"Hey! Team Ruggie's back!" Grim called out with a bright smile upon seeing him from afar.
"Grim! Yuu!" Ruggie jumped up in surprise as he scanned the entire campsite once more, "The other missing campers are here too... You're all okay?!"
"When I came to, I found myself tied to a tree in the woods." Jamil explained rather begrudingly upon remembering that situation.
"Likewise." Riddle sighed in dismay as he explained, "I suddenly felt faint, then the next thing I knew, I was in the forest. Lotus untied our ropes and told us everything."
"Yup!" Epel chuckled, "We watched you guys from afar and Lotus explained everything to us."
"So, what exactly happened?" Ruggie qustioned in confusion.
"Looks like everyone's here!" Coach Vargas announced with a wide smile across his face.
"Vargas?!" Grim cried out upon seeing his outfit.
"I'm sure some of you are confused, so allow me to explain." Vargas announced, "You've just completed the final challenge of Camp Vargas! The topic of your final challenge—combat! The challenge was to keep calm and flex your minds and muscles in the face of an unknown threat. Your friends go missing! Your dependable teacher is gone! A powerful foe is hunting you! I gauged how you handled being thrown into crisis. And that was your true assignment."
"You really don't like others stealing your thunder. Do you, Coach Vargas?" Lotus chuckled.
"Wait a minute, back up!" Ruggie cried out as he doubted his own hearing.
"So you really were the one who took Ace and the others?" Jamil sighed in disappointment.
"That's right!" Vargas folded his arms and continued with a disapproved frown, "I deemed that any students who skipped out on assignments weren't worthy of the final challenge. And so I gave them educational guidance instead! It would be inexcusable to waste an opportunity to improve their muscles. So I stuck them in a cabin and made them do nonstop squats under a ghost's supervision. Don't worry. They'll be back any minute now."
"Man, seriously? So Crabby really was skippin' out on work?" Floyd stomped his foot and folded his arms with an angry and annoyed scowl.
"Geez, Leona... Way to scare me over nothin'." Ruggie grumbled irritatingly before muttering a sigh of relief secretly.
"I'm now ready to announce the results of your final challenge." Vargas announced with a bright smile, "And per my assessment…YOU PASS! It's impressive that despite going up against ME, you managed to avoid total annihilation all the way until sunrise. That goes double for Bucchi, Leech, Zigvolt, and Howl. You four are our MVPs. You might even get close to my level soon! Let's give them a big round of applause!"
"I have no idea how I'm supposed to feel about this. So...I guess I might as well enjoy it?" Ruggie cheered, "ALL RIGHT!"
Epel cheered with a big smile on his face, "You guys really deserved it too! We saw how you managed to beat Coach Vargas since he started chasing you guys! It was so cool how strong you guys are!"
"WOO HOO!"
"WAY TO GO!"
"Now then—the challenges may be over, but you can't relax just yet." Coach Vargas announced as he clapped his hands together for silence, "You've all got a lot of cleaning up to do. Break down your tents and fold them up, and make sure you return all the pickaxes and fishing poles to the ghosts. Two hours should be enough time. Each club is to report to the cottage once they've finished. And remember, you're still at Camp Vargas 'til we get back to school. If your club members aren't all at the cottage before time's up…"
"Yes, yes, club disbanded. We know." Ruggie muttered rather unamused with the professor's words.
"That's right! Tardiness will not be tolerated." Coach Vargas reminded them firmly, "Dismissed!"
"I'm so glad our club lives on!" Epel smiled wide, "You really pulled through for us, Ruggie!"
"Ahaha... Guess not running away was the right call after all." Ruggie smiled wide hearing this before he recalled something, "By the way, what did you mean that Lotus untied all of you?"
"Well..." Epel hummed hesitantly.
"I'll explain! But, I'll only explain this once, so pay close attention to the great Grim!" Grim sneered before he told the four of the tale.
When he was done, Grim huffed in disdain and pouted, "He didn't have to tie up me an' Yuu! We're just the record keepers! And, Lotus too! Just who's side is he on?! Stupid Vargas... Stupid Lotus... I'll remember this!"
"You four were AMAZING." Yuu cheered with a bright smile.
"Hehe, Nice work on the last challenge." Lotus smirked.
"Hmph! Don't hold me to your human standards. The outcome was inevitable by my own criteria." Sebek pointed out with a smirk across his face.
"But, it seems that your criteria could not bring the coach down in the end, right?" Lotus sneered before she sighed, "Then, again, you only know so much in such a short amount of time. Still a sprout as they say."
"What did you say?!"
"Sebek." Riddle interjected after giving her a glare and continuing with a smile and a nod, "You did well. Our club was spared disbandment because of you."
"Riddle..." Sebek froze in slight embarrassment as he was nearly at a loss for words before continuing with a huff, "What you did was also worthy of merit, as far as human deeds go."
Lotus giggled as she pointed out, "Interesting. You have the courage to state fact so sarcastically, but you do not have the courage to show gratitude? I didn't think that the Zigvolt's youngest would be so spineless despite facing off against Coach Vargas and we all know how powerful he is."
"Shut up, human!" Sebek shouted at her begrudingly before turning to Riddle and muttered hesitantly, "...Thank you for saving me."
"Hehe. I still can't tell when you're being sincere." Riddle chuckled with a wry smile.
Sebek could feel eyes on him as he turned and saw Silver staring back at him in silence from afar as he scowled in annoyance, "What's with that look, Silver?! Do you have a problem?"
"No, far from it." Silver smiled in amusement, "I was just thinking how nice it would be if you could be so forthright with everyone."
"It would be NICE if you minded your own business." Sebek glared at him in frustration.
"I'd like to thank you as well, Sebek." Silver responded as he said this warmly, "I'll cover your cleaning duties. Get some rest."
Stunned, Sebek was quiet before he responded with a sneer. "...Heh. At least you show proper respect. Very well, Silver. I suppose I can trust you with some menial chores."
"You don't have to clean up take care of your own cleaning duty, Silver." Lotus huffed as she turned around and added, "I've already taken care of yours and taken the ropes of the other tents."
"Are you doing somewhere again?" Yuu questioned hesitantly.
"Yeah." She responded as she walked away, "I'm just going to have a chat with someone. I'll be right back."
"You should rest up too, Jack. I'll take care of your stuff." A member of the track club called out to Jack with a bright smile.
"Oh, uh... Sure. Thanks." Jack responded before the others could stop Lotus.
"You deserve a break too, Ruggie." Epel chuckled, "I've already begun taking care of your set of cleaning duties."
"Great, 'cause that's exactly what I had in mind. Thanks for handling my cleanup." Ruggie smiled shamelessly.
"Heeey, Sea Snake." Floyd walked up to Jamil casually with a big smile across his face.
Jamil sighed in lament, "I know where this is going. Fine, we're already taking care of your tent. I can't deal with being indebted to you."
"Ahaha!" Floyd laughed with a wide smile shamelessly, "Great, saved me from havin' to ask."
"Y'know, it still bugs me that we couldn't even put a dent in Coach Vargas." Jack muttered in frustration.
"Agreed. As Malleus's guardsman, I cannot be satisfied with such an outcome." Sebek nodded with a solemn grimace.
"You guys take this stuff so seriously…" Ruggie grumbled in exasperation.
Floyd looked up curiously, "Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask you somethin', Sharksucker."
"Sure, hit me. I'm in a good mood, after all." Ruggie responded with a satisfied smile on his face.
"You used your signature spell when we dunked Coach Lobster in the mud, right?" Floyd pointed out with a look of confusion.
"Grk..." Ruggie jumped up wide eyed as he heard this! He's totally forgotten about it!
"Ah, that's right! You must've cast it without a magestone." Sebek added in bewilderment as he heard this, "You went to such pains to warn me, yet you then committed the most dangerous act of all!"
"Oh yeah!" Jack jumped up in shock and hurriedly prepared to make a dash for it, "We should tell Coach Vargas and get you checked out to make sure there's no lasting damage."
"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Ruggie shouted quickly stopping them, "No need to blow this outta proportion!"
"Huh?"