And also the last to wake up.

"C'mon, doofy, we gotta get up before Grace kicks one of us again!" Ula urged Earthen, pushing his shoulder blade repeatedly.

"Nnooooooo....." he moaned, rolling onto his face. "Five 더 많이 minutes..."

"If 당신 don't get up now, 당신 never will!"

"I'm tired..."

"Coz 당신 went to 침대 late last night!"

Grace walked into the scene. "You guys aren't good at this stuff, are you?" she asked, bending down to look at the sleepy Earthen. Ula giggled.

"Nope!" she replied, standing up. "Guess we'll just have to leave him here!"

"Good idea," Grace agreed, straightening back up. "Bye Earthen! It was nice knowing you!~"

"Wait, WHAT?!" he shouted, bolting upright in his excuse for a 침대 everyone else copied. "B-b-b-b-but, I'm not even ready yet! Just gimme some time, I'll be with 당신 shortly!"

"Yeah, suuuuuurrrrre." Grace teased, flipping her hair once again. It took Earthen ten 분 to get ready. Yeah, even Reddie and Kouh counted. 의해 the time he had finally gotten up with all his stuff, it became clear that there were huge, dark circles under his eyes.

"Right...off we go then," he mumbled drowsily. "Hooraaaaaayyyy!"

He took one step forward...and fell onto his face.

Grace rolled her eyes. Walking forward, she picked him up 의해 the arm and lifted him onto her back. She teleported his backpack off his shoulders and threw it to Kouh. "You're strong captain, 당신 carry it." she laughed, reaching behind herself and pushing up her own bag. Earthen's head rested against it instead of her hard shoulders.

Kouh rolled his eyes puckishly and pulled Earthen's stuff onto his own back. Looked like for the daily journey, Earthen would get a free piggy-back ride on Grace.

A guy...

Riding a girl...

................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Seems legit.

<><><>

"Orace?"

"That's right, Gamma!"

"A white belt?"

"In Kung Fu, yes."

"I see."

The team had been moving along through Korham, when they came across Nomads. One of them, having recognised Grace from his last visit to the city, had asked she teach him 더 많이 of Kung Fu. This was Orace, who was currently a white belt.

"Keep your torso up. The opponent shouldn't be that far from you." she said, holding his chest and dragging him back a bit. "Also, your fist should be lower down than that." Grace then took hold of his fist and brought it down to his solar plexus.

Kouh walked up to the two to see how they were doing. "Good, good." he said, checking Orace's position. "Now try the turn."

Orace attempted clumsily to do the kick-turn thing in form two (where he was at), tripped over his own feet and fell face-first into the ground. Grace chuckled and help him up. "It takes practise, that one." she said. "Lots of it, too. If 당신 don't get it on the first try, don't feel stupid, because everyone does that."

Orace nodded as he showed her a goofy smile and rubbed the back of his head. He returned to chamber to retry the form...

<><><>

"Hey guys, dinner's ready!" Reddie exclaimed excitedly as he suddenly raced past Grace, Kouh and Orace. Grace told Orace to come out of his uncomfortable position and they made their way towards the...thing...the...nomads lived in. Yes.

Of course, as usual, Reddie ate the most and Grace ate the least. Orace joined Reddie in the 음식 eating competition that they somehow managed to create in five seconds. In the end, Reddie won easily, having eaten practically everything, including part of the small, round, flat table. Orace was able to stop himself from turning into a 비버 himself.

<><><>

"Thankyou for your hospitality." Ula thanked the nomads after dinner, taking a low bow with her hands folded at her thighs. "But I'm afraid we must be departing now."

"Oi, Ula," Grace suddenly said firmly behind her. "These people are kindly baring us the best of their hospitality. Why insult them and turn down the offer? We need somewhere to sleep, so we may as well accept."

Ula took in a deep breath.

"I hate direct people like you, Grace." she snapped, turning around to face the red-head. "You're confusing. 당신 hate people, especially these kinds. Yet, 당신 order me to accept the offer of their hospitality. What on earth is wrong with you?"

"Good question." Grace answered swiftly, walking towards her. "However, I'm not going to answer that to someone as impudent as you. 당신 hate direct people, I hate indirect people. I'm direct, you're indirect. It's only clear; the reason we fight so much. We have no compatibility levels whatsoever. Now 옮기기 over so I can talk to this young lady."

Ula stepped to the side, even though she'd rather fight with Grace some more. However, 의해 now, she knew better than to pick a fight, physical 또는 verbal, with someone like that Renya.

"I'm sorry for her impudence, my lady," Grace said EXTREMELY politely to Orace's younger sister, Ranni. "Please, lend us your hospitality for the night. We would highly appreciate it."

Ranni smiled brightly with a nod; the poor thing was born mute and had no ability to speak at all. She could do sign language, but unfortunately, no one in Team KRUGE was able to understand 또는 respond with that.

Not even the all-powerful, all-perfect Grace Gamma.

<><><>

Team KRUGE offered to sleep outside in their rucksacks and things while the nomads were able to keep their...hut thing, I have no idea what they're called. Grace wanted to seem as the politest guests possible (although that was a bit hard with Reddie hanging around them).

Earthen, of course, was the first to fall asleep that night, due to his lack of sleep the night before. He has almost fallen asleep at the 공식 만찬, 저녁 식사 표, 테이블 aswell that evening, plunking face down with his head in the soup.

And other various foods.

It was Grace's turn to keep watch that night. She was standing only several metres away from her team when she heard something creeping around in the nearby shrubbery. Her head flicked around her shoulders again and again. After realising she'd not be able to see it, she slammed her foot down on the ground and sent out a vibration. Closing her eyes, she visualised everything in her had as some sort of 'map'. It was similar to being a mole, only not using your nose; instead, sounds and vibrations.

Clicking her tongue as she walked on, Grace waited for 'data' to come to her brain so she could picture it. She carefully made her way around plants, mounds, other various things...

Grace realised there was nothing.

Nothing at all.

"False alarm, then, I s'pose." she mumbled to herself as she walked back towards camp. As she reached her team, she noticed something bat-like, about the size of a storage box (can't think of a better example) with the head and horns of a dragon and glowing, white eyes.

It was crouched over Kouh.

Her sleeping captain (who Grace had noted, was a rather heavy sleeper) hadn't noticed a thing. He snored on peacefully, possibly mistaking the warm breaths of the creature over him for breezes of wind.

Grace sighed at her captain's stupidity.

"Honestly, I don't even...know...why..." her voice trailed off as she was muttering to herself once more. There were barely even words for Grace to describe the stupidity of humans sometimes.

She made her way towards her non-suspecting captain and the huge creature that was now tapping Kouh's face with a long, sharp claw. As it did so, spots of blood appeared on Kouh's cheek. Respect your animal kingdom, Grace told herself again and again, even if they are possibly about to kill your captainwhoyouarealsomeanttorespectbutfrankly,youdon'tbecausehe'sanbitofadoosh...

"Hey..." Grace said firmly, yet quietly. She cautiously reached out a hand to the creature. It looked over to her and pulled its long, aye-aye-finger like claw away. The Renya and the creature were now face to face.

"I don't want to insult you," Grace continued, "but I seriously need 당신 to leave us alone. He's the captain of my team. I want 당신 to be 안전한, 안전 even 더 많이 so than I want everyone else to be safe. These guys...can pack a real punch, if 당신 know what I mean. If 당신 got hurt, I'd never be able to forgive myself for letting 당신 get injured. I'm sure you're highly capable of taking care of yourself, but even so..."

The creature blinked.

It shifted its position on Kouh's chest and then rested its rump quite comfortably on top...it was...lying down.

Grace sighed.

"Of course 당신 have no idea what I'm saying..." she sighed, rubbing her forehead. "At least you're peaceful..."

Then Kouh woke up.

"NONONONONONONO, DON'T--" Grace began...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnndddd, it was too late. Kouh's eyes had widened completely in shock. He suddenly let out a scream of terror; this creature was indeed horrifying to look at.

The creature itself let out an all too familiar shriek, spread its wings and lifted itself into the air. It revealed a long tail with fins, four 더 많이 legs and shining, razor-sharp claws. Grace slapped her captain for his stupidity, and also to send him back to sleep. Even though 의해 now, everyone else in the team was awake.

"What are 당신 a black 벨트 in?" Grace asked her once again, out-cold captain. "Kung Fu, karate, judo, jujitsu, billions of other things...yet 당신 have 0-zip-0 survival skills! You're pathetic!" After yelling that at Kouh, Grace turned to everyone else. "Go back to bed. I'll handle it."

They gladly did, at the sight of the creature.

Grace turned her head back up to it. It was hard to spot every now and again, as the creature itself had back scales. After taking a good look at its moving shape as it pounded its wings against the air, Grace realised what is was;

a dragon.