...A Day To Waste…

"What do you mean there aren't any quests available?"

"I'm sorry, but no one posted anything on the board today because they're all busy with all the stalls that have come into town. All the adventurers are at them too, even Dust who usually spends his days harassing me hasn't shown up."

"Hmmm… Then I guess we'll just have to find something to do."

"Aurdel, why don't we go to some of those stalls?" Aqua asked, "I'm sure that there's lots of games that we can play!"

"No, Aqua, I'd rather we spend our day doing something productive."

"You shouldn't be so uptight Aurdel, you have to unwind sometimes. Even I don't focus on being a Crusader all the time."

"You sure don't act like a Crusader most of the time."

"Now what is that supposed to-"

Megumin interrupted Darkness, "Why do you have to make such a fuss about having fun? Do you ever take any time to just relax?"

"Of course I do! I just think that-"

"A-actually, I'd like to see some of those games," Yunyun said, "Could we please go?" All of them wanted to go now, including the one that had eyes like a poor, abused lost puppy.

"Ah, fine," he relented. "Well if we're going then I might as well ask since I'm here. Luna, do you want to come with us?"

"Me? Oh I don't know…"

"If there's no quests today then I'm sure it'd be fine for you to take some time off. Besides, you're probably long overdue for a break."

She gave a warm smile, "I suppose you're right. Okay, I'll go with you."

The seven of the walked down the streets of Axel idly conversing, he'd swung by Wiz's shop and asked her to join them. "You know," he said, "you might be able to get some new ideas for merchandise while we're here."

"You're probably right," Wiz sighed, "My shop is still in the red even with all those potions you bought from me."

"How did you manage to end up with so much debt anyways?"

"Well… I find it hard not to buy the magic items that I do. The man that I buy them from has so many and I feel like they're all bound to be useful in some way, so I end up buying large amounts of them. But because no one else thinks they're useful they end up sitting on the shelves. Aqua has also been coming by recently a purified a lot of my cursed items, so I'm unable to sell them." He glared at Aqua, who quickly averted her head.

"I just think you need someone with good business sense. I could help you if you want me too, I could also try and make anything you need."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Sure, anything."

"Say, Aurdel," Megumin began to ask, "how do you know so many skills? A good portion of them aren't on your adventurers card."

"That's something that interests me as well, it personally seems like you have a lot of defensive skills like me," Darkness added on.

"What you know and what you can do isn't defined by some piece of paper. I spent years learning what I know, and that's a good variety of things."

"Like what?"

"Cooking, carpentry, smithing, cleaning and dressing wounds, shooting, sewing. Things like that. Though if I'm going to be perfectly honest I don't use some of those on a daily basis."

"When, how and why did you learn so many of those things without a card?!"

"I learned them out of necessity, it was part of my training. They wanted us to be the best so we had to be the best."

"I-I don't believe you! Why don't you show us one of those skills that you don't have on your card?"

"Fine, I'll show you my abilities with a bow." They walked over to an archery stand where an old man had targets tied to a rail mounted on the wall. "I'll take five shots."

"That'll be fifteen thousand eris young man," and he handed him the coin. The man behind the stall handed him the bow and five arrows.

"I'm also going to teach you a lesson while we're at it, so watch closely." He took a few steps back, then notched his first arrow. He held his breath, aimed, then let it loose. The arrow landed just outside the bullseye on the right, completely penetrating through the target and hitting the rail behind it. He notched another arrow and did the same, but this time when he fired it landed on the left side of the bullseye.

"Son, you do know you're supposed to aim for the bullseye right?" The old man teased.

"No I know, which is why I'm going to make a bet with you."

"A bet?" He raised an eyebrow, "And what would this bet be?"

"That the next three arrows I let loose will all be bullseyes and strike the exact same spot."

"Those are some unlikely odds, what are you wagering?" He smirked.

"Well, I'll get that full rack of… plushies? ...Whatever those toys are on the wall are called, I'll get them all if I win. But if I lose I'll pay you a hundred thousand eris.

His eyes lit up, "Those are extremely slim odds, especially for a man that isn't an archer. And judging by the previous two shots you won't get it. But if you insist on it, I'll take that wager."

"Good," Aurdel smiled behind his helmet, "And I'll make this a little harder for myself and go further back."

He went around fifty feet away from the target, a distance that was about the end of the effective range for a recurve bow such as this. He notched the third arrow, held his breath. Then he let it loose. The old man's smirk disappeared as the arrow landed at a perfectly bullseye, all of the others that he'd brought him were watching intently now. He notched the second arrow and let it loose. Perfect hit. It hit the arrow exact and splintered through it, hitting the bullseye. The old man looked worried now and motioned his hand to grab something under the counter. It was just as he'd thought, this game was supposed to be rigged. Unfortunately for the old man he'd figured this out when he first went to the stall.

He notched the third arrow, held his breath… Then he made it look like he let loose the third arrow. The target suddenly shook as the old man yanked his hand, but besides that it stayed in place on the rail. Now that the old man knew he knew, he'd shoot. He let loose the third arrow for real and it hit dead on, splintering the second arrow. He walked back over to the stall and placed the bow on the counter. The old man begrudgingly took back the bow and handed him the entire rack of the toys. They walked away, "So, notice anything?"

"Not really, just that I really want those plushies," Aqua said as he pushed her away.

"The target moved slightly before you fired the arrow… the game was rigged?" Megumin asked, a little unsure of her answer.

"Correct, that's why I fired my first two arrows the way I did. The targets were set up on a rail, one that could easily be used to nudge them one way or another. So I shot the arrows through the target and hit the rail to stop the target from moving when I shot my last three arrows."

"Were… were you really telling the truth about your past?"

"I told you that you could believe whatever you wanted to, right? It doesn't matter what I say about it. Now someone takes these things from me because I really don't want to have to carry them around all day." And with they they rushed him to take one for themselves.

"Hey Aurdel, this one is weird. I think it's breath- Ow!" She suddenly pulled back, "That one attacked me!"

"I like it already," he took a closer look at it. It was a black cat with a red cross on its head and what looked like tiny wings. He scratched it behind its ears and it let out a purr.

"Aurdel! Can we keep her?! I promise she'll be a good child!"

"Child? It's a cat, not a kid. But I guess we can keep it, I don't think it'll cause any trouble." The cat meowed, "We need to give it a name though."

"Chomusuke."

"What-"

"It's name is Chomosuke."

"I personally hope you don't have children, so you don't give them a name like that."

They kept walking around the town looking for things to do, eventually coming across another game that people were playing. This time it was one crowded with adventurers all trying to break what looked like a large rock. "Come on!" The man running game stood atop a stool, "Is there no one that can break this rock?!" Most of the people around it were beefy looking men, ones that obviously were extremely strong and most likely served as Crusaders or Knights or whatever other class strength applied to.

One man stepped up and picked a hammer prepared by the owner of the stall, raising it high into the air. Then he brought it down hard onto the rock. Sparks flew, but when the adventurer stepped back the rock was perfectly intact. "This thing really is unbreakable…" The man said, there was a muttering from the crowd around him.

"This man here has failed! The prize is now one hundred and twenty five thousand eris! Entrance fee is ten thousand and for every loss the pot will increase by five thousand! Arm strength! Magic! It's all fine! This rock is made of adamantite and if you can break it you'll be considered one of the best adventurers around!"

"Say, what is adamantite? Darkness, a while back you mentioned something called adamantoise. Is adamantoise an alloy of adamantite?"

"It is. Adamantite is one of the strongest materials there is, you usually see it being used in sets of armor."

"I see… Why don't you try breaking it?"

"Breaking it? I don't know… I can give it a try though." Darkness was pretty strong, so it was entirely possible for her to break it. She stepped forward and paid the man the ten thousand eris, then picked up the hammer. She raised the hammer high above her head and…!

"How did you miss…?! It's a rock! A big rock!" It was a complete miss as Darkness hit the paved stone of the ground alongside the rock, her face turned bright red.

She dropped the hammer and walked back over, covering her face. "...Yunyun, why don't you try with your magic?"

"I-I don't think it'd break it, it's not strong enough."

Megumin threw her cape, "Allow me, my magic is-!"

"Absolutely not, I don't need you blowing up the town," Megumin lowered her head. "If no one else is going to try, no one that won't cause more destruction than this game is worth, then I"ll take a crack at it." He stepped forward to the stand where the man was, he handed him the ten thousand eris. But unlike the others he didn't take the hammer.

Instead, he went straight to the rock and picked it up with an idea in mind. Then he tossed the rock straight up into the air, the adventurers around him watched as it soared upwards. He got himself into position as it reached its peak and began to come down, he looked up and readied his fist. The moment it came within striking distance he threw his punch and struck the rock, hitting it with as much force as possible and splitting it in half. The man at the stall's jaw dropped, obviously he wasn't expecting anyone to break the adamantite at all. Especially in the way he had. The others around him were all speechless too

"Strongest metal is an exaggeration, that only felt like a thick layer of steel." He walked over to the stall, where the man dejectedly handed him a bag full of the prize money.

"How are you so strong?" Luna asked and they walked away.

"It's like I told them, part of it was my training and part of it was my augmentations. Anyways, we can probably start to split up. It's probably quite a sight for all eight of us to be walking around as a group. You can go and do whatever you want but let's meet up afterwards for dinner."

"Hey Darkness, come on! I think I saw a dunk tank somewhere over there!" Aqua ran off.

"H-hold on! Wait for me!" She ran off after her.

"I'll just look for something big and hard to cast Explosion on, and I won't stop until I find something!" Megumin charged off somewhere.

The other three were still with him, "Are you guys going to stay or…?"

"I'd rather stay and talk with you some more," Luna said.

"S-same," Yuyun said timidly.

"Wiz?"

"I wouldn't mind walking with you all, so I'll tag along." Looks like they were walking as a group of four, then.

The streets were still bustling with people at this time of day, but people parted way for them as they walked. "So Aurdel, you told us about your training but what about before?" Yunyun asked, she seemed to be a little more confident when the others weren't around.

"So my childhood?" She nodded, "Well, that was a long time ago. I don't think I'll remember everything but I'll try and see what I can." He was quiet for a moment, thinking of where to start. "Okay. To begin with, I never knew my real parents. I don't have any memories of them and no one had ever found out who they were. The parents that I knew were the ones that adopted me and gave me my name. Joseph and Amelia Ganowicz."

"They were kind, well intentioned and quiet people. They never hurt me or yelled at me and I enjoyed being their son. I had a brother too though, their biological son, and he was two years younger than me. We got along well. Of course I didn't know them for a long time…"

"You didn't know your parents for a long time?"

"No, I didn't. When I was six I was kidnapped as part of the Spartan II program. Unfortunately on the same night of the agents breaking into our home to kidnap me and swap me out with a clone, a fire broke out. No one woke up except for the clone who was in shock and unable to move or speak.

"That's horrible!"

"It is, and that's when I started my training. But not everything was horrible, I met two people I would never forget while I was there. And because up to that point I'd lost two families and my home, those two would become my family."

"Trainees, form three lines," Mendez said. The instructors immediately descended upon them to make sure the order was followed through with, but Aurdel and all the others made three rows without any trouble. "The first person in every row will be team number one, the second person in each row will be team number two and so on. If you don't understand this, speak up now." No one dared to speak. Aurdel looked to those who were next to him.

To the left of him was a tall boy with brown hair, hazel eyes and fair skin. He looked tired but aware, and had "Kurt-051" written on his uniform. To the right of him was another boy, average height with brown hair and eyes but looked almost starved. "Musa-096" was written on his uniform. "Today's game is called 'Ring the Bell,'" Mendez said while pointing to a tall pole in the training ground. It was huge compared to the other ones in the area, but next to it was a steel pole with a brass pell tied to the top of it.

"There are many ways to get to the ball, I leave it up to each team to find their own way. When every member of your team has rung the bell, you are to get groundside double time and run back here across this finish line." Mendez took his baton and drew a straight line in the sand. He didn't see it, but apparently one of the other kids raised their hands. "A question, trainee?"

"What do we win?"

"You win dinner, number one one seven. Tonight, dinner is roast turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, brownies and ice cream." A wave of approval came from all of the kids before Mendez spoke again.

"But, for there to be winners there must be a loser. The last team to finish goes without food." And they all fell silent, staring at each other.

"Hey, you two," the boy on his left whispered. He and Musa looked over at him, "Follow my lead, I have a few ideas on how we can level the playing field."

"Who made you team captain?" he whispered back.

"Do you want dinner or what?"

"Fine then, boss." They all readied themselves.

"Go!" Mendez shouted. All of the kids scurried away from the starting area, but he, Kurt and Musa were all moving together as opposed to the unorganized chaos most of the others were going. The first of the obstacles they faced on the course was a cargo net, one hanging off of a platform.

"Which one of you two is quick?!" Kurt asked.

"I am," Musa said.

"Get up that net quick, then pull us up once we're near the top."

"Got it." Musa shot ahead, only a few of the other kids were able to keep ahead of him as he scurried up the net.

Aurdel and Kurt got up most of the way of the net before Musa was able to grab them, pulling them up. They looked ahead, the next obstacle was a flimsy swaying bridge. Given enough force it could easily tip over. "Are you strong?" Kurt asked him.

"Of course I am!" He said back.

"Then go flip that bridge, we're going to shake this net and knock them down." So he did what Kurt said and ran over to the bridge, he heard the sound of falling kids as he ran off.

There were five kids on it by the time he made it to the bridge, he grabbed hold of the sides and began to twist it. Twisting it all the way around caused the other children to lose balance and fall into the water below. Kurt and Musa came running over by the time he had it flipped back over to the correct side. "Good job! Let's keep moving!" They ran onto the bridge and he followed them. They leapt across several other platforms, shoving trainees that they found in their way off to the side.

They made it as the first full team to get over to the large basket by the pole, it was supported by rope and a pulley. All three of them climbed in and, wordlessly, took hold of the rope and began to pull. They managed to get off the ground when one of the other kids had jumped onto the basket and tried to weigh them down. So Aurdel took off his boot and whacked the kid's face and fingers with it, causing him to fall down to the mud below. He put his boot back on and went back to pulling the rope with the others.

Within a matter of moments they reached the top of the pole in the basket and each of them rung the bell three times. "You know," Musa said, "We should give the others a little more trouble getting up here."

"You're right, that'd mean more dinner for us." The three of them clung onto the steel pole and began to slide, before Aurdel stopped halfway down. Unfortunately for the kids below he was going to make getting up a little harder. He wrapped the rope around the pole and tied it in a knot, then slid the rest of the way down onto the cushions below.

He, Kurt and Musa got up and ran all the way across the finish line, there was only one other trainee when they'd made it. It was one one seven, John, without his team, which made them the first team to complete the course. They all panted and high-fived each other, watching as the others struggled to get the basket down so they could ring the bell. But soon enough the others crossed the line and the exercise was done. "Good work Trainees, let's get back to the barracks and chow down. All except for team three." Mendez looked John and his two teammates.

"But I won," John protested, "I was first."

"Yes, you were first. But your team came in last." Then he addressed them all, "Remember this: You don't win unless your team wins. One person winning at the expense of the group means that you lose."

He wanted to feel bad for John, but with the dinner they were about to eat he couldn't bring himself to. Back at the barracks the three of them sat together and stuffed themselves with food."You know what?" He said with a mouth full of potatoes.

"What?" Kurt said said.

"I think we worked well together."

"Think? We were the first ones there!" Musa laughed

"No I know, but all I'm saying is," he swallowed the food, "I just hope we can stay as a team."

"I'm sure we will. In fact, I can probably predict what color we're going to be.'

"Oh yeah? What color?"

"Green."

"How could you possibly-?" He looked over Kurt's shoulder and saw Mendez looking at the three of them from a distance. He nodded with approval, then walked away. "Huh, well I guess we're green then. But why green? Why not like a color like red? Or blue?"

"What's wrong with green?" Musa asked, "Green is the color of nature and nature is strong when everything in it works together. Makes sense right?"

"I guess I'm just glad we didn't get something like yellow.," and the three of them laughed together.

"It sounds like you were close, I wish I had friends like that in school…" Yunyun said softly, "Maybe I should have gone to some place like that."

"Believe me, you do not willingly want to have been there. That was just the first day of it all, and I cut out a lot of the beforehand. Regardless we worked together every day after that and we won more exercises than I can count. We were brothers till the end."

"But obviously that time together did end."

"Yes, it did. Unfortunately for us we weren't always lucky, the augmentations were just one example. Kurt got through fine, but I already said what happened to me and Musa was permanently paralyzed."

"Because of that we all got slated for and sent to different jobs and we never saw each other again since. Kurt was a full on Spartan, I was moved to the Navy as a Captain and Musa got a desk job. But Kurt went missing after only a few years, officially he was MIA but I found out that it meant he was considered dead." The others were silent. "But I kept going, eventually I was out of the Navy and became a Spartan again. After that Reach happened, now I'm here."

"This is all a lot to take in," Wiz said. She seemed to be extremely disturbed by the whole beginning of this, him being kidnapped as a child and forced to train as a soldier.

That wasn't unusual though, he was sure most would react in the same way. "Did you ever find anyone during that time? A woman…?" Luna asked. She seemed to be prying a little, but he didn't mind too much.

"A woman? Yes, there was. Her name was-" He was cut off by the sound of an Explosion that rocked the town. "Oh please don't tell me that what I think it is…" He ran off in the direction of the sound of the explosion and found himself taking a familiar path.

"My shop!" Wiz cried with tears in her eyes.

"Megumin! What the hell?!" Wiz's shop along with the few buildings next to it were completely blown to smithereens, the dust and ash still settling by the time they arrived. Megumin, Aqua and Darkness were all lying on the ground covered in soot.

Aqua looked unconscious, and Darkness mumbled something about how pleasurable it'd been to withstand the blast of an Explosion. "I thought I saw a baby dragon, so I decided to take it out," Megumin said muffled beneath her hat.

"Why would there be a dragon in the city?!"

Luna sighed, "I guess I have to get the paperwork ready, but it was nice talking with you." She walked away.

"What am I supposed to do now? Everything is gone…" Wiz sobbed

"Wiz, I am so sorry for all of this. I'll make sure that everything gets fixed and replaced. For now all I can offer you is to stay in our home while everything is repaired."

"Really? You'd let me do that?"

Aqua's head shot up, "I have to protest this! I won't sleep in the same house as-!"

"Shut up or else you're sleeping in the shed! I'm sure part of this is your fault anyways you dumb blue bi-"