Chapter 4: Going Away
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        It was nearly time to go. Kudor had everything all ready.  He was
fully clothed in all of his armor, with his officers insignia on his
breastplate. His companions stood around them, each ready for the big
going-off ceremony that the Elder had planned. The two guards, Kupiku and
Kunoro, also stood in standard Moogle Guard-issue armor. Kumata looked the
same as the rest, except for the fact that her sword was twice as long and a
lot thinner than the rest. Kulado stood there, puffed up with pride to be in
the public eye like this, with an ax slung from his back.

        <This is so stupid.> Kudor thought to himself, <Why in the world 
couldn't we have just LEFT? Maybe the Elder wants to keep Kulado happy. No, 
that's not it. Maybe he wants to be in the spotlight. Or maybe this is all 
some sort of sick joke he's playing on me.>

        The Elder had done that sort of thing before. What he banished Kuralov 
for was idiotic. Then he would also send moogles on meaningless errands that 
would take them far away from Elf Grove and didn't accomplish anything. <I 
certainly hope that that isn't what's happening.>

        The Elder was finally done speaking. The 'chosen five' began their 
walk out into the world, and left to the cheers of the gathered moogles.

        ---------

        The first thing they did was to search the caves, just in case Kuralov 
had stuck around. After that they were going to check Narshe and the 
surrounding terrain. There wasn't much danger of a monster attack in the 
mines, as the monsters had long since learned that armed moogles didn't make a 
very good meal. However, the five kept alert, since occasionally you would run 
into a very vicous, hungry, or stupid group of predators.

         As was expected, a number of monsters noticed them, but passed them 
by. Kudor spent about half of his time watching his back, ever since Kulado 
had 'accidentally' knocked him into the wall. Kumata had almost tried to kill 
him for that, and it wouldn't look good if he let the moogles under his 
command fight. So, he reasoned, the best way to do that was to eliminate the 
source of the conflict, and he wasn't going to kill Kulado if he didn't have 
to.

        Kunoro heard it first. Voices, coming from down a tunnel. One was a 
human, another a moogle. <Probably Kuralov. It'll be rather ironic to bring 
him back in one day after the Elder gave that big speech about us being gone 
for a long time, doing our duty to moogle-kind. It shouldn't be too hard to 
bring him back with us, even if he is a nutcase.>

        They rounded the corner, and Kudor called out. "Kuralov, is that you?"

        Kuralov's voice came back. "Kudor?"

        Nothing could have prepared Kudor or Kumata for what happened next. 
Kulado shouted "Charge!" and he, Kupiku and Kunoro rushed at Kuralov, weapons 
drawn.