The start of the festival did not look so good for Pendergast and the others. People were already singling out Dreamland just from judging the jousting match alone. The next contest was a test of bow and arrow. Four different knights would step onto the field. One knight from the white rose kingdom would shoot an arrow, almost hitting the bullseye. A knight from Garrison, Tibalt, waved to those in the bleachers as they cheered for him. He aims his bow and shoots his arrow, hitting a bullseye. Cheers and applause erupt for Tibalt. Other knights fired their shots, barely hitting a direct shot.
Koga was the next step forward. Bean, Elfo, Luci, and Koga cheered as he loaded his bow, aimed, and fired. Koga's arrow was a perfect bullseye,
"WOOHOO, GO KOGA!" Bean cheered him on, which resulted in a few side glares from Annable. Koga didn't stop there. He loads his bow and end-shoots the rest of the targets on the field. Tibalt and the rest of the knights' jaws dropped as they watched Koga land perfect shots on the targets. Koga lets out a sigh and rubs the back of his head. "Is this all I have to do?" He said, sounding bored. Pendergast, Turbish, Mertz, and a few Dreamland knights congratulated Koga. Tibalt and the Skyelands Knight Timmothy all gave cold looks at Koga.
The next showcase was a gauntlet run. This contest would showcase the endurance of all knights active in this contest. The knights competing in this, Mertz, Timothy, and a few nameless knights, gathered at the start zone. The gauntlet they were running was pretty standard. It had obstacles to jump over, walls to climb, and things to crawl under. A few people also stood on the sidelines to toss objects at the contestants.
"Oh man, I don't know if I can do this..." said Mertz. He was sweating beads and had a worried expression on his face. Pendergast patted Mertz's shoulder softly and gave him a confidant smile. "Worry not, Mertz, this gauntlet is easy, and you will have no problem completing it!"
"Y-You think so?" said Mertz.
"I know so!" said Pendergast, giving Mertz a light tap on the back.
"Alright...I can do this! I can do this!" said Mertz, hyping himself up. Tibalt, Timothy, Mertz, and a few unnamed Knights gathered at the starting line. They all waited for the signal. Once the horn went off, they all began running. The first obstacles were carriage wheels placed across the ground. Tibalt and Timothy were ahead of Mertz and the other knights. They passed through the first course, hoping over the obstacles carefully without any trouble. The men on the sidelines tossed rotten fruit at the two, but to their disappointment, they dodged each one. However, the rest of the knights and Mertz were having trouble. The obstacles they were hoping for were causing some knights to trip and fall over one another.
While not perfect, Mertz was making his way through the first obstacle, although he was pelted by rotten food. Tibalt and Timothy were neck and neck as they made their way to the next obstacle. Their task for this was a wall climb. The first wall was short enough for them to finish in seconds. The second wall took them a minute, and the last was longer and more challenging to climb. Mertz was lagging as he struggled to climb the first wall. Tibalt and Timothy were keeping up with each other as they climbed the long wall. Tibalt's left hand slipped, and he dangled. The crowd gasped as they watched. Mertz had miraculously made it over the second wall and pants. He began to wonder if he could even get over the next wall.
But a few women screamed in the crowd. Mertz looked up, seeing Tibalt and Timothy falling from high up and landing flat on their backs. Mertz gasped and could hear Pendergast, Turbish, and a few other Dreamland knights cheering him on and telling him to climb. Mertz grabbed on and began climbing as fast as he could.
"Mertz!" Turbish called out to him. "Whatever you do! Don't look down!"
Mertz had unfortunately looked down, and a look of dread filled his face. "AHHH! I'M LOOKING DOWN!" He cried.
"MERTZ, KEEP GOING! YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!" Pendergast yelled. Mertz gulped and kept climbing. He kept climbing until he reached the other side of the wall. He climbs down slowly and drops to the ground. Mertz was tired and out of energy as he dragged himself through the rest of the course...till, finally...he made it. Everyone in the stands stood in applause to Mertz. Bean looked over at Annable and stuck her tongue out at her. Annalbe shoots a nasty glare of Anger at Bean as she does so.
The knights gathered to help Mertz and gave him water to cool him down. "You were amazing, Mertz! Great job!" said Pendergast, patting him on the back. "But didn't you say he'd probably fail the first course-" Turbish was cut off by Koga, elbowing him in the gut.
"We all believed in your string bean," said Koga, smiling at him.
Tibalt rubbed the back of his head as he left the course. "What in God's name was that? Was I hit in the head by something?"
Timothy looked at his hand and saw a slight bruise on the back of his hand. "So...that's how he wants to play it, huh?" He looked over at Koga. Koga looked over at Timothy and smirked. "Hehehe..." He chuckled.
Intermission had started. Pendergast was giving a pep talk to Koga, who was stretching as he prepared for the next showcasing, which was a showcase of Strength. Bean, Elfo, and Luci walked over to the two, "Yo Koga! Nice job with the archery!" She said, "You should've seen the look on Annable's face!" She chuckled mischievously. Koga grinned and scoffed, "I guess seeing her favorite knight fall on his ass wasn't entertaining to her."
"Amazingly, such a cute face can make such a nasty expression," said Elfo.
"Just imagine the expression she'd make when she finds out you screwed over those two in the last showcasing!" said Luci.
Pendergast looks down at Luci, then back at Koga. "What's the cat talking about?" he asked, confused.
"Huh?" Bean looked just as confused.
"I tossed some rocks at Tibalt and that asshole knight," said Koga. "That's how they fell on their asses."
"Koga, you cheated?!" said Pendergast shocked.
"Oh, give me a break. You and I both know Mertz wasn't going to make it. So what if I did something to help him? Nobody saw me do it."
"Koga, I can't believe you did that! That doesn't mean we genuinely won that showcasing!"
"It's not a big deal," said Koga nonchalantly. "This whole contest doesn't matter anyway."
"It matters to us, Koga!" said Pendergast sternly. "You have to promise me you won't do anything like that again!"
"Oh, for the love of fine. I won't do anything like that again. I promise," Koga said sincerely. "Only if Skyland Knight is involved."
"Koga..." Pendergast crossed his arms.
"Ok, Ok..." Koga rolls his eyes.
Luci climbs up to Koga's shoulders and whispers in his ear. "Keep cheating..." he said in a deep tone.
"Jeez, Koga, you just met that Knight like an hour ago, and you two already hate each other," said Bean.
"Hey, if someone is going to get in my face and place their hand around their sword, I'm going to feel a certain way about it," said Koga grudgingly.
"I thought all knights had a certain respect for another or something. Didn't you say you had morals or a code?" Elfo asked.
"I'd call those guidelines personally...." Koga replied.
The horn for the next showcasing went off. "That's my cue," said Koga. Luci hops off his shoulders as he heads off the field. Koga stood next to a few muscular knights. They all looked like the standard big, tough guys who constantly flex their muscles and brag about lifting or crushing an item with one hand. The objective of this showcase was a traditional caber toss. On the ground in front of them were long wooden poles twenty feet long. The goal of this contest was to toss the Caber so that it would turn over and fall away from the tosser. When this was explained to Koga, he replied by saying. "That sounds redundant..." Another thing that Koga didn't know about and refused to do was wear a kilt.
In tradition, during a Caber toss, all participants must wear a kilt. Koga refused to do this, and those within the crowd voiced their opinions by booing Koga.
"I'M NOT WEARING A DAMN SKIRT!" Koga shouted at everyone.
"It's not a skirt, you moron," said One of the participants. "It's a kilt. Get it right!"
"Oh, whatever!" Koga groaned.
The horn sounded off for the showcase to begin. The first participant stepped forward and picked up the Caber. He held the bottom of the Caber in the palm of his hand. He ran on and tossed the Caber. The Caber lands on the ground at the foot, tilts momentarily, and falls forward. Everyone cheered and clapped as the participant flexed his Strength. The second participant was next. He ran on but failed at balancing the Caber in his hand, and it fell out of his grasp. Koga was next, and he picked up the Caber with ease. "So all I have to do is toss the thing, and it lands forward, right?" He said. Koga chucks it. Everyone's jaw dropped as they watched the Caber fly through the air, spinning. But, the Caber had left the field. There was a loud boom as the Caber landed somewhere in town and possibly destroyed a building.
"So...does that count?" Koga asked one of the judges.
The Judge stared at him for a moment. "No..."
"HAHAHHAHA!" Annable laughed and even snorted a bit. "Oh, that was too good!"
Bean scowled as she crossed her arms.
"Koga, don't you know how to control your strength?" Pendergast asked.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I do!" said Koga, annoyed.
"Don't just chuck it! Do what the first knight did! While doing Caber tossing, you get an extra try. Do not chuck it!" Pendergast explained.
"Fine, fine, I get it!" said Koga, irritated
Koga waited for the other participants to finish. The first successful participant messed up his balance and didn't get the Caber to land correctly. The second one did better on his second try. Koga was next again.
Koga picks up the Caber, gets a running start, and tosses it. This time, the Caber didn't go flying out of the field, but it did land a few judges. Everyone in the crowd let out an "OOOOOH!"
Koga stood staring at the judges under the Caber. He turned back to Pendergast, whose hand was placed around his forehead in shock.
"I guess I didn't hold back enough..." said Koga.
This showcase obviously didn't go to Dreamland.