The Ranch

Tih: The Mascot, The Leader (2)

With only two teams out of the original sixteen on the balcony, it looks a lot more sparse. The two have been positioned to the far ends of the balcony. They nod towards the announcer.

Meanwhile, the audience discusses," This has never happened before."

"We didn't have cameras on anything aside from the games before. A lot has changed."

"Audience participation?"

"Who are you going to shout for?"

"Well, let's wait and see the number of participants first."

"After I name the game, the timer will start. Is everyone ready?" Simon looks at the twenty people. "The game is...Hoopsie Legends. Both sides pick one player. Begin!"

" ! This name."

"Yeah over a decade ago, we had this game, didn't we?" The audience member voices.

"Doesn't that put the newbies at a disadvantage?"

"At least there's someone there to explain it."

Henri recalls the scene of over a decade ago," This Game Was In A Previous Tournament. I'll Simplify." His voice is hastened as he quickly explains the fundamentals.

It takes place in a contained, symmetrical obstacle course. There are hand-sized rings floating all around the course. You compete to grab more than the other. There's also a fighting mechanism. If you engage and they fall down, you'll steal a ring. Then there's a thirty second immunity period in which neither of you can engage. Last time, the match lasted around five minutes.

"Who are ya gonna shout for?"

"Maybe the bulky guy on Poseidon's side and the captain of Jörmungandr..."

"Really, I think that last dancing newbie was more interesting."

Team Jörmungandr quickly comes to a decision and unanimously vote for their captain.

The other side, however...

Tih's team look between each other, sweaty and exhausted. Henri, Basile, and Kai are in no position to fight. The others aren't much better as most haven't recovered from yesterday's matches and the preliminaries the day before.

Sherlock and Lucien are bad choices for a physical game. Pierre also opts out, as he's not the fittest among them.

Sherlock looks at the sweaty Kai,"You look horrible."

"Shall I grab you a mirror?" Kai smiles in sarcasm.

They all simultaneously turn to the one clean, kept person that hasn't been influenced from the tournament.

"So we're putting Tih?" Lucien asks.

Victor lets out a tired sigh, "Do we have any other choice?" It's a rhetorical question. He's the best option. Kinda. There's a lot of room for...unexpected occurrences. They'll have to take the risk.

"Will he know what to do?" Theodore brings up an important question.

"He's done well during the preliminary rounds?" Pierre, who was focused pushing the boulder in the first round, missed a few things.

"But he had people to copy from, he had time to waste to learn, plus he needed Kai to tell him what to do in the end." Victor knits his brows.

Pierre admits, "Yes...but it turned out fine in the end."

"Yeah, that's cuz we helped clean up his mess." Theodore rebukes.

"We're Wasting Time." Henri reminds the group.

"So, give him detailed instructions." Basile mumbles while chewing on his last takoyaki ball.

They surround Tih and all start jabbering at once, with Henri as the frontrunner and the others adding minute details.

Any normal person wouldn't be able to intake all this information at once. Someone said something about needing to grab rings, while another described what rings look like. Kai explains that the other person will want to "play" and that they'll be sad if you don't chase after them and make sure their body touches the floor.

The audience and other team notice.

"They're sending him?"

"He can't be older than nine!"

"Wait, he's the one that smashed the boulder, right?"

"Yeah, didn't he almost lose the game for his team, are they really trusting that child with this?!"

Major Jax snorts. He leans back comfortably in his chair with a smug smirk.

"They're sending me a child?" Rohan wonders to himself.

"No offense, but are you really putting... your captain up?" One of Jörmungandr's members asks Henri, but quickly turns to Tih," Don't get me wrong, you're very skilled for your age, little buddy," but that's only if you're compared to your age group.

Rohan's of the same mind, but doesn't say it out loud. If that's their choice, he has no right to intervene.

See, the problem here is his team's perception of Tih is skewed. He's a newbie ace at most, in their eyes. Rohan's team isn't that up to date on the latest gossip.

Rohan's first impression comes from yesterday's boulder rolling game, which was impressive, yes, but only on the level of a creative person. (He thinks Tih did that on purpose(he did not))

He also coincidentally didn't experience Tih's greatness during the preliminaries in person as his team was in the other colosseum. In no way has he seen Tih's final form, and never will if he's lucky.

Feeling personally insulted, Kai spews,"Tih'll have your captain dancing with Jack Ketch soon enough, watch!"

"Who?" The man shows an amused smile. It's hard to take angry children seriously.

Another member quirks his lip,"That's quite the mouth you got there."

"Don't underestimate our leader. We'll bring you down, you bags of bones." Essentially calling them old men.

"Oi!" Now Major Jax feels insulted. If that man was old, what was he?

Private Scott snickers quietly but Jax still hears it," You shouldn't be laughing, you're around my age."

"Subtract a decade, old man." Private sneers. He suspects Jax doesn't know his age.

He's right," Aren't you fort-" The last half of his word is drowned out by the crowd.

Rohan's team member tries to recall," What's it? Dead men tell no tales?" He tries to go along with Kai's sea shenanigans.

Kai can tell they're not being taken seriously and is incensed. "You-! Ye lily-livered, conniving knave, galley slave, scabby sea bass swab! Ye dare threaten our great captain, whoms rumors spread further than water itself, whoms name is more fearful than the Blackbeard and ferociousness is worse than legendary kraken."
Kai stomps his frustrations out while blurting the medieval paragraph. Kai could give the occasionally appearing narrator a run for his money.

The audience is surprised and amused by the teen's sheer determination to stick with the ocean-theme and his upright and serious appearance while saying it.

As Kai's grocery list of pirate insults continue, the others use the time to go in detail about how to play the game, not missing a single detail.

"Don't let him touch you." Someone mentions. No one can tell what's coming from who anymore. Everything's too jumbled, but they don't have time. They can only hope Tih acts like the sponge he usually is and soaks up all the information.

Theodore hears the sentence that could be taken out of context, a comeback pops into his mind unconsciously, but ignores it. He's practiced at coming up with quips on the spot.