Chapter 8: Sports Challenges

"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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

"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."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"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."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Paula lifted the first basketball and shot what appeared to be a perfect free throw motion, the ball swished into the net without a problem.

"Boom! Cold-blooded killer."

Right afterwards, Fiona almost immediately grabbed one of the footballs and launched it perfectly into the hole in the wall.

"Good job toots!" Paula shouted as she began running towards the baseball station.

As she did, the machine opposite of the net of Melanie served a volleyball in her direction. To my surprise, she was able to grasp her hands together bumping the ball back over the net.

"Nice job! Now dipshit don't mess this up!"

"Okay… concentrate Xavier," I thought to myself eyeing down the golf ball and hole.

"How did they do this on the PGA tour? Hmm… let's see, examine the green. Looks like it'll break right about 2 feet."

I squatted down and tried to see the perfect angle to hit the ball.

"No, but what about the gradient? Also, this appears to be slightly downhill so perhaps I should hit it a little softer than I usually would. Hmm… but that could cause the ball to curve too much."

I walked in front of the ball and stepped over the grass trying to accurately measure how the ball would break.

"Maybe if I tap it lightly extremely far to the right, I can curve it back to the left, I don't know, that seems risky, but I have to make it so there's no way I can leave it short."

I got back up and squatted down behind the golf ball to try and once again map out a path in my mind.

"Xavier…"

"However, if I hit the ball fairly hard, it shouldn't break much to the left if at all."

"Xavier."

"No, but then I risk the ball hitting onto the hole but bouncing out… no that won't work either, come on Xavier concentrate, concentrate."

"XAVIER!"

"What!" I shouted breaking my concentration to yell back at whoever was shouting my name. When I turned around, I saw that all three of the girls were yelling at me in a frenzy.

"I'm trying to concentrate to get this perfect! Golf is hard you kn…"

"TIME'S UP, THIS ROUND FAILED."

"What what the…"

"Xavier… you've been staring at the golf ball for 4 and a half minutes," Melanie said.

"What? Has it really been that long?"

"YES IT WAS, WE ALL HAD TO WATCH YOU BORINGLY OVERANALYZE THE SITUATION. THAT WAS MORE BORING THAN WATCHING ACTUAL GOLF."

"Well actually, I think golf's pretty fun to watch," Melanie said.

"Let me guess, you think the guys on tour are hot?"

"No like genuinely, it's pretty relaxing to be honest. I'm not sure why it gets a bad rep."

"Whatever, now we have to start over again thanks to dipshit," Paula sighed heading back to the basketball court. The other 2 also went back to their original spots at the start of the challenge.

"Alright, I'm getting ready to shoot again," Paula said hovering her hand above the basketball, "Everyone ready?"

We nodded

"Xavshit you won't mess this up again?"

"I'm trying my best okay!"

"Yeah whatever, here I go! Jordan Game 6!"

She lifted the basketball from the rack to attempt the free throw.

**clank**

The ball then bounced in silence as we all stared at her a bit stunned that she had missed the shot.

"ACTUALLY, LITTLE KNOWN FACT, BUT JORDAN ONLY MADE 85% OF HIS FREE THROWS. EVEN IF YOU WERE ON HIS LEVEL, IT WAS HIGHLY LIKELY YOU'D MISS ONE OF THESE."

"Ha! Who's the anchor now?" I shouted from the golf course.

"UNSPORTSMENLIKE CONDUCT. YOU ARE PENALIZED WITH FAILING THE NEXT ROUND. YOU HAVE 2 ROUNDS REMAINING."

"What?!?!?! How come no one told me this?"

"IN ORDER TO HAVE YOUR WISH GRANTED, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE PROPER SPORTSMENSHIP."

"What the hell Ned, how is that fair? Paula literally called me dipshit earlier."

"That's just a fact though dipshit," Paula said, "anyways, yeah sorry about that guys, guess even the greats can choke once in a while. I'm going to take my shot again soon, everyone ready?"

We all nodded getting in position again.

"Okay here I go!"

She grabbed the basketball shooting it at the hoop. This time a perfect swish.

"Easy game."

Next, once again, Fiona made a perfect throw into the hole in the wall with the football. Melanie too was able to return the volleyball serve again perfectly.

"Alright I got this," I said to myself, "it's slightly downhill and breaks slightly right to left,"

I went up to the ball and took a deep breath.

"Hurry up dipshit!"

"Just ignore her…"

This time however, I didn't waste too much time and hit the ball that rolled exactly on the trajectory I had planned it to roll into the hole.

"Nice job Xavshit!" Paula said already at the baseball station. As she prepared herself, she pointed at the centerfield fence. When the pitch from the machine came towards her, she made a perfect swing hitting the baseball to exactly where she pointed.

"Easy."

Next, Fiona accomplished her task pretty easily wasting no time to shoot the puck into the net from half a rink away. Melanie went next and to my great surprise again, was able to do a perfect backhand to return the serve from the tennis machine.

Alright… this shouldn't be as hard as golf." I thought lining up my shot from half the field away for soccer. I stepped back about 3 feet before running forward and delivering a hard kick. The ball for about 90% of its flight looked like it was going dead center at the net.

"Nice kick Xavier!" Melanie shouted at me.

"Thanks! I try my best!"

Unfortunately my best was not enough as when the ball slowly rolled towards the goal, we all saw that not enough power had been generated and the ball stopped just short of the goal.

"Shit! So close."

"ROUND FAILED, YOU HAVE ONE MORE ROUND LEFT"

"Alright, I won't give you too much shit for this one," Paula said, "that was pretty close."

"Yeah, I'll step back more to have more distance to run at the ball next time" I sighed. Unfortunately, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades as we went back to our first sport to try a final time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright everyone ready?" Paula asked getting ready for her free throw, "this is it, and I know I won't miss twice."

"Ready!"

"Ready."

"Ready bitc… I mean Paula, I'm ready!"

"Alright, here I go then."

Just like 2 out of the 3 previous times, Paula was able to make a perfect free throw. Fiona was able to throw another perfect pass and Melanie managed to return the volleyball again. As Melanie began to run towards the tennis court however, it appeared as if she was limping.

"You alright Melanie?" I asked from the golf green.

"She's fine Xavshit, just concentrate on your putt."

"Right… no time to be worried."

I lined up the putter and made the same putt as before allowing the ball to roll down the same trajectory into the hole. Afterwards, Paula hit another perfect homerun ball and Fiona scored her goal with no issues. As Melanie got ready for her tennis return however, it appeared her limp had not gone away.

"Are you sure you're alright Melanie?"

"Yeah I'm good, don't worry!"

As she said that, a tennis ball came flying her direction. She managed to just in time side step a bit to the right and fire back a forehand returning the serve.

"Alright… it's up to me now," I thought looking at the soccer ball and goal half a field away in front of me, "concentrate, concentrate."

"You got this Xa…"

**Thud**

"Huh?"

I was already in the running motion when at the corner of my eye, I saw that Melanie had collapsed onto the floor. Running around in the gym and completing her tasks must have exhausted all her stamina again. However, having gathered more momentum than last time running from further back, I could not stop myself in time and nearly tripped as I kicked the ball. Of course… having my concentration broken by a falling body, my kick sliced terribly as the ball began to curve off course towards the court next to mine… towards somehow… the exact spot of Melanie's unconscious body.

"Dipshit NOOOOOO that was our last…"

"Melanie watch out!"

Melanie was already in a deep slumber however and could not heed my warning when the soccer ball came flying at her. As it did, it hit her squarely on the noggin turning her body over. In a weird twist of fate, the ball miraculously bounced back towards the direction of the goal.

"What no way… how the hell?"

To everyone else's shock, the ball managed to generate just enough power to somehow land squarely into the goal I was aiming at.

"CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE PASSED TRIAL 3"