The camera switched back to the Flailout announcer box.

Percy and Leo smiled. Leo was mysteriously wearing a construction hat.

"Welcome back, Hephaestus TV, we're back from our commercial break and ready to humiliate more demigods! In case you forgot already, I'm Percy Jackson and this is my cohost, Leo Valdez!"

"That's right! And now that the course is completely repaired, we can resume the competition."

"So, without further ado, let's check in with Calypso on our next contestant."

The camera switched over to Calypso standing next to a familiar demigod. Calypso smiled radiantly. "Hey, guys! I'm here with the famous Miranda Gardener, head counselor of the Demeter Cabin. Miranda, how are you?"

Miranda grinned. "I've been doing pretty well. Though it's been awfully quiet since my sister Katie and Travis Stoll moved out. Connor's been really quiet too. I almost don't know what to do with myself."

"Well, you can complete in Flailout! That's something, right?"

"Yeah, I'm psyched!" Miranda replied.

The audio cut off. Leo groaned. "Ugh, boring. I swear, Miranda was more interesting when the other two were around."

At the start, the clock began counting. Quickly, Miranda sprinted full force to the first obstacle: the Gladiator Arena.

"Here she comes, Leo, and boy does she look determined!"

"This might be the first contestant we've seen with a look of pure determination and focus. I'm psyched to see how far she gets."

Miranda positioned herself carefully on the balance beam. Before crossing, she studied the images of the Greek gladiators on the wall next to her. Her eyes narrowed as she slowly made her way across.

"I think she's onto us, Leo."

"Don't worry, there's two swords and a spear. She can't make it."

Miranda approached the first sword. Before she crossed its path, Miranda stopped herself. The sword cut through the air, missing her, then slowly reset. Miranda balanced past it hastily.

The next one was the spear. Unlike the horizontal swinging sword, this small dance mat plunged outward. Miranda studied the image of the spearman, took an extra step-

STAB! The spear violently thrusted out mere inches in front of Miranda's face. Eyes wide, Miranda stood there as the spear retreated back to its hiding place. Once it was gone, she jumped carefully across to quicken her speed.

"Percy, she's really doing it! I'm so proud of her!"

"Leo, I thought you said she wouldn't make it. She's clearly getting across."

The final sword was swung horizontally rather than vertically. Miranda kept going by crawling expertly under it, continuing her voyage.

"SHE MADE IT LADIES AND GENTS!"

Leo frowned. "Wait, I think there was one more trap…"

Miranda was literally five steps away from the transition platform. There were no more swords and spears in sight.

Suddenly a fishing net was thrown over her. Miranda, caught completely by surprise, yelped and fell into the mud in a tangled mess.

The camera cut to the studio for a brief second. Percy was giving Leo a look.

"Oh, right. There was a net. Have I mentioned that yet?"

"…no."

"Well, there's this net, see? And we use it in-"

"I KNOW THAT THERE IS A FREAKING NET NOW, LEO! WHY WOULD YOU ADD THAT?!"

Leo frowned. "Well, didn't ancient Romans in the arena use nets as one of the main weapons? As a tribute to your dad, Neptune?"

"…"

…

…

Leo grinned. "I rest my case. Hey, look, Miranda untangled herself!"

A frustrated Miranda finally untangled herself from the net and hauled herself out of the mud. With sagging clothes, she climbed up the stairs to the Big Bolts.

Naturally, she bounced off the side of the first one and landed with her back to the lake water.

Percy winced. "And the Big Bolts strike again."

"But hey, at least she washed all the mud off, right?"

"True."

After a brief swim to the Pegasus Flight, Miranda hung on as the fake Pegasus took flight. Various streams of water erupted out of the lake and attempted to push her off. Amazingly, she held on until a particular stream hit her directly in the hand, causing her to lose her grip on the horse. Another, more powerful stream knocked into her shoulder and ultimately sent her falling into the water below.

"Aww…" Percy groaned.

"And so close, too…"

Finally, Miranda stood before the dreaded Demeter's Kitchen. The Poseidon kids on the shore stood ready to fling vegetation at her.

Miranda took one step-

SPLAT!

CHUNK!

BONK!

SPLATTER!

SPLAT!

Not five seconds later, Miranda was covered head to toe with various fruits and veggies. But like a real trooper, she carried on.

The giant kitchen knife was next, but in reality it was no different than the first Gladiator Sword. Only this time it was on a fake kitchen table.

Miranda gracefully jumped the table, slid on the countertop, and landed perfectly on the other side, finishing the course at a record of 3:12.

"Look at that Leo, she successfully passed through Demeter's Kitchen!"

"If I hadn't known any better, I'd say her godly parent intervened."

"You're accusing her of cheating?"

"No, I'm accusing her mother of cheating."

"…"

"Yeah, I just did that."

"K then, who do we have next?"

Back at the start of the Big Bolts, a geeky kid with brown hair and big glasses studied the course. "Simple science!" He said before jumping off the platform.

Science failed him.

SPLASH!

"Wow, what a nerd," Leo scoffed. "Thinking simple science tricks will work on my beautiful course?"

"Er…OUR beautiful course?"

"…sure."

"Who was that kid anyway, Leo?"

The camera switched to footage taken when Calypso was interviewing the kid.

"Hi guys! I'm here with the spunky Caleb Wallace, son of Athena. Hey, Caleb, why do you not have blond hair like the rest of your siblings?"

Caleb adjusted his glasses. "Well, simple genetics, obviously! Why, the chances of all the alleles matching for blond hair does indeed remain strong, seeing as how I got both blond phenotypes from my parents, but there is a slight possibility of brown hair from my dad's side of the family, so I inherited that."

Calypso laughed. "You're pretty smart, kid."

"Simple science."

Fast forward to the present, where Caleb Wallace stood before the Pegasus flight. Before hopping on, he studied the rail the ride was supposed to follow.

"30 degrees…" he muttered. "then a 45 degree elevation…"

Nodding to himself, Caleb hopped on the Pegasus.

Leo shook his head. "I don't care HOW much he plans for the route, it's the ride that will get to him."

"Let's just see, Leo…"

Caleb looked surprised when burst of water erupted out of the lake and flew at him. Desperately he clung on, fighting the bursts of water that pushed at him. In his head, however, he was analyzing the patterns in which the water would appear and at what time. Instinctively, he knew they were building up to something. He just had to know when…

NOW.

Just as he predicted, a bigger stream of water erupted out at the end of the flight, straight for Max's left. Having predicted it, Max quickly jumped off his Pegasus and landed at the platform outside of Demeter's Kitchen.

"LEO, HE DID IT! THE SCIENCE GEEK WAS THE FIRST TO PASS THE PEGASUS FLIGHT!"

"Dangit…"

"GO, LITTLE DUDE! DO IT FOR SCIENCE!"

"Why are you so happy about this, Perce?"

"Well, why aren't YOU?"

Caleb was now in Demeter's Kitchen, and was being assaulted by vegetation. Unfortunately, there was no way to predict random throwing of food, so he ended up in the water (courtesy of a particular tomato).

Still, he finished at good score of 4:03.

"Nice one, bro! Do it for science!"

(one epic montage of failing contestants later)

Percy smiled sadly. "Alright guys, we're down to our final contestant. And we've saved the best for last."

"I thought it was random order…"

"It is, Leo. Now, let's check in with Calypso to interview this wonderful gentleman…"

The camera switched to Calypso, who stood next to a familiar figure. "Alright guys, I hope you're seating right now. I have Chiron the Centaur right here with me. Chiron, how are you?"

Chiron (wheelchair form) grinned. "Oh, I've been doing great. This obstacle course was a brilliant idea! Much less deaths than Harvey's."

"I know, it's sad. Tell me, what inspired you to try this course out?"

"Just want to show the campers why I've been the teacher of so many heroes for gods-know-how-long."

"Well, we can't wait to see that!"

Percy smiled. "Dude, Leo, CHIRON is doing it!"

Leo looked nervous. "But isn't he a cripple?"

"…seriously, dude?"

Chiron was still in wheelchair form at the start of the obstacle course. The clock started the countdown.

With amazing speed, Chiron wheeled his chair to the precarious balance beam in front of the Gladiator Arena. To everyone's utter amazement, Chiron didn't apply any brakes and used one wheel to zip across such a narrow bridge. Narrowly, he dodged the sword, spear, second sword, and evaded the dreaded fishing net. Both wheels touched the ground and he kept on going.

"Dude, look at this!"

"I can't believe m eyes!"

"He's dissing our course!"

"Don't worry! He can't get past the Big Bolts on a wheelchair…"

Despite the confidence, poor Leo stood tongue-tied as a "crippled" centaur in a wheelchair somehow expertly leaped onto the first bolt, bounce cleanly onto the second, flip backward like a pro on top the third, pose in the air as he bounced to the fourth, and brought his wheelchair forward again for his perfect landing at the end of the Big Bolts. He kept on rolling.

"…"

"Dude…"

Now at the Pegasus Flight, Chiron morphed into Centaur-mode and stood atop the fake Pegasus with only his hind legs. With his front hoofs and arms, he punched through the "weak" water hazards until his Pegasus made it to the other side. When the giant wave appeared at the end, Chiron jumped over it and landed on the platform leading to Demeter's Kitchen.

Finally, Chiron stormed through the Kitchen before the throwers even had time to react with his centaur-speed. The giant kitchen knife came down, but Chiron was too fast to cut. After passing the knife, Chiron morphed back to wheelchair form to speed himself to the finishing spot.

Naturally, he spun around in a taunt when he got there.

"So…how'd I do?"

Calypso dropped her mic.

Percy stared wide-eyed.

Leo gulped. "His f-final t-time is…23 seconds…"

The announcer recovered. "THE WINNER IS…CHIRON THE CENTAUR! WITH A RECORD TIME OF 23 SECONDS!"

The campers cheered enthusiastically. "CHIR-ON! CHIR-ON! CHIR-ON!"

Percy and Leo were back smiling at the camera. "And that was a wonderful conclusion to our new series, Flailout! Tune in next time, campers, while we decide of a new course to make up! Until then, I'm Percy Jackson!"

Leo missed his line. He was still staring stupidly at Chiron being hoisted up by his fellow campers.

Percy glared at him. "And this is my stupid cohost, Leo Valdez. Goodnight, everybody!"

The cameraman shut off the program.