I apologize. This chapter is rather short as well and there also seems to be a cliffhanger at the end... oh well. Sorry.
~Innovation
Chapter 10: Caiyi
Under normal circumstances, I would have instantly taken Neesik's suggestion we play a game for the day, but with all the pranks that were circulating, I could be sure these weren't normal circumstances, and that something was afoot.
Anyway, today Neesik announced that we would be having a practice match with real weapons and armor. We would be having it right in the middle of the most obscure training ground possible: the Dark Forest.
I call it obscure because more demigods got lost in that forest than than there are bees in a hive. Towering trees surrounded you in all four directions. And each tree looked so much like every other tree that you often ran around in circles when you're trying to walk in a straight line. Plus, Neesik said that he put a few landmines that exploded to create an almost impenetrable mist and motion-sensing tranquilizer rifles in there, too, to double the 'fun'. Just enough so that it was challenging, but not enough so that we could get killed.
It almost seemed like a coincidence but when Pranu and Ruidi were put on opposite teams, that confirmed my suspicion.
That and the fact that Neesik was stroking his imaginary beard-again.
Neesik
I watched idly as the two parties bickered. In this session, I was to be one of the two referees. Raven was the other referee that I had appointed, mainly because of her neutral opinion on this entire matter.
The whole camp had been split in two by the prank-off between Ruidi and Pranu. I had to end this, somehow. The only person who wasn't taking sides was Raven, the new addition. She now acted as mediator, trying to get the camp back as a whole.
"Divided as you are now, you are open and vulnerable to attack," Raven was saying to both parties. "Perchance, could both cooperate as a whole?"
"Impossible! She tried to strangle me!" Ruidi yelled, at the same time Pranu had shouted, "No way! He tried to burn me alive!"
"You seem to have forgotten that that little bout was but a hallucination," Raven cut in.
"Still! It felt real enough!" Pranu said indignantly.
Raven ignored this, turning to Ruidi and saying "And by no means could you assume that the octopus was sent with orders to strangle; it merely was residing in the globule of water that which broke upon your head."
"But she was trying to kill me! At least her hallucination wasn't real!" Ruidi protested.
I sighed. When was this bickering ever going to end?
"Let the battle commence," I announced, and blew the horn.