The Ranch

Tih & Friends (1)

Eight months have passed since Tih and his generation first arrived on the island, but some find it hard to believe. After all, so much has happened, their lives have drastically changed that time seemed to zip by...Well, that and the fact that the island doesn't seem to change seasons making it hard to tell time has passed.

For the past couple months, Tih's group of nine have been waiting for another group trial to appear to test their cooperating, practicing together in the meantime. But, after the last treasure hunt group trial, they kept getting stuck with single or double trials.

They were going to wait it out longer when one day the islanders were informed of an upcoming tournament and it became the latest talk of the town.

The newbies were especially excited, because they've only seen the newcomer's tournament and finally have another chance to prove themselves.

The older soldier's are more used to the process and have even started guessing which annual, biannual, or maybe even quadrennial tournament it's time for.

See, a lot of the tournaments are recurring. Some every year, some every two to four years, and some may even be once every decade. So it isn't anything new for the older generations, it's more like a guessing game. That's not to say they can't get excited. This year alone had a carnival and the maze. There was also a lot to talk about with Tih's rumors.

"It's about time for that one, right?"

"Should be."

"Who should we group up with?"

After a title bit of information digging, the nine hold a meeting to discuss the upcoming tournament.

They start by naming all the information they've recovered. Kai starts," Gathering from the rumors of the older generations, the mostly unanimous conclusion is it being a group tournament, which is great for us. It happens every couple of years, and it's a cooperation by some of the larger forces of the island and headquarters.

That last part is supposed to be hush hush, but apparently it's been a well-known secret for a long while. I mean the people on this island aren't stupid and scraping together bits of info, the tournament battles are supposedly very similar to trials, at least some of them. It's probably repurposing, in my opinion.

Anyways, this is how the last tournament went. It's ten people to a team, meaning we'll need to find another person before it starts in a week. In the first round, everyone will compete in a few games, and points will be distributed. The top sixteen teams with the highest scores will go to the next round. I think this round's more of a free-for-all to weed out the participants.

The rounds afterward will be a little different, or so I've heard. In each round, we'll be directly competing against another team in a game. Some games include all teammates but I think during most of the games, we'll have to choose a certain number of people to play. Some games may even be single player."

"So what's the prize?" Is Pierre's first question.

Sherlock picks up this one," According to past traditions, the prize has always been around a couple thousand kquil, some good-quality weapons or gear, and a luncheon with the patrons of the tournament."

"The kquil's pretty useless and I don't know about the equipment, but the luncheon's a good opportunity to make connections." Everyone nods in agreement at Victor's words.

"You said we need ten people to sign up? Then who should be our last member?" Theodore brings up.

"A temporary member should be fine. When we split the prize, it'd be better if he wanted the kquil." Pierre mentions.

Basile adds," They should have a skill we don't have already."

"To widen our expertise." Lucien comments as he pulls out his laptop. There's the sound of tapping as the pads of his fingertips hit the screen.

"But we also need to be someone trustworthy. It'd be great if we could get someone in an older generation." Kai mentions.

"Right, they have more experience with this type of tournament." Victor agrees.

They go around, mentioning potential teammates. As the one with the largest amount of connections, a lot of the possible options comes from Tih's social circle.

"I think the optimal person that Tih knows would be Instructor Kane, but we already have people that specialize in combat." Kai states his stance

Sherlock offers, "Another option would be Instructor Henri. He'd be easier to bring over to our side too, if he doesn't already have a group."

"Or Maddox." Lucien mumbles.

They compile a list of people, then narrow it down a few times before messaging invitations to join their team. There's no need to plead with anyone, since they're not desperate. That, and half the people in Tih's group have a larger amount of pride than most, but that amounts fairly normal on this island.

Over the course of a few days, they've received answers from everyone. Many declined for a multitude of reasons, the most popular being that they already have a team. There's only a few that said they were available.

Of Tih's options, Maddox declined for reasons he didn't go into, specifically saying it was a secret. Kane also had to decline, as he already formed a group with his own teammates.

That left Henri and a few others. After going back and forth, they decided Henri could be trusted and half the team already had decent cooperation abilities after learning from him for a period of time.