The top team

"So what?" I was completely focused on her.

So focused that I didn't see the rest of her team at all.

"You guys took on a tier twelve, and won," she continued.

"The mind seeder?" I almost cocked my head, "That was just some crazy good luck."

"There's no way that was only luck," she started to get an irritated tone to her voice, "You came out here with a three man team, and you just casually make your way into the third place spot for fun."

"No," I smiled falsely, "I just like hunting, and they were along for the ride."

"No shit," Savannah almost laughed.

Ethan just nodded.

"These two just followed you around as you ran around hunting?" she looked at us as if we were insane as she gestured toward Savannah, and Ethan.

"Pretty much," Savannah smacked me on the back of the head, "This idiot really likes to run head first into near death situations."

"You guys should go back to the settlement after this is all over," she continued, "And wait there where it's safe until this is all over."

I just stared at her as I crossed my arms slowly.

"Better for your health," she continued.

"I don't like you," I stepped forward, "It's a really bad idea for you to threaten us. You see, I don't take threats very well. It makes me angry. When I get angry enough I just stop caring what everyone else thinks about me, and that's when I start punching the source of my anger."

"Are you threatening me?" She sneered.

"No," I held back a growl, "I'm stating a fact."

She tensed as she stepped forward.

"I know something about you, and your group," I smirked slowly, "You're the strongest one in your group."

She stopped. Stunned by that statement. We'd never fought so I shouldn't be able to tell. To me it was obvious. I'd picked her out as the strongest before she'd even bothered to open her mouth.

"Nix," Goliath's voice cut through the crowd.

I flinched involuntarily.

"You'd better not be causing any trouble," Goliath stepped out of the crowd (Not that he had to to be noticed), and looked right at me, "You really are asking for it."

Fear flooded my mind. Did I look guilty? Did he know that I'd beat up Luke, and Conrad already? Goliath strode over, and wrapped an arm around me. Picking me up like I weighed nothing, and dragging me away from the girl that was trying to threaten me.

Ethan had to hold back a smile. He thought my fear of Goliath was humorous enough for it to get through his fear bubble. Savannah just shook her head, and followed. Goliath walked over to one of the domed tents by the cliffs edge, and threw me in. I bounced off my open palms lightly, flipping myself in a way that got me landing on my feet.

Goliath followed me in. He waited for Savannah, and Ethan to come in before sealing the dome back up.

"Tell me what happened with the mind seeder," Goliath ordered.

I was hesitant to tell him everything, but he was getting to know me well enough that he might be able to tell if I lied to him. I swallowed the dry feeling in my throat, and started from the moment we came across three unusual beasts. I didn't leave out anything. I figured it was safer for me to be a hundred percent honest with the giant in front of me. I stopped at the part where I came back to my senses.

I didn't want to get into more trouble by bringing up the whole encounter with Luke, and Conrad's group. Goliath sighed, and shook his head.

"It's starting to feel like you're more trouble than your worth," Goliath rubbed the back of his neck, "Are you sure that you won't go into an out of control state again?"

"What's the chances of another beast trying to control me?" I shrugged, "We didn't run into that thing on purpose to begin with."

Goliath nodded half heartedly with a thoughtful expression. I cocked my head curiously. Wondering if I should try to run now or wait a bit longer? Savannah, and Ethan stood next to the door in tense silence.

"It's almost time," Goliath looked us over suddenly, "Get out there."

We stumbled out of the domed tent. Not wanting to argue with the giant man known as Goliath.

"Are you sure we can trust Goliath?" Ethan whispered in my ear.

"He won't say anything," I kept walking without breaking my stride.

"You're sure?" Ethan asked quietly.

"You really think I'd keep playing pretend like this if I wasn't?" I retorted.

I tried to get a good position near the canyon, but we weren't the only ones that wanted to be close. Right at noon a teacher started talking. He congratulated our team for having the highest tiered killed, and asked the top rankers to come up to the front so that everyone could see them. Continued on to tell us about the five students that had died. After he was done with the announcements he went on to tell us about how dangerous the canyon was.

Which we'd already been told a dozen times to keep us away from it. Then he stated a few of the most dangerous beasts that might come out of the canyon, and would be near it if they did. Replacing the ranking on the display board with images of these powerful beasts, and explaining why they were considered some of the most dangerous beasts on the planet. I didn't care about any of it. If this was just going to be an announcements type of thing then why couldn't they have done it when we got here before sending us out.

It was kind of a stupid way of doing all this in my opinion. I looked around the crowd slowly, and realized something. All the students that would usually scoff, and ignore the teachers were actually listening.

"So that's why they did it this way," I frowned.