** PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT – CHALLENGE ACTIVITY IN THE COURTYARD IN 15 MINUTES** rang throughout the prison repetitively on the tannoy system.
'This must be one of Colonel Cannon's training days' Chase said aloud to himself as his cellmate ignored him once again. A whole week had passed by since cellmate 002 had saved his life and Chase still did not have the slightest clue what the real name of his savior was. But Chase was not bothered by this anymore, he had new friends now and he knew that he would be able to spend time with them at the challenge activity. 'There was no way in hell that Wiz would miss this' Chase thought to himself as he made his way to the courtyard.
"Today's challenge was created to test one's agility and balance, these are both extremely underrated in combat and are an underutilized skill. Each convict will aim to complete the assault course in the quickest time possible" Colonel Cannon instructed as everybody else listened respectfully. This obedient behavior was rare amongst the convicts, but it was clear that he was respected by many whilst others completely feared him. It made sense that the prison would hire ex-military personnel to ensure that prisoners are kept disciplined. In addition, he was a vivid fight fan and competed in the past himself despite never making a career out of it. 'He must be part of the corruption' Chase thought as he realized that the underground fight tournaments would not be able to run in the prison without his blessing.
"ANY QUESTIONS? NO? GOOD" The Colonel shouted, moving on swiftly before anyone had time to ask a question.
"INMATE 398, YOU'RE UP."
Chase glanced around the group of convicts to see who was up first. There was only a small group of people present at the challenge today. The challenges usually only consisted of 'fresh meat' as they were eager to improve their skills whilst the more experienced fighters and prisoners would often focus solely on fighting. There was Wiz, Rocky, Apollo and Drew plus a few others.
A young lad with red pointy hair stepped forward looking unfazed at the task ahead. He was not the tallest amongst the convicts present but he had a bulky body which was apparent that contained power. The Colonel scanned the young lads fight bracelet and up came a hologram of his fighters ID.
[Fighter: Dynamite]
[Specialized Skill: Explosiveness]
[Level 9]
The whole group were intrigued by Dynamites specialized skill and were looking forward to seeing it being used. Dynamite rushed ahead immediately into the agility course not wasting anytime. First up was the side walls in which the objective was to make it to the other side of the container without touching the ground. The walls were broken off into small sections and tilted at a 100-degree angle in which participants were required to jump side to side until they made it to the other end. Dynamite made it through this section without too much trouble. Living up to his specialized skill he was able to explosively dart from wall to wall clearing the drop zone area with ease.
Next was the stepping stones, but all was not what it seemed. Some of the stepping stones were not fixed into the stream that the next section was built over. This section would test one's agility and balance if one of the stepping stones were to give way. Dynamite became victim to one of these stones but impressively managed to use the power of his calf muscles to push off the stone as soon as it began to give way. He had cleared the first two sections and was already racing ahead to begin the third and final section.
The final section of the challenge was definitely the most daunting of them all. There was a balancing beam positioned 15 meters from the ground which spanned the entire length of the courtyard. The task was simple. Cross the beam safely without falling into the safety net. For the first time so far, Dynamite looked a little apprehensive before beginning one of the sections. His legs all of a sudden didn't look so stable as they were shaking vigorously. It became apparent to everyone that Dynamite had a fear of heights and this is what was slowing him down. To add to the difficulty, small boulders were being fired towards balance beam to help knock the participants off their balance. Dynamite made his way on to the beam on all fours mimicking a cat to ensure that he would not fall. He was making steady progress across the beam when suddenly the small boulders began to make contact with him. Rather than using his agility and avoiding contact with the boulders, Dynamite would let them make contact with him and use his bulky figure to his advantage. The boulders simply bounced off him, allowing him to maintain balance on the beam. This was not what the challenge was created for but Colonel Cannon admired his adaptability to get the job done by any means necessary.
3 minutes 16 seconds was displayed on Dynamites hologram as he finished the course and joined the others. The Colonel was old school and did not offer praise often but he also did not slander Dynamites attempt so Chase and the others assumed that he did a good job. Dynamite looked unnerved after the challenge despite tackling a big fear of his. Chase wished that he had the ability to tackle his fears head on and felt slightly jealous of Dynamite.
"Good luck beating that score" Dynamite confidently said to the rest of the group. Dynamite clearly did not feel threatened by the others as he flaunted despite being severely slowed down by the last section of the challenge.
"He's right guys" Chase said with a hint of disappointment. "I have no chance of beating that".
"Don't worry, I can give you a few tips" Wiz responded in a big brother fashion trying not to let Chase's confidence drop too much.
"NEXT… INMATE 402" Colonel Cannon shouted over the group.