Two days left until the Mournwood raid...

It was hot, the sun beamed down on the jGuardian base as the cold breeze made it for a nice day to be outside.

"I cannot believe thou are alright!" Bonifacius exclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just lucky... and undead" Foxly replied.

"Still, why did Curstl want us all to meet up outside the base?" asked Bromy putting out the butt of his cigarette.

"I'm not sure..." John replied looking at around for any sign of Curstl herself.

Outside at two wooden benches sat the entire loose L.F.T.O group, John, Bonifacius, Bromy, Crown, Foxly, Alex, Revenberry, Pedecree and Jordan.

Curstl request that they all gather outside for "Important guild matters."

Meanwhile, in the back Olivionion, the vampire and the Theif sat on a special bench, it was marked with the word: "Guests".

Curstl finally arrived, she was carrying a large sack which she dragged behind her.

Beside her walked Llime, the rabbit-frog as well as a few interns.

"Oh god, who is in that bag?!" demanded Bonifacius.

"It's not a person this time, it's... equipment..." she said with a smile.

Curstl turned to face Llime, "Would you care to explain what we're doing today?" she asked.

Llime let out a sigh.

"The boss said your teamwork could use some work..." she began.

"And since we're short on time, we can't afford to go into dungeons until you learn to work together properly..." she continued.

"So she has organised..." she breathed a deep sigh.

"A team-building event..."

Everyone looked at Curstl with different expressions.

"Oh no... exercise..." thought John.

"Let's do this, Thal!" Alex thought.

"Perhaps this may be fun!" thought Bonifacius looking to the rest of his group.

"Lack of presence... lack of presence... blend into the background, hide your aura..." Bromy repeated this in his mind as he slowly crawled away from the group.

"I hope I'm teamed up with someone I already know..." thought Jordan.

"I hope I end up in a team with Alex..." thought Revenberry.

"It sure is warm today..." thought Pedecree.

Crown left already.

"Hey, this might actually be fun!" Foxly thought looking back only to see Bromy on all fours on the ground trying to blend in with the ground.

"And as an incentive..." Curstl began, this caught everyone's attention.

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"The winner gets to decided on any changes to the existing jGuardian uniform!" she exclaimed.

Everyone's eyes lit up as if they completely forgot about the raid.

"This is my chance, black greatcoats and cloaks!" Bromy thought looking to his competition with a blazing passion is his eyes.

"An edgy cape would be cool, oh, maybe with a hood! Oh, a mask!" thought John, he glanced over to Alex and Jordan who exchanged look of understanding.

"Miniskirts," they both thought internally, without any words they understood each other like never before.

Bonifacius was already lost in thought.

"Perhaps I should ask for personalised uniforms? Or perhaps everyone should help decide how it should look? Yes, if I win I shall get the guild to come up with a design together!" he thought.

He was about to say this when he remembered: "Should I tell them this, they might not put effort into this competition, I guess I shall keep it a secret till the end!"

Pedecree looked up.

"I wonder if it'll rain tonight..."

Foxly looked around, "What?! A uniform?! Screw that! I'll win this and make it so we don't need to wear uniforms!"

"I don't really care about the uniform... I guess I'll just change it from blue to black," thought Revenberry.

Crown returned, thinking: "No way in hell I'm letting any of these people decide what I have to wear!"

Seeing everyone riled up, Curstl spoke up: "Alright, let's start!"

She reached into the sack and pulled out a black box.

"I have everybody's names in this box, this is how we will decide your pairs for every competition!" she exclaimed.

Everyone walked up to Curstl one after the other and pulled names out of the hat.

And so the teams for the first competition were decided.

Team one, Bromy and Jordan

Team two, Alex and Thal

Team three, Prdecree and Revenberry

Team four, John

Team five, Foxly and Crown.

Team six, Bonifacius and Curstl

"WHY AM I IN A ONE-MAN TEAM!?" John demanded.

"We ran out of name tickets so you're alone for this one," Curstl shrugged.

"That's not true! You picked after me and teamed up with Bonifacius! Not to mention Crown's and Foxly's names were still inside!" John exclaimed.

Curstl spoke up, "Alright, the first competition is the race around the jGuardian base!" she exclaimed completely ignoring John.

"Wait... how is that a team-building exercise?" asked Bromy.

"Because..." she began.

"You have to carry your partner whilst running!" she exclaimed.

"Meanwhile, it is up to your partner to fight off any attempts at aggression from the other pairs!"

And so the pairs decided who was top and who was bottom before getting in line for the race.

Jordan was the one carrying Bromy because of his superior lung capacity.

Alex was standing on Thal like a surfboard.

Revenberry was seated on one of Pedecree's shoulders.

John was sad and alone.

Crown was carrying Foxly, though because they're both so short, she decided to carry him under her arm as if he was a plank of wood.

They both forgot Foxly got infinite stamina as an undead and no other team was about to remind them.

Curstl was carrying Bonifacius, she looked like she was about to collapse under Bonifacius' weight but she also refused to let him get off.

"P-please, I can carry thee instead!" Bonifacius pleaded.

"N-nonsense! I- I can do this!" Curstl replied.

Llime looked at the groups with a slight look of pity before starting the countdown.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three!"

They zoomed forward, John sprinted forward full speed barely ending up in second place.

Jordan was in first place, the quick burst of speed already had its effects on him, though he would still be able to run for a while without losing speed.

Pedecree moved at a moderate pace, he was in second-last place, though neither he nor Revenberry seemed too bothered by it.

"Sorry about this, I'm not much of a runner," Pedecree laughed.

"Don't worry about it, it's not like I really care about the uniforms..." she said reassuringly.

Alex was in last place, he looked down to Thal who still didn't move from the start line.

"Dude! We're way behind!"

"What the fuck do you expect me to do?! I'm a sword, not a motorbike!"

"Tch... guess there only one choice... Alex said looking down!"

He began slowly shuffling forward leaving a shallow Thal-shaped trail in the sand.

"This is humiliating..." Thal sighed.

"It's all about participating, buddy! We don't have to win!" Alex exclaimed.

"I guess..." Thal sighed.

Curstl was in third place, doing her best not to fall over whilst carrying the progressively more guilty-feeling Bonifacius.

In fourth place Crown ran behind the group carrying Foxly, she was already tired.

"Swiftness!" Foxly exclaimed placing the seal on Crown as she suddenly jumped to third place overtaking Curstl.

"Oh shit, nice!" Crown exclaimed.

As they continued running, John realised that as an undead he still never got tired, filled with a new source of confidence he ran up behind Bromy slowly getting ready to snatch up first place from him.

Bromy saw this and reached into his pocket pulling out his box of cigarettes, the took out twenty, placed each on in his mouth and lit them at once while calling out "Hwoke hween!" when translated into English, it meant "Smoke screen!"

Suddenly John's eyes began to sting as the smoke blocked his vision, in his blinded state he completely forgot to turn left and ended up crashing into one of the walls, leaving behind a him-shaped dent in the wall.

With John eliminated, Jordan and Bromy were in first place, Crown and Foxly in second, Custl and Bony in third, Pedecree and Revenberry in fourth and Alex in fifth.

Bonifacius didn't want to hurt any of his party members, thus he wasn't able to use any ability of his.

Seeing this, Curst reached for her spear and cast lance-charge at Crown's team who narrowly evaded impalement, this manoeuvre along with the newly materialised lance completely threw Curstl off balance causing her team to fall.

Slowly Jordan was feeling the effects of carrying Bromy as he began to gasp for air.

Bromy grinned as he put a hand to his head.

"Rejuvenation!" as green light filled Jordan as his muscles healed completely returning him to only a minimal state of exhaustion.

"Woah! That was amazing!" he exclaimed.

"What can I say, druids are awesome," Bromy said seeing the finish line (and Alex) in sight.

Suddenly they were met with something unexpected, a seal found its way onto Jordan's back, as his movements became sluggish.

Jordan looked back and saw Crown and Foxly running past them.

"Those bastards!" Bromy exclaimed summoning roots from the ground to grab onto them.

They were lifted into the air by a massive root as that flung them out of the jGurdian base and into the river nearby with a splash.

Bromy celebrated his team's victory too early though, as Foxly attached more than one seal to their back and moments later an explosion sent Jordan and Bromy flying, coincidentally into the same river with another splash.

Fifteen minutes later Pedecree completed a lap and won, Alex got second place.

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