text: [Themes: family friendly, family friendly]
  
  Mist rises over the battlefield. It is a Saturday morning: The traditional time to resolve such disputes. For three weeks now, Alexsis has been encroaching on the only good seat at the seventh grade lunch table; territory that is yours by birthright. Today, you reclaim what is rightfully yours, and defeat your nemesis in your ancestral form of combat: A game of capture the flag.
  
  "Seriously?" complains Katherine, shivering slightly. It's a colder morning than usual for this time of year. "Couldn't you two have worked this out with a game of rock paper scissors or something?"
  
  "He cheats at rock paper scissors," says Alexsis.
  
  "I do not!" you protest. "How would you cheat at rock paper scissors, anyways?"
  
  "Can we just get this over with?" asks Katherine. "This had better be finished by noon. I have a soccer game, and it's freezing out."
  
  "It'll warm up quickly," says Harriet, pointing at the sky. "The sun just needs to start cutting through the fog."
  
  "Who's picking first?" asks Corey from behind you, making you start in surprise.
  
  "You can pick first," smirks Alexsis, giving you a nudge. "You'll need it."
  
  Well, she's not going to goad you into giving up your first-pick slot that way. You scan the crowd of your friends, before your eyes settle on one. "Stacy." Stacy grins and jogs over to where you are, giving you a high-five. You're sure you've made the right choice; Stacy's one of the fastest kids you know.
  
  "Jonathan," points Alexsis.
  
  "Mike," you decide. Mike isn't particularly strong or fast, but he's got a sharp set of eyes and ears.
  
  "Finn," says Alexsis.
  
  You survey your options, and then sigh. "Katherine," you say. You aren't thrilled about putting up with her complaints all day, but she does play soccer after all. She's fast and strong.
  
  "Liam," says Alexsis.
  
  It's your pick again, and you have to say, you're not totally sure who to go with. The two remaining kids are Harriet and Corey, neither of whom you know particularly well. They both seem friendly, given your interactions with them so far, but you aren't certain what their skills would be in a game like this.
  
  [Author's Note: =For End Master's Manifest Destiny contest= When Alexsis starts trying to steal your favorite seat in the school cafeteria, things get serious. The pair of you decide to resolve this dispute in combat: a game of capture the flag. Can you beat your nemesis in a game of capture the flag, and reclaim what is rightfully yours? This story is a short cave-of-time style game with seven possible victory endings. Happy flag-hunting!]
  
  > say "Harriet"
  "And I get Corey," concludes Alexsis. "You picked first, so I get to pick which side of the stream I have." You nod. It's a blow, but it was worth it to get Stacy on your team. "I'll take the swamp," says Alexsis.
  
  You exhale. "Oh thank god." Alexsis raises an eyebrow. "I mean, oh no, I wanted the swamp," you quickly add. In truth, you're relieved. True, it's much harder for the offense to move through your territory when you're defending the swampy side of the river, but it's just as much harder for your own defenders to move through the area. You'd rather be quick in your own territory.
  
  "We'll start in five minutes," says Alexsis. You fish the flags out of your backpack and hand her the green one, keeping the cool red one for yourself. "Ready..." you bend your knees, preparing to sprint into the woods. "Set... GO!"
  
  You and your team take off. You jump over the stream with a leap, thanking five or six different gods when you land safely on the other side. You check to make sure all your teammates are keeping pace with you before dashing deeper into the woods.
  
  Once you can no longer hear the brook, you turn around to let your teammates catch up. Everyone is here—Mike and Harriet are both panting from the exertion, but looking at you attentively. "We've got about three or four minutes," you say. "Jail will be by the big oak. Any suggestions on where to hide the flag?" It has to be visible, so you can't bury it or anything.
  
  "We usually hide it in a bush somewhere," says Stacy.
  
  A bush is a good spot for it, because it's usually still in plain sight, but harder for the opposing team to get to. "Great, any ideas?"
  
  "Uh, that one?" Katherine points to a bush at random.
  
  "Are there any ruby loropetalum in these woods?" asks Harriet.
  
  "Any what?"
  
  "It's a kind of bush with red leaves," says Harriet. "You know, since the flag's red. It might be harder to see."
  
  "Oh sure," says Mike. "There's one just a little farther in." He jogs a little farther into the woods, and sure enough, there's a bright red bush sitting right between a pair of trees.
  
  "Perfect." You tuck the flag between a pair of branches. It definitely counts as visible, but you sure wouldn't see if you were in a hurry. "This way we can let our defenses get much more spread out. We'll probably need only one person near the flag, if that."
  
  "I'd like to be on defense," says Mike.
  
  "Dibs on offense," says Stacy immediately.
  
  Harriet and Katherine exchange a glance, before Harriet shrugs. "I'll be on defense."
  
  "We've got even numbers, then." Stacy turns to you. "Which one do you want?"
  
  > say "Offense"
  "That leaves the two of you to patrol the area," you say to Mike and Harriet. "Keep an eye on the flag, but don't stay too close by it, or they'll get suspicious." They nod.
  
  "It's almost five minutes." Katherine checks her watch. "Let's go to the border."
  
  The three of you head over the the brook running through Alexsis's back woods that divides your territory. As you approach, you start to hear frogs chirping. A lot of frogs live in the swamp across the stream, and they can get pretty loud some days. Today, though, they're not that bad.
  
  You hang out by the stream for a minute or so before Katherine says "Okay, it's definitely been five minutes," and you all jump the brook.
  
  It's slow going through the swamp, since none of you really feel like splashing through the mud. The three of you begin your search in a dryer area of the woods, and navigate the wet patches by hopping from tree root to tree root.
  
  Something catches your attention, and you stop as you land on a tree branch. "Wait," you whisper, and lean forwards, as Stacy and Katherine's conversation dies out. Sure enough, drifting above the distant gurgle of the brook are approaching voices. And they're coming right towards you.
  
  You look around. There's really not much cover in this part of the woods, and you'd have a hard time sneaking away quickly without attracting attention. There is a decent cluster of bushes off to your left, however. Unfortunately, it's the wettest and muckiest part of the swamp yet. If someone did come up on you there, you'd have a really hard time running away, what with the muck and tree roots forcing you to slow down.
  
  Or you could try to sneak around the voices off on the right side. It'd be risky, but you'd have a much better chance of successfully escaping back to your territory if you were spotted.
  
  > hide in the bog
  It's too risky to try and move both quickly and quietly. "Everyone hide in the bog!" you whisper, jumping into the mud. Katherine groans so loudly you're surprised she doesn't alert the opposition to your presence.
  
  There are some good bushes for cover, but they're spread out, so the three of you split up in order to hide. You crouch down behind a bush, grimacing as the mud begins to soak your shoes.
  
  You peer out. Jonathan and Finn are making their way past your hiding spot. In that case, hiding was probably a good idea. Jonathen is nearly as fast as Stacy, and might have beaten you to the brook if you tried to run. Finn... well, you don't know her as well as some of your other friends. You're not sure what she might have up her sleeve.
  
  They're having a conversation about their english class, and don't seem to notice you. You watch them until they round a set of trees, and you can't see them anymore.
  
  You give it a few seconds, and they don't return. They haven't been gone very long, but you don't see them, and you're eager to get out of this swamp.
  
  > come out now
  You duck out of hiding, and clamber over a set of tree roots to the place where you, Stacy, and Katherine were before you split up. You take a moment to scan the woods. Nobody is in sight, neither your teammates, nor the opposition.
  
  A yell off to one side makes you jump, and turn sharply around. You don't see the source of the noise, but as you turn, you do notice Finn picking her way deeper into their territory.
  
  You glance around. Ideally, you'd wait for your friends to get out of hiding, but Finn is here now, and if you wait for them to get back, she'll almost certainly be gone.
  
  > follow Finn
  You can't pass up on this chance. You take off after Finn.
  
  It's a good thing you spotted her when you did, because she moves very quietly through the woods, and quickly too. You struggle to keep her in your sight. To your relief, however, she seems to be leading you away from the swampiest parts of their territory. Harriet was right, the morning is warming up quickly, and some sunlight is coming down through the breaks in the leaves. With a little luck, maybe your feet will actually dry.
  
  Finn stops abruptly, and you're so worried about stopping silently that you crash forward into a tree. You push yourself up, getting ready to bolt at a moment's notice, but Finn doesn't seem to have heard you. Instead, she picks her way carefully forwards through some bracken, and then ducks under a branch into a more open area. You follow as quickly as you can. When you reach the edge of the clearing, you peer through the leaves, and see Finn whispering with Liam.
  
  Two defenders loitering around in a clearing by coincidence? Unlikely. You creep forwards, and begin to scan the surrounding foliage for the flag. Alexsis is sure to know the old flag-in-a-bush trick. And her flag is green, so it'll be even more easily camouflaged.
  
  You take another step forwards over a broken log. There's a flash of artificial-looking green in one of the more accessible bushes, but you just can't be sure...
  
  "...do you hear that?" cuts off Liam, looking up. You hold your breath as he squints in your direction; then your stomach drops when he leaps to his feet and begins to run straight for you.
  
  You're a quicker runner than Liam. If you go now, you might be able to get back to your territory safely. But now you're certain the flag is here, and you might never get another opportunity like this. Since you're faster than both Liam and Finn, there's a chance you just might be able to pull it off...
  
  > run back to your territory
  There's no point in taking stupid risks. Now that you know where the flag is, if you survive, you can bring back the information to your teammates and make a plan of attack. You leap to your feet, and sprint through the trees. The sound of twigs snapping tells you there's someone crashing behind you, but you think you're gaining distance on them. You're sure you can make it back to your territory before they catch you.
  
  That said, you haven't got time to be choosy about where you put your feet. You scowl as you splash through a swampy patch of woods. At least it'll soak your pursuer too.
  
  Soon, the stream that marks the border is in sight. You jump over with undue confidence, and then whip around, prepared to seriously taunt your pursuer.
  
  There's no one there.
  
  "Rats," you mutter, and scan the branches. Nothing. You were so sure you heard someone chasing you... maybe they just gave up after you ran through that pond junior a while back.
  
  Either way, the question is, what now?
  
  You've still seen neither hide nor hair of Stacy and Katherine, and you haven't the faintest idea where you'd start to look for them. You could head back into enemy territory. That might help you find the pair, and if not, you'd have the chance to make another pass at the flag, only this time from a better angle. Or, you could head back over to your side and meet up with the defense. It's possible Stacy and Katherine went back over there to meet up after you were separated.
  
  > head back over the stream
  No point in losing steam. You jump back across the brook, prepared to head back into the woods—when Finn appears out of nowhere behind a tree, and lunges out to tag you. "Gah!" you yell, scrambling back. "Where'd you learn how to do that, ninja school?"
  
  Finn laughs slightly, but still leads you to jail. It's in the swampiest part of the forest, too. To your surprise, Stacy and Katherine are already there, chatting with Jonathan, the jail guard. "Hey guys," you say. "What are you doing here?"
  
  Stacy raises an eyebrow. "I could ask the same of you."
  
  "Reconnaissance," you say.
  
  "Should've guessed."
  
  Jail is boring, but at least there's other people here. You're in the middle of a very animated argument about whether or not the last star wars movie was totally irredeemable, when you hear yells of victory coming from the brook. Unfortunately, they're Alexsis's yells, not your teammate's.
  
  Jonathan stands up. "Good game." The four of you start to head back to the brook. Maybe I can persuade Alexsis to do a best out of three, you think.