The gym fell silent for a moment before buzzing with whispers once again.
"Hang? Can we hang? But of course! Challenge us with any trial you see fit! Any way to prove ourselves and we shall rise to meet it!" Barric responded, crossing his arms and assuming his confident glare.
The rest of the party all raised eyebrows and stared at Barric as he volunteered them to overcome any trial.
"Barric! What the fuck are you doing?" Layla whispered.
"It's settled then. We will put them through the trials!" Irrumare announced.
The entire gym burst into cheers and then into a rhythmic chant of:
"Can they hang?!
Can they hang?!
Can they hang?!"
While they all chanted, everyone went to work to start rearranging the gym right in front of their guests until there were five weight benches laid out for them.
Irrumare spoke again.
"Through these trails you will prove you can hang and learn some of the culture that brings us together. The first is the trial of strength. You must bench press your bodyweight five times while a spotter of your choice keeps you safe. Choose your spotters and assume the position on the benches when you're ready!" he told them.
Barric rubbed his chin for a moment and pointed at the biggest man in the gym.
"You! You seem like a strong one!" the King said.
Quinn looked about before pointing at what appeared to be the sweatiest man in the gym.
"You!" he said.
Layla's face was red with embarrassment as she looked between all the women, eventually pointing at a tall tanned woman with sweat glistening abs.
"Could you spot me? If you don't mind that is…" she asked.
Hana seemed annoyed that Barric had already picked the largest man in the gym and settled with the second largest.
"I guess you'll do," she commented.
Sylas easily picked out a short, but strong looking person whose gender was unapparent, but unimportant to him.
"Could I ask you to assist me?" he asked politely.
Once everyone had picked their spotters they all laid on the benches arranged for them and revealed their weights. The weights were loaded onto the bars for them and their spotters assumed their positions. The positioning of the spotters surprised all of them. Once they placed their hands under the bars the party members would have to lift, they each rested their crotches on the faces of each of them, making sure to leave their mouths uncovered.
"Begin!" Irrumare said.
"Well damn, this thing's gonna dent my forehead if I'm not careful!" Barric commented on the package of his spotter while easily lifting the weights.
"Ah! I… I didn't know we were gonna do all that!" Layla said, embarrassed that she was secretly enjoying this in a room full of other people. She struggled to lift her weight more than once and the strong woman she picked had to intervene almost immediately.
"Oh hell, but fuck yeah!" Quinn yelled, quite happy with his selection of spotter and this pleasant surprise. Though the small cat boy failed to lift his bar even once, feeling even smaller once his spotter had to save him.
"You're cute and all, but you pale in comparison to my master. Besides, I didn't even need a spotter!" Hana bragged, easily lifting her bar many more times than was required.
"Seriously? At Least I picked well," Sylas said, effortlessly lifting his bar only the exact five times required.
"The trial of strength is over! Now for the trial of speed!" Irrumare announced. Once all of the party members had dismounted their benches, the gym was quickly rearranged once again. Five treadmills were arranged all next to each other in a row for them.
Irrumare continued.
"For the trial of speed you must run a single mile in under seven minutes. Should you start to slow down, your chosen spotter will motivate you with encouraging slaps!" He explained.
"Now begin!" Irrumare said again.
Their spotters each activated the control orb for their machines and the treads started up. They were slow at first, but they started to gain speed that would set the pace for them to run the distance in the allotted time.
Everyone in the party seemed to be off to a strong start except for Layla who was already panting and hacking like she might cough up a lung.
"What's going on sis? I thought elves were supposed to be good at running!" Barric teased.
"Ah! Not this elf mother fucker! I took the royal horses every chance I got!" Layla admitted.
"And now you're paying for it!" Barric continued to tease before starting to get a bit winded himself.
"Are you two ok?" Quinn asked, easily keeping on track.
"I fucking hate cardio!" the King said, starting to lag behind a bit, edging close to the back of his treadmill. His spotter reached out and started to give him encouraging slaps right across his ass to try and get him back in the game. It worked as the King pushed onwards, but Layla was starting to slow down as well. The strong, tanned, woman she had picked as her spotter began to slap her rear, sending it jiggling as the elf coughed and gasped in surprise.
Hana glistened with sweat and kept on pace easily enough as she watched her master struggle.
"Master! I do not recall your endurance being this weak! Was I wrong to follow you?" she scolded him, her heaving chest bouncing violently as she ran.
"How do you even do it Hana? It's like torture!" Barric asked.
"All part of the demon army training. You must be quick to overcome your enemies!" Hana assured him.
Layla was still at the edge of her treadmill, her spotter relentlessly swatting at her ass. She was still running, moaning at each slap, but she still had not scooted back up to her original position. Quinn raised an eyebrow, pretty sure she was staying behind just to get punished. Finally she slipped and was sent flying off the back end of the treadmill, her spotter catching her in her big strong arms. The elf stared up at the woman.
"Thank you…" Layla said with big puppy dog eyes.
Sylas looked back at her unimpressed as he easily kept up with Quinn and Hana.
The time on their challenge was growing close to over and with only a minute left on the clock the King was also sent flying off the back of his treadmill. He landed softly in the arms of his spotter and looked up at him with a big grin.
"Thanks man!… You can put me down now," Barric said, the huge man gently returning him to his feet.
Finally the challenge came to an end with Quinn, Hana, and Sylas having finished their miles.
Quinn and Hana both panted while Sylas took a deep breath and let out a deep sigh with no sign of having even broken a sweat.
Irrumare spoke up once again.
"The trial of speed is now over. It is time for our third and final trial. The trial of focus!" he announced.
"Focus?" Barric asked out loud.
"That's right!" Irrumare assured him. "Focus is one of the most overlooked skills here. How can you lift if you cannot focus on your grip and your limits? How can you run if you can focus on pacing yourself? How can you expect to do anything if you can not focus on your motivation, on your goal?" He explained.
"I understand…" Barric said mostly to himself, giving him a nod.
"Then let us continue," Irrumare said.
Once everyone had dismounted their treadmills the gym was rearranged once more except this time no new machines were laid out in front of them. Instead, their spotters each handed them a folded jump rope. They then stepped back and turned around. Everyone in the party except for Hana and Sylas gasped as the spotters began to strip their bottoms off while their backs were turned to the party. They bent over and began to do something the party couldn't see and once they were done they stood up straight with their backs still to them.
"For the trial of focus you will have ten seconds to read the message written on the thigh of your spotters. You must do this while you jump rope. If you get caught on your rope, you're out, if you cannot repeat the message written on their thigh you're out, and you have to keep jumping rope while you repeat the message. Once you all begin jumping, I will begin the trial," Irrumare explained.
"Sounds easy enough!" Barric said confidently looking left and right to his friends. "Everyone ready?"
"Yea!" Quinn said.
"I think so…" Layla said.
"Of course!" Hana said.
Sylas nodded.
"Lets fucking go then!" the King said, leading the way as he began to start jumping his rope first. The rest of the party followed suit and soon enough they were all jumping as well.
"Alright then. Turn around spotters," Irrumare said.
Sure enough all of the spotters turned around at the same time to reveal the writing on their thighs, but to the party's dismay the writing was all upside down and the spotter's crotches were exposed!
Barric nearly tripped on his rope the moment his massive spotter's enormous limp elephant's trunk was exposed. He couldn't help but stare at it for a few seconds before realizing time was ticking by. It took all his will power to tear his eyes away from it and begin deciphering the upside down text.
Meanwhile the rest of his friends were having their own struggles.
Quinn immediately tripped on rope and collapsed to the floor when the spotters turned around.
"Fuck!" he yelled, landing hard on the floor, but still looking up to admire the man he picked out.
After only a few seconds Layla had frozen in place with embarrassment, standing there still as stone as she stared at the nude crotch of the giant woman she had picked.
Akaihana kept jumping her rope, but she squinted as she struggled to read, glancing back and forth from the text and the impressive hammer of her chosen spotter.
Sylas raised an eyebrow once the spotters turned around and the crotch of the mysterious gendered person he had picked was revealed.
"Huh… I would've never guessed," he commented, doing his best to then focus on reading the text.
Before they knew it the time was up and Irrumare yelled.
"That's it! Time!" he said, all of the spotters turning back around.
At this point only Barric, Hana, and Sylas were still jumping rope.
"So, Anyone able to read what it said?" Irrumare asked.
Hana stopped jumping her rope and tossed it away.
"Yea, I have no idea what that shit said. I only got halfway through. Damn human language is so hard to read," she said, putting her hands on her hips and letting out a sigh.
Irrumare looked to Barric next.
The King was still jumping his rope and looking quite confident.
"It said, 'Dains forbear games, sad forbear dads!" he announced.
"Wrong!" Irrumare said to everyone in the party's surprise except for Sylas.
"Wait what?" Barric asked, tripping on his rope in shock and crashing to the floor.
All eyes were now on Sylas as he continued to jump rope and Irrumare finally turned to him.
"Well?" he asked.
"Gains before dames, abs before lads," Sylas said, catching the rope under his foot to finally bring it to a stop.
The gym was silent for a moment before Irrumare spoke up.
"That's right…" he said, crossing his arms and offering them an impressed smile. "You passed all three trials," he told the demon.
"They can hang!" a voice from the back of the gym yelled.
"They sure can," Irrumare nodded.
The entire gym let a cheer and soon enough they were all chanting;
"They can hang! They can hang! They can hang!"
Barric rose to his feet and quickly scooped up Sylas to sit him on his strong shoulder.
"You did it bro! You carried us!" the King said, as the gym continued to chant.
Sylas crossed his arms as well and looked to Irrumare and then the others with a big grin.