That's a Wrap!

The moment the trio landed on the sandy beach, another minitron floated up to their faces to give the briefing for the final leg of the obstacle course.

“Greetings, Team Eligh.” A kind-sounding voice said. Eligh audibly sighed a breath of relief and couldn’t stop himself from commenting, “Thank goodness it’s not that bastard, Kaien, this time.”

Sounds of scuffle sounded over the minitron’s speakers, and a voice Eligh was now confident he hated shouted, “Oh, I’m always here, Eligh Persil—oh sorry—PerSUCK. You must have cheated your way here. Currently fourth place? Ha! After using Mara again, I see. Can’t do anything on your own, you los—Hey! Wait, I’m not done! Agh—!”

More static played over the speakers until the earlier kind voice returned with an awkward cough. “Ahem. Sorry about that… Apologies, especially, to Mr. Persil… Now, where were we? Greetings, Team Eligh.”

“Howdy.” Jordan said.

“Congratulations on making it to the final leg of Obstacle Course Mayhem! Your final task is a challenging one that relies more on teamwork than the two before it. You must use your intellectual prowess to clear this challenge: 3D Puzzle Race. It’s a race to the finish to see who can build their giant puzzle fastest! But get a move on, other teams have already started!”

Eligh realized that the organizers of Gear Up! seemed to have a strange fixation with all things gargantuan. He thought that maybe they should appreciate the little things more. Just a thought.

The team moved away from the minitron as it lowered itself back into its crate and Eligh shouted, “Alright, let’s get started!”

“Yeah!” They cheered, fists punching the air.

The group hurried down the beach toward where the other teams were working. They passed several large treasure chests settled into the sand along the way, one for each new team as they arrived.

Finally, they reached the fourth treasure chest and popped it open, revealing an interior filled to the brink with large, glossy pieces of hard reinforced plastic. The pieces were colorful and were an assortment of shapes. It was hard to guess what the final product would be.

“Okay, so,” Patrice began, “I think we should take all the pieces out, arrange them according to color and rearrange them according to shape. Following that, we could re-rearrange them into smaller shape and color sections if we start noticing patterns. That way, we can have a shot at figuring out what jungle or sea creature we’re supposed to make.”

“Good plan.” Jordan agreed and set straight into taking out the pieces and tossing them on the soft sand.

Eligh said nothing because for puzzles, his brain didn’t work like that.

In fact, for puzzles, his brain didn’t work at all.

Frowning, Eligh took some pieces from the chest and tossed them into the sand like Jordan did. “Eligh! Not there, bud. Over in that corner. Those pieces match the best.”

Eligh thought that light orange fit with dark orange perfectly well. And, Ew. Don’t call me ‘bud’. He thought.

Feeling a little dejected, he reached into the chest again and noticed a white hint of fabric nestled against the side. Oh! He thought, excited and flipped the heavy chest onto its side, spilling the contents out. Jordan screamed.

“You guys, we forgot the banner.” Eligh said, ignoring him got busy unraveling the heavy banner that had been wound up like a carpet.

He pinched the right corner with his fingers and flew up to where a pole about ten feet high had an attachment pole and hook extending outward about fifteen feet. He pinned up the other side and let the banner hang down.

“Oh!” Patrice said, clapping her hands at the sight. “It’s a sea anemone! These pieces make sense now.”

“Do they?” Eligh asked, incredulous, touching back down to the sand.

Jordan looked as excited as Patrice did. “You’re right! Totally makes sense now. Except, the other teams’ builds look much simpler than ours. A sea anemone? Give me a break.”

Meanwhile, Eligh stood there and said, “Seriously, a what now?” and several seconds of polite silence passed between the three until Patrice eventually said, “Eligh, my love, you’re kidding.”

Eligh most certainly was not. He didn’t have to say anything, though. The jumbotron did it for him.

Jordan pointed out the massive jumbotron that Eligh had yet to pay attention to in the fourth phase. Of course it had been there, hovering like a beast in waiting, all along. Broadcasting his face to the whole island and the world beyond, it said:

WHAT DID WE TELL YOU?

ELIGH PERSIL. | AGE: 23.

FORGET ALL THE OTHER STATS. WHAT’S IMPORTANT HERE IS THAT HIS INTELLIGENCE LEVEL IS ZERO.

Eligh screamed up at the hulking chunk of floating metal, “Oh, give it a rest already, will you?! And you!” He swung back around to face Jordan. He hated hearing the guy’s idiotic laugh in his ears. “Just—get back to work.”

Jordan was on his knees belly laughing, his red hair scooping up grains of sand. “Hey, I’m on your side.” He said, standing up, still giggling. “Don’t bite my head off!”

“Yeah right,” Eligh mumbled, grumpy.

The trio set back to work, finding it hard to fit their puzzle pieces together. Pieces jutted out at various angles and small shapes turned into big shapes that made no sense to Eligh. Somehow, their creation was turning into something similar to the image on the banner, but in the end, it still amounted to much of nothing.

Fifty minutes later, thunderous cheers broke out at the center of the beach and all heads swiveled to the side as if snatched. The Gear Up! Games’ fanfare theme song hit the skies loudly, playing all throughout the island.

“Anddd that’s a wrap, everyone!! Team Mara wins Obstacle Course Mayhem! Mara Ono, Tessa Fass, and Anton Tilly are the WINNERS of this year’s Gear Up! Games!!! Three cheers for our champions!”

Those infamous invisible fireworks cracked apart in the speakers, hosting a celebration in the sky.

Eligh hadn’t noticed in all his miserable concentration on their impossible-to-build anemone, but the beach was packed with spectators. The previously eliminated contestants had been walking the sands like they were at an art gallery. Even now, people stood looking at the tall structure Eligh’s team had built up to their necks and asked, “What even is that?”

“I don’t know.”

And Eligh got fired up, screaming, “Exactly!!” And yet, I’m the the only dopey one on the planet. Sheesh! He thought.

Down the beach, a crowd of people were tossing the three champions in the air, chanting ‘Hurray!’ or something or another. Eligh’s team kept a distance, deciding to keep away from the crowd and give Mara’s team their moment in the spotlight. It was a couple minutes before Oliver came over to Eligh, hugging his brother’s shoulder.

“Bummer.” He said, “Thought we had them.” He turned Eligh slightly to show him his team’s puzzle. It was the blue and yellow flounder, finished except for the very tip top. Technically, it should have been simple, but it was a massive build. Much larger than anyone else’s on the beach.

“Almost had ‘em, little brother.” Eligh said, knocking his fish against Oliver’s chest.

Then, Oliver asked, “Who was the blind one leading this little operation, here?” He referred to Eligh’s team anemone.

“Oh, it was mostly Pat—”

“Him.” Patrice said, pointing to Eligh.

“Yup, all him.” Jordan agreed.

Oliver said, “Figured,” and walked away, his head tipped back and his mouth laughing at the clouds.

Eligh cried in protest, running after him, only to be shooed away when they finally reached Team Mara. It was Anton who reached them first, bounding over to Oliver—who already had his arms open wide—like a puppy.

“You did it!” Oliver said, swinging Anton around in a circle.

Eligh’s confused eyes were peeled.

Then, they almost exploded when Oliver leaned down a little and pecked Anton on the forehead with his lips. He gasped the words, “Wh-Wha-What is this? Has this been a thing?” so hard, he sounded like a fifty-year veteran smoker.

Oliver laughed boisterously, tossing his head back again. “Yeah, since I “ran away,” at least.”

“Don’t air quote it, you ran away.” Eligh insisted, recovering quickly. Then, “Well, I’m late, but congrats, I guess.”

Oliver shrugged, then pointed behind Eligh who turned and was up close and personal with Mara, her sparkling eyes, and pretty face.

“Mara On—!!”

Mara slapped a hand over Eligh’s mouth. “No.” She demanded and let go when Eligh nodded. She stepped closer to him and Eligh’s heart went pattering to its own unhealthy rhythm.

“S-S-So, you chose Tessa and Anton as teammates, huh?” Eligh asked, he swallowed three times and forced himself not to step back.

Mara smiled prettily, her eyes twinkling with something fun behind them. “Yup. Someone I like and someone shorter than me.”

Eligh did the math. “Wait.” Anton was obviously shorter, so he said, “Tessa? Someone you like?”

Nodding, Mara told him, “I like Tessa! She’s really fun. We’re also similar to each other; but,” she stepped so close, she squeezed out all the space between herself and Eligh, “I don’t like her when she’s with you.”

Church bells. Eligh was hearing church bells. His path to Heaven had opened up—for real this time, he could see it—and he swore he had grown wings; his body felt so light.

He also might have been crying. He couldn’t tell, he was overstimulated.

“I-I don’t know what to say.” Eligh stammered, he swallowed several more times and Mara laughed.

“I’m not sure, either, but you could start by standing up.”

“O-Oh…” Eligh had indeed been falling—to his knees as a result of knee-buckling happiness. He covered his red face with his arm, “Oh God.” He whined and felt his arm being peeled away.

Mara was looking at him, not laughing anymore. “I’m glad I played the Games with you.”

Eligh wasn’t sure what more his heart could take. But he’d take this any day.

“Me too.” He said.