Bodil40 POV
"Oh my goodness!" Mass yelled. "That statue actually talks!"
"I'm not a statue, unless you're talking about that replica of me over there," The bronze snake rolled its eyes. "No, boy. I'm not a statue. I'm a snake, or more precisely, I'm an automaton,"
"Robots with artificial intelligence?" Aquarius tilted her head. "I've read about it somewhere before,"
"You're right, girl," The snake automaton nodded. "To make it easier for you, you can call me Snake. I would've introduce the other automatons as well, but I'll just let them do that themselves,"
"Soooo….." Sky raised an eyebrow. "What are automatons do? Do they punish us when we didn't complete the challenge?"
"That is one of our jobs, yeah," Snake nodded. "Our other job is to deliver your challenge. As you've know, you are on the Island of Riddles, so your challenge is to answer the riddles, naturally. Though I'll have to warn you that each of you could only participate in each challenge once, so think carefully who to send,"
It started scratching its head with its tail, which seems unnecessary since robots don't usually feel. Maybe this one was programmed to feel itchy once in a while. We gathered in a circle and started talking about our strategy. It wasn't easy, since there are people that we don't know that well, and we are not sure who is good at riddles.
"I hadn't answered any riddles since I graduate," I said. "But I'm sure I can still remember most of it. None of my friends at school can beat me,"
"I'm coming along," Aquarius said suddenly. "In case there are some riddles that you can't answer,"
The others figured that it is a good idea, and so they sent Aquarius and me. We stood before Snake and waited for it to finish scratching its head. The automaton didn't seem to notice us, though. I have the sudden urge to tear off its head, but of course I won't have the strength to do that.
Snake is finally done with his scratching. "Oh, there you are," It said it like it hadn't seen us, which wasn't true. While Snake scratched its bronze head, it opened its eyes a few times. I found that statement quite annoying. "Ready for your challenge?"
"If we weren't," Aquarius muttered. "We won't be standing here,"
"Bring it on, Snake," I said. "What are your riddles?"
"There are three in total," Snake answered. "Two of them come in package, I'll tell you beforehand. Now, let's start with the first riddle. What has 4 legs at dawn, 2 legs at noon, and 3 legs at twilight?"
I was sure that I'd seen it somewhere before, or maybe some of my ex-classmate had asked me this. I don't know, and I wasn't sure about the answer anyway. I stole a glance at Aquarius, and saw that she's looking at me as well. She sighed.
"You don't know the answer, do you?"
I shook my head. She just rolled her eyes and turned to Snake. "It's a human. Crawling at the beginning of their age, walking when they grew up, and depends on a walking stick when they are old. Am I right?"
Snake dipped its head. "Correct," It announced, and the others behind us let out the breath they are holding. "Next riddle. This one is a package. What kind of mouse walks on four legs?"
"Mickey mouse!" I blurted. This part of the riddle is easy enough.
"Correct. What kind of duck walks on four legs?"
"Donald-" I started, but Aquarius cut me off.
"What makes you think only Donald walks on two legs? Do the other ducks crawl?"
I realize she was right. "All ducks walk on two legs," I answered.
"Correct. What kind of bird walks on two legs?"
I was going to answer 'all birds', then stopped myself. This one covers god knows how many birds, and I can't think of any of it on the spot. I nudged Aquarius beside me. "Hey, can you think of any?"
"Ostrich and chicken," Aquarius said. "Is that correct?"
Neonz POV
I almost thought they didn't pass that question when Snake nodded.
"Final package of riddles," It hissed. "How many steps does it take to put an elephant in a refrigerator?"
"Four?" Bodil answered after a while, making me laugh. The others and I had heard this riddle a lot at school. Aquarius would know this.
"Three," Just as I thought. "Open the refrigerator, put the elephant in, close the refrigerator,"
"What?" Bodil asked. "How is that possible?"
"Snake didn't mention the size of the refrigerator," Aquarius huffed. "Is my answer correct?"
"Yes. Next one. The lion king had a birthday party. Why wasn't the elephant there?"
"It is still trapped in the refrigerator," Bodil answered immediately.
"Correct. The ant rode a bike to fetch the elephant. When he passed the desert, there is only a straight print on the sand. Why?"
"The ant is riding a bike," Aquarius said immediately.
"Correct. James just got home, and is going to get a can of Cola from the fridge, but he'd already knew that there is an ant in the fridge. Why?"
"The ant's bike is parked in front of the refrigerator," Still Aquarius. Bodil's mouth is hanging open in surprise, and so are the others. "How are you getting all of these answers?"MetaCrisis1337 asked.
"I don't know," Aquarius shrugged. "I just know the answer. I don't know how either,"
"Correct," Snake stuck out its forked tongue. "Next one. The ant took the elephant by its bike to the party venue. On the way, an accident happened. The elephant is severely injured. A lot of small animals rushed to the hospital to donate their blood, but why did they turn back?"
"The ant is already donating its blood," Still, it's Aquarius. Bodil looked like he wants to sit in a random corner and draw circles on the floor.
"Correct. Next one. The elephant decided to go thank the ant after it got better, but as soon as it reached the ant's front door, it is severely injured again. How did this happen?"
"Dude," Lachlan wiped a drop of sweat off his brow. "It's just getting weirder and weirder,"
"The father of the ant is sunbathing at the front door," Aquarius answered after a moment. "The elephant didn't see him, so he got tripped,"
"Correct," By this time, almost everyone is facepalming. "The elephant is sent to the hospital once again, but this time it died. Why did that happen?"
"No one is donating blood to it anymore," Aquarius is practically dominating the challenge.
"Correct. Later, the animal court searched for the culprit of this incident. Guess who is found guilty?"
"The refrigerator," Aquarius answered, and Mitch looked like he would fall over.
"Correct. You passed this challenge. You may proceed," Snake nodded as an oak bridge materialized between this island and the next one. It went back to its original position and stopped moving.
"Dude, how are you doing that?" Hakime ran towards Aquarius. "You just went through the whole thing without breaking a sweat! How did you know all the answers?"
"The others are asking them at school," She replied. "The last one is from a TV show, and I kind of memorized it,"
"Come on, guys," Rob and Preston are already at the bridge. "We can't really stay on these islands for the night, can we?"