That evening, Pete and Zoey arrived at the Trash Panda hideout. When they arrived, the rest of the town was there for the Harvestfest celebrations. Pete took in the lights and games…the matriculations of people and Trash Pandas. The unity of it reminded him of the biggest holiday party he’d ever been to. Christmas. Halloween. Thanksgiving… It didn’t matter which…this was bigger than all the holidays.

“It’s alive,” Pete said.

“Alive is an offensive word to vampires,” Zoey said.

“I’m…” He considered the next word. “Sorry?”

“I’m kidding,” She winked. “This place is alive. It’s amazing how much work the Trash Pandas put into it. It’s crazy how the town and the Trash Pandas did it apart from each other last year.”

“I’m glad we could bring them together.” He said.

“Me, too,” she agreed.

“I’m glad you could bring us together too,” a deep, male voice spoke. Pete didn’t recognize it, so he turned to face its source. A man walked toward them. His slicked black hair shone in the Harvestfest lights. His blue eyes contrasted with his dark hair, giving them extra vibrance. He wore plate armor like Nick Warman’s. Though—where Nick’s boasted rust—this man’s shone. The name Roger Escaron appeared above the man’s head. Next to his name was LVL 45. It was by far the highest level Pete had seen in Greenlake. “With the raccoons adding souls to the prize pool, it means the prize I win will be that much better.”

“What makes you think you’ll win?” Zoey asked the man before Pete could answer.

“I’m Roger Escaron.” The man said as if that were an answer to the question.

“Ah,” Zoey said. “You’re that guy. I met your mom the other day.”

“Oh,” Roger smiled at her. “I hope she spoke well of me. You are enchanting. How have we not met before?”

“Gross.” Zoey glared.

“I’m Pete.” Pete stepped between them, offering his hand. “This is Zoey.”

“Of course you are,” the man patted Pete’s head before sliding past him to look at Zoey. “Now, let the adults talk.”

“Please, go away.” Zoey remained monotone.

“Alright,” Roger agreed, taking a few steps back from Zoey. “I’ll be back later, though.” He turned and strode away, saying loud enough for Pete and Zoey to hear. “I love when they play hard to get.”

“I’d love to punch you in your ugly face,” Zoey whispered to Pete, and they both chuckled.

For Harvestfest, Pete had gone to Wanda’s. For his costume, he bought a pair of plastic vampire fangs. He had died his hair black and wore a black cape. Zoey had bought a matching black cape. They’d decided to be vampires together…the Count Dracula kind…not the paladin kind.

Though, once they’d arrived for Harvestfest festivities, one of the Trash Pandas had explained to them that people were supposed to wear costumes on the second day of Harvestfest. The other two days, people used normal clothes. They decided they’d use costumes all three days, anyway.

An echoing voice began to speak from the center of the festivities. Pete recognized the voice as Rumpke’s. “Thank you all for coming. Now, it is time for the spirit-capturing contest.” Pete and Zoey positioned themselves to be able to see Rumpke.

The raccoon warlord held an approximation of a microphone. The difference came in the head of the microphone. Instead of wire mesh, it was a glowing neon sphere. Rumpke continued to speak into the device, and it vibrated in and out with his words. “In the past, there have been two separate spirit-capturing competitions. One which the citizens of Greenlake did in and around the town. The Trash Pandas held their own competition in Forest Mountain. This year, there are no restrictions about who can go where. We will do the whole contest as one united town.

“Of course, this means there will be fewer winners, but the cumulation of souls should mean greater prizes. To capture souls, you will need spirit orbs. We will station Trash Panda’s near our hideout’s entrance. Their only responsibility will be to ensure everyone has enough orbs. If you have questions about how orbs work, you can speak with those Trash Pandas. The archway at the town entrance will also have city guards with orbs. They can also help you.” Rumpke finished as Nick stepped next to him, and Rumpke handed Nick the microphone.

Nick lifted it to his mouth. “The rules allow you to team up with others. For safety’s sake, we recommend you do so. You can have up to five members on each team. Though, the number of souls captured will count on a per capita basis. If one person catches ten large souls, that counts as ten. If a team of two people catches ten large souls, it only counts as five.”

“What is the difference between a large soul and a small one?” Pete—keeping his eyes directed at Nick—leaned over to ask Zoey.

“I’m not sure,” Zoey shrugged. “I’ve never heard those terms before.”

“Me neither,” Pete said.

Nick continued. “This means that a bigger team does not mean a better one. If you insist on hunting souls in the Forest Mountain, remember there are monsters here. For Harvestfest, the laws of the moderators permit you to defend yourself against such monsters. Assure your team is strong enough to do so. If not, remain in town or the grasslands outside of town. We don’t want your soul to be one we must capture this year.” He handed the microphone back to Rumpke.

Rumpke took it and added. “The contest will continue for three nights, beginning at sundown and continuing until dawn. On the third night, we will meet before daybreak and turn in all the souls at the shrine.” Rumpke pointed to the shrine set up in the middle of the meadow. “The shrine will generate a prize commensurate to the quantity and quality of the souls captured. Nightfall is in fifteen minutes. Take the time to form teams, get your spirit orbs, and formulate a plan for how you will approach the contest. Good luck.” The sphere on the end of the microphone dimmed as Rumpke turned his back to the crowd and entered the Trash Panda hideout.

Pete looked at Zoey. “We’re a team, right?”

She wrinkled her forehead and teased. “I’m not sure. I’m still deciding.”

“Decide faster,” he urged. “We still need to get some orbs.”

“You’ve convinced me to join your team.” She replied. “After all, you would be hopeless without me. Let’s go get those orbs.”

* * *

“Please,” Hope asked her mom and dad. “I’ve never done a Harvestfest before. Tornado, Skye, and I will stay in town. We will stay away from monsters. It will help us learn to be responsible. Please, let us do Harvestfest.”

Her father—Josue—was of average height for a pixie. He had dark blue wings and black-framed glasses. To hide his balding head, he wore a baseball cap.

Her father wasn’t sure how the triplet's participation in Harvestfest would help them be more responsible. Though, he wasn’t against the idea of them participating. If they remained in town like Hope suggested, he knew they’d be safe too. Nonetheless, he wanted to make sure his wife was okay with them doing Harvestfest before he gave the okay, so he looked at her.

His wife—her name was Flor—had jet-black hair which hung inches past her shoulders. She was thin with purple wings and a fair complexion.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

At the same time Josue looked at her, she looked over at him. They’d married fifteen years ago. In that time, they’d learned to understand each other. As such, when their eyes met, the unspoken communication went something like, Are you okay with it?

I am. Are you?

I am too.

Okay.

The triplet’s father looked back at Hope and her brothers. “It is fine, but you must stay inside the town.”

“We will.” Skye and Hope said in unison.

“Tornado,” Tornado offered a nod of agreement.

* * *

“Thank you for agreeing to help me with this,” Rosie said to the two raccoons beside her.

“It’s no problem,” Cedric answered. “We can win this year.” He was a master thief turned master garbageman. He was also Rumpke’s brother and one of the highest-ranking members of the garbage patrol. He was so effective at collecting trash that the citizens of Greenlake never saw him coming. Their trash would be there one second and gone the next. Cedric’s wiry frame provided him plenty of strength to go with his small size. That smallness made it difficult for anyone to believe he was Rumpke’s brother.

“I hope we win,” Rosie said. “If we do, Rumpke could take notice of me.”

“From the rumors I’ve heard, he’s already noticed you.” The other raccoon answered. His name was Ragoon, and he was the second in command of the Trash Pandas. He specialized in spear fighting. As a garbage collector, he used that spear to spear to pick up litter and place it in a garbage bag.

“I’ve heard the same,” Cedric confirmed, looking at Rosie. “Not to mention, Rumpke gets nervous around you. One time, he saw you, and his nose blushed.”

“No way.” It was Rosie’s turn to have her nose blush. “You guys are saying that to cheer me up.”

“No, we’re not.” Ragoon insisted. “It is absolute. It is one-hundred percent true. It is no lie. No fib.”

Rosie offered a heavy sigh before saying. “Either way, I need to win. It will give me the confidence to tell him about my feelings. I can’t keep waiting for him.”

“Right, let’s win this.” Cedric and Ragoon agreed in unison.

* * *

Nick squeezed his eyes together, scanning them up and down the figure before him. Then he grumbled.

“Is that a grumble of approval?” Mayor Yam Hopler asked. “Or is something wrong?”

“I’ve never seen you wear anything other than your gnome outfit,” Nick told her. “I didn’t know you owned other clothes. As such, it was a grumble of confusion.”

“There is no such thing as grumbles of confusion.” She put her hands on her hips. “You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that.” He told her. “Is it chain mail?”

“It is.” She smiled and held her arm out so he could see the metal links of her sleeve. “See.”

“And it’s…” he paused. “…it’s…rainbow colored?”

“You have a problem with rainbows?” She asked.

“What metal looks like a rainbow?” He asked.

“Steel…its smith plated it in some type of titanium.” She answered. “It makes it light and durable. I got it at Wanda’s. She said something about the rainbow titanium providing magic defense, so I bought it. When I put it on, it gives a huge boost to both magic defense and normal defense.”

“Umm… humm…” Nick grumbled again. This time it was a definite grumble of affirmation.

“Right,” She smiled back. “This Halloweenfest’s soul-catching contest is as good as ours.

* * *

Back in town, the spirits of the bugs looked like small, blue stars dancing through the night air. The small, quickness of the insects made them difficult to track. They were even more challenging to capture. Though, that didn’t deter the triplets.

“If Mom and Dad don’t let us go into the Forest Mountain, we have no chance at winning the soul-capturing contest,” Tornado said while summoning a miniature tornado. He used the small funnel it created to guide the translucent insect spirits toward the orb he held.

“Mom and Dad want us to be safe.” Hope reiterated. “When we are older, they’ll let us go into the forest for Harvestfest. Plus, Greenlake has neglected insect spirits for too long. They are important too. Someone needs to take care of them.”

“Did you know you can catch more than one spirit in an orb at a time?” Skye asked. He had affixed an orb to the end of a small chuck of wood. Then he did the same to another chuck of wood. Then he tied the two pieces of wood together to create what he called orbchakus. To keep up with the speed of the insects, he used his makeshift weapon to capture them mid-flight. Though, he hadn’t realized he’d be able to catch more than two spirits at a time that way.

“No way,” Hope’s eyes widened as she looked at her brother, watching him spin the orbchakus around, absorbing multiple spirits per orb. With each spirit an orb took in, the orb grew brighter and brighter. “That’s…wait…why didn’t Rumpke tell us you could more than one spirit at a time?”

“Tornado!” Tornado yelled as his small funnel finished pulling a group of spirits into the orb he held. Then he looked at his sister. “It could be that… Mmm…Rumpke didn’t know? It could be that he limits himself to catching the big ones. If so, he doesn’t know how orbs work with small ghosts. It’s like knowing waves exist, but not knowing those turn into tsunamis sometimes.”

“That was a disastrous comment,” Hope said, looking back and forth at each brother. “Get it?”

“That was a joke Dad told you, huh?” Skye asked, continuing to catch insects with his orbchakus.

“Yeah…” She admitted.

* * *

Zoey leaped from the tree, landing on the Nightshade Terror Spirit below, holding her orb beneath her, so it would hit the spirit first. As the sphere touched the ethereal glow of the ghost. In an instant, the creature went from being there to not being there. It had disappeared before Zoey landed in a crouch on the grassy earth.

From a tree, Pete observed the event. “I knew that your eyes turn red sometimes. For example, they turn red when your battle log opens and whenever you’re angry about something. Tonight, I learned that they turned red when you jumped out of the tree.” He said.

She stood and looked up at him. “That’s good to know.”

“It’s kinda intimidating.” Pete teased. “It’s not paladin-like.”

“I’m a vampire paladin.” she reminded him. “We aren’t as boring as those other paladins.”

“Also, your red eyes seem to draw other spirits.” Pete added as he descended the tree, falling about halfway down and landing in a sitting position. The slipup didn’t cost him any hit points, only pride:

Tree Climbing proficiency lowers by 2 levels.

Tree Climbing proficiency lowers to level -8.

A third prompt appeared:

Someday you’ll thank me for this. Keep trying. Keep failing. How low will your proficiency drop before you realize it’s essential to not be able to climb trees?

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Pete argued with the prompt.

The prompt argued back:

Of course, it makes sense. Think about it. There’s a reason you needed Zoey’s help to get into the tree in the first place.

“You think about it.” He shot back.

“Are you arguing with the system prompts?” Zoey asked, unable to hear the prompt’s side of the conversation.

“Yeah,” Pete hung his head as he closed the prompts.

“That’s kinda…” she paused to think of a word. “Cute and sad…both at the same time. Is there a word for that?”

“Sadute,” he replied as he stood.

“That’s not a word.” She told him.

“Yeah…” He sighed. “I know.” Once on his feet, he looked around. “Did you notice all these spirits around us?” he asked.

“I did.” She affirmed. “Cool, huh?”

“Yeah…” He feigned agreement, doing a complete 360o turn. “We’re in a dark forest…at night…surrounded by ghosts. It’s cool.” He turned to his friend. “Zoey, why are we surrounded by ghosts?”

“I noticed something when my red eyes activated.” She explained. “It appears my vampire powers let me control things.”

“You’re a paladin-necromancer?” He raised his eyebrow.

“Yup,” She smiled. “And I’m about to tell each of these spirits to walk straight into spirit orbs. With this ability, it won’t be difficult to catch them at all. This contest is as good as ours.”

* * *

Nick and Mayor Hopler pushed through thick foliage to escape the worn pathways. They didn’t choose to do this. Instead, they felt they had to. They hadn’t seen any spirits along the path for hours.

As the city guard—and de facto mayor’s assistant—Nick took the lead, cutting through the vines and branches, clearing the path ahead. He was glad he had his titan’s sword to do the cutting. He’d won it during a battle against the Turkey Titan. His old sword wouldn’t have kept its edge against the vegetation.

“I don’t understand where all the spirits went.” The mayor said. “Has it ever been like this for you?”

“Every year,” Nick grumbled. He already knew the source of why they struggled to find any spirits. He’d hoped this year would be different, but since it wasn’t, he knew he’d have to explain it to the mayor. “It’s always like this for me.”

“Are ghosts afraid of you?” She guessed. “Do you have some type of ghost-repelling passive ability?”

“No,” Nick answered, cutting a branch to reveal a clearing ahead. “My problem is him.” Nick pointed to the clearing.

As the mayor looked, she saw Roger Escaron trapping a spirit within an orb.

“Each year,” Nick explained, keeping an even voice. “Roger follows me to make sure I don’t win. I am awesome, so I understand why he’s threatened by me. Even so, it’s not sportsmanlike of him.”

“Have you asked him to not follow you?” the mayor asked.

“I can’t,” Nick said. “As sad as it is for me to admit that someone can bully a city guard, that is what Roger is doing. He’s bullying me. If I let him know it bothers me, he’ll see it as an even bigger win than it is. It will ensure he does this again next year. It’s best to ignore and hope he goes away.”

“You should talk to him.” The mayor insisted. “If not him…talk to his mom.”

“Won’t change anything,” Nick said. “She’s as bad as he is. His following us might be a good thing, though.” Nick explained. “If Roger follows us, it leaves Pete and Zoey with plenty of spirits to catch. If we catch some of Roger’s spirits here, he’ll lose to Pete and Zoey. That would be the best payback we can get.”

“I’d hoped to win.” The mayor hung her head. Then she squeezed her eyes together and spoke with a rare passion. “Even so, payback against Roger sounds good. Let’s steal as many spirits from him as we can.”