There was silence as everyone processed what had just happened. Impossibly, Peter, the reigning champion, had just left and forfeited his chance to win again. With Peter gone, it was anybody's game, and everybody knew it. There was a shift of energy in the air; a little more excitement and tension. This competition was now more than just a game, and for the first time, Curly felt the rush of adrenaline with the possibility of winning.
"You doing okay there, Curly?" Tink asked, her fairy wings fluttering in his ear, "You look a little fierce."
"I feel great."
A bell sounded, signaling the official start of the tournament.
"Your first task," the feminine voice dictated, "is to cross the lagoon and reach the cliffs without entering the water."
There was a flurry of activity as lost boys and pirates rushed to accomplish the task. Curly racked his brain for a way to get to the cliffs. He couldn't fly over. In fact, the twins had already tried, and near the middle of the lagoon where the metallic forces were weak, they had fallen into the water. He noticed that several others had called up the Neverbird, and the huge machine was weaving back and forth through the air as more than one contestant was trying to guide it their way. Nibs was freezing the water in front of him and crossing over it, but it was taking him a really long time. Curly thought about using his portable zip line, but it wasn't long enough to reach the cliffs. He gazed across the beach and noticed that the pirate ship had been left unattended.
Curly slipped past everyone and crept onto the deserted deck. He wondered why no one else had thought to use the ship. Maybe because it required multiple people to sail it, and this was an individual competition.
He punched in the code to turn on the navigational system and unraveled his multichannel commander. He plugged the main part of the device into the helm, then connected the other ports at the sail, oar, and rudder override stations. He programmed each port with a different function and within seconds the ship was moving swiftly across the water. He passed Nibs and an angry-looking Captain Hook, who was wearing some very unsteady air shoes.
"If so much as a bolt is loose on that ship, Curly, I'll wring your neck!"
Curly looked up and saw that Slightly and Cecco were both riding the Neverbird and struggling for control. Noodler and Alf Mason were making good progress on some self propelling skeleton boards. If he wanted to catch up to them, he'd have to go faster. He opened the controller on his wristband and called up the cheetah whale. The giant creature crested with a mermaid on its back. Curly waved and she rolled her eyes at him before flipping her purple tail and diving back down into the water. Curly guided the cheetah whale behind the ship, watching its sleek, spotted skin glistening in the light. A few seconds later he felt the ship pick up speed as the whale pushed it along.
Curly had almost caught up to Noodler and Alf Mason when suddenly Cecco and Slightly fell from the Neverbird and into the water. The turbulence from their fall made Noodler and Alf Mason lose their balance, and they also fell into the water.
"You idiots!" Yelled Noodler. "You ruined our chances!"
"Well, we wouldn't have fallen if Slightly hadn't kicked me off the bird!" Cecco grumbled.
"A lot of good it did him," joked Alf Mason, glancing over at Slightly as he emerged from the water and gasped for air.
Curly sailed past the group and realized with some elation that he was now in the lead. But as he neared the cliffs, he heard a noise coming from below the deck. Just as the ship reached the shore, the door to the cabin burst open and Smee emerged. He ran past a stunned Curly, jumped onto the shore and nearly galloped to the face of the cliffs.
"Ha!" He Cried, slapping the rocks, "Nobody will make fun of me for napping on the ship after this!"
Curly groaned, but hurried over to the cliffs before anybody else could beat him. About 10 minutes later all of the contestants had arrived on shore and the systematic voice crackled on again.
"Task one complete."
A few panels on the sky arch lit up to show the current standings.
Smee: 100
Curly: 75
Nibs: 50
Captain Hook: 25
The tournament voice cut through the air again. "Your second task is to sing."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. They'd never had such an abrupt and vague challenge before. Curly heard a squeaking sound and noticed that 13 wired microphones were descending from the face of the cliffs. As they got closer, he saw that a name was inscribed on each one. They all scrambled to find their assigned microphone, then stood in silence for a few seconds until Noodler strained out a few unsteady notes. Suddenly everyone began singing at once, filling the air with discordant song. Curly's hands shook as he quietly sang the only song he knew - a lullaby about a lost lamb. Next to him, the twins were each laughing so hard that they couldn't manage to sing anything. He watched as their microphones retracted back up into the cliffs. Soon Smee, Bill Jukes, and Nibs had also lost their microphones. This made Curly even more nervous and he cracked on one of the words he was singing. His microphone was promptly pulled back up the cliff.
Eventually, the only two contestants still singing were Slightly and Captain Hook. The pirate was singing a lively jig about lobsters and Slightly was belting out some impassioned ballad about a lady wearing red. It was actually quite impressive.
"I never knew Slightly could sing like that," Nibs said, coming up behind Curly.
"No kidding. He's really talented."
Finally, Slightly hit a high note and Hook forgot his words. The microphone was whipped out of the pirate's hands and the Captain half yelled, half sang some colorful curses.
"Task two complete."
The sky arch panel lit up again to reflect the new standings.
Slightly: 100
Captain Hook: 100
Smee: 100
Curly: 75
Bill Jukes: 50
Nibs: 50
Cecco: 25
All the microphones began descending back towards them, and Curly was afraid they'd have to sing again, but the programmed voice cut in.
"Your third task is to climb the cliffs."
Slightly immediately began to scale the rock face with the help of his cabled microphone. The other microphones were only about halfway down, so Curly began to climb on his own. He was making good progress, but Slightly had a head start, and the twins were quickly making their way up as well. He reached his microphone and nearly ran up the sheer face of the cliff. He passed Slightly, but the twins were so nimble he couldn't catch them. When he reached the top he collapsed on the ground from the exertion and waited there until everyone else had made it up. Smee was last, grumbling about how his microphone wire had snapped under his weight.
"Task three complete."
Curly looked up to see the updated points.
Slightly: 125
Curly: 125
Twin 2: 100
Captain Hook: 100
Smee: 100
Twin 1: 75
Bill Jukes: 50
Nibs: 50
Cecco: 25
"Your next task is to design a tool to most efficiently fill up the pit in the jungle. You have thirty minutes."
"No way!" One of the twins cried. "You mean we had to dig that huge thing just so it could be filled up again?"
The other twin said something in reply, but it couldn't be heard over the near stampede of pirates and lost boys running towards the Imagination Tower. Curly started off with the group, but then stopped himself. He knew it was going to be chaos in the tower with everyone clamoring to use the same application. There was one other place the design program was installed, and even though it was a risky move, Curly figured his chances were better there. He grabbed his microphone, rappelled down the cliffs, and headed to the Silver Mountains.