25th of Diadema, 219.
After our first patrol, we had only lost one person in our team due to their quitting. We're down to fifteen now-- luckily, it wasn't more. At 9:30 am, we were called to the gymnasium, gathered around Alex, Nora, and Theodal's guard, Horatio, all standing side by side. Those still recovering from their injuries, that being Logen, Jack, and Tel, were set aside on the bleachers. Peredur insisted that she could participate in whatever activity we had today.
Alex spoke first, "Alright, everyone, today we'll be doing a team building exercise. See it as some training for the lot of you, which will surely be useful in the future to keep in mind. This exercise in particular will emphasize the fact that just because someone is strong, it does not mean that they can't be handled in some fashion through numbers and cohesive teamwork." She pointed a hand to Horation, who stood between her and Nora. "Horatio here has agreed to participate in this exercise in particular."
Horatio gave us a nod, stepping up to speak. "You all will be separated into three teams of four, since there are about twelve of you capable of participating at the moment." The three of them created some significant distance from one another. "We will all be getting items that we'll be carrying in our hands. In this case, it'll be this:" And he pulled out a white cloth, Alex and Nora following suit.
Alex continued, "You all will attempt to steal this cloth from us. You can use any means necessary, but if you attack first, we will retaliate for that single attack. An alternative way to win would be beating us, but I doubt that'd happen." A beat, "We'll all be choosing your teams. We want to see you all attempt to coordinate with those in your Zodiac that you are unfamiliar with, fighting with."
Nora spoke up next, "Additionally, each team will be given a time limit. To steal or defeat Alex, you all have two minutes. For Horatio, it is four minutes, and for me, it is 8 minutes. Additionally, if all members are unable to continue the fight, you are automatically flunked from this activity."
Chris raised her hand, "Do we get anything out of doing this?"
Alex grimaced, "No--"
Nora cut her off, "You'll get a pay bonus for this week."
Alex winced before turning her head the other way in frustration, sighing. She looked back at the rest of the group, "The teams will be determined now!"
Team 1: Chris Anderson, Asher V. Tep, Valorie Stromer, and Adil Sani.
Team 2: Peredur, Pascal Underwood, Carmela Villeneuve, and Dorothy Gale
Team 3: Ariel Marcet, Florian Cash, Niu Shengying, and Theodal Hauser.
My team was last on the chopping block. Peredur also seemed to be the only team with anyone who could be considered a familiar face, aside from Carmela.
Our teams were set aside as the first group went first. Adil has short black hair, caramel skin, and thick eyebrows, looking to be the most agile of the group, paired with the shotgun-toting Valorie Stromer. Tall, having similarly red hair to mine, being a bit lighter in comparison, paired with emerald green eyes, her uniform being significantly different from a lot of us, as she's wearing a noticeably long skirt that acted as overalls.
They both had their own weapons, whilst Chris had her steel balls, and the least significant looking of the group, Asher, only had their first. He was lanky as well, with black hair thrown over his eyes, carrying a sheepish disposition and sporting a windbreaker like Horatio, instead of sharing Mercury's logo on the shoulders and back.
Alex began shouting to the whole gym, "Each fight will be back-to-back! We'll be testing your stamina, along with any ability to work with a team here! Timer starts, now!"
It starts with Alex and ends with Norayr.
I can't hear them much from where I sat, but it looked as if Adil had taken charge of the party, unsheathing a curved blade at his side, catching a hint of, "We can attack--" Or something on those lines. Chris shrugged at what they said, and Asher took a step back, nervous.
Adil gestured to the young man, and he was the first to step up to the plate, running over to Alex, who stood in a defensive position, unmoving. Asher attempted to go for a peaceful solution, attempting to snatch the flag out of Alex's hand, but Alex sidestepped the young man. Whilst this happened, Adil began to circle Alex like hunting prey.
"This is gonna suck..." I could vaguely hear what Chris said as she stepped a meter or two closer before grabbing a steel ball from her belt. At the same time, Valorie began to circle as well. They looked clumsy, but the directions seemed clear enough that they weren't stumbling over themselves to act on them.
Alex sighed. Asher, attempting to swipe the flag again, was being outmaneuvered in every avenue. "Were you told to just serve as a distraction?" She asked, continuing to duck and whip her arm away from Asher's grasp.
"I just don't want to get physical."
"You might have to."
Adil seemed to have found a rhythm in his step, as he began just simply inching closer and closer, not even bothering to obscure his presence, whilst Valorie stopped just a few meters away from Alex, Chris slowly rising a leg, ready to baseball pitch a steel back at Alex.
She seemed to have been smirking the whole time. What is she planning?
A grunt could be heard suddenly by Alex, struggling against Asher's grasp. "What?"
"Give us a chance!" She attempted to wrestle out of her grasp, but failed, for each time she stepped back, Asher would launch straight back into a clinch. Alex's head snapped to Adil, shield forming over her arm to prevent the flag's capture before getting hit with an onslaught of attacks from Chris and Valorie, blocking most of them with her shield.
Those who connected with her shield were Valorie's attack and Chris's steel ball. I could hear Chris curse from the bleacher as Alex sprinted across the gym, straight to Valorie. In less than a second, a fist dug straight into the poor girl's stomach, sending her reeling to the ground before belting it straight to Chris, intercepted by Asher, tackling her.
So she'll only respond to direct attacks. I took mental note of this, watching Chris create distance between her and Alex. "I want that bonus!"
It seemed that a single hit had temporarily knocked Valorie out of the fight, as she was still coughing up this morning's breakfast all over the floor.
Alex proceeded to throw Asher over her shoulder, jumping over him, landing with a roll before sprinting straight into Chris's face, knocking her clean out with a single punch. Alex sighed, flexing her fingers, "Maybe I went too hard?"
They were trying to distract her with the attacks from Chris and Valorie... but Adil's plan, if it was his plan, went tits up, huh?
Asher went in for another clinch, Alex becoming visibly frustrated. "Is that all you're gonna do!?"
"I dunno!?"
He's trying to exhaust her stamina. Grappling is a lot more exhausting than striking after all, but there's nothing that knocks the wind out of you more than missing astrike. Going with the former is the move... There was no feasible way they could bait out attacks from Alex and dodge them normally, not at the speed she movesat.
"It wou--" Before Alex could get another word in, Adil, without her knowledge, managed to grab the flag for themself.
The first team managed to get a lead in the first round, which lasted for nearly half a minute.
Chris was down, but Asher and Adil were still in the game, technically including Valorie.
Horatio stepped out into the other end of the gymnasium, immediately starting the second round, Alex taking Chris to the bleachers with her leave.
Valorie, just as the next round started, however, backed out of the game, too badly damaged to continue, meekly making her way back to the bleachers, clutching her stomach. There was virtually no way to win this anymore, but Adil and Asher had time. Time to plan.
Florian Cash, a young woman with dirty blond hair tied up into a bun, wearing a pinched expression on her face, arms crossed, sighed, "What a brutal first round... will we even be able to make it through?"
I sighed in sympathy. "Being too attentive about it will just make it more difficult to pull a win. When we go in, just focus on not getting hurt and use this opportunity to try and gather information about our opponents."
Theodal nodded in agreement, "Good words."
Whether we could pull it off or not, I have no clue. I'm too inexperienced in actual combat and got lucky last time I was in a real fight. Father only taught me tactics directly and had his Saints teach me CQC instead.
After a minute, Asher and Adil immediately continued the same tactic as before, Asher rushing in first in an attempt at grappling Horation, whilst Adil circled in so he could sneak past their perception. Asher, unfortunately, completely whiffed the clinch, almost falling over themselves as Horatio skipped out of the way.
There were a few close calls, but they were not even close. Four minutes passed, and they attempted to repeat the same actions over and over, ending with what remained of Team 1 an exhausted mess with labored breaths.
I can imagine that Horatio definitely would've gone easier on them compared to Alex if they had physically attacked him, but due to their roles, they played it safe. I couldn't blame them, but I had my doubts that it was even possible not to get to Norayr.
"God fucking damnit!" Chris cursed to the winds, shaking her fist at the ceiling, still lying out on the bleachers.
The crimson-haired young man with two protruding horns on their head smirked, standing on the bleachers beside us, spear propped up against their shoulder, his eyes a bright gold, "Damn, they're huge!" A pointed comment was made against Carmela, grinning ear to ear. "They're probably real strong, huh?"
Theodal stuck a hand out, "You're Niu, yes?"
"Yeah, nice to meet you." He shook Theodal's hand, his smile dying shortly after as he properly sat with us.
Dorothy quietly gestured to Carmela, pointing her to Alex, and it seemed that Carmela got the message, crossing over to her opponent, trumping our Senior in size. "Damnit..." Alex knew what was coming, and she braced herself.
Carmela straightened her posture, beating against her chest. The loud clapping sound echoed across the gym, and the energy palpably changed, surprising Alex.
Dorothy then shouted at her team, "Attacking normally won't work, create distance," Clearly directing the demand at Pascal whilst she circled Alex with that massive hound of hers, Pascal listening, distancing himself, heading to the opposite end of the gym, hopping onto some bleachers right across from where everyone else was.
They won't move unless prompted. I noticed it, she won't move from her spot unless it's to avoid having her flag grabbed, or if an attack has been made against her. I think Dorothy noticed.
"Peredur--" Before Dorothy could send out an order to the false-knight, Peredur had already made her decision.
"Hark! I shall face this foe with powers never before seen!" She slammed her spear onto the ground, and whatever force the weapon was connected to emboldened her.
"Peredur, don't!"
She wasn't listening, charging straight into Alex's range, reeling back her spear that Alex hadn't even bothered blocking with her shield, simply putting an arm up and letting her dress suit absorb the damage.
"You--"
Carmela rushed in, attempting to grab Alex, but she ducked out of the way, and just as she attempted to step back, she was grabbed by the shirt, pulling Alex closer.
Alex left Carmela with a frustrated look, eye whipping around to narrowly duck out of the way of a stray bullet flying by from Pascal, using the momentum of that dodge to get out of Carmela's grasp, immediately swinging on Peredur. The knight girl raised her own shield, tanking the blow, surprisingly unshaken, before Alex sped past, rushing straight toward Pascal, expertly vaulting across the bleachers.
"I am on your tail like a wolf in the dark!" Peredur sprinted straight after her, reeling back her spear, but this time Alex could easily slip out of the way.
Dorothy clearly looked shaken at Peredur's sheer ignorance of her orders, but adapted, pointing. "Toto! Rush 'em!"
Once again, Carmela beat against her chest, causing Alex's attention to snap to her, almost to distract her from Pascal running away from our Senior, but Pascal refused, staying in place, sweating almost as if steeling himself for what's to come.
"Cheaky." You could hear his arm snap from here, sent flying into the vinyl below. "Oops." A beat, "One more." A knee connected with Peredur's shield, denting the metal, and for a millisecond, you could see her lift from the bleachers momentarily.
"And I will retaliate with great force!" Once again, Peredur's spear connected with Alex, digging into Alex's arm.
"Alright, the next shot isn't hitting, girl."
You could see what I could assume was Toto, nip at the flag, Alex lifting it out of their range. "Oh?" Alex looked to be just about to say something before they were grabbed by the shirt. "AH!" Alex pulled herself away from Carmela, tearing her shirt in the process, a button flying across the room.
Alex slipped behind Peredur, the knight girl spinning around just in time to block the attack, Alex once again denting their shield. The blow was strong enough to make Peredur weak in the knees, audibly gasping.
Dorothy attempted to slip in to grab Alex's flag, but once again, she was too attentive, jumping away and straight back into Carmela's grasp. "Damnit!" Alex could feel it from her hand, squaring her stance to stop herself from being thrown, but she couldn't will it to be-- taken into the air and slammed straight down into the bleachers.
Alex held a frustrated look, for some reason refusing to retaliate against Carmela in this case before wrestling her way out of the girl's grapple, making another retaliatory strike to Peredur.
"Stop attacking Peredur!" Dorothy demanded, followed by Alex rendering Peredur's shield completely useless, but she managed to absorb the blow, taking a step back, deciding to follow Dorothy's direction by distancing herself from Alex.
"Finally."
"This is--" Before Alex could speak, Dorothy finally managed to slip in at just the right moment, snatching the flag from out of her hand.
Alex left the field, dragging Pascal away, and Horatio stepped in, waving at his new opponents. Dorothy sighed, "This fight will be tougher than the last." Then she whispered something, her teammates near her being the only ones to have heard it, leading to them all surrounding Horatio.
Carmela swiped at Horatio, but her claws couldn't get a grasp on his collar, the others closing in on him.
Peredur herself is only just getting into melee range for Horatio, not bothering to get any closer, almost as if realizing that her previous strategy would only give the team a loss.
Carmela managed to grab Horatio on her second try, but failed to knock him down, attempting to throw him into the ground, but he managed to push himself into her body as a support both times, at some point hoisting himself out from Carmela's grasp, staggering back as Dorothy attempted to swipe the flag, failing to do so in time.
Peredur looked to be deep in, though before perking up, "I have an idea most ingenious!" Slipping behind Horatio, shoving him with her shoulder into another clinch from Carmela, before being kicked out from under their feet, and thrown to the ground. Horatio hiccuped upon making contact with the vinyl before smiling.
"That hurt a little bit!" He spun up from the ground, throwing Carmela's arm to the side with a strength unseen from him until now, before his leg snapped into her right leg, causing Carmela to almost keel over.
A faint growl could be heard in response from the giant woman.
At some point, it became Carmela helplessly flailing at Horatio as he dodged her attempts to grab him and hold him in place, but at this point, due to how many times it was repeated by her, she became predictable.
That was Horatio's downfall, as the flag was snatched from him as well by Dorothy.
Horatio looked impressed, laughing wildly that they managed to pull it off. "Impressive stuff!"
Dorothy grimaced, "It's about to become impossible soon."
Now it was Norayr on the field. It was a devastating loss compared to the last rounds, but they accomplished something no one else had yet, and it was effectively beating two fighters significantly above their level. We're all only Rank 1s in Grief after all.
Before we stepped up for our turn, Theodal spoke, "If you all follow me during these subsequent battles..." He faced us, flicking out what looked to be an improvised banner. "We'll win them all."
I could instantly tell that Theodal had the power of Authority on his side, as I felt an artificial motivation take over me.
I know what to do... in fact, it felt as if I knew exactly what I needed to do, I thought to myself as Theodal stepped amidst the lot of us as we surrounded Alex.
I unfurled my Anchorbow out from behind me and leveled the weapon at Alex. She was ready to pounce just as I fired, but all that met her was the spray, taking no damage from the attack. She looked perturbed, only noticing after a second had passed that her body felt as if it had weighed more than before. It wasn't an outright hostile action, so she can't do anything about it. That's the catch for these fights: it's open hostility, and if there is no direct harm done, they won't retaliate.
"Reload and fire!"
I felt my body speed up, and suddenly I was compelled to follow his demands, loading back up my Anchorbow and firing once again into Alex, hitting her square in the chest, the weight inexplicably increasing, causing her brow to knit.
Niu broke into hysterics, joining in with Florian to restrain Alex, both of them holding her down now. "W-What!?"
"Again!"
She threw herself out of the two's grasp, and I fired and reloaded faster than I've ever had before, firing once more to increase the already existing weight gathering onto her body. Theodal got closer, attempting to grab the flag away from her, but failing as she still held a lot of her previous agility, even with all the weight.
Regardless, this war of attrition was effectively won.
After almost a minute of resisting the weight, we finally managed to retrieve the flag due to Theodal's deft handiwork whilst she was in this debilitated state.
Next was Horatio. He chuckled nervously, a wrist resting on the handle of what looked to be a pistol. "That last round got me a little nervous... Not sure what I'm supposed to do if you just berate me with magical mist." He laughed.
"I wouldn't be able to hit." I retorted, leveling my Anchorbow to the ground, the water instantly causing the ground to sink from under him.
"Uh oh!?" Horatio sank into the floor, breaking out into a cold sweat, attempting to step out, but I shot again, expanding its range more and more, causing him to sink further into the ground, struggling to get any ground. "You gotta be kidding..." He wagged his finger, "Clever, clever."
Niu and Florian stood at the rim of the sinking ground, ready to kick Horatio back into it.
"Shit... I--" He laughed, "I'm actually cornered!" Horatio sighed, "Stupid rules..." He threw the flag onto the ground in front of us. "You got me."
Immediately, Theodal became nervous for the first time since we took up this challenge as Nora stepped to the plate. I felt nervous as well; in fact, I doubted whether the promise he made was even possible, staring down the man in front of me. The previous strategies won't work; he'll find something to obfuscate the rules he made for himself.
To make a long story short, the entire team was completely unable to put a dent in or even exhaust the man. That's a Rank 7 member of Grief for you. He was unflinching, unmoving, and nothing we did worked on him.
I tried all of our previous tactics just in case, but he wouldn't even sink into the ground, and all of our attacks did virtually nothing. He didn't even bother retaliating.
Alex, after the fact, I managed to get some information from her regarding that man. "There's a reason why he is in the Goat Zodiac." A beat, "He quite literally is a Trapper that went by the name, 'The Eyeless Goat'."