The tug-of-war suddenly surged again. Rita and the three other fish were yanked straight out of the water, flung into the air, then splashed back down. For the split second she was airborne, Rita saw what was happening on shore: the white-robed angler was gripping his rod and leaping backward in huge arcs. So anglers could use skills too. It looked like a charge-type forced-movement skill, something like Lightchaser’s War Stomp, launching them backward in a bound. When they hit the water again, Rita did not need to say a word. The other three fish panicked on their own. They threw everything they had. Buffs that temporarily boosted stats were all dumped into Strength. Ice casters froze the water around the line, trying to build a glacier to drag them down. Others lashed out, hooking random fish passing by to drag more into the mess. Rita’s eyes lit up. "You really are Maple Syrup! Come on, Maple Syrup! Pull a few more in!" Rita joined in, darting at gawkers who had swum too close. She strung up anyone she could. "Charge! Down with the anglers!" "When I unlock GodDraw77, every one of you will be heroes!" "I’ll remember this forever!" Maple Syrup snapped, "The best thing you can do right now is shut your fish mouth." Beneath the surface, the students massed. On shore, Captain and Bitter Cup were burning through their few freed-up skills, forcing the line back and forth. Drummer and Cartoonist refused to join in. Their stats had been leveled down, but even so—two high gods helping reel in student players was already a stretch. Four would just be shameful. The commotion spread fast. Deceitful Bloom hopped onto the deck of the largest ship nearby, staring at the gods’ side of the harbor. He tapped Ashveil, who had been watching for a while. "What’s happening?" Ashveil answered, "Oh, Captain and Bitter Cup are teaming up to hook Rita." Foolishness, who was busy winding his line, blinked. "Captain and Bitter Cup, together?" On the pier, Captain and Barista were straining with every skill they had, but even so, they were being dragged closer and closer to the edge. "Anyone checked the seabed?" Deceitful Bloom asked. "Puppetlord did," Ashveil said. "Rita’s pulled a dozen others into her line, strung them all together." "Doesn’t she get a reward if she beats anglers in a group like that?" "Yeah... wait." Deceitful Bloom tilted his head. "Wasn’t Captain, like Foolishness, one of her old-school fans?" Foolishness, clambering up onto the pier to catch his breath, muttered, "Ha. Bad joke. Not funny." Deceitful Bloom pointed silently at Ashveil and Boiling Orange, both doubled over laughing, and then at Captain—who, distracted by the comment, lost his focus and staggered forward a whole step. From far down the pier, Captain shouted, "Bad joke!" Deceitful Bloom: "Captain’s panicking. Must be a cover-up!" In the end, Captain and Barista let go of their rod. Laughter rippled through the gods and demons alike, both sides reveling in the spectacle. But silence fell just as quickly when a Blue-striped Bluru burst from the water, spinning high, whistling at Captain, flipping playfully in the air. The air was thick with glee. And Rita had every reason to celebrate. The moment she dragged the rod under, a system message had flashed. \[As a reward for defeating the anglers’ alliance, you now permanently possess the Blue-striped Bluru trait.] Her mouth still bled from the hook, but she leapt again and again, joyously thanking the anglers for the gift. After several flips, she vanished beneath the waves. Captain’s face was green. Ashveil watched, then turned to Deceitful Bloom. "Still want Rita’s bait? I’ve got one. Take it." Deceitful Bloom smirked. "Perfect. When I reel her up, Captain will choke." The students who had banded with Rita dispersed, and she resumed her hunt. The last skirmish had been a fluke. Over the next half-hour she reclaimed several more skills: Debone·Lightchaser, Not Real ID, Bloodthirst·Wail, and Drunkfire Cooking. Unfortunately, whether it was her unlucky six points of Fortune acting up or simple bad draw, most of her recovered abilities were nearly useless underwater. When she passed a hooked Jewel Zebra Fish, she paused. The younger girl was thrashing hard, trying to shake the lure. She spotted Rita and froze. Not good... Rita did not close in. Instead, she circled at a safe distance, her tail flicking playfully. "Quex, this skill important? Don’t tell me it’s a divine gift, huh?" "God Draw77 still isn’t your line to open, sweetheart!" "Jewel Zebra Fish, not all that mighty after all." She pestered her with both words and random harassing skills. Quex groaned, "Why are you so petty?!" Rita had no intention of lingering. After a few minutes of annoyance she was about to leave, when another lure dropped nearby. She darted to it. School Rule No. 801. Immediately abandoning her junior, she bolted straight for her own bait. Moments later, both Rita and Quex were hooked and side by side, thrashing in the same direction. "Important skill? Divine gift, maybe?" Quex mocked. "...You’re the petty one," Rita muttered. On shore, Foolishness and Deceitful Bloom were already standing. They had cross-checked their lures before casting, so they knew exactly what the other had put in the water. Which meant if Deceitful Bloom was up, Rita was hooked. "No holding back," Foolishness warned. Deceitful Bloom’s lips curled. "What do you take me for? I started the Gourmet Street War, remember?" From the next boat over, Ashveil suddenly clenched his fists and hammered the air, shouting at the top of his lungs, "I told you, I wasn’t wrong!" Foolishness snorted, then burst out laughing—only to be dragged half a step forward by the Jewel Zebra Fish below. Ashveil shifted stances, miming a rifle, growling, "Three seconds. I’ll take down March-Foolishness in three shots." Then he swung his arm like a stock, making gunshot noises with each strike. "...Is he losing it?" Foolishness muttered. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ noᴠelfire.net "I think so," Deceitful Bloom agreed. They stopped joking quickly. Both fish below were surging. On the pier, White Bear shifted. He stepped back half a stride, then expanded in an instant, swelling from one meter to ten. The harbor trembled. His massive paws clenched the rod, lifting it higher just from his body’s new size. And in the water below, the faint, nearly transparent shape of the Blue-striped Bluru was finally visible from the surface.