"Welcome to the second part of the Power of Three Tournament! Before we begin, I'd like to announce the Audience Points from the previous round," Gabriel said from the booth. "These scores were aggregated as an average number from viewers who voted, and here they are now: Dream Walkers earns four points, Forest Fighters earns four points, Ladies of Victory earns three points, Animal Instincts earns three points, King of Beasts earns three points, Team Chaotic earn three points, incredible 3 earns four points, and Brian's Team earns two points."
The raven held up a hand, gesturing to the screen behind him. "Now then, onto the challenge of this round, the puzzle rooms. In this challenge, each team has been assigned a room specifically designed for them. They will have an hour to complete the puzzle inside the room and escape. While they won't be given points for this round, whatever time they get for completing the puzzle will determine their position in the third-round tournament bracket. Also, if any team goes over the hour time limit, they have the option of pressing the emergency exit button that will appear to instantly open the door to the room. We don't want them to be trapped forever, after all."
Gabriel smiled as the camera transitioned over to the teams. "Now then, let's get this challenge started!"
[***]
Forest Fighters
Upon entering the room, the world materialized around the trio, becoming an ancient temple in the heart of a jungle. "This looks like Louie's place back home," Shere Khan mused.
"Didn't realize you knew the guy," Tomada said.
"Everyone knows of King Louie, some of us more personally than others," Shere Khan explained. "We knew each other when we were children, if you must ask."
"Oh, like me with Thumper and Flower!" Bambi said. "But, if that's true, then why are you a bad guy now?"
Shere Khan looked annoyed. "Because we all grew up from our childish days. I am a tiger, the ruler of the jungle, and I took my place at the top of the food chain. At least I was, until the mancub arrived with his red flower…"
"Okay, enough backstory. We've got a puzzle to solve," Tomada said. The group fanned out around the temple, with the falcon searching the front side. There Tomada found a pillar in the middle of the room with four symbols on it: a bobcat, a tiger, a wolf, and a bear. He then noticed that one side of the pillar seemed to have the symbols missing, with slots to insert something into the pillar. "Looks like we'll have to look for these symbols around the temple, guys."
"Found one!" Bambi called, looking up at a wall covered in vines. The bobcat symbol was at the top of the vines.
"I'll get it," Shere Khan said, using his claws to climb up the vines. The tiger swiftly made his way up, grabbing the block in his mouth. One of the vines he grabbed suddenly snapped under his weight though, but Bambi was quick to call on the powers of nature to manipulate the vines and catch the tiger before he hit the ground. "…Thank you, Prince of the Forest. I'll allow you to live another day for that."
"Um… You're welcome?" Bambi replied.
Tomada was quick to find the bear symbol, clambering up a nearby banana tree and picking it up from the top. Next was the tiger symbol, which the trio found by lighting the unlit torches in the room, opening up a hidden hole in the wall of the temple with the symbol inside.
"That just leaves the wolf symbol," Tomada said.
"Which none of us have seen, despite looking everywhere in this room," Shere Khan pointed out.
"Maybe we just missed it?" Bambi suggested.
Tomada suddenly snapped his fingers. "Or maybe we just need a different perspective on this situation." The falcon sat down and closed his eyes, concentrating as he activated his powers. An eagle spirit suddenly flew out of his body, soaring high above the temple. With the bird's-eye view of the structure, Tomada quickly found the wolf symbol resting at the very top of the temple's roof. The spirit eagle swooped down and grabbed the tile, flying it back to Tomada before disappearing.
"So that's what your powers can do," Shere Khan mused.
"Yeah, I can call on spirits to aid me. Mostly it's just animals, but I can communicate with gods as well," Tomada explained. With all four symbols in hand, the trio put them in the correct order on the pillar, which caused the temple to rumble as a magic door appeared before them, signaling the end of the puzzle.
Time to Complete: 20 minutes
Incredible 3
"Is this… a carnival?" Melody wondered as the team entered the room. Indeed the room they were in was themed to a carnival, with three different games set up around it: a test your strength game, a target shooting game, and a skee-ball game.
"Huh, I guess we just have to win each of these games to pass the puzzle," Max guessed.
Gaston laughed and confidently stepped forward. "Leave it to me then! No one wins carnival games like Gaston!" First he stepped up to the strength game, giving a flex of his arms before picking up the hammer in one hand and slamming it down on the pressure pad. The weight moved up the game, but only reached about three-fourths of the way up.
"Looks like you go "More like Hunk-ules" in terms of strength," Melody said, reading the score.
"Hmph. No matter, I shall win the other games first! That was just a warmup!" Gaston boasted. He went over to the skee-ball game next, picking up one of the balls. He looked at it oddly in his hand, then down at the target. He tossed the ball hard at the target, only for the ball to bounce off and fly backwards, comically hitting Max in the gut.
"Oof! That… hurts…" Max squeaked out as he fell to the floor. Melody quickly pulled out some medical spray and used it on her ally, patching up the bruise on his stomach.
"Gaston, you have to roll the ball on the track, not throw it at the target," Melody chided.
"Why would I do that? Clearly you have to throw the ball, not roll it," Gaston said. "This isn't bowling. If it was, there would be pins, not targets!"
"I'm suddenly regretting picking you for my team…" Melody muttered. "Look, why don't you take yourself and that big gun you carry over to the shooting gallery, while Max and I do the other games."
"Better idea: I go over to the shooting gallery, while you two can warm up the other games for when I'm done," Gaston said, marching over to the target shooting game.
"Is he always like that?" Max asked.
"Yes," Melody said flatly. The two shared a sigh before splitting up, Max taking on skee-ball while Melody did the strength test. Max was actually really good at skee-ball so it took him no time to land five bullseyes on the game, making it light up green. Gaston, meanwhile, was expertly hitting all the duck targets as they popped up in the game. For his lack of brains, no one would deny that the hunter was a good marksman.
"And that is how you shoot like Gaston," he said, smiling as he blew smoke from the muzzle of his gun. "Now then, to show off my superior strength once again."
"Hold up, big guy. I've got this one," Melody said. Activating her gauntlets, the hyena girl grabbed the hammer and hefted it over her head with great effort. Electricity ran over her arms as her grip tightened, before with a yell she slammed the hammer down on the machine. The weight went shooting straight up, smashing through the bell at the top and flying way off into the sky, creating a twinkle as it left view.
"…Wow..." Max said.
"Oh yeah, this armor packs a punch. It does need to recharge after using a lot of energy, though," Melody said.
"No, the ranking you got just says "Wow" on it," Max pointed out.
Melody looked at the game to confirm that fact. "Huh, so it does." A magic door suddenly appeared next to the trio. "And that is that! Let's get going!"
Time to Complete: 15 minutes
Dream Walkers
"Curious. It seems that we've entered some kind of mirror maze," Violet noted, the team standing in the middle of a room full of mirrors.
"Well, I guess the way out has to be in here somewhere," Jameson said.
"Yes. We will break all the mirrors to find the door!" Venom exclaimed, shooting out a tendril to smash a nearby mirror. Instead, the mirror deflected the attack, creating a sound that made the symbiote shriek in pain. "The sound, it hurts us!"
"Fascinating. These mirrors have been made to specifically deflect attacks," Violet said. She pulled out a potion and dropped it on the ground, creating a bouncy ball that she tossed at a different mirror, which again just deflected the attack.
"Well, they couldn't make it too easy for us. Let's just move through the maze," Jameson shrugged. The trio did just that, navigating past endless reflections of themselves to try and find the exit. Whenever they got to a crossroads, Violet used a marker to place an "X" on the floor, indicating it they'd been back to that spot or not. The problem soon came when they kept looping back to the start of the maze, not matter which path they took.
"Man, this is just like the Lost Woods in Zelda," Jameson shook his head.
"There has to be something we're missing," Violet said. Going back around the loop, the hummingbird paused in front of a mirror. "Gentleman, I believe I have found our solution." She pointed to one of the mirrors, which oddly enough seemed to reflect Lena on the inside rather than Violet herself. "This mirror doesn't show my reflection, but my sister's instead. If my hypothesis is correct- and it is- then this should work." She tossed her ball at the mirror, the object phasing through it as the mirror magically shattered, revealing a button on the other side. The button glowed blue after it was pressed in.
"Do you think other mirrors will show false reflections?" Venom asked.
"Most likely," Violet nodded.
"Then let's go find them!" Jameson said. "You two go one way, and I'll go the other!" Violet and Venom nodded, heading down the path on the right side and inspecting every mirror. The two eventually found another false, mirror, this one showing Carnage instead of Venom. The symbiote smashed the mirror and pressed the button on the other side.
Over with Jameson, the little owl looked around to find the other false mirror. His eyes wandered over his reflections, trying to find the one that would be different. Jameson didn't notice his shadow becoming longer that harder he looked, until it seemed to take a life of its own, reaching out to grab him-
The owl whipped his head around, feeling like he was being watched. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Jameson shrugged and turned back around, only to gasp at what he saw. The reflection in the mirror was not his own, but rather that of a duck with sickly green feathers and a black dress, holding a staff with a purple gem on top.
"There you are, my little shadow," Magica de Spell chuckled.
"No, you're not here!" Jameson exclaimed, shaking his head. "Gabriel and the others made sure that no one could interfere with this tournament!"
"But I don't have to be here in the flesh to see you, little shadow," Magica said smugly. "We are tied together after all. I'm just the manifestation of your guilt for not talking to the sword mage, my traitor of a brother, and that brat of a niece." The sorceress glowered at Jameson. "I thought you wanted to be honest with your friends, little shadow. Or do you think that they'll hate you when they find out what you really are?"
"I… I'm a Dream Warrior!" Jameson declared, holding out his bat. His hand shook with fear as he stared down Magica.
The duck laughed. "Oh please, don't kid yourself! That dream nonsense is just childish of you! Why don't you come back to me, to where you belong…?"
Jameson felt his head spin, the world going dark as he heard the sounds of his friends shouting. When he came to, Violet and Venom were standing over him, both looking in concern. "Jameson! You're awake now. Good thing I packed smelling salts," Violet said.
"You were sleeping on the floor. Silly little owl," Venom said.
"Sorry… I just… passed out for some reason…" Jameson lied. He looked at the mirror, seeing that it only showed his own reflection again. "Did you guys hit the other button?"
"No. Only you can hit it," Violet shook her head.
Jameson nodded, standing up and smashing the false mirror, finding the button on the other side. Once it was pressed, a magical door opened the way out. As the team left, Jameson closed his eyes and shuttered as Magica's laugh echoed in his mind.
Time to Complete: 45 minutes
Brian's Team
"I hate this," Lord Dominator said.
"I don't see a problem here," Hunter shrugged.
"I'll say it again: I. Hate. This," the galactic conqueror growled.
"I think you just need to chill out a bit," Brian suggested.
"I. HATE. THIS!" Lord Dominator screamed, raging out as she summoned lava to erupt around her. The trio were currently standing in the middle of a field, with flocks of sheep running around an enclosed area. The task of their puzzle was to herd the flocks into one pen on a particular side of the fence, but the sheep were flighty and prone to run away.
Hunter and Brian and figured out that they needed to be careful and gently coax the sheep into the pen, but Lord Dominator was not having any of it. Her personality was scaring the animals away, and annoyingly enough to her, the sheep were enchanted to be immune to all forms of magic used against them.
"I am a conquer of many worlds, you should obey me!" Lord Dominator shouted at the sheep. They just baaed at her and kept on eating at the grass.
"They're just animals. They aren't going to respond to your shouts," Brian said. "Do you have a faster way of getting the sheep in the pen, Hunter?"
"I could always teleport in front of them to surprise them," Hunter suggested, holding up his staff.
"That's one step. I could use my shadow wolves to scare them in another direction as well," Brian added. "Yeah, I think that could work!"
"You two can deal with these lower lifeforms. I'm just going to attack the room until we can leave," Lord Dominator grumbled.
"You know, she really is a big bad villain, but at the same time, if she doesn't have a plan, or someone to use her powers on, she really just becomes like a bratty teen," Brian mused.
"Is she really on the same level as Belos?" Hunter asked.
"I would say so, though to be fair, the show she comes from doesn't take itself as seriously as your show did," Brian replied.
The two boys put their plan into action, Hunter spooking the sheep with his teleportation while Brian herded them along with his shadow wolves. Sometimes the sheep would go the wrong way, but the two used their powers to steer them back in the right direction. After about ten minutes, they had managed to get the sheep back into the pen, all but one remaining outside.
"Hm, this one doesn't want to move at all," Hunter said, poking at the sheep with his staff.
"And it's heavy too," Brian said, trying to lift the animal with his shadow powers.
Lord Dominator looked over at the two before rolling her eyes and stomping over. "Here. Let me handle it." Using her ice powers, the galactic conqueror created an ice trail under the last sheep that led all the way to the pin. With a swift kick, the sheep was sent skating down the trail all the way into the pen, Hunter teleporting over to close the door.
"We did it!" the teen cheered, holding up his staff in victory.
"And just in time too," Brain said as the magical door appeared. "You know, Lord Dominator, couldn't you have used your ice powers to freeze the floor and make it easier to move all the sheep in the first place."
Lord Dominator paused, before her anger flared up as lava shot up around her again. Oh, come on!"
Time to Complete: 35 Minutes
Animal Instincts
"Carno, stay focused!" Seth chided to his teammate. His group was currently in the middle of their puzzle room, which took the form of a series of colored balls that needed to be pushed into specific spots on the floor to open up the way out. The catch was that not only did the balls need to match the color of the spots on the floor, but they all had to be pushed in within a five-second time limit, or else the puzzle would reset itself.
"Man, if only I could combine my dinosaur powers together. Then I could run around with velociraptor feet and a triceratops head and finish this puzzle quickly," Reptil said.
"Yeah. I could try something else…" Seth said. He focused before activating his shapeshifting powers, turning into a giant squid. He lashed out his tentacles to push the balls onto their spots, but quickly transformed back into human form before he could complete the puzzle. "Aw man… I need a body of water to use that form, so there goes that plan."
Carnotaurus snorted, clawing at the ground with his feet. "This communication problem isn't helping either," Reptil sighed. "I can turn into dinosaurs, but I can't speak to Carno here to get him to help out more."
"Maybe we just need to do this fast," Seth said. "Carno, use your wind powers on those two balls over there! Reptil, turn into a T-Rex and smack those two balls over there. I'll move the final ball into place. Ready?"
"Ready!" Reptil replied, transforming into the King Tyrant Lizard. Carno took a stance as well, a rumble in his throat as he built up a wind gust.
"Then let's do this!" Seth shouted, transforming into a dragon and picking up his ball. He dropped in into place, while Reptil hit his targets to their spots while Carnotaurus unleashed a wind blast to knock the final two balls into place. Seth landed and transformed back to normal, grinning at his teammates. "All right, we got this! And just before time expired as well!"
The spots suddenly started to shake, and the balls disappeared before being reset to their starting positions. "What!? But we did it correctly! What went wrong!?" Reptil exclaimed.
"I mean, we did it correctly, I'm sure of it," Seth said. Carno just gave a snort, knocking a ball into a spot once more. "Wait a minute… Carno, that's a red spot, but you put the green spot there."
"Don't tell me… Carno is colorblind!?" Reptil exclaimed. A chime suddenly sounded, a bit a red button appeared in the room.
"Looks like time is up," Seth sighed. He walked over to the button and pressed it. "Let's just take the L this time and move on… We can still win in the tournament battles, I'm sure of it."
Time to Complete: Forfeit
Ladies of Victory
In the middle of what looked to be an Egyptian tomb, Almyra took a stance, shaking her hips to the beat of a song as her Dance of the Mystic Veils activated. The tiles underneath her feet started glowing with light, while Mirage used her magic to carefully move statues around the area and Angel used her voice to sing.
If I was a rich girl (na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na)
See, I'd have all the money in the world
If I was a wealthy girl…
Angel and Almyra synced up their dance moves, keeping the magic flowing for Mirage to manipulate.
No man could test me, impress me
My cash flow would never ever end
'Cause I'd have all the money in the world
If I was a wealthy girl…
Angel struck a sassy pose.
Think what that money could bring (Bring!)
Almyra did a twirl, her golden outfit shimmering with magic.
I'd buy everything (Thing!)
Clean out Vivienne Westwood
In my Galliano gown!
"There we go…" Mirage muttered, placing down a statue in the right spot. Its eyes glowed, indicating that its placement was correct. The cat sorceress couldn't help but let her tail sway with the beat of the music.
No, wouldn't just have one hood!
A Hollywood mansion if I could!
Please book me first-class to my fancy house in London town
Almyra and Angel were in step together as they sang together, performing "Egyptian" style moves with a bit of Almyra's signature belly dancing style.
All the riches baby, won't mean anything
All the riches baby, won't bring what your love can bring
"And that makes two…" Mirage said.
"Come on, Mirage, join us!" Almyra said.
The sorceress rolled her eyes. "If you insist…" She held out a hand, giving a small yowl as Almyra pulled her into the dance, letting her magic guide Mirage in the right steps.
All the riches baby, won't mean anything
Don't need no other baby
Your lovin' is better than gold, and I know-
Almyra took center stage, with Angel and Mirage posing on either side with arms crossed over their chests as the peahen sang out.
Come together all over the world
From the hoods of Japan, Harajuku girls
What, it's all love
What, give it up
What (shouldn't matter, shouldn't matter, shouldn't matter, shouldn't matter) what
Almyra held out her hands, taking Angel and Mirage in each of them and crossing them, before striking a pharaoh's pose.
Come together all over the world
From the hoods of Japan, Harajuku girls
What, it's all love
What, give it up
What (shouldn't matter, shouldn't matter, shouldn't matter, shouldn't matter)
Mirage then took to the center of the stage, snapping as she used the dance magic to start levitating the final statue into place as she danced.
What happened to my life
Turned upside down
Chicks dat blew ya mind, ding, it's the second round
Angel and Almyra came to her sides, posing as it they were fanning the sorceress.
(Original track and ting, mmm)
You know you can't buy these things (no)
Mirage smirked as she gestured to herself, getting a bit sassy in her movements.
See Almyra and her dance, I rock the fetish
People, you know who I am
The three girls all synced up their movements again as they got to the end of the breakdown, the statue being put into place as it lit up with magic.
Yes ma'am, we got the style that's wicked
I hope you can all keep up
We climbed all the way from the bottom to the top
Now we ain't gettin' nothin' but love
With the final piece put in place, a magic door appeared before them, indicating the end of the test.
If I was rich girl (na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na)
See, I'd have all the money in the world
If I was a wealthy girl…
Almyra and Angel posed as they finished up the song, Mirage rolling her eyes as she hopped through the door.
No man could test me, impress me
My cash flow would never ever end
Cause I'd have all the money in the world
If I was a wealthy girl…
"Oh, that was fun!" Angel clapped as the song ended. "I should really think about going on another musical tour sometime. I have been neglecting my pop star career as of late."
"I'll be sure to buy the album when it comes out," Almyra giggled as they exited the room.
Time to Complete: 10 minutes
King of Beasts
"Of flarking course our challenge has to be climbing a mountain," Rocket grunted, pulling himself up onto an outcropping. "Of all the days to not bring a jetpack, it had to be today."
"We're not having a good time down here either, bud," Nuka called, almost slipping from his perch before Ben caught him with his staff.
"Careful! Come on, we're almost there," Ben said, using all his strength to pull the lanky lion upwards.
"Good! I'm tired of this challenge already. Facing the High Evolutionary was better than this…" Rocket said. Once the trio got to the top of the cliff, they all took a moment to catch their breath, before looking around to see that there was still no exit. "What the heck? I thought we'd be at the end of this thing by now."
"Don't look at me! I'm not good at puzzles to begin with," Nuka said.
"Maybe we missed something on the way up here," Ben guessed. "Did any of you see something while we were climbing."
"No but… now that you mention it…" Rocket started to say, before shaking his head. "Nah, our time's almost up. We should just wait out the clock and make up for points in the next round."
"No way! I'm going to climb back down and find what we missed," Ben said.
Nuka growled and grabbed Ben by the back of his pants. "No way! That'll take forever to search this entire cliff!"
"It's what Logan would do, what Roman would do," Ben said. "I'm not letting my class down."
"Ugh, there you go again, talking on and on about your precious class," Nuka rolled his eyes. "Seriously, they're not here right now, so they don't care."
"Well I'm not planning on letting them down anytime soon," Ben said pointedly.
"I thought we were friends, but then you just ran off with those other guys and left me behind!" Nuka shouted, making Ben pause.
"I'm sorry for that, but I wanted to… no, I needed to get stronger. And to me, that means making sure we pass this test," Ben said.
"Are you doing this for yourself, or doing it because of them?" Nuka said. "You know you're my only friend, Ben. My mother can't stand me, and my sister is too busy with her duties to King Simba to give me the time of day. We were close, like a family, and then you ran off and left me behind!" The lion growled as tears came to his eyes. "So what's different about this class of yours, what makes them better than me, what we had, huh? Why don't you just forget about them-"
"Because I don't want to lose my family again!" Ben screamed, huffing as the wind behind him picked up suddenly. The wolf shook before falling to the ground, hugging himself tightly. "I can't… I'm so afraid of being alone again, of being forgotten. You think my power is useful, but what good is it to be able to be unseen if all you want to do is to stand out?"
"Kid…" Rocket said softly.
"Logan and his class are like a family to be now, and I just want them to be proud of me," Ben sniffed, wiping a tear from his eye. "But I just… I left you behind Nuka, and that sucks because I forgot why we were so close before all of this, before the Hero's Rumble and Logan taking me in…"
"Yeah… I forgot as well…" Nuka said somberly, his head hanging low. "Heh, look at us, getting all emotional instead of solving the puzzle. Some team we are, huh?"
A chime was heard, and a button appeared. Rocket looked at to before pressing it, a door appearing before them. "Let's go, you two," the raccoon said. He stood up and looked at them. "I get what you two are feeling. Hell, I lost my first family as well, and almost lost my new one plenty of times before. But when you care about someone, you hold onto them with all you got, and keep the ones you do lose in your heart. If you want to be heard and stand strong, then get up on your feet and stop pitying yourself. Trust me, wallowing won't get you anywhere…"
Ben and Nuka looked at each other before nodding, standing up and following Rocket through the door.
Time to Complete: Forfeit
Team Chaotic
"To your right!" Roman called, swinging down his Predator Axe on a Heartless. Ventress nodded, slicing up the Shadows with her twin lightsabers. Ralph meanwhile was slamming a Large Body into the ground, before tossing it like a bowling ball to hit other Heartless in the room.
Their puzzle room turned out to be a combat challenge, filled with digital copies of Heartless that they had to fight off. It reminded Roman of the Battle of 1,000 Heartless from Kingdom Hearts 2, but now he was the one in the middle of the action.
"Man, my traps aren't going to of much use here with a hoard of enemies," the wolf said, switching over to using combat knives.
"Sheesh, and I thought fighting a few of these guys was bad enough," Ralph said in exhaustion.
"We must press on, for victory," Ventress reminded them. "They cannot keep coming forever."
"You say that, but…" Roman said. He took a deep breath as he reached out with his senses. Nose and ears twitched as he searched for something amiss in the room. When he found something, he grinned. "Ralph, give me a boost skywards. When I get to the top, Ventress, push me towards that far wall. I've got this."
"You're on," Ralph nodded, putting his hands on the ground. Roman stepped on and with a mighty heft was launched high into the sky. Once he got to the apex, Ventress used the Force to launch him forwards at high speeds.
"Okay, let's do this…" Roman muttered to himself, pulling out a katana with a dark aura. With a battle cry he slashed downwards, dropping towards the ground and onto the head of a Neo-Shadow. The Heartless cried out as its body was ripped apart by the sword, the darkness that held it together being consumed by the sword. After that it was like a domino effect, with the other Heartless disappearing into dark mist.
"Woah, nice shot, kid!" Ralph complimented. "How'd you know that one would stop the rest."
"My training with the Predators has taught me to keep my senses sharp for things that don't match in an environment," Roman explained. "That Neo-Shadow had a different scent and sound to the other Heartless. My guess is that Adam programed the fake Neo-Shadow continuously spawn Heartless until it was destroyed."
"And once the commander fell, the underlings did the same, much like battle droids," Ventress nodded. She looked at Roman's katana curiously. "That sword… it seems to be attuned with the Dark Side."
"It's a Cursed Blade that I found during a training mission with Logan," the wolf explained. "I exerted my will over the sword, making it my own instead of letting the darkness control me. The downside is I can't use my trap magic whenever I have the Cursed Blade equipped since it feeds off my magic."
"Well, if it works, it works," Ralph nodded. A door opened up next to them as he said that. "Oh, and it looks like that's the way out. Great job, guys!"
Time to Complete: 25 minutes
Author's Notes
And that was the puzzle room section of the tournament! I had a good time coming up with puzzles for each team, which I'd like to address here at the end.
Tomada's team had to solve a basic temple puzzle. We also address Shere Khan's loner status being an issue. His backstory is actually referring to the show "Jungle Cubs" a spin-off of the movie with the main animals of Jungle Book as kids.
Melody's team had to take part in carnival games focused on their strengths, though Gaston isn't much of a team player either.
Jameson's team had to deal with their reflections, but the little owl seems to have some demons in his past in regard to Magica de Spell. You can go read Logan's story to learn more about Jameson and his past, but it will be a big part of his story here.
Brian and Hunter seem to get along as a team well, but Lord Dominator doesn't have the patience to deal with those that won't listen to her. Luckily Brian is so used to dealing with villains that he can tolerate the galactic conqueror's behavior and get her to help out if need be.
Seth's challenge was all about timing and teamwork, though Carnotaurus being colorblind led to their downfall. They could have completed their puzzle, but time ran out and Seth just wanted to move on after being stuck in the color ball puzzle for an hour.
Almyra gets a fun challenge, using her magic to assist Mirage while Angel backs her up with vocals. Their song was "Rich Girl" by Gwen Stephani, which I think fits Almyra and her team very well. Mirage also seems to be enjoying the group's company as well. Angel's music career is in reference to her role in the Stitch anime as an intergalactic pop star (that's also the series where she learned to speak in full sentences like Ruben).
Ben's challenge was about perseverance and observation, but his team's problem comes down to communication. Ben and Nuka used to be friends in the past, but they grew apart after Ben started training with Logan. Clearly both of them are hurt by this, and their emotions finally came out here, costing them the challenge. Rocket is ironically enough the most mature of the group and took charge, giving advice from his own life to these two former friends. Hopefully they'll be able to overcome this in the next part.
Finally, Roman's team had a combat puzzle, with the group showing off some impressive combos along with Roman's advanced training and weapon usage. And yes you read that right, he's a proficient enough warrior to be personally trained by the Predators themselves!
As of now, adding in the points from last time, here are the standings:
Tomada- 12 points
Melody- 11 points
Jameson- 10 points
Seth- 7 points
Brian- 7 points
Almyra- 6 points
Ben- 5 points
Roman- 4 points
Like last time, you can give each team a score of 0 to 5 based on how they did during this part of the challenge.
Next Time: the main tournament begins! Who will move on through the first round of battles?