Xiao Man was tired, they had trod up the mountain since daybreak and it was now nightfall. Even Ah Ben couldn't claim he could race a cheetah right now. But he was asleep. As were all the others when she left them.

It was disturbingly quiet. Xiao Man stopped in her tracks. She was the one on guard but she wanted to take a stroll. Maybe now it wasn't such a great idea. She quickly back tracked and found that a tent was uprooted from the ground. There were footprints. Xiao Man was about to scream when she heard voices.

“Vic told us they would send a bunch of rookies. Look, they aren't even well trained, unguarded at night when prowling in F4 territory, we could use this bunch of youngsters. Or maybe we had better bring them up to headquarters.” A hoarse voice chuckled. Xiao Man shivered. His voice was like the scratching of a chalk board.

Another voice piped up, “We could also kill these right now and eat them.” Those few words made Xiao Man freeze down to the bone. She should act fast.

There was a tap on her shoulder. Xiao Man squeaked. She braced herself and turned around, Ah Ben was behind her, fully aware. He nodded once at her.

“What was that?” The course voice asked from inside the tent.

“Well well well, a couple of night strollers as it seems.” The other smirked. He took out a club, and an axe.

Xiao Man looked at Ah Ben, and told him, “Close your ears.” Ah Ben didn't need telling twice. The men were slow to react as Xiao Man suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice was enough to shatter the eardrums and temporarily paralyze the two men. They were safe for now. But she might as well have drew a map to show where they were.

Ah Ben moved quick. He quickly knocked out both the men and tied them to a tree. The others were awake now.

“What's happening?” Calvin asked.

“F4 knows we are coming. We had better hurry off now.” Xiao Man's throat hurt.

Wang Zi was relatively calm and he started packing.

“Well,” Ah Ben sighed, “Our plan for secrecy was ruined, thanks to Xiao Man..”
 

Xiao Man scowled.

“But they didn't expect four groups. They probably have only found out about us, and so the others are still safe. Going to F4 headquarters might be a trap, but I'd say they weren't expecting us to. So let's head off. And Xiao Man, next time give me earplugs. I think I'm deaf.”

Xiao Man pretended not to hear him.

Just then there was a rustle of leaves behind them. Xiao Yu instantly shot a pair of stars at the origin of the sound. They all heard as a body dropped down. But it was quickly muffled by the sound of boots. Lots of them. Way more than two.

“There's thirty souls.” Gui Gui muttered. She had spaced out and came back to consciousness.

Wang Zi unveiled his sword. Xiao Xun unleashed her whips. Calvin and Ah Ben prepared to fight.

By now, Xiao Yu had climbed up on a tree. He threw each star with amazing accuracy at the people's throats. He was masked by the trees and was invisible. But the crowd didn't hinder. They now surrounded the group.

Wang Zi nodded his head and they all charged. Six among a good two dozen. The odds were against them, but they were trained fighters, even if they were tired, and frightened, they knew how to fight.

Wang Zi jumped up and slashed his sword down a man's back. He reflected an arrow with his sword and twirled his sword around. It made contact with another man's throat. He was down instantly. Wang Zi proceeded to twirl his sword, summoning his power, and he unleashed his power, spinning in a circle. He caught several men's legs and disabled them.

Xiao Xun had twirled her whip around, summoning the air around her. She used momentum to hit the opponents on the chest. Her wrist flicked again and again as she aimed for their soft spot. She jumped to avoid a club and wrapped her whip around the club. She threw the man backwards and knocked him out.

Calvin was a rookie to fighting. He had only fought fighting bags in school. Now he was surrounded each side by opponents. He relaxed his nerves and he did what he did. His tai chi wasn't at its normal pace, it was much quickened. This turned out to be deadly as Calvin punched and attacked. He was in a trance now, and he could even block the clubs without so much of a wince.

Ah Ben sped around the array of men. He punched and kicked the men. He was like a squirrel. He dodged axes, clubs and arrows, and continued to attack the unaware. To others he seemed like a breath of wind. He ran at top speed, he had already formulated a plan. They were not going to walk into a trap without backup. He sped off in the direction of the nearest flare.

Xiao Man had sent up the red flare, and answering flares replied back. Her and Gui Gui were with the stuff. Gui Gui was slipping in and out of consciousness as she attacked the unaware men's souls. Nobody knew what was coming. Xiao Man saw Ah Ben rush past them.

By now the crowd diminished severely. Wang Zi and Xiao Xun were like a match made couple for fighting. Wang Zi's sword whistled as he struck a man behind Xiao Xun. Xiao Xun jumped up and launched her attack on another opponent. She landed and a cloud of dust erupted from the floor.

Calvin didn't feel like fighting anymore. He broke out of his trance when he noticed all the blood. He needed peace, and he wanted to help these people. But then he knew that they were bad, and that they would kill him if he did stop. So he fought on.

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Ah Ben had reached Xiao Jie's group. She was probably the only one who checked the skies at night. Both the Xiao Jies were on guard duty and they saw Ah Ben. He quickly told them about going to the F4 headquarters. He wanted Xiao Jie's group to rescue them out if their plan failed.

“No, I disagree, we're all going to rescue the gem together.” Xiao Jie (girl) answered.

“I guess. How about we serve as distraction, though. We can raid their headquarters and then ambush our enemy.” Ah Ben's eyes were on fire. He seemed to have an immeasurable amount of rage bottled up. But that flash of emotion was gone in a second.

“Our enemy?” Xiao Jie (boy) interrupted. “And why can't we stick in our groups?”

“Well, you know, F4. Our campsite is under attack, and they already know we're coming. So how about we just gather up together.”

“Are you sure one group doesn't need to stay back....”
 

“The more people to fight the better. I know F4, so I'm saying they are going to be waiting at the doorsteps and greeting us with arrows.”

“If you say so,” Xiao Jie (girl) looked stressed, “You can go inform the others and we will set off right now.”

Ah Ben nodded and sped off quickly.

Xiao Yu had followed silently. He had thought Ah Ben was up to something. He didn't like this guy. He found him talking to Xiao Jie (girl) quietly, then speed off. He heard everything.

“Xiao Jie, I don't think we should trust him.” He appeared from the bushes that he had taken cover from.

Xiao Jie looked shocked, but then her face was relieved at the sight of Xiao Yu, “Against my better judgment. Maybe we could leave the younger kids back up to save us.”

“What?! The little inexperienced twirps! Our lives on the hook!” Xiao Yu was aghast.
 

“It's the only plan we got. One thing for certain is that danger is ahead.”

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"They are coming." Vanness informed the leader.

"Good, they will fall into our trap. The best of Wu Xiong will diminish in our hands and then we will rule!" Jerry laughed his manic laugh, his voice menacing. His laugh echoed in the hall and bounced off its walls.

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Hey, sharshar here! Sorrrry about not updating for so long! It just... happened! I hope you like this chapter! I'm not too good at fighting scenes, but I thought I made it look like they were all incompetent, so just to ensure that they are all still good at fighting and such. Anyways, I didn't think they were going anywhere so I just skipped the whole travelling. Yes, they arrived and now I hope it gets good. Wherever my imagination leads this to... I hope you guys like it and comment!