Doodle Champion Island Journeys!

4.

Imagine a spider.

The hill was like a roundabout, encircled by a road significantly broader than others, and from that went eight paths leading to the seven sports champions' places plus the south port, like a big, earth-made spider.

There were rectangular stone tiles lined on both sides of these roads, effectively preventing the grass and wild plants from evading the walking way. At the start of each path to a sport's domain town, placed a statue of their respective champions, all made of stone, covered in mold and any possible organism that could live on a rough non-nutritious surface, some parts of the statue had cracked fallen down the ground as rocks and dust, and the statues themselves looked as if they would collapse at any given moment.

On the pedestal carved the name of the Legendary Champion, then their ace sport, and as for the one Lucky encountered, it said "Tengu: Grand Champion of Table Tennis". The statue depicted an aged man in a yamabushi priest robe with a pom pom sash, a tiny tokin, and a pair of the one and only tengu's geta. He had a pair of small wings on his back, which contradicted his relatively large body build, and his face was highlighted by a long nose - not the elephant-ly long type, but you can imagine it as a 5-inch-long Pinocchio's nose. The tengu was standing arms spread, seemingly leaning on his left leg more than the right, making the famous "flamingo" pose seen in stereotypical martial arts posters, looking as if he was about to soar. Lucky couldn't help but wonder how the tengu could fly with those wings.

The feline continued on the path. Soon, the lines of stone tiles came to a stop and pine trees that grew sparsely on the sides were slowly replaced by bunches of bamboo. At the far left corner of the first crossroad Lucky approached placed a house-shaped street sign written "← Table Tennis", so she took a left that went straight to a riverbank, then a right heading to where the bunches of bamboo grew thicker.

The only way to cross the river was to use a wooden railingless bridge that stood solely and just wide enough to make one-way walking traffic. In normal status, Lucky figured it'd be chaotic and pretty much crowded because of creatures queueing to cross in a line on one side, and those waiting for the traffic to change direction on the other side of the river. However, as happened in most times, reality proved it differently; not even one-tenth the number of qualified competitors were there - in fact, only a couple of them plus Lucky herself  - and no locals were seen around.

They crossed the bridge, boards of wood that had been there for who knew how long went 'creek's and 'crack's under their feet, but surprisingly didn't actually break and let them fall into the river. The sound of water passing underneath, slamming against the bank as loud as waves of the sea, maybe even louder, but the atmosphere seemed... quiet. Like something's missing... As if... no one had passed this bridge for so long that it lacked the presence of living beings.

The path diverted a few more times after the bridge, leading the competitors deeper into the bamboo forest. Winds blew gently, leaving almost no sound as they pass by the leaves and stems except a silent high-pitched howl.

Lucky unintentionally shivered, feeling a chill sent down her spine. The atmosphere was too far different from a sports place, which was supposed to be heated and lively, and she wouldn't even deny it if someone stated that the Tengu's place was a bit creepy.

As she saw an Ushi standing by the side of the path, she paused and came to ask him if he knew why this bamboo forest radiated such weird sensations, to which he answered in a voice barely above a whisper:

"Because this town is completely abandoned..."

"But why?"

"After the tengus arrived, the winds are too strong, everyone left for Tanooki City."