Lost Video Island

[Stardael]

Colin has a crush on Kate!
Great second part! *has scary mental image of Jack in Steph's jeans* I completely agree with Marcus though. I would never play this game. Not only do I not drink, but I guess I'm a bit of a coward too. Good job, Jen!

[AlcoholicPixie]

Excellent. Can't wait for the next installment...
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Supernatural Video Station

[Hobbes]

lol suddenly I'm glad I opted out of that one Not that I'm Mr. Straight-as-an-arrow, but still that was a very disturbing game LOL!

Heheh, I hope everyone else is all hungover for the next challenge so Marcus and I can kick ass.

[mistojen]

Kay and Chris--I'm glad you liked!

Hobbes wrote:

lol suddenly I'm glad I opted out of that one Not that I'm Mr. Straight-as-an-arrow, but still that was a very disturbing game LOL! Heheh, I hope everyone else is all hungover for the next challenge so Marcus and I can kick ass.

you should've seen the draft I wrote before Colin said he wanted to play

Also, I'm currently working on the next Challenge and it should be up within the next 24-48 hours, so check back soon, Warren!
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avatar: Plastic!Winchester Theater by anteka @ LJ; icon by me
sig by AlcoholicPixie

[Rocksiren]

YAY!!
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"You are just an encyclopedia of weirdness." ~ Supernatural

[mistojen]

The next morning, everyone from the Red Team piles into one van, while everyone from the Blue Team piles into another to be transported t othe next Challenge.

When they arrive and climb out of the vans to look around, immediately they all see Ben standing on a dock beside a giant lake. A few feet into the lake, there is a large monkey bar-like contraption hooked up to two gigantic cranes.

"What the hell...?" Sawyer mutters.

Colin carefully lifts his sunglasses, winces, and replaces them. He has a horrible hangover headache, but he's thankful that it's just a headache, since he's heard of worse symptoms. "What is that thing?" he asks.

"Good morning, teams!" Ben calls out cheerfully.

Jen, Colin, and Sawyer grun in reply. Good morning, their asses. They all feel terrible.

"Welcome to today's Challenge, 'Hang In There,'" Ben continues, "because of the odd number of players on the Red Team, today, Marcus, you have been randomly chosen to sit out. Paul, from the Blue Team, you have been voted to sit out today. The rest of you have, once again, been randomly paired. It seems, however, that the majority of the pairings are pretty familiar. On the Red Team: Jen and Warren; Nikki and Charlie; Claire and Sawyer. On the Blue Team: Steph and Jack; Kate and Colin; Ruth and John.

"The male of your pair will hang upside down from the metal bars and they will be holding onto the females as the bars are lifted out of the water thirty feet. You will be timed from the moment the female is completely out of the water until the time your holds on one another release or one or both of you hits the water. The team with the longest total time will win.

"Your order, too, has been randomly chosen. Jack and Steph, you will be first," Ben says and beckons them onto the dock.

The two of them walk onto the dock and spotters load them into a small motor boat to take them out to the monkey bars.

As they both put life jackets on over their bathing suits, they discuss strategy.

"I think we should hold hands," Jack suggests, "that'll give the best grip."

Steph shakes her head. "Not if our hands are wet, Jack," she replies, "I think we should hang onto each others' wrists."

Pausing for a oment to ponder this suggestion, Jack nods. "Fair point. We'll do it your way this Challenge," he replies with a smile.

When they reach the monkey bars, Steph is instructed to jump into the water while some of the spotters help Jack climb onto the monkey bars. When he is sitting on the center, as Steph floats below, the crane lifts the contraption several feet in the air to allow Jack room to hang downward, arms dangling toward the water. Steph swims forward and reaches up as the bars are lowered, until she and Jack lock their grips on one another.

One of the spotters, sitting on Jack's right, readies a stop watch, while the spotter on Jack's left counts down frmo three and the crane slowly lifts until Steph is out of the water completely and her legs dangle well above the lake.

"Ow! Jack! You're hurting me!" Steph squeaks as Jack tightens his grip. With the air hitting them now, the slick slide of his fingers around her wrist has given way to a painful, half-dry friction.

"Sorry..." Jack sighs, but does not ease up, "but we have to hang on tight, or you'll fall."

Wincing from the pain, Steph nods and tries to tighten her own grip.



"Looks easy enough," Warren whispers to Jen. "We'll hang on at the wrists and if we start to slip, holding hands can be our backup plan."

Jen nods. "Should be okay," she says quietly, "it's all on you and your strength..."

"It's not," Warren contradicts her, "it's in our strength and our grip," he says firmly, "so don't put it all on me or we'll fall."

Frowning at Warren's tone of voice, but not desiring to start an argument, Jen nods. They'll have to agree to disagree.



"My arms are numb," Steph says, "and I can barely feel my fingers..."

Jack closes his eyes and tries to lift his head slightly---his face aches from the downward rush of blood.

"Are you okay?" Steph asks, venturing a look up at him when he doesn't answer. She sees that the tendons in his arms, hands, and neck are protruding when his head drops back down with a grimace of effort on his face. "Jack?"

His feet ache; he's been using them to anchor his hanging position and he feels as though his thigh muscles are seconds from ripping although he knows that they're not. "I can't," he grunts back at her.

"Want me to let go?" Steph asks, annoyed at the thought of giving up, while simultaneously sympathetic to his plight.

"Yes," Jack gaps as a cramp rips through his forearm and his right hand opens reflexively to relieve it. "Let go!" he cries out, flexing his fingers as Steph drops slightly, now hanging by one hand.

"Sure?" Steph asks seriously, looking up at him again, although it hurts her neck to do so.

"Yes! Let go!" Jack hisses at her, tears springing to his eyes involuntarily as a response to the pain he's in.

Steph lets go of Jack and falls into the lake below as the spotters pull Jack up into a sitting position. He begins to massage out his cramp as the crane lowers the monkey bars and other spotters pull Steph into the boat below, wrapping her in a towel when she discards her life vest.



"Jen and Warren," Ben calls out as Steph and Jack walk together off the dock to join the rest of their team, "you're up."

Warren looks over at Jen. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she replies with a weak smile. Jen has never been a huge fan of heights.

A few minutes later, Jen and Warren are being raised out of the water. The second Jen’s body is out, both of them feel the pull of her weight on their arms. Jen winces and Warren grimaces, letting out an involuntary grunt of effort.

“Damn, Jen!” he mutters.

“Sorry,” Jen replies, wrinkling her nose, “next time you have to hold me up while dangling thirty feet in the air, I’ll remember to lay off the pizza,” she snaps.

“Or the beer,” Warren retorts, grinning at his own joke, tightening his grip as his fingers start to slip.

“Oh, shut up,” Jen hisses, furrowing her brow and holding his wrists tighter.



“How ya feelin’, Colin?” Steph asks, sitting down beside him.

Colin moans and closes his eyes. Like sh*t... he thinks. Steph ruffles his hair gently. “Don’t,” he mutters, crinkling his nose.

“Guess it’ll be a while til you drink like that again, huh?” Steph asks in a motherly tone.

Colin sighs and nods slightly. His head is pounding and just the thought of hanging upside down make it throb even harder.



“Warren!” Jen shouts as she feels his grip slipping on her wrist.

“I’m trying, Jen!” he snaps back, taking her hands tightly in his own; the grip on her wrists lost.

Jen can feel her fingers slipping from his hands.

“Don’t give up!” Warren yells at her.

“I’m NOT!” she screams back as her fingers slide out of his hands and she falls, arms and legs flailing fruitlessly, into the lake below.



Kate and Colin take their turn next. Kate is out of the water, but the crane hasn’t even fully lifted when Colin is overcome with a wave of nausea from the rush of blood to his head, and, without so much as a warning, he lets go of Kate’s hands. Colin lifts himself back up to a sitting position on top of the monkey bars, closing his eyes and taking his head in his hands as Kate finishes the short descent back into the lake with a splash.

“That was quick...” Claire says quietly to Charlie.

“Good,” Charlie replies, “cuz Jen and Warren definitely weren’t up there as long as Jack and Steph...”



Next, the spotters are helping Locke onto the monkey bars as Ruth swims out to them and waits.

She and Locke grab each other’s elbows and the crane lifts them out of the water.



“They’ve been up there forever...” Marcus mutters to Jen.

Jen frowns. “I know...”




“I’ve been keeping track,” Paul tells Kate and Steph, holding up his watch, “they’re beating everyone right now,” he adds in a low voice.



It’s a little later when Ruth’s grip slips from Locke’s wrists—where they’d slipped to moments before—to his hands, and finally to nothing and she falls down into the lake.



Nikki and Charlie are up next. They’re the first to try a different technique; not that anyone from shore would notice, as they’re too far away to see in detail.

“Ready?” Charlie asks.

Nikki nods and lifts one of her arms. Charlie takes her wrist in one hand and her elbow in the other, and then Nikki takes Charlie’s wrists in her own hands. Both of them bend their elbows and rest their heads on each other’s arms, holding so that their faces are close together and neither of their arms are dangling.

Just before they’re lifted out of the water, Nikki curls her knees up close to her chest. Their strategy is that if they have to work harder to hold their positions, it’ll feel like a relief when they just hang and they will, hopefully, be able to last longer this way.

Charlie’s biceps are already sore and they’re just come out of the water, but he holds onto Nikki tightly and grits his teeth against the pain. Jen and Warren didn’t do as well as Jack and Steph or Ruth and Locke, and Charlie plans on making up for it by picking up their slack.

“Got it?” he asks.

“I got it, Charlie, I got it...” Nikki grunts, closing her eyes and grimacing in effort, trying to keep her body curled up and not lose her grip on Charlie’s wrists.

“Sure?” Charlie asks.

Nikki nods against his arm. “I’m good.”

“You tell me if you’re not,” Charlie insists.

Again, Nikki nods against his arm. “Tell you if I need to drop my legs, tell you if I need to drop my arms. I know. I will,” she says.



“They’ve got to be going on five minutes...” Warren says to Claire, “I wonder what they’re doing that’s so different...other than Nikki’s all curled up...” he adds, furrowing his brow in thought.

Claire shrugs. All she knows is that she’s next, and she’s paired with Sawyer again. This time, she won’t let him down.


“I have to drop my legs, Charlie,” Nikki says calmly although her whole body is shaking in the effort to keep them curled up against her chest.

“Slowly,” Charlie says.

Nikki nods once and slowly, ignoring the flare of pain to her abdomen, she straightens her legs and lets them dangle. “You doin’ okay?”

“Bloody brilliant,” Charlie replies, though his arms are aching terribly and he longs to let them dangle. He refuses to be the first to wimp out.

“Should we hang? My arms hurt...” Nikki admits.

“All right,” Charlie says and his arms shake as he struggles to hold them up while Nikki straightens her own. When she’s dangling freely, he slowly straightens his own arms. Their grips on one another are still strong.

“God, what a relief!” Nikki sighs happily.

“Told you it would feel that way,” Charlie replies proudly.



“God, are they ever gonna fall?!” Ruth hisses to Paul, Kate, and Jack—who has taken up a seat beside them. Steph is comforting Colin as he releases all the alcohol left over in his stomach, gagging, in the bushes, while Locke sits alone and observes what, perhaps, he and Ruth could’ve done differently, by watching Charlie and Nikki.



A few minutes later, Charlie and Nikki both fall into the lake when Charlie’s foot slips from it’s anchored position under one of the bars.

“And now,” Ben says as the spotters load Charlie and Nikki back into the boat, “lastly, Claire and Sawyer.”

Claire stands and makes her way to the dock, Sawyer close behind.




When they’re set up, Claire and Sawyer hold hands and the crane begins to lift them slowly out of the water.

“Dammit!” Sawyer shouts as he can feel his hands beginning to slip already.

“Hold tight, Sawyer, hold on...” Claire pleads, not wanting to be the worst pair again.

“I’m trying, Mamacita, but it’s slippery!” he snaps, as the shudder of the contraption on its way upward is all that Sawyer’s grip can take, and Claire lets out a tiny surprised scream as she falls into the lake below.



Everyone stands around, wrapped in towels, waiting for Ben to give them their results. He is consulting with the spotters and has a clip board in hand. Finally, after what seems like forever, he turns.

“A really great effort on everyone’s part,” he says with a smile, looking down at the clipboard. “Now, for your results...

“In sixth place, with a time of thirty seconds,” he says, “Claire and Sawyer.”

Sawyer is brooding rather visibly and Claire looks really disappointed that she, again, was part of the lowest scoring pair. If her team loses, her head will definitely be on the chopping block; she’s sure of it.

“In fifth, with a time of forty-five seconds,” Ben announces, “Kate and Colin.”

“Sorry,” Colin mutters, feeling much better in the hangover department but feeling really embarrassed about his performance today.

“It’s ok, kiddo,” Kate says with a smile. “We’ll get ‘em next time.”

“In fourth, with a time of three minutes and fifteen seconds—Jen and Warren.”

Jen and Warren frown. This means that two of the Blue pairs did better. They can only hope that Charlie and Nikki did exceptionally well and that the Blue pairs didn’t rip their score to shreds.

“In third place, at six minutes and eleven seconds,” Ben calls out, “Steph and Jack.”

Jack and Steph grin at one another and Jack gives Steph a hug. “Thanks for bearing with me,” he whispers in her ear.

“No problem,” she replies with a giggle.

“In second place...with a time of seven minutes and fourteen seconds,” Ben says, pausing for suspense, “Ruth and John; leaving the first place pair, Charlie and Nikki, clocking in at eight minutes and seventeen seconds.”

There is a short pause between Ben and the competitors before Ben finishes.

“The total time for the Red Team,” he starts.

“Sh*t,” Warren hisses, “they always tell the losing team’s score first...”

“Is twelve minutes and two seconds. The total time for the Blue Team is fourteen minutes and ten seconds. Red Team, by tomorrow morning at ten, I will need your vote on who to send home. Blue Team, this time you will need to vote, again, on who to sit out of the following Challenge. The vans are waiting to take you back the Community Room. See you next Challenge,” Ben says and turns, walks down the dock, gets into the boat with the spotters and takes off.

A/N: Voting time again. Send in your votes to Ben (Stardael) by next Friday night. Red Team, we need to vote off another player. Blue Team, pick someone to sit out the next Challenge.
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avatar: Plastic!Winchester Theater by anteka @ LJ; icon by me
sig by AlcoholicPixie

[Rocksiren]

Quote:

“Or the beer,” Warren retorts, grinning at his own joke, tightening his grip as his fingers start to slip. “Oh, shut up,” Jen hisses, furrowing her brow and holding his wrists tighter.

HAHAHAHAHAAA!
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"You are just an encyclopedia of weirdness." ~ Supernatural

[mistojen]

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avatar: Plastic!Winchester Theater by anteka @ LJ; icon by me
sig by AlcoholicPixie

[Stardael]

Hehehe... Dang hangovers.
Let me ask you though... How do you come up with these challenges?

PS. Ready to receive votes

[mistojen]

Stardael wrote:

Let me ask you though... How do you come up with these challenges?

Some of them I think up on my own, like the first two. This one I ripped off MTV Real World/Road Rules: Challenge. I also have a games consultant who shall remain nameless, who helps me with ideas, too.
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sig by AlcoholicPixie

[Stardael]

Wow... Talk about a creative mind. I want it!

[mistojen]

well thanks
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avatar: Plastic!Winchester Theater by anteka @ LJ; icon by me
sig by AlcoholicPixie

[Hobbes]

Quote:

“Sh*t,” Warren hisses, “they always tell the losing team’s score first...”

LMAO that is so me.

But damn, we suck Jen . And who would have thought such a good idea would come from Charlie and Nikki? That's... odd...

That was cool though

[mistojen]

I think if the scores hadn't been randomly pulled so that we didn't have such a low one, we'd have thought of it, Warren We're super smart like that. And note, I gave CHARLIE the credit for that idea, not Nikki
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sig by AlcoholicPixie

[Aislynn]

Wow, since I can't swim, it looks like I left just in time!

I've gotta say, my arms were practically aching along with everybody while I was reading that! And I really felt sorry for Jack and all the blood rushing to his head! *beginning to get woozy from over-identifying*

And wow again: who would've ever guessed that Nikki and Charlie could turn into a powerhouse team???

I loved it! And I've gotta say again, when Lost comes back on, I'm gonna TOTALLY think of "your" Nikki when I see the "real" one. That's the only shot she has of me ever liking her! (I'm still stuck on her near-Paris Hilton impersonation of "Hot." Don't ask me why I can totally see that... )

Great job! Looking forward to the next ep!