"Charades."

Reed & Impy were standing atop a plateau, probably somewhere near the Grand Canyon. With the Grandmaster observing from his stone seat, the two got busily engaged in crafting their bodies into shapes for their judge to identify. The contestant to form the most shapes would be the eventual victor.

"The Atlantean game of Sea Dragon Racing."

Ozai & Attuma were by the Atlantean palace gates. A pair of previously prepared sea dragons was on standby near them. The magnificent but intimidating creatures hissed a welcome greeting to each of them, & they grabbed the reins to mount them.

"An Atlantean game!" laughed Attuma to satisfy his pride. "My skill lies in this art, Leopard X. More than you'll ever know." Ozai just kept his mouth shut to concentrate on the race path laid ahead with bright corals. He'd done horses before, not the mythological realities of sea dragons. Thankfully, his new armour was more lightweight, not to mention waterproof as long as it was intact.

A deep-sounding horn was blown to mark the start of the competition. Attuma's dragon could be easily steered, weaving about the underwater currents with fluidity. Leopard X kicked backward & inward at the dragon's body to push it on. The ride was getting pretty choppy; should the dragon fail to contain its temper, he might lag behind at too slow a rate to deserve a winning chance. The competitors raced through dim tunnels, sparkling blue city pathways & dunes along the seabed - following the striking coral tracks.

To Attuma's infinite surprise, Leopard X's tail was the additional 'limb' required to speed the sea creature up. With a powerful tail flick delivered to the dragon's right shoulder, the animal was alarmed to pick up the pace. Soon it overtook the other dragon & crossed the finish line in first place. Ozai heard Attuma's moans & groans expressing misfortune as they were conveyed back to the game board.

"A Poppupian game: Hide & Seek."

Sue was on the verge of being deadened by the incessant greetings of the Impy 'clones' around her.

"Nice to meet ya!"

"Can I help ya?"

"You're cute!"

Diablo HAD to be the seeker, & her minutes were of suspense & vexation, even a feeling of inferiority. The nutty alchemist would be patrolling every corner of the place with his magic acts up his sleeves.

She looked in the wrong direction, just as something rocky knocked her to the ground. Diablo cackled sharply; she saw that he was cupping the green Potion of Earth in one hand.

"An insectoid game: herding."

Azula had hands on her hips, "Come again?"

"The goal of this sport is to trap together as many grubs as possible, with creative, full use of the contestants' abilities."

She found it comical, "Herding bugs. In place of a sheepdog, that makes me a bug-" A ghastly sight held her gaze. Ronan & her mentally scanned the rocky Negative Zone terrain, where swarms of unattractive creepy crawlies were coming their way.

"An Earth game: scooter racing."

Ben was up against Super Skrull, equaling pure fun & games of punching, ramming & the adrenaline of a race. Besides, this wasn't an everyday attraction for the Central Park visitors too.

Along the straight path, the two tussled by shoving each other aside with their super strength. Super Skrull initially had the upper hand with Ben hot on his tail. But he wasn't master enough of himself to sense danger from behind…before he knew it, a giant uprooted tree landed on top of him. That erased the smug look off his face & replaced it with a hardened expression.

"Booyah!" cheered Ben, crossing into the portal at the end of the trail.

"Oh, come on! A Spelling Bee? That's a Skrull game?" Johnny rubbed his chin.

"The Skrulls are excellent spellers," Grandmaster cheerfully said, "Annihilus…you're word is 'gregarious'."

"Can you use that word in a sentence?" shrieked Annihilus.

"No."

Although infuriated, he proceeded, "G-R-E-G-"

Johnny pretended to be oblivious, then struck his opponent's behind with a fireball! The miracle? Grandmaster hadn't seen that happen.

"-aaaaaaaaaaa!" Annihilus howled.

"Incorrect."

"I see the little grubs take a liking to your fiery attacks," Ronan was guffawing away. In the Negative Zone, Azula's trust in her powers was unhappily deceived. Chewing at her suit were those little insectoids, who didn't mind the intense blue heat she radiated. Ronan next wanted to boast about the Kree Empire's scientific wonders.

"That's…not…the…POINT!" she snapped, who pelted the grubs with an explosive blast. The Accuser paid her no attention; he waved his weapon to generate a thick, fluid-like beam to encase most of the bugs. The rest of the critters were overwhelming her in a short period.

"I…I don't know…You are eliminated!"

Impy cocked his head in curiosity, while Reed changed back to his original shape, "It's a metaphasic dimensional adjuster! Everyone knows that!" Truth be told, there were only so many who recognized that scientific term. There couldn't be some sort of retry.

Above the game board, Reed, Sue, Azula, Attuma, Annihilus & Super Skrull found themselves suspended in mid-air stasis fields. The other six contestants reappeared below them.

Johnny was startled as he looked upwards, "What the? Sis, Zed? FLAME ON!" He dashed to free his three teammates, only an electric beam from Grandmaster's gem froze him painfully in place.

"Your teammates have been eliminated, Human Torch. They belong to the Grandmaster now, for all eternity."

"WHAT? I don't think so, pal. This game's over!" Ben charged forth. The same deadly beam travelled to meet him instead & stunned him dizzy.

"THE CONTEST WILL NOT BE INTERRUPTED."

"Shouldn't you be doing something, doc?" barked Johnny, lying helplessly.

Leopard X switched to Quad Mode, replying, "I'm sorry, Johnny. We need to play fair." Yet his insides felt tangled - that hardly happened.