The Ranch

Tih & Friends (9)

"TIH!" Theodore reaches out but it's too late.

Axel and Theodore watch Tih disappear below the horizon of the cylinder. Axel is giddy with inner glee, but he can't immerse himself in it as it's time for Theodore to avenge his brethren.

Although Theodore is tired and Axel has been training, Axel isn't Theodore's match. The fight doesn't last long before Axel's thrown off the side, but it doesn't matter to him. He revels in his previous act as he looks around the others that have fallen, searching for the loser.

Unbeknownst to the Theo that avenges his fallen comrade and the gleeful Axel, Tih's still in the game, using a method that only a few would be able to.

Before falling too far from the cylinder, Tih's hand formed a claw and latched onto a rocky surface. There's actually quite a few people that would be able to do this part. Some would do it and try to climb back up, but the cylinder is turning too fast for them to ever reach the surface. The other option is hanging on for dear life until it makes its rotation. The problem with this is that the circumference of the cylinder is so long, their fingers lose strength before they can reach the other side.

That's why only dummies and Tih would try this. Tih resurfaces on the other side, without Theodore and Axel's knowing.

On the other side, Victor is having a relaxed time.
At least he was until he noticed his struggling teammates and went to help Sherlock and Kai. The two have only been in the mountain region of the island during parkour class. The island doesn't seem to change season, so the only terrain they're familiar with is the easiest one on the circular course.

It's severe to the point that Kai has only read descriptions of snow before. While being chased, he scoops up some snow and pokes it. It creates an indent. He licks the snow and the parts that touched his tongue melt. The chill numbs his hand and discolors it pink.

He thinks about making it yellow, but can't do it and run at the same time and is forced to give up on the experiment. Recalling something, he crams the cold snow into a ball before chucking it behind him. His aim isn't very good and it misses. This starts a snowball fight with those in the snow domain.

He dodges the first few but more and more people join in and it becomes an all out brawl. Kai is punted in the eye with a solid ball of snow, blinding his vision momentarily. Someone takes the chance to attack him and Kai's forced to fight the attacker in unfamiliar terrain. It quickly becomes obvious who's on the losing side.

While Victor goes to help Kai, Sherlock slips off and they lose another member, and even though Victor's come to help, the snowball fight has become chaotic.

Basile is covered in slime, dodging long ranged weapons in a slimy terrain. Tih has come around the cylinder and is dodging attacks, while Theodore is avenging Tih by throwing out whoever he happens to land his eyes on. Abel is tuckered out from running to the most optimal position on the cylinder and drops down. Pierre falls off with a guy he was fighting with. Basile is fighting around when an opponent shows up, but he mostly stays away from people to preserve his strength.

The snowball fight is so heavily concentrated, that by the time anyone realizes it, they're at the end of the cylinder and it becomes a mess. Kai falls off during the commotion, but Victor manages to escape.

This leaves Victor and Basile on the left side, and Tih and Theodore on the right cylinder. The way the scoring works for this game is slightly different from the others. Both cylinders are treated separately and the top fifty for each side will earn points. For example, if there's three people on one side but one on the other, the last one remaining on that other side will gain the top amount of points one can earn.

With that said, there's less than fifty on both sides by now, and it continues to dwindle as it speeds up. At six miles per hour, around forty remain on both sides. At ten, thirty. When it hits the fifteen mark, people no longer have time to fight as their already tired bodies have to run to keep up with the turning motion.

Some get unlucky and are slowed by the terrain they're in. Others still have the stamina to zig-zag across the field, avoiding the worst areas. Only ten to eleven remain on either side.

Eight still remain on either side as the speed approaches twenty, then thirty. At thirty, Basile and Theodore fall off, along with another, leaving six or seven on each side. The speed keeps increasing, but those remaining are strong. All but one are in the older generation. That outlier becomes a target for those not tripped up by the high speed.

Two people find their way to Tih's leisure walk through sand. They attack. Tih dodges. This goes on and the rate at which the speed increases...well, increases.

It quickly reaches the speed of your average roller coaster, eighty mph, and very few are left, but they're still there.

The men by Tih's side are finding it more and more difficult to attack and run at the same time. They follow Tih religiously, not expecting him to go to the single worst terrain there is. The moment they step on the slime, the air creates a whoosh sound as their feet are flung from the ground and away they go. Instead of falling in a circular arc following the cylinder, they create more of a rounded perpendicular angle.

Tih watches them fly away with interest. In the next moment, he sits on the slime and lets himself be ejected into the air, before falling and losing.

Instructor Kane watched this moment live and, in this order, bursts out laughing, loses his balance, and is swept off the edge.

The event soon ends and the final scores are tallied with Poseidon landing in fifth place and Gladiators in second. Axel's team lands twenty-sixth by the way.

As they were waiting to start the next round, the announcer spoke up," It seems the time each game took over-extended our estimates. The construction team will need an adequate amount of time to build the top sixteen challenges. Therefore, it is unfortunate, but we'll have to cancel our last game."

Top eight in this colosseum and the top eight in the other colosseum will be going to the next round, the rest will be disqualified.

The sudden announcement caused a loud ruckus among those just below eighth place, but what's done is done. It's already been approved of by those in charge, so those with no power have no say.

It should be said, those four games lasted eight hours, exhausting a lot of the weaker soldiers' energy, so even if they were to play another round, they wouldn't improve by much. Those currently in the top have the strength to back it up with most of the members being veterans who could still continue for another twenty-four hours without tiring. So, even with another round, the ranks wouldn't change much unless there was an upset, but the only dark horse is Tih's team full of newbies.

It's been decided that the next round will start tomorrow, same time. If it were any normal person, one day of rest would not be nearly enough to revitalize someone to their peak condition, but on the island, most don't need that rest. This puts the team of newbies at a disadvantage, but that's for their tomorrow selves to deal with.

Tih's team separates from Henri and collapses onto their beds, falling asleep in the same clothes. Some will come to regret this, especially someone covered in slime, but they're too lazy to mind it for now. The outlier in almost everything he does, Tih, takes a shower first before grabbing a bite to eat. Only after all of that, does he return to the apartment to sleep in fuzzy pajamas purchased by Phillip.

Author's note: Put dummies instead of dumbasses cuz we keep it pg friendly here...yeah, cuz my novel's totally child friendly   ( ͒•·̫|