After that abomination of a night, the only person who wasn't tired is Esmeralda. The rest only got like four hours of sleep before having to continue their journey.
Esmeralda was back into her dragon form to hide inside Marc's shirt, not daring to look at the others.
Marc doesn't seem to be bothered, he leaned against the carriage wall and stared at the beautiful towns and verdants they left behind. Following a loud yawn, he closed his eyes tight while squeezing his forehead.
"Are you okay?" asked Mei, who was randomly on the verge of giggling.
"I think I'll take a noon nap or something, my head isn't straight and that is not good." He said looking upwards, it's past noon already, going to 1PM.
Right after Marc finished his sentence, a playful smile brightened on Rina's face, who stopped the carriage to everyone's surprise.
"How about ymladd ymarfer?" She seemed hyped up after saying that.
"Eck?" Esmeralda, confused as heck.
"You sure?" Pearl took interest, he closed his book and yawned.
"It's sure been a while since we last did ymladd ymarfer. But first, I'm not letting Marc and Rina team up with each other, you two are too powerful as a duo!" Mei jumped in, also hyped up.
The four stay silent for a moment, all turning their heads towards Marc, waiting for his final answer.
"Why not? Let's find good terrains, preferably a forest?" Marc scratched his head.
"Didn't you guys complain that I'm a bit too overpowered in a tree-filled area?" Rina continued focusing on the carriage.
"No… I think only the bookworm did, right after you sniped him from more than a hundred meters." Mei casually referred to Pearl as "the bookworm" which doesn't seem to offend him. "That is why I think it's a good idea that you two should pair up. He won't cry that way."
"Kreik!!" Esmeralda jumped out, all confused about the situation, she had no clue what the team was talking about.
"Oh, don't worry Vel. ymladd ymarfur is the Elvish term for… What is it, Rina?" Marc scratched Esmeralda's smol little head before looking back up.
"Fight practice, it's where we would wound each other for personal entertainment. And you pronounced it wrong again Marc, it's yamarfer, not ymarfur."
"ymar...for." Marc slowly repeated.
"ymarfer." Rina corrected.
"ymarfar?" Marc, confused.
"ymarfer." Rina chuckled.
"Can I just call it skirmish?" Marc facepalm himself.
"Oh, then you'll love the word ysgarmes." Rina smirked
"ysrarmes?" Marc, absolutely confused.
"Nevermind… Just say it in human tongue. And we're here!"
Rina stopped her horse. In front of their eyes is a small forest that could be looked over fairly easily, because on top of it is a huge climbale cliff. A good vantage point for putting pressure on the forest below.
The team began to unpack their stuff.
Marc got his iron [Longsword], with a sheath on his belt, he also took off his [Iron Armor] for this fight just to be sure.
Rina took out her [Bow], which can be retracted and reformed back to a long stick for melee purposes. She dedicated her life savings (and maybe or maybe not borrowed from the team) to buy a limited [Interdimensional Quiver]. It's a quiver where she could store an ungodly amount of her arrows, which is any, because any amount is ungodly on her hands. And they don't weigh that much.
Mei got her [Staff], which was specifically ordered from a famous blacksmith by Pearl, perfectly fitting for herself to use, especially when there's a [Elemental Crystal] as the core which helps her to cast more powerful elemental magic spells. Oh and her big [Wizard Hat] isn't any normal; it's designed like a hidden boomerang that could be thrown and returned to its owner. The downside is.... It's utterly useless— it's not heavy, otherwise Mei couldn't wear it running around, it's not sharp, otherwise it would be dangerous putting it on and off. It's just hilarious to throw it at stuff, and for cosmetic purposes; she looked more like a wizard with that hat on.
Pearl got his old wooden [Staff], the wood is from a 200 years old tree that Mei hand-made for him like ages ago. Still working fine when he uses a [Spell Crystal] as the core.
"Alright, what twist do we want guys? A hostage rescue situation?" Rina looked over to Esmeralda, which sent chills down the kid's spine. "Or maybe… No weapons?"
"Do we really need a twist everytime we do this?" Pearl rested the staff on his shoulder, smiling.
"Yes." The three others said in sync.
"I have an idea… How about we switch weapons? We all know that we're good with our weapons, but how can we adapt when it's not around?" Mei suggested, jumping up and down from excitement.
"I kind of like the hostage rescue thing, so we'll have to consider our possibilities and not be mindless punchers." Pearl said.
"I swear, with all your thinking, one day I'll go to a library and see a book called "The Art of War" by Pearl Magmal." Mei teased back randomly.
"That sounds like a cool book title, but anyways. How about we do both?" Marc snapped his finger.
…
SELECTING PHASE:
Team Red:
+Pearl Magmal (Using Rina's Bow and Quiver)
+Rina Wenswood (Using Mei's Elemental Staff)
Objective: Holding grounds and keeping the group of rescues off of the Emerald Dragon for one hour.
Team Blue:
+Marc Omal (Using Pearl's Spell Staff)
+Mei Magmal (Using Marc's Longsword)
Objective: Saving the Emerald Dragon who's being kidnapped by a group of terrorists and stuck inside a horse carriage somewhere in the woods.
Team "Going To Get A Grilled Chicken Leg After This All Done":
+Esmeralda (Using her own self)
Objective: Being a poor little hostage, stay put and let people pick her up when they need to.
PREPARATION PHASE:
Red Team:
"I have a plan." Rina said, considering her possibilities.
"What do you got?" Pearl said, rubbing Esmeralda's ears who was on the carriage.
"Marc isn't the best at ranged fighting; he knows some spells, but I bet he'll stick with Mei and abuse their melee potentials." she glared at the cliff above them. "We got a ranged advantage, and this cliff provides us with so much potential. Here is what I'll propose."
She took a stick from a nearby tree and began drawing their plan on the dirt below.