We make it to the top of the hill but StarBorne isn’t there. I take a few steps forward and suddenly feel the ground slip beneath my feet.

A trap. And now BunBun is alone up there.

A familiar face looks down at me and grins. “Great job ruining our trap,” says BladEagle.

WarWolf tosses me down rope.

I grab onto it and pull myself up.

“How many have you two taken out?”

“Only three. Would have been five but we lost them in the mist around back.”

BunBun grabs WarWolf’s hands. “StarBorne is in danger. Two teams are gonna ambush our leader and kill them!”

I pat her back. “It will turn out alright. We’re gonna protect StarBorne.”

WarWolf turns away from me. “You still trying to make up for almost killing him?”

“Sorry for trying to help you.” I stick out my tongue.

BunBun kisses me and sucks on my tongue. She then pulls away. “Sorry. Just uh…couldn’t resist.”

I pat her head. “We’re going to need to work together if we’re going to save StarBorne. Have either of you seen Goopy?”

BladEagle looks down. “Goopy is gone.” He clenches his teeth. “All my hard work bullying him into a strong killer and the idiot gets himself blown up.”

WarWolf grabs onto me. “Weren’t you supposed to stay with him. Did you let him die so you could go on a date?”

He can’t be dead. I just saw him. I’m going to see him again. They’re wrong. They have to be.

BunBun wipes her tears. “He was my first real kiss.”

He must have been there for her when I wasn’t. I’m not letting anyone die!

I grab BunBun’s hands. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re all a single unit. Losing any of you is the same as death!”

WarWolf smiles. “I missed you.”

BladEagle steps in between us. “Charisma with no plan. You can’t shank your way out of every dilemma.”

“Of course not. But I got the expert who took down a whole team on her own.”

WarWolf growls. “I told you I tried but they escaped.”

BunBun giggles. “He’s talking about me.”

WarWolf stares blankly at her.

“Regretting your romantic decisions, aren’t you? Sorry, but Weech is my boyfriend forever now! So no taksies backsies!”

We hear a whistle in the distance.

That’s either Goopy or StarBorne.

I wave to the Assailants. “Let’s get moving. Every second counts.”

WarWolf shakes her head. “We set up traps all along the South side of the hill and the surrounding area. You have to bring StarBorne here.”

“I’ll stand guard.” BunBun salutes. “You all need to catch up to my points anyways.”

BladEagle hoists WarWolf into his arms. “Let’s get moving.”

I hurry after them down the hillside, avoiding traps by following in his footsteps.

We find the whistle but not the person who was holding it.

WarWolf carefully makes her way down the rocky steps to the whistle. “I don’t care if this is a trap! Come out and face me!”

“Let’s see if you can beat the Shok!” The biggest kid I’ve ever seen comes out from behind some rocks and charges at WarWolf.

BladEagle blocks me from interfering. “This is her fight.”

“Yeah! He’s mine!” WarWolf runs on all fours to the big kid.

Pride should be saved only for after the job is finished. I can’t believe I dated someone so arrogant.

The boy headbutts her and then sits on her, repeatedly punching her face.

“He’s dead!” yells BladEagle, rushing down the stones.

WarWolf bites the boy’s arm and tears off flesh.

The boy screams and cries. BladEagle then whacks the boy’s head with a wooden tonfa, knocking him out cold.

“I had him!” yells WarWolf.

“I don’t care. Wasn’t worth the risk.”

I climb down to meet up with them. “Let’s keep moving.” I see a figure from the corner of my eye.

StarBorne! And he’s holding Goopy’s body. Oh no.

StarBorne smiles upon seeing WarWolf. “Out little tactician needs some first aid.”

WarWolf nods and rushes to Goopy’s side, applying some salve to his burns.

I’m the last one to reach them. I look down at Goopy.

Nearly half his body is scorched.

“Can you talk?” I ask as BladEagle tells StarBorne she’s being targeted.

“She’s dead and its all my fault.” Goopy mutters to himself.

“No. We’re all fine. We’re going to make it through this together.”

“BlasToad. The girl we met. I used her as a hostage. Once she was in range, the perfect range, of the enemy…I threatened to blow her up.” He starts sobbing. “But I wouldn’t really do it.” He wipes his tears. “There was a BlasToad on the tree nearby. We set it there so it would make the tree fall on them and we could take them out. But one of those morons saw the BlasToad on her back. He didn’t believe me that it would explode and he hit it.” Goopy pulls out a black bone from his pocket. “This is her. I saw her flesh burn away.”

“You ran in to try and save her. You’re smarter than that. Your life isn’t worth the points.”

“It wasn’t about the damn points! You people are crazy!” He thrashes around.

WarWolf whacks me. “Stop agitating him, Weech. It makes it hard to apply the medicine.”

Goopy covers his teary eyes. “I know I’m a bad kid, but she wasn’t. She was a good girl. Her team bullied her. Her own teammate got her killed.”

“How did you escape them after the blast?”

“I didn’t. They all freaked and ran off. They left her alone.” He nuzzles the bone. “I’m not leaving her.”

The thought of BunBun being burned to bones flashes in my mind. Wait, that’s not BunBun…it’s WarWolf. But I love BunBun not her.

BladEagle hits my head.

“Ow!” I hold my forehead.

He grins. “What? I thought you wanted some help with the self-punishment.”

StarBorne crouches down to Goopy. “They want to kill me. At least two teams are coming for my beautiful head.” She holds Goopy’s hands. “You’re the cleverest of us all. What should I do?”

“You could…” Goopy stops. “No. I won’t get anyone else killed with my stupid ideas.”

WarWolf wraps Goopy’s scorched arms. “She’s waiting for you in Paradise. Don’t you want to meet her as a success, not a failure.”

“What Paradise? There’s nothing after death. Just a meaningless void.” Goopy’s eyes go dry with fear.

“Well that’s not what I believe. My aunt is there and I’m going to join her. But I’ll do so after a long successful life as a master assassin.”

StarBorne opens her eyes. “I have a plan. WarWolf. You need to stay with Goopy. He’s in danger if I’m near him. I’ll whistle my way up the hillside where you put the traps. Whoever is still standing…I will deal with.” She clenches her fist.

BladEagle nods. “I’ll come with you.”

I look down at my injured ally. “I’m staying with Goopy.”

WarWolf gets up and kisses BladEagle. “Don’t die or I’ll deface your corpse.”

“Heheh. Noted,” he says with a nervous grin before running off.

After a couple minutes of silence, I lean toward WarWolf. “Need any help with anything?”

“Yeah, actually.” She scratches her chin, looks at me and then groans.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just want to be friends with you again but I don’t know how.”

I embrace her suddenly, making her jump in surprise. “You did just fine.”

She lightens up a bit and finally smiles at me again.

That smile still makes my heart race.

WarWolf blushes when she feels my heartbeat and breaks the hug.

“So, do you forgive me now?”

“Look, I just…you’re too unpredictable. Sometimes you can be the most loving person but other times you can be so cold that it makes my bones shiver. I don’t even know which one is the real you.”

“Well sometimes you’re incredibly fearsome and other times you’re like a cuddly puppy.”

WarWolf laps. “For some reason I don’t want to punch you right now.”

“It’s because you know I’m right.”

She slugs me and then gets back to healing Goopy.

I hold my hand to my heart.

Is StarBorne right? Do I still love her?

By the time Goopy has recovered enough to move, the moon is in the sky.

I look up at the light in the sky of darkness. “I was supposed to spend my first night with BunBun.”

“Oh, I hope you aren’t disappointed,” says WarWolf, gently lifting the stretches we made from vines and wood.

I lift the other side. “Not at all. I’m sure you pictured it differently too.”

“Yeah, I thought it would just be kinda dull, but the moon is so beautiful.” She smiles and her hair glistens in the moonlight.

Climbing up rocks while carrying someone and sporting a boner is not something just any assassin can do.

When we do make it to the top, we notice an enemy student.

“He’s the one…the one who killed them!” The girl points at Goopy while holding out her knife in fear.

We gently set Goopy down.

I whisper to WarWolf. “Let me handle this. I’ll be quick.”

I approach the girl and grip the knife with my hand, cutting it. “You must hate him. Want him dead, right? Well then give up right now. No assassin can let emotion control them. Your blade is shaking.” I wipe my bloody hand on her face and she screams. “If you were calm, this would have been a clean cut. You have to focus on surviving and winning for your dead allies. Show everyone that just because you’ve suffered some losses that you can still fight.”

“Huh? You mean the test is still going on even after she died? I should have spoken to her. I picked on her like everyone else. Please, BlasToad, haunt me so I can apologize.”

I smack her. “Get real. She’s gone forever. Your worries don’t do anything but make you an easy target. I could have killed you so many times already, but instead I want your help. What’s your name?”

“An assassin never reveals their name!”

“Good answer. Look a bunch of people are coming to kill our leader. You can come with us and help us take them out so your team gets points.”

“No. This is some trap.”

I hug her and take in all her worries. “Her death wasn’t planned. My friend is broken up about it too. We made an alliance with your side, with BlasToad. If you want to honor her, then do so by helping her pass. If not, then don’t pretend you ever cared about her just because you’re feeling guilty.”

When the girl finishes crying, she nods. “Okay. I’m CamOctopus. Dumb name, but basically, I’m great at hiding.”

“Well you were standing out in the open like an idiot, so how about you focus and use your talent.”

“Yeah! I will.” She nods and follows me up the hill.

WarWolf groans when she hears me. “That wasn’t quick.”

“Sorry, but I got us a new ally at least.”

“Nice work. You two can carry the stretcher. I think I heard movement.”

Goopy mutters with his eyes closed. “Two, six, three, one, one…add them together and that’s thirteen. We’ve taken down more than two teams worth of students. There’s forty-six in total competing. And we have seven on our side. That means at maximum, we will be fighting twenty-six students and at the very least twelve.”

Ugh. I hate math more than ever now.

WarWolf rushes ahead and indicates us to follow. “Yeah but we set booby traps all around the hillside. That’s bound to take down at least a handful of them.”

CamOctopus looks around nervously. “Maybe we should just hide till it’s all over.”

Goopy sighs. “Not an option for you. The kids who don’t pass…they’re killed. Don’t ask me how I know that. Either you get the points in battle, die fighting or die a coward. Not a hard decision if you ask me.”

Goopy lies so fluidly. Unless that’s true. But it can’t be. We’re all special. Why would they waste our potential?

We make it to the top of the hill where the entire team is waiting.

“Thank you all so much. The enemy is already coming.”

“Great! They’ll all get to see firsthand what the Assailant’s are made of!”