ALMIGHTY

Chapter 17: Tribe's Quest

A group of people made their way through a certain jungle. For a jungle, it was awfully quiet, at least until a certain Mexican male attempted to break the silence...

"So...where exactly are we?" Pablo asked as he and Kaede were tied up to a rough rope that was most likely handmade by one of the tribe members. The only answer he received was a dark look from the elderly man in front of him.

After what felt like an hour, but was in reality merely ten minutes, the group arrived at the village of the tribe. As the prisoners were being led to one of the teepees, children came out of their homes to watch the rare spectacle of prisoners being taken to the village.

Thump! Thump! The simultaneous sounds of Kaede and Pablo being thrown into a wooden cell blared across the small space. In the middle was a campfire, and around it was a few tribal men speaking in a language completely alien to the duo.

"Hey...do you know what they're saying?" Kaede scooted over to the bamboo cell bars that separated the two.

"I'm Mexican, I don't speak native fucking American or whatever language they're speaking!"

Pablo noticed that he spoke too loud as the men stopped in the middle of their conversation, and glared daggers at him. They all gave each other a few glances until one of them spoke up.

"We can understand you just fine. Now...let's get serious."

The man in the middle was most likely the chief of the village. He had red markings over his body; a mask on top of his head made from straws and wood and looked middle-aged. However, his demeanor betrayed his looks. One could easily tell that he was the chief of the village. It was obvious.

"Yes, it's about time that we get an explanation. First off, who are you, people?"

"Ah-ah-ah. I am the one asking the questions." The chief raised his hand, indicating that the two men behind him shouldn't interfere. He noticed that they got provoked by Kaede's rudeness.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Ahote, and I am entitled as the chief of this village: Lakota. Let me start off with assuring you that we have no ill intentions here. As soon as I'm done with my words, I will have my men release you. But before that happens, I have a quest for you that you shall complete in order to get to the next floor."

"A...quest?" Kaede seemed confused.

Wait, so they know that they're in the tower? She thought.

"Yes. You did not expect to go through this floor without any hardships, did you?"

"Of course not, but that's not what I meant. We never got a detailed explanation of how to complete this tower."

"Well, that's part of the challenge, isn't it?"

"..."

Kaede refrained from speaking any further, knowing that he was right. So he explained...

The Tower of Challenge wasn't an ordinary tower. It was a tower molded by unknown reality-warping magic. Every floor had hundreds of alternate versions, each comprising of different challenges. After every completed floor, there would be an empty floor where two teams duel each other. That rule was made to reduce the time it took for the exams to finish, and also to test the combat skills of the future FMA students. Some floors were hollow, some contained mysteries, and some contained monsters.

"As of now, you are in one of the many second floors, having us guiding you through the quest required to complete if you want to continue to the next floor."

Both Kaede and Pablo were dumbfounded...

So that's why we ended up fighting against Horu and that other guy, Kaede thought hard about the situation.