Satrox's badge was purple when they met Tam back at J-Knight Lamico Branch office.
"Not quite what I'd expect of one of the Seven Champions," Satrox said modestly, "But this is a continent where lots of people pack as much power in as low a ranking as possible. We just might get away with it."
"I hope so." Tam said. "It'll have to do. By the way, your backup's arrived."
"Really?" Satrox frowned. "Who did they send?"
"Three knights. Sandy, your brother and his girlfriend." Tam mentioned.
Satrox jumped. "His WHAT?!"
Tam blinked. "No? But they're always together, and she never stops talking."
"That must be Rita." Colin figured.
"That's…" Satrox struggled to speak in between coughs. "Not…"
"Oh. Sorry." Tam said. "Anyway, they're checking out the Comrade Home and the Gym. What's your plan for tonight?"
"The Windy Plains Tournaments start tonight, right?" Satrox said, catching his breath.
"At midnight, yes. You've got an hour to prepare." Tam supplied. "Tonight is the singles. Duos are tomorrow, and Groups the following night."
"We'll sign up for the singles." Satrox said. "Other than our backup, are there any Knights in the city?"
"Satrox, we were left with only four Knights before you arrived." Tam said. "One in the Protectorate, one in the Republic, one in the Union, and one right here."
"Who's our Knight in the Republic?" Satrox asked.
"Oliver." Tam replied. "He's been there for a month now, even before the chaos started. He's at Silverveins."
"Is he any good in a Tournament?" Satrox questioned.
"He's not bad, but no match for the Blues around here." Tam said. "It's better if you ask him yourself. I'll call him and ask him to meet you there."
"Right. Tell him to join the Tournament if he feels like it." Satrox said.
"Are you sure, Sage? The Republic demands a 3000 credit entry fee for participants." Tam mentioned.
{Three THOUSAND?! Oh scrap…}
"That's entirely his choice." Satrox said. "And he can pay for it himself if he wants to take part. Otherwise, he can just meet us there."
Colin nudged him. "Satrox…"
"Don't worry." Satrox said simply. "Let's go meet our backup."
Colin hoped Satrox was thinking the same thing he was. As they left the branch office, Colin ventured to ask. "You do realize that I can't afford that fee, don't you?"
Satrox nodded. "Like I said, don't worry. I've already got invites. Fees are waived for the two of us."
"Invites?" Colin echoed. "What do you mean?"
"The Republic has given us complimentary entrances to the Tournament, as a polite gesture of good faith." Satrox said. "Tam doesn't know, but I've already been contacted by all three factions. We've got quite a few Tournaments lined up, and none of them are asking us for entry fees."
"But what about that Oliver fellow?" Colin asked.
"I'm testing him." Satrox said simply.
"Sandy, Henry and Rita?"
Satrox shrugged. "We'll see."
Sandy and Rita were in the middle of a shouting match and Henry was watching them gloomily when Satrox and Colin found them at the Comrade Home. "What's the matter?"
"Traditions versus trying out new stuff." Henry said. "Go figure."
"It's Rita's mobile base idea, isn't it?" Colin guessed. "The reason why she's using both plants {and} bugs."
"Yep. Even Archie's run off. Said to call him once we've settled things. Poor guy looked so scared." Henry said. "Anyway, how have you two been doing?"
"Pretty good." Satrox said. "For a start. Excuse me."
Satrox went to break up the fight, leaving Colin and Henry staring at his back.
"He's unstoppable." Henry grinned, watching his brother in action. "Totally awesome."
Colin didn't say a word. Henry really admired his brother.
"You know, I'm envious." Henry added. "I waited so long to learn things from him, and when I finally get there, he goes off with you."
"What?" Colin stared. "But you already learnt so much from him! You inherited most of his Comrades! You've even learnt how to breed them and everything! I simply travel around and try not to get killed!"
"But you're his student." Henry said. "I heard from Tam. He might teach you how to travel the Ancient Ways. I'm just his brother. All he teaches me are the stuff I can learn in any Comrade Home."
"It's not like that." Colin said. "I don't even know what these Ancient Ways are, or what he's got to do with them. I'm more like a walking time-bomb that he needs to defuse before I end up destroying everything. He hasn't even said a word about Ancient Ways to me."
"Really?" Henry sounded doubtful.
"Really. All he ever says is 'go here', 'do this', 'do that', 'don't do that', and such. The most I've learnt from him about Nakama world is training methods and technique combinations."
"You can learn those at any Gym." Henry mused.
{Finally, he seems to be getting the idea.}
"Henry, there's so much going on, I don't understand any of it. But I do know Satrox is putting on a show, and he wants it to look like the J-Knights sent some pretty powerful people over. Like it or not, for all our sakes, I need to act the part, and so do you."
"I don't need to act." Henry said flatly. "I'm a genuine Purple Badge in my own right."
"Fine. So you're the real thing." Colin threw up his hands. "But I still have a lot of acting to do."
"Good luck." Henry muttered. "You were never very good at that."
"True." Colin admitted.
Rita came over then, eyes wide. "Colin! Is that your fox?!"
Colin turned around and found Foxie telling jokes again. All his Comrades except Shiro were laughing and pawing the ground or something. Shiro, sitting on Colin's shoulder, shook his head when he saw them all.
There were more than just his Comrade, Colin saw. Two of Rita's Arachnids and a Venuspot were there, as well as two big Lynxmice which he guessed were Henry's. All of them were having a merry laugh together.
"Oh, Foxie…" Colin shook his head, half laughing at the sight. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Arf!" Foxie grinned slyly at him.
***
Their trip to Windy Plains was rather short. Rita, declining to take part in the Singles Tournament, brought only two Blood Wasps. With Sandy and Henry capable of Warping in their Comrades and Kirin once more carrying most of Colin's Comrades on her back, they were able to fly to Windy Plains on Satrox's Pegasus and Chimeras.
The arena was a large fenced field in the open plains, with seating only on one side. Sandy registered in the Red Badge singles. Henry registered in the Purple Badge singles.
Satrox and Colin didn't register at all. "We're already listed in." Satrox explained.
At midnight, a loud bell sounded, and a broad, round man stepped onto a small podium. A holo-projector at his back projected his image to thirty feet, so everyone could see.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my privilege to welcome you to the latest Windy Plains Singles Tournament! Ever since the founding of this prestigious town…"
"Colin." Henry nudged him, distracting him from the speech. "Which Comrade are you going to enter?"
"Me?" Colin blinked. "Shiro, probably. Or Kirin. Maybe even Eclipse. Why?"
"I suddenly realized that I don't have a chance to win the Purple Badge ranking." Henry said. "No matter which Comrade I enter."
"What? Why?" Colin stared.
"Isn't it obvious?" Henry said gloomily. "My brother's entering the same ranking. Nothing I have can stand up to his Comrades."
Colin paused. "That's… probably… true. But you can still take out some of the other competitors, right? That way, your brother won't have to deal with the small fry. Think of it as helping him clear out the weaker guys."
Henry brightened. "That's true."
Colin turned back to the announcer as he was saying, "Because of our special circumstances, our Tournament today will be holding the Open Challenges rule! We will begin with the Yellow Badge Rankings."
"Open Challenges?" Henry gasped. "Oh, scrap…"
A hat was passed to the announcer, and he closed his eyes as he dipped his hand in. He withdrew a card. "Who's this?"
The projector changed image to display the card in his hands. It said 'Ginny Terlon.'
A moment later, the projector display changed to show the picture of a girl with hair tied high above her head, fierce-looking and sporting a nose-ring. She had boars and a bear at her side.
"Who wants to challenge Ginny Terlon?" the announcer called.
Colin stared. "Those are Bristle Boars… and they look fiercer than the ones at Dark Forest."
"She probably Tamed them from there and trained them up some." Henry guessed.
{Who's going to challenge someone like that?!}
To his amazement, about half the guys competing for Yellow raised their hands. Ginny picked one, and they started their duel, a Bristle Boar against a Rhinotle.
Ginny won shortly. She picked another challenger to fight.
"This is crazy." Colin said. "There's no time to rest!"
The announcer pulled another name out of the hat, and a guy in a cowboy hat was challenged by more people. He picked out his opponent and they fought too. This happened twice more and before Colin knew it, four duels were going on simultaneously between Yellow Badge competitors using Comrades far above the levels of his own.
{If THIS is Yellow Ranking, what's Green gonna be like?!}
Ginny wiped out half her challengers before she lost a duel. The guy who replaced her wore a straw hat and a brown coarse robe. He had a trio of golems and a stone lion.
Cowboy-hat boy went down soon afterwards. The other two duels stopped very quickly.
"Who wants to challenge Tony Karas?" the announcer asked.
Nobody put up a hand. The guy with the straw hat and robe, Tony Karas, was declared champion on the spot. Ginny, Cowboy-hat and three others were challenged and fought for a while more to decide second and third place. Ginny got second, Cowboy-hat got third.
The prize for first place, Yellow Badge ranking, was 50,000 Clira. Second received 40,000 and third got 30,000.
"Satrox mentioned rich prizes…" Colin said in a daze. "But this is insane."
"Not if you consider the amount of effort the challengers put in." Henry said thoughtfully. "I think it's only fair."
"We will now begin the Green Badge challenges!" the man dipped his hand into the hat again. He took out a name. "Destride Russels!"
The chap shown on screen looked like he was a wrestler. He had five huge long-legged crocodiles with him, each one at least fifteen feet long.
"Any challengers?"
Ten people put up their hands. Colin stared at the Comrades they brought out into the Green Badge field.
{They're huge…}
"What do I do?" Colin gasped. "Satrox?"
Satrox watched them calmly and said. "What do you want to do?"
"I want to go home, that's what!" Colin hissed.
Satrox barked a laugh. "Not now, Colin. Just sit tight and watch."
"Just… watch? Aren't I supposed to take part?"
"You can if you like." Satrox shrugged. "If not… just don't challenge."
{Don't… challenge…} Colin blinked. That sounded perfectly reasonable to him.
Destride Russels won the Green Badge championship without Colin ever moving from his seat. He won 100,000cr for first place at Green Badge ranking.
The announcer pulled a Blue Badge name from the hat and called Lucy Ernst, a girl with tall fiery herons and two of those big four-winged gulls.
She won first place and 150,000cr.
"Hey, Colin…" Henry nudged him. "Doesn't it seem like whoever he calls from the hat seems to be really strong?"
"I think so." Colin said. "I mean, we don't really know how many names are in that hat, and it makes sense that they want to end it quickly, so why not just call out those that look like the strongest?"
The next name called out only seemed to prove him right.
"Purple Badge Ranking; Satrox Kibou!"