IT IF FINALLY TIME FOR PLAN ZERO!!!

I did say I didn't care about anyone being in the group, didn't I? Scratch that. I withdraw my earlier statement.

–––

[Bradley, explain yourself!]

<Hear me out, I did a quick scan on all of you classmates, and believe when say, he's the most qualified for your quest>

[Uh-huh, still no]

<He's one of the strongest ones too, dude. You need that kind muscle to succeed. Or have you forgotten we're facing monsters from North?>

[What of it? For all I know, someone else might have picked him for their team!]

<Max, puh–lease! He's hated by most if not all. Anyone who chose him would have be dumb enough to do so.>

[So essentially, you're calling me an idiot, right?]

<I mean... nothing new upstairs now, is there?>

–––

Ha! That insult didn't even hurt! Wait, I'm I slowly getting used to them?! But far from that, the monster I was looking for happened to be passed out on his desk, his head buried deep in his hands.

Huh, no wonder no one could approach him. Don't let his peaceful state fool you folks. He had a strong Aura, warning everyone to stay clear or die.

You could tell by the distance everyone took just to get around him. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't like most monsters in our class. I calmly walked over to his desk. When I was just an arms' reach away, his right hand flew out and grabbed on my shirt tightly.

I would have easily dodged it, but I had to show this guy who's boss. He tried reeling me in but soon realized it wasn't any normal guy. Slowly, he lifted his head to identify the threat.

I patiently waited for his eyes to adjust and widen in shock then his mouth twist into a sneer.

"What do you want?" he growled. I pointed to his right arm, hoping he got the massage. By now, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. He understood quickly, but that didn't give him any more reason to let go.

"Really Clive. Well...what can you do, right? So, you interested in joining my party?" I asked him, ignoring the sense of danger my senses told me. Gasps could be heard all around with a few murmuring their complaints.

"How about you eat a knuckle sandwich, then will talk!" he answered and threw a left hook straight to my head. I sighed cause I really didn't want to do this but, it is what it is.

When it caught me, I felt just a bit of pain but otherwise didn't move and inch. He pulled his hand back in pain and at last let go of my shirt to hold his injured arm.

"You ready to talk now?" I sarcastically said as he stared hatefully at me.

"I don't want to join your party, d*ckhead!" he screamed at me.

"No, no, no, Clive. That won't do. Assaulting your fellow classmate, the prefect no less, and then hurtling despicable insults to him? You deserve to be reported! But I'm feeling merciful today, I'll let it slide if you join my party, fair enough for you?" I asked him.

He's eyes slowly changed from anger to realization that he'd been set up. He turned to the class to see if anyone would support him but to no one's surprise, he had none. He turned back to me while wearing a frown on his face.

"You think you can blackmail me with some cheap trick? Think again. I've suffered a lot worse than being accused falsely. Bring it on!" he spat.

"I tried doing this the easy way. You've left me with no choice!"

I immediately grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off his chair. He was larger than me in terms of height and size, but that didn't stop me from squeezing his neck out.

He began choking and tried fighting back, but it looked like a child against a giant, if the giant was the one being strangled by the child of course.

"I mean, if I can't report you, I might as well take my revenge here and now!" I shouted. No one tried to stop me. Damn, this guy really is hated enough that monsters want him dead. He's lucky that wasn't part of my agenda.

I brought his ear close to my face and whispered:

"We both know you're not in a party so stop being a wuss and join mine. Don't worry, this is just for show. Truthfully, I wasn't planning for it to go this far, but you're the stubborn one."

"In the next second, I'm going to let you go, wiggle like you freed your self and act all pissed. Then, declare that you'll join my party as a way to catch me off guard and later dispose of me, ok? I'll take your whimpers as a yes. Brake!"

I didn't give him a chance to answer as I loosened my grip and distanced myself between us. He wiggled a bit more and finally freed himself then backed away. I could hear the sighs of disappointment being issued.

He glared hatefully at me as he rubbed his neck, and I feared he wouldn't do as asked.

"I'll join your party, alright. But keep in mind that I'll make sure you don't come back alive, if it's the last thing I'll do l!" he threatened and left the class to avoid the hateful gazes he got. A smile tugged the corner of my mouth. Maybe there was hope for him after all.

***

Friday at last. We had all gathered around Alex's desk, brainstorming and stuff, but no one was in the mood to talk.

I could hear other groups chatting away while we all just stared at each other, some with hate and others with... I don't know what the girl was giving me. Four eyes,(sorry, his name is Griffin stere) chose to dress up in a sort of robotic armor, his head the only visible thing we could see as I had requested him to remove his mask.

The girl that kissed me, Jessie, wore the standard battle gear issued by the school, though I'm pretty sure she could afford an expensive armor. Why she chose to dress like that, beats me. But I have a feeling it's that so we would match together.

Alex was in the same gear as I too , a good pair of black boots, light chest plate and metal gloves. Clive was the best dressed, a large red chest plate armor completed with armored boots and his unusually large axe that looked heavy to carry.

He scowled at me and clicked his tongue, clearly showing he doesn't appreciate the group.

"I'll save you all the trouble. I will lead this party to victory. Just don't worry about the short stuff,"

"That's your plan?! I'm starting to regret why I even joined you," Griffin complained.

"Hey! Don't talk to him like that! You don't have to stay if you don't want to," Jessie defended me. Clive just grunted, but said nothing more. Well... as far as teams go, we were the most mismatched in the South class.

"Hey Max, I think we should talk privately," Alex asked in a low tone, his hands fidgeting nervously. We moved to a more enclosed position and I patiently waited for him to say what he had to tell me.

"T–there i–is s–someone..." he took a deep breath and tried again, "I know someone at North who isn't the nicest of guys,"

"And?"

"Um... If he comes around our party with his friends, can you just ignore him for me," I raised an eyebrow in question. What did that bastard tell the little guy? Arnold had already informed to me over breakfast who was the likely suspect for Alex's master.

No surprise that he's the one who acts like he owns the school. Since Arnold is in the same class as him, he had some info about him. The main facts being that he comes from a well off family, same category as Alex in race, but can only summon undead as his only power

Information was crucial to win. In their class, they were allowed to use the same party members as last time, and the dushbag happily called on his lakeys to do his bidding. I was warned that the class teacher of North had something nasty planned for our class, specifically me, so I should remain on guard.

"Don't you worry, Alex. Will play 'nice' with your 'friends'," I patted him on his head to reassure him. He swatted my hand away playfully and glared at me with this adorable pout.

"Don't pet me like a dog! I'm not that short," he mumbled but unfortunately, his face said a different thing. He was obviously blushing, but I was just thankful it removed his thoughts from there. I hope I can do a lot more than just reassure him this good day, assuming everything goes according to plan.

Play nice? There will be a lot of playing, but I'm not so sure on 'nice'.

Anyways, a lot of complaining and grunting later, we each lined up to the front of the transportation gates, our class being the first to enter due to our previous win. From the corner of my eye, I could see Miss Ivory giving me the stink eye everytime the principal turned to us students.

She gave me a smirk as if she'd already won the contest, but I got a whole new message when Arnold signaled me. He made a sign of sliting his throat, pointed at me, then pointed at his class teacher.

Hmm... nothing new there. But I'm going to enjoy proving this teacher wrong once again by coming back alive.

We eventually jumped into the portal, and soon regrouped with Flintheart once everyone from South passed through. The planet, dark with no chance of light anytime soon, was a sight for sore eyes. The large grass like trees, perfect, down to the minor last detail.

"What's good gang? Now huddle up and listen. Welcome to the Exoplanet 203H. The rules still apply from last time and same as before, this is a sort of training for you." Flintheart explained, occasionally turning to me.

"So, we all saw the dirty looks North gave us, right? Expect them to pull something, but rest assured they can't steal your beast points when I'm on the look out. Though I'm sure their targets ain't the Beasts. Well then, good luck, and don't die!" with those words, a nod to my direction, he vanished just like before

What was that all about? Did he have an idea of what I was planning? Was that some sort of code to deal with North? You know what, to hell with him! Like I'd ever do him any favors.

***

Alex was our lamp holder, though I'm pretty sure only him and Clive needed it. We began searching for beasts immediately after our separation. On our way, no one talked much, but Alex looked worried that something would happen.

***

<That's because something will. You know he's been tracked, right?>

[Wait what?! How in the Beast verse was I supposed to know that?! Dude, you're no help to me whatsoever!]

<Blah blah blah. All I here is a twerp crying! Intact, I'm tired of your constant–>

***

I shushed Bradley because I heard a sound. The entire group all stopped the second they noticed I wasn't moving. Griffin aka ibot (named him myself), scanned the surrounding with his mask and froze with fear. He didn't have to tell me that we were surrounded.

Jessie seemed to catch on quick, so did Clive, but Alex was a little on the slow side. I lifted my finger to my mouth to warn him to say quiet, then made hand signals for everyone to form a defensive circle.

Thankfully, they understood the message and all gathered around. I nodded to Alex, who threw the lamp to his front. The second it caught the grass, it ignited like dried wood, giving us a visual of the threat. Trolls the size of humans could be seen, in their hands battered weapons and their mouths shaped into ugly grins as if they already won the fight before it began.

"ATTACK!" I ordered and we all jumped into action. With my strength and speed, I breezed through the crowd in front of me, braking necks and knocking heads till I was surrounded with dead troll bodies.

Jessie was just as quick, using her nails like talons, cutting and slicing down the beasts to the ground. Clive effortlessly swung his axe in a wide arc, taking down the critters with one felt swoop, then rotating quickly to finish off the rest. Griffin had these awesome lasers, blasting them to smitherings and if they got too close, electrifying them to a crisp.

And Alex, well... he was surrounded alright, but had only managed to take down a handfull of them. I jumped to his side and together, we disposed of the rest. He was using some type of fire magic, though it barely did a lot of damage.

Soon, it was just the five of us left, our hands socked in troll blood.

"I vote the little guy collect all essence, since he didn't help much," Clive announced, pointing at Alex. Alex smiled sadly and nodded his head, accepting his fate. Before he did that though, I stopped him to ask a question.

"Why didn't you summon them? I'm sure you could do so and saved yourself from the predicament you were in," I asked.

He looked even more embarrassed, but he shook his head and turned to start his gruelling task. So... I take it they still don't respect him as much. I ordered the rest group to join him, against Clive's protest, because there were a whole lot of beasts to harvest.

I was surprised, actually. I thought that the trolls were sort of weak, but then I evaluated my team seriously. If I remember correctly, except Alex, everyone else was a leader in their previous parties. So if I'm right, then I must have the strongest party in class, as mismatched as we were. Otherwise how would we have disposed of them that fast?

We had only finished half of them but stopped when we had clapping in the distance. Suddenly, five North students joined us and (Unsurprisingly) they had been stalking us.

"Thanks for all your hard work, fellas. We'll take it from here," one of them said. We all had our guards up but when I saw who dared talk, I smiled happily since this made my job a whole lot easier.

Mason, master of Alex, had graced us with his presence, his white armor glowing in the back.