Chapter 127 - 127. Campfire Cookies
"You think you can beat me? The battle master? You\'ll need to defeat ten people to even challenge me." Asher played some bravado in his speech trying to sound high and mighty.
Art and Jane didn\'t miss the chance to rebuttal, "foul villain. You force us to slay your enemies by the tens, just for entertainment!"
"We shall rise above and crush you. You will feel our true wrath!"
The three cracked up after Jane\'s addition. They were unable to keep up the facade as they started to draw looks from other campers. "Hey Asher, go long!"
Art held the egg in a throwing position. They had drawn some attention and it was time to show off. Asher dashed forward and jumped in the air catching the golden egg. "The golden egg is caught! It\'s a ten point run. The crowd goes wild!" Jane\'s announcing voice was on point, many campers instantly became dejected.
"Yes yes, thank you for coming to see our victory. Tomorrow you will have a chance to lose to us again. But for now, we will kick your butts at the training field." Asher turned about as he spoke holding the golden egg high.
"Bro, you\'re a little bit much there. Won\'t everyone come to the sparring field and try to beat you now?" Art was worried Asher was getting in over his head.
"It\'s perfect! They will show up to fight Asher and we will have a steady supply of practice." Jane saw Asher\'s plan in full. It would be a great points farming opportunity and training.
"Make sure you get a lot of training Art. But make sure to save a little energy...I think we will be doing a tough workout with the elite home gym." Asher had still not explained the home gym fully, but the two knew it meant they would be dead tired.
The more the three walked through the camp the better things got. Campers were already gossiping and many had given up the search. "How do you always find it! I searched the whole obstacle course while running it and I found nothing!" Laura was understandably frustrated to see Asher holding the golden egg yet again.
"Ohh, you want to know where we found it? Reaallllyy?" Asher held the egg up taunting her. Laura\'s simple response was to chomp harder on the cookie in her hand.
"It was in a groove at the top of the welcome sign. It will be a challenge if they hide it like that every day." Jane said it outright ignoring Asher\'s attempt to tease Laura.
"That\'s so sneaky! Do you know how he found it the first time? It was inside a hollowed out part of a tree. It was impossible. Here." Laura offered a cookie from her package to Jane.
"Asher didn\'t tell us, he has been pretty lame today." Jane threw some teasing at Asher who appeared to be lost for words. \'They\'re going to gang up on me. Girls are pure evil!\'
"It\'s alright bro, we both know you don\'t have to be jealous of those cookies. Mine are better and if we get enough points I\'ll buy ingredients at the general store. We can make a fire and make a campfire cookie." Jane immediately stopped mid-bite.
"And that is why we are best friends Art." Asher clapped him on the shoulder and stuck his tongue out at the girls.
"Are they really that good?" Laura couldn\'t help but whisper to Jane.
"Better than good, I\'d kill for them." Jane\'s solemn face was enough to motivate the food driven Laura. She needed the constant snacking and if it tasted better she would fight for it.
"Then I think the boys should make us a batch of campfire cookies." Her eyes exclamation made it sound like the boys were striving to show off and offer them the best. Jane didn\'t even flinch and knew she should back Laura up.
"One batch for each of us would be the perfect amount. It would be a proper gift to give to lovely ladies like ourselves." The two girls felt they had the perfect plan to guild the boys in to sharing, but Art had become serious over his recipes.
"Alright, then I will need you two to get points for ingredients. Also a cast iron skillet, one someone to start a fire because I don\'t know how, and I need a few tools or at least a bowl." His list shocked them. He had directly flipped the situation on them.
"Nice move Art." Asher nudged his friend proud of the sudden flip to seriousness, but Art turned to him too.
"You can\'t touch them. I want you to get your friend Jackson to help us find some tree nuts or small berries to add. I want to make a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. Fresh berries from the forest or fresh nuts would be ideal."
Asher and the girls had been defeated in an instant. They went from hopeful cookie eaters to ingredient fetchers. Art wasn\'t even going to revel in his victory, he was too concerned with planning the steps in his head and getting what he needed.
Jane sighed in defeat before focusing herself. "First we need to get ourselves some points. Let\'s go and get to the sparring field. Art, come on, points are an ingredient too."She knew that this would snap Art out of his own head and get him moving towards the sparring field again.
With Laura in tow, the three headed back to the training field. The campers had quickly heard about their goal being taken away and the bragging that Asher had used. Now there was a sizable group competing in the sparring field and causing some noise.
There were additional staff members that had been called over to watch the matches. This was part of the safety aspect of their jobs. This also let the campers feel at ease since they would have someone there if they were injured. This made them willing to give more and go all out when it came to their matches, something that brought a smile to Garnet\'s face.