"You think Anri is okay?" Jason asked the other two members of his team. The trio had come to accept Anri as their de facto leader despite not having a discussion about it.
"He'll be fine," Soren replied. "Worry about the tag, not the carrier."
Nova had their tags rolled up and stuffed under her shirt. The velcro was irritating her tender skin but she bore with it.
"I think I see the spaceship," she told the others. There was a wide path ahead of them but Nova was looking to her left where a gap in the junk allowed her to see a spaceship. It appeared like a mass of darkness save for the single bright light that illuminated an electronic lock system where the code would be entered.
"Nice," Soren replied after they'd confirmed it was truly what they were looking for.
_______
"Only four teams left," Bruce announced.
White and orange had hidden themselves away, hoping that they'd still get points at the end for not getting eliminated. Silver was down to one member after the other three were bound and concealed by Anri. The only member of silver still at loose was their captain, the most difficult of the four.
"Purple appears to be looking for something," Helena replied as she focused on the video of Nova trying to rip out a thick cable from the wall of an almost skeletal ship.
"They're acting strange. It almost appears as if they're trying to salvage parts for something." Levi was now very intrigued by the actions of this team.
___
"I'm not questioning what we're doing," Jason said as he hauled the cable that was as thick as his arm. "But are we really going to trust his words blindly?"
Anri had mentioned his ambitious plan to get inside the ship but there was no explanation for how he was going to accomplish it. The team members were only given explicit instructions to scour for some items he needed.
"Do you have an alternative idea then?" Soren asked Jason. "Aside from running around like a headless chicken looking for tags." The redhead had his doubts about Anri's ambitious promise but he was giving the sorcerer the benefit of doubt. Big risks and big rewards dangled before him tantalisingly.
"No. I just hope we-"
"If you don't have a better plan for us then stop asking questions, Jason. You had your chance to disagree and protest it when Anri was telling us what he wanted." Soren hated it when anyone, including himself, was unable to commit to a decision after the dice was already thrown.
"So I'm just supposed to follow orders without questioning their sensibility?" The bulky teenager dropped the cable he was holding. "We should be out there trying to get as many tags as we can! Not- this, whatever we're doing. Nova, don't you think this is a complete waste of time?!"
The young woman looked between Soren and Jason. The atmosphere was suddenly very tense. "What Soren wants to say is that we've made our decision. Now that it's come to this, we have to try and see it through instead of fighting and questioning the decision that we all collectively made."
"I get what you're saying. I do. But think about it, Nova. Look at what we're doing. How the hell does Anri think he's getting inside the ship without the code? What's he going to do? use these cables to hack into the lock system? what a fucking joke."
Soren kept his mouth shut as he listened to Jason rant. He didn't trust himself not start a fight so he decided Nova was going to do the talking.
"What do you want to do, Jason? Stop beating around the bush," Nova replied.
"I want us to look for more tags. We can attack silver and get theirs. I'm sure they've got the highest collection," Jason replied with animation. It was as if he really believed they could win this somehow by pursuing the tags.
Soren and Nova exchanged a glance. They'd made their decisions when Anri had told them about his desire to enter the ship.
"I'm sorry," Nova replied. Wisps of her beautiful dark hair moved as she shook her head at Jason in apology. "I choose to continue with Anri's plan."
"Me too," Soren replied. He hoped he wasn't making a terrible decision.
Jason looked disappointed by their reply. "I'm not a mindless drone like the two of you," he told them. "I'm gonna go looking for tags while you waste your time here. You'll be sorry you ever decided to follow a fool and his wishful fantasies."
The teenager then left without looking back.
"What else are we missing?" Soren asked Nova after Jason had disappeared into the shadows.
The young woman's solemn gaze swept past the items they'd gathered. "Wheels. That's the last item we need." If Anri was going to crack the electronic lock then the addition of wheels made no sense to her.
____
At that moment, Anri was perched atop a pile of rusting engines. He made a lot of noise as he dug into the messy pile, carelessly throwing broken metal parts behind him.
The leader of silver was watching Anri from a distance. He'd discovered his teammates missing and hadn't had any success locating them. Despite that, he had the numbered tag on his person and wasn't worried about getting eliminated. What concerned him though was how silently his teammates had been whisked away.
"What is he doing?" Silver asked himself when he saw Anri stand up triumphantly. The sorcerer was holding a spring and examining it under the light that shone directly from above.
"Silver, I know you're there," Anri suddenly turned around and spoke as his unblinking gaze peered into the darkness that shrouded the teen. "Are you lonely? Do you miss them? Because I can send you to the secret place where I've dumped your friends."
Silver reacted by concealing himself behind a crushed fuel tank. His heart was thudding faster as a cold tendril of unease spread through his chest. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly afraid of purple. No, he wasnt afraid, the teenager assured himself. It was just the stress and adrenaline. Letting out a long breath, he walked out from his hiding place to confront Anri.
"You think-" silver stared in disbelief at the empty spot where Anri had previously been standing.
____
"I have a feeling we aren't the only ones watching them now," Yve commented. Team purple had deviated from the norm that dominated every yearly battle. If the higher-ups weren't spectating before, they would have reason to now.
"I'm sure that principal Tori and the other members of the faculty are watching," Helena confirmed.
"Not surprising considering how it's turning out," Levi added. "I heard from the grapevine that a certain team of well-trained boys were going to beat everyone in this batch. Looks like they weren't expecting a rouge purple team to screw up their plans."
____
"Hey," Nova called out when Anri arrived at their chosen meeting place.
The sorcerer nodded to her. "I don't see Jason."
"He's taking a walk," Soren replied. "We got everything you asked for. Now how about explaining what we're doing?"
"We're building a cart," Anri replied.
____
"A cart?!" Silver echoed.
"That's what I heard him say," Jason replied.
"What is going to do with a cart?"
"I don't know. He thinks it'll somehow help the team get inside the spaceship and win them their two hundred points."
Loda was flummoxed by what he was hearing. There was absolutely no way that a cart was going to get them the code, let alone provide another method of passage into the ship.
"You should have only left them after finding out more details about his plan!"
Jason shrugged at the teenager who he had been working for since the beginning. Loda was desperate to get into Starfield since he had failed at his first attempt at the exam. The teenager had pulled a lot of strings to get his this far. Jason too was paid insurance that he hadn't expected to be needing against a bunch of rookies.
"Let's follow them and disrupt whatever plan they've got."
"We can even steal the tags," Jason said to Loda with a smile. "Nova is hiding them under her clothes."
"Oh?" Loda was unable to contain his excitement. "It surely won't be my fault then for ripping apart her clothes."
"You'll have Anri to thank for it. It was his idea."