After a few more hours of reviewing with Pan, commander Lions made sure each of the squads of the twelfth were moved to the obstacle course for competitive races.

Tecovis was pleased to learn that Brave squad would be the last to go, facing off against Dense and Dauntless squad. Even though he was thankful for the rest, Tecovis still tried to get out of the race, citing the cramps from the duels. But while Commander Lions was kinder than Commander Phurin, he wasn't any less driven to succeed. 

“I understand you're not in the best shape right now, but sometimes you have to push past the pain. There are days when you're sore and exhausted, on those days, you need to still be able to support your partners and squadmates. We protect our town with our endurance. Not just our strength. We succeed because we can hold the line longer than the scum of the streets can stand for. What do you do when you get knocked down?"

Tecovis sighed. "I stand back up."

"And when you get hurt?"

"I hurt them back."

"And if you die?

"I walk it off."

The Commander grinned. "Nothing stands between us and our victory, for we are the Protectors of Thruf!”

His inspiration helped Tecovis to ignore the pain, but he couldn't get it out of his mind.

Commander Lions sent Tecovis with a pat on his shoulder to his squad. When he got there, they began to come up with a strategy to deal with the latest upgrades to the course.

This month's obstacle course was made up of five obstacles. A mud pit, which was stationed in front of a sheer wooden wall, a ramp led down from the top to a group of stalls resembling the market carts, which were followed by a large wooden gate with a series of locks, and ending with a maze that they changed regularly. The maze doubles back on itself to a door next to the entrance. Once they were through, they had to run the course backwards, however, the stalls were full of ropes. While the soldiers were in the maze, groups who weren't running the course grabbed the ropes and pulled them in an attempt to trip those running the return lap.

“You're sure you want me to be up front?”

“Slide, I'm the weak link right now, cramping in my thigh every time I move too far left, and I can barely hold my own weight, much less anyone else's. You and Rox need to be the first to the wall to boost us up.”

“It's been a while since I've been at the bottom of the wall.

“First, you two get Pan up, Rox can help you boost me, and Pan can pull from the banister. The two of us can hold Rox up together from the top as he waits for you.”

Rox chimed in, “Are you sure, Teco? You just said you can barely hold yourself up.”

Tecovis stroked his beard as he replied, “My legs may be dead, but my arms still work just fine. Once we're over the wall, we've got the stalls to deal with. We can run those as normal. Pan, you've kept up your freerunning?”

“Sure have, I got it down.”

“Good, once Slide gets up, he'll take over for you, and we'll get Rox. You'll need to get to the maze door before Rox gets there. He's strong enough to break a couple locks, but anything more than three he'll bounce off the door. We can't waste time rebuilding momentum. Not if we want to beat Dense and his crew. They almost had us last time, and we were all at peak condition then.”

Slide interjected. “Just make sure not to trip on the ropes on the way back, Slick said they sneak up on you.”

He would know, Tecovis thought to himself, remembering how Able squad's rookie knocked him down.

Pan replied, “I got it, I got it. Don't you worry.”

Commander Lions shouted to both huddled teams, “Squads, take your stations! Planning time is over!”

Dense stood up with his crew and made their way to the left course. Tecovis and his squad made their way to the right-side course. Both teams jeering at each other as they came up to the starting line.

“You're mine this time, Teacup!”

“Not even in your dreams, Dense, we've never lost this race, and I'm not about to fail now,” the jeering continued. The Commander watched over the recruits, looking as if he were reminiscing. After a moment of letting them take jabs at each other, he spoke. “Alright, men, settle down. Remember, the goal of the course is to work together. As such, all participants in a squad must cross the finish line before time can be called. The losing squad will join the others scrubbing mire out of the stables. Rumor has it that Sixth battalion's mounts have been dealing with a stomach bug. Are both squads ready?”

With a joint cry, all eight guardsmen shouted “Sir, Yes Sir!”

“Then I say take your mark!”

All the recruits took to the line.

“Get set!”

Tecovis shuffled where he stood, his legs burning as he crouched for his sprint.

A moment of pause. Anticipation coursing through each of the recruits. Rox fidgeted in place.

“GO!”

Eight recruits sprinted off the line. Rox was naturally the slowest in Tecovis's squad, falling behind in the opening sprint as per usual.

Slide and Pan leapt into the mud as far as their momentum would carry them in their gear, sloshing through it at a rapid pace where Tecovis was stumbling as his legs refused to leap. Even Rox outjumped him.

Slide hit the wall with a crash, bracing himself.

“Ready!”

Pan followed close behind.

Rox shouted from behind both of them, “Ready!”

Pan placed his slimey boot into Slide's hands and grabbed his shoulder. Rox then dove low grabbing Pan's leg and practically throwing him up the wall himself, with Slide doing what he could to keep him steady as he ascended.

From the top, Pan's voice cried, “Ready!”

Rox and Slide braced themselves again as Tecovis came trudging along. Jumping against the wall, both Slide and Rox jointly threw Tecovis into Pan's outstretched arms where he clumsily stumbled over top to join him.

“ROX!”

Slide braced himself again against the wall, and Rox used him as a step stool up to the arms of Pan and Tecovis. Once they both had hold of him, Rox planted his leg firmly against the wall.

“SLIDE!”

Without a moment's reprieve, Slide scaled him like a ladder, grabbing his leg, his shoulder,  and his forearm in a fluid hand over hand motion. Once Slide was over the wall he shouted, “Go Pan, GO!”

Pan bolted down the ramp and, being the most agile of the group, vaulted over two of the carts in a single bound then rolled over a third onto the cart tops, bounding over the gaps like a deer. As he approached the door, he took a spiked dagger out of its sheath, jamming the blade between the boards of when he arrived.

Tecovis heard the clatter of the door's inner crossbar just as he made it to the bottom of the ramp.

Pan wrapped a cloth around the blade and stuck a spike in one of the locks, intending to pry it free.

Rox and Tecovis ran in-between the carts as Slide vaulted over them.

“Pan!”

“I'm trying!”

The first lock came loose from its setting. Pan jammed the crossguard into a chain that held the second lock. He pried as quickly as he could, weakening the chain link as he twisted it.

“Pan!”

“DON'T RUSH ME!”

The chain finally broke, and Pan started to lift his blade to break another lock.

“NO TIME PAN, MOVE!”

Slide grabbed Pan and yanked him out of the way as Rox came barreling down the path, uttering a furious roar as his boot slammed the door at the latch with all his might and weight, breaking it and the remaining locks and sending it smashing against the wall.

Pan and Slide rushed in after him to solve the maze, and Tecovis followed shortly after. Each of the squad mates split up, taking different paths. They grabbed mud off their boots with their fingers and used it to mark trails. Backtracking and crossing out their marks when they met a dead end. When all paths were exhausted, they would follow the non-crossed marks until another split occurred in the maze, where an alternate path would be taken.

“Follow the S's, I found it!”

All the rest of the team heard Slide's call and rushed down the marked path. Rox came out second, Tecovis close behind, his thighs and calves screaming in agony. In front of them, Slide dissappeared over the wall.

Tecovis had just made it through the carts when a sudden twang sounded from behind, and he snapped around in time to see Pan come crashing down into the carts.

“Pan! No!”

Rox stopped at the top of the ramp and turned around as Tecovis went back for Pan. 

“Is he alright!?"

Tecovis slid to a stop on his knees. Pan gripped his leg. Writhing in pain. A silent scream painting his face. 

“He hit his leg pretty hard! Might have twisted his ankle!”

He wrapped Pan's arm around his neck and went to scoop him

“Toss him to me!”

He stopped mid pull.

“What!?”

“Toss him to me, I'll catch him!”

Rox then rolled over the top of the ramp into the mudpit

“Are you CRAZY!?”

Next to his ear, Pan hissed, "Do it Tecovis. We- Ah! We have to beat that- mmph!”

Tecovis shook his head in disbelief at what he was about to do. He finished pulling Pan over his shoulders and carried him out of the carts. Pan vocalizing every wobbling step of the way.

He forced his way up the ramp and peered over the side of the tower railing to see Rox standing below in the mud, arms stretched out.

"The pit with this!"

“Teco, you have to!”

“Winning isn't as important as making sure Pan's alright!”

Pan grimaced as he spoke to Tecovis. “I know how much this means to you, I won't be- Shrike-! Mm! I won't be the reason for your-Ach... your disappointment.”

Tecovis hesitated, then glanced over to the other course. The other team didn't get so lucky with the maze and were only just coming up the ramp. 

“If either of you gets hurt from this, I'm killing both of you!”

And with a shove, Pan was in the air. Rox Pan's fall, collapsing into the mud as Pan landed square in his chest. Once he saw they were fine, Tecovis then leapt after, splattering next to the pair on his side. Rox yanked Tecovis up to where he could breathe and nearly dragged Pan and Tecovis towards the finish, where a mud-covered Slide was waiting with a touch of worry in his face. At the edge of the mud pit, Tecovis found his footing as the two ran as fast as their legs could carrying them.

“Finish! Brave squad wins!”

Tecovis tumbled to a stop and Rox lowered Pan into Slide's reach, the two of them bringing him to the ground.

“What happened?” Slide asked. “I heard the screaming, but I didn't see anything.”

“They pulled a rope above the- Mmf!” Pan's answer was cut short as Rox took off Pan's boot.

“Medic!” Tecovis shouted while he was sitting himself back up, “We need a medic over here!”

A medic came over and tended to the injured Pan's leg while Commander Lions spoke to Dense and his squad. Through grit teeth, Pan continued, “They pulled a rope up above the carts, my belt got caught in it while I was vaulting. It ended up spinning me, and my heel got slammed into one of the tables on my way to the ground. Hurts like the pit.”

A sympathetic hiss slipped out of both Rox and the Medic before Rox replied, “I'll bet.”

“I thought I told you to watch for the ropes, you bozo!”

“They raised it after I was halfway over, Slide, there was nothing I could do!”

“Well then, maybe-”

“That's enough, Silnor,” interjected Commander Lions. He'd finished talking to Dense's team and had made his way over to Brave squad.

“Getting mad at someone who was just injured isn't going to fix them. What's the report?”

The medic, without looking up, replied, “If he wasn't wearing boots, it would have been a lot worse. It's starting to swell up, otherwise, it should be fine by sunrise tomorrow.” He turned his attention to Commander Lions. “He's done for today. Doc's orders. Come to my office later if you need it in writing.”

“Riff will want it if he gets back before we leave.”

“I'll keep it handy, Commander.”

“Good. Now then, to business. I noticed that you didn't send Rox up the wall before Tecovis like usual.”

Tecovis spoke up, “I wasn't confident in my ability to hold weight, sir. My legs feel like gravy.”

“And yet you held it just fine, considering you carried recruit Pan up the entire tower ramp without so much as a grimace. You sold yourself short to your team by limiting yourself like that. Don't let one bad experience dictate your abilities, you're capable of far more than you're admitting to yourself.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Recruit Pan.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Your acrobatics at the carts continues to impress me. If you exclude your little accident, you did well. Good work. You'll no doubt pass your final evaluation.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Rox.”

“Sir?”

“Your quick thinking saved your team. You should be very pleased with yourself.”

“I am, sir. Thank you, sir.”

“Silnor.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Attitude aside, you were the first to escape the maze between both squads. And you did a good job preparing the way for your team. However, you missed four cuttable ropes. Recruit Pan is not the only one who needs to pay more attention.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Soak that leg in cold water for the swelling, recruit Pan, and if you start feeling nauseous, let someone know. The rest of you, clean yourselves up! You have an hour to be at target practice!

And both squads shouted, “SIR YES SIR!”

“Doc, let Captain Shree know that the obstacle course is open on your way back. The fifth has been wanting to run them too.”