"Sweet, can I get that dragon now?" Paula asked.

              "NO, I THOUGHT I WENT OVER THIS ALREADY, YOU MUST PASS ALL 10 TRIALS FIRST. FOR NOW, YOU GET THIS SECOND MINI PRIZE."

              The same podium from 2 days ago sprouted up again from the ground this time with another object on it.

              "A Rubik's cube?"

              "Oh cool, I've always wanted one of these," Paula said picking up the 3 by 3 colored cube.

              "Honestly, I'm not too surprised," I said, "I guess you shouldn't judge a book by its cover based on the trials we've had so far. You've a delinquent Paula, but you really are quite sma…"

              Before I could finish my sentence however, a small plastic cube was launched at my stomach knocking me to the ground.

              "I've always wanted one of these… so that I can launch it at Xavshit!"

              "Never mind, I take back everything I just said about you."

              "OKAY THAT IS ALL FOR TODAY, COME BACK IN 2 DAYS FOR THE NEXT TRIAL."

              "…"

              "…"

              "WHAT IS IT, WHY AREN'T YOU LEAVING?"

              "Isn't the room supposed to be shaking like last time or something?" I asked dusting myself up from off the ground. 

              "NO, THAT WAS JUST A ONE TIME GIMMICK. WE HAVE TO CHANGE IT UP ONCE IN A WHILE OR IT WILL GET REPETITIVE. JUST EXIT THE ROOM QUIETLY."

              "And what if we refuse?" Melanie asked.

              "THEN I WILL BE FORCED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT HOW YOUR CAR WARRANTY HAS JUST EXPIRED."

              And with that, the 4 of us quickly ran out of the room and the cave faster than we had 2 days before.

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              "Hey, how come we never do group activities together?" I asked.

              The 4 of us were gathered once again at our usual campfire spot cooking the last parts of the swordfish Melanie had caught.

              "What do you mean?" Melanie asked, "don't we go in groups to hunt and explore the island already?"

              "No no I mean like… well I don't know. Usually you need some sort of equipment like a volleyball to play beach volleyball but I guess…"

              Before I had run out of cave from the previous trial, I had picked up the Rubik's cube won as the previous mini-prize.

              "We can play uhhh… Rubik's cube toss I guess?"

              Thinking back to what happened at the cave, I was still quite annoyed at Paula who as usual, was just looking down at her Gameboy.

              "Alright, my turn to get that bitch back."

              Loading up all my strength, I recoiled my arm and threw the Rubik's cube at Paula's direction as hard as I could. Somehow, despite the distance only being about 10 feet, I managed to miss every part of her body.

              "Huh, did you say something Xavier?" Paula asked looking up from her device.

              "Uhhh... nothing nothing!" I said trying to act innocent, "wait, did you just call me by my proper name for once?"

              "Sorry I stuttered, I meant to say did you say something dipshit?"

              "…"

              "No? Well alright, back to the grind then."

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              "TODAY'S CHALLENGE WILL BE ONE OF PHYSICAL STRENGTH AND SKILL, PLEASE PRESS THE BUTTON ON THE SCREEN TO BEGIN."

              The 4 of us had gathered back at the usual spot where Ned greeted us. This time, when I pressed down on the button on the screen, more than just a tunnel appeared behind the cave wall. Instead, in front of us appeared to be an entire stadium gym filled with different sports equipment and floor set ups.

              "Woahhhh holy… this place is enormous, how the hell is this even physically possible?"

              "I WILL TELL YOU NOW THAT IF THERE ARE ANY UNEXPLAINED LOGICAL INCONSISTENCIES WITHIN THIS CAVE, THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS GOING TO BE MAGIC."

              "What? You can't just do that, that's lazy writing."

              "I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE READ ANY FANTASY NOVELS WITH MAGIC BUT THAT'S ALMOST ALWAYS HOW IT WORKS. ANYWAYS, I WILL EXPLAIN THE CHALLENGE FOR TODAY. AS YOU CAN SEE, THERE ARE TOOLS AND BALLS FOR 8 SPORTS SET UP ALREADY. FOR EACH SPORT, YOU WILL HAVE TO COMPLETE A TASK ASSIGNED TO EACH SPORT WITHOUT MISSING. THEY GO AS FOLLOWS:

·      BASKETBALL – MAKE A FREE THROW

·      FOOTBALL – THROW A FOOTBALL INTO A HOLE IN THE WALL 10 YARDS AWAY

·      VOLLEYBALL – RETURN A SERVE FROM OUR VOLLEYBALL MACHINE

·      GOLF – MAKE A PUTT FROM 10 FEET AWAY

·      BASEBALL – HIT A FAIR BALL ON A PITCH FROM THE PITCHING MACHINE

·      HOCKEY – SCORE ON AN EMPTY GOAL 150 FEET AWAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RINK

·      TENNIS – RETURN A SERVE FROM OUR SERVING MACHINE

·      SOCCER – SCORE ON AN EMPTY GOAL FROM THE MIDFIELD CIRCLE

                THE TASKS MUST BE COMPLETED IN THE LISTED ORDER WITH A TIMER OF 5 MINUTES TO COMPLETE ALL ROUNDS.

                "Okay, that shouldn't be too hard," Paula said, "I'm pretty Fiona can complete the hockey one and I can complete the rest of these myself."

                "THIS REQUIRES TEAMWORK, SO EACH OF YOU MUST COMPLETE 2 OF THE TASKS TO ENSURE NO ONE IS CARRYING. ALSO, YOU GET 5 TRIES TOTAL TO COMPLETE THIS TRIAL."

                "Alright, let's see how dipshit messes this one up then!"

                "Hey I'm fairly athletic you know! Shouldn't we worry instead about uhhhh…"

                I tried my best to not single her out, but it did feel obvious to me that Melanie might struggle completing any of the challenges. When I looked at her however, she just gave me small smile.

                "Don't worry! I'm pretty dexterous actually. I can do the tennis and volleyball returns no problem!"

                "Okay sure, I used to play basketball in middle actually so I think it'd be best if…"

                "I got basketball and baseball!" Paula interrupted.

                "Huh? Why?"

                "Because I'm the motherfucking Michael Jordan of this team duh… and he played both sports."

                "Hockey and football," Fiona said.

                "Okay hockey I understand, but why football?"

                "CFL good league,"

                "Today I learned… of its existence."

                That left me with golf and soccer, 2 sports that I hadn't really played much of outside of gym class from high school. Seeing as the other 3 were dead set on the sports they had chosen, and that they had already started to take their positions, I decided not to complain and took my station picking up a putter and standing on the golf grass.

                "OKAY, THE TIMER WILL BEGIN ONCE PAULA TOUCHES THE BASKETBALL ON THE RACK FOR HER FIRST FREE THROW."

              "Alright everybody set?" Paula asked hovering her hand above a basketball on the rack next to her. We all nodded our heads.

              "Let's get it."

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