135 Unity (1/2)

\”Hey boss, you did something, right?\”

Jun came back to his senses when he heard Edward calling for him. He turned around and went to the nearby fence and looked down at Edward on the second resting area.

\”Yeah, you got something good, right?\”

\”Yeah, I did!\”

Sheila felt that those two's voices would attract unnecessary trouble and called for them to tone it down. Afterwards, she happily sat beside Adrian as they appreciate the scenery above the hill.

Edward was lurking around the flower garden, looking for anything that he could take. He tried pulling a yellow colored flower, but got electrecuted instead.

Nik and his squad tested themselves on the stairs that leads to the second resting area. Most of the masked men didn't try going up earlier since they knew that they didn't improve much. The first batch and second batch weren't known for being friendly with each other. They both have disatisfactions and things to nitpick with each other.

The last batch argued that strength shouldn't be the reason why someone would rank higher. Then, they proposed that since there's a fair opportunity to test themselves, the one who reaches further up should have the higher ranks. Both sides agreed on the subject matter.

The second batch of masked men were the first to go and the highest only reached at 139th step. The group felt triumphant since they knew that Nik, who was ranked the strongest among them, only reached up to 137th step when he tried climbing last time. Toby stood at the 137th step with admiring gazes from his subordinates below.

At the same time, Nik's batch finally made their move.

The single digit rankers, easily breezed through the first thirty steps while behind them, some were already using energy reinforcement to force themselves to take one more step forward.

Most of the people gathered between the 110th and 130th step. Besides the top rankers who were agressive at the frontlines and those who trained with their utmost efforts, anyone who skimped with their training could be found there.

\”Hello.\” said Nik as he casually passed by Toby.

As if mocking him, everyone else that followed after Nik, also greeted Toby.

If one could die from shame and anger, Toby would have already collapsed on his spot. As he watched everyone below him gaze at him, he felt like they were mocking him, spceially those first batch 'tards.

Upon seeing that everyone was enjoying their time at the Calvary Hill, Jun decided that an hour wouldn't hurt that much. Besides, nobody's idling and everyone's trying to do something.

He then went back to the monolith and tried reading the weird scriptures written on it.

***

\”Hey, do you think they'll come here?\”

\”Of course they would!\”

\”Haven't you heard what they were once called? The busy-buddies.\”

\”But... do we really need to do this?\”

\”Aish. To be honest? I have no idea. The man looks cool to me, but sometimes he just doesn't care. And besides, people like us don't decide things like these. People in power always like to be on power. Let's stay out of their way, okay?\”

***

A white van parked just before it crossed the northern bridge. Behind it was a jeepney with fiery flame paints and some various artistic designs. Edward came out of the jeepney'd driver's seat and caressed its door after he closed it.

\”This is mine, alright?\” he said while looking around. \”Go find your own hot rides.\”

\”You're really weird.\” said Sheila, \”...you're probably the only one who finds that jeepney cool.\”

\”Come on, let's go.\” Adrian commented as he passed by.

\”Those two!\”