Disclaimer: I think we all know the drill, so why take up anymore space.
By the way, the army's name is Mavericks army. Picked that up from watching my sister's ongoing playing of Megaman X and the name just stuck with me.
First Day - Part 2
Kinnison and Lady Teresa
Kinnison was up with the birds and enjoying the rays of the sun by his usual sitting area near the front gate of Hogwarts Castle. By his side was his animal companion, a wolf-dog named Shiro. Suddenly the young man hears an ear-piercing screech come from the restaurant balcony and looks up in time to see a red-cloaked man come falling down from it. Along the way, in a split second, the cloaked man brought out a gymnastic twirling ribbon from under his cloak and throws it up at the banister of the balcony restaurant. The ribbon twirls itself around the banister and the cloaked figure swings into the front entrance of the castle. "Sir Flik is definitely not himself, just like the other have said." Kinnison mentions to Shiro. "I wonder if I will be of any really help in his recovery." The wolf-dog whines in a comforting tone, as into say, 'Try your best and we will see.' Kinnison and Shiro watch in curiosity as the ribbon is tugged on and it uncoils from the banister, floating down to a waiting hand. Once the man has recovered his ribbon, he dashed from the castle entrance to and up the tree that sat in the middle of the courtyard. A very confuse Kinnison looked at Shiro, only to have the wolf-dog give a look of, 'Don't just stand there, do something.' Kinnison nodded and slowly made his way to the tree. He looked up to see the man perched on a high branch, looking back at the people at the balcony restaurant.
"Good, they didn't see me." Clik breathes a sigh of relief.
"Um…Sir…Clik?" Kinnison said timidly.
"Gah!!" Clik was caught off by surprise and jumped up a couple branches more. He looks down to see the young archer. "What do you want? Your not with bear man are you?"
"You mean Sir Viktor?" Kinnison question. "No sir, not at the moment. I'm Kinnison. I'm here…I'm here to make sure you go to your archery practice."
"Archery practice…here?" Clik was confused. "Why would I want to have practice here?"
"Because you are the Archery Captain sir." Kinnison tells Clik.
"Archery…Captain? Me?" Clik hops down till he was perched on a branch that way eye leave with Kinnison, but that Kinnison still had to look up at him. "Either you are in dire need of a high official or you give out promotions to anyone who walks in to this place."
"I do not understand what you mean by that sir, but Lady Teresa is waiting for us in the dojo with the rest of the archers in your unit." Kinnison tells Clik. Clik nods and hops down from the tree. Shiro walks over to meet the two humans. After giving Clik a quick whiff, the wolf-dog growls angrily at him. "Hush, Shiro." Kinnison disciplines his animal friend and Shiro lets out a low whine. Just as they were about to take off for the dojo, a husky voice calls out to them.
"Hey! Wait a minute." There was Viktor, heading straight from them with Jason and Justin behind him.
"Oh no." Clik grabs Kinnison's arm and pulls him along. "Quickly, lets get out of here." He urges.
"But Sir Clik, Sir Viktor and Jason are suppose to accompany you on your rounds." Kinnison says jogging to keep up with his arm.
"They're crazy." Clik tells Kinnison. "Why would I want them to follow me everywhere?"
"It's by orders of Lord Shu." Kinnison starts to explain. "He wish they help you with…"
"With your way around the castle and meet all the people." Jason cuts in quickly. He waves out of Clik's sight, a hand to hush Kinnison. "Shu know that you know nobody here and it's our job to make sure you do."
"You're not going to grab me again are you?" Clik eyes Jason, then Viktor. They shake their heads. "Well…alright. But I warn you, try anything like last night and I won't go as easy as I did." He said sternly.
"Yeah, yeah." Viktor rolls his eyes at the man. "You gave us all quite a scare back there, when you jumped off the balcony. If it wasn't for Justin's sharp eyes spying your run to the tree, I think we would have lost you."
"You say that, like it was a bad thing." Clik said disappointedly, then he adds under his breath, "But I was trying to lose you."
"So anyway, you've met Justin, leader of the Mavericks army and Tuta, Dr. Huan's apprentice." Viktor counts the people off on his fingers. "I'm Viktor, a mercenary like yourself."
"We are nothing alike, bear-man." Clik says rudely.
"I'll let that one slide." Viktor give a small glare. "This is Jason. You know, Pohl's brother."
"You say that like I knew who this Pohl person was." Clik said in a cold tone.
"Pohl was the boy who was with you and Viktor back at the mercenary fort." Jason says angrily, charging at Clik with clenched fists. "He died with the fort by Blight's hands."
"Jason, easy." Viktor gets between the two men. It takes almost all his strength to keep the angry man from attacking the other.
"I'm…sorry." Clik face turned red with embarrassment, before it turned to stone. "I'm sorry about your brother, but I've never met the kid. I've never been to this fort you speak of." He turns to Kinnison. "Let's go, you said I have work to do." Clik turns to walk on. Kinnison, Justin and Shiro follow after him. They could hear the argument between men behind them.
"Why don't we use that 'good trick' of yours and knock sense back into him." Jason grumbled.
"That's not going to solve anything and it's going to want him to stay further away from us." Viktor tells the angry man. "Just get your temper in check and we'll follow after them."
"So as Archery Captain, what am I suppose to do." Clik asks when they come to the dojo.
"Well…uh…" Kinnison rubs the back of his head. He is unsure of what Flik's regular routine was.
"You monitor the men as they practice their aiming and shooting." Teresa says as she opens the door. "Hello Sir Clik, how are you this morning?"
"I'm ok." Clik says with some surprise. "You're the first person to just say my name with out hesitation."
"Does that upset you?" Teresa steps to the side and allows the group to enter.
"Not really, but I'm confuse. That's all." Clik enters the room, followed by Kinnison, Shiro, and Justin. Viktor and Jason come running in a few minutes later. It seem that Viktor managed to get Jason to calm down.
"The men are ready and waiting for your inspection." Teresa leads them to the battalion of archers standing at attention. Bows by their side, the men stood up straight at an arm's length apart from the man next to him, and looking forward.
"Uh…" Clik is unsure of his first move. He walks up and down the ranks, looking at each solider. He feels eye follow him as he pass, but look forward as he comes near. At one point Clik stops and picks up the bow from one of the men in the back row corner. He plucks the string. "Um…nice and uh…tight." Clik hands the bow back to the man. "Nice work."
"THANK YOU SIR!!" The man shouts back at him. It surprise Clik so much that he stumbled over to the guy next to soldier who shout. That caused that man to fall over into the soldier next to him and so on in a human domino affect. Soon every one of the men in the battalion, save for the man that startled Clik were on the floor.
"Oh, my gosh." Clik jumps to his feet and starts to try to help the man he knock over up. "I'm sooo sorry." Kinnison looked confused, Teresa looked panicked, and Justin was in a corner writing in his book. Viktor and Jason were holding their sides, trying not to laugh. When everyone was back on his feet and the battalion was back into order, Clik hurried back to where Teresa and Kinnison stood. "Uh…now what?" He whispers.
"Now you test their aiming skills." Teresa said, pointing at the four targets that were lined up at the far end of the dojo.
"Uh…right." Clik turns back to the men. "Ok men…uh…target practice." The men quickly assemble themselves in four lines, facing the targets. The first line shoots a volley of arrows, and then moves to the end of the line for the next line to fire. Clik just stands there and watches.
"Go over and talk to the men." Teresa urges, giving Clik a slight push forward.
"What?!" Clik looked at Teresa with surprise. "What do you mean? You mean give them advice?" He would have preferred to say where he was.
"You know…watch us." Teresa goes over to one man who was too slack with his arm and tells him how to readjust himself. The man nods and was able to hit a bull's eye. Kinnison pulls another man to the side and proceeds to tell him that his aim is too low and must higher it to hit its mark. Clik is absolutely confused.
"Why am I Archery Captain? It's plain as day that these people know what they are doing?" Clik asks Viktor and Jason. The two men just shrug. "You're a lot of help." Clik snorted.
"Perhaps Sir Clik would like to show his skills with a bow and arrow." Teresa says, seeing as Clik was not moving towards the men. "It would help the men to understand what the proper technique would be and how it should be used."
"Uh…ok." Clik was a bit hesitating at the idea, but he moves toward the targets and brings out his bow and an arrow.
"Maybe a little competition to help boost moral? Best out of three?" Teresa urges Kinnison forward.
"I'm up for it, if you are." Clik says.
"Um…ok." Kinnison nods. He turns back to whispers to Teresa. "Won't it push Sir Flik back if I out show him in an archery contest?"
"I know how Sir Flik likes competition. He might come out if is honor was at stake." Teresa whispers back and Kinnison nods. He walks over to the targets also, pulls out his bow and an arrow. Both competitors notched their arrows before letting them fly. The arrows zipped through the air and hit a bull's eye. The men cheer for Kinnison and their captain. Again both competitors pull out an arrow, notched it, take aim, and let it go. The arrows fly again to hit a perfect mark again. Men cheer and the others looked on with interest. Once more arrows were flew through the air, only to hit their mark once more. The men roar and Teresa declares the match a draw.
"Wow. That felt great. I haven't had competition in a long time." Clik says with a laugh. "I don't want it to end. Let's have another, but this time, with moving objects."
"Wh…? Well…ok." Teresa was taken back. "What did you have in mind for this competition?" Clik whispers in her ear and she draws back from him in shock. "Sir Clik, are you serious?" He nods and she shrugs. She beckons Kinnison to follow her as she walks back to Viktor and Jason. Justin joins them a few seconds after closing his notebook. Teresa talks to them in a low voice and Viktor burst out laughing.
"Leave it to a twisted mind to think something like that up." Viktor slaps his knee hard. "Question is, would the men go for it?" He manages to choke out after another belly laugh.
"I…I think so, but I'm surprise at this." Teresa moves over to the men and talks with them. The men looked at each other then back at Teresa. All she could do was shrug.
Minutes later Viktor, Hoi, Justin, Tuta, and Stallion were lined up outside the dojo with burlap sacks on, holes cut out for arms and head. Different object on the heads and tied to the bottom back of the sack. Viktor had a cotton ball glued to his back bottom sack and donuts tied to his head, Hoi had a couple pieces of white string tied to the bottom, tree leaves painted white and a cone on his head. Tuta had a gray piece of string tied to his bottom and tree leaves painted gray on his head. Justin had a feather duster tied to his bottom and a rubber glove on his head. Stallion had a white cotton ball glued to the bottom of him and paper strips glued to sticks on his head. None of the people dress were amused, especially Viktor. It was a good laugh, up till the point that he was picked for this. Jason and the archers on the other hand were having a ball, laughing their heads off. Kinnison was still unsure what was going on. Teresa came out between the dressed up people and the two competing archers.
"Here is the points system." Teresa said, after she quite everyone down with her hands. "Each person that is dress, was picked do to his speed and agility." She points at each one as she calls out the points, starting with Viktor, "The…ahem…bear is worth 10 points, because he is the slowest and has the least agility." She had pointed to the Hoi, "Next is the unicorn, second slowest and in agility, is worth 20 points. The rat is 30, though slow but good agility." She had pointed to Tuta. Next was Justin, "The rooster who is second fastest is 50." Last was Stallion, "And the rabbit the fastest and most agile of them all, is worth 150." Teresa hands two quivers of arrows out, one went to Kinnison and the other went to Clik. "There are 20 arrows, each coated with different color chalk. Yellow chalked arrows for Kinnison and red ones for Sir Clik. You both have 15 minutes to fire all 20 arrows. Any arrow left in quivers at the end of 15 minutes is a 10-point penalty. At the end of the 15 minutes the spots will be checked and points tallied. The one with the most points wins."
By this time a large crowd had come around to see what was going on. They all moved out of the way when it looked like the contest was about to start. "The 15 minute starts," Teresa raised a white handkerchief and then dropped it. "NOW!"
The five dressed up people ran in different directions. Clik and Kinnison took off a second after. Each one pulling arrow after arrow out of their quivers, notching them, and taking aim at the animal of their choice. There was never a miss, but it was unknown to everyone where those arrows were going at all times. Viktor was ignored off the bat, because he was too slow to be of any contest. Though Hoi was keeping good speed, it seemed that he too was ignored. The ones that were favored among the competitors were Tuta, Justin, and Stallion, because of their speed and agility. But Stallion, true to his speed, seems too fast for anyone to take aim at. Most people felt that only elves would have the luck of hitting him. Bets went all around on who would win and who would be hit the most.
Soon the 15 minutes were over and the five dressed up people were brought back to tally the score. 20 hits were counted for Kinnison: 10 on Justin, 9 on Tuta, and 1 on Stallion the rabbit. 19 were counted for Clik. 10 on Justin, 8 on Tuta, and 1 on Stallion. Now there was just one problem, there were no arrows left in Clik's quiver and people were sure there was no misses. So where was the last arrow mark? Clik walked up to the back of Stallion and lifted his ponytail. There was a red mark on the back of his neck. That meant that Clik won with 1040 points to Kinnison's 920. All were surprised by Clik's marksmanship.
"I knew Captain Flik was good, but not that good." One archer said to another.
"I never knew anyone to match or eve best Kinnison's skill." The archer whispered back.
"That was a good game." Clik said, holding a hand out to Kinnison. "You had me going there. I didn't think I would have made that last shot."
"Um…yeah." Kinnison took the hand and shook it.
"So now what?" Clik turned back to Teresa.
"Um…I think that will be all…for now." Teresa was unsure of what should happen next. "It's now noon, why don't you accompany Sir Viktor and Jason to Hai Yo's for some lunch?"
"You owe me a big lunch, Red." Viktor said as he stormed over, tossing off the donuts and burlap sack at the same moment.
"Awww. Is the being bear mad?" Jason teased.
"Would you like to have nothing but mash potatoes for the rest of this war?" Viktor threaten.
"Come on." Clik laughed, "I'll make a nice lunch for all of us."
That Evening
Lunch, to Viktor and Jason's surprise was delicious. Afterwards they tried to get Clik to do what should be done as a general of the Mavericks army, but Clik had other things in mind. He wanted to wonder castle. It seemed like he was looking for something, but wouldn't tell the Viktor and Jason what it was. In the end, the two men had to give in to touring and introducing people to Clik. Justin and Tuta tried to follow while being out of sight at the same time. Unfortunately, they had to stop to explain to so many people what was going on, that they soon lost track of the three of them. In the end the two young men ended up giving what notes they had to Shu and Dr. Huan. Course they had to wait for Dr. Huan and Shu to laughed when they got to the part about the Tuta being stuck in the sleeping back, or being mistaken for a nut. Shu and Dr. Huan laughed especially long when they got to the part about the archery contest. When the two elder men were done, they excused the Justin and Tuta with new notebooks. Nina, thanks to Nanami and Chaco was nowhere to be seen. But Viktor and Jason couldn't help but wonder how they kept her way that day.
The day ends with the three men being in Leona's bar. Clik didn't seem to like anything stronger than a weak glass of wine to drink and was nursing it long. Too long, to the annoyance of the other two men. Viktor decided to hatched a plan with Jason that would guarantee them a good night's drinking and a late morning tomorrow. Slowly they would slip some hard liquor into Clik's cup so that he didn't know he was drinking it till it was too late. Unfortunately for Clik, he couldn't hold his liquor. His face turned red, he felt suddenly warm, and tired. Before Viktor and Jason even brought themselves to a nice buzz, Clik was out like a torch light in a windstorm. They contemplated leaving there to sleep on the table, but with the threat of Leona they moved him to his room to sleep it off.