Chapter 2: A Pumpkin’s Soul – Part Two– The Sabotage
Destroying an enemy team's hopes and dreams. That was their task. The light radiating from inside the creature's head became a little brighter as it recognized this task was right up its alley. It's newly paired partner on the other hand, was caught off-guard by the black words as his brows lowered from underneath his mask. They both then looked at each other awkwardly, as both of them were quiet beings.
The masked boy broke the silence, "Are you up for the task? I don't mind, it seems interesting."
The monster continued looking at him with menace until it decided to slowly nod its head. The boy then nodded after, confirming their temporary partnership for the task at hand.
Before preparations could be made, the hostess came up to their table with curiosity in her eyes. "You know, I don't want to play favorites, but this group gives me good hope in the turnout of this game." She smirked, "Well, that's all I wanted to say. Good luck, my contestants."
She soon walked out of the room as the two continued on with their objective. The boy stood up from his seat and stretched his legs, observing the people still inhabiting the room.
He looked towards the creature, "I don't mind who we sabotage, but it can't be the two sitting on the couch over there." It glanced over at the couch then looked away, the monster was getting impatient with the boy. All it wanted to do was consume. Being held back by a high school boy was not on its agenda, but it had to stay calm. One's self cannot defeat an entire nation alone, after all. Only when one has an army can it win the war. The creature wasn't one to make rash decisions, it didn't even care about winning. The only thing it wanted was the reward that came along with it.
The creature watched as the boy walked over to the couch and back, the boy only speaking to the others briefly. "I have an idea, but, according to the task, it requires us to be patient. I'm going to scout the rest of the group's activities and see what they're up to. You can either come with me, do your own scouting, or just wait here until I get back. It's up to you."
The boy casually walked away from the creature as he then scouted the interior of the building, masking his true intention from the other guests. A total of ten minutes had passed when the boy returned to the creature, still sitting, after examining the rest of the house's rooms and guests.
"I believe I have a decent understanding of the layout of the building now, so now we may get to work. Since I couldn't say how long the others could take on their own tasks, we should probably start my plan now before it's too late." The creature continued to stare as the boy told his plan.
It was Ten o'clock on the dot when the hostess of the party gathered everyone back to the room they'd started in. A look of mental exhaustion and anxiety ran across the room, everyone worried about their results on the first test of the night.
The hostess sat back down near the fireplace, looking around the room at the people who she'd invited to this seasonal event. This was the moment everyone knew would have to happen. She was going to announce the first victims of the night.
"I would like to congratulate you all on attempting to complete your tasks. But as you all know, my calling means that one of the groups wasn't so lucky in the completion of their task. I'd hate to keep you all waiting, so I'm not going to waste any time." The girl pointed to a pair sitting side by side sitting in the bean bag chairs. "The two of you have officially been eliminated from contention."
As they heard their conviction, the boy in the group, sporting a pirate's attire, was conflicted. He immediately stood up from the chair and pleaded his case for innocence, "What are you talking about? We completed our task like twenty-five minutes ago. I thought you said the team who failed to complete their task would be eliminated?"
"But, you did fail to complete the task assigned to you. You two were the only ones not to do so. Therefore, you fail and are eliminated."
"I don't understand, we did complete our task. We retrieved the item and placed it where the card told us to. Did you not see us do so?"
She pulled a miniature pumpkin out from one of her pockets, "Oh, you mean this pumpkin? Sorry, but you did follow the directions as followed, but this isn't the right item."
He continued to plead as his female partner stood by him, "Yeah, that's the item that was hiding in the vent. What are you getting at?"
"Well, you see, the card told you to retrieve the item laying inside of a dark and metallic area. And the area it was talking about was the vent, but the item you received from the vent was not the right one."
The girl dressed in green with antenna's standing beside the boy spoke, "So, that could only mean that there was more than one item in the vent, right?"
"But, how would-!" The boy spoke up but got quickly interrupted.
"Yes, that's correct. And before you start pampering me about the specifics of the card and not knowing which item was the correct item, take a look at your card closely." The pirate impatiently took the card from out of his pocket and took a good look at it, his partner scanning over the card as well. "Look at the bottom right corner of the worded side of the card. The item you were supposed to receive is the item right there."
"Huh?" the boy squinted his eyes at the small picture. "What is that, a candle?"
"Oh, you finally see it? Yes, it's a candle, the candle you were supposed to get from the vent, and light it in the desired spot."
The alien-girl spoke again, "That does explain why there were matches at the place we were supposed to place the candle. So, what does this mean for us now? Do we have to leave the party?"
The boy looked like he didn't want to end the argument but let the hostess answer the question anyway. "Of course you can stay! The more the merrier, right? Although you may not be able to participate in the game, you can still stay, chill out, and spectate the rest of the game."
Hearing what the hostess had to say, the girl sat back down. She waved at her partner to sit back down as well, but his emotions towards this game were strong as he kept pressuring the girl. "Well, what about the candle? How do we know you're not lyin' to us?"
"The candle is sitting right up there," she said as she pointed to a ledge just above the fireplace, a lit candle burning away.
The pirate looked around the room at all the guests listening to their conversation then finally deciding to sit down, a look of defeat plagued his face as he groaned. "I must be crazy or something because it just doesn't make any sense. Why were there two items in there to begin with? Was that your doing?"
"I can assure you there was only supposed to be one item in the vent, I couldn't say why there were two. You must've just been unlucky."
Pirate-boy shot back, making his last stand known, "Unlucky? Sounds more like a set-up to me…"
"A set-up, huh? I suppose a sabotage isn't the most unlikely scenario when I think about it. I mean, I never said that was against the rules." The room full of costumed-listeners had turned to wondrous eyes as the news of a possible miscreant could be among the ranks of the party.
The pirate laid back in his chair, his hands on his head with astonishment, "Wow, so you're telling me we lost to a couple of jokesters? What a joke." He stood back out of the chair mentally frustrated, "Whatever, I'm over it. Hey, this is a party, right? Where's all the food and drinks at then?"
"Just in the next room over there is food of all kinds and all the drinks you can think of!" The recently eliminated pirate then made his leave soon after, his partner following after him. Now, there were only eight, and there was no way the creature would lose his face now. All it had to do was get through a couple more rounds of simple party games, or so it thought it'd be that simple.
"So, who's ready for round number two!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone