One youngster raised his hand and asked, "What sort of courses will we face?". "You will find out once you take the course. You will have a chance to see the first course soon. Everything will be announced, and you will be given instructions once we leave the waiting room. The second and third courses will be different, and of course more difficult. That is all I can say", the Shade replied. "What if there is a tie, and more than five people got the worst time?", someone else asked. "All will be eliminated. We will take the worst five, but if someone is equal to them, they are disqualified too. There are no free passes", the Shade replied again.
"What if there are two people with the same winning time? Although very unlikely, it is a possibility", I chipped in. "In that case, we will have a deciding round. There can be only one winner. The grand prize fits one person only, and cannot be shared". I nodded and didn't ask any other questions. Others seemed satisfied with those answers too, and didn't ask about anything else either. "If you have no more questions, you will stay here until I come back to collect you. If you try to leave by yourselves, you will be disqualified. It shouldn't take long, so have some patience", the Shade said and left the room.
We were left alone, but none of these people were familiar to me. I didn't know how to approach them. I only knew people because of my mom, and never tried making friends by myself. 'I will just wait here quietly, it shouldn't take long', I thought. Others chatted away, and speculated about the courses we would face. Some of them were returning contestants, but the majority was just like me. It was their first time taking part in that contest.
"Hey, are you nervous?", one of the contestants came up to me and asked. "Yea, a bit. It's my first time, so I don't know what to expect", I replied a bit shyly. She smiled, "It's my first time too. By the way, my name is Tara and you?". Tara was an Atol and she was a bit taller than me, but I wasn't sure how old she was. "I'm... Anna, nice to meet you", I replied. "Nice to meet you too… Hey, hey, what do you think that mysterious pet is?", she asked. I thought about it for a while, but nothing came to my mind. "I hope it's not some sort of blob", I replied. She tilted her head to the side in confusion, "A blob?". "Oh! I'm talking about that Mimic Slime", I clarified. "Heh, never heard anyone call it a blob, but it sounds funny... Nah, it's not going to be that. This contest is really difficult from what I heard, and the prizes were always great. I hope it's something strong, but cute as well", she said.
"Don't get your hopes up, it's not like you will win it", one of the Lizards walked over and said. He was different though, because his scales were black with a hint of gold in a few places. That was the first time I saw such a Lizard. "Heh? Seems this guy has loads of confidence. I wonder if you are all talk and no show", Tara replied. "I was trying to be nice. Don't cry when you fail during the first course", he replied and looked at me. "We will see how you perform", he added. 'This guy is playing on my nerves', I thought and said, "Get off that high horse, everyone has a chance. You don't know what you will face. Atols are good climbers, if the course has anything to do with climbing, Tara will leave you in the dust. Oh, but I'm just trying to be nice".
A few people chucked, while he turned around and left. "Hey, you are not as meek as I thought you were… No offence", Tara said but I only smiled in reply. One of the Shades approached us and said quietly, "Look out for your badges. The first course is a group course. There are no rules stating someone can't take your badge, or place more hurdles your way. Be careful". She then left to a corner, and didn't speak with anyone else. "She's weird", Tara said. I looked at the Shade for a while, and decided to approach her. "Hey, thank you. I was unaware. What is your name?", I asked quietly.
She kept her eyes closed but replied, "Just call me Dawn". I nodded and let her be. I didn't want to disturb people for no reason, and she was nice enough to tell us that. "What did you talk about?", Tara asked when I returned. "I just thanked her. We have to watch out for others and keep our badges safe, otherwise we will lose instantly", I replied. Tara nodded and we conversed for a while, before someone came in to take us onto the stage.
The stage changed even more since I caught a glimpse of it before. There were loads of things around, large structures, pools of water and even pits with narrow planks connecting both sides. I also saw a few lines in red and blue painted on the ground. They spanned throughout a large part of the course, perhaps even the whole course. "Ladies and gentlemen! Please give a warm welcome to this year's contestants!", the announcer exclaimed while we lined up just outside the course. The Shade didn't lie either. There was another group of people who joined us. Altogether, there were at least fifty contestants, and resembled a small crowd of people. Besides the Shades, Lizards and Atols, there were a few rat-like people in the group. This was another race I haven't encountered before, and wondered where they came from. "Hey Tara, those rat-like people, who are they?", I asked curiously. "Oh! They are Vanauts. From what I've been told, they might look like bad guys, but they are really friendly to others", she replied.
I nodded and noticed two Slethers in the crowd as well. They were not females but males. "The contestants should be aware of the rules already, therefore we will move on straight to the course. All of you will be given a course map. The map dictates the route you will take, any deviation and you will have to return to the previous spot to continue. There are two routes to choose from. A difficult but short route, or long but easy route. They will be clearly marked on your map with two different colours. You are not allowed to change these routes midway. Once you choose a route, that is the route you will complete or fail. There are judges who will monitor you, therefore please take care not to break any rules. The contestants will be divided into two groups. That means, each of you will compete with about twenty contestants at the same time. The five worst times will be eliminated at the end of this course. If someone gives up, a judge will escort them out of the course. If you break the rules, you will be disqualified too. That is all for now, and I wish you the best of luck", the announcer said and left the stage.
We received a map of the course, which also had some kind of numbers attached. 'If I want to win, I have to go with the difficult route. Otherwise, there is no way for me to take first place. The routes start out just after we begin. They end at about half point of the course, where everyone will be left with the same route until the finish line', I thought. The difficult route had a few dangerous areas, like the pits with narrow planks. The easy route had pools of water, and a few easier obstacles. 'I should be alright, the biggest issue will be that wall', I thought. There was a large wooden wall, just at the end of the difficult route. I knew Tara would have no issues with that, but I wasn't so sure about myself.
"Tara, which route will you choose?", I asked. She thought about it for a while and replied, "The difficult one. Even if I lose a bit of time on the other traps and obstacles, I can quickly make it up on that wall. How about you?". "...I want to go with the difficult one too. I shouldn't struggle through the obstacles at the beginning, but that wall might give me issues", I said. She nodded, "Taking the easy but longer route might work out as well. If you are fast enough, you can make up some time over those who chose the difficult one. It's up to you, and how strong you feel really".
I gave it some more thought, and decided to go with the difficult route in the end. 'Although I might struggle, I should be able to pass it', I thought. With my route decided, I memorised the map as best as I could. The time for our preparation was up. We were then separated into two groups, and that was done with the use of those numbers attached to the map. I got the first group, while Tara was assigned to the second group. This meant we wouldn't compete with each other directly. "You are lucky. Since you are going second, you can watch us and gain some hints about the obstacles", I said. She shook her head, "It's not that easy. We will be escorted back to the waiting room. This would give us an unfair advantage, hence we can't watch. Anyway, give it your best, I'm sure you can make it!", she said and left with her group. My group on the other hand, headed towards the starting line.