Chapter 65.

PART 1.

The war for ribbons was brutal. For four days, every team campaigned to gain ribbons and complete their colors, or regain the ribbons which they had lost. A few teams have given extraordinary performances.

Raven for example. Leading his team like a well-oiled army, he led them to victory after victory, amassing a large collection of ribbons, completing his set in the process. He even had some skirmishes with Avinash’s team, but that did not result in anything substantial, apart from exchanging a few spells, and then running away.

James rampaged into the forest with his yantras, and whenever a mechanical sound of a walking yantra is heard, not a peep is heard from the other teams. Under the supervision and strategies of Maria, both teams have done well and completed their sets.

Josh, after completing his own set, exchanges the remaining ribbons with other teams in exchange for them joining his group. His group continues to get larger and larger, and with each new team, they all get closer to their goal of completing their sets.

Shin, however, is having a miserable time. His team hasn’t managed to complete their set and lost the ribbons they got, including their original one. Though they don’t dare to bully him directly anymore, after witnessing his fighting skills. If it weren’t for him, they all would have been in very big trouble at this point. no one has any lethal magic against them, but Shin does not fancy himself getting wounded in this forest and being on the tender mercies of these idiots.

He can’t be nice to them, not even in his thoughts.

PART 2.

Professor Bali and Krodhatma are surprised by the latest development. As Josh’s group continues to get larger and larger, they debate about the entire phenomenon. “You’re mad if you predicted that.” Said Bali. “These kids should be chomping to get at each other’s throats!”

“I’m not mad. I’m angry! Angry! You hear me?” Said Krodhatma. “And you seem to not understand human nature.”

“Care to say that again?” Bali brings out his sword foci.

“You see everyone through the shallow lens of your personality and experiences.” Said Krodhatma, bringing out his foci, a stick riddled with all sorts of strange-looking symbols. “I will be happy to help you get past this limitation of yours.”

And thus, begins a great academic magical debate. Just a normal day in the Academy.

PART 3.

“So, we have completed our set.” Said Avinash, showing off the collected ribbons with a flourish. “Now, what do you think, should we go to the tower directly?”

Praduman and Hatori exchange a look. “No.” Said Hatori, when it was clear that Praduman was not about to speak. “Going there like this would be dangerous.”

“Why?” asked Avinash. He wishes to get out of this forest; he has enough of it already.

But Hatori has no problem in adjusting to it, given he slept outside last year, and a few days here on his training ground. Though the ground provides him protection from the elements. “Because there will be a lot of teams there waiting to ambush.”

“Don’t tell me you’re scared to face them?” said Kalidas.

“I can take on a team. But not an army.” Said Hatori in a serious tone, causing the smile on Kalidas’s face to disappear.

As if waiting for this moment, a large group suddenly stops before their camp. Avinash and company grew paler with each new team they counted; in total there were at least thirty members, meaning six teams had joined each other. This massive group has just stopped before them.

But Hatori isn’t worried. He recognizes the familiar signature even in the crowd. “Well,” said Josh. “ is good to find you here, Hatori. I thought you'd be long gone by now.”

Hatori chuckles at him, while Avinash asks a question. “Fernandes, what do you want?”

“Nothing. We need a ribbon to complete the final set of our group. Do you have a blue ribbon?” He asked. “If you give that to us, you can join us, and we will all make our way to the tower.”

“And if we don’t?” asked Tulsi with false bravado.

“Then we’ll take it by force, of course. No hard feelings.” Said Josh to Hatori.

“Not from me either.” Said Hatori in reply.

“I wish to discuss this with my team.” Said Avinash.

“By all means.” Josh backed down.

“Should we give in to their demand?” asked Avinash.

“We don’t have much of an option.” Said Kalidas.

For once, they were all in agreement. “Do we have a blue ribbon?” asked Avinash.

Tulsi looks for it since she is the one who is carrying the ribbons. Avinash did that to satisfy her ego. Who knew being a leader would be so hard? “We do have one,” she confirms.

“Then we’ll take the deal.” Said Avinash, taking the ribbon from her. “Come to enforce me.” He said to Hatori. “And the rest of you, be ready to flee with our set.”

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At their nods, Avinash goes to Josh with the ribbon in hand. “We accept your deal.” He said, “Take the ribbon.”

“Awesome!” Said Josh happily. “Now listen to everyone. Hatori is my friend, and I treat him well. He has a good head on his shoulder, so listen to him.”

“Also, this Avinash is also good, though he sometimes gets over in his head. Call Hatori to deal with him when he gets like that.” Avinash burns to retaliate, but he keeps his mouth shut despite the laughter.

The group starts a formation, where the leaders of the teams were in front of Josh, and the center, all the ribbon holders were guarded by the strongest fighters they had. Though most of them don’t compare in magical strength, Hatori finds one interesting boy. It seems from the flow of his magic; he has done the same meditation exercises as Hatori has.

“My friend Josh tells me I should be more outgoing.” Said Hatori to the boy. “So let me introduce myself. I’m Hatori Eagle.” He extends his hand.

The hand was received. Hatori notes how soft the hands of this boy are. “Zhuge Liang.” He said with a smile. “Have heard a lot about you from your friend.”

“Most of it is good, I hope?” said Hatori with a smile of his own.

“Indeed.” Confirms Liang.

“You’re not from around here, from Subcontinent, I mean.” Asked Hatori.

“No, I came here with my father. He is an ambassador in your king’s court. I’m originally from Zhongguo.” Said Liang. “Much like Maria.”

“Interesting that you mention her specifically.” Said Hatori.

“Of course, I saw her in your company once or twice, usually yelling at you.” Hatori scowls at the very thought. “ I assumed she had told you about her.”

“Yes, she did.” Said Hatori. “Though she doesn’t speak the Subcontinental as clearly as you do.”

“Why thank you!” He spoke. “I always have been good with languages, human, or runic.”

“You should come and meet with me then; I’m also interested in runes a lot.” Said Hatori. “Though a lot of my tests end up going wrong.”

“But that’s the beauty of it.” Said Liang. “When it works, you know you've accomplished something.”

Their conversation is interrupted by a voice. “Halt! surrender your ribbons, and—” the voice trails off in the middle of its sentence.

Shin looks at the large group in front of him. Ambushing them would be a horrible idea. And yet, his stupid team expects him to handle them all by himself, while they cower in the shadows. “Shin?” Said Josh. “You look terrible. What happened to you?”

Hatori wanted to meet Shin, but he stayed at his place. After all, friends are not friends in this whole exercise. “Nothing, I…” he trails off, before mustering enough strength to utter the words which he has been wanting to say for days. “Can I leave my team and join you?”

Furious cries of “Traitor!” comes from the trees around them.

“Don’t need a ribbon. Just take me with you. I had enough of them.” begged Shin, getting more and more desperate.

“Of course, you can come with us,” said Josh. “You don’t even need to ask for it.”

“But it could be a plan.” Caution some students. “They can ambush us while he makes us our guard lower.”

“No, that won’t happen.” Said Josh. “Just stay with me, and don’t give them any reason to doubt, alright?”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Shin nods in agreement.

PART 4.

After the whole exercise is done, the different teams show different reactions. The teams are ranked on how many ribbons they collected overall, how fast they completed their set, and whether they lost their ribbons after completing their set, and whether they regained them or not, and how much time they took to come to the tower after completing their sets.

The alliances end up throwing a wrench in the whole equation, since by helping each other, the teams end up improving their overall rankings. Every team in Josh’s group is on top, while Maria and James’s teams are second. Raven’s team is the only one which is single team that operated alone, did not form any alliance, and yet remained among the top fifty. Shin’s team is the very last, and currently, they are giving him grief for it.

“Whatever.” They concluded their verbal beatdown. “We shouldn’t have expected a reject to do anything.”

“Me? A reject?” Said Shin, finally fed up. “You morons didn’t do anything. You just lazed around and turned me into your slave. No wonder you lost; you refused to listen to my advice!”

“You dare talk back to us?” They bring out their foci.

“Yes!” Without even taking out his focus, Shin lays them all out with a Knockback spell. “Be lucky that I didn’t use anything more dangerous. Hatori would have killed you already.”

They all shook from the fear on the floor. If his Knockback spell is so strong, they can’t imagine how strong he is overall compared to them. He could have killed them in the forest, and hidden their bodies; no one would have asked any questions.

Shin didn’t care for his former teammates. It would be too soon if he saw them any time soon. Right now, he just wants to go to the room, take a long nap, play something on his harp, eat some food, go back to sleep again, and forget this whole nightmare ever happened.

(End.)