The next morning, Adigail Zem, fetching as always with her mildly translucent blue buman skin and spotless white hat festooned with feathers, was walking her dog as usual, and in fact as always since it was her weapon, when she heard a couple officers speaking of Halloween rumors. Not wishing to interrupt them, she pressed herself against the closest corner, picked up her terrier, and gagged it .

“The Halloween location has already been determined. Tell no one. You hear me? No one!”

“Tell me . . . then I promise to tell no one . . .”

“An unexpected place: the Tasgan Federation! A scary time is coming for those snooty princes and princesses.”

“I'm not . . . Oh! But the alt! Who gets the alt . . .”

“The writers themselves are undecided. All the interesting officers have already been used and only the most boring are left. They decided to leave it up to the daring of the officers. The first to arrive at the location is crowned the star of the event.”

“Why . . . are you still here . . . if that's true?”

“This game's worst feature: Public Service!”

“Oh . . .”

The two officers finished their conversation and walked down the hall. Adigail Zem watched them and pondered the situation. “Who are those two officers? Surely I would never have missed such extravagant mustaches, had I seen them prior. And yet, there on the floor I see an arrow with words on it. 'This Way to Alt.' It's true after all! How silly of me to let my suspicions almost prevent my taking advantage of a signal opportunity. Isn't that right, Zozo?” Her terrier gave no answer, since she had thought all that rather than saying it out loud.

She followed the arrow outside Freegate, where she found a sign that pointed the way. “Construction Ahead; Get Alt There,” it read, and signs never lie. They lack the intellectual capacity. Another sign, and another, and Adigail followed them through the countryside and over the ocean, which was easy to cross for everyone except the main character.

Near the northeastern border of the Tasgan Federation, at the edge of the game's map save for a small slice of the Yoerbla Desert, the last sign pointed straight down and instructed, “Nova Here for Alt.”

“What puzzlement is this? However might one execute one's Nova here, where there are no enemies? Any ideas, Zozo?” The dog may have had one or two, but its owner again had not spoken out loud. In any case, dogs cannot talk, as any dog breeder of long experience knows. “Wait wait wait. Basilisks are milling around this deserted area for no discernible reason. The Halloween decorations must include Basilisks this year. Or are they food for the workers? In either case, no one will miss a few. No resource is more renewable than that, I must say.”

Her crimes justified to herself, Adigail set her dog trained immaculately for both show and attack on a bunch of Basilisks till her Skill Star glowed. “I'd make a first-class witch since I'm used to taking care of familiars! Best in Show!” Zozo ran to the target location and waited as the earth rumbled and a pillar of rock rose under it. As the process began, a mysterious figure clad in black grabbed the dog and flung it far over the horizon. “Zozo! Come back! I need you for my witch alt!” Adigail chased after her prize-winning terrier and left the pillar to reach an enormous, unregulated height behind her.

“Get over 12k Attack and you can see a real difference in your throws,” Quille Treten said as he took off his black cloak. “What are you young fellows smirking about?”

“Oh, nothing, Thanks for helping me out, I really appreciate it, 12k. You've been a big help, 12k.”

“12k is when I noticed a difference. I have more than that.” Dennet and Ulrik snickered. “Much more!”

“What I have is these bandages Stan provided. How did I convince him? He was happy to help when I promised Dennet would be tied to a rock pillar for hours. Medics have big hearts as a rule. And! One Medic has a big ladder.”

“Here it is . . .” Vinnette Melban perched a ladder borrowed from the Freegate tool closet, a room similar to the Rare closet but larger and better lighted, against the pillar. Dennet climbed up and after him Ulrik, who bore bandages he was happy to use. One of them came down, the ladder was removed, and the grounded Rares waved to Dennet as they left.

“Hope you see some fives!”

“Have fun!”

“Thanks! By the way, how long will I be up here?”

“Adigail Zem is the clock. When she finds her dog, the fun ends. See you in no more than a week.”

“That sounds like a long time, but OK! Bye everybody!”

Attached to a sky-piercing pillar overlooking the site of Part 2 Chapter 6's final stage, Dennet tried not to wriggle as much as his excitement and the itchy bandages encouraged him to do. “Just wait here and watch the show. That's all I have to do. Officers will show up any second now to farm the New Eclipse Dragon, and while I can't see other teams in Vigilant Patrol, Suppression can only have one party in it at a time, so that should be visible. Right? I should have asked around about that. Someone will show up, right?”