"Alright, guys. Today is about reconnaissance and getting behind enemy lines. Somewhere in Captain Artibus's stronghold is an 'intelligence report' we need to collect and turn in to the general in order to win today's competition," Fortus told his team. "Fengli, you're my spy. I want you to assess the situation, tactical weaknesses, potential points of entry, how many men are stationed where. We have three hours to collect the scroll or forfeit the match. Go!"

Fengli nodded and took off through the trees to spy on the opposing team.

"Any suggestions for how to approach today's mission?" Fortus asked.

"We could try the classic baiting method. Draw them out with most of our group, and send a couple of people in behind them to seek the report," Begrent said.

"There's also a basic siege approach," Ernkit added.

"We only have three hours?" Lolo asked.

"That's right. What are you thinking, Lolo?" Fortus asked.

"I think that's a tall order. We have to break into a heavily manned base somehow without being killed, find a scroll somewhere, we don't know where, and make it back out alive with the scroll in hand. No offense to Begrent and Ernkit, those are tried and true strategies, but I don't think that basic strategies are going to work today. We are out-manned and on the clock."

"Do you have a suggestion, then?"

"Maybe. It's more like the beginnings of a suggestion."

"Well, let's hear it."

"My thought is that we stand a better chance of success the more people we manage to get into the base, right? And the more paths we take, the more likely it is that we will find what we are looking for."

"So you're thinking of dividing up into multiple small groups to storm the base all at once from different entry points?"

"Either that, or storm the base from only one or two points of entry and then splitting up into pairs once we are inside, but I think I like your idea better, Fortus."

"Isn't that risky?" Zhongyan asked. "Spreading us thin like that makes us vulnerable.

"It does, but spreading us thin will force them to spread thin as well," Haowan said.

"They have every advantage. They know when we are coming, have a defensive position, and know our exact numbers. Our best chance for gaining the upper hand is by doing the unexpected," Ulana reminded everyone.

"What if we staggered the attacks?" Standig asked.

"Standig? Care to elaborate?" Lolo prompted.

"Say we attack two points at once. The soldiers have to split up. Then we attack another two entry points. Anyone who is left now has to split two ways again, assuming they've got anyone not already fighting."

"That's a pretty solid plan, Standig," Fortus approved. "Lolo, how would you divide us into groups for that?"

"Groups of twos and threes. Flashy and defensive fighting styles in the first wave-- those that can hold out longer and draw attention quickly. Aggressive and creative styles in the second wave to break in quickly, find the report and get back out again."

Fortus nodded. "Make the assignments."

Lolo looked at her team. "Group one, Zhongyan, Haowan and Ingenex. Group two, Fortus and Ulana. Group three, Begrent, Ernkit, and Fengli when he gets back. Group four, Standig and me."

Fengli returned a little while later, panting slightly from the sprint back. "Alright. Here's what I could see." Fortus pulled out a map. "There are six potential points of entry." Fengli marked them. "Each access point is guarded by a minimum of four men, and that's just what I can see from the outside. The building they are guarding has a second floor. I would hazard a guess that the report we are looking for is somewhere up there, and there will likely be soldiers guarding the way up."

"They could also use the second floor as a sort of smokescreen to distract us from where the report is really hidden," Ulana said.

"True. We will need to keep our eyes open everywhere," Fengli admitted. "So, what is the plan of attack?"

Fortus recounted the plan to Fengli and gave him his group assignment.

"If I might suggest," Fengli said, "let's have groups one and two attack on opposite sides of the base, perhaps the more well-defended north and south entryways? Then groups three and four can attack on opposite sides again where the base is less well defended." Fengli marked access points on the east and west sides of the base.

"Let's move out," Fortus ordered.

Each group concealed themselves around the base so they could see their assigned attack points. Standig and Lolo took their position on the west side of the base. Lolo watched Ulana walk right up to the north entry point, bold as brass, her sword resting on her shoulder. As the soldiers left their positions to attack her, Fortus charged out from behind a large rock to cut off their retreat. They made an excellent team. Ulana would taunt and tease the enemy soldiers out of position, staying just out of reach while Fortus took advantage of their distraction to pick off any remaining soldiers one or two at a time.

On the south end, Zhongyan and Haowan stood back-to-back with each other, using their well-loved partner maneuvers to push soldiers back or out of position, herding them into a kill zone one at a time so Ingenex could pick them off. The Lang boys had to be careful to keep Ingenex from being overwhelmed by too many opponents at once, but they were managing the hordes masterfully.

From across the way, Standig got the signal from Begrent to initiate the second round of attacks. Lolo followed Standig as he moved from rock to rock up to their target.

"Hey, Standig, cover me," Lolo grinned. She climbed the nearest rock and announced her presence to the guards at the door. "You're not scared of one little girl, are you?"

The guards laughed good-naturedly. They had gotten used to this sort of pre-battle banter from the exchange girls, but they also knew better than to fall for it.

"Come over here if you want to tangle," one of the soldiers laughed.

"Alrighty, then." Lolo did a little flip off the front of her boulder for added pizzazz and rushed the four soldiers. They moved forward to meet her, but before they made contact, Standig surprised everyone by coming out of nowhere and barreling through all four soldiers at once, knocking them all to the ground.

"Hey! I said 'cover me'," Lolo pouted.

Standig grinned, "I did! They're all down. You've been covered. You're welcome." Standig grabbed her arm. "You're wasting time."

"You could have left one of them for me to fight."

They reached the entrance and Standig bowed slightly to Lolo. "Ladies first!"

She grinned and entered. The path split into two directions. "Right or left?"

"Uh, left."

They followed the hall down to the far north end of the building where Ulana and Fortus were still doing battle.

"Well, this will be fun," Lolo smirked and made room for Standig to pass her.

Standig charged the hallway full of soldiers with Lolo hot on his heels. As the soldiers got battered around, Lolo cleaned up house in Standig's wake.

Huo Lohse poked her head out the door to see Fortus finish off the last two enemy soldiers on the north side of the building. "Hey, guys, come join the hunt," Lolo called to them.

Fortus and Ulana followed Lolo and Standig back into the building to follow the hallway east. They were quickly met by Ernkit, Begrent and Fengli.

"Any progress?" Fortus asked.

Ernkit shook his head. "We're just following this hallway."

"Anything in the other direction?" Lolo asked.

"Haven't gone that direction yet," Fengli said.

"Come to think of it, we haven't seen anything either. No doors. Nothing," Lolo said. "Fortus, Standig, you're with me. Ulana, go with the others."

The group split and Lolo led Fortus and Standig west, back the way they'd come. The hallway led them south to where Zhongyan, Haowan and Ingenex were still fighting. Ulana and the others appeared on the east side of the hallway, and everyone converged on the south entrance to help group one.

A few minutes later, all of the soldiers were down along with Ingenex.

"We've run the entire base and seen nothing. Four entrances, nothing but hallways," Lolo said.

"Fengli, you said there with six entrances? Where are the other two?" Fortus asked.

Fengli led the entire group to a narrow opening on the east side of the building that was no longer being guarded. "There is another small opening like this on the other side," he said.

"Standig and I will take the other side," Lolo volunteered.

She snagged Standig's arm and pulled him into a jog around the building. The west opening had also been left unguarded. The pair squeezed through the narrow entrance and up a ramp to a trap door in the floor. Lolo cracked the door to see inside and saw the rest of their team being surrounded by soldiers below.

"Standig," she whispered, "the others fell into a trap. Come look."

Standig got on his hands and knees to poke his nose through a crack in the door.

"Do you think we could spring them?" Lolo asked.

Standig looked around. "First, you don't think the report is around here, do you?"

Lolo looked ahead and saw another trap door in the ceiling. "Standig, could you get me up there and then go back for the others?"

He nodded.

Standig lifted Lolo up through the door in the ceiling into a dark room.

"See you in a bit," she whispered down to him.

Standig returned to the previous trap door to drop down and help the rest of the team.

Lolo stumbled through the darkness until she found a door with a candle lit on the other side. She looked around, half expecting a trap, and saw a small scroll sitting on a desk in the corner of the room next to the candle. She ran to snatch it and turned to find Captain Artibus waiting for her with three men at his side.

"Well, done, Huo Lohse Lang. But now how are you going to get out of here?" the captain asked.

The only source of light was the candle sitting next to her, so Lolo blew it out and ran back to the door that Standig had hoisted her up through. She could hear the captain and his men bumping into each other as they tried to stop her escape.

She dropped quickly through the trap door and ran to check on the rest of her team. They were no longer in the room below, so Lolo figured they had probably escaped. She looked up to see Captain Artibus and his men climbing down out of the dark room. Lolo ran as fast as she could down the ramp, squeezed through the exit, and sprinted into the forest.

Once concealed by the trees, Lolo turned back to watch for her teammates, but they were nowhere to be seen. She didn't know what to do. She looked down at the scroll in her hand and unraveled it to read the words:

Give this to the Lion General to win the match.

The Lion General was back near their start position, so Lolo sprinted back to hand the scroll to Torvus.

"General, this is for you."

"Ah! Huo Lohse Lang. Well done. Where are the others?"

"They're not back yet?!"

"No, I haven't seen-"

Lolo didn't wait to hear the general finish. She was already sprinting back to the base. Torvus chuckled as she disappeared into the trees.

The base was apparently deserted. Lolo ran through the entire thing twice. It was strange, though. The base seemed a lot bigger from the outside than it did on the inside. There must be some kind of hidden room somewhere.

Lolo dropped through the trap door to search the area where she'd last seen her friends again. The floor was made of dirt, so Lolo did her best to preserve the tracks on the floor. There had been a scuffle in this room, and the least disturbed footprints all led to the south wall.

"They must have been captured," Lolo thought to herself. She looked around the room and saw a small stack of papers and what appeared to be a semi-hidden button in the wall. She had an idea. First she grabbed a paper and wrote a single word on it before rolling it into a scroll. She then pressed the button causing a secret door in the south wall to creak open revealing a passageway. Taking a deep breath before entering, Lolo had to focus on keeping her breath steady to prevent a panic attack in the dark, narrow tunnel.

The tunnel was long but straight and exited in the forest on the south side of the building. Lolo was careful to watch for the enemy team before entering the trees. Somewhere to the east, she heard Captain Artibus talking and followed his voice.

"Holding you guys here might be a moot point," he was saying. "If the wolf princess turns in the scroll to the general, you win, just with a high casualty count. But I'm betting that she will come to look for you first."

"Well deducted, captain." Lolo stepped out from behind the trees. "You're right. I don't like high casualty counts."

"Ah! Thank you for joining us, princess. You have the scroll?"

Lolo procured the paper from her belt. "I propose a trade, captain. Me and this scroll for the safe return of my team."

The captain laughed. "You know that you are literally handing us the victory, right?"

Lolo saw the disappointment on her teammates' faces. "I consider rescuing my team to be its own victory."

Captain Artibus nodded. "Very well. Bring me the scroll and I'll let your team go."

Lolo shook her head. "Same time."

"How do I know that you won't try something?"

"Send them the other way back to the starting point. Once they are gone, I will surrender."

"Deal."

Her teammates were ordered to stand up and walk eastward. Once they were through the trees, Lolo dropped her sword and handed the scroll to the captain.

"Well, thank you for the win, I guess," Artibus smiled. "Let's head back to report to General Arum."

Lolo smiled calmly and nodded.

They marched back to where the Lion General was waiting with the rest of the downcast trainees. Captain Artibus proudly presented Lolo's scroll to the general, and the general made eye contact with Lolo.

"Captain, where did you get this from?"

"Huo Lohse Lang exchanged it for the release of her teammates."

Torvus opened the scroll and immediately broke into laughter. "I do believe that you've been played, captain."

"What?!" Captain Artibus took the scroll back from the general which simply read "Suckers!" An entire range of emotions played across the captains face-- confusion, anger, embarrassment, and then, finally, amusement. "You know what? I can't even be mad about it. It would appear that I underestimated you, Huo Lohse."

Lolo took a dramatic bow.

"But then where is the real scroll?"

The Lion General procured it from his pocket and everyone from both teams started laughing and cheering. "She brought it to me before returning to find her teammates." The general winked at Lolo approvingly. "I can see why my son likes you so much."

***

"You really had us all going, Lolo," Ulana laughed at lunch. "It's only been two weeks, and even the lion soldiers know that your instincts to protect your pack override just about everything else."

"I was just tickled that the Lion General played along. Fortus didn't tell me that his dad could also be something of a tease."

"Speaking of Fortus…."

"Oh no. Ulana, we are still just friends."

"Not what I was going to say. I was going to ask if you had another 'fake' date planned this afternoon."

"Oh! I completely forgot! Ulana, I've got to go." Lolo snatched some bread off the table, stood up, and bolted.

"No, no. Don't mind me," Ulana chuckled to herself.

Lolo ran home to clean herself up before meeting with Fortus. She had just finished buttoning her dress when there was a knock on her door.

"Hi. Ulana said I could find you here," Fortus said when she opened the door.

"Hey! You have impeccable timing. I just finished getting ready. What do you think?" Lolo spun around making her black hair and twirly red dress swish around her.

"Very pretty, Lolo."

"Yeah? Pretty enough to pretend that I'm your girlfriend again?"

"Pretty enough to make all the guys jealous of me," he replied with a dazzeling smile.

"Very smooth, Fortus. With a silver tongue like that, it's no wonder why you need a fake girlfriend."

Fortus rolled his eyes and put on a silly, smug voice. "If you're ready, my lady, shall we?"

Lolo lifted her chin absurdly high and placed her hand delicately on his arm. "We shall."