"I'm bored."
"You can only do so much…"
"…until the majority of the prisoners are assimilated."
"Then it starts getting boring."
"Let us see what the Warden is up to."
"Anonymously, of course."
"Oh, dear."
"What is it?"
"I think I stepped on a gall bladder."
-X-
"Our second challenge will really test your skills!" Chris exclaimed as he led the remaining contestants to a strange, colorful obstacle course. "This challenge is called… Ichigo!"
After a short pause, Harold spoke up. "Uh… strawberry?"
"…Yeah… Alright, I couldn't get the rights to the names 'Sasuke' or 'Ninja Warrior'." After another short pause, Chris covered his mouth. "Oh, crap!"
"Um… challenge, Chris?"
"Oh! Right. If I'm getting sued anyway, I may as well get on with the show." He cleared his throat. "Now, here's what you need to do: first, ride this unicycle down the narrow platform and around the S-curve to the break zone, where you will get off the unicycle and hop across the broken bridge on one leg. Then, you climb the ladder, swing on the vine, and land on the trampoline, which you will attempt to bounce off of with enough force to reach the overhead net in front of you. Then, without touching the pond below, transverse to the final platform, go up the stairs and down the flagpole, and reach the castle to win. Any questions?"
Silence.
"Good. Zeke, you're up first."
Ezekiel surprised everyone with his ability to ride a unicycle across the narrow platform, but he wasn't able to get past the S-curve.
"Too bad, Zeke," Chris chirped. "Better luck next time, bro."
Duncan was up next, but he wasn't able to stay balanced long enough on the unicycle.
"Nice try, Duncan," Gwen said, trying to cheer him up.
The convict shrugged. "Yeah, but it doesn't matter. I know my Princess is not in that castle," he joked, gesturing toward the latter spots on the obstacle course.
Harold was next. To everyone's surprise, he made it all the way through.
"Alright, Harold!" Izzy shouted, high-fiving the nerdy man.
"Aw, that was nothing."
Gwen was next. Like Duncan, she couldn't keep her balance on the unicycle.
"Ooh! Nasty spill!" Chris announced.
"I'm alright," she said as she got up and brushed herself off.
Izzy went next. Unlike with Harold, no one was surprised when she won.
"Woo-hoo! Izzy's a survivor!"
Justin was next, and his "hotness" didn't help him this time, as he missed the net after bouncing off the trampoline.
"Ooh! Sorry, bro," Chris cringed. "Alright, Folsom, you're up."
The Warden looked over the obstacle course and smirked. "Pfft! Is that all? I can do this in my sleep!"
Izzy cheered. "Yeah! Do it! I wanna see that! I should've done it in my sleep, too!"
As promised, Cody made it past the unicycle and broken bridge segments with no problem at all. The ladder, the vine, everything looked easy when the Warden did it.
Cody reached the trampoline: the last real challenge.
He bounced off, and jumped towards the net.
Closer…
Closer…
Closer…
…
It was at that moment that Cody noticed a flash of light out of the corner of his eye.
Green light.
With that one small distraction, the Warden found himself missing the net and falling into the pond.
"Ooh! So close!" he heard Chris say.
"Cody!" Gwen shouted as she ran up to the pond. Cody stuck his head out of the water, and Gwen sighed with relief. "Oh, thank God! Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah…" he lied. Sure, physically he was fine (at least for the Warden's standards), but his eyes told another story – they were filled with concern. He knew that light – he had seen it many times before. But when he looked in the direction of the light, nothing was there.
But he could feel it…
He could feel their presence.
They were here…
-X-
"Alright, Harold and Izzy!" Chris grinned evilly. "We're down to one final challenge: it's Sumo Time!"
"Woo-hoo!" Izzy cheered. "You're going down, hot shot!"
"You wish!"
Gwen chuckled at the sight of the two finalists' taunting and turned to Cody. Her good mood disappeared when she saw his worried expression. "Um… Are you alright?"
The Warden started wringing his gloved hands. "Oh, yeah… I'm fine." He gulped.
"Oh, relax, Cody," Gwen said. "I'm sure your fangirl will do fine."
"That's… not why I'm worried…"
The two contestants had put on large body suits and walked to the circle drawn in the sand. When they heard the bell ding, they started grappling. Both contenders were trying really hard to get their opponent out of the circle.
"Oh… Harold's screwed…" Gwen pointed out to Cody, who was still wringing his hands. "Uh… Cody? Are you sure you're alright?"
After a few seconds of silence from the two, the Warden slipped out of the gloves, which were still wringing by themselves in mid-air. He put a hand to Gwen's ear and whispered, "I'll tell you later. Just…don't get caught in any bloodbaths…"
This startled Gwen. "What?"
"Just… be on your guard, okay?"
Gwen was still shocked, but she nodded. "Okay."
It was around here that Izzy's short attention span kicked in. She had noticed Cody's worried expression and became worried herself. Distracted by this, she was easily shoved out of the circle by Harold.
Chris's eyes widened. "He… he won?" Groaning, he gave five bucks to Chef.
"Here is your winner: Harold!" Chef congratulated as he held up Harold's arm in victory.
-X-
At the Dock of Shame, the nerdy man awaited the Pretty Exciting Nautical Utility Ship.
Chris stood next to him. "Alright, Harold, you can now take three other people to ride on the P.E.N. – I mean, Pretty Exciting… blah, blah, blah."
"Are you sure four people can ride on that? It's pretty small."
"It's not the size, Harold. It's how you use it."
"…What does that have to do with capacity?"
"I have no idea."
"Maybe I should just pick the campers now."
"Yeah, that'd be great."
"Um…" He thought for a moment. "I think I'll take Leshawna… so we can catch up on some things, you know? I haven't seen her much in the last couple years."
Leshawna smiled and wrapped her arms around the scrawny man. "You're so sweet."
Harold blushed and continued, "Noah looks like he could use a vacation. I'll take him."
"Thanks," Noah said as he walked up to the couple. For the first time since the reunion started, the know-it-all was smiling.
"…And finally… since she was a very worthy opponent…"
Noah's smile dropped. "Oh, no…"
"…Izzy."
"Whoo!" the redhead shouted, cartwheeling toward the other three on the dock. "I get to ride the P.E.N. –"
"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Noah yelled dramatically.
-X-
As the boat left the dock, several campers started to leave. Cody, however, was still sitting on the edge of the dock.
Gwen noticed and sat by him. "So…how are things?"
The Warden sighed. "Gwen… something's wrong. Something bad is about to happen, I know it." He could only imagine how weird this looked to Gwen – it even seemed weird to him. Normally, he didn't really have a problem with them, but he didn't want them to be anywhere near the people he actually cared about… especially her.
Gwen became confused again. "What do you mean?"
Cody gulped. "I… I saw this… this light – a flash of light, to be precise. I turned to look, but I saw nothing. But that doesn't mean anything – for all we know, they're watching us as we speak!"
"…Uh… This is reality TV. Of course, we're being watched."
"No… I mean… someone – er – 'sometwo' I know… they're here… I can feel their presence…"
Now Gwen was really starting to get weirded out. "Who?"
The Warden took a deep breath before uttering two simple words:
"The Twins…"
-X-
It looks like the Warden has every reason to be worried, huh?
…
Well, so does Noah, but at least that scenario is funny…
I don't know about you, but I think "Dancing Mad 4" from Final Fantasy VI would be perfect for the ending of this chapter. When he mentions feeling their presence, that eerie second species counterpoint (if I'm not mistaken – maybe it's not counterpoint at all, but it sounds like it to me) kicks in, and when the Warden mentions the Twins, it cues the ever so dramatic BAAA NAAAAAAAAAA! Eerie silence, then another BAAA NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
Okay, I'm done.