Chapter 45
“Hehe, I’ll show you what I’ve got, Mr Mel.” Rhett confidently mind-linked his rival.
“I’m not worried, Rhett. You should watch out instead.” Mel said as they continued the frog jumping, leaping over the tree stumps almost at the same time.
When they got to the point where there were no more tree stumps to leap over, they started leaping even faster, all the while keeping that confident look on their faces amidst the cheers.
As they were nearing the finish point, two assigned pack members started shooting rubber arrows at them at a fast rate.
They wouldn’t hurt the participants but they were kind of annoying. If one gets up to complain then all his hard work was for nought.
If that one also stopped leaping to see who was firing arrows, he’d lost too. At this point, focus was the main thing. When they were super close to the finish point, someone threw a snake at them. A startled Rhett gasped and got up to run away. He didn’t like snakes.
Mel didn’t even flinch when the snake was thrown at them.
He kept leaping till he reached the finish line.
Then he picked the snake from the ground. Everyone could see if wasn’t a real one but a robot snake.
He walked over to Rhett who now had a sour face. All his hard work was vanquished because… because he chickened out at the most important moment.
“Bro, expect difficulties along the way. Face your fears. Normally ordinary snakes can’t harm us but the shifters can. But if one is strong enough, he can finish both. And yeah, I haven’t met an opponent as good as you in years other than Rolandro. Here,” Mel placed the robot snake that was still moving around Rhett’s neck. Then he walked toward Rolandro with a smile after winking at his wife.
“I won!” he whispered.
“I know that. You still didn’t show Rhett what you’re capable of. You went easy on him from the start.” Rolandro pointed out telepathically.
“I did?” Mel asked, pointing to himself.NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.
“You well know if I’m saying the fact.” Rolandro rolled his eyes before resuming his speech with the microphone.
“Congrats to our dear Mel and his team. Please, the other two members of team A come forward.”
Immediately, the other two ran over to Mel and hugged him.
“Man. We made the right choice. You have brought us the glory.” Ian, one of his teammates, said.
“Hehe. It was good to exercise.” Mel replied while giving his wife a thumbs down. She did the same with a mischievous smile.
“Boy, so what if you win? You gotta cry for your mama whether you like it or not.”
“We’ll see who’ll do that. Hmph!” Mel replied, unafraid.
A war was coming into their home tonight. Hopefully, the bed can withstand the crazy war. 🙂
Team A was given a trophy made of pure gold along with some prize money but Mel gave his prize money to Rhett in secret.
Soon, the next game was announced.
“This game is the simplest and very fun. There is no reward for this one. Both young babes and adults can do this if they feel that they are more than qualified. I won’t tell you the name yet. I want you guys to guess. I will give you a hint though. It starts with ‘H’.”
Immediately a few put up their hands.
“Alright. Enzo,” he pointed at a red-haired youth with some freckles on his face.
“Hockey.”
“Around the fire? No. You’re wrong. Mrs Nowells.”
“Hopscotch?”
“Nope. Armand.”
“Hand the ball.”
“Maggie.”
“Hula hooping?”
“Alright. Armand and Maggie are correct. There’s a game that leads to another. The first one can be considered as the qualifier round and that is the pass the ball game. Who feels confident enough?”
Immediately 20 people raised their hands, children included.
He beckoned on them to come out and soon all who remained seated could see the volunteers.
Regina, Beatrix, Pedro, Maggie and even Lavana.
“Thora, are you sure about this?” Lavana asked her dragon spirit in her head.
She thought all 3 were slumbering peacefully but hearing hula hooping had awoken her again. She excitedly told Lavana to join.
“It’s easy,” Thora said without a care in the world.
“You’re sure my body won’t break from it?”
“Lavana, you underestimate your body too much. Your body could withstand the 3 transformations in one day. Why can’t it withstand a simple hula ring? Come on.”
Lavana sighed.
“If you say so,” Lavana said in defeat.
Rolandro asked them to sit on the sand around the fire. They were apart from each other by some distance.
“Now you are to pass the ball to your neighbour. If he or she fails to catch it, then disqualification becomes the companion. There is a timer of ten minutes. Only the winners can progress to the fun round.” said Rolandro.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes!” the participants shouted.
“Eh? Were you whispering something? I didn’t hear.”
“YES!” they shouted again.
“Okay. I hear it now.” he nodded his head and a pack member handed the ball over to Maggie.
Mel blew the whistle and Maggie immediately threw the ball over to the pack member on her left. He caught it and threw it to Pedro who caught it and pass it forward. When it got to Lavana’s turn, she managed to catch the ball and pass it over to Regina who then gave it to Beatrix. It kept going like that until Maggie got disqualified. She got up immediately and headed back to sit amongst the spectators.
Now there was a sizeable gap but they were not allowed to shift their positions. Soon, a kid got disqualified and not long after an older lady.
By the 7th minute, there were 12 participants left.
By the 10th minute, Mel blew the whistle again. The participants left rose from the ground and patted off the dust from their clothes.
“Congrats to the 5 who are heading to the fun round.
At that the audience applauded.
A pack member came over with hula hoops in both hands.
He walked over to Rolandro and nodded.
“So the one who can take on more Hula hoops or the one who gets the most votes from our lovely spectators wins. Though there’s no reward but who knows if a surprise might appear. Alright. Who’s first?”
Regina immediately stepped out from among the participants.
“Alright. Our first performer is out. Let’s see what she can do.” Roldandro retreated, leaving the pack member holding the hula hoops in his place.
He threw one hoop to Regina after catchy music started playing. Then he threw another one. He had to see if she could handle both before throwing the third one at her.
Regina turned from a playful lady to a hot, serious one. In no time two more rings were thrown at her and she showed her skill. She opted for the 6th one but she failed this time.
“Alright. Those who wrote for her indicate your hands.”
After some seconds, Roldandro declared: “Regina has 15 votes. Well done. You may retreat.” he said and Regina walked to stand among the contestants.
The next one was Beatrix. She took two hoops and started spinning them. She caught another two and continued spinning them. She caught an extra 3 and spun 2 with her hands and one with her right leg.
Many were cheering and Pedro was whistling.
When she tried the 8th hoop, she failed but there was applause. Beatrix blew kisses at them and there were cheers and even some flowers thrown at her.
“Wow. Beatrix is a hidden pro. I’m impressed. Great job.” Roldanro praised as Beatrix cat walked back to where the participants stood. She’d gotten 38 votes.
Regina carried her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
“You did great, honey.” she said with a smile.
“Thanks, aunty,” Beatrice replied sweetly.
“Hey. Put her down. She’s my playmate.” Pedro said to the adult.
“She’s my little cutie pie. What are you gonna do about it?”
“If I break her record, I get her to myself,” Pedro said and stepped forward.
“That boy… he needs a beating,” Beatrix said. “Who does he think he is? I’m Lavana’s little sis,” she added with a haughty face.
Pedro took on three hoops and started spinning them. He took 3 more and spun them. Then he took 4 more, spinning two each with both hands.
The audience cheered and clapped.
“Hmph. He does have some ability.” Beatrice was forced to admit after he took another 2 hoops and spun them with his left foot.
Few minutes later, he stopped spinning them and all fell to the ground but there was great cheer, whistling and applause from the audience.
He waved as he headed back to where the participants stood. He’d earned 42 votes!
“So aunty. Do I have the right?” he asked.
“No.” both females replied.
Puzzled, he asked: “Why? I clearly did better than you both.”
Beatrix rolled her eyes after being put down by Regina. She then told him to come closer.
“I wanna whisper something vital to you.” she said.
Pedro did as she said and she pulled on his left ear.
“You’re so eager to show off, eh? You need a serious beating. I’m Lavana’s little sis. If you want to be my playmate, you have to try harder. I have high standards, you know.” she said and Pedro nodded vigorously like a hen pecking at grain.
“You’re right. You’re right, Beatrix. I’ll work harder.”
“Call me boss.”
“Boss!”
“Hmph.” Beatrix let go of him and patted his back.
“Be good and I won’t beat you.” she said with a smile that gave him goosebumps, but to others this grin was a cute one.
“Hahaha, that girl is the perfect tamer for Pedro. If she is his mate, how wonderful that would be.” Carmelia mind linked her bestie.
“Yeah, I couldn’t agree more.’ Regina replied telepathically.
At this time, the fourth person, a man, was dancing with the spinning hoops to the beats of music currently playing.
He surprisingly took just 4 hoops before failing. Many were disappointed and just booed at him.
He simply walked back to where the participants stood.
“And now, we have our last but not least contestant. The beautiful Lavana.” Rolandro announced.”
“Hey, why call others beautiful? Have I turned ugly in your eyes?” Carmelia mind linked her husband.
“Darling, you are a goddess in my eyes. Who can compare to you, babe? I just wanted to give her some confidence, just in case. Can’t you see how she’s fidgeting?” Roladnro replied.
“Call me that word and I’ll let you off.”
“Carmelia, you are beautiful everywhere.”
“Good boy. I will reward you well tonight.?”
“But Pedro…”
“Ssh! I’ll put him in fantasyland.” she said before stopping the mind linking.