The Ranch

The Aces (1)

Tih wakes up to put on a dark purple hoodie and heads to the cafeteria with Kai. They eat with the rest of the group, with Tih grabbing his meal from the fifth floor after his daily kitchen work. After breakfast, they split up to look for their own jobs. Kai, Sherlock, and Lucien all plan to work in different fields, so they have different locations to search.

Kai assumes Tih will go look for a job as well and let's him do his own thing, departing after waving goodbye. Tih starts walking out of the cafeteria but is stopped by the voice calling him from behind.

Victor and Theodore jog to catch up to him, dragging Abel, Pierre, and Basile with them. Theodore calls out with a smile," Good morning Boss!"

A cold-faced Victor follows in a respectful question," What were you planning to do today?"

Tih looks at the group of five in silence. Tih sees the three behind Victor and Theodore frown when they hear the respect in their voices. Pierre confronts Theodore, disgruntled," Why are you talking like that? I'm not doubting the story you told us yesterday, but-"

In a calm, low voice, Theodore interrupts," Look, I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it in person. That's why I'm telling you to spend some time with him. You'll acknowledge him soon enough."

An unbelieving pout spreads on Pierre's face, "Didn't you say he disgraced you? That he's your nemesis now?"

Basile walks next to Victor and whispers as he looks at Tih," I don't know why your being friendly with him now. Even if he is strong, didn't you change your opinion too quickly?"

"It's not that I want to acknowledge him, but his abilities overpowered my dissatisfaction." Victor coldly looks at the boy.

Basile is keen on what type of person Victor is and how high his pride is. He stares at Victor's face before nodding," Then I'll trust you." He resumes silence for the rest of the talk, favoring the gun he's chewing on.

Victor nods. He looks over to Abel who's talking to himself," And you?"

Abel turns away from the empty space he was talking to," She says there's something strange about the boy, so I'll believe you."

Everyone turns to Pierre. He grits his teeth," You all... do you understand how much money we lost by losing the first place prize?! Do you realize how much more money I could have made for us!?"

Tih remembers the card he was given by the announcer, saying it was a "prize". It sounds like the person in front of him really wants the plastic square. He takes it and stretches his hand out.

Pierre stares at Tih, wide-eyed,"...you, are you sure? Even if you give me the money, I won't acknowledge you, and I don't plan to be indebted to anyone, so I don't plan on paying you back."

Tih silently stares at the Pierre happily eyeing the money-filled card, leaving his hand in the air. Licking his lips, Pierre grabs the card and holds it close to his chest with a wide chin," So where are we going first?"

Theodore looks at him with a smirk and sighs,"You really are easily won over by money, huh?"

"Let's go to the training ground. Ah, only if your not busy right now." Victor, used to being the leader, looks awkwardly toward Tih.

Tih shakes his head.

"Let's get going then." Victor nods. Victor ends up taking the lead as the group of six walk to the colosseums.

The interior of the building have already return to being used for battles and challenges. The group enters the last structure where all the training equipment is held. They walk past different types of equipments and reach a small obstacle course.

"Well use this to prove Boss's greatness." Theodore smiles at the course.

"Okay, it should be evenly matched if we do it this way." Pierre starts memorizing the obstacles.

Abel softly converses with the space next to him, mapping out a route. Basile glances at the obstacle course, planning out his movements and timing.

"Then let's line up." Seeing that everyone's in agreement, Victor stands at the start of the course. The rest follow suit. Once everyone is side by side, they dash forward. Tih follows.

The first obstacle is an incline wall at a seventy degree angle. Sprinting forward, they use their momentum to run up the wall. The ones that use pure strength like wrestling have the advantage here. Theodore takes the lead after running up the wall in a couple steps.

Tih, who's just following along with everyone unknowingly, intentionally stays with the rest of the group. The others are still fairly close together, with Theodore only gaining an extra foot ahead of everyone else.

The second obstacle, a net crawl, allows the smaller, more flexible people an advantage.

They continue with a balance beam, monkey bars, a window jump, rope climb, rope swing, ramp jump, cargo net climb, tunnel crawl, and skyscraper.

There are now only two obstacles left, the hanging log and tire swing. Both rely on balance and whatever strength they have left.

By now, everyone's feeling the strain on their bodies. Everyone except Tih, but no one notices that because they're all focused on their order.

Victor is in the lead, then Basile, Theodore, Tih, Abel, and finally Pierre. Apart from the boy in the middle of the lineup, everyone is trying to hide their fatigue, luckily their military uniforms are sweat-resistant, keeping the sweat from showing.

Pierre looks at the back of the child their originally boss wants to acknowledge as the new boss. He sneers inside. He'll only look up to the strongest person, because only they can carry him to the top. How can this child, who's been in third to fourth place this entire time.

Pierre has no doubt the child is talented to be able to keep up with them, but that's not enough to be their boss. Pierre has big plans, and to accomplish those plans, he needs a powerful background. Pierre stops paying attention to the boy.

Basile looks behind at Tih before ignoring him and facing the obstacle in front of him. He steps on the log before almost losing his balance. Straining his legs, he takes a while before dreading himself, wasting even more energy and time. Despite the strain, he still has time to munch on snacks.

In the meantime, Theodore catches up to Tih and apprehensively speaks," Hey Boss, maybe it's just me, but why does it seem like your holding back?"

Tih looks at him with a calm expression, not understanding his meaning. What does he want him to do?

Seeing a seemingly imperceptible confusion surrounding Tih, he straight out says," Can you go all out Boss? We wanted you to pass everyone and finish in first. It'll make it easier to accept you as boss."

Pass everyone? Now Tih understand what Theodore is requesting of him.

Tih looks at the twenty foot log that's seven feet off the ground. He jumps off the platform and falls, grabbing the log with his hands. With hands wrapped around the log, he uses his momentum to swing his body halfway across the log, bypassing Basile on top of the log.

He swings once more, before swinging upwards and successfully pulling himself of the other platform. Tih looks forward to see the wheels on cars. Victor is hanging on the second out of ten wheels, skipping one every swing. He'll reach the end in four or less swings.

Tih stands at the backmost right corner and stares at the last tire. Running forward, he pushes off the edge of the platform and zooms forward.

Victor sees a blur pass his right, before the object lands in front of him. Although he expected this outcome, it's still a little dissatisfying to no longer be the one on top. Victor watches as the small boy easily jump on the platform, completing the obstacle course in first place.