By shedding weight.

"Liam... No good!" Harvey roared as he tried to keep up his pace. "This is... top speed...!!"

The leader of the trainees clicked his teeth, seeing the victory that was just in his grasp get further and further as Ralli began to outpace their cart. "Everyone... time to shed weight, for the good of the class! Remember, if many of us catch her, we can be granted that many more wishes! Far better if even one of us reaches her than seven of us fail!"

"Then... why don't I just... catch her... myself...?!" Harvey growled his concern, now that it was occurring to him.

"Haha, I think at least two of us would be a good number," Liam corrected himself, then coughed into his fist. "So, starting with you!" he declared, pointing at one student who was notably chubbier than the rest. "Become a sacrifice for the good of our class!"

The young man rapidly shook his head "no." Even if he was a valiant, selfless sort, he'd be hard-pressed not to notice the great speed the cart was moving at, and it definitely didn't seem anyone intended to stop and let him off.

At Liam's command, with a pack-like mentality, the other men grabbed the unfortunate sacrifice and, with effort, dumped him out of the cart. The poor, chubby trainee rolled across the dirt. He groaned on the ground as Harley apologized and made a leap over his body.

The would-be commander of the trainees bit his thumb in frustration. They'd picked up significant speed, but Ralli was going even faster, determined not to let her strategy end in failure. "Well, I'm determined, too," the young man thought to himself. All of the students left in the cart were about the same weight. Therefore, one was as good as another...

"You," he decided, pointing at the shabbiest-looking among them. "You remember that thing I lent you, right? That thing you lost, so you still owe me for? Sacrifice yourself, and consider that debt repaid! Or do you not remember what I'm talking about? Maybe we should discuss it a little bit so everyone here can understand?"

Nobody else in the cart understood, but both understanding and fear alighted in the other young man's eyes. Without any further urging, he hurled himself over the side of the cart, tucking and tumbling as best he could. Liam smiled, beginning to do the mental calculus of whether he'd honor his promise or not. "Eh. I'm in a good mood. I'll probably let it slide."

To his delight and Ralli's horror, Harvey appeared to be catching up even still towing four.

"I don't understand." Ralli didn't understand the minds of humans, and so she couldn't comprehend how the repeated **** she'd subjected her students to had forged such powerful desire in them to break out of their cycle of repetition and misery. _"It's no good. I can't run any faster than this. Harvey's strength and endurance are unbelievable. It is hard to imagine he is human." _Sweat poured off her dark skin as her armored boots hammered against the ground in bounding steps.

"We're almost there now... time to close this," Liam cackled, hiding his face from the others so they wouldn't catch his unsightly expression, licking his lips in anticipation. "Throw the harpoons!"

"Throw them?!" one of the students holding one asked incredulously. "First, these ain't harpoons or even javelins... Second, are you trying to kill the sergeant?!"

"Let me ask you this: do you truly believe you can hurt her by throwing a spear at her in this situation?" Liam asked impatiently. "The sergeant said not to hold back. Have some faith in her and some faith in yourself! Now throw the damn thing!"

The student gulped, then arced his arm backward. On that cue, the one next to him did the same...