The rest of the Screaming Gophers seemed to think over Gwen's statement, their eyes glazing over in thought. All of them were in deep thought 'till the sound of the siren blared to life once again, signifying the end of the decision making period.
"Seeing as no one else has spoken out, am I to assume that we're going based on my plan?"
Gwen asked, her tone one of confidence. The rest of the team all either nodded or gave some other form of non-verbal acceptance, with Heather huffing in visible annoyance.
Gwen chose to ignore Heather's seething at her plan not being chosen, instead focusing her attention at the sight before her.
Before the Screaming Gophers was an insane obstacle course, one that seemed to span well over 50 meters. As Gwen examined the obstacle course, she also took note of the other team doing the same.
From the looks on their faces, they appeared confident that they would win this competition; something Gwen hoped to be able to wipe away by the end of it.
The obstacle course started out simple with a balance challenge, one in which the competitor would have to cross over a narrow plank while cannons were shot at them. "Heather."
Gwen said, gaining the attention of not just Heather, but their entire team. "You'll be doing the first challenge. You've mentioned that you were a cheerleader, something that should've improved your balance and coordination."
Gwen stopped to gauge the reaction of her team. Seeing them all either nod in acceptance or gain contemplative looks, Gwen nodded before continuing, "The person you're most likely to compete against is Tyler, this is because among their team, he's the only member flexible enough to compete. So, prepare to do better than him; however, remember that it's possible they could put you against someone who's not as good, following a similar plan to the one you created beforehand."
Gwen said this, but highly doubted that that would be the plan the other team came up with, this was because of one specific member of the other team; Noah.
Noah had repeatedly shown himself to be incredibly competent, if not a little disdain worthy. This meant that he'd most likely be in charge of organizing their team. This was the main reason Gwen had decided to take charge instead of allowing their team to follow Heather's plan.
While the plan wasn't terrible, it was nowhere good enough to compete against Noah's.
As her eyes scanned the remaining obstacles, the next one drew her attention, soliciting a glare from her directed at Chris. 'Of course, I should've expected Chris to make the challenges incredibly cruel considering the sadistic streak he's already shown himself to have.'
Gwen having such a strong reaction at the sight of the next obstacle was understandable, it was a blindfolded one after all. In the next obstacle, the challenge was to avoid swinging logs while being blindfolded, something that would prove incredibly challenging.
Gwen's choice for this obstacle could be viewed as an odd one, but was completely understandable when you understood her thought process. "For the next obstacle course, Lindsay, you'll be the one to compete in it."
While some may view her choice as cruel, Gwen understood that this was truly the best obstacle for her. This was because of a couple of factors. Number one, this challenge was an entirely luck based one that required no complex thinking, something that would be perfectly suited for Lindsay.
Number two, the challenge was one that relied on luck, something Gwen had found Lindsay to have in spades.
Number three, understanding how the other team thought, Gwen could guess that the most likely member they'd select would be Harold. Harold was someone Gwen found to have a strange sixth sense, something only Lindsay's own strange luck would be able to compete with.
While the other members of the Screaming Gophers seemed a bit disgruntled at Gwen's choice, they stayed silent, seemingly silently consenting to the idea. Lindsay, on the other hand, seemed completely oblivious to the danger the course could present to her, seeming quite excited instead.
There was another reason Gwen was choosing to be so strategic in her selections that she hadn't told the other members of her team, one that could be viewed as the most important. That was, the other team currently had one more member than them.
With the previous two competitions, the other team eliminated both Sadie and Katie, leaving them at a disadvantage for future competitions in terms of members. But, with Izzy, Aoife, and Bridgette gone, their team was actually down one member compared to the Killer Bass. (One of the competitions was a reward one, meaning no one was eliminated.)
While this may not seem like a big deal, Chris would obviously make the challenge fit for the team with the smallest members, meaning the other team would have a choice of leaving one member out. This would result in them having fewer weak links, something that could only be countered with a completely optimal team composition of the Screaming Gophers.
Shaking off these complex thoughts, Gwen continued to look on at the third obstacle, her mind whirling to come up with who would compete in it. This obstacle was a parkour layout, something that seemed to bring a small nostalgic smile to Gwen's face.
"For the next obstacle, I'll be competing. During my third challenge, I was forced to complete obstacle courses, something that should give me a huge advantage." Gwen stated, unconcealed confidence in her tone.
The others shrugged, not seeming to mind her choice. So, Gwen carried on, looking at the fourth obstacle.
This obstacle caused Gwen's eyes to narrow in thought, her mind spinning like crazy to come up with the best player for it. Gwen cursed in her mind, feeling annoyed that the best members of their team for this obstacle were currently not here.
This obstacle was a simple one, one in which the person was forced to climb a 12 meter rope, before sliding down the other side of it, all while rocks were dropped toward you that you had to dodge.
Gwen thought about this choice long and hard, eventually settling on Justin being the best member for this specific obstacle. She realized that with this obstacle, they probably wouldn't do as well as the other team, so chose to minimize the gap as much as possible.
Gwen's team showed minimal reaction at the choice, finding Justin to be the best fit for the position.
The next obstacle was one with an easy choice, one that caused a smile to spread across Gwen's face. This competition was one where the competitor had to pick up 20-pound rock and carry them across a bridge to a bucket. Once the bucket reached a certain weight, a drawbridge would open to the next challenge.
The twist for this challenge was that the bridge had spots that could easily collapse, and while there were ways back up, they would take a long while to reach.
Gwen's choice for this competition was obvious; while in the past, she would've worried over his selection of which path to cross on the bridge, ever since coming back from his third challenge, DJ seemed to have a more intelligent gleam in his eye.
"DJ, you're up for the next challenge." When Gwen said this, DJ's reaction was one that surprised the rest of the team; he just nodded his head in acceptance, seeming to have already suspected this outcome.
The reasoning behind the teams surprise was that they'd found DJ to be a little cowardly, so they had expected him to protest to his selection. Gwen nodded at this sight however, already expecting it.
Without further ado, Gwen moved on to the next challenge, trying to have all the members selected before Chris chose to start the competition.
The next obstacle was one that caused Gwen no small amount of worry. This competition was clearly one Chris had concocted for the pure purpose of torturing the two teams; it was to fight a bear.
However, while Gwen was thinking of who to select, a member of the team spoke out on their own, volunteering for this challenge. Gwen was a little surprised upon learning of who specifically this member was; it was Justin.
The reason behind Justin's volunteering evidently lied in his third challenge, but Gwen chose not to question it, giving the big man a nod of acceptance instead.
Gwen moved on to the sixth challenge, one that she couldn't find a member of her team that fit at all. This challenge was one in which the person had to wrangle a bunch of animals into a pin.
The reason Gwen couldn't find a suitable member of her team for this competition had more to do with her not knowing much about them rather than there not being a compatible member however.
So, Gwen chose to do what she thought any good leader should, "Do the remaining members want to organize who goes win by yourselves? I don't know any of you well enough to choose one of you for any of the competitions."
The members of the Screaming Gophers seemed surprised at her admission, seeming to gain a bit more respect for her as a result.
The remaining members gave her a nod, looking toward each other as they formed a small circle amongst themselves, deciding on who should compete in which competition.
Around five minutes after this, Chris seemed to have finally finished his explanation of the course.
"Alright! Are you two teams ready?" Chris asked, but before either could answer, he continued. "Because whether you're ready or not, the competition is beginning in 3, 2, 1!"
As his words finished, a horn blared, signifying that the two teams needed to get into their positions.
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A/N: Sorry about not uploading yesterday, I was out for mother's day and didn't have any time to write. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!