A rough awakening found the members of Group A the following day, and at quite the early hour as well. General Douglas was roaming the halls with a metal pot and a spatula, smacking the two against one another, and making ungodly ammounts of noise.
"Rise and shine, maggots! I want you all out standing in attention by the port in 0400 hours!" He'd yell, his booming voice making him impossible to ignore.
Dex loudly groaned as he rolled out of bed, balery picking himself up. He checked his watch with tired eyes.
"But 4AM is in 20 minutes!" He complained, rubbing his eyes. "When are we supposed to get breakfast?"
Unfortunately, Douglas heard him,and kicked their door in to come yell at him.
"You'll get your breakfast with your lunch, boy! Now get ready!" He shouted, and continued on with his spree.
"Excellent going, Tuscan. Now that brute will make us fix this door." Thomas said from his bed, not even he having woken up fully yet. Jon jumped out of his bed and climbed up to Bryce's bunk.
"Dude, get up. Douglas will have our heads." He shook him around, but he only turned around.
"Fuck off, man..." He mumbled in his sleep. Jon frowned at him and climbed down, but not before pushing Bryce out of the bunk, making him land down with a loud thud.
When they eventually arrived outside, looking rather zombie-like, Douglas was already there, pacing around impatiently, along with Liam, who was barely awake. Parked by the port was an incredibly large navy vessel, competely dominating the view from the island.
"About damn time!" Douglas exclaimed. "I've been waiting out here in the cold for 15 minutes! Why are all of you late!?"
"But it's 4AM! We're perfectly on time!" Someone pointed out, but Douglas slammed his boot against the concrete floor.
"You aren't on time unless you're 15 minutes early, maggot!" He explained, staring daggers right at the pour soul, who shriveled up quickly. Dex scoffed.
"What were we supposed to do, jump out our windows?" He asked, crossing his hands. "And why isn't Group B out here, suffering with us?"
"That's none o' your business. Now shaddup and listen." Douglas pointed at him, and he quieted down.
"Eh-hem." Liam went, getting the group's attention. "Good morning cadets! Thank you for being only 15 minutes late. It's my pleasure to announce that we're headed back to the mainland for our first expedition, organised by yours truly." He explained the situation, smiling widely at the soldiers, who looked at him with scorn.
"Your general, Hubert Starman won't be with us, unfortunately, so instead I got General Douglas here to join us instead. Now, everyone, form a single file line and get on the big ship right here behind us, so we can get going! Oh, and you can pick up these backpacks with equipment over there, as well." Liam said, and pointed at a pile of huge backpacks.
"Oh joy, we're going backpacking. Hooray." Dex pointed out, sarcasm oozing out his every word. Bryce couldn't contain his excitement.
"Oh, hell yeah! I've always wanted to go backpackin'!" He excplaimed, and went over to haul one of the backpacks. Tomas and Jon followed suit, leaving Dex to lament his 'poor, poor spine'.
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After a rather short journey, that lasted about 6 hours, the vessel anchored back in Stormhaven. Liam led the 25 trainees into a path towards the woods, which they had to backpack through.
"Alright gentlemen, this is it. A 10 kilometre trek through the woods, that should lead us to a nice plateu behind that big hill over there, where we can set up camp for the night. We'll be back tomorrow afternoon, if all goes well." Liam explained the plan.
"Come on, then! Move it, maggots! Don't wanna get there after sundown, or you're sleeping in the cold!" Douglas rushed them forwards, into the path.
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The group took off, making their way through the gorgeous Sowei wilderness, taking in the forest air and admiring nature at it's purest. Bryce happily jogged through the path, even stopping to pick up a flower, which General Douglas yelled at him for. The trek wasn't particularly challenging for any of them (save perhaps for Dex, who hasn't had to walk more than 2 kilometers in his entire life), but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Some two hours later, thay made it to the plateu.
"Alright, we have this 4-person tent to share between us. How about half of us go looking for food, and the rest pitch this tent?" Jon proposes, and is mate with various sounds of agreement.
"Wait wait wait... are we not going to be fed?" Dex interrupts, making really exaggerated movements with his hands. Fortunately,General Douglas was coming in to check on them at that exact time.
"Does it look like I have a kitchen on me, boy?" He asked, getting in Dex's face.
"Isn't that your job? To be a cook?" Dex shot back, further maddening the General.
"What!? YOU-" Douglas went, but before he could do anything to Dex, Bryce grabbed the suited gentleman by the arm and dragged him into the woods.
"Stop being such a loser, bro, it'll be fun!" Bryce exlaimed, and the two ran off, all while Dex was yelling at him to unhand him. Douglas shook his head in dissapointment, and walked away, leaving Jon and Thomas alone.
"So, you know how to pitch a tent?" Jon asked whilst taking out the parts out of the bag.
"Can't say that I have." Thomas admitted.
"Oh man, that sucks. My dad used to take me camping when I was a kid, so I've got some experience." Jon explained, as Thomas nodded along.
"Well, I am a quick learner." He claimed, and rolled up his sleeves.
"Excellent. Hey, maybe when we're out of this place, we can go camping properly." Jon proposed, with an excited smile on his face.
"Sure." Thomas mumbled under his breath. He then pointed to something in the bag, and asked, "So, where does this contraption go?"
In the meantime, Bryce and Dex were searching for food in the woods. Dex was busy picking berries out of a bush, while Bryce was sharpening a stick against a rock, so he could use it to catch some fish.
"Are you sure these are safe to eat, bro?" Bryce asked.
"How should I know? I have a butler for this kind of stuff." Dex answered, and kept picking berries.
"You could just start looking for something safer to pick, instead." Bryce proposed, staring at Dex with disbelief.
"Well, I found a patch of red-capped mushrooms earlier..." Dex thought out loud, causing Bryce to start yelling immediately.
"No! Absolutely not!" He exclaimed, causing Dex to raise his hands in defense, dropping everything he was holding. "Just take this spear, and try to stab a fish, or something." Bryce handed him the sharp stick.
"Will I have to get in the water? My trousers will get all dirty." Dex asked. Bryce gave the guy a tired stare, and took the spear back.
"Why do you even dress like this, man?" He asked.
"I don't own any worse clothes than this, Hansen, what else am I supposed to do?" Dex explained, making Bryce groan in annoyance.
"Look, just sit on that rock and don't do anything. Can you do that?" He tasked him. Dex examined the rock with his piercing gaze, as Bryce started at this intense confrontation. Eventually, he turned back to face Bryce.
"On this filthy, mold-ridden, disgusting, smelly rock? No thank you." He declared. If the rock had feelings, it would be offended. Bryce threw his leather vest and hat at him, called him impossible, and went in the river, aiming to finally catch some fish.
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An hour or two later, the four of them regrouped back at the camp, with the tent completed and standing straight. Jon and Thomas were in the process of building a small fire, when Bryce and Dex returned, three fish in each of the former's arms. Dex was still carrying Bryce's stuff.
"I bring food!" Bryce declared, lifting up the fish for the others to see. "Quickly, put them over the fire!"
Jon quickly set up a small iron rack above the fire, and they let the fish cook on it. The group sat around the fire, warming up from the cold breeze dominating the area. Shortly after, Liam made his way to their tent.
"Are you fellas all settled?" He asked, taking a seat with the rest around the campfire.
"We're doing okay. The fish is definitely taking a while to cook, though." Jon pointed out.
"It's a good thing you guys found these, otherwise we'd have to use the emergency rations for you." Liam said.
"Wait, we had food this entire time?" Dex complained, and Bryce elbowed him so he'd stop. He winced in pain, and slapped Bryce's arm away.
"I must warn you, corporal, that a nimbus is approaching from the east. We are to face heavy rain tomorrow morning." Thomas warned Liam, pointing at the large, dark cloud in the distance.
"Ah, well you should all have waterproof clothing, right? It won't be an issue, hopefully." Liam shrugged him off. Thomas just adjusted his glasses and stared. "Well,I better leave you to it. You should rest well, because we're getting up before sunrise tomorrow. Good night!"
And with that, Liam returned to his and Douglas' camp. Dex groaned at the thought of waking up at 4AM for the second day in a row, and Jon tried to comfort him, saying that sleeping in a tent is a surreal experience.
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Night enveloped the plateu, and all the campers fell to a slumber. During the night, and just as Thomas had predicted, heavy rain started falling, and thunder started sounding across the mountains. When everyone woke up at 4 AM, it was pouring outside.
"Good morning, campers! Everyone quickly wear your waterproof vests and pack up your tents so we can leave! We're to meet up with Group B at the pier in 6 hours!" Liam announced over a megaphone. Many voices complained about having to meet Group B again, but Douglas inerrupted the bickering.
"Make it snappy, recruits!" He yelled through the megaphone, making even the heaviest sleepers wake up at last.
"Doesn't that brute know that megaphones are for amplifying noise?" Dex murmured, his ears ringing.
"As I predicted, it's a cataclysm out there." Thomas pointed out. "Do stay cautious, everyone."
"Alright, let's do this as quickly as possible, so we can go somewhere dry." Jon declared, and the rest quickly agreed.
In a matter of minutes, every tent in the plateu had been neatly packed up inside the trainees' backpacks, and they were ready to go. Liam had gathered them all in one spot, and thus, the trek back to Stormhaven begun.
Unfortunately for the group, the rain only kept getting worse as they moved, ad the ground was muddy and slippery, even more so for those without proper shoes.
"You really need to invest in cheaper outfits, bro." Bryce told Dex after he complained about his dirty shoes for the 3rd time.
Eventually, the group picked up the pace, essentally jogging to get out of the path. The environment was the complete opposite of the day before, the then idyllic landscape being replaced by a dark, windy disaster.
Jon and co. were at the near the back of the pack, with very few people behind them, when suudenly, the lightning struck a very old pine tree, setting it ablaze, and making it collapse right behind them.
Nobody was hurt, fortunately, but the tree did manage to trap someone underneath it and a nearby rock. Hearing the dude's cries for help, Douglas rushed by the guy, and attempted to lift the old tree out of the way.
Jon and co. noticed this, as they were the closest, and Jon immediately tried to run and help the general. Dex quickly grabbed his arm to restrain him, and Jon immediately truned around to glare at him.
"Douglas is already helping him. Let's run before we get zapped to oblivion!" Dex exclaimed, his grip slightly lowering. Jon slapped his hand away.
"He can't lift that on his own, we need to help." He responed. Bryce qickly agreed.
"It's our duty to help!" He declared. "Quite." Thomas added. Dex started at them in disbelief for a few seconds.
"You people are crazy! I'm outta here!" He swiftly stumbled away, as fast as he could. The other three went over to the tree, quickly grabbing it by it's sides.
"You're doing a brave act here, gentlemen." Douglas praised them, as they nodded along. "Now, pull with all your might!"
And pull they did, their combined strength being just enough so the poor dude could slip underneath the tree.
"Excellent work, cadets! Now let's book it." Douglas said, and they ran to catch up with the rest.
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By the time they arrived in Stormhaven, the rain had quelled. At the pier, the remainder of Group A, as well as Group B, were already there. Prime Minister Leo also was present, for some reason.
"I'm glad you're all in one piece, guys." Dex gretted them when they made it back. Jon and Thomas just frowned at him.
"No thanks to you!" Bryce jabbed at him, but Dex didn't care, claiming he was 'protecting himself'.
"Good thing for that rain, you guys really needed to wash up!" Nicholaoff taunted from where Group B was standing.
"Boom, score!" Vasquez added, and he high-fived his bro. Bryce flipped the both of them off, just as Leo turned to look at them.
"That's enough of that, methinks." He said, gesturing at Bryce to cut it out.
"What are you doing here, sir?" Jon asked, confused.
"Well kids, i heard about what the three of you were up to during that trek of yours. From the horse's moth, no less, and that man really isn't know for giving out praise. So, it's safe to say lots of things are being discussed behind the scenes regarding your little trio here." He hinded, patting Jon in the back, before taking the megaphone from Liam.
"I hope you all enjoyed your expeditions, gentlemen. Tomorrowis your rest day, so use it wisely. I'll be seeing you very soon." He announced, as a glowing golden portal oppened appeared behind him, and he dissappeared into thin air.
"I have no clue how he does that." Bryce pointed out. Thomas let out a silent 'hrrm' at the sight.
The crew boarded the sameboat that took them to the mainland the day before, and left, on journey back to Isle Monroe.