Out

Ligi's hesitation allowed for the water to flood on his feet. A piranha opened its sharp and toothy mouth as it took a bite on his legs. It bit nothing. Ligi ran forward, triggering the spikes to activate on his left. The shied spawned from his hand, with the bark shaped diamond pattern, as he used it to ricochet himself backward and onto Resi.

This was the moment of truth. Ligi was up in the air, hands reaching up to Resi, and on the verge of death under the millions of piranhas underwater. A loud clap was heard as Resi was holding Ligi by his hands on the brink of death.

Resi's muscles bulged to their maximum. Veins started appearing on his hands as it strained to keep Ligi from falling. Thankfully, the steel bar he was holding started to slide down towards the tunnel due to its weight.

Resi's hands started to sweat. He was exerting so much effort just keeping himself on the steel bar; adding Ligi to the load didn't make the situation better. Ligi started slipping from Resi's hands so he pushed himself even further to hold on. His face contorted from all the pain he felt holding on.

He was at his limit. He couldn't hold on anymore but they were only a few feet away from safety. Ligi started slipping even further as they only held on by their fingertips. This was it. Resi wished he went to the gym more but that was all in the past. He closed his eyes and tried to fling Ligi forward in an attempt to save him from the piranha-infested waters.

As soon as Ligi was gone, his muscles reached their limit. He fell and hit on the hard ground; it gave him relief and alleviation to know that he was safe, but it wasn't over. He looked towards Ligi. Ligi was on the ground, only one step away from the water. Resi smiled as he released all tension on his body and laid down on the ground.

"Good thing you trusted me eh?"

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"So where do we go now?"

Bang looked towards Gotang and asked. Gotang looked in the tunnel and replied.

"It's done. We just have to get out of here."

"Great! How do we get out?"

Gotang looked around the room and touched the walls. He put his ear next to it and listened closely. He knocked three times with a second of pause which made the ground tremble as the wall opened up. In the wall was a staircase that led upwards.

"Do we just go up there? Is it gonna be another endless tunnel?"

Gotang didn't answer and just stepped forward to the staircase. Bang didn't see that Gotang formed a unibrow due to worry.

Bang followed Gotang into the staircase and started to climb their way upwards. He was wary. There may be some kind of trick to traverse this staircase safely or else he may be left behind. Every step he took was careful and calculated as he looked down and stared at the floor.

He didn't take his eyes off the next staircase for the next hour. He was so focused he didn't hear Gotang shouting at him.

"hey"

"Hey!"

"HEY!!!"

The third shout broke Bang out of his stupor. He looked around and saw the bright blue sky atop him. Gotang stood a few feet behind him and he, himself, was halfway down a staircase that led further downwards. Once realized this, he fell backward on his butt and crawled away from the staircase.

A chill formed in his spine and a cold sweat flowed down across his face. If Gotang hadn't shouted at him and he continued, he might have been trapped further down. He ran towards Gotang in an attempt to be in a safe zone.

"Thanks."

"You worry too much. A mark of a great leader is knowing when to be confident, and when to yield."

"I thought you weren't supposed to give up until it's over?"

"There's a difference."

Bang looked towards Gotang only to see him gazing off into the distance. His eyes were moist and a hint of sadness could be seen reflected on those irises.

"I'm not a leader."

"But you are. A leader isn't something you buy. It isn't something you choose to be. It is something you gain when the responsibility is thrown at you."

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Ligi got up and walked away from the den of piranhas behind his back. He walked towards Resi and reached his hand out for Resi to hold. Resi accepted this as he used this to prop himself up from the ground.

"We don't have to like each other. We just have to work together to survive."

"Agreed."

They both started walking towards the tunnel. It was cramped so they had to crouch while walking; it wasn't an inconvenience compared to the shrinking room.

They walked for an hour with both parties not speaking. It was a big improvement to their previous demeanor of always arguing with each other. Their competitive spirit, however, was still flared up.

Resi started walking faster and got a step ahead of Ligi. Ligi immediately noticed this and started walking faster until he was at the lead. They both outdid each other until they were fully sprinting in the tunnel while crouching.

They ran and ran until their exhaustion took over their bodies as they lay on the ground panting. They both opened their eyes at the same time and saw the clear blue sky. They were outside. They were relieved and tired at the same time.

"I won. I got out first."

Resi spoke while laying on the ground, gasping for air. He had a smile on his face as he felt a tinge of joy in the competition.

"No. I got out first. You were as slow as a snail."

Ligi laid on the ground with his muscles aching as if it was on fire. His expression, however, did not exhibit that. There was a bit of smile forming on his face. He had never felt this way before. He never knew competing with someone at his level would be so fun.

"No, you were slow." - Resi

"I was fast. You were slow." - Ligi

"If the tunnel wasn't so small you would be eating my dust." - Resi

"Oh yeah, want to test it out?"

Ligi spoke as he forced himself up. He looked towards Resi and saw something on the horizon. Two silhouettes were coming towards them. One was tall and the other was as tall as he was.

Resi also noticed the incoming people and squinted his eyes to see better. When he saw the tall person, he smiled and his eyebrows jumped. He was familiar with this person.

"Gotang!!!"

Resi immediately got up and started running towards the two. This caught Ligi off-guard and he reacted late. Ligi wanted to warn Resi that this may be a trap but Resi was already up and running.

Ligi decided to follow Resi in case something happened but he was still wary of the whole situation. He got ready to take out his shield at any time. Somewhere in his mind, when the worst scenario came, he would abandon Resi if he had to escape.

As they came closer, they realized it was indeed Bang and Gotang. Resi ran headfirst into Gotang's chest with the full intention of head-butting him.

From Bang's side, he could hear a sigh of relief from Gotang. He also saw a smile forming from him when he saw Resi.

Resi head-butted Gotang and Gotang put Resi's head in a headlock and scratched the top of his head.

"HAHAHAHA you're alive you little knucklehead!!!!"

"Hehe of course. That little thing wouldn't be enough to kill me. I'm more surprised you survived."

"I'm not that old yet."

They were both happy as they saw each other again from the grasp of the underground. They were all separated with no information about their other members which worried their leader the most.

Ligi saw Bang and sighed in relief. His benefactor was still alive. He didn't fail his task.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there."

Ligi immediately apologized to Bang. Ligi bowed down to his waist and spoke to Bang. This made Bang confused and a little bit perplexed. He didn't know that Ligi took this event as his mistake.

"What are you talking about? We all couldn't do anything. It wasn't your fault; your only job was to stay alive and you did that. Good job."

Ligi got up from his bow and smiled. Somehow, being praised like that made him relieved. Bang didn't know it but he subconsciously comforted Ligi. There was no real benefit in doing that, but he did it anyway. He didn't know if that was the influence of Gotang or some other factor.

The four of them sat together near a tree as Resi started narrating the stories he encountered underground to Gotang. Of course, he didn't forget to embellish some facts to make him look good. Gotang just listened to the stories, smiled, and praised Resi like a proud parent.

One by one, the other members of the Defending Tip came to their place. After they waited for what seemed like half a day, there were only 10 members left from the previous 50 that started the journey. Gotang had a serious look and didn't waver. He didn't display any sadness that brought down the members even more. Instead, he uplifted them.

"Let's forget all our worries and have some fun. Let's play a game."