“Hotdogs! Hamburgers! Fries!”

“Sweets and treats! Ice cream and funnel cakes!”

“Long odds and prop bets! First contestant to swear, first to bleed, first to be knocked unconscious!”

The cries from the shopowners along the thoroughfare were just a few drops in the bucket. Around them, the general babble rising up from the thousands of gathered people was practically deafening.

Hydie Mordath didn’t like crowds. When she was younger, it was because she didn’t feel like she fit into the groups of happy people. After the System arrived, it was because she feared the broad, negative effect that she would have on those same fragile, happy people. Her Skill seemed only bound by distance; the more people that were crowded into a small space, the more people would suffer accidents due to her presence.

But the crowd of people that churned happily through the broad roads leading to the arena for the round of sixteen couldn’t even be called a crowd any longer; it was a veritable sea of people, with waves crashing in from every direction. People joined lines for stalls or just wove through them to save time. Others rushed out of bathrooms and were practically hopping with anticipation of getting a good seat for the matches. The surroundings were absolute bedlam.

Even with their Order Ducis uniforms, there simply wasn’t enough room for anyone to give them some respectful distance. They were completely pressed together and Hydie’s mood rapidly degenerated into irritation as elbows and shoulders kept knocking against her.

Derek Moss, as annoyingly observant as he always was, glanced back over his shoulder at her and then grinned. “Why don’t we stop and grab a bite to eat? We’re just supposed to keep any incidents from escalating anyway. No need to follow all this traffic.”

So the two of them cut sideways through the main flow of bodies and swam toward a side path to another section of the fairgrounds. There had originally been only a single food court arena planned, but the number of the attendees for the tournament was so high that the original plan had to be scrapped and expanded to include four large food courts with stalls running up and down the paths around the stadium. Otherwise, the lines at the single food court would have been hours long as the tournament wore on.

Once they were on the side path, the crowd thinned out a lot and Hydie could release a breath without spitting on someone. Then she scowled over at Derek. “Can’t we just watch from up on Kharon? Why do we need to be down here?”

“Being immersed in the crowd’s image is the best way to spot the first signs of trouble,” Derek replied. Then he glanced over his shoulder. “When my partner isn’t dominating the surrounding space with her surly image…”

“You are literally a shiny piece of military shit,” Hydie said without any venom. She took several more deep breaths. The cool autumn air flowing into her body was a relief from the heat of the crowd. They continued off of the dirt path into the well-paved Northwest food court. “I just wish once I got to see you… I don’t know, looking like an idiot. Maybe we could walk past a pie shop and you get one splattered over your gob? I just feel-”

Hydie paused because Derek was no longer walking beside her. He had frozen, the expression on his face studiously blank while his lips mimicked the mouth of a fish. He stood with one leg slightly off the ground and one arm raised, perfectly midstep. Hydie couldn’t help but be impressed by the casual athleticism he displayed by stopping like that.

She followed his gaze and saw a pretty young woman sitting at one of the dozens of wooden picnic tables situated in the middle of the food court. Hydie looked back at Derek and then turned again to the woman, noticing this time that the table around her was filled with a half dozen grey spiders, three strange people seemingly made of stone, and a towering ogre woman that hunched over in order to listen into the conversation. More impressively, all of them had very poignant and restrained images; they were not just ordinary people.

“Derek Moss…” Hydie said lightly. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she felt her mood rapidly rising. “Oho, ohohohohoho. Do you happened to have a crush?”

“I- No, that’s… Gertrude is just an acquaintance.” Derek finally finished his step and began fussing with the buttons of his uniform and wiping his sweaty palms against his slacks. “We simply happened to move to Kharon at similar times.”

“Uh-huh, I see,” A gloating Hydie practically glided forward and slid her arm through Derek’s as a queen would imperiously grace a dust-covered knight. “Well, perhaps I’m not such a constant source of bad luck after all. Truly quite serendipitous for us to run into an acquaintance here. Why don’t we go say hello? Ohoho.”

Derek licked his lips, his eyes were still locked on Gertrude. “That… would probably be inappropriate. We are currently on duty. And besides, it appears they are in the middle of an important meeting…”

“A meeting at a picnic table? Don’t mind that. Didn’t you just say we are here to deal with any escalating issues? I certainly don’t sense any big issues. The first match doesn’t start for another hour anyway; let’s just go over and say hi…”

Although Derek’s face continued to be dominated by an uneasy frown, his feet were more honest. When Hydie pulled him forward he followed easily. They wove their way through the wooden tables and Derek was so distracted that he actually stumbled over a discarded beer can. It was with Hydie bearing a sunny smile that the two of them arrived at the table of Gertrude the teacher.

Seeing as Derek was tongue-tied, Hydie took it upon herself to start the interaction. She did her best not to giggle. “Miss Gertrude?”

“That’s why the location should match- oh, yes? Oh! Mr. Moss, hello! And you are…?” Gertrude looked over and met Hydie’s wide smile with a politely reciprocated smile.

Hydie withdrew her arm from Derek’s. “I’m Derek’s partner in the Order Ducis. He’s told me so much about you; it’s nice to meet you all. I must say though, your images are all very powerful. It’s very impressive.”

One of the spiders at the table clambered up onto the top and extended a foreleg toward Hydie. “Ahem. We are simply some of Kharon’s teachers. And I must say, madam, I find your sinister aura to be quite invigorating. If you were a spider, I would gladly allow you to devour my body and regurgitate it to feed our offspring.”

Everyone except the other spiders blinked. For several seconds, Hydie legitimately didn’t know what to say.

The spider began to rub its forelegs together. “Ah… apologies. I have not yet mastered the human art of humor. I mean no offense.”

“No… that was actually quite sweet. Thank you.” Hydie responded seriously. Then she looked at the surrounding people. Now that she thought about it, she did hear from the Kharon police that the Ghosthound had produced a bunch of strange teachers from somewhere for the Dungeon training. “So you are teachers? It’s quite reassuring to have Kharon’s youth educated by you. Are you going to watch the first match?”

“Yes,” This time, the tall ogre woman spoke in a surprisingly soft voice. “I am very excited to watch the fight. Say… you are members of the Order Ducis, right? If you had been able to enter the tournament… would you have made it to this round? How powerful are these people?”

“If I remember correctly, Mr. Moss is very strong,” Gertrude offered, flashing Derek a shy smile.

Hydie was barely able to suppress her urge to nudge him with her elbow and wink at him. Derek cleared his throat and did his best to adopt a serious expression. “Well… I think Hydie and I would have at least a 50% chance of getting to this round of 16. But beyond that… no one here is weak. And everyone is rapidly developing their images.”

“Don’t they have to?” Another spider scuttled up on to the table and began rubbing its forelegs together next to its companion. “The humans Hank Howard and Alana Donal are truly sublime. Aside from Mister Randidly Ghosthound and Lady Helen, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen more intimidating humans.”

The tall ogre lowered her head, her eyes still trained on Derek. “This first match between the Kir-Nan and Hoowan, two powerful ogre warriors and Glendel and Donny of Donnyton… who do you think will win?”

Gertrude leaned across the table and punched the ogre lightly in the arm. Then she turned to Derek and Hydie. “Illya here has something of a gambling problem. Please don’t bother to answer; it will just mean that she runs off to the gambling houses to place one last bet before the match. It isn’t worth it.”

The ogre snorted and crossed her arms. Then Gertrude stood up and smiled at Derek. “By the way… would you like to watch the fight with us?”

*****

“Grandfather, are you ready to go to the match?” Huang Li asked as he knocked on his partner’s door.

Huang Shou ignored his question but did at least give an answer from within his chambers. “Please come in.”

With a small sigh, Huang Li opened the door. They didn’t necessarily need to be as early to the match as leaving now would allow them to be, but Huang Li wanted a bit of time to adjust his state of mind before the match. After creating a new Skill last night… he was quite excited to try it out, but those emotions would make him hasty. He would need to remain steady to have a chance of victory against Richter.

To his surprise, he found Huang Shou sitting in front of a Go board with a small book in his hand. The board was partially covered in the black and white stones. The two colors faced off boldly, marshaled like armies about to slaughter their foes. Huang Shou nodded when Li came in, but then he turned his attention right back to the board. As Huang Li watched, he would place a stone and then study the board for several seconds.

Eventually, he would be satisfied and glance back over at the book to restart the cycle.

“Replaying historic games?” Huang Li eventually guessed. As far as mental preparations went, it was likely an effective one.

Again, Huang Shou ignored the question he asked but still replied. “Do you know how to play Go?”

Shaking his head, Huang Li said. “I understand the rules. But… the intricacies of the game are beyond me.”

Huang Shou placed another stone onto the board. “This old man will teach you, then. You’ve worked hard to reach this point; it is time for others to assist you.”

Huang Li blinked. “Do you mean…?”

“It’s been quite a few years… but I haven’t forgotten my roots.” As he solemnly stood, Huang Shou’s face broke into a surprisingly childish smile. “The truth is… I too was adopted into the Huang Family. Heh. Now that we have come this far, it would be disrespectful to the Ghosthound if I were to remain idle any longer. This honor of naming the Earth… will belong to Zone 7.”