Chapter 45
“You’re all probably wondering why I’ve gathered you here today,” Jax began as he stood in front of his peers in the common room of The Challenger’s dormitory. Employing this cliché joke of an opening was meant to cut any potential tension and ensure that no one misread the level of seriousness at this meeting. He wanted to lead with fun, which seemed to have worked since many in the room gave him the pity chuckles that his dad joke deserved. “Based on the level of teamwork in the last challenge, I thought it might be useful to get to know each other a bit more by participating in a sort of trust exercise.”
“Okay, I’m out!” Connor said, getting up from his chair and heading in the direction of his bedroom. “I’ve got better things to do-”
“Which is why I have a prize for the winner of the exercise!” Jax quickly cut in, “A prize that you will definitely want to win and that will remain a secret until the end of the game!” No one knew if Jax really had a prize in mind or was desperately grasping at straws to keep the group’s attention, but it worked. Connor’s eyebrows shot up, and he sat back down in his seat.
“Well, go on,” Connor said, “what’s this game you have in mind?”
“As I was saying,” Jax started back in, “Our teamwork sucked! So, for this game, I have paired everyone up.” Ralph handed Jax a small piece of paper containing his premade list of pairings. “Joel is gonna be teamed with Bobby, Ashley with Bailey, Megan with Cecilia, Connor with Spencer, and Ken will be with June. If everyone can go stand or sit next to their teammates, please?”
Everyone did as they were told. Ashley and Bailey had the most visible distance between them. Some teams were exceptionally happy. Megan noticeably perked up when Cecilia was announced as her teammate, and Connon and Spencer seemed pretty happy as well, but Ken failed to keep the worried look from his face.
“Okay, so, here’s how the game’s gonna work. Ralph and I have hidden water balloons filled with ketchup all over The Spire, some in very hard-to-reach places. The team that gathers and brings back the most water balloons, unburst, in four hours will win the game.” Jax looked up and saw that the entire group was attentive. He should have guessed that a bunch of type-A metas who had battled through The Culling to be here would be ultra-competitive, even in a silly, low-stakes game like this. “You must work with your teammate in the following ways… First, you must alternate the one who gathers each balloon you decide to go for. Second, you cannot use your meta power unless specifically directed by your partner. You cannot suggest ways that your power could be used.”
Jax looked up to see how The Challengers were taking this little nugget. Bailey had her hand in the air as if asking for the teacher to call on her. “Yes, Bailey?” he prompted.
“So, If I think I could use the word ‘fly” to get to a balloon high in the air, I can’t even tell my partner that I have that ability?” she asked.
“Nope,” his response was quick and simple. “It’s up to your partner to ask questions to work through each scenario. You can answer their questions about your capabilities, but you cannot suggest, unprompted, ways that your powers could solve the challenge. Any other questions?” The room was silent, awaiting the next set of instructions.
Jax continued, “The colors of the balloons will matter in terms of how many points they are worth. Red is worth 10, Black is worth 5, and Blue will be worth 3 points. Remember that they must be unpopped to count. Also, many of the higher-value balloons will have note cards near them with instructions that you must follow. The Top Seed production team has allowed Ralph and me temporary access to monitor your camera feeds, so if you break any of these rules, we will know. And lastly, Ralph will be able to write down a team that he thinks will win, and if he is correct, he will be able to win the prize along with the top team. Any last questions before the clock starts?”
Joel asked, “What if our power isn’t useful for this game?” He looked visibly ill, thinking that he would be useless in his partnership with Bobby and ruin his roommate’s chances at winning yet again. Honestly, this was part of Jax’s thought process in designing the game. He needed to find an exercise that would challenge each of the competitor’s unique communication, emotional, and psychological issues, or at least the ones he had been able to identify as relevant to their previous loss.
“You will have to figure that out together,” Jax answered. “But, don’t worry too much, I have taken everyone’s known abilities into account in designing the mini-challenges involved. Anyone else?”
“So,” Bobby began, “We work in pairs. We have to switch off on being the one to actually retrieve the balloon. We can ask our partner questions, but not directly ask them what they would do to solve the puzzle. Is that the gist?”
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“Yep,” Jax answered. “I'm begging everyone to work within the spirit of the rules. I’m sure there are some loopholes, I only had a day to set it up. But I’ll be monitoring everyone and will let you know if you’ve overstepped the line.”
“Are you sure you won’t give us a hint about the prize?” June yelled.
“Yes. What do we win? Is it a new O-Box?” Spencer followed up.
“I can tell you it’s not a new video game system. Come on, guys! I’ll tell you all when we have crowned a winner, okay?” Jax pressed the group to focus. “Anything else before we start the clock?”
Several of The Challengers shook their heads, but no one asked any more questions.
“Great!. Okay then. On your marks. Get Set. Go!”
At that, the entire dorm broke out in different directions on the hunt for water balloons. The game was on!
***
Of course, Ashley was paired with Bailey. The entire dorm had witnessed their fighting this past month. But hadn’t she proved that she could work with the wordsmith when the chips were down? As everyone sprinted to the front door to head out of the dorm and into the hallways of the Spire, Ashley turned to Bailey and grabbed her by one of her shoulders, holding her back.
“Let them go. I bet there are balloons in the dorm,” she whispered.
“Smart!” Bailey responded in hushed tones, nodding her head.
Once everyone else had fled the area, the two top-ranked Challengers scoured their living area for hidden balloons. They found a blue one, the size of a medium apple, inside a box of Ralph’s cereal, some ultra-processed sugary chocolate cookie crap that Ashley wouldn’t allow anyone she cared about to ingest, much less eat herself. There was no notecard with instructions, and Bailey reached in and grabbed it before Ashley could say anything to stop her.
“We probably should have discussed who would retrieve that since we have to switch off and don’t know where the next balloon will be. Now it's going to be on you to decide how I will have to get the next one.
“Oops. You’re right. Sorry Ash,” Bailey apologized sincerely. “But I do have a good idea of your powers after the last challenge.”
“Well, no worries. On to the next.” The two girls moved to the bathroom that was situated off of the common area. Inside the door, next to the light switch, was a notecard. It read: “Retrieve the balloon without getting wet.” Ashley looked around and saw that there was a black balloon in the bathtub, submerged in water.
Ashley looked at Bailey at first and said nothing.
“Oh, right. Um, do you have a seed to create your vine staff thing?” Bailey asked.
Ashley nodded her head and pulled the Liana Vine seed out of her pocket. “! Always keep ‘er on me,” she smiled.
“Great! So far, so good,” Bailey mumbled. “Now, do your plant growy thing and make ‘er all long, and then carefully wrap little vines around the balloon, being careful not to pop it, and pull the balloon out of the water.”
Ashley pushed her energy through the seed, urging the Liana Vine to grow and obey her commands, which it did. She walked over to the bathtub and, as gently as possible, tried to do as Bailey asked.
“Shit! It’s tied down!” Ashley raised her voice as she communicated the issue to her partner.
“That’s okay. Can you command a little branch to saw through whatever is holding it down?”
Ashley did as requested, and it worked. The balloon floated to the top of the water, where Ash used the staff to gently wrap around it, then pulled it from the water.
“Wait!” Bailey yelled. “We can’t get wet. We need to dry it off before we touch it!”
“Don’t you think he just meant we couldn’t reach our arms into the tub?” Ashley protested.
“I think we should make sure.” Bailey grabbed a towel from a towel rack and laid it on the floor in the middle of the bathroom. “There. Go ahead and gently place the balloon on the towel.”
Ashley did, and then Bailey folded the towel over the balloon as carefully and softly as she could manage and rolled it around to dry it off. “We should get something to carry these in. The more we get, the more likely one will pop,” Bailey suggested.
“Good idea. I think I have a nice shopping bag in our room. We can use socks to pad it, too!” Ashley was starting to have fun with this contrived adventure. In fact, she was starting to have the same feeling she’d had on their shopping day before it had turned dark. This worried her. Ashley lived by the “fool me once” rule. But, this competition was unique in the stresses it put on a person. Ashley would have to thank Jax for this, for it was then and there, during his goofy teambuilding day, that she decided to give her friendship with Bailey a second chance.