Mal and made small talk.
Grace: " Am I wrong to believe It was you at that cave that night?"
Mal: "No."
Grace: "Look, according to what mark said, you are both from Tycoon city. Which means, a very dangerous place for women. I am thinking that you are going as a boy to protect yourself or some other strong reason. I will not reveal your truth and I want to let you know that I am just happy to know there is a strong girl out there that I can work with. So can we be friends?"
Mal: " the truth is, I wanted a friend that was a girl and could understand me. You might just be stronger than me so I am more than happy to work with you guys. Mark seems like a Solid guy. I hope he will be cool with me before I reveal the truth to him."
Grace: "Great, don't worry about Jolin. He may seem tough but he is soft in the inside jaja."
They continued and won several rewards. They didn't go hungry and at times actually worked with other teams to trade. A week had past and they were already past the halfway point and going back. They were actually one of the fastest teams. It was great that the best and learned to live around each other and trade what they won for what they needed.
If you got to it first it was yours. At times they would leave things behind if they were friends with teams coming from behind. Mal was able to hunt game as well as Jolin so they didn't need to fight for food.
Of course, during the first weak it was a constant fight and there were several occasions where it got difficult. But thanks to the combined power,knowledge, and ability of the four, they fared better than most teams out there.
While on their travels. Because they were surviving well and had enough energy. They would often test each other and see their strengths and potential "Weaknesses." They were a very strong team and other strong teams acknowledged them as so. It was not like most teams though, where 3/4 or 3/5 were strong. All the four of them were strong. Mal was still a mystery to them though. As much as they learned, they still had questions. Just when they thought they would beat him, Mal would suddenly be strengthened. They later found two mysterious rings in her hands. One they themselves recognized as a General House ring and could only suspect its ability. They therefore understood she also came from a powerful background. Mark found out that his and Mals family were almost equal in status. In fact, she had heard about the potential heir but he never knew it was suppose to be Mal.
All he remembered was his family and the Anews trying to join hands to strengthen their buisnesses by marriage, just like in olden times. So he knew about Mals female cousins. It was a bit awkward when he thought about that. How ironic that he was secretly using this opportunity to get away from his family but here he was with his fathers friend connection. It was like life reminding him about his responsibilities. However to his surprise, Mal didn't seem to see eye to eye with his family either. He wasn't about to bring the marriage conversation, especially if Mal hated his family. He also found out about Mals baby twin siblings. While him and Mal were talking, they silently agreed not to talk about this for a bit.
Jolin was confused and thought that maybe Grace confused Mal for a girl because of his small drama and beautiful face. Of course, grace never mentioned how she knew that grace was a girl for a fact. She wasn't about to say she accidentally touched her part.
Therefore, Jolin just thought Grace got confused by that voice. They were still 13 after all. He was also getting a bit jealous because Grace seemed to be very interested in Mal more than mark. Mark also got jealous but then he was slightly attracted by Grace's character and capabilities.
Through the challenges, they started to get to know each other and grow closer. However, there was still a lot to learn. They decided they could be a pretty good team. They still had time if they needed to find another member.
They were 3/4th done and feeling pretty good about all they had done. They would also arrive earlier than expected. What they weren't expecting was a party of masked people waiting at what was suppose to be the 2nd to last checkpoint. It was a team of five people. One decided to stay by the side as if trying to make it fair, however, they all knew the other side had the experience. Grace's team didn't know whether they were part of the challenge or not but they knew they couldn't go ahead without fighting these people. Therefore they put all they thing on one side and got ready for a fight. It would finally be time to test their teamwork and combined strength against a more experienced team.
They all looked at each other in the eyes and stayed for what seemed like an eternity. Each not wanting to make the first move. It was more like they were checking each other and waiting to see an opening. Finally someone from the other team moved. They were so fast that no one was able to react as fast. Sure mark and Jolin were one of the strongest men out there but this level of speed was insane. Grace was verily able to dodge and was only thankful they didn't get Mark or Jolin. What she didn't know was that Grace wasn't the aim but Mal. Mal thankfully had the reflexes and escape by a hair. This had suddenly turned into a very dangerous battle.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone