Twisted-Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure (Part 2)

(115) TTotSS: Severe March!

A loud knocking came to the Ramshackle Duo's door before the sun hadn't even risen yet. Grim was the first one to wake up, surprisingly. He rolled to his stomach and stretched his limbs as the knocking became louder. "Who is that...?" he groaned as he flew toward the door. He unlocked and pulled it open, revealing a familiar white-haired senior.

"Can you keep it down?" Grim yawned, not afraid of how Mustafa's eye twitching in annoyance. "It's too early, yanno..."

"That's the point," he huffed. "We will be marching 10 kilometers to the East Oasis."

Grim's jaw dropped, all sleepiness had disappeared. "Ten kilometers of walking on a harsh desert?! Why'd we have to do something like that?!"

"The prefect order." He peeked into the room, noticing Jonah who raised his head from Grim's shouting but still in a daze. "He's not sick, is he?"

Grim turned to Jonah. His ears went down. "Not exactly."

Mustafa rubbed the back of his neck. "Then he'll be joining as well." Grim whipped his head to him, shocked by the lack of leniency. The Scarabia senior could only shrug. "Hurry or else Kalim will be mad."

He quickly left, not really wanting to get into an argument with the pissed-off cat. Grim huffed, slamming the door slightly harder than he expected. Glancing back to Jonah, he saw the boy scooted to sit at the side of the bed. He flew to the front of the boy's face. "You sure you'll be okay?" he asked, tapping Jonah's cheek to gain his attention.

Jonah grasped Grim's paw, breathing slowly before nodding. "I'll try."

-----

The resident of Scarabia gathered in the courtyard, all lined up in front of an elephant where Kalim sat inside the open palanquin on its back. Jamil stood at the very front of the line with a firey baton. Behind him, were the students on a horse while carrying a pole with a long ribbon-like flag, followed by the others on the with drums. Then came the marching band with giant tambourines, drums, even horns. Jonah was unfortunately got the line behind it with the flags, slightly grateful he didn't have to play any instruments (a terrible reminder of his not-so-great final score in music class), but unfortunately, he was separated from Grim, who got the last line with the dancers with feathers.

"Now then, let's begin marching towards the East Oasis!" Kalim shouted, somehow loud enough that Jamil could hear him. "Anyone who falls behind will be lectured later!"

"What did I get myself into..." Grim grumbled, fixing the giant feather crown on his head. What was he supposed to be? A peacock?

Kalim, somehow, heard that. "Stop talking and move those feet!" he shouted, making Grim jumped. "Let's go!"

The horn section was the first one to play their instrument, followed by the drums and tambourines. Jamil leading them, spinning his baton, while the flag holders slammed the end of their flag to the ground to follow the rhythm. The dancers leaped and waved their arms tied with a thin beautiful shawl (poor Grim, he tried his best to follow their movement). They walked nonstop with Kalim occasionally screaming when one slowed down. You can't really blame all of them. The Scarabia's desert sun was harsher than the regular warm sun if that was possible, not to mention, none of them got enough rest since the surprise announcement last night and the sudden change of moods from the prefect. It felt like hours until Kalim finally screamed.

"All of you, stop!"

Collective sighs echoed through the ground, some were leaning on their flag with the others collapsed to the sand, not even minding the burn. Kalim rolled his eyes at them. "Tired from just that?" he spatted. He climbed down the elephant watching the pathetic students. "It's because of that attitude that we couldn't place in the tournament and in tests! I was a fool for not realizing that I've been too lenient on all of you until yesterday."