AQUA OLYMPICS
2nd Event - Under the Ice
(All characters mentioned are copyright their respective owners)
Author’s Note: Robert Brown here this time. When Trevor first approached
me with the idea of doing this, I’ll admit I was skeptical. To my knowledge,
nothing like this had ever been conceived of before, much less attempted.
But in the end, this project ended up being more than worth the effort that
was put into it. And if anybody out there thinks so too, let us know. Like
I always say, we do this for you readers out there. Let us know if you
appreciate our efforts. Till next, time, Happy Reading!
Trevor: "Welcome to the next event, everyone, Under the Ice! Well,
Robert, care to tell our loyal viewers how this one works?"
Robert: "In this event, competitors are released underwater in an icy
lake, where only one hole leads to freedom and fresh air. Now, this is a
timed event, and the fastest will win. But it's not that simple, is it,
Brian?"
Brian: "No sir. Waiting in the wings is a polar bear attempting to
block our players' progress, and he's no spring chicken, folks. He's as
nasty as they come."
Trevor: "Indeed. He's ready for some fresh meat, and he's ready to
kill. For those that make it out, fastest times prevail. For those that
don't, longest times lasted prevail. Those escaped will place higher at
all times."
Robert: "And starting off this contest will be the last event's bronze
medalist, Tummi! You think it's possible for him to do as well this time
around?"
Brian: "I can't say. His big size leaves him as a target, and his speed
will definitely be hampered as well."
Trevor: "Too true, but he shocked a lot of people in the last event as
well, so maybe we'll see something similar here. He's been in for about
30 seconds now, heading for the top... but Mr. Polar Bear is coming into
view, and he'll be looking to make a statement with this first guy."
Robert: "Uh oh, looks like Tummi made a mistake here. You see, we can
see the hole from our vantage point, but the competitors can't. Tummi's
now facing away from the hole and that polar bear's got lunch on his
mind."
Brian: "Yes, right now, that polar bear is at about 100 meters and
closing fast. And now Tummi sees him, and he's getting nervous, guys."
Trevor: "Let me remind the audience at home that only mask and snorkels
are allowed for this, so even if the bear doesn't get them, drowning is
a very real possiblity as well, especailly for the lower lung capacity
competitors."
Robert: "But Tummi's already proven that he's got the lung capacity so
that won't be a problem. His problem will be avoiding that charging
polar bear, something he doesn't seem quite sure how to do."
Brian: "Tummi's looking around for any way out of this one, guys. And
there he goes, he's just gonna try to move for the surface and find the
hole, but I think he's setting himself up."
Trevor: "Tummi's trying to find the hole before the bear gets to him.
Taking a huge chance here, folks. And if he doesn't find it soon, he's
gonna lose his little gambit... that bear's 10 meters away and closing,
and Tummi knows it."
Robert: "And it looks like his luck has run out. That polar bear has
caught hold of him now, and Tummi's got no chance for escape."
Brian: "This is the part I don't like about this event, guys. Yea--OH!
I can't watch!"
Trevor: "Oh, man, the bear just made an example out of Tummi by ripping
open his stomach....damn! His gore is everywhere in that area of the
water! Well, the bear is transported back and Monty is slipping into the
water to begin."
Robert: "Monty was in the middle of the pack on the last event, let's
see if he can improve on it this time."
Brian: "And there's the signal, he's off. He's looking around right
away for that bear. Not bad trying to come up with strategy, but he has
to make a move for the top quickly if the last event said anything."
Trevor: "It's as if he's heard you, Brian.... he's given up looking for
the bear and started for the top.... by the way, folks, Tummi lasted 55
seconds there, so that's Monty's time to beat here."
Robert: "Uh oh....looks like the bear was waiting for him to turn his
back. That bear's moving in, but seems to be moving kinda sluggish after
its last meal. That could work in Monty's favor."
Brian: "You're right, the bear is looking slow on the hoof this time.
He's still closing in, but not nearly as fast as he was on Tummi and ---
wait, the bear's stopped."
Trevor: "Yes.... what the hell is happening here.... we trained this
bear to kill, damn it! Sigh.... Monty's still looking for the hole,
folks. What's this... the bear's starting up again... just tired, I
suppose."
Robert: "I see what the problem is.... that bear's got gas. And his
mouth is pointed right to Monty.....whoa! That belch just blew Monty
right past the hole! And just when he almost found it too."
Brian: "And check it out now. Monty is stunned, he can't move! And here
comes the bear. He's closing the ground fast now..."
Trevor: "He's getting in there.... he's on Monty! Monty is helpless
now, folks, being stunned from the bear's burp power... wierd how he
didn't drown... anyway, he's smushing Monty's face against the ice."
Robert: "All over but the shouting folks. Looks like there's yet
another meal for the bear. This keeps up we may need a new bear guys. Do
we even have a second one ready?"
Brian: "Nope, he's our only one, so he'd better hold up. And it's
officially over for Monty now. They've clocked him in at 58, just 3
ahead of Tummi, for what that's worth."
Trevor: "Which may be very little. Now quickly coming in is Bingo, our
gold medalist from the last time out in the Drowning Contest. Let's see
how he hangs in here."
Robert: "Well, he knows he has the breathhold, so he's taking his time,
making sure he doesn't get nailed from behind. Only problem is, he's
checking the same spot over and over."
Brian: "Yes, why is he doing that? It's like he's betting he knows
where the bear's coming from on this round. Just how accurate is he,
Trevor?"
Trevor: "Hmm... not bad... he could be in worse positions. The bear is
flanking him, maybe he'll notice it. And it looks like he has, because
he's moving, and looking for the hole... as long as he stays ahead of
the bear, he should be OK."
Robert: "And he has noticed it.... but he's also noticed the hole!
Ahh... using some strategy though. He's inching closer to it without
letting the bear know he's found it. Your thoughts, Brian?"
Brian: "I'm not sure, myself, Robert. He almost seems to be taunting
the bear into a race to the hole. If he's not careful, he might get
himself eaten really quick."
Trevor: "Well, they're both off to the races, it appears. Who will it
be... Bingo at the hole, or in the bear's stomach....yes! Bingo's made
it! In a time of 1:21, he's our first escapee and our new leader!"
Robert: "And now comes Plucky Duck, who just got edged out of the
medals last time by mere seconds. You know that duck's determined to
better this time around."
Brian: "Yep, and there's the start, and he's wasting no time, fellas,
he's shooting right for the top!"
Trevor: "Yes, sir! Man, he's really going for it... it's as if he
doesn't care about the bear... let's just hope for his sake that doesn't
get him eaten. Wow... our little radar thing indicates he's close to the
hole already..."
Robert: "Yes he is, but that bear's closing in fast. I don't think
it'll matter though as Plucky sees the hole and is going for it."
Brian: "This is getting to be a close race, guys. Plucky's getting
really close now. But the bear's right on his tail. He's only 10 feet
away."
Trevor: "This is looking almost like the Bingo run, with a duck in the
place of a beaver. Plucky makes it, folks, in a minute flat! New
leader!"
Robert: "Kudos to the duck. That time should be enough to get him to
the medals this time. But look at that bear, he looks really upset. I
wouldn't want to be the next guy to face him."
Brian: "Speaking of which, that next guy happens to be Theodore."
Trevor: "Theodore is starting out slow... not expected to do well at
all, folks. In fact, here comes the bear now."
Robert: "Theodore seems frozen by the ferocity of the bear's charge.
He'd better move before it's too late."
Brian: "You can even see backstage, Alvin and Simon are watching on
the monitors screaming for their brother to get moving. And now's he's
finally starting to, but he's lost a lot of time. It may already be too
late for him."
Trevor: "And indeed.... the bear has him already, actually, and he cuts
Theo up into little pieces.... lasts 35 secs down there... I don't know
whether to laugh or feel sorry for him."
Robert: "I feel sorry more than anything. And this brings us to the
halfway point of this event. Of the 5 competitors so far, only 2 have
escaped but have both put up impressive times. Think they'll hold up
with 5 still to go?"
Brian: "That time of Plucky's, one minute, will be difficult because of
the size of the tank and the fear factor with the bear. You have to
really be a fast swimmer and push yourself all the way to beat that
time."
Trevor: "It definitely places the duck in medal contention, for
certain. Well, next up entering the tank is Cubbi, who might be a
possible wild card."
Brian: "Let's see how Cubbi does as he starts in the tank. He's taking
a low route, it seems, skimming the bottom -- WHOA! He just made a run
for the top shooting himself up like a torpedo!"
Trevor: "Holy shitballs... this kid has a lot of marbles, or very
crazy. He's close to the top already, but now the bear has noticed this
fast moving object, and is moving to intercept it..."
Robert: "This is smart for the young bear because he knows he doesn't
have much breathhold. But even though Cubbi's moving fast, that bear's
moving faster. I don't believe it! Cubbi's found the hole and is going
right for it!"
Brian: "Ever so close, he's only about 20 feet away with the bear
another 20 and closing. Cubbi's still moving up there, he's got about 10
to go now, guys."
Trevor: "Yes, yes... he's at the hole, he's at the hole!.... what the
bloody hell?! The bear caught up, pulled on poor Cubbi's legs as he was
climbing out, and now is taking him down.... Tummi is throwing a fit
backstage, folks!"
Robert: "And Tummi has every right to. I mean, when the other two got
to the hole, the bear just let them go, not even trying for that last
grab. But poor Cubbi.... he looks worse than a cat's scratching post
here."
Brian: "And that's all she wrote for Cubbi. As they check his time,
though, take a look at the replay from outside the hole. You can see
that yes, Cubbi was on the way out, but he was moving very slowly trying
to life himself out. Perhaps he was battling against his own strength
versus the weight of the water and it was more than he expected."
Trevor: "Maybe so, Brian. For now, this puts him in third, tops amongst
the non-escapees, but behind Plucky and Bingo. Now entering the pool is
the silver medalist from the Drowning Contest, Louie!"
Robert: "I guess that even though he didn't last longer than the
others, because he found the hole and was nearly out they gave him the
nod. As for our next competitor, I expect him to challenge for gold
here, after just narrowly missing it last time."
Brian: "You've got that right. And the time on Cubbi's run, BTW, was
clocked at 1:05. Louie's looking to do better than that and make it out
in under a minute. And there's the gun, he's underway!"
Trevor: "He goes in... looks like he's deciding to go right for the top
using his superior speed, a solid and proven strategy. You can see the
backstage monitors right now, Cubbi's been revived, and he's one pissed
little cub..."
Robert: *taps at his watch* "Dumb thing most be broken....huh? Oh,
right. Louie's following the same trail Cubbi did, but since he's faster
I don't think that bear could catch him."
Brian: "It's sort of a surprise that Louie's going for the same route,
I would doubt he'd even need to use the torpedo strategy. Well, wait, he
used a small part of it just there, but now he's reverted back to a
regular stroke, and I think he's actually faster for it."
Trevor: "Louie's gotta love that Junior Woodchuck guidebook stuff...
maybe he consulted it before the event or something.... people, this
bear's not even close. 30 feet off and not gaining an inch, period and
Louie's searching for the hole."
Robert: "Well, whatever he did it's working as he is methodically
searching for the hole and keeping away from the bear. Oh wait, he's
found it!"
Brian: "And now he's making the big guns for it with the torpedo. Can
he beat-- WHOA! He just torpedoed to actually shoot himself out of the
hole! Check the time, what's he got?!"
Trevor: "Sweet mother of.... 53 seconds! New leader! That knocks
everyone down a spot, and Cubbi get knocked off the podium with that
time. He seems to have calmed down backstage, at least. So our podium
players are Louie, Plucky, and Bingo at the moment. Now, we have Buster
Bunny, who may actually wind up being sort of a wildcard in this."
Robert: "Indeed he is. Him and Plucky have a long rivalry, and you know
Buster will never live down getting beat by the duck more times than he
beats him. I don't know about the two of you, but I'm going to be
keeping count."
Brian: "Well, start counting, Robert, cuz Buster's on his way. He's
taking an upward path to start, but still at a bit of an angle. Perhaps
this is part of that Buster-style plan he eluded to when I spoke with
him earlier."
Trevor: "And at the conclusion of this event, we will have that
interview. But first, Buster seems wary of the bear a little more than
Plucky was. He's going to the top, searching.... Plucky rubbing his
hands together backstage."
Robert: "You know Plucky's rooting for the bear here, but Buster's
doing a good job of dodging for now. Now if he only turns around, that
hole is right near him."
Brian: "He's eyeing for the bear and it may be costing him seconds, or
is this part of that strategy again? Matter of fact, he's looking back
now, he DOES see the hole, but he's not going for it."
Trevor: "Now this is typical....*closes eyes* the bear charges, Buster
dodges, bear slams into the ice, dazes itself, Buster exits safe and
sound. *opens eyes* Damn, I'm good. Buster's out, folks, and his time of
1:05 is good enough for third, which knocks Bingo off the podium for
this event."
Robert: "But that also puts him behind Plucky, a fact that he is
letting everyone know. Anybody got a cork for the over large beak here?"
Brian: "Sadly, no, I don't have one. While he keeps going, here was
what Buster had to say to me before this run about wanting to avoid
this:
Brian: Buster, you didn't do so well in the last competition, and Plucky
pulled in a slightly better performance despite not medalling. What's
your plan for a comeback?
Buster: "Well, Brian, I wasn't expecting to beat him in breathholding
anyway. Now I just have to focus on the events where I actually can do
better. Plus, I'm hoping to face him in the gauntlet. I've been
personally wanting to close that beak or a very long time."
Brian: But what's your strategy on this event going to be? Some say
that Plucky has the advantage to get by the bear faster.
Buster: "Get by the bear, yes. But not outwit the bear. I'll just say
this: it's time to party, Buster style."
(back to Brian in the present) "And it looks like he did just that, but
unfortunately, he didn't do it fast enough to beat Plucky's time."
Trevor: "Well, there's still 9 events to go for Buster to atone for
things. In the meantime, we have Simon, our second to last contestant,
about to go, with Alvin and Theo watching closely."
Robert: "And Simon himself is watching closely....that bear, that is.
Knowing him, he's already designed the perfect strategy to victory... in
his own mind at least. Question is, can he execute it?"
Brian: "We're about to find out, cuz there he goes. He's already
looking around to find the hole way up at the top. No way he's gonna see
it from this deep, though, so now he's heading upwards to scout around"
Trevor: "He's still keeping a watchful eye on the bear though, and
trying to move to dodge it. This might allow him to escape, but he may
take too long to do it, folks. Time will tell."
Robert: "He's definitely dodging the bear with ease, but what he
doesn't realize is that the bear's making him dodge away from the hole.
Much further and he won't have enough breath to find it, bear or not."
Brian: "Yes, for the last 30 seconds now, Simon has not made an attempt
to look up for the hole. Now, there's another dodge, and Simon is in
postion to look up at the ice for a moment. And he sees the hole now...
but check out the look in his eyes, guys."
Trevor: "Yes, I've seen it many times... he's gonna drown soon. He
doesn't know what to do and is instinctively going for the top, but not
right at the hole... he's in trouble."
Robert: "And will you look at that bear.... If I didn't know better,
I'd swear he was smirking. It's almost like Simon fell for his superior
strategy this time."
Brian: "Indeed, and Simon's making a sudden rush for it. The bear's not
even bothering to make the chase. He's just waiting for him to drown on
this one."
Trevor: "Is he making a mistake... who are we kidding, Simon is deader
than disco. And there he goes. His mouth opening up and his eyes glazing
over. Time, Robert?"
Robert: "A minute flat. Ten more seconds and he may have made it.
That's what you get for forgetting why you're here....to get out, not to
avoid the bear. Think Alvin will make the same error?"
Brian: "Unlikely. Unless he makes the mistake of taunting the bear too
much, he should make a good run for the medal stand, because he has
great speed."
Trevor: "I agree, and here he comes now... and he shoots out...
straight for the top! Well, he's opening strong, but he's practicially
disregarding the bear... who just proved his intelliect. Will this
gamble pay off?"
Robert: "The bear actually seems taken aback by Alvin's gamble and is
slow getting out of the blocks. That surprise move got him a few
seconds, but can he find the hole with it?"
Brian: "Right now, he's just zipping up, I'm not sure he's even
looking. He's already near the ice surface, but he's still about 20 feet
from the hole."
Trevor: "Alvin's hit the surface, now he's crazily looking for the
hole, with the bear finally starting to close in on him. Alvin's
actually getting closer to the hole though.... wait.. does he see it?"
Robert: "Looks like it....yes! He's going for the hole. The bear's
trying to cut him off, but a feint left drew the bear out of position
and Alvin shot through the hole safely. What's his time here?"
Brian: "Time of 50 seconds! That's gonna get Alvin the gold!"
Trevor: "Well, ladies, and germs, we have our final standings! Alvin
takes gold, Louie settles for silver again, and Plucky manages to get on
the podium with a bronze. What do you guys think?"
Robert: "Well, even though Louie's got two medals already, I doubt he's
happy settling for silver twice. He'll probably be even more determined
next event, but he could get careless."
Brian: "But right now, the spotlight's on Alvin, who along with Louie
and Plucky, all made this event look easy. I'm sure the bear has other
opinions on that, though. Just ask the others that he ate."
Interviews
Trevor: "Right Brian.... but right now, we have an interview slated
with our gold medal winner, Alvin. Here he comes now, still sopping
wet... Alvin, how does it feel getting your first gold of these games so
early?"
Alvin: "Why, it feels great. But then, a natural athlete like myself
should've gotten the gold from the very first event. And believe you me,
you will be talking to me again. After all, I coulda had that first one,
too, but I gave those other guys a break."
Trevor: *Rolls eyes* Uh-huh... well, anyway.... oh, hold on... Bingo's
coming over here in a huff... "
Robert: "What's on your mind, Bingo? Come to congratulate Alvin or
something?"
Bingo: "So you think you're that much better than the rest of us, huh?
And you're that much better than me? Besides, why didn't you guys
interview me, when I won my event? Well?!"
Robert: "Hey, calm down Bingo. We meant no harm, but we couldn't get a
hold of you before the medal ceremony, that's all."
Alvin: "Just goes to show you who's the real athlete around here."
Bingo: "Unlike Catchum, I can take you on... come on, pretty boy!"
Robert: "All right, enough!" *gets between Bingo and Alvin* Keep the
fights in the water, unless you both want to lose those medals,
understand?"
Bingo: "Fair enough, but I'm almost willing to bet this medal that by
the time this whole thing's over, you'll have some respect for me, and
the others."
Alvin: "Yeah? Well, maybe we'll see each other in the Gauntlet then,
country boy. Then we could see who's better... not that we don't both
already know. *Smirk*"
Robert: *pulls out a bell and rings it* "OK, both of you to your
corners. Now!" (The respective companions of the two competitors drag
them away.)
Trevor: "Stay tuned for the Object Retrieval, next!"
(To be continued, in the Object Retrieval)
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