This time a bit shorter chapter, sorry. Also, it's a little bit different comparing to the other ones :) Hopefully you will like it542Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY7e2jn3cUA
542Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2W0XCEEkV
The 7th department Mission Control Lounge was considerably smaller in comparison to the lounge of Ayumi Aruta's department - which was quite ironic, as the department itself was much, much bigger than the 5th one.
Currently, however, there were only six people inside the lounge - five teenagers (two males and three females), and a middle aged, muscular man, similar in appearance to Arnold Schwarzenneger, only with even more muscles.
The man was breathing heavily and shaking in fury.
"As you know, the President decided that the Yearly Junior's Efficiency Test will start next week in the region of Palawan, Phillipines." His voice was trembling with fury. "In the first stage, each department will go against another one, and the winners will qualify to the final. We have been drawn in the 3rd pair, and this year our rivals will be the 5th department."
Some of the teens looked at him with disbelief, and then began to protest audibly.
"Silence!" He said fiercely "I am sure you have heard what a humiliation we suffered when they were our rivals three years ago. If not, ask Janne later. He is 19, so he knows very well what happened. Besides, this happened two years ago too. Also last year."
The man inhaled deeply
"That is why this year, we WILL pay them back. You are the most talented Junior Officers this department has, andI do not care how, but in six day time I want to see you all fit and prepared for whatever challenges he will give you. You can leave now, and also repeat what I said to the rest of the group. We will need to go there as a full team.
The Arnold-Schwarzenneger-Lookalike turned around, implying the conversation was over. He smiled, as he heard the footsteps already on the corridor. He reached into a nearby desk and picked up one of the photographs which were laying there.
"Oh, yes, Aruta." He spoke to the picture of the old woman. "This year you will regret you ever messed with Jens Hans Bernhardt von Himmlischerkriegmann!" The man screamed tearing the picture apart. "Mwahahaha. MWAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!..."
"Cleaning time!" An older, smiling lady holding a broom entered the room.
"OOOOOUUUUUTTTTT!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It is... beautiful." Dagmar watched around the landscape in awe.
"No, this is some kind of a jungle!" Jamon replied, jumping around on one foot. "Help! There is something in my shoe!"
"Will you shut up!?"
"Oh? What's the problem, Davey? You scared I will embarass you in front of Jessica Charlize?"
"I DO NOT LIKE JESSICA CHARLIZE!" The other boy yelled and then noticed the South African girl standing just alongside him with a group of older teenagers. "Oh... hi...hi, Jess!"
"Huh?" The girl blinked a few times, looked around (including looking through David, as if he was absent), blinked again and returned to chatting with her friends.
"Ouch." Jamon patted him on the shoulder "Better luck next time, buddy."
"Kids." Ayumi Aruta stepped in front of the group "Before we begin, let me introduce those of you who participate in the test to our rivals' Head Officer. This is general Jens Hans Bernhardt von Himmlischenkriegmann."
"I thought that's Arnold Schwarzenegger for a moment." Aleksander whispered towards Jamon
"Himmlischenkriegmann..." the other boy smiled back, but soon changed his expression. "Wait... Himmlischenkriegmann!? Does this mean...?"
"Yes, today our rivals is 7th department. Again."
"I am so glad to meet you all again." The German man clenched his fist.
"And, this, of course, is the PISF president, Robert ter Maan." Aruta pointed towards an bald man, who was wearing a black outft and glasses of the same colour. "And his secretary, Julia Cruz." The latino woman smiled and nodded her head. "So, now, having that out of the way, I think you may begin, Robert."
"Before I say anything" The Man in Black started "I want an round of applause." The Junior Officers of both 5th and 7th department looked at each other, confused, but as Aruta and Cruz started applauding enthusiastically, they also joined in. "That's better."
The man took a sip of water and looked at the both of the groups again.
"You know, as we stand here, I just remembered how stressed I was before my first Efficiency Test, which took place back in 1955. One of the task was to perform a banishment ritual in an model haunted house, and near this house there was an apple tree, you see, and on this apple tree, I noticed, some of the fruits were already rotten, which was weird as it was only the beggining of July, so I called my best friend at the time, and showed him the tree, and that tree reminded him of his vacation in Egypt, which, of course, at the time was still a British protectorate..."
"Mr. President, the first task!" The Latino woman reminded him.
"Well... yeah, now it is not the time for sob stories anyway. The rules are simple. There will be six tasks you have to perform. On each task, you will have to elect a group of representatives which will participate in the trial - outside of the first task, where the Head Officers will determine the participants. The size of the groups is up to you, as long as it's between two to four people. You don't have to take all trials, but you have to pass at least three tasks to complete the Test. As a reward, the department which will win more trials, will advance to the final round and will be able to win a very special prize. Julia?"
"The first trial is rather simple: Find the feather of an Phoenix. we placed two of them somewhere in this part of the forest. You have to bring it here before it burns down. After you do this, we'll shot up a flare so the other group knows. The group which will do it quicker, will win the trial.Head Officer Aruta, your nominees?"
"I will nominate.... hmmm. Aleksander Jennsen " The blonde boy stepped forward "Xi Chan. David Ben-Zvi. And... perhaps Jessica Charlize."
"Uh-oh..." David paled
"JESSICA CHARLIZE!" Ayumi repeated louder.
"Huh?" The girl blinked a few times, looked around (including looking through Aruta, as if she was absent), blinked again and returned to chatting with her friends - until one of them pushed her forward.
She was now standing next to David, who's skin was now itching him unbearably.
"Does one of your rookies have fleas, Ayumi?" Jens asked innocently
The whole 7th department group erupted with an over the top, hysterical laughter
"Anyway, my nominees are: Janne Hikkola, Nikola Ropucha and Thomas Wood."
"Only three?" Julia asked surprised.
"Three will be enough." The man smiled, looking at Aruta, who gently smiled back.
"Well... You know the rules." The PISF president stated "Just don't get lost, like I did on my search for Bigfoot in Nepal back in 1972. The town itself was pretty small, but the cave I found under the floor of the grocery store, which in reality was not a grocery store, but..."
"Good luck!" Julia Cruz interrupted him and both of the groups entered the jungle. "Those who stay, you will have to set up camps, as we are staying here until tommorow."
"That's right, good luck." The oldest boy of the 7th department group shook - or rather crushed - Aleksander's hand. "Though you won't win a single trial anyway."
"Janne, behave yourself!" Nikola criticized him. "Come on, let's take this path."
The two groups split up, with the males in each group giving the other group a harsh look.
"I don't understand how Aruta wants me to compete." Aleks said "I just got here, I have barely started my trainings and..."
"Relax" spoke Xi, the older girl. "I haven't heard of anyone not passing this. As long as you join a group before the task, you're safe.
"I hope so..."
"Yeah, sure... though,at the other hand, I heard a kid was mauled by a werewolf three years ago, so..."
"Just... Don't speak anymore..."
"Just stay with us, Aleks." David said "Not that we know any better, but just in case."
The group continued waddling through the jungle. They came to an abrupt stop, when they noticed a weird, black pool along the way.
"This doesn't look like Water." Xi noticed
David kneeled down and took some of the substance on his finger
"That is oil."
"Oil!?" The blonde boy looked at him shocked "But we are in the middle of an jungle! There is not supposed to be any oil here!"
"I know."
"What do we do?"
"Well, maybe this small stream of oil at the other side of this pool can lead us anywhere useful?" The Asian girl proposed.
At the same time, bright light emitted on the sky.
"What?" David asked "They... already found the feather? How?"
The teenagers looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
"All right, look." Xi started "Me and Aleks will head back to camp. You two follow the stream and try to check out where is this leak coming from. If you find something more unusual, you can report this to the Head Officer after you return."
"Um... Okay. Hey, Aleks?" The other boy started to gesture frantically.
"What?"
David only repeated his gestures, only with more panicked fashion.
"What!? Dude, I don't understand!"
"He's asking you to go with her." Xi moved her head towards Jessica "He would feel awkward, I guess."
"I would not feel awkward, I just have a head ache!"
"Well, okay, I could... but am I not too unexperienced?"
"Come on, you already helped on the Meow case! Besides, you know, this is not a movie, where suddenly some kind of a creature jumps from behind a corner and attacks or kidnaps you when you least expect it..."
Suddenly some kind of a creature jumped from behind a corner, trimmed Jessica in such a way she landed on it's back, did the same with David when he least expected it, and with both of them on it's back made a neigh and continued deeper into the jungle.
"DEAR GOD! HELP US!" They heard David's yell.
"HUUUUUUHHHH!?"
Both Aleksander and Xi stand there with their mouths wide open for a good while. Finally the boy broke the silence.
"Was that...?"
"An unicorn, yeah."
ns 15.158.61.20da2
