Challenge Dunes: Day 24
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Kirby - Engineer - ROB - Samus Aran.
Alexa yawned, stretching. "I should expect to see them here in... one minute!" His eyes widened, staring down at his watch. "Wow, who knew time flies when you're standing in the middle of a desert doing nothing?!"
From that point, he studied his watch, specifically the minute-hand as he waited for it to tick at any moment. He wished that he had a watch with a second-hand, but not prying his eyes away from the watch as he waited for the minute-hand to edge over to the next hour would have to do.
By the time his eyes began stinging from his odd choice not to blink, the minute-hand finally ticked, and he immediately heard the Super Stars pipe rumble from behind.
He snapped his head back, now fixated on the pipe as he lowered his arm.
Out came Meta Knight, extravagantly accurate with the time. He paid no attention to Alexa, who was staring right at him, staggered. Instead, he wrapped his cape around him and waited, another thing that confused Alexa. The desert was especially boiling today, and the last thing he expected anyone to do was snugly wrap themselves in more layers of clothing.
Before things could get any more awkward, the pipe rumbled again, this time more violent than before as Samus and ROB hopped out of the massive pipe in succession. Samus landed square on her feet as ROB carefully hovered down to the ground, both of which turning to the old Power Flowers pipe. The first merge challenge had the Laudable Leaves pipe repurposed into a pipe that led to the Sherbet Land challenge, and the second merge challenge had the Super Shrooms pipe repurposed into a pipe that led to the underground challenge. So naturally, the two of them would immediately check the only pipe that hadn't been repurposed, and as they had predicted, the old Power Flowers pipe was completely different in color.
More rumbling came from the Super Stars pipe, and this time, the entire tribe slowly hopped out and off of the large yellow pipe one by one. Most of them checked out the Power Flowers pipe similar to the last two that entered the Challenge Dunes, though Meta Knight continued to be uninterested, and Kirby was simply unaware.
"Welcome, survivors!" Alexa playfully saluted. "Welcome to the next challenge! And, it seems as if most of you are checking out the old Power Flowers pipe. That's right, it's been repurposed yet again!"
Kirby finally turned to the pipe and gasped. The color went from the old emerald green to a bleach-white. "Poyo?!" He exclaimed.
"Why are you actin' so surprised, Kirby?" Chuckled Engineer. "The same thing happened to the other ones, so this was all but evitable."
Phoenix rubbed his chin. "So... what's white?"
"What's... white?" Little Mac queried, looking around him. "Well, if there were any clouds out right now, it'd be white."
The lawyer sighed. "Well, it's not like the challenge is going to be set in the sky or anything. I'm talking about something that's white that the pipe could be referring to."
Luigi and Peach both shook their heads with pity towards the unaware Phoenix. Little did he know, the Mushroom Kingdom housed plenty of cloudy, high-up areas.
As he pondered further, Alexa became impatient. "You'll be going in there very shortly, so what's the point in guessing?"
"I... want to be prepared," he admitted.
"Well, not to spoil anything, but this next challenge isn't going to be as dreadful as you might imagine!" He promised. "I'd say it's actually a LOT better than the last two. Hey, some of you might even be familiar with it!"
Peach looked surprised at the final remark. "Familiar?" She queried.
Alexa placed his hand on his hip, using his other hand to wag his finger at the princess. "Hey, as I said, I don't want to spoil you. I'm a man of hyping things up. NOT the opposite," he explained, giving a wink. "Look, if you're so desperate to know, then let's cut the chat and go over to that Power Flowers pipe!"
He began marching forth, the others following behind, though their stroll to the pipe wasn't as uniform as his. As they got to the pipe, Alexa climbed up and turned to the survivors. "See you survivors on the other side!"
The host hopped in, and now that the survivors were far more used to going into these mysterious pipes, it didn't take long for every survivor to climb in and enter, starting with Samus and ending on ROB. Though this challenge was apparently far easier than the previous two Merge Challenges, that didn't necessarily mean it would be easier for them to receive immunity.
?: Day 24
Survivors: Phoenix Wright - Luigi - Meta Knight - Little Mac - Princess Peach - Kirby - Engineer - ROB - Samus Aran.
As ROB flew out of the pipe, he gently landed himself on the jade "grass" and looked around. To everyone's surprise, Alexa's words had rung true! As opposed to being in a freezing wasteland or a blindingly dark cave around a mile underground, they were placed into a massive stadium. Hundreds if not thousands of Mushroom Kingdom residents lined the edge of the stadium, roaring with excitement and satisfaction. At the end of the arena was a screen, which showcased a luxurious, vacant chair.
Alexa was quickly running off from the center of the stadium, which people would have picked up on if not for the extravagantly delighted crowd hyping them up.
"This is my type of challenge!" Grinned Little Mac. "An audience that'll be cheering my name in no time!"
Peach peacefully waved to the residents, though she was unaware that most of the crowd's cheering was directed towards her.
"Finally..." Engineer sat down and drank in the climate. "A darn good balance in temperature. It ain't too hot, but it ain't too cool either."
Kirby agreed with a small head nod, basking in the sun with a face of raw contentment.
After the cheering (eventually) died down, a loud, high-pitched noise erupted from the speakers, which were located in every nook, cranny, and corner of the stadium. After this noise faded, an all-too-familiar voice came booming out of the speakers.
"Welcome to the THIRD Merge Challenge!" It called out. "I'm Alexa, and I hope the survivors know that I rented out an entire stadium just to put them on display for this next challenge!"
They then turned to the eye-catching screen to see Alexa lounging in the previously empty chair.
"So that's why he ran off," said Samus.
He continued. "This challenge will be a spectacular one, surely! So, that's how I got the idea to bring in many residents from all over the Mushroom Kingdom to watch. Unless you wanna be embarrassed, I advise the nine remaining survivors to put their A-game on! But I bet they've been doing that since they arrived in the desert. NOW, it's time to explain what you guys will be doing!"
The audience gave yet another roar as he cleared his throat and explained:
*Today's challenge will involve one of the most popular sports in the world: BASEBALL! However, due to baseball typically being a very complicated two-team sport, I've had to make a few changes to both simplify the sport and make it match the free-for-all aspect of the merge! In alphabetical order of the survivors' first names, they will take turns competing against the other eight in a round of baseball. In case you've been living under a rock, your goal as a batter is to complete a run; in order to complete a run, you will have to hit a ball as far as you can and run to and past the three bases. The first base is to your right when batting. After getting to the third base, you have to run back to where you started in order to complete a run! Meanwhile, your goal as a fielder is to tag the running batter or the base he's currently running toward with the baseball that he struck. If you succeed in that, then the batter is out! And allow me to remind you that baseball doesn't exactly condone any physical pushing or shoving.
Now, it's time for the differences from usual baseball: for starters, there will only be eight people on the field instead of baseball's usual nine. Three of these eight will be placed by the first, second, and third base; another three will be placed in left, right, and center field; the final two will be placed as the ball pitcher and the catcher, near the batter. Due to the lack of players, there is no shortstop position, which is usually placed between the second and third base. The people who will take these positions will be randomly jumbled every round.
Another big difference is going to be the fact that you cannot stay on the base to be classified as safe. Instead, you will earn one point for every base you manage to reach. This means you'll earn one point for making it to the first base, two points for making it to the second, and three for making it to the third. However, if you make it back home, you'll score five whole points! If the batter misses the ball, then he'll receive a strike if the catcher manages to catch the ball. If the catcher doesn't catch the ball, then the strike doesn't count. If three strikes are earned, then the batter misses his go with no points earned! If the pitcher catches the ball before it hits the ground, then the batter is instantly out, but unlike usual baseball, any other fielder catching it will not count the batter as out! There are a lot more extra rules for this sport, but for the sake of simplicity, everything I tell you is what you need to know!
Finally, if you score a Home Run, then don't expect fanfare and a free five points. In this challenge, hitting the ball out of the field will result in only one point being scored!
After every survivor has had their turn as the batter, the rotation will restart and they will each have a second go to score more points for themselves! The top five who score the highest points at the end of the second rotation will win immunity, whilst the bottom four will be going back to the desert with nothing but a chance of elimination!*
"Well ain't that a lot to take in," Engineer said. "It's a darn relief that I'm already familiar with the sport."
"I never expected baseball to-a not be complicated... at least it explains all of-a the markings on the ground," sighed Luigi.
Phoenix placed his hands into his pockets and attempted to recall any baseball experience. "...I don't remember playing baseball. All I know is that there's a ball, a bat, a glove, and a lot of running."
Alexa moved closer to the microphone and raised his voice. "Before we begin, I would like to show the audience AND the survivors the order that they'll be batting in! Allow me to also remind you that after every survivor has had a turn batting, the rotation will repeat for a second time!"
The screen recording Alexa then flickered and changed entirely, now showing the survivors' names in a vertical list:
1 - Engineer
2 - Kirby
3 - Little Mac
4 - Luigi
5 - Meta Knight
6 - Phoenix Wright
7 - Princess Peach
8 - ROB
9 - Samus Aran
"I'm not familiar with baseball, so being the last one to bat out of everyone else is a good advantage." - Samus Aran.
"All right! Without further ado, let's get this challenge started! Engineer will be batting first, and the other eight survivors will be jumbled into their positions. All will be shown on the big screen very shortly!" He announced, mainly talking to the audience, now cheering as loudly as ever.
ROUND 1A
BATTING: Engineer.
FIELDING: Luigi (Pitcher) - Samus Aran (Catcher) - Phoenix Wright (First Base) - ROB (Second Base) - Princess Peach (Third Base) - Meta Knight (Left Field) - Little Mac (Center Field) - Kirby (Right Field).
After a few minutes of sorting out the equipment, Engineer held the baseball bat high in the air and observed it. "If Scout can whack a dent in someone's skull with this thing, then I can hit a ball," he muttered to himself.
As he entered the batting area, Luigi clutched the baseball in his hand. He wasn't much of a baseball person, and the rules had been greatly simplified or distorted by Alexa too, though at least he knew how to correctly pitch the ball.
Behind Engineer was Samus, eager to catch the ball. She didn't have much faith that Engineer would manage to hit the ball, though she didn't have an idea of how well his ability was.
After a few seconds of waiting, the plumber eventually hurled the ball, causing it to travel in a near-perfect line towards Dell.
The angle was slightly off-putting, but nevertheless, Engineer swung his bat...
*WHACK!*
It wasn't a perfect collision, but the ball went flying over Luigi and between ROB and Little Mac, and he immediately began his sprint to the first base. ROB chose not to pursue the ball, and to instead stay by his base, causing Little Mac to dash towards the ball and scrape it from the ground. He took aim toward Phoenix in first base, but decided to change his target to ROB at the last second.
As he tossed it high into the air, Engineer dashed past the first base.
"ENGINEER EARNS ONE POINT THUS FAR!" Yelled Alexa, his excitement amplified through the speakers.
Just barely, ROB managed to twist his arms and catch the ball, now blocking Engineer from advancing to second base.
As the Texan ran up, he accepted defeat as ROB tagged his base with the ball.
"With only one point, Engineer is tagged out!"
"Note to self: don't hit the ball towards Little Mac," he commented.
As he walked back, the positions were quickly jumbled up as the next batter prepared themselves.
ROUND 1B
BATTING: Kirby.
FIELDING: Phoenix Wright (Pitcher) - ROB (Catcher) - Little Mac (First Base) - Princess Peach (Second Base) - Meta Knight (Third Base) - Engineer (Left Field) - Luigi (Center Field) - Samus Aran (Right Field).
"Here's hoping he doesn't eat the bat," thought Phoenix, readying his ball. "I hope I throw this thing well. He didn't explain it, but I imagine Alexa isn't going to let me get away with a terrible throw."
ROB stood close behind Kirby, half-observing him and half-observing Phoenix.
Once the lawyer was ready, he threw the ball as hard as he could, and although it wasn't a great throw, it still made it to Kirby and qualified as one.
Despite a Home Run being equivalent to scoring one base in this version of baseball, Kirby still had the advice of "hit the ball as far as you can" in his head, and, as the ball came close to his bat...
...He missed, though the terrible angle it was thrown at made it so ROB couldn't reach it either.
"Luckily for Kirby, that doesn't count as a strike!"
Phoenix gulped, feeling ashamed over the throw. He knew that this next one would have to make up for his poor throw.
As he readied himself once more, he threw the ball. It still wasn't perfect, but it was a significant improvement.
Upon nearing Kirby...
*WHACK!*
With a jaw-droppingly powerful swing, the ball was sent flying miles and miles out of the arena.
"HOME RUN! Unfortunately, Home Runs don't score you much, and so Kirby earns only one point alongside Engineer!" Said Alexa, resulting in a frown from Kirby.
As Kirby re-entered the field, Little Mac walked out and onto the batting area.
ROUND 1C
BATTING: Little Mac.
FIELDING: Luigi (Pitcher) - Meta Knight (Catcher) - Samus Aran (First Base) - Princess Peach (Second Base) - ROB (Third Base) - Phoenix Wright (Left Field) - Kirby (Center Field) - Engineer (Right Field).
Once again, Luigi was in charge of throwing the ball to the batter, this time Little Mac.
The boxer gazed behind him to see Meta Knight and scoffed. "Tsk, I'll show you how competent I am..."
He got into batting position, and Luigi immediately threw the ball at him.
*WHACK!*
With all of his body-strength, he carelessly sent the ball flying towards the crowd. As he began worrying, he simultaneously began panicking. If that ball landed in the crowd, then it would be game-over for his chance of scoring the five points.
Fortunately for Mac, the ball BARELY missed the crowd, hitting the wall and landing at the very edge of center field, resulting in Kirby, Phoenix, and Engineer all gunning to it at once.
Halfway through their sprint, Little Mac had already passed the first base and second base, scoring himself two points.
"Things are looking good for Mac!" Yelled Alexa.
By the time they reached the ball, Little Mac reached the third base and was now sprinting back to the home base. The three of them knew it was useless trying to get the ball back, and they accepted their loss as Little Mac made it back.
"YEAH!" He cheered, throwing his hands into the air and drinking in the crowd's applause.
"LITTLE MAC EARNS FIVE POINTS!"
Still cheering, Little Mac slowly made his way back to the field, as the pitching Luigi now became the batter.
ROUND 1D
BATTING: Luigi.
FIELDING: Princess Peach (Pitcher) - Phoenix Wright (Catcher) - Little Mac (First Base) - Samus Aran (Second Base) - Kirby (Third Base) - Meta Knight (Left Field) - Engineer (Center Field) - ROB (Right Field).
Luigi held the bat, slightly quivering from the tension.
With a little wave, Peach grabbed the baseball from the ground and was ready to throw.
After five painfully long seconds of waiting for the moment of truth, she threw the ball...
...Luigi missed, and to make matters worse, Phoenix managed to catch the ball with the glove he was given.
"Strike one!" Yelled Alexa.
For a second attempt, Luigi recollected himself and waited for the ball.
As Peach threw it again...
...Luigi missed yet again, and Phoenix caught it, resulting in a "STRIKE TWO!" from Alexa. Things weren't looking good for him in the slightest, but once more did he try to prepare himself for the ball.
For the possibly final time, Peach lobbed the ball...
*Whack!*
It wasn't a powerful hit, but it was sent gliding towards the princess. She attempted to catch it before it hit the ground, though failed.
As Luigi neared the first base, she threw the ball towards Little Mac, still half-amused from his previous performance. Due to him being distracted, he only noticed the ball as it struck his thigh. He spun around to grab it, but accidentally kicked it away. "GAH!" He cried.
"C'mon kid..." Engineer covered his face with his eyes. "Wake up a lil'."
Eventually, Little Mac grabbed the ball and hurled it to Samus. Although the throw was good, Luigi had already passed the second base and was quite close to making it to the third. In a last-ditch effort to prevent him from reaching third base, she threw the ball towards Kirby.
As it came hurling towards the puffball, he jumped up as high as he could and caught the ball, tagging the third base right before Luigi could reach it.
"Ouch! Luigi earns two points!"
Luigi caught his breath as he joined the others in the field.
ROUND 1E
BATTING: Meta Knight.
FIELDING: Engineer (Pitcher) - Kirby (Catcher) - Luigi (First Base) - Little Mac (Second Base) - ROB (Third Base) - Princess Peach (Left Field) - Samus Aran (Center Field) - Phoenix Wright (Right Field).
With a firm grip, Meta Knight held the bat with only one hand, said hand being his right. Engineer stared at him with bemusement. "Ain't that thing for both hands?" He asked himself. "Not like it matters, it'll just make things easier for everyone but him."
After a deep breath, the warrior glared at Engineer, the eye-contact was enough to tell him that he was ready to try and hit the ball.
Engineer lobbed it his way...
*WHACK!*
A powerful swing, slightly less distance than Little Mac made, but at a blinding speed nonetheless.
He made no haste in seeing his results; Meta Knight opened his wings and began soaring to the first base, proudly yet momentarily landing on it before taking off again to fly over to the second base.
Meanwhile, Samus and Phoenix scrambled to the ball, Peach not intervening due to it being too far away from her. Half-way through the sprint, Phoenix stopped running and decided to let Samus fetch the ball. Her competence was unrivaled, and she was much faster to get to the ball than Phoenix anyway.
As she grabbed it, Meta Knight landed on the second base and took off yet again, now flying to the third base.
With a powerful throw, Samus threw the ball to Little Mac, hoping he'd throw it to Kirby to block out the home base and prevent Meta Knight from securing five points.
Though the throw was aforementioned to be powerful, it still wasn't enough to simply land in Mac's arms. Instead, it landed five meters in front of him, and he sprinted over and nabbed the ball from the astroturf, eyeing Kirby who was luckily paying attention.
Meta Knight attempted to fly back to home base after touching the third but quickly noticed that Kirby had the ball in his stubby hands. And, with a gentle pat on the base, Meta Knight was out.
"Three points to Meta Knight!"
"Not a bad score," he remarked, returning to the field.
ROUND 1F
BATTING: Phoenix Wright.
FIELDING: ROB (Pitcher) - Engineer (Catcher) - Princess Peach (First Base) - Luigi (Second Base) - Samus Aran (Third Base) - Little Mac (Left Field) - Phoenix Wright (Center Field) - Meta Knight (Right Field).
"Two hands..." He said to himself, holding it tight as he waited for ROB to throw the ball. "At least I can rely on ROB to throw the ball properly. He's the closest to a batting machine I'll get!
Before he was fully prepared, the ball was sent flying his way, causing Phoenix to blindly swing out of instinct...
...And of course, that resulted in a miss, with Engineer catching the ball.
"Strike one!" Alexa declared.
Phoenix gave a nervous sigh as he got into position, now he was one-hundred percent prepared for any ball that would come his way.
As ROB went in for the second pitch...
*Whack!*
The ball was sent upwards, slightly drifting forward and over ROB as Phoenix began running.
Unfortunately, his chance to rack up points lasted no more than a few seconds, as ROB caught the ball as it came falling towards him.
"ROB CAUGHT THE BALL! PHOENIX IS OUT WITH ZERO POINTS!" Bellowed Alexa.
"No hard feelings," the robot apologized.
Phoenix sighed, returning to the field with an annoyed frown plastered on his face.
ROUND 1G
BATTING: Princess Peach.
FIELDING: Samus Aran (Pitcher) - Little Mac (Catcher) - Meta Knight (First Base) - Phoenix Wright (Second Base) - Engineer (Third Base) - Kirby (Left Field) - ROB (Center Field) - Luigi (Right Field).
Peach confidently grabbed her bat and immediately began waiting for the ball, her eyes locked on Samus, specifically the ball in her hand.
Eventually, after enough tension, Samus threw the ball...
"HYAAA!"
*WHACK!*
With a hearty strike to the ball, Peach was sent sprinting to the first base as the ball flew right past Samus and Phoenix, zooming towards the edge of the arena as ROB glided towards it, Phoenix standing still and hoping to receive the ball from him once he retrieves it.
By the time ROB made it to the ball, Peach was well on her way to the second base, slowly picking up more and more speed.
ROB calculated the best trajectory to get the ball to Engineer, completely blocking everyone else out of the equation. And, with a powerful wind-up, he flicked his stiff arms and sent the ball on its way.
Luckily for him, the results were on par with his calculations... however, Engineer failed to catch it, and it was sent tumbling away from him as he began chasing it.
Upon picking up the ball, he quickly twisted his head to behind him and caught Peach passing the third base, now running to the home base.
"Aw hell," he panicked, quickly throwing the ball to Little Mac.
Though the throw had good power in it, the angle was unintentionally a lot lower than Dell had anticipated, resulting in it rolling beside Peach, slowly losing speed as she eventually passed it.
Little Mac dived away from home base and ran past Peach, scraping the ball into his hands and running back in an attempt to tag Peach out at the last minute.
It was incredibly close, and as Peach made it to the home base...
...She was tagged, albeit JUST after she touched it with the end of her foot.
"PEACH BARELY WINS THE FIVE POINTS!"
The crowd roared and whistled for the princess, this time much louder than it had for every other performance, including the also-victorious Little Mac.
"There's some clear bias in this crowd," thought Little Mac, still kicking himself over his performance.
ROUND 1H
BATTING: ROB.
FIELDING: Little Mac (Pitcher) - Phoenix Wright (Catcher) - Samus Aran (First Base) - Kirby (Second Base) - Princess Peach (Third Base) - Engineer (Left Field) - Meta Knight (Center Field) - Luigi (Right Field).
ROB scanned the field, primarily paying attention to the field area, where Engineer, Meta Knight, and Luigi lay.
He then attempted to find the most beneficial spot to send the ball and ended up choosing the edge of the left field. This location would hopefully give Engineer the responsibility of fetching it instead of the much swifter Meta Knight.
With his angle and power fine-tuned to hit the ball into that exact area, Little Mac leaned forward and threw the ball...
*WHACK!*
The bat collided with the ball and sent it flying overhead the fielders. To ROB's satisfaction, the ball landed where he wanted it to. Although, despite the outcome being the desired one for ROB, both Engineer and - to his surprise - Meta Knight, began gunning it towards the baseball. Engineer started out much closer, but even at his fastest, he swiftly lost his lead to Meta Knight.
Whilst this was going on, ROB used all of his fuel to boost past the first and second base. The strategy of using the bulk of his fuel on those specific checkpoints soon proved itself to be a useful one, as the number of fielders the warrior could throw his claimed ball toward was much more limited, which made up for the slower speed that the robot was forced to travel at for the third and home base.
As Meta Knight threw the ball toward Engineer, who had since returned to his starting point in Left Field, he glared over to ROB and accepted that he would pass the third checkpoint, though he was determined to make sure that he wouldn't claim the five points. He wanted as little competition as possible for immunity, and ROB winning five points alongside Peach and Little Mac would squander that goal.
This time, Engineer caught the ball straight out of the air, took an extra cautious second to angle his shot, and lobbed the ball to Peach. Once the ball entered the air, ROB had passed the third checkpoint and was now making a break for home base.
While she just barely managed to catch the ball from Engineer, the poor handling on it cost her a valuable second, which only had ROB come closer and closer to the home base.
"Phoenix!" She yelled, hurling the ball his way.
It was all down to him, the supposed weakest link. Though this catch wouldn't prove much, Phoenix wanted to prove his physical ability somewhat, and so he immediately got into a posture fit for grabbing. Alas, a problem immediately came into mind as he got ready to catch.
The ball was far too high up for him to catch.
With some quick thinking, Phoenix crouched down and sprung himself into the air. He may not be experienced in many sports, but at least he was fit enough to jump high enough to reach and, against all odds, grab the ball. Not even he could believe the feat, but he wasted no time in tagging the base adjacent to him.
"Thanks to Phoenix's great catch, ROB misses out on five points! Nonetheless... three is a great start!"
ROB gave a positive beep as he drifted back to the field, awaiting the final round before the end of the first rotation.
ROUND 1I
BATTING: Samus Aran.
FIELDING: Kirby (Pitcher) - Princess Peach (Catcher) - Phoenix Wright (First Base) - Luigi (Second Base) - Little Mac (Third Base) - ROB (Left Field) - Engineer (Center Field) - Meta Knight (Right Field).
Samus grabbed the baseball bat. She had never heard of the sport before, but by observing everyone else's handling on the bats, she managed to get a good grip on the item. She used both arms and aimed to get it at the center, which would give her the most time to hit all three bases and return.
She then snapped out of the thoughts of her strategy to see Kirby standing there, waving to see if she was ready. "Poyooo!"
With a gentle nod, she improved her stance and waited, unsure of how well Kirby could throw.
After a long twenty seconds of waiting, Kirby reeled himself back and then threw the ball. The ordeal resulted in him losing balance and tumbling onto his face.
*Whack!*
Though she would normally be prepared for any throw from anyone, Kirby's particular fastball resulted in her hitting it at a poor angle, causing it to bounce off with minimal power. If Kirby had been standing up, he would have caught the ball and counted her out, but due to his aforementioned trip, it simply bounced off of him and landed beside him.
Kirby then shuffled to his feet, looked around, and noticed the ball. By now, Samus was almost to the first base, but just to be safe, Kirby decided to throw the ball to Luigi instead of Phoenix, which allowed more room for error.
As Samus passed the first base, Luigi caught the ball and gently tapped it. "Sorry..." He apologized, aware of how much her screw-up cost her.
"Samus earns only one point. Tough luck!"
HALF-WAY POINT
"Well survivors, you are halfway through the challenge!" Announced Alexa, his optimistic voice booming through the speakers. "So, before we get into the second rotation, let's have a quick little peep at the leaderboards! Oh, and allow me to also remind you that the top five will receive immunity! Meanwhile, the person who receives first place receives... nothing but bragging rights!"
The screen showing Alexa then flickered to a leaderboard. It displayed all nine survivors and their scores:
Little Mac: 5
Princess Peach: 5
Meta Knight: 3
ROB: 3
Luigi: 2
Engineer: 1
Kirby: 1
Samus Aran: 1
Phoenix Wright: 0
"Well, it looks like Engineer, Kirby, Samus, and Phoenix need to step up their game! If they keep their positions, then they'll be up for elimination," explained Alexa. "Let's hope they perform better now that they've warmed up to the basics of Baseball! Now, without further ado, let's repeat the rotation once more, starting with Engineer's second shot!"
*TO BE CONTINUED*