"Uh… why are we the only three over here?" Flu asked, glancing around. He, Chuck, and Jay were alone on one side of the training yard—everyone else stood across from them.
It was early morning, and everyone from the day before stood once again in the training yard.
But something was clearly off. Bumi had said that all those involved in the Bulls incident would face his special punishment—yet only three people wore Deviant gear, ready for the challenge ahead.
"I told Captain Bumi yesterday that I was the one who dragged everyone into that fight," Chuck said, calm and composed. "So he agreed to let the others go."
"And what about us?!" Jay exploded, trying to leap at him before Flu yanked him back.
"I tried explaining, but he wouldn't listen," Chuck said with a shrug. "Something about the two of you always acting like idiots."
"How does that justify punishing us?!" Now Jay was holding Flu back as he lunged forward.
"Where's the old man, anyway?" Chuck asked, brushing off Flu's feeble attempt to hit him.
"That's your punishment," a voice said calmly. "You have to find him."
Everyone on the field immediately snapped to attention as the speaker stepped forward.
"Vice Captain Adam," they said in unison.
"At ease," the man said, prompting everyone to relax.
Chuck eyed the speaker—Adam Pierce, vice captain of the Vipers and the man currently holding the position he dreamed of.
Adam always wore a calm smile, one that never quite reached his mysterious eyes. His light brown hair was neatly combed to the right, each strand in perfect order.
"How is finding him a punishment?" Jay asked, narrowing his eyes.
"He's somewhere in the forest behind us," Adam said, casually pointing to the thick greenery just beyond the training field. "Your task is to locate him. What happens after that… is between you and him."
"That's it?" someone muttered in the crowd. "Man, I thought it'd be something way cooler."
"Zip it, Larry," Jay snapped.
He shot Adam a sheepish grin. "We'll find him. Easy."
"It can't be that easy," Chuck muttered, eyes narrowing. "Not with Bumi. That guy lives for punishment."
"True," Adam smiled, clearly unfazed by the interruption.
"You have to find him while undergoing the Trial of the Serpent King." Adam's face turned a shade red. "He insisted I call it that."
"What's that?" Flu asked, visibly shaking in his boots.
"That's all I'm allowed to say, I'm afraid. But you'll find out soon enough."
Those words made not just the three of them—but everyone on the field—gulp hard.
The three of them passed through the gates at the end of the training field, stepping into the entrance of the forest.
Everyone left behind wished them luck—some even whispered prayers for their souls. But the boys pressed on, marching into the forest, ready to face the Trial of the Serpent King.
They hadn't gone far, but already the trees thickened, swallowing up the light and muffling the world behind them.
"Stay sharp," Chuck said, scanning the trees. "We don't know what these trials will be."
He kept an open mind, preparing himself for anything. Still, based on the name of the trial—and Bumi's Talent—they had a good idea of what might be waiting.
And that's what scared them.
'I won't let him catch me off guard again.' Chuck thought, eyes narrowing with resolve.
As if on cue, the trees above them rustled violently, snapping their attention upward.
"Jay!" Chuck barked.
"I see it," Jay scoffed, already stepping forward with his shield raised. They worked well together—so well that they often didn't need words.
Jay leveled his shield toward the treetops, bracing for whatever was coming.
A serpent shot from the trees like a bullet.
But Jay didn't flinch. He was ready.
Shield up, he stepped forward—Chuck and Flu right behind him. The snake's trajectory would've sent it clean past Jay, straight for the others.
But Jay was already moving. With a burst of power, he activated his Talent—gravity warped, pulling the beast in.
The snake's speed dropped in an instant, yanked toward the shield.
CLANG!
Jay slammed it with a brutal backhand, redirecting the serpent midair.
"Now!" he barked.
Chuck didn't miss. One clean slash had the snake split in two.
"I knew it," Chuck muttered. "He's got us playing hide-and-seek while fending off a whole forest of snakes."
"Yeah, we figured as much," Jay replied, adjusting his shield. "But if they're all that weak, we'll be fine."
"They won't be." Flu exhaled deeply. "And depending on how many he's cooked up, this could turn into a nightmare real fast."
Both ends of the snake twitched before fully regenerating into two separate snakes of equal size.
Chuck noticed immediately but he was too late, both snakes had gone after the person closest, Flu.
Snap.
They were only inches away when Flu's body flickered and another person with a sword was now in his place and had cut down the two snakes in an instant.
Flu had swapped places with Chuck.
"I saw that coming a mile away," Flu said, striking a pose and placing a finger beneath his nose, trying his hardest to look cool.
WHACK.
A green shield bonked him on the head.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Jay muttered. "Chuck did all the work. Now move before we're dealing with four snakes."
The three of them picked up the pace, jogging deeper into the forest with one eye always looking back.
Elsewhere, hidden in the trees, Bumi sat cross-legged with his eyes closed and a lazy grin on his face.
***
The trio pushed deeper into the woods, speeding up with each step—but it was clear they had no clue where they were going.
"Guys... I think I've seen this exact tree three times now." Flu stared at the trunk like it had betrayed him. "Yep. Same weird dent. We're officially lost."
Jay groaned. "I told you! Straight line! Straight. Line."
Chuck spun around, irritated. "Straight to where, genius? You think Bumi's just chilling at the end of the yellow brick road?!"
"Hehe. Yellow brick road," Flu giggled.
"Shut up, Flu!" they both snapped in unison.
Chuck let out a tired sigh. "What do we do now? It's almost midday and we've got nothing."
Jay rubbed the back of his neck, equally drained. "Well, yelling sure isn't helping."
"Could've thought of that before yelling at me," Flu mumbled, still studying the tree like it owed him answers.
"Well, whatever it is—we can't stay in one place too long. The moment we stop, those snakes show up."
It had already happened several times. Every time they paused to rest, Bumi's snakes attacked without warning—and now, they were attacking in groups. Somehow, he always knew where they were.
"Too late," Flu said, blinking to their side in a flash, already battle-ready. "They've found us."
"Again?" Jay groaned, raising his shield. "We just fought some like five minutes ago. Is it just me, or are they coming faster now?"
Out from the base of the tree Flu had just leaned against, a group of snakes slithered into view—slow, deliberate, like they were savoring the fear.
"Uh… do we fight or run?" Flu asked, a bead of sweat trailing down his face.
"What's the point?" Jay muttered as they all instinctively stepped back. The snakes didn't rush—they didn't need to. "We're screwed either way."
"Then we fight."
Chuck lunged forward, his blade flashing in the dappled sunlight. In one clean arc, he cut down three snakes in a single swing.
"Running won't help," he said, blade still humming from the force. "He'll just find us again and send more."
Without warning, Flu vanished.
His body blinked out of existence—and in the next heartbeat, he was airborne, suspended right above the horde of slithering serpents.
Snap.
A flash of light, then gravity took over.
The giant rock he'd swapped places with crashed down like a meteor, flattening the snakes beneath with a thunderous BOOM that echoed through the forest. Dirt and leaves exploded into the air.
The forest stilled for a moment.
Flu landed hard beside the smoldering crater, panting heavily. Sweat beaded down his brow as he straightened, wiping his nose with the back of his sleeve.
"I shouldn't have done that," he muttered, slightly hunched over. "Swapping uses way more Chi than a basic teleport."
"Just stand behind me."
Jay stepped forward, his eyes locked on the slithering mass ahead. "I'll handle this. You rest."
Without another word, he hurled his shield with a practiced flick of his wrist. The disc spun through the air—its once-rounded edges now gleaming, sharpened by the weapon's active power.
An advanced-grade Deviant shield. Built for more than defense.
The moment it came within a meter of the snakes, it surged forward, propelled by an invisible force. Its acceleration was instant—blinding. The snakes didn't even have time to react before the shield tore through them like a buzzsaw.
One by one, they fell—bisected, mangled, dead.
Jay stood tall, his right arm still extended as if commanding the very laws of nature. the shield snapped back into his hand, obeying his will without hesitation.
He smiled, confident. This was his Talent, Attract and repulse.