The next day the school bell rings for lunch. Gloomily walking to the cafeteria, Jugo notices Kyou marching towards him, dragging Hisoka by the ear.

"Ow! Can you let me go now? You're gonna rip my ear off!" Letting Hisoka go next to Jugo, Kyou yells.

"This is all your fault; if both of you had held your own, we could have won that fight!"

"Are you serious we got Jumped by two teams because you made too much noise, and weren't you the first one eliminated," argued Hisoka.

"We would have been fine if you could have landed your arrows!" Growing more and more irritated by their bickering, Jugo chimes in.

"Don't you both realize we lost because you argued the whole time instead of working as a team?"

"Who asked you, bum?"

"You didn't have to ask; you showed me! After watching what happened last night, I could beat both of you simultaneously. I've been taking this more seriously than either of you." Clearing the way, Jugo walks off flustered.

"Yeah right, someone who would show up late to class could never be better than me," argued Kyou. Turning around in frustration, Jugo states.

"If you think so, meet me at the same forest after school." Turning the corner, Jugo begins to sweat profusely, realizing what he just said.

"What am I going to do? I said all that out of frustration. Gaia, Kill me now! I have to find a way to end this peacefully." Rushing out of the school, Jugo runs to Takumi's. Bursting through the door, scaring Takumi and a customer, Jugo yells.

"Sensei, I need your help!"

"Im with a customer; go wait in the back." Turning back to the customer, Takumi apologizes.

"Sorry about Jugo; he's a passionate Kid." After sending the customer on their way, Takumi heads to the back of the store. Entering the back room, he asks.

"What's the problem now, Jugo? How did the trials go?" Jugo explains what happened last night and how it led to the events at school.

"That's a pretty crazy story. There isn't much I can do to stop young folks from doing what they want, but I can moderate to ensure nobody goes too far. You have to see this through. You may not have the confidence, but you went through the training, believe in your strength." Jugo stares at the clock, brooding on the couch, hoping time will stop forever. The day passes, and the time to head to the forest comes. Following Takumi, everyone comes to a clearing. Hisoka Asks Jugo.

"Who's the old man, Bum?"

"I'll just be watching to make sure you kids don't go too far. Go ahead and get into position, and remember what I told you. Hisoka, Kyou, and Jugo entered their fighting stances and waited for Takumi to start the fight.

"Ready, set, begin!" Activating his gift, Jugo gains the speed of a rabbit and rushes toward Kyou. Clashing with her, Jugo uses his gift again to get the strength of a reindeer. Readying to throw her, Hisoka shoots arrows at Jugo, separating the two.

"Watch where you shoot those arrows," yelled Kyou.

"I know how to shoot stupid I won't hit you." Noticing an opening, Jugo charges at Hisoka before he can draw an arrow. Throwing seeds on the ground, Kyou slams her hands down to grown vines to cover Hisoka. Immediately turning to Kyou, Jugo charges at her. The two begin to trade blows. Climbing over the vine wall, Hisoka watches Jugo lock Kyou's arm down with a broken pair of antlers. Grumbling out of frustration, Hisoka shoots arrows at Jugo, but he easily dodges them. Sprinting towards Hisoka, Kyou slams her free hand on the ground to surround him with vines. Jumping up and using his reindeer strength Jugo kicks through the vines. Getting on top of the wall, Jugo has no problem disarming Hisoka and subduing him.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Ok, ok, that's enough; you win," announced Takumi. "Don't you see, no matter how good you think you are, teamwork is required even in the most unexpected situations? You three can synergize well if you work together."

"Maybe you aren't too bad, bum- I mean Jugo."

"Yeah," agreed Kyou.

"Come back to my shop so you three can bond over tea." Later arriving at the apartment above the store, Takumi prepares some tea. Breaking the awkward silence, Kyou asks the boys.

"Why did you guys take the trials? Why do you want to be an Ophis?" Hisoka stayed silent, so Jugo spoke up.

"It's a bit complicated, but my mom is sick, and I need to find a way to make her get better."

"Same; recently, my grandma got sick, and no doctor in the valley knows what's wrong, but I read in a book about a herb that can cure any sickness. If I can find this herb, I can regrow it with my Gift and cure anyone who needs it. We could use it on your mom."

"Some pipe dream," muttered Hisoka.

"Oh yeah, what's your goal?" Hisoka turns away, blushing, and begrudgingly responds.

"I want to shoot the moon."

"That's a weird one. Why do you want to shoot the moon," Questioned Kyou.

"That's all I'm saying!"

"Well, we all have goals of finding something, me a way to cheer up my mom, Kyou an herb to heal her grandma and others, and Hisoka a way to shoot the moon. We all have somewhat similar goals; maybe we can help each other. Hey sensei, when are the next recruitment trials?"

"The next one won't be till March." Simultaneously the trio repeats Takumi.

"March!"

"My grandma might be dead by then. We have to leave as soon as possible, replied Kyou, with Jugo agreeing.

"Well, I'm not in much of a rush," stated Hisoka.

"Are you going to find anyone else willing to work with you, or are you too good for us," asked Kyou.

"Ok, I'm in. Now how are we supposed to get out of the sanctuary? The border walls are fifty feet high?"

"Hold on now, you three need to become Ophi before you even consider leaving," interjected Takumi.

"Sensei, we don't have time for that!"

"There isn't any changing your minds, is there?"

"You can change mine," jokingly said Hisoka greeted by angry leers from Jugo and Kyou.

"No," stated Kyou.

"If there isn't any changing your mind, at least spend Airavata day with your families."

"Ok, so it's probably better to leave at night when everyone is with their families. The security will probably be lighter too. Let's set it in stone the night of Airavata Day, the 25th." After planning their escape a little more, everyone goes their separate ways. With four days remaining, jugo ponders what he should take with him.

"If we're leaving, things are going to get even more dangerous. I need something stronger than a reindeer. The bear! The shirt with the blood on it. If I collect some of the blood from the shirt, I could get the strength of a bear." Rushing home, Jugo looks through his clothes to find the stained shirt. He taps around the shirt, waiting for his arm to ping green for a new DNA sample. After trying multiple times, the arm pings green. The DNA has been collected.

"These next few days, we have group training, so I better get some rest. Goodnight, Reon."

The next few days after school, the trio trains in the woods together. On the last training day, the escape plan was discussed one last time.

"Ok, so tomorrow night we'll meet by the willow tree at 6," Announced Kyou.

"In the morning," asked Hisoka.

"yes, now, if you would listen like Jugo, we can get this over with. After grouping up at the willow tree, we'll head through the festival grounds to the minutemen station."

"Wait. Why wouldn't it be smarter to approach the wall away from the stations," asked Jugo.

"If one of the minutemen is patrolling, he'll inform the others. We'll escape in the last place they would check, right above their heads. Once we get on top of the station, I'll use my vines to get us on top of the wall and get us down the same way. The sun will rise not long after, and they'll notice the overgrowth soon after and send out a search party. If they do, we'll have to create enough distance so they'll lose our trail in the snow."

"Where are we supposed to go after that," Asked Hisoka.

"I don't know; it's not like we have a map lying around. Only Ophi have those, and they don't share their secrets with outsiders."

"Hey, Jugo wasn't your brother an Ophis," asked Hisoka.

"Yeah, but we put all his stuff in his room when I woke up. I haven't been in there since."

"Well, you're going in tonight; we need that map," demanded Kyou. Later that night, Jugo snuck into Zero's room. Searching through boxes, he finds Zero's old tactical gear and, under it, a black bag. Inside the bag were a tattered map, a black pocket watch, and a knife with a lion on the hilt. Inspecting the mechanism, Jugo presses on the crown popping open the back and revealing a compass.

"This is perfect. I'll show the others tomorrow."