Chapter Eight
Doctor Emrys was sitting in his chair looking at a dozen screens of the forest, monitoring the new teams, when Ruaridh walked over.
"It's been 20 minutes or so. Are we ready to start the next part of the test?"
Gwynn spun round in his chair to look at his co-worker.
"Yes, we probably should. All of the teams made it through the first part, some more… elegantly than others." He chuckled. "You should have seen it! These kids…" he tapped some keys and brought up a video recording of that Damian's team, rather dramatically attempting to soften their impact. Ruaridh let out something between a sigh and a laugh.
"Those boys are not the brightest bulbs in the shop. I hope they will be able to handle the next challenge"
"If anything, this shows that they will easily pass. I mean, their team has very little utility, but I'd say they're most likely going to be the most devastating in combat." Gwynn said, then lent into his mic and spoke aloud to the students.
"Good work, you have all passed stage one. Give yourselves a round of applause. Now we shall begin the next part of this little test. We'll be introducing enemies into your environment. Your goal is to steal their treasure. Good luck!"
Doors could be heard opening around training room B. Brett's team was closest to a door as it opened and were the first to see what emerged. It was a reptilian Grimm, almost two stories tall. It had small arms and sharp scales along its spine. Rylee's scream echoed all around the room.
"Wow, that's a BIG Grimm." Brett said, his eyes wide with terror.
"Are-" Ramona stammered "-are we supposed to kill this?"
The whole team stood frozen in fear for two whole minutes. The creature didn't move either.
"It doesn't do much does it?" Oscar scoffed. He walked right in front of the creature and started waving his arms in the air. "Hey Grimm! Hey Grimmy-Grimm! Do you even do anything?"
The Grimm continued to stand and do very little.
"I wonder why it's so still." Ramona asked
"Wait a second. Look over there." Rylee pointed, "Look behind it. There's a nest!"
"Why does it have a nest?" Brett asked.
"To keep its babies, obviously." Rylee said, then enlightenment dawned on her face, "Babies, right?"
"Oh god, here we go." Ramona sighed.
"Shush, sis, let me finish. So, babies… they are, like, nature's treasure, right? And we are supposed to take some treasure… so the treasure must be the egg!" Rylee said, with a huge grin on her face
"I misjudged you this time, Sis." Ramona said, "So, what, do we just take it?"
"What's the chance that if we do that, tiny here will hunt us down and have us for lunch." Brett said, preparing his rocket board.
"I'm a guess one hundred and ten percent." Oscar agreed. "D'you think we can out run it?"
Ramona prepared to start skating. "We might as well try."
"Okay, who's gonna get the egg, then?" Rylee asked gleefully. Everyone looked at her. "Darn." she shook her fist in mock anger, then frowned, "But I'm the slowest of the group."
"No problem, Rylee. Just use those ropes of yours to attach yourself to us. Soon as you grab the sucker, we can haul you off." Oscar said coolly.
As they'd expected the second Rylee touched the egg the creature let out a deafening roar and she screamed. It was hard to tell which was louder.