An Underdog's Triumph

And so it comes down to 3 against 1.
The veterans stand together
as the young challenger recovers
from losing her two partners,
their competence not on par
to take down their opponents
in the two previous rounds.


But the young warrior is confident in her abilities;
even the vets know to stay on their toes.
They have not lost in years,
and tonight will not be an exception.


The challenger takes her mark at the start of the relay
as the veterans post up at their respective station.


The third rounds begins with
the battle of accuracy.
The Yellow vet hits his mark first and drains the container,
but the challenger is not far behind.
As the White vet begins the battle of gentleness,
he begins to feel the affect of the previous rounds.
His stomach becomes too weak for the competition,
allowing the challenger to go flip for flip with him.
She moves on to the battle of endurance
and steps up to bat, met by the Black vet.
They go neck and neck,
moving in perfect synchronization.
They spin together;
they swing together;
they hit together.
However... in the event of a tie,
the win goes to the challenger

The vets' fear has been confirmed.

The White vet takes himself out,
knowing that at his present state
he'll be of little use.
It is now 2 to 1.
The Yellow vet agrees to manage the White vet's post.

The battle is not as close this time.

The challenger gets an early lead in the accuracy battle.

The Yellow vet isn't far behind,

but the challenger as gentle as possible,

treating it like a lady.

She returns to the bat.

Once the Yellow vet finally finishes his gentle task,

the Black vet joins the challenger at the plate,

but it is too late.

She has finished, swung and connected.

The remaining vets are torn.

They are both capable of competing head on

with the strong competitor,

but they both have weakness.

The Black vet's accuracy is shot.

The Yellow vet's endurance is weak.

Ultimately, it comes down to the White vet's coin toss.

Heads: the Black vet.

At long last,
it's come down to a 1 on 1 relay.
The vet congratulates the young woman
on making it this far,
still unsure if he will beat her.
They take their positions at the starting line
and ready their hands.
The signal to start is given,
and they fire at their target.
They both have trouble hitting it for a while,
but the young woman manages to score first.
The Black vet hits his goal soon after
and trails closely behind her as
they move to the gentle round.
Being a pro at this event,
the Black vet blazes through the first two obstacles
but struggles on the third.
The challenger, however, doesn't hit a bump
and moves on to the final stage.
Again, the Black vet is only seconds behind.
He steps up to bat and begins,
but she is nearly finished.
Admitting defeat,
the Black vet drops his bat
as she ends the competition strong.

The crowd erupted in excitement.
A tradition of showing up the younger class had been broken
singlehandedly by no man, as it would have thought to be,
but instead by a woman.
And quite the woman indeed.

She should be proud of herself.
The White vet and Yellow vet
even went up against her solo after her victory,
and still they had to bow down to her in defeat.
She is truly a champ among us.
Word.