Alright! Now it's time for the second chapter, also known as the Qualification Round. As you should well remember, the Qualification Round is for humans who were involved with the 'got kidnapped by a ghost king who must absolutely hate mornings' AND have gone out of their way to get into a ghost fight and, well, fight! So here we'll have a lot of Amity Park citizens who will either become Competitors or be disqualified. How will the rounds go? Well…
I don't own Danny Phantom. If I did…. Yeah no. Probably a good thing.
ENJOY!
ROYAL GAMES
As the Observants had promised, no ghosts showed up at all the next day. Or even that night. Actually, the only ghost Danny fought the day of 'the announcement' had been the Box Ghost, and he didn't show back up at all.
Everyone in Amity Park was anxious as four o'clock rolled around. The bleachers of the Casper High football field were filled with press and people coming to observe this 'qualification round' that several of Amity Park's citizens had to participate in. Strangely, the field itself was open and clear of both people and of ghosts. Then again, no one really knew what was going to happen on the field itself, and appearances could be deceiving. A clear field could quickly become a battlefield. So maybe not so strange after all.
Participants of the Qualification Round stood off to the side in a large canopy tent at the entrance of the field. Surprisingly, no ghosts set this up, but rather the Fenton parents had. They had partially wanted to see all of the other potential competitors and had set up this tent to keep them all together. Danny saw familiar and not so familiar faces—what even was Lance Thunder doing here? How'd he become a participant?—and wondered which of Amity Park's citizens he might have to go against. There was no doubt in his mind he was going to make it through this round, whatever it was, and into the Royal Games. Actually, what Danny really wondered was if there was any feasible way to get through these 'Royal Games' with his secret intact.
Somehow, he doubted there was.
Four o'clock chimed in. At first, nothing happened.
Then Danny shivered, letting out a visible breath, and instantly knew that they had company.
A portal ripped open in the center of the field. A somewhat large ghost covered in fur with large claws wearing some sort of jumpsuit-tracksuit thing stepped out of the swirling green and onto the field. Danny recognized the ghost as Wulf, a friendly ghost that only spoke Esperanto for whatever reason and had the unique power to open portals. Following Wulf was an entourage of Observants and some smaller, weaker ghosts such as ectopuses and, somehow not very surprisingly, the Box Ghost.
"Welcome!" an Observant shouted out as its companions became a flurry of ecto activity on the football field, setting things up and flying around like crazy. "Ah, it's nice to see everyone showed up. Cameras, even better. Just like we predicted. Now, we the Observants shall be done in just a moment, so if the contestants that are already gathered under that tent would please move to the other designated tent in the field, that would be… appreciated."
Sure enough, the Observants were done setting up a large building-like thing in the center of the field and several canopy tents and tables all around it. Wulf closed the portal he had made and headed in through one of the various doors in the building thing. Observants were everywhere and were occupying most of the tents they set up. A somewhat larger canopy tent was just before the building and had a large sign saying 'Potential Competitors' on the top. The said potential competitors waited a moment before they all moved towards the other tent, Maddie and Jack Fenton quickly disassembling their tent as they went. An Observant with an ecto-green bowtie stood between the tent and the coming participants. "Hello, I'll be your guide throughout the games, should you make it pass this round. You'll be able to tell by this tie. I believe you all have your envelopes?"
As a matter of fact, they all did. The Fentons had requested to see them before letting them into their tent as they did not want to deal with any news stations crawling around at the moment. This had mostly come to be when Lance Thunder—again, what was he doing here?—had tried to come in. The participants showed their envelopes one by one to the bow-tied Observant and, after being let into the canopy tent area, sat down in one of the various metal folding chairs. By pure coincidence, Danny was the last one in line to show his envelope.
"Oh," the Observant said as he saw who it was. "It's you."
Danny took a quick look around at all the spectators. "Ah, yeah, I don't know you…"
"Not personally, no. You wouldn't."
The Fenton boy pulled his envelope to the ghost. "You're gonna be the guide for the human contestants, right?"
"Yes, I am," the ghost said as he looked over the envelope to make sure it was real—though really, Danny was probably the one of the only ones who could have gotten in without an envelope, save for maybe Valerie, the rest of Team Phantom, and the rest Fenton family.
"Do you have a name? It'd make it easier for you to stand out to the humans as our guide."
"No I don't. Observants don't have name. We're a collective," the Observant said as he handed the envelope back.
"I'm gonna call you…. Tim. Tim the Guide."
"Please don't. Now go in."
"If you say so, Tim," Danny smiled as he went to sit with his two friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, whom were already settled in the tent.
Sam Manson was a smart girl with rather 'creepy' interests. From her combat boots to her Goth clothes to her purple lipstick, she valued individuality. She was also an 'ultra-recyclo vegetarian', which essentially translates to her 'not eating anything with a face on it'. Danny wasn't sure what he thought of his feelings for her just yet, but he already decided that he felt something for the girl.
Tucker Foley, on the other hand, was perhaps Sam's complete opposite. Sam was white as a sheet while Tucker had a nice chocolate skin tone. Sam was Goth, Tucker was decidedly not. He also absolutely loved meat and had no issues with completely blending in with the crowd, or trying to at least, which often butted heads with Sam's diet and her world view. Tucker and Danny knew each other for a long time and knew more about each other than they probably ever wanted to know.
Yet, despite Sam and Tucker's differences, both were friends with each other and were friends with Danny. Danny couldn't ask for better friends. Well, as long as they didn't try to kill him again. Which there was a distinct possibility of, actually. What could he say, they were a curious trio and Danny's parents were eccentric inventors.
The fact that they hunted ghosts together helped with that bond. Nothing helps a friendship like watching your friend turn into a ghost and get slammed into a building by another ghost that you will later use a fishing line and a soup thermos to capture and put into a separate dimension with the help of a portal in the basement of two nice but at least partially insane scientists.
"Okay, Participants!" the announcer Observant said as it floated above the building thing. "You're about to start the Qualifying Round! As such, I will review the rules laid out before in your envelopes for the benefit of reminding the Participants and to inform those who did not get a letter." The Observant paused as several cameras and microphones were set up, then started speaking again after everyone seemed ready to listen. "First of all, we are not responsible for any injuries you may sustain. You may bring in ecto weapons, however there shall be no maiming, destroying, ripping apart, or transporting to different dimensions allowed. We do have basic ecto weapons over there in the Weaponry Tent, but only Participants may allowed in. Participants, the Weaponry Tent is the closed-off blue one left of yours. Participant's personal abilities shall be considered for their round, so no two rounds will be exactly the same, thus there is no advantage by sharing or withholding information about the rounds. We will announce only the result of the Participant's round, however Participants may share any details they wish. For the sake of fair games and the spirit of the Royal Games, no lying about the rounds are allowed. Should a Participant break this rule, their round will be shared publically. As you all can see now, there are ghosts present. None of those out here will attack any of those present and we request all of you do the same. If something is to occur, we, the Observants, shall take care of it."
"Basic rules, yeah yeah," Jack shouted. "What about starting this shindig already?"
The Observant heard Jack—it was rather hard not too—and cleared its throat. "We'll begin the rounds shortly. The order the Participants go in shall be decided by random lottery. Onto other announcements, we, the Observants, have decided to let the non-participants roam around the field. Feel free to visit the tents, save for the Weaponry Tent. Be respectful of the Participant Tent and those inside it, as well as the currently empty Competitors Tent. That tent will hold all those who pass the Qualification Round and is located on the opposite side of the main building from the Participant Tent. Those who do not pass are allowed to roam the field with the rest of the non-participants. We ask Participants to stay in their tent and, should you become a Competitor, to stay in the Competitor Tent. So if all non-Participants would now make their way to the field, that would be greatly appreciated. We promise that the ghosts will not harm you."
The crowd in the bleachers were somewhat hesitant to come down, but soon found themselves roaming around the various canopy tents and seeing various ghosts, most of them Observants. A lot of the tables under the tents were empty and most of the banners did not have so much as a letter on them. It was… eerie, to say the least. There seemed to be empty tents as well, which seemed even stranger. There were only a couple of tents that really had anything in them, and they looked more like official's tents than anything a normal spectator would be interested in.
"As you can all see, right now our tents are, sadly, mostly empty," the Observant said. "However, they will begin to fill in as the Royal Games continue. You may also rent a tent space by registering with the Registration Tent near the 'Opposing Side' bleachers. Feel free to support your favorite contestant, become a food vendor, set up carnival games, or sell items related to the games. News stations are encouraged to take a tent as a home base of sorts here in the field. Competitors can also run a tent if they are not in a Royal Game activity at the time. The tents have to be ghost-friendly, however, as they are also just like you—spectators and competitors for these games."
"Interesting," Tucker said. "So it's like a carnival?"
"I guess," Danny shrugged. "It looks like it's supposed to be festive, regardless of the lack of filled tents."
"Huh," Sam looked around. "I wonder what tents are even set up right now."
"Good question, Participant!" the Observant said, having somehow heard Sam's comment. "The only tents that are really set up right now are the Participant Tent, the Weaponry Tent, the Competitor's Tent, the Registration Tent, and the Question Tent. For those wondering, the Question Tent is where you can submit questions for any of the Competitors, whether they be a Human or, for later on, a Ghost. Of course, you can also leave notes for the Competitors, though we suggest keeping those to a minimum. The press can use this to request interviews and the spectators can give the Competitors encouragement. No threats will be sent through and all notes and questions will be monitored."
"Well, I don't think we'll be getting much mail then," Tucker muttered.
"The Question Tent will also have a voting section. This feature will be explained more later on, but for now it will serve as to show which Competitors are fan favorites and which ones are… not quite so popular. That, along with other things, will be displayed on a yet-to-be-constructed board that will list all of the Competitors."
"We're gonna rank low," Danny said.
"So very, very low," Sam agreed.
"Speaking of our Competitors, we should let the Participants start in their Qualification Rounds now," the Observant said as it poofed up a jar filled with paper out of nowhere. It reached its hand down into the jar and pulled out one of the slips. "First Participant, Damon Gray, please follow your guide to the Weaponry Tent and then to the main building."
"When did Mr. Gray fight a ghost?" Sam asked Danny.
"How should I know? I kinda lose track of who's involved in fights at this point," Danny said. "Besides, he's security at Axion Labs. He probably chased off the Box Ghost or something."
"That's…. Probably true," Tucker nodded. "I think almost everyone in our class is here."
"We fought Ember and Youngblood to save our parents, remember?" Sam reminded him. "So all of us qualify."
"It's a pretty good cover for why we're here too," Tucker said in a softer voice, trying not to be heard by the other teens. Not that it would have mattered much, everyone was having their own conversations at this point.
Danny nodded. "Got that right. It explains why no one's questioning our presence, which is good." Danny went quiet for a moment before frowning. "I wonder what's going on in there. I'm trying to listen but it seems they're either doing a very quiet round or its sound proof. Like, ghost-quality sound proof."
"Not sure," Tucker admitted. "I did see him when he into the Weaponry Tent though. He got an ecto gun."
"Mr. Gray, father to Valerie, the ghost-hating sharpshooter, got an ecto gun," Danny deadpanned. "That cannot be good."
"She had to get those skills from somewhere," Sam said. "And Mr. Gray does work security. I think he was in the army at one point…"
"Probably," Tucker said. "At least you're not on the other end of it this time, dude."
A loud, crackling sound came over the announcement speakers, momentarily hushing the crowd. "Next Participant Mikey, please follow your guide. The first Participant, Damon Gray, has passed the Qualification Round. He is now our first Competitor!"
Danny paled a bit as the cheering started. "That can't be good. That means we'll probably compete against him."
"Maybe he'll get ruled out before we have to fight him?" Tucker suggested. "Or maybe there'll be a rule against adults fighting minors?"
"Ghost ages are different, Tuck," Danny shook his head. "Besides, even if that did happen, eventually at least one adult vs. kid fight would have to happen at the very end."
"How different even are ghost ages?" Sam asked.
"Well," Danny said. "Ghosts aren't exactly immortal, and so they go through some aging as time goes on. However, they do 'live' a ridiculously long time and I think that they can control if they look old or young. Ghosts aren't too concerned about aging and stuff, to be honest. If a ghost looks twelve, they're twelve, if they look forty, they're forty. Even if the twelve-year-old is like two centuries older. Generally, you don't judge a ghost by age or appearance. Like Box Ghost is 'older' than Youngblood, but Youngblood is definitely more formidable. Also I think Youngblood is technically older. But time just seems weird after a while… for a ghost that is." Danny shrugged. "It's hard to explain, since ghosts do sometimes show some age development, especially if they're a higher power level. But basically a ghost is as old as it feels to be, if that makes sense."
"Do you think they count human years?" Tucker asked. "I mean, you're like fourteen or fifteen."
"You don't even know my age?" Danny quirked an eyebrow in disbelief. "Seriously Tuck? I'm sixteen."
"Sorry! But it's only been about a year since…" Tucker quieted his voice significantly, "The 'accident'… so are you fourteen or one?"
"Um," Danny scratched his head. "You know, I never really asked Clockwork about that. Or Frostbite. They both told me a little about ghost aging, but… I think I'm just how old I am. That's it. Either way I'm ridiculously young in both human time and in ghost time. Actually, scratch that, most humans are ridiculously young in ghost time. And anyway, I'm sixteen and it's been two years."
"You really don't look much different from then," Sam observed. "I mean, I guess we don't either, and you've finally gotten taller than me, so…"
"Thankfully, yes," Danny sighed. "I was so tired of being one of the shortest."
"Dude, you're still one of the shortest," Tucker pointed out.
"Not. Helping," Danny hissed. "But it's not like I've stopped aging or anything. Maybe I've just slowed down?"
"There's a chance of that," Sam said. "But that doesn't explain the rest of town."
"Um…" Danny thought for a moment. "Widespread ecto radiation maybe?"
The crackling of the speakers came on again. "Participant Sam Manson, please follow your guide. Previous Participant Mikey has passed the Qualification Round, he is now a Competitor!"
"Well if Mikey made it," Sam muttered as she stood up, "it can't be that hard."
"That's probably true," Tucker agreed.
Sam left with the guide, going towards the Weaponry Tent and disappearing.
The rhythm continued, Participants got called, some became Competitors, some didn't, and the Participants waited anxiously. After Sam, for example, there was Vlad (who somehow had his own private tent, explaining why literally no one had seen him until then) who made it, but after him was Lance Thunder who failed the Qualification Round.
Eventually there were few participants. Danny's friends had already become Competitors, and even Danny's parents had gone through (and passed). Danny and Jazz were one of the few left. Then, just as he was about to just take a nap, Danny was called in.
He followed the guide, Tim, into the Weaponry Tent. All of the Participants were required to go in and at least consider a weapon. Danny, of course, had more ecto weapons hidden on his person than most people thought he could carry, but still, he picked up a small ecto gun and followed Tim to the main building thing.
The building was mostly that, a building, but it was very obviously only for temporary residence on the football field. Doors were everywhere, but only one seemed to be an entrance. A good percent of the doors couldn't even be reached by humans anyway, most likely a product of ghosts, who were used to the insane doors in the Ghost Zone, trying to build a human building.
"Inside, Danny Fenton," the guide said.
"Thanks, Tim."
"Don't call me that."
Danny went in to find a numerous amount of doorways and hallways. A staircase here or there, slopes, so on. A labyrinth.
"This is the qualifying round?" Danny asked the air. "Am I supposed to find the exit? There's so many doors though…"
The young Fenton gulped. He guessed this is what was meant by 'sharing information will not help during the Qualification Round'. The Observants probably reset the labyrinth every time. They also factored in personal abilities, apparently. A quick check told Danny that the ruled probably only really applied to him and Vlad—his ghost powers didn't work in the labyrinth.
Luckily, Danny had some Fenton Ghost Line in his pocket—the line that went in the Fenton Ghost Fisher and a few other inventions—which he tied to the now-locked door handle. Ecto gun in one hand and Ghost Line in the other, Danny began walking down the hallways. "At least I'll know if I go in circles!" he said cheerily to himself as he turned to the left and then to the right. "The exit is probably on the other side of the building, so I'll try to go as straight as possible…" What could he say, talking to himself made him less stressed.
Then a ghost showed up. Because of course a ghost showed up. There were ghosts everywhere and it had pretty much negated Danny's ghost sense two hours ago.
And of course, the ghost that showed up was the Box Ghost.
"Beware! I am the guardian of this box of hallways!" the Box Ghost yelled. "I cannot allow you to pass!"
Danny blinked. "Is this the way to the exit then?" Danny asked.
"Of course it is! That is why I'm guarding it!" the ghost yelled.
Danny thought for a moment. "Then, oh great ghost, you should show me all the other hallways that leave this place so I know which hallways to not take."
The Box Ghost hummed in thought. "Very well!" he yelled. "Follow me down the hallways you should not be going down!"
Three minutes later, Danny found the bright neon exit sign.
"There!" Box Ghost said. "The exit which you are not allowed through!"
"Oh, really," Danny said. "Well, thank you for your help. Say, could you hold this fishing line for me, oh fearsome ghost?"
Box Ghost smiled at the 'fearsome ghost' comment. "Certainly!" he said as he floated down and took the line from Danny's hand. "Do not try to trick me into letting you leave, either! It won't work!"
"Sure it won't," the Fenton boy said as he walked past the Box Ghost and to the exit. He left an upset Box Ghost behind him, said ghost having finally figuring out that he had been tricked, and found himself in front of another Observant.
"You passed. Congratulations," the Observant said. "I'll let the announcer know. Go join the others at the Competitors Tent."
Danny smiled at the ghost before going to the clearly labeled tent, dropping the ecto gun from the Weaponry Tent at a just-as-clearly labeled table in front. The tent had a surprisingly low number of non-participants hanging around, though it probably had something to do with Maddie proudly sporting out her Fenton Bazooka and Jack twirling his Jack-O-Nine-Tails around. Danny wasn't sure what was scarier—his mom's weapons or his dad's horrible aim. Wait, actually, the scariest part to Danny was Vlad standing there next to his parents, obviously trying to compliment a not-interested Maddie and giving underhanded insults to Jack.
The young Fenton decided to ignore it for now (again, Fenton Bazooka and his dad's aim) and instead searched for his friends. "Hey, guys," Danny said to Tucker and Sam when he found them. "How goes it?"
"Well, your dad accidentally body slammed a reporter," Tucker said. "It was kind of great."
"Nice," Danny whistled. "Not many more Participants to go, huh?"
"Nope. And we're all Competitors now, which is… Fairly predictable," Sam said.
"Did you guys get a labyrinth too, by any chance?" Danny asked. "I wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one."
"Nope, I got one too, dude," Tucker assured.
"Same," Sam nodded. "The real question is how on earth Dash got through."
"I think I saw some broken walls in there," Danny said. "I'll give you a wild guess as to what probably happened."
"How'd you get out anyway, Danny?" Sam asked. "I got lost and started shooting blast marks to mark where I had been."
"Yeah, and I made a virtual map of the place until I found my way out," Tucker added.
"Well, I partially used the Fenton Fishing Line to leave a trail. Then I met the Box Ghost and I might have ended up having him show me out," Danny admitted.
"Seriously?" Sam looked surprised. "You tricked the Box Ghost?"
"What, like it's hard," Tucker scoffed. "It's the Box Ghost."
"True," Sam agreed. "Still, I only ever saw ghosts if I was going the wrong way."
Danny shrugged. "I guess the 'you're going the right way if you meet enemies' thing doesn't apply?"
The speaker system crackled again. "Final Participant Valerie Gray, please follow your guide," an Observant announced. "Participant Jazz Fenton has passed the Qualification Round! She is our next Competitor!"
Jazz did in fact show up in the tent after the announcement was made. She looked around and, after spotting her brother, jogged over the trio and smiled. "Well that was fun!"
Danny gave her a funny look. "How so?"
"A labyrinth is just a puzzle, Danny. Puzzles are fun! Oh, by the way, any idea why the Box Ghost was in a bad mood?"
Sam and Tucker gave Danny a pointed look. "… The world may never know," Danny said with a sheepish smile. "But hey! The whole Fenton Family made it…"
Jazz gave an unamused, "Yay," at that.
Crackling. "Participant Valerie Gray has passed the Qualification Round! She is now our last Competitor!"
"Well that was fast," Jazz said.
"We have no more Participants. Please give all of our Competitors a round of applause!" the announcer said. Valerie stepped into the tent just in time for the whole field to explode into cheers and applause.
"Wow," she said as she stepped up to Danny and co. "They must have been bored just standing around. Listen to those cheers."
"Yeah, there's not much going on yet… I wonder what happens now though," Danny said.
"Alright, please quiet down," an Observant said, once again hovered above the center labyrinth building. "That is all for today's activities. We, the Observants, will be taking over this field and the school buildings nearby for the duration of the games. We apologize for the disruption of class schedule, but we have found no other favorable alternatives. If there are any complaints, please go to the Question Tent tomorrow."
"Does that mean school's canceled?" Tucker asked.
"Please," Danny halfway begged the universe. "Please let it be canceled."
"Tomorrow's Saturday anyway," Jazz pointed out. "This could be over by Monday for all we know."
"Somehow I doubt that," Sam deadpanned.
The Observant started speaking again. "We request everyone to exit the field and go about your business. We shall be prepping this area for the games. The tents will be relocated to outside the field for the remainder of the games while this field is reconstructed for optimal use. For your safety, we ask you to not come near this location until at least 8 am tomorrow morning. Competitors, we ask you to stay a moment so we can inform you of what happens now. Non-competitors, please find your way to the exit now."
The general public retreated from the field, though many lingered much longer than needed. It took a good ten minutes of coaxing to get the last of the stragglers out. The Competitors stayed in their tent, talking idly and checking out the competition.
Currently, the Competitors included Danny, Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Valerie, Sam, and Tucker. The other Competitors were Damon, Paulina, Dash, Kwan, Star, Mr. Lancer, Mikey, Nathan, and, unfortunately, Vlad.
At last, the bow-tied guide ghost and the Observant that had been acting as announcer all evening showed up in the tent. "Ah yes, hello Competitors. Congratulations on making it this far in the Royal Games! From now on, though, the tests will be much harder than a maze. We will test your skills as not only a ruler, but as a fighter, for the crown of a ghost ruler is much coveted. For now, we have… Hm… Sixteen of you. Tomorrow will be your first Event Day."
"What's an event day?" Paulina asked.
"Event Days are days where the Competitors will have an elimination event where either two, one, or no people will be eliminated. As such, no one can be quite sure about whether anyone will be eliminated on Event Days. There are also Battle Days and Rest Days. Battle Days include 'battles' between Competitors. Rest Days are used so Competitors may rest. Competitors can also run a tent that day or schedule a talk time with the press, but ultimately you can just stay home and not show up. For Event Days or Battle Days, we request you show up here at this tent at nine o'clock in the morning."
"Tomorrow's an Event Day, right?" Damon asked. "What's the event?"
"Well," the announcer Observant said, "we don't want to give any details too early, but the event's name is 'Duck Pond'. We'll have daily programs available for each day, so if you forget an event, you can always grab one and check. This is also how non-Competitors and Competitors who are out of the competition will know what's going on."
"You're very thorough, I'll give you that," Mr. Lancer complimented.
"We see the future, after all," the bow-tied guide admitted. "This time, though, we're having some trouble, and we don't really know who will win these games. So instead, we have seen every conceivable problem and found a way to fix it so that the Royal Games go as smoothly as possible."
"I see," Maddie said. "And we should trust a bunch of ghosts because…? I've been going with this Qualification Round thing all day because I'm curious, but I'd rather have a better reason than that if I'm going to be in these 'Royal Games' of yours."
"We are giving up the Ghost Zone monarchy to a human," the announcer Observant said. "Many ghosts are not happy with this arrangement. However, they are… tolerating you, mostly. We ask you all to, at the least, tolerate the other ghosts for as long as the Royal Games are occurring. If you have any further concerns, however, you can submit them to the Question Tent first thing tomorrow."
"Not all ghosts are bad anyway, right?" Jazz said. "I'm sure it'll be fine."
With nothing else to say and nothing else to complain about, the Competitors were sent home, unsure of what would await them tomorrow….
ROYAL GAMES
I wasn't entirely sure what to put as Danny's age, so… I think he's like sixteen at the end of the series…. And I tried to mention ghost aging, but I really just sorta winged it. Like Danny's a young ghost, but powerful, so he's about as respected as ghost-fighting ghost can be in the Ghost Zone. Youngblood is an older ghost, but is also fairly powerful, and is considered somewhat threatening and is given his respect. Box Ghost is a younger ghost, but is not threatening, so he isn't respected much. Klemper is an older ghost, but is mostly more annoying than he is threatening, and isn't really considered a threat, so is left alone and not very well respected…. Does that make sense? I think respect has a lot to do with the Ghost Zone. Mostly because of the phrase of 'Giving your last respects' to a dead person. Maybe that influences power lever or something? I don't really know. I'm rambling.
Anyway, any ideas as to what Duck Pond will have in store for our Competitors? I'm curious as to what you guys think is in store for our human Competitors. And there are sixteen of them right now. I'm not sure who is to be the first one eliminated yet, or if I even should eliminate one of them (I think probably will eliminate someone, to be honest), but I'll figure that out soon.
Remember, you can submit stuff you think would be interesting for Event Days, and when we get to them, you can submit battles for Battle Days. You can even suggest stuff for Rest Days for our favorite characters to do. Also, the Question Tent is pretty much for you guys—submit questions, vote for your favorites, send in notes for the Competitors, etc. They may actually will have a bit of an effect on the story itself! You never know. Just submit whatever you think would be interesting to the 'Question Tent' (aka the review section) or you can talk directly to the game organizers using the Bow-Tied Observant Tim's inbox (aka my PM box—trust me, Tim will get it. Also he hates the name Tim, so naturally I must encourage you to call him Tim as much as humanly or ghostly possible). You can also suggest who you think will be the next eliminated and who will win. You can also submit headcanons and stuff you'd like to appear, and I'll see if I can include it.
As you can tell, there will be minor OCs (such as Tim, Announcer Observant, also some referees are planned…). Fear not, there will not be any major OCs. Keep a watch out for fanon characters though, they might pop up (in probably slightly bigger roles than the OCs).
Speaking of OCs, the Question Tent might remember you if you send anything in, so you might show up. I'm not asking for OCs or anything, but if you are submitting something for the Question Tent, please tell me if you'd rather not show up in the story or, if I do end up choosing your question, please leave a name I can use (keep in simple, like Emily or Jessica or Ethan or James). If you don't and I pick your suggestion/question/whatever, you'll either end up as anonymous, get a name based on your URL, or have a completely made-up name. Of course, this depends of whether or not I choose your suggestion.
Also, at this time I'd like to thank paigemeable for all the help she's been—I've been talking to her and brainstorming about this since literally the beginning. She's a big part of this story's production and I wouldn't feel right without crediting her in this chapter for her help (especially after I forgot to last chapter, whoops!). Also, to the rest of the group that had to read through our messages, thank you too for 1-dealing with it and 2-any encouragement you might have sent (I can't look through the messages to see if either of you two said anything at the moment, so sorry about that!).
So basically, remember to send in something (questions, notes, votes, Events, or Battles) to the Question Tent (via the review button) or just say hi in Tim's Inbox (again, literally just my PM box)! I promise, neither I nor Tim bite. Mostly because I'm on the other side of the computer screen and I'm pretty sure Tim just doesn't have a mouth. Also, you can just leave regular reviews in the review box if you so wish (it feeds my ego… and Tim's). Basically, not all reviews are for the Question Tent, but all Question Tent things are reviews. Likewise, not all PMs are for Tim's Inbox, but all of Tim's Inboxes are PMs (well, technically you can leave a review if you don't have an account, but I'd like to keep things as organized as possible).
I'm not sure when I'll update next, but until next time!
SEE YOU LATER, FRIENDS!