Marrow showed up the next morning, just like he said he would, it wasn’t until the st second Stu found out they were taking his car though. Three girls plus Stu, and one carsick cat. Stu wasn’t pleased with this travel arrangement, especially looking at the now green cat sitting on the floorboard constantly rocking back and forth. Stu eyeballed him out of the corner of his eye, as he tried to make it to the quarry as quickly as he could. Even with the pstic liner on the floor he wasn’t sure it would be enough if Marrow popped after how green he’d become on the long drive.

  Bobbing and weaving with his head, Marrow asked, “Are we there yet?”

  Stu responded sternly saying, “I think we’re close, just hang in there..”

  All Stu heard was miracle in the passenger seat say, “Aww.. Marrow poor baby.. yeah, just let it all out…”

  Stu frowned and kept staring ahead as he said, “God…” Stopping when he got spped in the back of the head by Chaos behind him.

  Chaos yelled, “Don’t you dare say it!”

  He gnced at her in the mirror, she was serious. He sighed relenting, she was already upset that Miracle was riding up front and not her. He only had it that way because of the cat, but she thought it had to do with Miracle helping him the other day with his PTSD episode. It really was about the fact that he thought she would help keep Marrow from upchucking, that however was obviously a lost cause. Stu sighed again and asked, “Is it bad?”

  Miracle said, “Um.. Define bad..”

  Marrow weakly said, “I’m sorry..”

  Prosperity leaned forward in her seat saying, “It’s bad, it’s like a little swimming pool full of Marrow slush..” She was too eager to describe it.

  Stu bluntly said, “Thanks.. Both of you..” The image of Marrow slush danced in his head.

  Stu rounded the next turn and as the tree line broke they saw the quarry up ahead. A rge and old limestone quarry had been repurposed for the event. The isoted location provided the perfect pce to have a gathering of gods, and at the same time keep prying eyes out of things. They saw there were thousands of vehicles and people moving about the quarry. It was a little overwhelming as they approached the massive crowd, Stu slowed down by a police officer who was directing traffic and stopping vehicles before entering. The officer signaled for him to roll his window down and he did. The cop asked, “Color?” Pulling a metal pin and pricking his finger gold blood came out.

  Stu said, “Blue?”

  The officer shook his head saying, “Not good enough.. You must demonstrate it sir, this is a special event.” He gred while saying it.

  Stu asked, “Can I use your pin?” The cop passed it to him and Stu pricked his finger showing the blue. “Is this good enough?”

  The cop said, “I’m sorry for the inconvenience sir.. Also, can I ask you a question?”

  Handing the pin back to him Stu said, “Sure..”

  The cop smiled rexing a lot and saying, “Sir, I am such a big fan of you, we aren’t supposed to talk to the participants while on duty, even if we are fans.. but I just wanted to say I’m rooting for the house of chaos, all the way.. Anyway, sorry sir. Just continue following the yellow signs to your parking area. You are in the VIP section of the Ceremony. Here are your wrist bands.” He passed some cheap looking yellow wrist bands through the window smiling wide. Then he said, “Good luck Stu!” He waved them on.

  Stu was confused driving forward and asking, “What was that about?”

  Marrow groaned in misery saying, “Damned.. Enforcers.. They’re annoying..” Then he made a weird noise.

  Miracle said, “It’s okay poor kitty.. I have you..”

  Stu frowned saying, “Really cat? Again?”

  Marrow weakly said, “I swear I’m empty now, there’s nothing else that could come out..”

  Prosperity leaned forward saying, “That’s probably the truth, I’m not sure how a little cat held five gallons of liquid anyway..”

  Chaos chimed in saying, “That is impressive.. How did Marrow hold so much inside when he is so slender? It’s more like he’s swimming in a pool now..”

  Yellow parking ended up being closest to the entrance. They came to an empty parking spot that said Steward of Chaos, Stu pulled into it. Fancy he thought. Getting out of the car without paying any attention to the swimming pool in his floorboard, a man came rushing over talking excitedly. He said, “Steward we’re so thrilled you could make it!” He rushed over, extending his hand in gratitude.

  Caught off guard Stu shook the man’s hand saying, “Uh, thanks.. Who are you?”

  The man pointed to a badge saying, “I’m the Judge of Enforcers, you can call me Mike though.. I’m the only human judge; my job is just making sure the enforcers keep their nose to the grindstone.. But you my friend! You are quite a big deal this year! Everyone is talking about either the house of Chaos or the house of Lords, you are the biggest of the two though.. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise!” He smiled excitedly.

  Stu was unsure saying, “Alright.. I guess that’s kind of cool.. I’m just here because of Marrow though.. I don’t really care about the fame..”

  Mike still smiling wide said, “No problem Steward, I understand completely.”

  Stu said, “Yeah, it’s just Stu..”

  Mike eagerly said, “Stu, got it! No titles.. So, Stu, are you ready for the ceremony?”

  Shaking his head in total confusion Stu said, “Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing here..”

  Mike put his arm around Stu saying, “I get it.. You are a fish out of water here, there’s no worries though. I have your back..”

  Stu looked at mikes arm around his shoulder before saying, “I feel like a shark out of water and this shark doesn’t like being touched..”

  Mike slowly withdrew his hand saying, “Hey buddy, no harm, no foul.. Um.. You definitely don’t disappoint on the rumors, that’s for sure.. I’ll remember that you are not to be touched..”

  Chaos came up beside Stu and put her arm around him showing off. Mike started to point at her questioningly, and say something but Stu cut him off saying, “Look at her dude, I’m touchy, not gay..”

  Mike nodded slowly before saying, “Right.. Now that we have this understanding, we were hoping that you might be willing to step in for the demonstration portion of the ceremony today, the other participant was found deceased today.. So, we’re one person short for our demonstration, and you are the biggest name in Armageddon right now.. So..?”

  Stu asked, “What kind of demonstration?”

  Mike slyly smiled, “Well, it would be simir to the Stewardship test but no fighting, just a demonstration of controlled power. That’s all, something to get the panties wet, you know?”

  Looking at Mike like he was retarded, Stu asked, “What power? Even if I did have something to demonstrate, I doubt what I have, would as you put it, get the panties wet.. Right girls?”

  He looked at the girls for reassurance. They either avoided his gaze, or in Prosperity’s case she had a wide-eyed look and said, “Hot..”

  Mike said, “Looks like I can put your name on the list after all.. Yes?”

  Confused Stu said, “I don’t have powers to demonstrate though..”

  Mike began walking away and saying, “Don’t worry Stu, you’re the house of Chaos.. I have the upmost faith in you guys..” He turned jogging off into the crowd.

  The green cat groaned before saying, “Damned.. Enforcers.. We need to find Tom.. urmff..”

  Miracle soothed him again saying, “Yeah, there was a little more.. It’s okay little kitty..”

  Prosperity excitedly said, “That is absolutely amazing! Where does it keep coming from?”

  In frustration Stu yelled, “Why the vomit? Why didn’t any of you back me up? What the fuck guys?” The girls stared innocently at him, he knew better though. He bluntly asked, “Alright, but can we at least all agree that I have earned one, and I repeat one, night of sexy time?” They stared at him bnkly, he felt his brain breaking as he asked, “Are you really gods, or are you actually devils? This is torture!” They kept staring silently.

  Marrow said, “We can.. Head inside now.. I’m feeling better.. Kind of..”

  Stu gred at the cat saying, “At least you get to feel better, I’m actually dying and no one cares..” Taking a deep breath, he said, “Alright, lets go see if I can find any relief getting myself killed..” He turned and walked toward the gate, prompting the others to grab their things and follow behind.

  Heading through the gate it was like a big state fair, with rides and food everywhere. Games and demonstration booths lined up in rows that went on as far as Stu could see. This was even fancier than he’d first thought, he was overly impressed with the whole setup. It began on the upper portion of the quarry and spiraled towards the bottom. To Stu’s surprise several kids ran past him pying, confused he looked at Marrow asking, “There are kids here? Really?”

  Marrow said, “The prize is humanity, that means them too. So, yes, there are children here as well..”

  The sweet look of children pying carelessly suddenly turned into a very dark prospect, as Stu realized that the cat was right. He’d been thinking of the Judges as a way to keep humans out of things, not that they were protecting a prize and that meant the kids as well. Just like the two he’d been protecting at the railyard. Another reason for him to win the tournament he thought. There were always more reasons to win piling up and never any answers as to how to win. He sighed; those were things he’d just have to figure out when he crossed that bridge.

  Miracle asked, “Are you doing alright?” She could see the stress on his face as he thought to himself.

  Stu said, “Just thinking about things.. Let’s go find Tom, it feels like we hardly see him anymore..” He started leading them down the rows as they looked for Tom.

  Making their way through all the events and distractions, the girls were all over the pce. They were distracted at every opportunity they had, Prosperity quickly found herself basically banned from the games after repeatedly winning. Chaos found herself banned from rides, does anyone even need to expin why? Surely it had something to do with the judges having to file a battle report after riding one and the chaos that ensued as it seemingly fell apart while she rode. Miracle was one of the few that seemed to remain unbanned from all things but was the most childlike as she was distracted by everything, and Stu really meant everything.

  Other than the things the girls were interested in, Stu did manage to take a look at some of the demonstrations going on. He saw people maniputing elements, breaking concrete barriers, lifting tractors, the usual stuff you’d expect but he was looking for something new. These demonstrations were everywhere; he was looking for something he figured he would recognize when he saw it. For a moment he thought that he might have found it when he saw a young guy that literally looked like he came from the tribes on the pins of Africa. The guy was doing some sort of fighting style Stu hadn’t ever seen before, and the guy cut himself using his blood as a weapon. Stu sighed, “Cliché.. There’s always one blood maniputor..” He moved on looking some more.

  Moving a few more rows down he noticed a slightly rger crowd. Heading towards the mass of people he heard them cheering for the demonstration. Stu pushed his way up to the front and stood there watching someone demonstrating in disguise. “I thought it was you until you showed up watching as well.” Looking over he saw Demi speaking and watching beside him. Demi continued, “You missed the unknown blue blood using their powers.”

  Stu asked, “What were they?”

  Demi coldly said, “I don’t know. The blue blood made the targets explode without touching them. At least that’s how it appeared.”

  Stu bluntly asked, “You’re sure they weren’t moving too fast for you to see?”

  Sighing Demi said, “If that’s what you choose to believe..”

  Stu said, “I don’t trust you.”

  Demi smiled saying, “Fair enough, and honestly you shouldn’t.. Unless telling the truth benefits me more than lying to you does.. I’m saying I don’t believe I could beat this blue blood, and I believe I could beat you. So, where does this leave us?”

  Stu watched the unknown blue blood finish setting up some targets, all concrete barriers, walk back towards the crowd and all six barriers exploded. The crowd cheered and cpped. Stu said, “The enemy of my enemy.”

  Demi finally gnced at him for a moment before asking, “Shall we go ahead and decre a truce for now?”

  Turning and pushing his way out of the crowd Stu said, “Fair enough.” Demi never stopped watching the unknown blue blood and Stu needed to go find Tom before the demonstrations began for the ceremony.

  It took a little longer than he’d hoped but eventually he found the cat. He had The House of Chaos booth. Stu sighed, “Of course there was a booth for us.. God..” Another sigh, “Son of a bitch..”