▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 9 ║▌║▌║█│▌

I rooted myself up in a tree, and I waited for the people to eventually make their way to me. I watched as the explosions get steadily closer to my position. I was watching just for the slightest glimpse of a person, so I could pounce into action. Finally I saw the cause of the explosions. A black haired girl run like a blur through the brush in the forest. It looks like she has a speed enhancement power. She was followed closely behind by a large red haired guy shooting out balls from his palms. Whenever the balls he produced from his hands touched another object, it exploded. There was also another another blonde haired guy running beside him. It appeared that he had a power that lets him stretch his body out like plastic. This was going to be more difficult to deal with than just a normal strength enhancing power.

I immediately thought to go after the two boys first. Maybe if I get them then I can get rescue points for saving the girl, and maybe we can form a team like the two boys if I'm lucky. As the girl ran past me I stayed still in my perch in the pine tree. I had a vine in my hand from the swamp. If can time this right then I can get to KO's at once. I waited until the two of them were going to be perfectly lined up with the quicksand when I get there, and then I swung. I wrapped the vines together to form a strong rope, and then tied it to the tree I was in. I then jumped the opposite direction of the boys to get the most momentum by going around the tree. I kicked the ball explosion boy straight into the pool of quicksand. I made him fly off the ground about 50 feet into it. All those years of physical training appears to be paying off. The elastic boy managed to contort his body out of the way though, but this was not accounted for in my plan on the spot. Because I thought that there would be more people coming here, I set up multiple trees with the same vines. After I knocked the first one into the quicksand, I quickly dove into some bushes, so he couldn't grab me. Then I climbed into one of my trees again ready to pounce once more. The elastic boy naturally was going to save his friend for the rescue points, and then they would both go after me since I don't have any powers. While he is saving his friend from the quicksand though, I will come in and knock him in the same way I did the first kid. It should work this time since he doesn't have his friend's body giving him a warning now.

Before I could do that though, something unexpected happened. The black haired girl from before rushed in and pushed elastic boy into the quicksand. He fell face first in it, and explosion balls was going off on him saying, "You bumbling idiot! How could you not watch your back at a time like this! You powerless piece of shit that kicked me in here better remember these words! When I get out of here, I, Julius Dremen the Third will personally send you to a hospital! I always get my way so you better fucking remember that! Tremen, use your arms and grab onto that limb to get us out of here!"

So their names are Julius and Tremen huh? They must be apart of the upper class if he "always gets his way". I wonder what the girl's name is. She seemed shocked when Julius said that it was the powerless sagaru who kicked him in there. There isn't any time for that now though. Tremen was already reaching up with his arms to the limb. I quickly jumped from the tree, and ran multiple circles around it to gain sufficient momentum. I then launched in the direction toward Tremen's arms. I wrapped the vine around and around them, incapacitating them. It seems he can't control his body that well the longer it is. He became completely discombobulated. I wrapped the vine around and around him, until right when I was about to hit the quicksand. I then let go of the vine, and it flung me to safety in front of the girl. That should be two KO's for me, which puts me in a safe spot. They won't die because the quicksand only goes up to the bottom of their head.

I looked back at the girl in front of me, and now that I had a better look at her, I could easily see that she was beautiful and that she was the girl that gave me a curious look back at the crystal. She had tanned skin to go with her black hair, and her slender, athletic body made it easy to see she was probably really popular in her school before this. I instantly shot down my chances with her in my mind before I even got my hopes up.

But I still kept a confident appearance up for her because now it's time for negotiation with the girl. I turned and looked at her while Julius was still cursing me and asked, "Want to make a team?"

She looked at me with a blank expression and responded smuggly with, "You are a sagaru though. Why wouldn't I just knock you into the quicksand with them, and get your points?"

I responded back quickly before she could make a move, "Because I saved your skin back there, by kicking him into the quicksand and distracting elastic boy there, so I objectively have some use for you. It may just be as an extra body for peple to get to you, but it is some use. Plus I'm smart, so I can come up with some plans to get KOs easier. What do you say? Strength in numbers right?"

She looked me up and down with her coal black eyes and finally responded with a sigh, "Fine, but don't slow me down."

Thus began a beautiful friendship in the middle of the physical exams. We still needed more points to get into the top 30 though. We need to KO hunt now.

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued ║▌║▌║█│