Exercise, commence!

"Cat 1, cat 1!" cried Lieutanent-General Zhu, upon seeing streaks of lightning flash across the distant landscape. The room was darkened from the incoming storm, and the patter of raindrops had started to sound outside the window. Inside the concrete tower, the 5 Mochapellans shivered as they wondered how they would brave the storm to reach their next destination.

"This is the first page", said Lieutenant-General Zhu as he started to hand out the sheaf of papers in his hand. The others in the circle obediently took a copy each. Following that, the second page was passed out. "I'm not sure if this is page 2," said Zhu. The Mochapellans looked at one another in horror, and frantically perused the offending page. "Yes, I think it is," offered Corporal Chen. "There's a symbol at the end of the first page, which continues on the second page." "Ahhh", resounded his comrades in agreement.

The third and fourth pages were swiftly distributed. However, the final page presented a dilemma, where the very last line was bafflingly... not there. All but one were dismayed by the missing information; unknownst to the rest, Lieutenant-General Zhu had intentionally left out the crucial bass-ic line at the very end, as well as the illustration that defined the very essence of the document. "Muahahaha. Now, only I have the picture." he thought out loud unintentionally, earning puzzled glances from his subordinates.

Despite the missing information, Unit Mochapella decided to proceed as planned, for time was of the essence. Lieutenant-General Zhu then proceeded to hand out the necessary equipment.

'Click'. The unexpected sound caused all members to look towards Lieutenant-General Zhu, who was testing the equipment. "Omg, he's shooting blanks!" exclaimed Private Choo. A moment of stunned silence ensued, before everyone burst into incredulous laughter. "Oh. I mean, he gave us blanks..", retracted Private Choo hastily. Despite her attempts to clarify, the rest continued to howl in laughter. "Oh shit..", thought Private Choo, "There goes my chances of promotion..."

Despite the ominous weather and unexpected circumstances, the rest of the mission proceeded smoothly and enjoyably. The unit ran through 3-4 exercises with reasonable competence, taking into account that the mission was in its initial stages. The afternoon was punctuated with friendly chatter and good-natured jibes as the Mochapellans got to know the members of their unit better.

In all, it was a most satisfying exercise.

Private Choo, out.

(If readers are still puzzled over why an a cappella group seems to have just executed a military drill, the above is actually about a practice we had one weekend at Lianglin's house. The following terms are deciphered as such:

concrete tower - a HDB block in Choa Chu Kang that shall not be named
document - music score
symbol - tie
missing bass line - our lousy photocopy man neglected the last staff on the last page
equipment - stapler

The author apologises for any errors in punctuation that may offend finicky readers)