"Attention, all adventurers! Report to the temple of Yithemba immediately!" an oddly jovial sounding voice echoed throughout the jungle the group found themselves in.

Roe looked around in confusion, "Where did that voice come from?" he voiced his thoughts and those of the majority of his classmates. The three newcomers however seemed to know exactly what this voice was, and they all looked on edge.

One of the three new ultimates the group met, Masaru, stood up from where he was sitting as his snake let out a quiet defensive hiss at the sound of the voice, "It's time...again..." he muttered, looking over toward his two comrades.

Kokone and Lienna shared a look with one another, both not looking well. "We need to go." Masaru called out as he began to walk away, towards wherever the voice seemed to echo out from, with his snake trailing behind him.

The drummer and the grandmaster both stood up, following Masaru's actions. "It might be for the best for all of you to come with us." Kokone said, redirecting her gaze from the group to where Masaru wandered off.

"Where exactly are you, uh we, going?" Roe asked, causing Sayuri to barge right in.

"You're seriously going to go with them?" she growled, walking forward.

The grandmaster shook her head. "No, it's for the best you come with us." she said, glancing back to where Masaru once was. "Seriously, something bad could happen to you if you aren't present for this."

Roe blinks and gives a nod in understanding, seemingly believing everything the fellow Ultimate was saying, "Alrighty then, let's move out class~" the class president spoke with a smile as he looked over to his classmates, almost acting like this was another school trip.

Most of the classmates looked at one another. "R-Roe...are you s-sure about t-this?" asked the shy, Satoshi.

"Yep yep~ Our new friends don't seem untrustworthy, in fact they seem to be in the same boat as us. And since they've been in here longer than us then they must know what they are doing, right?" Roe smiled.

Lambert, keeping his distance from everyone, spoke up. "That might be true but we gotta keep in mind they were already here before us." he spoke rather briefly and it didn't look like he was going to contribute anymore of his thoughts for now.

"Lambert does have a point." Nila brought up. "But I still think we should go with them."

"Nila?" Roe blinked, then sent the vice president a rather thankful smile for agreeing with him.

Nila glanced past Lienna and Kokone. "We should still go to the temple mentioned, anyway. There could be consequences if we don't go."

"But of course, the kami don't like waiting after all." Kotan calmly walked away first, leaving the group with his owl perched on his shoulder. Lienna gave Kokone a look as the two had a silent discussion, ending in Lienna and her elephant following the weather specialist and his owl, probably to make sure he got to the temple.

Jade paced around before nodded, coming to a decision. "I'll go too!" she decided as the rhino beside her seemed ready to go with her.

"If y-you go Roe, I'll g-go too." Renjiro smiled, holding his puppet while the zebra yipped.

Roe looked around the group, more and more people decided to go to the temple.

"Well, there is safety in numbers, after all." Lilliya said as her crocodile let out a small rumble in agreement.

"If all these lovely ladies are to go, I'll tag along too~." Daichi smiled and winked as his lion looked around the forest nervously.

"Yeah, don't kid yourself, buddy." Kura said, joining bandwagon to visit the temple with her hippo.

Chesa and Yoshiko shared a look with one another as they sat on one of the fallen logs, with the shorter girl's arms wrapped around the armless girl before they stood up, as Hibiki, Shay and Sho walked forward. "Thank you everyone. Now let's go!" the group began turned their attention to the drummer, Kokone who gestured everyone to follow her as her toucan led the way. "Follow me, I'll show you all to the temple."

"Oh yeah, let's just go into the jungle and not into a trap." Sayuri growled sarcastically as Lambert looked at the hyena standing under his legs, to Sayuri and back to the leaving group before he himself followed from a distance causing Sayuri to growl and mimic his actions, as they travelled through the jungle path.

When the group of students arrived to their destination most were shocked to see an actual temple, standing tall and proud right in the middle of this large jungle. It resembled something that you would normally see in adventure movies or fictional novels; tall pillars that are partly cracked and have plant life growing on certain spots, an odd little 'courtyard' area in front of the temple with a pedestal in the middle that held a large foggy green orb on it and stone engravings on the floor around it, a sealed up door made of solid stone, and the gigantic bear statue that was taking up the upper half of the temple with its large claws reaching outwards and its mouth open as if it was giving a mighty roar.

"Whoa..." Roe gazed in awe at the temple that stood in the jungle in all its glory. He wasn't the only one in awe at the temple too.

"Is this where we're supposed to go?" asked Sho holding her badger in her arms as Kokone nodded in confirmation and from the look of things, the others seemed to have already entered the temple.

Following Kokone, the group entered the temple as the light outside died as the temple's shadows took over as the only source of light were the lit torches on the old stone walls as their footsteps echoed somewhat in the ancient, spacious stone building. "Sound echoes quite well in here." Hibiki took note of that face as he said it with a slight smile on his face as his bat seemed to enjoy the echoes too.

"There goes our acoustician." Shay shook his head. "Always focusing on the sound."

Chesa was grinning at this point. "It looks like one of those temples out of those adventure movies." she looked around the temple as they were led throughout it. "I wonder if there's any traps? Like those boulders you have to out run."

"L-Let's hope n-not." Satoshi mumbled.

The new arrivals to the jungle soon arrived at their destination. "We're here." Gestured the drummer and her toucan, as they took in what they saw in the room that was lit by the torches in each corner.

There they all saw what what seemed to be a much larger version of the board game, it was still made of wood as well, that they had originally were going to play on before they got sucked into this weird place. This board was on a long stone table and extended from one end of the room to the other but still seemed to have 110 spaces like the original and the foggy magic ball was still there as well, and behind the large table was a extravagant yet empty stone throne with intricate designs and even the face of a bear carved out near the top. The whole room had a rather eerie vibe floating through the air.

"Wooaaaahhh! What is this place?" Roe questions in awe as he looked around the room, apparently not picking up on the heavy air in the atmosphere.

"And why is the board game here?" the rower, Shay asked, looking from the large board game and the snake-masked Masaru.

The snake masked teen looked back at the newcomers with annoyance as he spoke, "This is where all good things go to die," he hissed out.

"Sorry, but was does that mean exactly?" asked the classical musician as her rhino stood closeby.

Lienna, who arrived earlier with Kotan kept her eyes on the large board game. "It's..." the grandmaster hesitated.

"Upupupu~ Hello all daring adventurers! It is so nice to see all your faces, old and new~ Now who is ready to get this grand new adventure rolling?" a voice suddenly echoed throughout the room before the drums began to start another steadily rising beat.

And suddenly at the climax of the drums a figure dropped down from the ceiling and landed on the stone throne with a loud thud. The figure was unlike anything Roe or his classmates had ever seen but it was a very familiar sight to the trio that they had recently met.

This being was a bear, much like the statue on top of the temple, but…. Had a much more cartoony appearance compared to any of their animal companions, it wasn't even made of flesh and bone. Instead this strange bear had his right side being completely made of a dark wood with small carvings for his mouth and right eye, he even had a belly button carved on in the middle and the right side gave the impression of a type of bear children would get in a plush toy form. But the left side on the other hand gave a bit more of a menacing feel despite it still being cartoony in style; the left side is completely made of white stone, not unlike the throne he was sitting on, and he even had a carved demented smile on his face but his eye on that side was a different story. Instead of being made with more stone, or even wood, the left eye was jagged and made of a glowing piece of emerald that seemed to be giving off some sort of powerful energy.

"W-Wha?!" Renjiro backed up from seeing this 'bear'. He was expecting anything, just not this thing.

The 'bear' stood up on the throne and gave a small respectful bow, which was a tad awkward due to his bodily shape, to the teens as he introduced himself, "Greetings adventurers, my name is Totemkuma and I am your humble guide and rule keeper on your grand expedition!"

The locksmith just stared at this bear that introduced itself. "Expedition? Is that why we ended up here?"

"That might be the case." Nila gazed cautiously at the bear. They did end up getting sucked into the board game, after all. Nothing else could get weirder than that.

Kotan however, was way too calm (as usual). "Ah, so Kami had blessed us with a messenger." he smiled up at the bear, getting a look from not just his classmates, but the new trio too.

Lambert however backed up with his hyena while everyone was busy up front. Unfortunately for him, stone walls had closed in the whole temple, more so the board game room they were in.

The odd being that called itself Totemkuma stopped bowing and happily nodded to the students, "Yes indeed, you new adventurers are here because you chose to join us~ Just ask your veteran explorers here, they know all the ins and outs of this wonderful activity, puhuhuhuhuhu~" the bear like creature speaks as he gestured to the trio that Roe and his classmates had met right before coming here. The three of them seemed tense and had varying levels of fear and anger towards the so called 'guide'.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sayuri narrowed her eyes at the trio.

Masaru glares darkly at the wood and stone creature, "Who cares, it's just a shitty wooden bear."

"Awww don't be like that little hissy boy, after we spent all that time together are you trying to tell me we never bonded at all? *sniffle* You hurt this old bear's heart!" Totemkuma dramatically responds as he actually says the word 'sniffle' as he wipes away a non-existent tear.

"Ma-" Kokone seemed to want to say something but was interrupted by their friend speaking once more.

"Just hurry it up so we can finish." Masaru growled but couldn't help the grin. "One last good roll, and I'm done with your shitty board game."

Totemkuma gave the snake-masked teen a confused look as he tilted his head, "Huh? What are you talking about King Cobra? The game can't nearly be over, I haven't even told our wonderful newcomers the rules yet."

"They can wait until their game starts." Masaru shot back.

Lienna with wide eyes, couldn't turn her eyes away as a buildup of tears started to form in her eyes. "Masa-" and just like Kokone, her voice was lost to the louder ruckus.

The wood-stone bear just starts giggling at that proclamation, "Upupupupu, silly silly danger noodle~ There is only one game that can happen at one time~"

"M-Masaru!" Both Kokone and Lienna tried to get the vet's attention, which actually got said vet's attention as he turned to see their expressions. Pale and wide eyed.

His voice still had an angry tone, but it died down a bit after seeing the distraught look on both girls' faces. "What?"

The two of them didn't say anything but they both gestured for him to look at the board.

"And that game is currently this game, can't have you three have an advantage over our newbies~ Where is the fun in that? Bwahahahahahahaha!" Totemkuma laughed as Masaru's face contorted in disbelief with wide eyes.

There on the board, was the snake, elephant and toucan piece from the board game, three of the four missing pieces that the new group could tell, but for Masaru, colour drained away from his face before a rush of red anger flooded his system as his snake seemed to rise up with the same amount of rage.

Those three pieces, so close to the finish line, were back at the starting line.

All progress they made, was reverted.

The snake-masked teen exploded. "WHAT?! ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BEGINNING?! ALL OUR HARD WORK AND SUFFERING IS WASTED?!"

"Puhuhu, why of course~ If I kept you at the place where the three of you were the game would be too short and our new adventurers wouldn't be able to enjoy much of the experience, duh! I'm a very fair bear after all~" Totemkuma spoke to Masaru like he was an idiot before beginning to laugh loudly again.

"Um-" whatever Roe was about to say was immediately cut off with Masaru's cold and dead eyes staring not only at him, but the entire new group. No words could describe the rage behind those eyes, it made Roe gulp and his dear back up nervously as the snake looked like it would strike any moment.

Lienna however fell to her knees, though her pain wasn't for their progress.

"Fair? You call this fair?" the drummer asked as her Toucan squawked in agreement. "What about the others?! How is this fair to them!" she demanded.

"Those failures already lost the game so there is no way I'd allow them to come back, they were all a bunch of sorry excuses for adventurers. And besides they wouldn't be able to come back either way now that someone else now carries the other pieces, there is no room for them anymore you silly bird~" Totemkuma spoke with a shrug like it was the most logical answer ever while lightly scolding the girl like she was a dumb child.

"YOU FUCKING BEAR!" Masaru shouted. "ONCE I'M DONE WITH THIS, I'M GOING TO BURN YOU ALIVE UNTIL YOUR NOTHING BUT ASH AND CINDERS!"

"Puh, you know the rules, you can't touch me. Besides even if you tried to hurt me you wouldn't be able to~ I'm the god of this world and anything I say goes~" the wood and stone bear spoke with a cruel laugh.

Masaru's anger took on a completely different form. It was alien to even the drummer and the grandmaster. "Who the fuck said in this world?" Masaru said this with an indescribable look of horror and anger.

Totemkuma gave the boy a look of interest, "Oh? Is that a challenge? You think you'll be able to survive my gauntlet again? Do you think you can handle this new batch of fun and challenging activities I have planned for this game?" the the gem eyed bear asked as his smile somehow widened.

Kotan then butted into the conversation, calmly as ever. "Ah, so the Kami have brought us here to partake in their game."

Totemkuma turned and looked at the male with the owl for a moment before letting out a much friendlier laugh than before," Puhuhu~ See this guy has the right idea, I like you Night Owl~ Say why can't the rest of you be like him? He understands, why can't you?" the bear asked, mostly targeting the angry and distraught trio, much like how a parent would compare their successful child to their misbehaving child.

"I wonder why," Sayuri grumbled lowly.

"I'm more concerned on the whole, others and 'failures' that were mentioned." Sho brought up.

"Ah, you don't have to worry about those extras, they're old news now that you guys are here," Totemkuma spoke as he waved off the inquiry, this only seemed to make Masaru even more furious.

Nila, seeing the look Masaru was giving Totemkuma, filled her with a rather bad feeling if the snake-masked teen continued. "So if we're here to play a game, shouldn't you tell us the rules?"

"Ah yes of course, silly me I got so caught up talking to my lovely veterans I have been neglecting my poor newbies. I deeply apologize for that~ Now then, you all read the rules on the board game before you jumped in correct? Well now that the game is officially started I can tell you the rest of them~" Totemkuma spoke as he happily bounced in place on top of his throne before clapping his wooden and stone paw together causing the magical green orb on the board game to glow.

Suddenly a large glowing stone tablet came out of the orb and appeared in front of the group of teens, written on it were the rules that Roe had read earlier plus some additional ones they hadn't seen before. Even the first rule, that was all scratched up back in the outside world, was now readable for everyone there.

Rule #1: WARNING: Those who start the game won't be allowed to leave until the game is finished.

Rule #2: Do not linger when holding the dice, a horrible fate awaits those who linger for too long.

Rule #3: Not all pieces are created equal as some have a higher immunity over spaces than the others.

Rule #4: The game won't end until at least one player reaches the end.

Rule #5: The game will vanish only when a player has completed the final trial and calls out Yithemba's name.

Rule #6: No harm is allowed to come to the guide Totemkuma, those that attempt to will be severely punished.

Rule #7: There are three different types of spaces - good spaces, bad spaces, and motive spaces.

Rule #8: For those that want to win right away there is a shortcut, if one person meets the 'special condition' without the other players finding out that person alone will be able to leave the game.

Rule #9: Totemkuma's word is law and additional rules may be added by him when necessary.

"And do not worry about forgetting about what the rules are, cause I've places a copy for each of you in your living quarters that you'll all be staying while we are here. I would hate to lose any players simply because they forgot what the rules were~" Totemkuma explained as Roe and his classmates looked over the new rules and the uncovered first rule.

"Special condition?" Roe tilted his head at the rule. He was kind of curious about the rule, and just what was the special condition.

"Yep~ It is a veeeeerrrrryyyyyyy special condition that is super duper fun but extremely hard to get away with," Totemkuma spoke in a playful yet mischievous way.

"What is it?" the Ultimate Camp Counselor bounced.

Totemkuma waved his paw back and forth. "Sorry, if I told you right away, it wouldn't be special anymore." Suddenly, his jagged emerald eye glowed. "It would be a shame if anyone ruined the surprise for you so early on." On those words he sent almost a warning look to the veteran trio but that lasted a mere couple seconds before looking back at everyone else.

"All will become clear soon my dear adventurers, so please just be patient and you shall get the answers you desire~" Totemkuma said, going back to his lighthearted and playful tone.

Nila looked at the strange bear with a suspicious glance, those words only putting her a bit more on edge.

The stone and wood bear then clapped its paws together. "Now then, I think that's enough for today. Sorry oldcomers, no game today." He then set his sights on the new group that arrived in his domain. "Now you guys, you'll need some accommodations. These three will show you the way, but you'll find out pretty quickly who goes where, puhuhuhuhu."

The bear then raised its paw before it waddled off somewhere further into the mysterious temple.

Once the bear disappeared within the temple the door they had came in when they first entered finally opened once more, meanwhile Roe just pouts at how vague the bear had been about this 'special condition'.

"I don't really get why Totemkuma wont let us know what the shortcut in the game is… is it really hard or something?" the Ultimate Camp Counselor questioned while he cocked his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

Lienna looked to the new arrival, opened her mouth briefly, but promptly closed it. Unsure if she should say or not. Especially when the bear mentioned about 'ruining the surprise for the others'.

Masaru just let out an irritated 'tch' noise and without saying a word he began to make his way to the exit, roughly bumping into Roe's shoulder with his own when they crossed paths, sending bitter glares towards anyone he passed as the veterinarian and his snake slithered out of the temple.

As Masaru stomped out of the room, he passed by Sayuri, who had a nasty scowl herself and just happened to look at him as he walked pass. This action, however, only caused more Masaru to get even more irritated.

As a result, Masaru not so subtly, brushed past her rougher than he did with Roe, but Sayuri didn't take too kindly to take as she brushed back when he did. The two glared at each other for a while, before Masaru left with his snake following right behind while Sayuri's clouded leopard gave a hostile snarl as the serpent and human left.

Kokone and Lienna, seeing how things got a bit tense, got everyone else's attention. "You guys wouldn't know where the tents are, follow us." Lienna said as Kokone gestured.

Roe nods as he smiles to his classmates, trying to ease the tension and reassure everyone that it'll be ok, before following the two girls out of the temple.

Nila let out a soft sigh, "Alright let's go guys, any place would be better than this creepy place," she spoke as she joined the Class President in leaving getting everyone else to act as well and followed them out.

As the group of teens made their way out of the temple and away from the little 'courtyard' area in front of it Lienna and Kokone led the new players over to a large clearing in the midst of the jungle.

And in this clearing there were several large tents placed throughout the whole area, each tent was colored differently as well as designed differently so it was easy to tell which tent was what or rather, who it belonged to, and in the center of this place was a large unlit bonfire pit.

Roe gasps in awe as he looked around," Woooooowwwww! This place is one big campsite!" the Camp Counselor spoke, so excited that there were stars shining in his eyes.

Nila went to pull down on Roe's ear, but stopped herself. It became somewhat of a habit. "Let's find out where exactly we're all staying." she brought up as the elephant girl turned to the group.

"Well, it's pretty easy from here. You see those tents? They line up with your animal pieces." Lienna told the group. "The way here can be a bit tricky, but you'll find your tent relatively quickly thanks to our animal companions." as she said that, the elephant raised its trunk and trumpetted in a positive response.

But before Lienna could explain or say anymore, Roe and his deer companion dashed ahead of everyone else, eager to find his tent and see what it was like inside.

It didn't take too long before the class president was able to locate which tent he believed to be his, the tent was made with forest green fabric and had two wooden totems that were carved to look like deers much like his little companion, and seem rather well made.

"Whoa!" Roe gasped in awe at the tent before he and his deer companion entered the forest green test, past the two deer totems.

Once inside Roe's eyes turned into stars as he saw everything he could ever wish for in a tent; a survivor kit filled with the escentials, a complete survival first aid kit, a water canteen, a pair of birdwatching goggles, a fishing pole, some sturdy rope for multiple uses, a small wooden table with a stool, a map of the area and a wilderness journal on top of said table, an oil lit lantern, and even a bundled up green caterpillar sleeping bag placed in the back of the tent. The tent even still had the dirt underneath as a floor and there was even a flap on top of the tent that could open and allow Roe to get a good look at the sky, which would be perfect for looking at the night sky before falling asleep!

Call him simplistic, or even a minimalist, but this was all the Camp Counselor could ever need to feel right at home in this strange place.

"Oh! My! Goodness! This is so great! Isn't it little buddy?" Roe spoke to his little deer companion as he looked around his new living area in awe, not really expecting an answer from his animal companion.

"Yeah, it really is nice in here." a voice responded, only it sounded like it was echoing in Roe's head and… it even sounded like Roe a bit but with a more of a softer, younger tone.

This caused the male teen to jump and turn to look at his little companion with wide eyes full of surprise, "W-wait, you can talk?!"

Those words cause the young deer to tilt his head at Roe and give a couple small nods, "Well yeah, since I am your spirit animal it only makes sense we can communicate with each other. It is the same with everyone else and their animal companions," the Fallow Deer explains to the human whose expression turned into a happy smile.

"Wooow I didn't realize that's what it meant to have a spirit animal. No wonder Kotan and his owl seemed to have a mind connection earlier!" Roe speaks in realization and the deer nods back in response.

"Yep, he probably already began to talk to him. You know we kinda ran ahead to our tent before everyone else, maybe we should go check on them and see if they are settling in ok?" the horned animal mentally asked his human who nods in agreement.

"Sounds like a plan little buddy, let's go! I bet they are having as much fun as we are if their tents are this nice~" Roe talks to the Fallow Deer as the two of them exit their tent to see if they could find where their classmates were.

The Camp Counselor took a quick look around and took note of who was outside and who was likely inside their tents.

Suddenly Roe felt his little deer friend tug on his shorts and when he looked down to his companion the deer gestured for him to follow him towards one particular tent and the green eyed teen willingly complied.

Roe now found himself in front of a different tent. This tent was just grey in colour and much like his own, it had two similar looking totems. Instead of deer, the carvings were that of zebras. Which let Roe knew who exactly belonged to this tent.

So he ran right in.

"ENJI!"

Roe burst into the tent with great vigor, scaring the daylights out of the poor puppeteer who was taken off guard by his boyfriend who invited himself in and glomped the other teen to the ground.

"R-Roe!" gasped out Renjiro. Despite being glomped a lot, he sure wasn't used to how Roe would just come out of nowhere.

The camp counselor giggled as he and his boyfriend got off of the floor, it was then Roe took in the sights of the room.

The room was very traditional and had an old antique look to it. It had a royal bed with red covers, a wooden frame with white pillows, shelf that was filled with books; some on ventriloquism, a few dolls on the top of the shelf, a wooden desk with a sketchpad with plenty of pencils, a closet filled with fancy accessories and clothing (from what Roe could tell of course).

"Your tent looks really nice Ren-Ren~" Roe complements as he gets a better look around after having helped his boyfriend up, meanwhile Roe's deer approached Renjiro's zebra and gently nuzzled the other grazing animal affectionately.

Renjiro shyly nods as he dusts himself off," I-It's surprisingly comfortable in here despite the creepy temple and the dense forest outside," the puppeteer agrees as he gives his boyfriend a small smile," How do you like your own tent?"

"Oh it is awesome Jiro~ It has everything I could ever want in a tent, even a nice and comfy sleeping bag~"

"A-A sleeping bag? Not a b-bed?"

"Yep~ Honestly I've always enjoyed sleeping in a sleeping bag over being in a bed. It is like sleeping in a nice, warm cocoon~" Roe admits with a warm smile.

"I-If you're sure it's fine..." Renjiro added, "A bed would be better t-though..."

Roe however waved his hand at that. "I don't really mind." he grinned. "It just feels like I'm camping again!"

While the two teens talked to each other the young deer and zebra began to playfully gallop around the tent, playing with each other until one of them accidently bumped into Renjiro's back causing him to fall forward into Roe's, who had reached forward to catch his boyfriend, arms.

"Oof- Nice to see you are still falling for me Enji~" Roe says before giggling at his own joke as he helped Renjiro re-balance himself, "You ok?"

Renjiro nodded, "Y-Yeah. I-I'm fine now." He said with a red blush that went across his face. After Roe helped him, realization struck the camp counsellor.

"Oh! I better go check on the others now, Ren-Ren." Roe stated as he stretched, completely forgetting about checking up on the others.

"A-Alright, be safe out there. Okay, Roe?" and with that Renjiro got up on his tippy toes and placed a small peck on the camp counselor's cheek.

That small gesture of affection caused Roe to freeze for a moment, slowly look over to his boyfriend, before suddenly glomping the shorter male and placed a strong but loving kiss on Renjiro's lips. Then after pulling away Roe's face shown as bright as the sun," Will do! See you later Ren-Ren~" and with that Roe and his deer companion left the zebra tent, leaving behind a flustered Renjiro and his little striped friend.

Roe left Renjiro's tent with a big, large love-happy smile on his face, or dumb according to Sayuri. He briefly wondered who he should check up on next. In the end, he decided to go and check on the Ultimate Severe Weather Specialist.

As he headed over towards Kotan's tent, using the totems as a guide, he stumbled upon their senior 'adventurers'. Kokone, Lienna and Masaru who were all standing in front of their tents that just so happened to be next to each others.

He kind of wanted to say hello, but remembered how Masaru acted and decided not to make himself known, he didn't want to stir Masaru up who had just calmed down after all.

"This isn't fair!" Seems Masaru hasn't calmed down all the way. "We were so close!" he kicked the stump of a tree pretty hard.

"We were almost free from this shitty game!" his seemingly final kick actually broke off a part of the tree stump.

"Progress?" Roe wondered and remembered about the game. "Oh!" he then immediately held his mouth. He just realised he was eavesdropping! Even though it wasn't his intentions, he had better be quiet for now.

"All because of those fuckers!"

"Now, now." Lienna tried to calm Masaru down. "It wasn't their fault. How could they have known about it?"

"But that reset our progress, we have to go through all the hell again!"

Kokone sighed. "I'll admit, being brought back to the beginning was...despairing. All that progress, all that pain. It was crushing."

"See? Kokone gets it."

"But that's what the bear wants, doesn't it? To see every last bit of hope washed away from us." Kokone continued as Masaru groaned. "Sure, they reset our progress, but they had no idea nor did they have any intention on doing so. I won't blame them for that. We got through this far, surely we can make it through again!"

The grandmaster smiled, "I believe we can, isn't that right? Masaru?"

Masaru said nothing, only opting to refuse eye contact. Roe however, was a bit confused on all of this, but decided that he shouldn't be eavesdropping and began to sneak off silently towards Kotan's tent.

After that event, the camp counsellor continued on his way to Kotan's text and he quickly came to it as it was a stormy blue one and the two totems of owls really gave away that it was Kotan.

Inside the tent, he saw the weather specialist sat on the ground with his owl companion sitting on top of his head. The owl's head turned around to look at the camp counsellor. "Welcome, Roe." greeted Kotan. "I see the kami sent you to check up on me."

"Hey, Kota." Roe walked closer. "Yep! Just wanted to make sure you were okay!"

The class president then looked around his tent. It had basic furniture like a bed, a table, a wardrobe and it has a few bookshelves filled with books that Roe could only assume were about folklore and myths judging from the names, and also an encyclopedia about birds.

It was a very simplistic room and it reminded Roe of his own tent a little bit.

"I wasn't interrupting you and your little buddy, was I?" Roe asked once he got a good look over of the tent.

Kotan shakes his head as he got to his head, "Not at all, I was just finishing up talking with the kami. He told me that you were going to check up on everyone," he speaks with a calm expression on his face.

Roe laughed. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I was doing."

"Then have no fear, as the kami's messenger, I have been perfectly fine with their divine protection." Kotan's tone stayed the same despite how crazy it might of sounded to others.

"Your room is pretty barren." Roe commented, as Kotan continued on like usual.

"That it is," he nodded in agreement, "however I do not require much in order to serve the kami! The kami provide all that I require and should ever need." he proclaimed, before suddenly pointing at the class pres.

"But you still have others to check up on, the kami suggest you go now before they slumber."

Roe nodded as he began to leave Kotan alone. "I'll see you later than, Kota!" he waved at the severe weather specialist.

"We'll meet when we the kami decree it so." That was the last thing Roe heard from Kota as he left.

Now that he left Kotan's tent as he wondered who else he should check up on next, the idea he got was to just walk tent to tent and check them one by one...if he didn't get distracted. He turned his head to see the totem of a panther.

And that sparked an idea.

"I should go see Sayu—" He took one step towards the tent and his voice was muffled immediately. He couldn't see much as a palm of a hand covered most of his view.

It was Sayuri! "Hmn Sahmuri!" the muffled voice of Roe tried to greet.

"Go away." she said before pulling him closer. "By that I mean, GO AWAY AND STAY AWAY!" then then shoved Roe back as he fell onto to ground. The last he saw of Sayuri's face was way angrier than what he usually saw, and that was something.

"Seems she's doing okay." he noted as he sat back up as Sayuri retreated into her tent, but when Roe stood, he saw that her clouded leopard lie in entryway of her tent. "Guess she doesn't want anyone coming in..." and seeing it snarl at him was a good indicator that he should probably move on now before the leopard leaped into action.

As he dusted himself off, he didn't have to check some tents after all as he saw Hibiki, Shay and Lilliya outside of their tents each with their animal companions.

"Hey guys, what are you three up to?" Roe asked as he and his deer walked over to where the three were talking.

"Not much," Shay said as he looked over to Roe. "Nice of you to join in."

"Haha, well—"

"I also heard that you had a bit of trouble with Sayuri." Hibiki cut him off, though not meaning to be rude. "You okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine! Sayuri's just a bit on edge with our current predicament. That's all." Roe gave a thumbs up as if everyone was fine. "Man, Hibiki's hearing is spot on, as expected from both a acoustician and a bat." Roe noted as he saw Hibiki's bat stretch out its wings.

Roe then held up his hands in a defending manner, "I'm perfectly fine."

"You say that everytime Sayuri tosses you around." Lilliya pointed out as she patted her crocodile.

"Eh, not much happens from it anyway." said Shay as his hawk screeched in agreement. "Same old, same old."

"Her attitude seemed to be to be a bit worse though." Hibiki added with a thoughtful pose.

"Ah, well it can't be any worse than that one time she threatened to throw me off a cliff when we went mountain climbing," Roe said while smiling as if remembering a fond memory.

The three just gave Roe a look with Shay shrugging. "That's not something you should be having fondness for..." Hibiki deadpanned.

Lilliya then reached over and patted Hibiki's back. "If Roe wants to think that as a fond memory, that's for Roe to decide…even though it is weird."

"Ehehehe, well I consider all of the memories I have with my classmates to be special. Even if not everything is sunshine and rainbows, we still have each other~" Roe admits as he sends a warm look to his classmates.

"Still kinda weird you have a fondness for being threatened to be tossed off a cliff, but you do you, buddy." Shay said as he held out his hand, allowing the hawk to perch itself on his arm.

Roe then looked around at the other tents that he had yet to go and check.

"Having trouble deciding on who you should check on next?" The acoustician asked, and seeing the camp counsellor's expression, it seemed to be the case. Luckily, the ultimate paleontologist came to the rescue.

Lilliya spoke up, "What about Satoshi? He should be in his tent." As she said those words, Roe's eyes widened in realization yet again.

"Sato would be in his tent! You're right!" he perked up before he dashed off towards the pale grassy coloured tent that was much lighter than the green of Roe's own tent.

He then waltzed right on it, hoping to find the herbalist in his tent, and thankfully he did, but the state of the room took all the attention.

The inside of a Satoshi's tent looked to be very comfortable and homey, like some sort of safe haven from the jungle outside. It had a large beige coloured hammock hanging up with a soft fluffy pillow and an orange blanket decorated with various plants on it, as well as two cuddly toys, a white furred bear and a brown furred honey pot plush perched on the inside of the hammock which seemed to be for comfort. By this there was a small wooden bedside table with a lamp that was currently turned on with an open book right next to it, a closet with the same outfit he wore, a small coffee table with a single flower vase and mini tea set in the centre that came with a chair as well as some glass containers, some empty and some containing herbs, that lined the shelves carefully alongside his chemistry equipment which consisted of a mortar, pestle and so much more as there were labelled remedies already sitting organised on another shelf as piles of books were neatly arranged in the corners, notes and pages arranged randomly on the table in contrast, scribbled and a little untidy. The floor was be grassy but it was quite smooth whilst the walls seemed to be formed by the canvas of the tent.

Roe blinked at the tent. Compared to his own (and even Renji and Kota's tent), Sato's tent was very cozy! It shocked him a bit.

"Wooooowwwwwww, Sato, your tent looks amazing! It is the coziest tent I've ever seen!" Roe exclaimed in awe as he took in his surroundings.

But his sudden words of excitement startled the shy boy, who had been feeding his little mouse friend some seeds, and caused him and his small companion to jump and look at the human and deer with wide eyes.

"R-Roe! W-When did you get in h-here?" Satoshi speaks once he realizes just who gave him that small scare.

"Ehehehe, I just came in a minute ago to check on you. Sorry for scaring you, it's just your tent is so cooooool!" Roe admits as he scratches the back of his head and give the room another look over.

"O-Oh, it's alright. You didn't scare me too much, but thanks for coming to check up on me. I was just giving this little guy some food," Satoshi says as he uses one of his fingers to gently pet the mouse that was sitting on the table.

"But you a-are correct about this tent, being in here instantly put me at ease. It's like it is my own personal safe haven," Satoshi admits as he looks around the tent as well, a small fond smile forming on his face, before looking back at his class president.

"Did you need anything else Roe?"

"Eh, not really. I'm just making my rounds, checking up on everyone, seeing what some of their tents look like, and making sure everyone is doing ok in this weird place."

"A-Ah, I'm not keeping you from checking up on everyone else am I?"

Roe shook his head with a smile, "Not at all, Sato~ I'm just making sure you are doing alright, especially since you seemed pretty nervous earlier back at the temple."

Satoshi smiled in gratitude, "W-well, right now I'm doing a lot better than I was doing earlier. Thanks to this little guy and my tent, thank you for checking to make sure I was ok though."

Roe gave his classmate a thumbs up as he continued to smile, "No problem bud, now I'm gonna go continue my rounds but if you need help with anything just let me or Nila know. I'll see you later~" and with that the camp counselor and his animal companion left the tent to go see everyone else.

He didn't have to go far as he spotted two of his classmates in the distance, huddled right up next to each other. "Aww." Roe mentally cooed. It was such a sweet sight. "It's a good thing they have each other."

Roe walked forward and held his hand up, about to greet himself to the Ultimate Shift Leader and Ultimate Information Broker. Chesa and Yoshiko. He opened his mouth to say something, but he just couldn't bring himself too. It was for a simple reason.

He didn't want to ruin their moment.

"You doing alright, Yoshi?" Chesa said as she squeezed Yoshiko tighter, though with their animal companions, Yoshiko's monkey hugged the tiger, reversed to what they were doing.

The armless information broker looked around as she was being squeezed. "I'm fine."

"Hmm, something's on your mind." Chesa pointed out. "What's the problem?"

"It's not a problem, just thinking of something, that's all."

Chesa tilted her head and held Yoshiko tighter. "Aww, come on. You can tell me!"

"C-Chesa!" The information broker stuttered as her girlfriend had found her weak spot.

"You better come clean!"

"I was just thinking about the those other ultimates."

"Oh, why?"

Yoshiko shrugged. "I don't know, they sound famil—" she was cut off by a stronger glomp. "C-Chesa!" And Chesa only grinned.

...It was then Roe decided to leave the two in piece, not wanting to interrupt the couple's special moment together nor get spotted eavesdropping.

As the class president stealthily walked away another tent caught his attention and within moments he realized it belonged to Kura.

Kura's tent was silvery brown in colour and like all the other tents, had two totems on either side of their animal companion. Walking past the totems and into the tent, he remembered that he shouldn't really barge in.

"Kura? Are you in?" he asked aloud as he entered into the tent.

"Roe?" he was just in time to see her head pop out of the blankets on her bed. "What are you do—" the locksmith then shook her head, stopping herself from asking.

"Your here to check up on me, right?"

Roe, with that usual smile, nodded. "Yep!"

The inside of Kura's tent had a twin bed, a desk with numerous locks hanging off it it that seemed to be fiddled with recently and multiple photos of her and an older gentleman together. And on the side of the tent was a large flap to which Kura's hippo was using as an entrance and had it's whole front half of its body inside the tent.

Roe's attention on the room didn't last for long as it was brought back to Kura.

"Are you settling in well so far, Kura?" Roe asked with a small head tilt.

"Mhm! Doing just fine." she curled back into the blankets on her tent's bed. "You?"

"Pretty good actually~ My tent was absolutely perfect and I just wanted to make sure everyone else was adjusting to this strange place." Roe admits as he gently pets the back of his deer's head.

Kura laid her head on a pillow. "Honestly, there's not much else we can really do asides get used to our tents, right? The thought is still appreciated though."

Roe simply gives a small smile, "Well honestly it is more for my own sanity than anything else. Remember what happened on our last class camping trip when a quarter of our class got lost? I'm pretty sure I lost a few years off my life from that incident." And that was the reason the class president had gotten a habit of making sure he did a check up on everyone at least once a day.

"Yeah, I remember..." Kura glanced away for a little bit. "Luckily you and Nila were able to find everyone."

Yes, it was indeed lucky they did, that whole day was practically chaos. But now wasn't really the time to be reminiscing about that stressful day.

"Yep, well anyway I'm going to go check on everyone else I haven't talked to yet. So I'll leave you to your blanket snugglefest, see you later, Kura," Roe said as he waved a farewell and began to leave the tent.

As soon as Roe left, Kura's head went back down onto the pillow as she retreated into the warmth of her blankets, all the while her hippo gave a large yawn.

Upon leaving Kura's tent, the one right next door was their horticulturist's tent. "Lambert wouldn't really like if I entered..."

But he still entered Lambert's tent anyways...or at least tried to.

"Grr," the hyena growled. However, unlike Sayuri's clouded leopard, Lambert's hyena's growl was much more of a defensive growl than one of hostility.

"Then again I did try to enter his tent despite knowing that he likes to be left alone." The class president thought to himself, but given their current predicament, it should be fine to check up on him.

The hyena had stopped growling for some time, which only just now registered to the camp counsellor. "You can go now, Roe..." the familiar voice of Lambert spoke up as he left his tent, enough to at least see Roe face to face.

"Lambert!" Roe dusted himself off, smiling at his fellow ultimate and classmate. "How are you holding up?"

"..." once again, Lambert stayed pretty silent. That wasn't unusual for Roe.

"You doing okay?"

Roe only got a silent nod in reply.

"...Can I come in?"

"No." Lambert denied immediately.

The class president sighed. "Lambert..."

"I'm fine. Just go." Lambert persisted as he quickly re-entered his tent along with his hyena as Roe didn't get a chance to say anything else as he was left standing alone in front of the tent.

"...That went...well." Roe scratched the back of his neck, now there wasn't much he could do when Lambert wanted to be left alone so the class president will just have to leave it be for the time being.

That is when he noticed three more of his classmates out and about and hanging out near the fire pit.

Near said fire pit, he saw Jade, Daichi and Sho along with all of their animal companions. Though Jade was sitting close to Sho as Daichi was the only one standing.

This time, instead of just dropping in or just listening in. It was Daichi that waved him in. "Roe!"

"Oh, hey!" He greeted back as he was caught a bit off guard. "Are you three settling in alright?" Roe asked as he walked over to the trio.

"At this moment, we're doing fine." Sho said, but had her arm over Jade's shoulder in a comforting manner. "Jade however is still processing this."

When Roe looked over to Jade, she looked calm but it was more of a thinking type of calm as she seemed to be deep in thought for a few seconds. Her hair was pretty much back to normal too, now that Roe noticed, he guess it was Sho's doing.

"Hey Jade, what's on your mind?" Roe asked as he sat on a log near his classmates and his deer took its place next to him.

"Oh? I'm fine, Roe." Jade smiled calmly, as expected of the classical musician.

Roe tilted his head, "Are you sure? A lot has happened today and I just want to make sure that you all are doing ok in this weird place."

Jade gave Roe a bright smile. "Yes. I'm sure. It's just a lot to take in."

Roe narrowed his eyes a bit into a serious expression. It was a foreign expression on the camp counselor's face to most of his classmates and even to Roe himself. He then put a hand on Jade's shoulder, the one unoccupied by Sho's arm. "Yes, it is a lot to take in, but you can tell us. You don't need to hide it, and if you want, you don't need to say anything your uncomfortable with."

Jade's eyes teared up a little, before she wiped her face with arm. "Thank you Roe." she quickly stood up from her seat. "I think...I think I need to go lay down for a while."

"I'll go with her, just to be sure," Sho jumped in as she got up, "come on, let's take you back."

With that, Sho took Jade back to her tent as their badger and rhino followed behind them, leaving the two guys by themselves.

Daichi however gave an odd look to Roe, the class president thought it was an odd look. "I wish I could have done what you did..." he muttered under his breath as he turned his attention back to the direction Jade and Sho had left in.

Roe gave his classmate a sympathetic look, "You'll get your chance someday buddy~ Hang in there," he spoke as he gave Daichi a pat on the back before leaving the guy to be alone with his thoughts and lion.

Now there was only one person left for Roe to meet with.

Nila.

Roe approached Nila's tent. Her tent was dark purple in colour and had two gorilla totems in front of her tent's entrance. "Hello, Nila? Are you in?" he called out.

He stepped into the tent and immediately looked around, drawing in all the sights.

The inside of her tent was rather neat, there were a lot of books, praying tools and a single dark blue sajadah with a mosaic pattern on it along with a few folded ones that kinda looked like a carpet...was it a carpet? He had to ask about that, but there were some wooden book holders for her Quran and a clock that seemed to have a specific function on it, probably for her prayers judging by the praying tools.

There were numerous kinds of sarung, and that was pretty much it. Her room was kind of neat and tidy. Something you would expect from a prosecutor such as Nila.

"Hm? Oh hello Roe, doing your usual rounds and checking up on everyone?" Nila asked as she looked up from a book she was reading, her gorilla companion next to her letting out small grunts in greetings.

Roe nods, "Yep~ And you are the last one~ By the way your tent looks super cool," the class president complements as he took another look around the fancy looking tent.

"Ah I see, and how is everyone doing?"

"They seem to be doing ok for the most part… I think. But I think those three we met earlier are a bit upset from our sudden appearance in this world."

Nila then looked back to her book, flipping the page. "I suppose it had to do with that giant board game. They said that they were close to finishing it yet that weird bear restarted their progress. The first rule was that 'adventurers' weren't allowed to leave until they finish the game."

Roe's face became a bit nervous as he processed the vice president's words, "How… long do you think they've been in here?"

Nila's eyes glanced up, looking at the tent's wall. "It's hard to say." she said, looking back down. "We have no way to tell, but we can only assume it's been a quite some time."

Roe began to frown, "They also mentioned they had other classmates as well… and that bear said they were 'failures'... Oh dear, what have I gotten all of us into?" the camp counselor mutters to himself as his little deer friend looks up at its human with concern as Roe found himself sitting on the ground as his legs gave way.

Nila closed the book and got off her bed, heading towards Roe. "I don't know, but what I do know is that it isn't your fault. You had no idea that some random board game was going to suck us into a jungle."

Roe looked at Nila with his forest green eyes, "I know I couldn't have known anything about this or have even known the board game was magical at all but… I still can't help but feel guilty about this whole situation," he admits with a sigh as he felt his deer nuzzle it's face into his hand to give a small form of reassurance.

"...Thanks, buddy." Roe thanked the deer as Nila held out a hand.

"Come on class president, get up off the ground. If you still feel guilty about all this, when it wasn't even your fault, then focus that into getting us out of here." He stared up at her and took her hand, getting back on his own two feet.

"Thank you, Nila. I'm sor—ah!" Nila stopped him there by pulling down on his ear.

"Don't apologize for something you didn't do." she scolded. "I told you how many times now?"

"Ow ow ow owwwww, I-I can't remember how many to be honest! You've told me that a lot," Roe spoke rapidly as he managed to get Nila to let go of his ear, causing the class president to gently rub the sore ear lobe.

Nila dusted her hands off like she had just done a good job. Suddenly, the banging of drums echoed through the jungle.

"Good evening my fellow adventurers, both new and old. The darkness of night is drawing close and it's time to go to sleep, we got a big day ahead of us tomorrow for the newcomers!" the voice of the bear they had met earlier somehow echoed throughout the camp as night time was in fact approaching quickly.

"Guess I should head back to my own tent. Thanks for that, Nila."

The prosecutor returned to her bed. "It's no problem, Roe. Have a nice night."

"You too."

As Roe left Nila's tent he turned back to look at her for a brief moment and gave her a thankful smile, yeah hopefully tomorrow will be a much brighter day.

It was foolish of me to think like that...

A/N: Well that isn't foreboding at all~ ;3c

Hello hello everyone~ Long time no see, and yes I have finally posted this story's next chapter and I can assure you this isn't a April Fools Joke~ I do deeply apologize for taking so long to get this done though, I know it has been several months but thanks to holiday, certain events, and procrastination it took me way longer to get this done than it should have and for that I deeply apologize.

But anyways I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the introduction to Totemkuma cause we plan to see much more of him next time when the board game officially begins and I might even throw in a couple FTE in as well, who knows.

Hopefully this next chapter wont take me this long again but then again I can't really say what will and will not happen, so just fingers crossed that the inspiration strikes sooner rather than later.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts and theories of everything so far in the review and I look forward to seeing you all again in the future~ Bye bye for now~ ^w^/