Everybody looked around the group checking each jumpsuit to see who was inmate 402 was. Apollo stepped forward to acknowledge it was him and began to make his way towards the challenge course. Chase along with a few other of the convicts sighed in relief that they were not next whereas Wiz and Rocky were eagerly awaiting to get on with the challenge.
Apollo was not the biggest nor was he the smallest, he had short black hair with curls in with a patchy beard. His physique was quite slim as he had a similar build to Chase. Even Chase did not find Apollo intimidating in the slightest, the same goes to Drew. This is why Chase was able to fit into this social group whereas in the past he struggled to make any real connections. Wiz and Rocky were clearly the leaders of the group and shared many similarities whereas Chase, Apollo and Drew were much more reserved and followed Wiz and Rocky at every turn. It was difficult for Chase to believe that Apollo was in this place full stop, never mind for assaulting a teacher. This seemed out of character for Apollo.
Apollo did not look visibly nervous as he approached the challenge course but he wasn't brimming with confidence either. He extended his arm and allowed Colonel Cannon to scan his fight bracelet.
[Fighter – Apollo]
[Specialized Skill- Unknown]
[Level 2]
Watching Apollo complete the course was much more important for Chase as they were similar in body size, fighting levels and both did not have a specialized skill as of yet. He needed to gain as much knowledge as possible before it was his turn to take part.
Wiz "Pay close attention to this one buddy, you can learn a lot by studying others".
Apollo got started with the side walls but used a rather unconventional method to get across. He would jump to each wall and hang on for dear life which was completely different to Dynamite who used the power and explosiveness from his legs to jump side to side. But never the less, he made It through. This method of crossing was far from time efficient but Chase took notes as he needed every bit of help he could get.
Next was the stepping stones, Apollo similar to the side wall challenge would jump from each stone and grab onto it to ensure he would not fall off. This method was very tiring and exerted a lot of energy. What Apollo did not take into consideration was that some of the stones would give way and sink hence challenging the participants agility and balance. As Apollo jumped onto his fourth stepping stone it immediately sunk and flipped him over into the small stream. As his head popped up out of the water and he began to make his way out of the stream his fight bracelet notified him that his challenge had failed.
"Pathetic" uttered the Colonel who was clearly unimpressed with that attempt by Apollo.
Next up was Drew and A few other convicts who looked equally as incompetent. They all suffered the same fate as Apollo and failed the challenge before even reaching the final section. Chase knew he would have to come up with a better game plan if he wanted to succeed in this challenge. There was only him, Wiz and Rocky left and so far, only Dynamite had completed the course. In hindsight he made it look rather easy where as everyone else had struggled greatly. With every failed attempt the size of the task increased greatly in Chase's head as he was thinking endlessly of ways to tackle the course.
"INMATE 458 GET READY" demanded Colonel Cannon.
It was Wiz's turn next. Unlike most of the others Wiz had a great amount of confidence and felt that this type of challenge was suited to his skillset. Afterall, Wiz's specialized skill was his speed.
"Wait, you said that you would give me some tips for the challenge" expressed Chase in a nervous fashion. It was unclear whether Chase would see Wiz again before his turn so he wanted as much information as possible.
"Sure.. I'll let you into a little secret Sensei Li taught me back at the fight academy. Always stay on your toes. Never stay flat footed as this will affect your mobility" Wiz responded. Wiz walked away towards the Colonel whilst Rocky gave a slight smile as if to acknowledge that would have been the exact tip he would of gave. Chase felt as though the tip was too vague and wasn't even sure how he could apply it during the challenge course.
Chase soon snapped out of his thoughts when Wiz's fight bracelet was scanned and his fighters ID hologram appeared.
[Fighter: Wiz]
[Specialized Skill: Speed]
[Level 8]
Wiz adopted a similar approach to Dynamite when tackling the side wall challenge springing from side to side on each foot to jump from one wall to another. The first section was a breeze as Wiz got through it without any trouble or hesitation. Chase watched very carefully and picked up on the advice that he had received moments before. Wiz was never flat footed whilst moving and was always poached up on his toes ready to go. The same again went for the stepping stones in which Wiz used his speed to his advantage as by the time a stone began to sink, he had already moved onto the next one. Once again Chase paid a great amount of attention to the feet of Wiz and noticed again that Wiz's toes were the only point of contact with the stones when moving. Chase was now practicing this technique whist stood still watching Wiz as he knew that this method was the best chance he would have passing the challenge. Approaching the balance beam Wiz did not seem to have the same nervous energy that Dynamite had prior to him. Although not being able to use his speed to his advantage on this section due to the small width of the beam, Wiz still advanced along the beam at a steady pace avoiding all the boulders being fired towards him. Wiz was agile enough to get out of the way at the last moments whilst simultaneously maintaining his balance on the beam. He completed the challenge without any problems and had beaten Dynamites score by 6 seconds.
3 minutes 10 seconds was displayed on Wiz's hologram as he made his way back to the others with a confident smirk on his face. Everybody who had previously failed the challenge along with Chase were in awe of what they had just seen but Chase couldn't stand there admiring Wiz for too long as there were only two people left and he needed to focus on the task ahead.
Once again the Colonel kept quiet and was already thinking about the next challenger. "INMATE 333 , YOU'RE UP!"
'Phew' Chase thought to himself as it was Rocky's number that had been called. Rocky also did not lack confidence and was identical to Wiz in how he looked and acted. In fact, the only way you could tell them apart from a distance was the difference in hair color as Rocky's spiked hair was mousey brown in stark contrast to Wiz's bleach blonde spiked hair. To add to the similarities, Rocky's specialized skill and fight level were the exact same as Wiz's as Rocky's hologram appeared after the Colonel had scanned his bracelet.
[Fighter: Rocky]
[Specialized Skill: Speed]
[Level 8]
Even Wiz was slightly taken aback by this as the similarities between the two were almost starting to become creepy. Just as Wiz did, Rocky advanced through the first two sections of the challenge with relative ease using his pace to his advantage.
"He must be close to your time here Wiz" Chase reminded Wiz as Rocky was about to take on the balance beam. Once again Rocky adopted the same approach as Wiz and made it across the beam with minimal issues. Everyone waited in anticipation to find out the challenge completion time as his attempt was almost a carbon copy of what Wiz did prior to him.
'3 minutes 10 seconds' popped up on Rocky's hologram. He and Wiz had the exact same time. Chase was left bemused as to how similar the two guys were in every department; persona, looks, skills and now even challenges.
But now the time had come, there was nobody else left.
"INMATE 457" called the Colonel.