Episode 2: The Sweeper
"Welcome back to Wipeout, where we're just about ready to start round two of our competition." SSBFreak said. "The qualifying round made quick work of half of our twenty-four contestants, leaving us with the top twelve."
"As a reminder, here's a look at who made it past the qualifying round." Tinyrocket said. "We have F-Zero pilot Antonio Gustor, weapons expert Ratchet, rocker girl Sarah Nade, our pair of spunky teenagers Tiny Kong and Jasmine, love-struck fanboy Sie Kensou, mercenary Wolf O'Donnell, ladies' man Larry Butz, doctor Otto Scratchnsniff, feisty redhead Ashelin, wise-cracking Bubsy Bobcat and Jack pilot Launchpad McQuack."
"Uh…Jack pilot?"
"Well, I sure wouldn't call him and Ace pilot."
"…Anyway, we still need to keep the competition going, so we need to get rid of six more people before we can advance." SSBFreak explained. "That's where this comes in…"
Twelve podiums in a half circle were seen over a pool of water. A sweeping arm attached to a large machine in the middle was sweeping over the podiums.
"…Enter The Sweeper."
"Contestants will be standing on these ten-foot high pedestals, trying to jump over the sweeper arms as it rotates around in a sweeping motion, getting higher and faster with each complete rotation." Tinyrocket explained. "To survive here, all the contestants need to do is jump over the Sweeper arm which is easier said than done."
"But that goes without saying. The first six people to fall will be out of the competition, but that doesn't mean the games are over."
"The Sweeper will keep taking out contestants until only one is left standing. That person will win a thousand-dollar bonus, which I'm sure everyone will be looking to get."
"Looks like things are about ready to start, so let's go down to the action."
The camera panned around the pool, showing the twelve contestants standing on their pedestals as the Sweeper arm silently hung out in the wide gap between the first and last podiums. Everyone was now wearing helmets in addition to the life vest they all wore in the Preliminaries.
"Hey, grandpa! Careful you don't hurt yourself!" Jasmine taunted Dr. Scratchnsniff.
"Don't vorry about me, keed. I can hold my own." Scratchnsniff retorted. "You should be more vorried about da arm vhen it comes around to heet you."
"If we can stay standing long enough for the arm to come around." Kensou noted. "These pedestals are pretty wobbly."
"If you guys are through with your talking, the arm is moving." Wolf pointed out.
Everyone suddenly noticed that the arm had indeed started rotating, moving towards where the first contestant, Ashelin, was standing.
"And Round Two is underway once again!"
"Ashelin's up first. Jumping this should be a walk in the park for her."
Ashelin proved the hosts right by leaping over the arm and landing back on her podium after it had passed. The arm continued rotating towards the other contestants. Jasmine, Larry, Bubsy, Wolf, Tiny, Kensou, Launchpad, Antonio, Scratchnsniff, Sarah and Ratchet jumped over the arm (in order), meaning that everyone had managed to survive one full rotation of the arm.
"Oh! Grandpa's got more in him than he let on!" Tiny laughed as she watched Scratchnsniff leap over the arm.
"It's only going to get worse." Larry piped up.
"How the heck am I supposed to leap over the bar at full height?" Bubsy asked as the bar came around for a second run.
"Everyone's survived one full rotation, so that shows us that no one's giving up without a fight." SSBFreak said.
"Good, because that's exactly what we like to hear." Tinyrocket said. "With each rotation, that bar's going to get higher."
"Ratchet and Bubsy are at a disadvantage here because they're by far the shortest players left."
"Plus there's the fact that Scratchnsniff is an old man and may not be able to jump as high for long."
The arm came around again. Ashelin jumped over the arm again, but when Jasmine did, she landed on her podium awkwardly. She nearly fell into the water and had to sway her balance backwards to keep herself from falling in. She quickly regained her footing as the bar continued to move.
"Oh! Look at that! Jasmine almost goes!"
"She manages to regain her balance, though."
Ratchet waited for the arm to come over to him and he jumped over it. He looked at the arm and saw that it lifted a little bit as it travelled around to Ashelin again. "It's getting higher, guys!" He called out.
"Thanks for calling that out, Captain Obvious." Ashelin retorted as she jumped over the arm again. The other contestants behind her jumped over the bar as well.
"Everyone's managing to hold on pretty well."
"Give it time. People are bound to tire out pretty quickly in something like this."
"Well, looking at some of the contestants, they seem to be still alert and willing to give it all they've got. It could take someone a bit just to tire out."
"Then we'll just have to wait for the Sweeper to hit someone."
The arm came around to Scratchnsniff again. The aging doctor leapt over the bar, but the arm clipped his feet. Scratchnsniff managed to grab hold of his podium and pulled himself up.
"Man, that was close! Scratchnsniff was close to falling in for a moment!"
"He's lucky he's got good grip or else he'd be out of the competition."
"All twelve contestants are still in the running. I think we may be here a while."
The twelve contestants continued to jump over the bar as it rotated around, some almost falling at times but managing to pull themselves up. The bar, now higher than ever, came around again for another go. Ashelin jumped over the bar, followed by Jasmine and Larry, but when Bubsy tried to jump, the bar hit him in his knees, sending him end over end into the water.
"Oh! We have our first Sweeper casualty! Bubsy's down!"
"Looks like Bubsy's short height caught up to him. Does this mean Ratchet's next?"
The arm continued to go around and everyone continued to jump over it. Ratchet was last, and when he jumped, he managed to clear it and land safely back on his podium.
"Maybe not! Ratchet sticks the landing!"
"So we have one down. Five more need to go before we have out final six!"
The arm came around again and Ashelin prepared to jump over it. However, the arm was moving too fast by now and she got hit with the arm, knocking her clear off her podium and sending her straight into Jasmine's podium before falling into the water.
"Wait. What just happened there?"
"I don't know, but it looks like Ashelin's out! That means that there are ten people left!"
As Launchpad and Antonio jumped over the fast-moving arm with no problem, Scratchnsniff was tripped up again, faceplanting into his podium. The doctor quickly grabbed hold of his platform and kept himself from falling over.
"Amazing! Scratchnsniff holds on again! He must be made of tough stuff!"
"He'd have to be. He deals with the Warners, after all."
Sarah jumped over the arm again, but when Ratchet tried, he found that his short height had finally worked against him and he was unable to clear the arm as he knocked him into the water.
"There goes Ratchet! That's three down!"
"Okay! That's another one down!" Larry said. "Who's next?"
"Most likely you now that you'd said it." Wolf taunted from two podiums away.
"Aw, crap."
The arm came around again as the nine remaining contestants continued to jump over the bar. The remaining group made it around another couple of times, although some of the people looked like they were starting to tire out.
"Come on! Three people need to fall!" Jasmine called out.
"Look someone else, kid." Antonio shot back as he leapt over the arm.
"I ain't falling. This is way too fun!" Sarah laughed.
The Sweeper continued to move as it completed another round and came around again. Jasmine, Larry and Wolf al managed to jump over the arm, but Tiny got tripped up when she tried to jump it. Tiny grabbed hold of her podium and held on, dangling above the water. Kensou, in the meantime, was hit with the arm and knocked in without anything to hold onto.
"Whoa! Look at Tiny! She's barely hanging on!"
"She needs to get back on her platform and jump over the Sweeper when it comes around next or she'll be out!"
"But Kensou wasn't as lucky and he got sent into the water! That makes four!"
The others continued to jump as Tiny hung precariously over the water. The teenage Kong tried to pull herself up onto her podium again, but it was to no avail. The Sweeper arm passed over her podium while she was still hanging, meaning that she was out. Tiny simply let go and dropped into the water.
"Oh! Tough luck, Tiny. She was just unable to hold on and now she's out of the running."
"Now we just need one more person to fall before we-"
Suddenly, Antonio was struck in the knees just after Launchpad leapt over the arm again. Antonio flipped end over end as he was sent falling into the water.
"Uh…What just happened?"
"Antonio got nailed while you were talking, that's what! He's out, and that makes six!"
Larry did a quick head count, making sure to count himself. "One, two, three, four, five, six!" He said quickly before cheering wildly. The other five finalists also cheered when they saw that they were in the top six.
"We have our advancing six, but that doesn't mean its over. We still have that bonus to worry about."
The camera alternated between shots of Jasmine, Wolf, Sarah, Scratchnsniff, Larry and Launchpad, all of them looking tired as they watched the arm coming around again.
"Our last person standing will win that thousand dollars, so we need to see which five of our six finalists will fall first."
"The Sweeper Arm will now move at its highest and fastest level to see how fast it takes for everyone to fall."
The arm came around to start another run. Jasmine and Larry easily cleared the arm, as did Wolf. Launchpad leapt over the arm and Scratchnsniff stumbled when he landed on his platform, but managed to keep his footing. Sarah, finishing up the final six, easily cleared the arm. Coming around again, the final six started jumping it to stay in the game.
"Impressive. No one's fallen in and the arm's been at its maximum level for about two full rotations."
"Unfortunately, they're all just delaying the inevitable."
The arm continued to go around the half-circle. When it got to the tired Scratchnsniff, the aging doctor made a futile attempt to leap over to arm, but was unable to make it and was clobbered in the stomach. Scratchnsniff fell straight into the water, flat on his back.
"And that's our first casualty of the final six. Dr. Scratchnsniff is down!"
"Still, you have to admire him to sticking around this long."
"Regardless, with the loss of one, we now have five people left and they're still jumping."
The five remaining players leaped over the bar as it came around again, managing to complete another full rotation. One the next rotation, Jasmine jumped, but did it too early and clipped her legs on the bar. As the redhead tomboy fell headlong into the water, Larry took a blow to the chest and was forced off his platform as well.
"Oh! Look at that! Jasmine and Larry are both down!"
"We're down to three people: Mercenary Wolf O'Donnell, rocker girl Sarah Nade and pilot Launchpad McQuack."
"Last woman standing!" Sarah cheered.
"Unexpected, but it doesn't matter." Wolf retorted.
Launchpad saw the arm coming around to him after Wolf jumped over it. The pilot took a blow to the head and was knocked off his platform, landing clumsily in the water.
"Launchpad goes down hard! That leaves us with two!"
"Which of these two fierce competitors will win? Athletic Wolf or energetic Sarah?"
"Let's find out."
"Face it. I outclass you in every physical aspect." Wolf informed. "I can do this all day."
"You ain't the only one, buddy." Sarah said with a grin just after leaping over the bar. "You'd be surprised at the amount of exercise I get."
"We'll just see about that."
The two remaining players leapt over the arm again, and again when it came around another time. The two continued to leap over the arm as it went around them, continuing to stay in the game.
"Come on! Fall!" Sarah shouted.
"No way!" Wolf shot back as he leapt over the bar.
Sarah grunted as she leapt over the bar again. "Just fall and have done with it, man!" She said.
"If you think I'm going down just like that, then you're highly mistaken!"
The arm came around again and Wolf jumped, but the bar was moving too fast and his timing was off. The bar slammed into Wolf's knees, sending the mercenary flailing down into the water below.
"And that's it! Round Two is over and we have a winner of our thousand-dollar bonus: Sarah Nade!" SSBFreak announced.
Sarah whooped as the arm came around again. Sarah quickly backflipped off her platform and into the water before the arm swept her off.
"And with that, another round finishes. Let's take a look at our leaderboard to see who's still in…"
First – Sarah Nade
Second – Wolf O'Donnell
Third – Launchpad McQuack
Fourth – Larry Butz
Fifth – Jasmine
Sixth – Otto Scratchnsniff
(Out)
Seventh – Antonio Guster
Eighth – Tiny Kong
Ninth – Sie Kensou
Tenth – Ratchet
Eleventh – Ashelin
Twelfth – Bubsy Bobcat
"Six contestants remain, but only four can advance to the Wipeout Zone." SSBFreak explained. "This means that we have to cut the field down even more."
"So, to help us with this daunting task, we have enlisted the help of our Round Three obstacle."
The camera showed a long conveyor belt in the middle of a clearing, with three foam barricades hanging along the way from one side to the other.
"This is going to be good…"