"Now then, I will explain the first stage of the obstacle course that needs to be completed. This stage will be called... Gadget Blast!" says X.

"That sounds like a video game," says Joseph skeptically.

"Oh, I'm aware. It sounds more fun like that!" says X, "anyways, let me explain what will occur in this stage. First, all of you need to grab one of the gadgets laid out on the table in front of you. After all of you have grabbed a gadget, a timer will start. The timer will be set for 5 minutes and in those 5 minutes, you need to find 10 targets and shoot them. The catch is that these targets are hidden. You will need to communicate with everyone and search every crevice of the room. Any questions?"

Joseph inspects the gadgets, "These things are able to shoot?"

"I assure you, Joseph, every single one of those gadgets can shoot just fine," says X.

"You said something about a room, X. What room are you talking about?" says Carly.

"Don't worry, you'll see, it's better to show you than explain," says X.

"Um, alright?" says Carly.

"Now then, hurry up! It's time to start the first stage," says X.

One by one, everyone takes a gadget.

"You know, it's not too late to go back to the last 10 games, you sure you guys wanna do this?" says X.

"We're sure," says Ana.

"Alright, just making sure," X says while laughing, "it's time to take you guys to the room the stage will take place."

After X had said that, the robotic voice was back.

"Teleporting players to room," says the robotic voice.

In less than a second, the players were in the new room. The room was massive, it wasn't lit very well but you could still see around you.

"There's no way we can find the targets in a room like this," says Rachel.

"Trust me, you guys can definitely find all of them," says X.

"And if we don't..?" says Lexi.

"Considering this is the first stage, you'll only lose half of your lives. Now then, the 5-minute timer starts... NOW! Good luck, players," says X.

Everyone starts sprinting in different directions, looking for the targets.

"Found one!" shouts Chase, shooting the first target. It's only been around 5 seconds since the timer started.

"I see one!" shouts Joseph.

"Go get it then!" shouts Blake.

"I can't reach it! It's too far up, I can't jump that high!"

"I got it!" shouts Carly. Carly sprints in the direction where the target is and jumps so far that nobody can believe their eyes. She shoots the target and sprints toward the opposite direction to look for more.

They've already found 2 targets but there's still so much space to cover to find the other 8.

"Guys! We're gonna need a plan for this if we wanna win!" shouts Ana.

"Do we have enough time to discuss one?" shouts Chase.

"We do, it'll be fine! Everyone, come here!" shouts Ana motioning everyone to come closer to her.

"I've already thought of something so I just need you guys to hear me out. Carly, I need you to pay more attention to the higher grounds of the room, nobody can jump as high as you so I trust you to focus on the higher places," says Ana.

"Got it," says Carly leaving to find more targets.

"Lexi, I want you to do the opposite. You're the shortest one here so I want you to focus on the lower ground and spaces that seem more closed in," says Ana.

"Got it," says Lexi leaving.

"Everyone else, I haven't thought of much for all of you so you guys could look around the middle ground or you can help Carly or Lexi, you could look after them in case they missed something," says Ana.

Everyone agrees and splits up.

"3 and a half more minutes, players! The clock is ticking!" says X.

"We got this!" says Rachel.

Lexi goes into a crawlspace and sees a target, "I found one!" shouts Lexi as she shoots it and leaves.

"7 more to go, we got this!" shouts Chase.

"I see one!" shouts Carly, "It's too high up even with my jumping, I need a boost!"

"Alright, hold on I'll be right there!" shouts Ana.

Carly gets onto Ana's shoulders and then jumps while aiming to shoot the target. The target has been hit while Carly falls back onto the ground.

"Thanks, Ana!" shouts Carly as she runs to look for more targets.

"No problem!" shouts Ana as she runs in the opposite direction.

Joseph starts running toward the corners of the room, "I found one!" shouts Joseph.

"I found one too!" says Blake.

Joseph and Blake shoot their targets at the same time. 4 more targets to go.

"I see one!" shouts Rachel, "Carly, I need you to go get it, I can't jump that high!"

"Got it!" says Carly sprinting towards Rachel, running up a piece of furniture, and jumping to where the target was, she shoots it.

3 more targets.

"1 more minute, players!" says X.

Ana starts running frantically, "Found one!" shouts Ana as she shoots the target.

2 more targets.

"Where are they!?" shouts Joseph.

"We can't waste time!" shouts Rachel.

"30 seconds, players!" says X.

"We get it!" screams Blake.

"Blake! Next to you!" shouts Joseph.

"Huh?" says Blake turning around, "OH!" Blake sees the target and runs towards it and then shoots it.

1 more target.

"We just need one more!" shouts Ana.

Everyone starts running like crazy. They can't find it. They can't lose half their lives. But, one person is dead in their tracks.

"10 seconds, players!" says X.

That person is Lexi.

"9 seconds!"

Lexi sees something out of the corner of her eyes, "Is that..?"

"8 seconds!"

She starts walking toward what she sees and starts to pick up speed.

"7 seconds!"

It's the last target. It's in a crawlspace.

"6 seconds!"

She practically jumps towards the crawlspace and starts going inside.

"5 seconds!"

"I found it! I found the last target!"

"4 seconds!"

Everyone turns their head.

"3 seconds!"

"Shoot it!" everyone simultaneously shouts.

"2 seconds!"

"Got it!" shouts Lexi as she shoots the last target.

"All targets have been discovered, first stage complete," says the robotic voice.

"Congratulations, players! You passed the first stage with only a second to spare!" says X.

Everyone starts celebrating, a wave of relief overtakes everyone.

"Lexi, that was amazing!" says Rachel.

"I told you that you would do good in the stages, Lexi!" says Blake.

"Let's save the sappy things for later, I need to teleport you guys back," says X.

"Teleporting players back," says the robotic voice.

In the blink of an eye, they were back.

"Now that the first stage is over, I need you guys to put the gadgets back," says X.

Everyone does what X says then they leave the room of gadgets until something catches their eyes. It's a door. It seems like a new door though, it's right next to the other door that the players just came out of.

"Was that always there?" says Lexi.

"I have no clue," says Blake.

"X, what is that?" says Chase.

"It's the door for the second stage. You guys aren't going through that yet though, I need to talk to all of you first," says X.

"About what?" says Ana.

"Would you guys like to do one stage a day or do one immediately after the other?"

"We can do them immediately," says Joseph.

"Alright! Don't complain if it's too much for you," says X starting to laugh.

"That reminds me, X, you never told us how many there are," says Joseph.

"Oh? Are you talking about how many stages there are in the obstacle course?" says X.

"Yes. How many are there?"

"There's 6 of them. Usually, I don't have this little amount of stages but it seemed to work for this group. You guys have 5 more stages."

"Is there anything else you wanna say?" says Carly.

"Oh, yes, there is! Do you guys remember how I said something like 'each stage is modified for the players'?"

"Yes... where are you going with this?" says Ana.

"What I meant by that was due to my analyzing of you guys, I put down a list of the players that most likely would succeed more than the other players. I was wondering if you wanted to hear it."

"Um, sure. I don't really see the point of it but there's no harm in it," says Ana.

"Ahem, the first person would be Lexi because during the games, she always hid and before you all made teams she would always hide in cabinets or drawers which resemble crawlspaces. The second person is Chase, I'm not sure if you all picked up on it, but, Chase has 20/20 vision so he could have easily found targets. The last person is Carly. She was in track at a younger age so her running and jumping skills are off the charts compared to you guys."

"Wasn't it supposed to be modified so it would be for all of us instead of just a few of us?" says Rachel.

"Not necessarily. It could've been but as I said before, you need teamwork to complete these stages, so just a few people would be good."

"Why are you even telling us this?" says Blake.

"I don't know, why not? I thought the info would be good to have, that's all."

"That's very random of you, X," says Lexi.

"If you guys don't want the info that's fine by me, just ignore it. Continuing on, do you guys wanna start the second stage?"

"Of course we do," says Blake.