Skipping Stones (ReinerxOC)

Sneaky Decisions

     I had officially been at the Cadet Corps for a year and a half now. That means we only had 1.5 years left.
     "Cadets line up!" Commandant Shadis yelled. We all formed a long line, facing him.
     "You're officially halfway through your training. The rest of your training will be you tuning up the skills you have already been
taught. If you thought the first half was hard get in line for the fields, because the second half will be utter hell. Understand!"
     "Yes sir!" We said and in unison put our fists over our hearts.
     "Today we will be doing a training exercise similar to capture the flag. You will be paired up in teams of three, each team will have a small colored cloth. Your objective will be to steal the cloth from other teams. Whoever has the most cloths by the end will get extra points and whoever has the least has stable duty for the week. You have to have your cloth visible at all times, you can't steal your cloth back less than an hour after it has been taken, and you may not conspire with other teams. Got it!"
     "Yes Sir!" The Cadets shouted collectively.
     "Now you will get assigned your teams." A solider started shouted out our group names.
     "Reiner, Ymir, and Eren, Krista, Annie, and Marco, Armin, Connie, and Mikasa, Bertholdt, Sasha, and Annalise," the solider continued on but I tuned them out and found Sasha and Bertholdt. I thought we had a pretty good chance, Sasha had good instincts and could sense someone coming from a mile away, and Bertholdt was a good solider.
      "Hey guys." I walked up to them.
     "Hey." They both waved at me.
     "Are you guys ready to win?" I smiled.
     "Uh, yeah." Bertholdt responded.
      "We sure are!" Sasha jumped. She elbowed Bertholdt in the side. "Have a little enthusiasm." He just nodded. Bertholdt was shy but he meant well.
      We walked over to where they were handing out supplies. Each team was issued a tent, a days worth of rations for three people, two bedrolls, a back pack that it all came in, and a colored cloth. We got a dark blue cloth. This exercise was to last 24 hours.
      "Once you get your supplies you may head into the forest." Bertholdt slipped the backpack onto his back and I tied the cloth to one of the straps. We figured since he was the tallest it would be harder for people to reach.
     Once we were deep into the forest I stopped them. "Ok guys, we need a game plan. Any ideas?" Silence.
     "Well luckily I do. I say we climb a tree near the stream. Since they didn't give us any water people are gonna need to drink. We stay in the trees until someone walks by. Then me or Sasha will jump down and snag their cloths. Bertholdt you will stay hidden higher in the trees so no one will spot you, and you'll hold all the cloths until we get down. When it comes to sleeping two people stay awake while one person sleeps. We'll take turns from sunrise to sunset. Then we go back to the stream until the Commandant calls us back. Sound good."
     They both nod and we walk off toward the stream. Once we arrived Bertholdt climbed one tree in the middle while me and Sasha climbed the ones on either side.
      It took a few hours for the first group to arrive but they did. It was Annie, Krista, and Marco. Annie had the flag in their group which was very smart. Annie was one of the best in our class when it came to self defense.
      Conveniently they walked directly under Sasha's tree, she jumped down and attempted to grab the cloth on Annie's backpack but Krista and Marco pushed her back. While they were all three busy thwarting off Sasha I carefully untied the cloth from Annie's backpack strap.
     She noticed right when I released it from the  string. "Hey!" She shouted. "You guys can stop now, Anna got it." Krista and Marco turned around to me smirking and holding the cloth.
     "Dang it." Marco frowned. They went back to getting a drink and Sasha and I walked into the woods a little bit as to not reveal where Bertholdt was hiding. After they left we took our post back in the trees. I handed Bertholdt the cloth and we waited for the next target.
     It was stating to get dark and we were doubtful that anyone else would come. We hopped down one by one to get a drink. It was finally my turn.
     I climbed down the tree and crouched by the stream to get a drink. I quickly stopped when I heard arguing.
     "You should let me hold the cloths, you two idiots will get them stolen." The familiar voice of Ymir filled my ears. If I remembered correctly she was with Reiner and Eren.
     "Who are you calling an idiot!" My memory seemed to be correct as I heard Eren argue back with Ymir.
     "Just let me hold them, I'm the tallest so it will be harder for them to reach." Reiner's deep voice retorted.
     "Fine Braun, but if you get them stolen I won't forget it." Ymir added. They were on the other side of the stream. I carefully snuck down the stream a little and crossed quietly.
     Sasha was watching me the whole time. I motioned for her to throw something to distract them.
     She silently snapped a twig and threw it to the ground as hard as she could. The twig rustled some leaves which caught their attention.
     "What was that?" Eren whispered.
     "Another team, dumbass." Ymir answered.
     "We'll check it out, Reiner you stay here." Eren explained. Eren and Ymir walked across the stream to where Sasha threw the twig. Once they were far enough away I made my move.
     I tried to grab the cloth from his shirt pocket but he noticed and turned towards me. Quickly I flipped him over and pinned him on the ground with my hand over his mouth.
     Eren and Ymir noticed but Sasha kept them at bay for long enough. "Shhh." I smiled at Reiner. But to no ones surprise Reiner was stronger than me.
     He flipped me over to the ground. "Shhh." He said mocking me. My hands were held to the ground so I couldn't grab the cloths out of his pocket with them. But I had an idea.
     I flung my head up and grabbed the cloths they had with my teeth. "Got 'em." I said through the cloths.
     "Damnit!" He stood up and let go of me. I grabbed the cloths out of my mouth and stood up too. "Guys she got it." He sighed.
     "Yay!" Sasha cheered. Eren and Ymir looked disappointed and headed back towards Reiner.
     "Are you kidding me Reiner!? You had one job!" She shouted at him.
     "It's not like you could have done any better." He retorted.
     "Actually I could have because I'm not afraid to punch a girl." Ymir scoffed.
     "Well sleep tight guys!" I smirked and sprinted off towards Sasha. Again, we walked into the woods to throw them off.
     After they left Bertholdt jumped out of the tree and I handed him the two cloths we got from them. We set up our tent near the stream and took turns sleeping while two people guarded the cloths.
     At 9am the next morning we heard the sturdy voice of the Commandant yell "Cadets! Time's up." We headed towards the entrance of the forest.
     "I think we did good guys!" I gave them both high fives.
     The Commandant counted up the flags when we all got back to base.
     "The loser of this competition is Reiner, Ymir, and Eren with zero cloths!" They glared at our team. "And the winner is Bertholdt, Sasha, and Annalise with 4 flags!"
     Me and Sasha cheered and jumped while Bertholdt just stood there. "'Come on Bertholdt, celebrate!" I smiled at him.
     "Oh, yeah. Yay." He half heartedly cheered.
     "Better."