"I cannot believe this!" gasped Erk. "I'm going to be in the next mission, which is when we'll get Vaida on our side. According to Marth, Vaida 'is Ms. Berch quitting her job as an Algebra 2 teacher and becoming a Wyvern Lord instead.' I do not know or care who this person is; all I want to do is not participate in the battle.
"Marth had some really interesting books in her tent, strange ones about unusual animals, adventures of a simple pair of brothers, a boy wizard, information on her world. A valid reason for a bookworm like myself. But how am I going to get out of this?" Erk pondered a bit and continued, "Since 'Eliwood's Elite' is growing by the day, it wouldn't be too difficult to sneak off... unless they suddenly looked for me."
Erk paced back and forth, thinking about how to get out. "I'll do anything to skive off the mission, even if I have to break a leg!"
Later, Erk was rushed off to the healers' tent with Raven carrying him.
"Flux, flux, FLUX!" cried that familiar voice that Marth usually described as 'Inuyasha's voice'.
"Relax, Erk! I'm getting you over to the healer's tent!" shouted Raven as he was carrying the struggling Sage.
"My foot! My fluxing foot!"
"SHUT THE FLUX UP!"
Erk turned to the apostrophe and said "The key to faking an injury is to make it look as realistic as possible without sounding so phony. Don't move the injury too much and try to sound like you're in great pain without being a histrionic. This is crucial especially if you act like one anyway such as Serra."
They've finally made it to the tent, where Priscilla bandaged up his injured foot.
"There, there... Now stay off your foot for a few days, ok?" she instructed him sweetly.
"Ok, I'll try to," Erk replied. To the apostrophe, he added "They've no idea what I've got planned."
As the brother and sister began to leave, Erk smirked to himself. "See? You must follow the Golden Mean when attempting to call in sick like this."
"I'm so glad you brought him over to the tent, that was such a kind thing to do," said Priscilla as she and Raven were walking towards the center of the encampment.
"Um... thanks. I just didn't want him to go die on me," Raven mumbled.
"Suckers," Erk said to the apostrophe. As he gingerly got up on his so-called 'injured' foot, he began to ponder who he should take with him on his 'Senior Ditch Day'. "Maybe I should bring... her along. Although we haven't gotten along much or anything. It'll be a nice thing to do for a change. Hope I don't get caught out of the tent. But it's all worth it for her."
Erk began to sneak over to the tent of a certain female to take her along on this crazy adventure...