When Stu and the girls arrived at the booth with Tom and a still slightly green Marrow was still being carried by Miracle, they all settled in. This was their spot for the ceremony apparently, and it didn’t take long before people came by the booth asking for pictures and autographs. The others were more than happy to accommodate their requests; however, Stu was reluctant about it. He didn’t like the idea of selling death like this, these people were basically all betting on who would be left alive at the end. It left a sour taste in Stu’s mouth. He looked at the cats asking, “What are we doing here? What is this all really about?”

  Tom simply said, “We are selling our image.”

  Stu was almost frustrated; he was so confused by Toms answer. He asked, “What does that mean?”

  Marrow cut in saying, “There are teams now, that was never against the rules, but it wasn’t part of the rules either. As a team you must make sure that your message is the dominant one. It’s tactics at a strategic level, and Tom along with myself have decided to back your decisions to create this group.”

  Tom finished his thought saying, “That’s correct, as of today you are officially backed by us personally. That doesn’t mean much honestly, but it does mean that the other judges have decided to announce the teams they’re going to back, as well. This means a lot less of the shadowy backroom deals that have been going on. This will bring a lot of light to who’s competing and maybe a little bit of crity to the tournament.”

  Chaos asked, “What backroom deals?”

  Sighing very heavily Stu said, “Ignore her.. Alright then, it sounds to me like things are going according to pn for you two. It also seems to me like you are both up to no good..”

  Tom said, “I assure you; we would never do anything that would qualify even in the slightest to what you would call no good..”

  Bnkly Stu said, “Uh-huh, and I’m actually Santa Cuse.. Just don’t fuck us over when you two fuck over whoever your target is..” Tom and Marrow looked at each other in a concerned way. Stu said, “See! That kind of stuff right there! That’s why I can never trust you two all the way.. Dicks..” He sighed while gring at the cats.

  Marrow said, “Well, now that this stuff is out of the way, we get to inform you that both of our districts will now be at your full disposal to assist in information gathering and resource assistance from now on.”

  Stu asked, “That doesn’t tell me anything, so what does it mean?”

  Tom said, “We can now offer you free food, housing, information, and assist with nonjudge reted issues.”

  Stu grinned, “So, in other words, everything you have already done..”

  Marrow said, “I don’t know where you get these ideas at, what your insinuating is absurd..”

  Stu gnced at the girls and they all looked confused. He asked, “Do you really not understand this? Wait, this isn’t like the bathroom thing, is it?”

  Confused Chaos asked, “What happened in the bathroom? I really don’t get what’s happening here..”

  Tom and Marrow both perked up as well asking, “Bathroom?”

  Miracle said, “Whatever is happening here I don’t understand, but the bathroom thing is simple. Chaos caught Stu jacking…”

  Stu spped his hand over Miracle’s mouth, with a very red face saying, “Whatever it was about, we can discuss it with fewer people.. Another word and I might get the trashcan out..” He slowly removed his hand.

  Miracle immediately asked, “That wasn’t the hand you used, was it?”

  Stu buried his face in his hands muttering, “Yes..”

  Prosperity whispered, “Hot.”

  Chaos though was still completely lost asking, “What? What happened?”

  The other girls started snickering, and the cats joined as well. Stu didn’t look up as he asked, “Marrow, are you riding home with us? You said drive fast and take the turns hard, right? Want to see if we can beat five gallons this time?”

  Marrow turned a little green, “Erm, uh yeah, I guess it’s not that funny as I think about it.”

  A loud sound filled the air, simir to a trumpet. Immediately Tom said, “Looks like it’s time for us to begin. We should get to the ceremony since you are showing off today, Steward. Do you need to go to the bathroom first?”

  Stu stood up saying, “As a matter of fact I do need to go to the bathroom. Chaos would you like to come with me?”

  Prosperity yelled, “Hot, wait.. That’s not fair! I want to go!”

  Confused Chaos jumped up, following close behind Stu. She asked, “Are we really going to the bathroom? Are you really going to let me see what you were doing?” Stu didn’t respond, he only continued walking to the center where all the other people were going. Chaos squeezed herself close to Stu as the crowd grew thicker, he couldn’t help but notice how hard she was clinging to him. She said, “I’m sorry..” Blushing as she noticed him looking at her.

  He blushed too saying, “It’s alright. I really don’t mind; it’s kind of nice..” He looked away trying to hide his nervousness. Chaos didn’t say anything, but she squeezed tighter. Stu couldn’t help but smile as he pushed deeper into the crowd. Getting near the front, the two looked up at a stage with none other than Timber waiting patiently for everyone to gather.

  Once the crowd was getting near to all arriving at the stage, Timber made an announcement saying, “We would like to invite our VIP demonstrators to the stage now. We are especially excited to welcome a st-minute addition, The House of Chaos.” The crowd erupted with appuse and cheers.

  Stu looked down at Chaos, who seemed to be in her own world still clinging tightly to him. He asked, “Are you ready?”

  She smiled dreamily and asked, “For what?”

  Stu said, “To go on stage with me?”

  Chaos looked around as she remembered why they were there and straightened up. She said, “Right, I knew that.. So, when do we go on?”

  Stu chuckled at her saying, “We’re on now..” He put his arm around her shoulders and the crowd parted, allowing them to make their way to the stage. Stu couldn’t help wondering if he was actually making some progress with Chaos.

  Once they made it up there they stood on the stage with several other gods and blue bloods. Stu nodded, acknowledging Demi as he nodded in return. between them stood the masked unknown blueblood and they were without their god, standing alone. Timber said, “Here today are gathered the current teams that have formed in the tournament, from this point forward all teams shall be referred to as House’s, and while teaming up is unnecessary it has shown that these groups already have accomplished more than single individuals. Therefore, we are going to invite our houses to give a demonstration of their own choosing.” The crowd roared to life with cheers.

  Timber stepped back, and Mike came up to the podium. Mike waited for the crowd’s excitement to quiet down before saying, “You all know who I am, but in case you are unsure I’m the Judge of Enforcers, Mike. We have gathered here today to conduct the ceremony for the opening of the Tournament Armageddon; we will begin shortly. This is a momentous occasion for the earth, mankind, and all gods participating. This is a battle to the death, with the winner given the ultimate prize, humanity. If you are the st god standing then that means whatever you do with your prize is completely up to you. If rule 18 has not been unredacted for anyone in attendance, it has now been unredacted up to subsection (a). That said, you now all understand why we are here, and how long this has been pnned out.” A loud trumpet bst echoed across the ceremony. “With the sounding of the second horn we are officially in the middle of the ceremony, we now invite our demonstrators to the main stage to give their presentations.”

  Mike walked back standing beside Stu. Another blue blood was walking to the center of the stage, Stu didn’t recognize the guy, but he was confident out there. He took a car axel and bending it in half with minimal effort he shaped it like a boomerang and threw it far into the sky. It just seemed to disappear as he stood there unmoving, the crowd began to murmur unimpressed. The man looked up after about thirty seconds and reached his hand up as the axel returned just like a literal boomerang. He snatched it out of the air and the crowd roared with appuse. He took a bow and stepped back to his pce in line.

  Stu gnced at Mike saying, “I really don’t have anything for these people.. What do I do?” Mike looked at him and just held a finger to his lips shushing Stu.

  Chaos said, “Don’t worry, you don’t have confidence in your power, but I do..”

  Stu felt frustrated because he really must be unaware of any real powers he had because he was drawing a total bnk in his mind. The next blue blood and his god stepped forth, the blue blood dumped water on the stage. Then doing some sort of Kung-Fu, or that’s how it appeared to an untrained person like Stu, the blue blood stomped in the water. It spshed upward and the man spun around kicking the water and it shattered targets that the god was holding. The crowd screamed in unison, cheering the guy like he was a god himself.

  Stu sighed, this was all getting more impressive as the more people went out on stage. What could he do? Moving fast, no not that, strength seemed like a normal thing here, he didn’t shoot fire or anything that really seemed like an abnormal power. He felt like he was going to ruin this for everyone. Mike nudged him suddenly, he said, “Stu, you’re up..” Stu looked up from his thoughts and saw everyone staring. Timber walked to the mic and said, “This is a special demonstration by the House of Chaos.” Stu almost went deaf as the crowd and some of the participants on stage cpped and cheered, almost losing their minds. Stu reluctantly headed for the mic.

  Timber went to pass him and Stu asked, “What do I do?”

  Timber didn’t stop walking, but he did say, “Just be you, it’ll be fine.”

  Stu got to the center of the stage; he looked out at the tens of thousands of people staring at him. He said, “Um..” His voice echoed heavily in the silence bouncing off the stone walls of the quarry. he continued, “Uh, I wasn’t aware I’d be giving a demonstration today.. I’m a little unprepared at the moment, and I really don’t know what to do…”

  Demi shouted, “Spar with someone!”

  Stu looked back at him trying to figure out what he was up to. Another voice said, “I’ll do it..” The unknown blue blood stepped forward.

  Stu hesitantly said, “Wait, we can’t fight here.. Plus, I was told there would be no fighting today..”

  Mike shouted, “Does the crowd want to see the House of Chaos give a little sparring match?”

  The crowd really almost lost its mind as a couple of people even had to be held back by enforcers while trying to come up on stage. Timber said, “Looks like the crowd has spoken. What say you, Stu?”

  The crowd roared, the participants grinned menacingly at Stu, and Chaos looked worried. Mike didn’t wait for an answer, he ran to the mic saying, “He’s going to do it everyone! We have an amazing ceremony for you indeed! This is the way fucking Armageddon should kick off!” The noise the crowd was making made everything else inaudible.

  Gring at mike, Stu found his gaze turning to the mysterious blue blood. Who was this guy? Why did it seem like the blue blood was targeting Stu? He couldn’t shake the feeling this had been pnned somehow or someway. Why did the mysterious blue blood hide their identity? The mysterious person dressed like a ninja while wearing a drama mask. Stu didn’t have a choice now, die by this crazy strong blue blood or die by a pissed off crowd. He sighed..