The Ranch

The Aftermath (1)

The audience, "..."

The teams, "..."

The announcer, "..."

The commentators, "..."

Tih, "?"

The child doesn't even understand what he's done. He has flipped the entire round on it's head. He not only self-destructed his own game, but the opponents as well. Before the incident(the second one, not the first one) happened, they thought it was game over for Team Poseidon. The crowd along with everyone in the colosseum thought they had lost their chance at top eight. And all because a pig teammate destroyed their own chances at winning.

But then there was another plot twist. That same pig teammate hopped over the divider(no one's thought of that before) and instead of more self-infliction, he pulled the other team down with him.

Simon D looks at the scene in exasperation. He keeps glancing at the staff for help. Someone says something through his earpiece and, getting a hold of himself, Simon D coughs to gain the audience's attention," It seems we have a team of troublemakers this year. Shall we interview them while we reset the stage?"

"Wait!" A small voice calls out from among the voices. The camera lands on Sherlock," The goal of the game is to roll the boulder to the finish line right?"

Simon D listens in, then answers the boy's question,  "...Correct, why?"

"Then as long as all of the boulder crosses the finish line, it counts as a win." He looks towards Victor.

Victor nods in understanding," Basile, the tent."

Basile pulls out a folded, nylon blanket. Originally folded into one square foot, opening it up revealed the actual size. Estimating, it's about the size of suburban lawn.

Victor instructs Tih to carry the larger pieces and place them on one side of the blanket. The rest help with the ones they can manage. Theodore can lift fragments twice the size of his head. Victor's are only a little smaller and Basile only a little smaller than that.

After everything's put in, they take the edges and wrap the boulder in one big bundle. They bring it up the pointy wall with the pulley. Theodore hands it off to Tih, letting him drag it along the path. With the help of the others pushing the chunks to one side of the lane, they can bypass the trivia questions.

The heavy fragments dragged across the dirt create a zen garden effect. Tih drags it across all the obstacles, finally dropping the sturdy cloth at the end of the lane.

"..." The crowd looks towards the announcer for approval.

"...And our winners are Team Poseidon. Congratulations!" The energy in his voice picks up at the end.

The opponents couldn't contend even if they wanted to. Who told their opponents to have a giant blanket on hand?

The eight people on the ground left the arena and walked back up to their teams on the balcony while the staff prepared for the next team. Luckily the game was still usable, because none of the people that haven't participated are allowed to watch and none would think to jump over the fence.

Staff also made sure the members on the balcony wouldn't spill the beans. One was assigned to each team to guard them from helping their teammates. Keyword: helping(This will be important in the future).

Almost murderous glares penetrated through the deceivingly innocent-appearing Tih, who didn't seem to be aware of the staff's animosity.

The others look between each other, collectively deciding not to let Tih in any more games, less he makes it worse.