'Welcome to the 31st annual strongman's competition,' the announcer announced. 'Let's have a big hand for our competitors.'
The audience clapped as the competitors then smiled and waved to their audience.
'The first prize winner will win to a seven night stay in a hotel and get free front row tickets to a magic show of their choice!' the announcer then said.
"What about the championship belt?" One of the competitors asked.
'That and the championship belt, don't get your spandex in a twist...' the announcer sounded snarky about that.
The announcer could see that everyone was waiting to hear what the competition was going to consist of.
'We'll start with simple basics such as weight-lifting, and then we'll have an anvil throwing competition, and we'll end with a tug-of-war, and if there are two still standing in the very end, we'll have an arm-wrestling match to finish it all.' the announcer then announced.
This interested the competitors very much.
'First up: Numbuh 1: Olympia von Tassel.' the announcer announced.
There came a strong European woman who lifted a 50 pound dumbbell. This got the audience clapping.
"Not bad..." Atlas said. "For a woman."
Olympia threw down the dumbbell and glared to him. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
"I mean that was good." Atlas said, trying to be nice.
"Hmm..." Olympia gave him a look.
"Our next competitor, number 2: Brutus Thurman." the announcer then called.
A muscular man came up next and lifted up a 60 pound dumbbell.
"Amateurs..." Atticus and Atlas smirked.
Throughout the first round, most of the men and women that competed weren't that big deal for Atticus or Atlas.
"Competitor number 9: Atlas." the announcer announced.
"That's me, buddy, see ya." Atlas smiled to Atticus and went off to take his turn.
"So how many pounds are you going to be doing?" The announcer asked the strong man.
"Hmm... How about one ton?" Atlas smirked.
The crowd gasped at that in shock and surprise.
"A-Are you sure?" The announcer asked.
"Positive, bring it on!" Atlas insisted.
"All right, bring on the ton load!" the announcer then called out to the helping hands.
And where the helping hands started to grunt as they started to bring in a load of dumbbells that felt as heavy as each ton each one was.
"Here you are, sir." the announcer told Atlas.
"Piece of cake." Atlas cracked his knuckles and then lifted the one ton dumbbell simply which wowed and amazed the crowd.
"Whoa! That is going to be tough to beat!" The announcer smiled.
Atlas walked over to Atticus. "Don't worry, kid, I warmed 'em up for ya."
"You were great!" Atticus marveled.
"Thanks, do you think Connie was amazed?" Atlas asked.
Atticus smirked playfully. "I'm sure she was blown away."
Atlas smiled, then blushed as he heard giggling and looked over to Connie.
"That was amazing." Connie smiled to him.
"Uh, no problem." Atlas blushed to her.
"Competitor number 10: Atticus!" The Announcer announced.
"That's me!" Atticus smiled and went over.
Mo stopped him and gave him a kiss on the cheek for luck. "Good luck, Atticus."
"Thanks, Mo." Atticus smiled before going up to the tons dumbbells.
Mo smiled back and went back to the others.
"So how much for you?" The Announcer asked.
"I'll go for about three tons." Atticus smirked.
The announcer's eyes widened as he turned to the audience. "This competition just got interesting."
Atticus soon went over to the three tons dumbbell and lifted it up with ease with just one hand and left it there with just one finger. The crowd was even more impressed with Atticus and even gave a standing ovation. Atticus soon let the dumbbell fall to the rest of the dumbbells.
'The ones going into the next competition are numbers one, five, nine, and ten, the rest of you are out!" the announcer called.
The ones that were out simply groaned and left while the ones that did make it through to the next round smiled.
"Another round of applause for our winners!" the announcer called.
The audience cheered for the ones going into the next round.
"We'll start the anvil throwing in fifteen minutes!" the announcer then said.
Atlas was happy about this since he had perfect enough time to stay in shape while spending time with Connie. Connie seemed to like Atlas a lot more than her own boyfriend Rocky.
"Why not go spend time with Atlas?" Mo urged Connie as she gave her a slight push over to him.
"Oh!" Connie gasped slightly. "Mo!"
Mo smirked and continued. Atlas smiled nervously as Connie was coming right toward him. The two then decided to bond until the next competition and seemed to have a lot in common so far so good.
"I think Atlas would be better for Aunt Connie than that Rocky guy." Darla said.
"Huh, you ain't kiddin', kid," Rover replied. "Rocky's always rubbed me the wrong way and I keep meanin' to find out what it is, hopefully I will soon."
"And does Atlas rub you the right way?" Darla hoped.
"Eh, I don't know him that well, but he seems to be a lot better than Rocky." Rover replied with a small smile. He then decided to go and get to know Atlas a little more.
Darla smiled. "Good dog."
"Hopefully this guy gives me some respect," Rover mumbled to himself. "No respect with that Rocky guy... No respect at all."
Atlas heard someone barking and then he looked down to see Rover and bent down to his height with a smile. "Hey, there, boy!" he then smiled to the hound dog.
Rover smiled gently to the red-haired man.
Atlas soon started to pet him gently so he wouldn't hurt the hound dog. "Is this handsome devil of a dog yours?" he smiled at Connie.
"Rover!" Connie giggled. "What're you doing?"
Rover smiled and nuzzled up against Connie.
"He sure is a handsome little fella." Atlas smiled.
"Yeah, he sure is," Connie agreed. "He's just my special little guy, aren't ya, Rover?"
Rover yipped and licked Connie's face.
"He sure does love you." Atlas smiled before he looked and saw someone selling roses.
"Oh, he sure does..." Connie smiled. "Don't you, Rover?"
Rover smiled back to his owner, unknown to her, he could understand every word she was saying to him. Atlas saw he still had time until the competition would start and rushed right over to the rose vendor.
After a short while, Atlas came over with a bouquet of red roses with no thorns thanks to the help of his incredible strength. "Darn thorns..." he mumbled to himself. "Why do such pretty flowers have to sting poor innocents?"
Luckily, he wiped all of the thorns off with ease due to his strength once after that he came over to Connie with the flowers before handing them to her Darla whispered to him that it was Connie's birthday that day.
"Really?" Atlas asked. "You're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?"'
"No, no, no," Darla replied. "It really and truly is, I have a special gift for her too."
"Well, I'm sure whatever you got her; she'll love it." Atlas smiled.
"Well go on and give her those flowers." Darla smiled back.
Atlas gently patted her on the head and went to Connie. "Erm... Hello, Connie."
"Oh, hi, Atlas," Connie smiled back to him. "Whatcha got there?"
"Um... They're for you," Atlas handed her the roses. "Happy Birthday."
"How did you know that it was my birthday?" Connie smiled before looking over to Darla.
Darla whistled innocently and glanced over at the sight.
"I, uh, picked it up." Atlas smiled shyly.
"We can see the-" Mo was about to point out until she saw that he was trying to be romantic.
"They're lovely, thank you Atlas." Connie smiled with a kiss to the cheek.
Atlas blushed softly and smiled nervously. "You're very welcome, Connie."
Atticus soon felt three crystals in his pocket and where he brought them out which showed Connie's reflection in the first one and Rocky's reflection in the second one and Atlas in the final one and where each crystal was a in the shape of part of a heart. "Hmm..." he wondered to himself about this.
'The anvil competition will begin in five minutes.' the announcer called.
"Those crystals look like they could be for us to see which one Connie is meant to be with." Mo said.
"That's what I'm thinking..." Atticus replied. "We have five minutes, shall we take a look?"
"If you think you can." Mo replied.
Atticus reluctantly placed Connie's crystal with Rocky's crystal and where they didn't seem to combine into a heart. Mo winced slightly at the shape.
"I don't like it either..." Atticus agreed, then took out Atlas's crystal with Connie's crystal. "Let's try Atlas."
And where to their luck, Atlas's crystal and Connie's crystal combined into a heart as they both glowed together.
"But Rocky is Connie's boyfriend..." Mo said.
"Yeah, but I think she would be happier with Rocky..." Atticus replied. "I don't know what Rocky's deal is, but something tells me we'll find out soon."
They soon noticed a note attached to one of the crystals.
"There's a note." Mo noticed.
'Last call for the anvil throwing competition!' the announcer called.
"Atticus, you coming or what, little buddy?" Atlas's voice called.
"I'm coming!" Atticus called back before giving the combined crystals and note to Mo before rushing off to Atlas.
Mo took the crystals and note. "Good luck!"
"Thanks!" Atticus called back as he went off for the anvil throwing part of the competition.
Mo then looked to the crystals and note. "Alright, what do we have here?" she then asked herself. She then saw that the note had Drell's hand writing on it. "Hmm..." she firmly hummed to herself.
The competitors then went to throw the anvils while someone would measure how far the throws have gone.
"Are you all ready?" The Announcer asked the competitors.
"We're ready!" the competitors replied.
"Let's start with our first champion, Miss Olympia!" the announcer called.
Olympia bowed with a smug smile and wave as she then lifted her anvil, though was heard straining and struggling at first, but then hoisted the anvil to a further distance.
"Now just throw it as far as you can." The Announcer said.
"I did that!" Olympia glared.
"Oh, not very far, is it?" the announcer commented.
"Fifteen feet!" a referee called.
"That's far," The Announcer said. "Next up is Thornton!" he then called.
The Swedish man waved and then took his turn.
"I bet we'll tie." Atlas said to Atticus.
"Yeah." Atticus smiled.
"Thirty-four feet!" the referee called for Thornton's throw.
"Okay, my turn." Atlas went next as he ruffled up Atticus's hair.
"Alright, let's see how far you can throw it." The Announcer said to Atlas.
"You're on," Atlas chuckled as he then lifted his anvil with ease. "Step aside, chumps and chumpettes." he then said in a playful tone as he then threw his anvil into the distance.
"Eight-Six feet!" a referee called.
"Show-Off." Atticus smirked.
"Pansy." Atlas laughed teasingly.
"Next!" The Announcer called out.
Atticus spit into his hands and rubbed them together as he went over to his anvil.
"You may throw when ready." The Announcer said.
Atticus nodded, then picked up the anvil and threw it with all his might. And where it sky-rocketed straight forward until it crashed landed farther than the other, making the ground shake.
"Well, I don't think we need to measure that one," the announcer chuckled. "And it looks like number nine and number ten are still in and the final competition will be an arm-wrestling match between the final two!"
The two competitors who didn't make just looked jaw-dropped.
"Way to go, guys!" Darla cheered for Atticus and Atlas.
"It was a piece of cake." Atticus smirked.
"I really missed ya, buddy," Atlas smiled. "Congratulations on being the final two."
"You weren't too bad yourself." Atticus agreed.
The two of them fist bumped only for Atlas to wince out of pain slightly.
"Oh, sorry." Atticus said.
"That's okay," Atlas smiled weakly. "You weren't kidding."
"Well, I have been working out a lot." Atticus smirked, showing off some of his muscles.
Mo's squeal was heard from the distance.
"Atticus Fudo, I may not have seen you in a long time, but you never cease to amaze me." Atlas smiled.
"So true." Atticus smiled.
"How long until the final round?" Darla asked.
"They'll let us rest for an hour for food and then we'll get started, it's almost sundown." Atticus replied.
"Oh, I hope they hurry soon," Connie said. "The show will begin soon."
"But doesn't this building close the same time the show begins?" Mo asked.
"I just need to move real soon," Connie sounded worried because of how close it was getting to her showtime. "I'd hate to be tardy."
"Aunt Connie, can you, Rover, and Atlas keep a secret?" Darla asked.
"I'm sure you can trust Rover and I'm quite trustworthy myself." Connie smiled back down to her niece.
"I promise to keep any secret you have." Atlas said.
Rover smiled friendly.
"So, what's on your mind, honey bun?" Connie asked Darla.
"What if I said that Atticus could get all of us to the show the moment the building closes and the show starts?" Darla said.
"How would he do that?" Connie asked.
"Leave that to us." Darla smirked as she had a plan an action.
"Um, well, then I would have to say he must be really fast." Connie said.
"Oh, Atticus?~" Darla called to her big brother.
"Yes?" Atticus answered.
Darla then whispered her plan to Atticus which she had told Connie, Rover, and Atlas about.
"I'm sure I can do a little magic work." Atticus said.
"Oh, you're the best." Darla beamed.
"No problem." Atticus said.
Darla then gave him a hug. Atticus tightly hugged her back, but not using all his strength to hurt her of course. They soon had something to eat before the competition would continue.