Currently, Ch'en and Lin were being taught by Ernesto the rules of the Dossoles warrior championship.
"Do you understand the rules and regulations?" Ernesto was nervous as Lin looked like she was just checking out her nails while Ch'en just stared at him.
"Yeah, let's go." Ch'en nodded and Lin shrugged, looking like she was waiting for Ernesto to finish his boring explanation.
Arriving at the next venue of the competition, the contestants were gathered there and everybody waited for the announcements.
"Hello dear contestants, welcome to the main competition of the Dossoles warrior championship! Congratulations for making it here!" The announcer hyped them up and the people who were watching the broadcast also cheered.
It was like the Superbowl and everybody was excited to see what would happen next.
"As for the first round... It will be a treasure hunt! You will be searching for these gold coins. And gather as much as you can! Teams can also interfere with others and steal their gathered coins. So you better watch your back! Only the ones with the most amount of them will go forward!" The announcer explained and team LUNG wRATh clicked their tongue.
There were only three of them. Ch'en and Lin also didn't know anything about Ernesto.
The duo then looked at the blonde Perro intensely and he was getting paranoid. 'D-did they learn that I'm a part of the rebels? Why are they looking at me like that?'
He broke into a cold sweat. 'Is this Twink really going to be able to help us? Look at his arms, they're thin. Ash would be the perfect partner here.' Lin furrowed her brows.
'It is not nice to judge people, but I think that Ernesto isn't really reliable...' Ch'en apologized to him inside of her mind, but she subconsciously thought of Ash even though the Lung was deathly afraid of him.
"W-what is it?" Ernesto smiled sheepishly and they shook their heads. "Nothing, let's go. Follow me, we'll have to start searching for the gold coins. And they are most likely hidden in spots that are unexpected." Ch'en theorized.
"Yeah, like a pack of drugs. It must be hidden well, or this competition will be a joke." Lin rubbed her chin and Ernesto stared at her.
"D-drugs?" He got nervous at what that implied, but he didn't try to pry for more information.
Meanwhile, Ch'en is a narc. So she started to check the city for hidden places where important things can be at.
They were getting a decent amount of them, but it was pretty slow in Lin and Ch'en's opinion.
"Hey, ladies. Kekeke~ How about you hand those over to us?" A thug and his group cornered them.
And unlike the others, they had some batons with them. "Hmph, most likely corrupt assholes that bought the officials." Ch'en glared at them, preparing to use her arts powered water gun.
She couldn't bring her sword after all, so she opted for a high powered water gun. Which isn't lethal of course.
"Let's go, Ch'en. They didn't say that we can't use arts." Lin took hold of her arts units and she has tons of material to use in Dossoles.
Sand, just like her father; the rat king. Lin can manipulate sand, or more specifically, turn sand into glass and then use the glass in her arts.
"Come on, there's only three of you. And a lot of us." The leader of the group looked around and they were surrounded.
"Then it's fair. Lin Yuhsia!" Ch'en shouted as she took hold of Ernesto and made themselves dive to the ground.
Lin nodded and she swung her arts units. The thugs then got assaulted by shards of glass and they screamed bloody murder.
"My eyes! I can't see!" The leader dropped to the ground and rolled around while holding his eyes that got hit by shrapnel of glass.
"Hmph, you'll be blind. I hope you know how to walk with your eyes closed." Lin looked at them coldly.
Ch'en then blasted them with her water gun and they were like trash that got pressure washed on the street.
"Come on, we have no time to waste." Ch'en didn't even look at the thugs a second time and Ernesto thought they were quite ruthless.
'Isn't that like a crime? Miss Lin blinded them with glass...' Ernesto didn't know if he could really go on with the plan of trapping Ch'en and Lin while the true Bolivarians kidnap the VIP's.
Meanwhile, Rafaela Silva. Aka, La Pluma couldn't break off with the team, lest she wants to be suspicious.
Team lion king; composed of Cantabile, Hannah, La Pluma, and Alexandrina was also in the game.
"I am terribly sorry for making you carry me, you should just leave me alone and let me kill myself." Cantabile said to Hannah who strapped Cantabile on her back.
"Shut up, why would we spend millions on you if we're just going to let you kill yourself? Are you bloody stupid or something?" Hannah got annoyed at her tendency to want to die.
"Ahh, aren't you supposed to be more supportive or something?" La Pluma sweated at Hannah's treatment of Cantabile.
"Well, Hannah is a rough girl. Don't worry, she won't strap her to her back if she didn't like her. Hannah is a tsundere you see." Vina explained while she whacked a guy that was trying to steal their gold for the competition.
"Oi! You avin' a piss or suttin?" Hannah glared at Vina who was talking about her like she wasn't there.
"What? It's bloody true, piss off you tsundere." Vina snorted.
And while they were counting how many gold they got, they weren't really getting much. Because Hannah was slowing down due to carrying Cantabile carefully.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry." Cantabile realized this as Hannah didn't do any extensive maneuvers. And she looked like she was about to cry.
"S-shut up. This isn't your fault, we're a team." Hannah rolled her eyes.
'Can't I used this?' La Pluma got a great idea. "How about we split up? I can take care of myself, you've seen what I can do." She pointed at her war scythe and the two felines nodded.
"Yeah, you're pretty good. Hannah, go and try to collect some gold stealthily. Don't engage any people while carrying Cantabile." Vina ordered and she nodded.
'Yes, it worked!' La Pluma was pretty happy that she was able to split with them.
"Okay, I'll be taking my leave." La Pluma left the team and Vina squinted her eyes.
"Hmm, she's a bit too happy and eager to leave. Did you notice that mate?" Vina asked Hannah and she nodded.
"Yeah, and her bag is pretty suspicious too. La Pluma said it was supplies, but she doesn't need that many." Hannah's suspicion got stronger.
"She might be a double agent." Cantabile added her two cents, being a double agent herself once.
"Most likely, but we have to finish the first round first and check if she did anything suspicious later." Vina sighed and they split up.
La Pluma immediately traveled to the spots that needed some planting. And by planting, it meant bombs.
It was going to be their signal and distraction to kidnap the VIPs.
So the little birb was going around, planting some bombs here and there while humming. Looking around before taking out the package from her bag.
"Everyone is focused on the championship, this is a pretty easy mission." La Pluma nodded and was glad that she didn't have to be all sneaky.
"Hmm? Whatcha doing?" She heard a deep voice behind her and a shadow eclipsed her.
She slowly turned around and saw Ash who was looking at her with amusement. Carrying a large bag.
"U-uhh... I'm just installing some obstacles for the next stage of the competition?" La Pluma broke into a cold sweat as Ash's slitted eyes stared at her own.
"Really? Can you show me your ID then?" He outstretched his hand and there was a pool of sweat forming on her forehead.
"Uhh, ummm... Let me look for it, sir..." She rummaged through her bag slowly. Trying to think of a way of escaping.
'What do I do? He's the emperor of Leithanien right? I saw him once on the newspaper... He's huge!' La Pluma was panicking big time.
'Heh, am I a degenerate? Bullying this little girl? But it's so much fun, seeing her panic. She looks like a cute little bird.' Ash chuckled and he grinned, making her panic even more.
After all, his teeth were like daggers and she thought that she was definitely done for.
She slowly raised her hands, wanting to surrender instead. "I... I'm sorry sir! I was planting bombs! Please don't kill me!"
"Hehe~ Guhahaha! Okay, you are forgiven. Now, run along now. Plant some more, it will make things interesting right?" Ash rubbed her head and she was surprised.
She just froze there and La Pluma thought that she would at least be thrown into prison.
"P-plant some more?" She was confused as hell and Ash nodded. "Here, have some gold too. It would be too suspicious of you didn't have any when you come back." Ash gave her a handful of the tokens.
"I... I didn't think of that." La Pluma looked at the tokens for the game and she looked like a kid that was given some pocket change.
Ash hefted his bag to his shoulders. He was the reason why there were a lot less gold going around. As the emperor, he has to have the most of it after all.
"Good luck, little bird. Bring me a good show and I won't kill Pancho." Ash waved his hand while he walked away. He then disappeared and La Pluma gulped.
"A-am I having a fever dream?" La Pluma pinched herself. But it hurt and it was definitely real.
"O-okay... He told me to plant more, so I should do so?" La Pluma went to the next location and planted more bombs.
And while she was planting some, she felt someone approach her. "Hoh? You seem to be doing something illegal there." Lin who separated from Ch'en and Ernesto to find more gold saw La Pluma plant some bombs.
She immediately brandished her scythe and Lin prepared to use her arts.
"Who ordered you?" Lin squinted her eyes and La Pluma didn't waste any time, charging at Lin with surprising speed that came from her small build.
La Pluma then tried to smack her with her scythe, but Lin was prepared and a shield made of glass blocked her blow.
"Hmph, it seems that I have to get the answers out of you by force." Lin controlled the broken glass around and shot it at La Pluma.
The Liberi was too nimble though, she dodged them pretty easily and parried the others with surprising speed. Making Lin think that her scythe didn't weigh anything.
"Please don't interfere. Bolivar's citizens need to see the truth." La Pluma yelled cutely as she gave a barrage of attacks on Lin.
"Kuh! She's quite skilled." Lin blocked the onslaught of swings with her arts, having tons of materials to use in their battle.
And while they were having an intense one on one, they heard a siren as the first round concluded.
"Tch, you get away this time. But I'll definitely remember you." Lin retreated as she went towards the rendezvous point with Ch'en and Ernesto.
"This is bad, one of the VIPs learned of our mission." La Pluma sighed, but due to Ash letting her go. She still managed to plant a sufficient amount of bombs.
The teams returned to the venue of the championship and the officials finished counting the gold that the teams gathered.
"For our number one spot! We have team emperor! Winning by a landslide!" The announcer shouted with excitement and the camera panned to Ash.
"Thank you, thank you, I aim to please." Ash smiled and waved.
"A-Ash?" Vina and Hannah were shocked and team LUNG wRATh was also surprised.
"Why is he here?" Ch'en thought that he would definitely win this competition by his lonesome.
"As for the 1st runner up, we have team LUNG wRATh!" The cameras showed Ch'en and Lin's team that got a lot of gold due to the duo being a cop and a heir of the Mafia.
Vina's team lion king got 3rd, even though they had a restriction, that being Cantabile who was quickly gaining strength as her body assimilated the nutrients.
"Now, for the next phase! A triathlon!" The announcer showed a marathon and Hannah groaned.
"I have to carry Cantabile while swimming aren't I?" Hannah didn't really look forward to what was coming next.
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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.