Hazel of ACE

3 - Casper

As an athletic and reckless boy, Casper was practically sweating about the mock battle. He made sure to train his troops (as he liked to call them) very hard, even on the first day. Other than his demanding methods, Casper was an exceptionally brilliant leader. While planning formations, he chose to position Quinn, the blonde archer, on the second flank, while his best swordsmen took the front. Now, usually, Casper would command his third and fourth troops to split the enemy through the center, but since Magic runs on supplies (smoke bombs, cannons, etc), Casper decided to let his last two troops run from the back and cut off the enemy's train of supplies. And if all fails, it shouldn't be the end of the world, he thought. But it would surely be very humiliating.

The mock battle was listed for 1500, but Casper made sure his troops were on the field by 1430 just to get familiar with the environment. Besides, the Academy had bought them all battle gear, but Casper specifically told his class to wear something lighter, such as a T-shirt. Something that they could move easily in. Magic shouldn't be so well-trained on the second day, he had initially thought. Might as well let my class take the easy way around this time.

"Hiroki, take the front. Quinn, take your troop behind the first flank and shoot towards the back of Magic. Make sure they can't access their supplies, and if they do, well, damage them as much as possible. Antonio – cause a distraction on the right side, and when I say so, Regan, you and your troop will come with me and reroute to the BACK of Magic's defense, where they'll be loading up cannons or whatever they have. First, get rid of the people. Pin them to the floor – that's enough to have them forfeit – but if they don't, disable all weaponry and then they'll have to resign. Questions?"

The class shook their heads no.

And it was then when Casper had caught the full attention of first grade Courage, and his next step would be to continue, conquering every grade there was, have them follow his orders, working as a whole to win the entire puzzle.

Finally, at 1455, the first sights of Magic students showed up. They weren't as prepared, but they did have guns and cannons. Courage did not, but what they did have was a formation. A really good one, that could penetrate almost any military force in the area.

The teachers did this on purpose, thought Casper. Putting the toughest against the well-provided. They just want to see what would happen.

The Magic class was led by Jason. Casper looked down at him. "You're short."

"I'm well aware, thanks," Jason replied. "Can we begin now?"

Casper gave him a sly smile. "Not before we lay out the rules." Jason nodded in agreement. "No killing, no extreme intentional injuring, and first to pin down the commander wins. Deal?"

Jason smiled back. "Deal. And I'll be the commander for Magic."

One of the teachers spectating the battle blew their whistle. Casper's second flank of archers fired, and although the arrows were dull and made for practice, it shocked the enemy, splitting them in two for a brief moment.

Antonio, leading the third troop, gathered to the right side of the field to form a distraction. He pretended to lead his group through a small unguarded area, and soon enough, the majority of Magic was running to ambush Antonio and his troop.

Regan, the leader of the fourth troop, saw that almost all of Magic's class were directed to one corner, so he took the chance and made a run for it. However, he didn't tell his group that he was going to do so at that point in time, so confused, his troop staggered behind him. Casper saw that Regan's instinctive act went far too early, but as a good commander would, Casper ran after Regan to assist him in deactivating and ambushing Magic from the back.

Halfway through, those who took the bait realized their mistake, and soon, Antonio's troop was left ghosted. The rest were heading straight at Casper and Regan. Jason, naturally a fast runner, sprinted towards Casper, Courage's designated commander. Out of the corner of his eye, Casper realized the fate of the mock battle, and tried his last efforts to pin Jason to the ground, but Jason had a gun. Casper relied on physical tactics, which could be easily beaten by a gun, any day. Unfortunately, the gun was unloaded, but Jason knew that if he just fired into midair, it'd be enough to scare his opponent into surrendering.

Sure enough, his plan worked. As Casper gripped onto Jason's right arm, he took out the gun with his left hand and fired into Casper's face. Stunned, he released his grip and fell to the ground. It took Casper a good couple seconds to realize the gun wasn't loaded, and he was well and alive.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Casper shouted, gritting his teeth.

Jason was still having fun teasing his fallen opponent, firing the unloaded gun at his face. "Huh? Huh?" he taunted. Casper turned onto his back, covering his eyes out of exasperation. Jason chuckled. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Later that evening, the group of seven hung out on the balcony of the library. Jason, who had taken quite a liking to Casper's intellect, had invited him and his second-in-command: Quinn. Casper was still humiliated about his defeat, and Jason was not letting him hear the end of it. Per usual, Hazel and Calypso were hanging out together around Jason, who was also introducing Casper to Marco.

Marco has a cousin, Valencía, who also made it into the Academy, though they're not in the same house. While Marco was in Magic, Valencía found herself in Adaptive. They both shared the same curly black hair, but unlike her cousin, Valencía has teal eyes, a trait she had inherited from her mother.

Jason was having fun, telling Casper about the brief history of his "criminal" record. "- and I was telling the police, 'I did not steal it! You got the wrong kid!' But he wasn't budging, so I had to serve two weeks of community service, cleaning the school urinals."

"That's crazy," Casper replied, uninterested. "Say, what do you do in Magic?"

Jason shrugged. "I don't know. The girls are always chit-chatting by themselves and Marco's always telling me of his cousin or other family woes he has. We don't practice, anyway. I prefer to rely on machinery."

Quinn was inspecting her nails. "When are we going to start real battles? Or finding clues?"

Jason's eyes widened. "Clues – about that, after we won, one of the teachers, I dunno, he told us to "read up". But I dunno what it means, maybe he's just poking fun at our stupidity."

Casper nodded. "I see. But the next time we fight, I'll make sure to whoop your ass."

Amused, Jason grinned. "We'll see about that. Maybe you should organize your troops better."

"Well, at least I have troops!" Casper snapped. "You're so short, your feet can't even touch the floor!"

Jason, who was sitting on a bench, found truth in Casper's rebuttal.

Marco lit a cigarette, hoping to kill time. The smoke wafted to Quinn, who rolled her eyes and turned away.

Valencía, undisturbed, was reading a book. Hazel and Calypso decided to get some food from the cafeteria.

"You guys want anything?" Calypso asked, dusting off her skirt. "We're going to the cafe."

"A donut for me," Jason grinned.

Valencía looked up from her book. "And I'll have a black tea. Medium, please. Thank you." She elbowed her cousin. "Marco, do you want anything?"

He groaned. "Hot chocolate. Extra sugar."

Calypso frowned at his obnoxious behavior. "Ok. Quinn, Casper, you want anything?"

"I'll pass," Quinn answered. "But thank you, really."

"Me, too," added Casper, still grumpy from his defeat.

Quinn put a hand on Casper's shoulder. "For the love of God, quit that attitude."

Marco took a puff of smoke. "God doesn't exist," he remarked.

Rolling her eyes, Quinn walked over to the troublemaker and knocked the weed out of his fingers. "I agree. Now shut your trap and quit smoking."

Marco gave her the side eye and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Whatever you say, blondie."