Welcome back! This is PART 1 OF CHAPTER 20. I HAD TO SPLIT THIS CHAPTER DUE TO FORMATTING ISSUES. MUCH LIKE WITH CHAPTER 19, THE VOTING WILL BE LOCATED ON THE FORUM FOR PART 20B.
Since I split this chapter, I have more room to explain WHY I did it. Here's the explanation.
The PMC forum editor is kinda goofy. In chapter 19, I apparently wrote too much and when I saved it, the editor converted half of what I had written to source and deleted the last two paragraphs. This understandably pissed me off, so I decided to see what the issue was. Turns out that it did seem to be a length issue, so that's when I decided that I was going to split the chapter. Splitting did work. I kinda had to split it right in the middle of the contest, which was a bit inconvenient. I looked for several ways to cut down on word count, which is why you'll see that 'Battle for the Enchanted Netherite Trophy' has been removed from the front of EVERY CHAPTER in the dropdown menu. It cut out well over 100 words. I also had to remove the evil alts from the user menu. It just seems obsolete, considering that I know that those users have voted.
Now for things more specific to this chapter.
I split chapter 20, originally called Kiruna, Klarhatness Campus into two parts - the intro and the game. I did this because the intro was intended to be pretty long. Since 20 is a milestone, I wanted to use it to tell more stories about the contestants. I wanted to go into depth about them, and move away from Piglin, Allay, and Evoker. Those three have gotten too much screen time, and at this point, I'm buttering them up to be in the final three. I'm not going to be surprised when at least one of them does make it there. I'm calling it now. Allay is going to make it into the final three, and not just because I'm basically rigging her there. I rigged the game for Alleviation, so.... forget what I said there heh.

  Before we start the game, I'd like to address an issue that is giving some of the contestants an unfair advantage over the others, and that issue is that Alleviation is more than double the size of mångfald, and we're going to fix that right now. Whether you like it or not, Alleviation is getting split up right here and right now.

"Oh no!" Moobloom cries. "They're splitting us up?!"
"I hope I can still be with my friends," Allay says with concern.
Please don't panic. You guys can choose how the team is divided. Just as a heads-up, one of the new teams will have five members and the other will have four. When the team is done splitting up, please let me know so I can take note of the new team names.

"Guys!" Copper Golem exclaims. "We've got to stick together. There's no way we can be on separate teams!"
"Right. I don't know what I'd do if we weren't on the same team together, but it would be hard to bear the three of us being apart," Allay replies.
"My thoughts exactly. I bet Evelyn would like to join us as well. Shall we invite her to join us?" Glare asks.
Evoker rushes over to the trio. "Heya! No need to ask! Of course, I'd like to join! There's a reason why I voted for myself so I could join Alleviation. You guys are all really friendly, and not to mention pretty amazing! Not that most of my old teammates weren't great, but..." Evoker exclaims
"Thanks!" Copper Golem replies. "And so are you!"

"Hmm... Allay, Copper Golem, Glare, and Evoker are together. The three of us have to stick together too!" Cow declares.
"Yay! So, it's me, you, and Mooshroom..." Moobloom responds.
Mooshroom nods. "Axolotl and Warden haven't picked which team they want to be on yet. Who should join our team? Can both of them join us?"
"I think Axolotl should join us because they're so super cute!" Cow suggests.
"Me too!" Mooshroom replies. "Mila, what do you think?"
"About Axolotl joining us? Sure! I don't see why not!" Moobloom exclaims.
"Well then... who gets Warden? He knows which team is which, right?"
Hearing Mooshroom, Warden quickly responds. "I do. I'm blind, not deaf."
The brown cow responds just as fast as Warden had done to her. "But... which team are you joining?"
"Hmmmmmm............. I'll leave it up to you guys to figure that out. I want to hear how you can work it out." he responds.

  Evoker looks at Warden and then at Mooshroom. Suddenly, she gets an idea. "Hey, Mooshroom!" she calls.
"What is it?"
"I have an idea that can help us decide which team gets Warden. Rock, paper, scissors! It's your team versus mine. Best out of three gets him!" So, what do you say? You up for the challenge?"
"Oh, why I certainly am! Let's play!"
"Alrighty! It's ON!"
Evoker eyes Allay and Copper Golem in a promising way and then approaches Mooshroom.

Well, that was a nice way of settling that out. It looks like the new teams have been arranged, so please let me know what you'll be naming your new teams. Take your time figuring it out and telling me, but please don't take too long.

"Well," Glare starts, "We've been Alleviation for so long... and the name really feels like it fits us. Especially a certain friend..." They fly closer to Allay.
"Oh, hehe. I suppose I've grown quite used to the name as well," Allay responds.
"Let's just be Alleviation again. Does anybody object to that?"
"Nope! I love that idea!" Copper Golem exclaims.
Evoker adds her input. "Fine by me. We'll keep our old name and nothing will change. Besides, I think if we stay as Alleviation, Golden isn't going to have to do as much work with the vote spreadsheets. I think."
Last but not least, Warden informs the others that he too is game with the idea of keeping the team name as Alleviation.

Ok. It looks like Allay's team will keep the name Alleviation. Like Evoker said, it's going to be much easier to format the team data spreadsheets. What about Moobloom's team? I wonder if they've come up with anything yet...

Moobloom quickly replies. "We haven't come up with one yet. Can we be Alleviation again too?"
Nope. The other team has already taken that. You guys have to come up with another name.

Once again, Evoker calls to the cows. "Hey, I have an idea. How about Dålig? It would go good with mångfald..." she suggests.
"Evelyn!" Allay exclaims. "Don't suggest that! Guys, don't listen to her suggestions. She's trying to trick you guys into getting an embarrassing team name."
"Ah, worth a shot. You know I was just messing around, right?" Evoker says with a slight giggle.
Allay flies closer to Evoker and rests her arms on the mage's shoulders. "I know exactly what you were trying to do there."
"Yeah, I know that you knew. I was just pulling their legs there,"
Moobloom walks over to speak with the members of Alleviation "Allay, what does dålig mean? Is it like mångfald?" she asks.
"No, it means 'bad' in Swedish. Evelyn was just messing with you," Allay replies.

Moobloom returns to her teammates to relay the newly-gained information.
"Oh, well then. What should our team name be then?" Mooshroom asks.
"I don't know, Mocha," Cow responds. "Mila, do you have any ideas?"
Moobloom shakes her head. "Nope, not a clue. How are we going to name our team? My only idea was to be Alleviation again..."
Mooshroom intercepts again. "Why don't we just make our team name Alleviation too?"
"Because they are already Alleviation, and there's no way Golden will allow us to be called Alleviation too!" Cow replies.
"I don't get it! If we did this at the beginning of the game, we'd be called Alleviation too. Remember how Everyone Else was formed? Piglin Brute said that 'we're just everyone else', and boom! That became their team name!" Moobloom adds.

Alrighty. This is taking too long. You guys can't be Alleviation, nor can your team name be 'Alleviation again too' or 'Alleviation too'. I don't have the time for this nonsense. I readjust my golden DNA-shaped earrings and sip my lingonberry cocktail. I love this drink so much...
Since this is taking too much effort and you guys are clearly having trouble coming up with one on your own, I'll be naming your team for you. Since everyone seemed to show up here at Framtida Market tonight, and seemingly out of chance, your team will be called Serendipity. Our teams are now Alleviation, Serendipity, and mångfald

Now time for the game!
I have a little issue that may or may not be somewhat staged for the purpose of this game. My issue is that three priceless accessories have been stolen from me. That alone is an issue, but what makes things even worse is the fact that if these items are not retrieved soon, they could fall into the undeserving grubby hands of the ubiquitous undead. Come to think of it, I think the disappearance of these items has something to do with the Hollows or Basement Girl...

  The first of these items is called the Unity Emerald Amulet. Originating in the 1800s, this ornate necklace was made as a gift to a villager princess from an illager queen. The alignment that gifted the pendant was among the first to leave behind the ways of raiding, as they lost sight of why it was done over 100 years before the others. This lovely gold-chained pendant is adorned with a shimmering and pure emerald encased by a golden frame. The precious gemstone alone is worth more than a particular.... someone. Oh, I should not have made that joke... I know I'm going into a bit too much detail here, but the golden frame around the gemstone is engraved with a complex pattern, which is a sign of peace and unity between the villagers and illagers.

  The second item is my golden stallion seal that I use to stamp my official letters. This seal depicts a solid gold steed preparing to jump. If you look closely at the spruce base, the emblem of the seal and some Darfyrian text are engraved onto the front face. It's not as important to me that I get this one back, as it doesn't have any historical significance that I know of, and I think I can buy another one. Well, it's not like I can just go and buy one from the store or go buy one on Amazon. I got the original from Agnes, and I think she got it from.... where did she get it from? If it's not from Darfyra, why does it have text in their language on it?

  The third item is more important than the seal, but not nearly as important as the amulet. This third item is a crystal tiara. It's an ornate silver headdress adorned with amethyst and diamond. The tiara's crystals shimmer under the light. I got it from the Darfyrians when I went there during their Festival. I was told that the amethyst and diamond tiara is an honorary gift that is gifted to foreign matriarchs who visit on the first day of the festival. The elders who don these crowns upon young women are quite tied to tradition, so I couldn't just go back and ask for a new one.

  One more thing that I'd like to add - I said that there are three items, but I kinda lied. There's a fourth. This one is a netherite-plated brooch made of 28-karat gold. It's shaped like a trophy and I enchanted it with Protection III a while ago. I got it a few years ago from the same artisan who crafted my netherite tools and the netherite trophies. I didn't mean to say that! Forget what I said about the netherite trophies. That was clearly a blunder. There's clearly only one enchanted netherite trophy, and it's the prize for this game... Yeah... Remember everyone, there's only one. Only one. Sorry for that. I was just talking to myself. Where was I again? Oh right, the trophy brooch. It was crafted for me by a family friend and artisan, who also happens to be the same person who crafted the Enchanted Netherite Trophy. It's been missing for a while. I think it went missing when I took my jacket off while pulling some weeds in front of the Elimination Dorm. Perhaps Illusioner took it. If you find it, you can keep it. I have more at home.

  Now that I've explained that, I'd like to explain what the contest for tonight is. So as you know, these elusive items have been stolen and scattered around the campus. I don't know exactly why, but I'd like to think that the Hollows have something to do with it, but there seems to be an unusual amount of zombies and skeletons around the campus. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen any undead around the campus since before it was developed. Regardless of that, I need these items returned to me tonight. The items could be anywhere on the campus, inside or outside. Feel free to kill the zombies to get the accessories. In fact, I'd greatly appreciate it if you did kill them. You may get around the campus however you'd like, and that includes driving. If you choose to drive, please make sure to use your own vehicle and follow all traffic laws. The goal tonight is to bring back the Unity Emerald Amulet, the golden seal, or the crystal tiara. The last team to bring back one of my special items will be up for elimination.

  Eliminated contestants, listen up since I'm not going to say this again; YOU MAY HELP OUT TODAY. I know, I know. I noted that eliminated contestants couldn't play in the game. When I said that, I mean that they couldn't play as official contestants or be part of a team.
With that in mind, I'm not going to be stopping anyone from going and completely carrying someone to victory. Only official contestants can bring me an item and count their team safe. If an eliminated contestant turns in an item for a team, that team will not be considered safe.
All that being said, the time starts now!

Piglin Brute stands up and faces his sister's team.
"Hey, come down to the parking lot. You guys have an easy advantage over Alleviation as we are, but I know a way that I can make that advantage even bigger."
"That sounds amazing! What do you have in mind?" Piglin replies.
"I'll tell you when we get downstairs. We don't want the other teams hearing it, right?" her brother whispers.
Nodding, Piglin and the rest of her team hastily make their way to the first floor of the market.
As they rush down the stairs, Piglin Brute is able to explain more of his plan to mångfald.
"So, you know how I drove here with that bus from the Elimination Dorm? I was thinking that I could use that to drive you guys around. You'll find Golden's precious items much quicker that way!"
"Alright. We can do that. I'm not going to question when and how you learned to drive and I'm just going to go with it. I'm in!" Pillager exclaims.
By the time they had made it downstairs, the team had decided to ride around the campus on Piglin Brute's bus.
Once they board the bus, the team starts to come up with a more specific plan.

"Is there any place in particular that we should go to search? Just tell me and I'll drive there. It's all up to you guys,"
"Not exactly," Piglin responds. "I was thinking of somewhere that's not very busy... or we could just go to a jewelry shop or something and get a lookalike. We don't need to do that now. Alleviation isn't a threat to us anymore!"

  Still up on Framtida Market's roof, the members of Alleviation start to come up with their plan for the contest.
"Hmmm...." Evoker says, peering over the railing. "Looks like mångfald just left in Piglin Brute's bus. Is that his bus? Well, it doesn't matter. They're already ahead of us!"
"That's not very good, but don't worry about it too much. Now that the animals are on a separate team, we are practically guaranteed to be safe," Warden replies.
Evoker walks towards the elevator. "I really like Piglin Brute's idea of driving around campus, but I'm the only one on this team that can drive, but I took the campus bus here. The bigger issue is that I don't have a large vehicle like Piglin Brute. There's no way that I can carry all of you guys around in my car."
"That sounds like a bit of a setback," Glare replies.
Copper Golem turns around from the elevator panel to give his input. "We could just take the campus bus and it could drop us off somewhere, and we could look for Golden's accessories there!"
Without anyone other than his own teammates noticing, he jumps up and slaps a piece of paper on the elevator door. The text on it seems to have been written on the back of a shop directory with a marker .
'ELEVATOR OUT OF ORDER - SORRY FOR THE INCONVEINICE'
"I like your thinking," Evoker replies. She takes a moment to glance up at Copper Golem's makeshift sign before moving it up a bit. "But we're going to have to rely on it to get us back here as well, and who knows if it will even bring us back to the market?"
The team steps onto the elevator, where Copper Golem impulsively presses all three of the floor buttons.
"What if the bus stops at the apartments? You can get your car and just drive back here to give the thing we found to Golden!" he suggests.
"That makes sense and all, but we'd still have to wait for the bus to bring us there. I could just get my car from the start and do what Piglin Brute is doing, but we all know that's not happening. My car is way too small for that. I mean... I could just drive back alone. She never said that we all need to be present in order for our team to be counted safe. Still, it's not something that I nessacarly want to do. That leaves us with another option, which would be to walk - or fly someplace to find one of Golden's items. We're pretty close to the shopping district, which based on all the buildings and alleyways, seems like a nice place to start. There are plenty of benches, planter boxes, and statues that something could be hidden around. Although... this campus is rather large..."
"That sounds good, but what you said about how the campus is so big... What if we get all the way there and can't find anything? These items could be anywhere! What would we do if we can't find anything in the shopping district?" Allay responds.
"Well, I suppose we'd cross that bridge when we get there, but I feel like we'd just need to keep looking - and finding a way to make sure Serendipity doesn't get ahold of anything. Perhaps we could split up - some of us search, and the rest of us keep Moobloom and her friends distracted," Glare replies.
"Right. Sounds good!"

  Even as Alleviation exits the elevator, they still don't have a clear plan, although Allay, Copper Golem, and Glare all seem to have something to add to what they had come up with.
"So," Glare says. "Even without the bus, mångfald still has the upper hand. They're all fighters, and we're not. Piglin Brute joining them is only giving them even more of an advantage."
"Correct. We can only do so much in combat. Remember how things went in the hollow contest? I was pretty scared, so I just abandoned you guys and hid..." Allay replies.
"Yeah... After you left, me and Mooshroom were able to get away, and we were safe for a little bit. Then, my hollow found us, so we ran away. A bit later, he was able to find us again, and he brought Shadow Warden with him! Then, he killed us again," Copper Golem admits.
Evoker intercepts. "Ah, well, I can put up a decent fight, and Warden can definitely do better. He's more than capable of defending all the rest of us. In fact, he's far more capable than the four of us combined. But, you guys are right. I don't know if just the two of us can hold back all of the undead. Especially if we split up. I don't think that I could face zombie hoards even if I use my summoning spell. That spell has always confused me a tiny bit. Like in the sense that any creatures that I summon die after a few minutes... I've seen vexes who have clearly been around for longer than that."
"Hmm.... vexes you say.... Wait!" Allay exclaims. "I can go ask my cousin if he'd be willing to join us. I know that he won't be able to give us an advantage like Piglin Brute gave his sister, but he'll definitely be able to help us a bit!"
She quickly flies outside of the market and up onto the rooftop where her cousin is.

"Austin! I have something I'd like to ask you. Would it be alright if I ask a teeny favor from you?" she explains
Hearing his cousin, Vex turns around to face Allay.
"Woah, you're talking pretty quickly there. What is it, Ali??"
"I don't know if Evelyn and Warden can deal with all the zombies around the campus alone, and if we split up during the contest..."
"Let me guess, you and your friends will be left defenseless. Why not always stay with one of the fighters? Besides, what do you guys have to fear? Losing to some bunch of animals who almost named their team 'bad' and agreed to play rock-paper-scissors despite not having hands and only being physically capable of playing 'rock'? I still don't understand how Christopher managed to lose that second round. Like, how does he manage to be absolutely terrible at every game he plays?"
Allay flies closer to her cousin with a look of sincerity.
"Austin, I'm not here so you can talk smack about my friends. I get what you are saying about how we shouldn't be concerned about Serendipity beating us, and that's not what I'm worried about. It's just that... well... I'm pretty scared that something bad is going to happen..."
Flying towards the railing, Vex conveys his thoughts once again.
"Well, uhh... I can understand that... but, I'm not in the game anymore, and I don't really feel up to fighting zombies right now."
"Please? I don't know how to fight back against someone who's trying to attack me... and you know that I've been absolutely terrified of zombies ever since that Halloween incident."

Vex sighs.
"Alright... fiiiinnneee. I'll help you. I really do care about your safety... and in a way, you just feel like a sister to me. I just don't want you getting hurt, ya know?"
"Thank you so much! My team's heading to the shopping district. Come on!" Allay exclaims with excitement.
The two quickly fly back down to the parking lot to meet the rest of Alleviation.

  Moobloom and her team are still up on the rooftop.
"It looks like mangfald and Alleviation have already started! They've left to go wherever they're gonna go, but what should we do?" Moobloom asks.
"Well, Golden keeps the Enchanted Netherite Trophy in the Main Building... I've seen some other really expensive stuff there... like that golden model of the campus. I've never been able to see it, but one of the guards told me that it's like a model train setup of Kiruna Campus! I think one of the guards might've found something and brought it back to keep it safe! Like what they do with all the precious things here... We could go there and ask the guards if they've seen anything," Mooshroom replies.
"Hmm... that makes sense. Let's take the bus to the Main Building and go ask someone there!" Moobloom exclaims as she walks over to the elevator.
Cow follows behind her, holding Axolotl, who rides in a small bucket, in her mouth.
Noticing the elevator, Moobloom makes an announcement to her team. "Guys! We have a problem! There's a sign on the elevator that says it's out of order! What are we going to do?"
Mooshroom looks up at the elevator door.
"You're right... it does say that... It was working earlier... what happened? If it's really not working, how are we going to get downstairs to the bus stop?!"
"I... don't know. What can we possibly do?!" Moobloom exclaims. "Going down the stairs is our only choice here!"
"But we can't go down stairs..."
Cow places Axolotl's bucket down. "Uh, Golden has magic powers, right? I've seen her do some pretty cool stuff - like that time she summoned that glowy portal thing in the courtyard... It had a live video of an alternate universe or something. That's what she said... but that's not all - then, she did something and made a girl appear in the alternate universe and she made her talk and stuff. She's really strong!"
"And?" Mooshroom replies. "What are you trying to... ... suggest here?"

"Well, if she's that powerful, I don't understand why Golden doesn't go find her things herself. We can go ask her to go find something, bring it back to us, then we give it back to her and we'd be safe!" Moobloom suggests. "I'll go ask her!"
Moobloom rushes over to the turf to pitch her suggestion, but she doesn't have any success.

  I can see where she's going with that, but that would go against the rules. Eh, whatever. Besides, there's a far easier way to do this.
In an instant, the members of Serendipity are surrounded by a golden aura, and are subsequently teleported into the parking lot. The same aura fades around their new locations, as does the glow from where they were teleported from on the rooftop.
Hehe... that seemed to work pretty well. Good on them for getting me to intervene, although, I'm sure they would've figured the whole elevator thing out eventually.

Mooshroom looks around with great confusion.
"Huh? What?? One second, we're on the roof, and suddenly, we start glowing, and now we're downstairs! How did we get here?!"
"Golden said she's not going to find anything for us. She was quiet for a second and looked like she was concentrating pretty hard on something... then boom! Just like that, we're down here!' Moobloom replies with a look of slight certainty. "Well, we're down here now... let's go to the bus stop!"
The team rushes over to the bus shelter, but they are quickly surrounded by zombies.
"AHHHHHH! The zombies! They're coming for us!" Cow shrieks.
Mooshroom jumps onto the shelter bench in an attempt to evade the undead, but she isn't any safer than before.
The zombies inch closer to the group, leaving them with little chance of escape.
Mooshroom cries out once more. "Help! Ayyyee! There's some trying to eat the mushrooms off my back! Get away!' The zombies, and you guys too! Leave while you still can!!! Don't worry about me- They're going to get me, so you guys escape before they get you too!"
Noticing her friend's situation, Moobloom makes a hasty decision to kick two of the zombies standing behind her, which only aggravates them more.
"Hang in there sister! There's no way that I'll flee and leave you for dead. When one falls, we all fall! I'm not leaving unless we can all escape!"
"That's a nice thought and all, but- Agghhh! This really hurts..." Mooshroom responds as she desperately attempts to fight off the zombies that are attacking her. "Just run away while you still can- I don't have a chance to make it out of here. It's better to only have one of us down than all of us, right??!"
Moobloom nods, although she is reluctant to agree. Looking over to Cow, who is just barley fending off a group of zombies, she hesitantly steps out of the bus shelter.
'I don't want to leave you guys behind!-"
"Take Axolotl and go back to the market or something! Ughhh- I can't hold out here... come on you stupid zombies.. come after me, not my teammates!" Mooshroom shrieks with more pain in her tone than before.
Holding Axolotl's bucket, Moobloom takes one final glance at her friends and the zombies which pursue them, her body trembling in fear. "I- I can't go back-"
'You HAVE to. Go, run off somewhere- save yourself! Doesn't even matter if you go and look for any of the things Golden wanted us to find! Now, the challenge is to survive! Go back to the market, you can get Golden to teleport us back here, but if you stay here, you're going to die too!" Cow declares. "Hurry! The zombies are calling for reinforcements!"
After a long moment of hesitation, Moobloom takes one final look at the zombie hoards attacking her teammates, and rushes across the street, but before she is able to reach the other side, a group of skeletons take notice and open fire.
"Eeeeppp!" she cries, as she not only steps back into the street, but simultaneously drops the bucket. As she struggles to get back onto her feet, Moobloom decides to check her friends at the bus terminal once again.
"Just one more time... One more time..."

  The ground lights up, and it only gets brighter by the second. It's almost immediate... a deep vrooming draws near, shortly followed by the blaring horn of a large vehicle...