"You guys are very enthusiastic about something that could kill you," says X laughing at his own joke, "but, very well, let's start stage 2. Go to the door that was next to Gadget Blast, the one you guys pointed out earlier."

The players walk over to the door. Chase opens it and everyone has a look of shock on their face.

"What. Is. That?" says Blake.

" 'That' is the second stage, I like to call it, 'The Tower of Misery' " says X.

Inside the door was an obstacle course, but, the catch was that the obstacle course started at the bottom of the room and ended at the very top, everyone had to turn their heads up just to see the end of it.

"The tower of WHAT?" says Lexi.

"Misery. I mean, look at it, does that look easy to you?" says X.

"How many lives do we lose if we can't do this obstacle course..?" says Joseph.

"Ha! You're that scared, aren't you? I wouldn't worry, you only lose half of your lives," says X.

"Can you please just explain this stage?" says Blake still looking up at the obstacle course in shock.

"Gladly. This is the second stage, The Tower of Misery. You will have only 20 minutes to complete the obstacle course, it will be difficult but it's possible, I made sure of that. On the off chance you don't finish, you will only lose half of your lives. The strong suits you need for this stage are speed and strength. If you don't have either of those, go to someone who does, you should be fine from there. Now then, everyone in the door! We need to start!" says X.

Everyone reluctantly goes inside. Once everyone was in, the door slammed shut.

"Typical," says Ana.

"Well, X did try and warn us," says Carly.

"That's true. I wonder if X will still let us go back to the games,"

Everyone turns to Ana with a weird look on their faces.

"... I'm kidding," says Ana.

"Ha! Don't worry, we'll be able to do it, I know it," says Carly turning over and smiling at Ana.

Ana blushes but it leaves almost immediately, "Yeah, you're right," Ana smiles back.

"Ok, who has strength and speed? X said those were the strong suits so we need to locate the people with those," says Ana.

"I have speed, but not strength," says Carly.

"I suppose I have strength? I used to go to the gym every day to lift weights before this all happened," says Joseph.

"I have strength as well, I used to be on the wrestling team at my school," says Rachel.

"Does anyone else have strength or speed?" says Ana.

Everyone else is silent.

"Ok, that's fine, everyone who doesn't have speed or strength, go to someone that does. X said as long as we teamed up with someone with those strong suits we should be fine," says Ana.

"Great memory, Ana! Are we ready to start the second stage?" says X.

"We're ready," says Joseph.

"Amazing. The stage will start in 3, 2, 1... NOW!" Good luck, players," says X.

The first stage of the obstacle course was a long ladder. Everyone climbs up it with no trouble.

"X might've made the first stages easier and the later ones harder, I think we should be careful," says Chase.

"I agree," says Rachel.

The players were running to the next stage in the obstacle course, the group had no idea what they were looking at.

"What is that?" says Carly.

"It looks like a laser but the thing to run on is just a plain straight platform," says Blake.

"There's a button at the end of the platform!" says Carly.

"I assume that we need to press the button?" says Chase.

"I think someone has to run across first and press the button, it probably disables the laser so the rest of us can run across," says Rachel.

"I agree," says Chase.

"If that's the case, then I'll go, I'm the only one that said I had speed," says Carly.

Carly waits for the laser to be in a certain place and then completely takes off, sprinting across the platform. She reaches the end of it in just a matter of 3 seconds and then presses the button.

"Good job, Carly!" says Ana as everyone else runs across the platform.

Carly has a quick smile as she joins everyone else on the next stage.

Everyone looks in awe at the next stage.

"I suppose this would be the strength portion of the obstacle course..." says Joseph.

The next stage was a bunch of weights, all different sizes, and then a circle on the floor.

"What should we do?" says Lexi.

"I think we're meant to get those weights into the circle?" says Ana.

"Wouldn't we just be able to pick them up and put them in?" says Lexi.

"No, we can't. There are lasers, I believe only the weights can go through the lasers but if we do, we're screwed. We need to throw them," says Ana.

"Well, Rachel, let's start," says Joseph starting with the lightest weight, 5 pounds. He throws it easily into the circle.

"Got it..." says Rachel as she picks up a 10-pound weight and does the same thing. She throws it effortlessly into the circle.

Joseph and Rachel took turns throwing weights into the circle. First 15 pounds, then 20, 30, 40, and 50. Up until 50 pounds, they were about to do it easily. Now came the real challenge.

"Rachel, I think you're gonna need to help me on this..." says Joseph.

"How many pounds is it?" says Rachel.

"60," says Joseph.

"Got it. You grab the left and I'll grab the right, we'll throw it on the count of 3," says Rachel.

Joseph grabs the left and Rachel walks over to grab the right and the countdown starts.

"1..."

"2..."

"3... NOW!"

The weight goes into the air, it goes into the circle but just barely.

"Nice job, Rachel," says Joseph.

"You as well, come on, we only have one more," says Rachel.

"That's great, how many pounds is it?" says Joseph.

"... it's 100 pounds," says Rachel.

"What. You're kidding, right?" says Joseph.

"I'm not, come look," says Rachel.

Joseph walks over and looks at the weight. It says 100 pounds, it's as clear as day.

"Shit. Do you think we'll be able to do it?" says Joseph.

"We might need some help..." says Rachel as she looks over to the rest of the players.

"You want our help?" says Chase.

"Yes, there's no way me and Joseph will be able to do it on our own," says Rachel.

"You got it. What should we do?" says Ana.

"Everyone come put a hand on the weight, I can count to 3, and then on 3, we'll throw it as hard as we can," says Rachel.

"Got it," says Blake as everyone walks over and puts their hands on the weight.

"Everyone ready?" says Joseph.

Everyone says yes simultaneously and Rachel starts counting.

"1..."

"2..."

"3... NOW!"

Everyone uses a good amount of force to get it in the circle... it works. It made it in the circle. As the last weight falls into the circle the lasers de-activate and everyone goes onto the next stage.

"Hello, players! You guys are halfway through the obstacle course! You all have 10 minutes left to complete this, good luck!" says X.

They show up to the 4th stage of the obstacle course, it looks like strength also needs to be used for this.

The stage has a bunch of lasers all shaped in different ways but for some reason, the lasers could fit someone in them...

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" says Blake.

"Maybe... what are you thinking?" says Chase.

"The lasers from before had no space for one of us to fit inside them... but this one does. Do you guys think one of us has to go through these so we can get past this stage?" says Blake.

"I think so too, there's also a button past the lasers," says Chase.

"How are we gonna do this though?" says Rachel.

"You guys don't think... do we have to throw someone through the lasers and onto the place where the button is?" says Ana.

"That's starting to look like the only option," says Carly.

"Well, I have an idea on who's getting thrown," says Blake turning his head to Lexi.

"What? Blake, why are you looking at me? Wait... NO!" says Lexi.

"You're the lightest one here Lexi, we have the least amount of risk if we throw you," says Ana.

"That depends, which one of you is throwing me?" says Lexi.

"I can do it, I'm the strongest here," says Joseph.

"If Joseph is doing it, that's probably the best option... but I swear you better not drop me!" says Lexi as she walks over to Joseph.

"I won't, Lexi, trust me," says Joseph as he picks Lexi up.

"I'll countdown," says Rachel.

"3..."

"2..."

"1... NOW!"

Joseph throws as hard as he can as Lexi braces for impact. She lands on the platform safely.

"WOOO! I SURVIVED!" says Lexi.

"That's amazing, Lexi! Can you press the button now?" says Rachel.

"Oh! That's right," says Lexi as she goes to press the button. She presses the button and the lasers turn off and the platform extends so everyone else can cross. They run to the next stage as X starts speaking again.

"Hello, players! I originally was going to have one more stage after this one but I've changed my mind! The 5th obstacle course stage you are on right now will be the last one! Sadly, this means I will be taking some time away from the timer. Originally you guys have 7 minutes left but because you have one less stage, you now have 3 minutes left, good luck!" says X.

"What's the reason for that?" says Joseph.

"Hmm, I don't know! I felt like it," says X.

Ana sighs, "I'm so tired of him."

Shifting their attention from X, they look to the last stage. It looks like this one might be focusing on speed.

This stage doesn't have lasers like before. It was just platforms, except, the catch was that the platforms were moving.

"Guys, I think we need to run across these," says Carly.

"Do you see how fast it's moving? I think only you'll be able to do this stage, Carly. I don't see a button to stop them either," says Blake.

Ana looks around for a button, "He's right. I don't see a button anywhere."

"We can still do it!" says Carly.

"Only you can do it," says Blake.

"How would you know? You haven't even done it," says Carly.

"Look at it! You need speed for it, not to mention balance as well. I think we all have balance but it's stupid if we don't have speed," says Blake.

"I'll do it. If I can do it, all of us can," says Ana.

Ana steps onto the first platform. She doesn't run though, she balances herself and walks slowly. Once she's at the end of the platform, she plans her jump onto the next platform carefully. She keeps repeating her actions until she gets to the end.

"WOOO! She did it!" says Carly.

"It's time for the rest of us now," says Joseph as he gets onto the first platform.

Everyone follows after him, one by one getting to the end of the obstacle course. Everyone finishes with 10 seconds left on the clock.

"Congratulations, players! You have passed stage 2! Follow the exit door, there should be some stairs you can use to get back down," says X.

Everyone uses the stairs to get back down to the room where it all began and once again, there's another door next to the last door they just went through. It's most likely the door to stage 3.

"You all have a 10-minute break before stage 3, players!" says X.

As the break starts, Rachel walks over to Chase.

"Hi, Chase," says Rachel.

"Hello, is there something you needed?" says Chase.

"No, I just wanted to talk. I know we've had our differences in the past, but, we all make mistakes. we should be friends now, deal?" says Rachel putting out her hand for a handshake.

Rachel thinks to herself, "*I can't believe I allowed myself to give in that easily, I need to do better.*"

"*What..? I don't buy that for a second. But, it's best if I say yes, I can't create any problems,*" thinks Chase.

Chase puts out his hand and accepts the handshake, "Yeah, I agree, let's be friends. You did great on the obstacle course by the way."

"Oh, thank you! My arms are a little sore though," says Rachel laughing.

The 10 minutes pass and X starts speaking again.

"Hello, players! The 10-minute break is over, please come over to the door where the 3rd stage takes place!" says X.

"Got it!" says everyone simultaneously.