"Come on guys, it's not that big of a jump. I'm an awesome athlete. Just watch this!" Tyler said.
Tyler then jumped off the cliff like nothing happened, and the group watched him fall. Ezekiel saw him head for the target… and then he hit his head right away.
"Oh," most of the campers said.
They saw Tyler fall into the target. This made the other people on the Bass a little more confident. Katie and Sadie held hands, as Ezekiel saw them jump off the cliff together. He saw the two of them land inside the target, then Eva jumped off with her arms crossed and landed calmly inside the target. Then Bridgette jumped into the safe zone in a beautiful acrobatic style.
Izzy did a crazy backflip, jumped down in style, and landed in a safe zone.
He then watched Geoff jump off the cliff. Then he looked at Cody, who was trying to woo Gwen, but she didn't seem interested. Ezekiel was about to say something to Cody when Courtney and Duncan got into a conversation (rather argument).
"What do you mean you're not going to jump?!?" – Duncan asked.
"I mean I'm not going to. I'm not going to risk my life being killed by sharks," – Courtney said.
Meanwhile, Harold jumped but, upon landing, he hit his genitals, which made all the males, even the male sharks in the water, grab their own genitals with their fins in fear and salute him as a heroic soldier who lost his chance to have children.
Duncan also saluted Harold out of sincere reflex (because of his genitals) and continued to argue with Courtney... - Courtney, I don't understand what you can't see! Everyone else is jumping! DJ, Tyler, Katie and Sadie, Eva, Bridgette, Izzy, Geoff and even Harold… all went forward. If you don't jump, the team's chances are diminished, you understand?
Courtney stood with her arms crossed, her legs steady but her gaze stubborn:
"I understand, Duncan, but I'm not going to jump. I'm not going to risk getting hurt by sharks… or anything else. This is my decision."
Duncan's voice grew sharper:
"This isn't just your decision, Courtney! This is about the team! If everyone backs down because of their own fear, no one can win! This is a competition! And now that you're standing here, you're the weak link in the team's equation!"
"I—" Courtney tried to argue, but Duncan quickly cut in: "I'm not trying to hurt you, Courtney, but it's simple logic! If the whole team jumps and you don't, then either you're the only one safe, or someone else's risk increases because they have to watch you. It's simple."
Courtney fell silent for a moment, the inner struggle in her eyes.
"No… I don't want to jump like that," she said quietly but firmly. "If I don't feel safe, I won't do it."
Shortly after, chicken hat was placed on Courtney's hair as she walked down the escalator.
Duncan sighed in disappointment and jumped into the water, landing in the safe zone.
Now it was the Screaming Gophers, and Ezekiel noticed Owen looking a little more tense.
He then saw the beautiful Lindsay jump down and make it safely into the zone—but before she landed, she winked at Ezekiel, causing him to immediately blush.
Justin then followed her, jumping off the cliff. Most of the girls watched anxiously as he fell, but for some reason Justin had lured the sharks with his beauty, and he rode one of them to land.
Meanwhile, an argument broke out between Leshawna and Heather.
"No way, I'm not jumping!" Heather said, her face furrowing in anger.
"What do you mean? If you don't jump, we lose the challenge!" Leshawna asked irritably.
"Well, I don't… HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Heather shouted, her eyes widening in shock.
Ezekiel stared at her with wide eyes, pale as he saw Leshawna lift Heather, whose expression still showed anger.
"I'm not going to let a two-faced, worthless girl who doesn't want to win ruin the challenge for me. So I'll just make the decision for her," Leshawna said firmly, Heather's arms hanging in the air.
Ezekiel stepped back, his mind racing. He couldn't intervene directly, but he thought of the most logical possibility, someone else would have to stop Leshawna: Noah. He knew the boy was lazy, but he always respected logic.
"Noah! Listen to me!" he shouted, jumping on the edge of the cliff to get his attention. "This isn't about who's stronger! This is logic! If Leshawna throws Heather, the team loses, the challenge fails, and everyone will know that you let this happen. You don't want to look like you let something stupid happen, do you?"
Noah glanced at Ezekiel with one eye, his eyes scanning the situation with a lazy, bored look.
"Um… logical, but…" he began, then sighed. "Okay, listen, but only because this is the least stupid decision I can make in this situation…"
Ezekiel's heart pounded. Slowly, he saw Noah put the logic together in his head, and something began to click.
"Noah, you need to do your best now," Ezekiel continued quickly. "It doesn't take strength, it doesn't take heroism, just thinking. If you stop Leshawna, everyone will see that you were the voice of logic, the problem solver. This is your moment!"
Noah looked from Leshawna to Heather, who was still hanging in midair, helpless. His eyes slowly narrowed, and a deep, sarcastic sigh left his lips.
"Okay, Leshawna…" he began, sitting back, casually on the edge of the cliff, his hands in his pockets. "You know, instead of ranting here and potentially ruining everyone's day, let's look at a logical solution. First, the laws of physics apply to all of us—mass, gravity, momentum… they're all real factors that need to be taken into account if we don't want tragedy. Second, team morale—yes, this is a super important thing—will absolutely fall on your head if you just cut someone off a cliff and Heather falls into the water while everyone else watches. And yes, even the illogical team players will notice."
Noah looked at Leshawna for a long moment, his voice slowing, sarcastic, but calm.
"Third, think about how your stupidity affects not only Heather, but everyone in the area. Are you the strongest? Maybe. The fastest? Maybe. But the smartest? Definitely not if you make this move. So the logical, least problematic decision is to let her go right now. You don't have to want to, you don't have to be angry, just use your brain. Trust me, it's the surest way to win, and no one will be mad at you… maybe I will a little, but it's the least you have to endure for my laziness.
Leshawna's face slowly turned from anger to incomprehension. Ezekiel's heart pounded, seeing that Noah had logically constructed his own argument, and Heather could be safe.
Heather, safe on the edge of the cliff, felt a strange, new feeling inside her—someone was actually trying to protect her, paying attention to her. She still remained defiant in her tsundere way, but a small, barely noticeable smile flickered across her eyes that only Ezekiel and Noah could sense.
Leshawna sighed, then relented, slowly lowering Heather, who was standing steadily on the edge of the cliff.
Leshawna shivered a little before jumping off as well. Ezekiel then saw Gwen jump off, and Trent and Cody soon followed.
Only a few campers remained. Ezekiel looked at Beth and Owen, who both looked terrified about jumping off the cliff, Heather too, but she was more scared of sharks. Noah quickly waved goodbye to the group and jumped off the cliff with his arms crossed over his chest.
Now it was just Ezekiel, Beth, Heather, and Owen. They (Beth & Owen) both looked very nervous about jumping off the cliff.
Ezekiel saw how nervous Owen was and went up to where he was standing.
"Hey man, you look pretty bad considering everything was going so well," he said.
"Wow… that's too high. How can I jump? I don't want to let anyone down… I just can't," Owen replied.
"Well, I don't think you're the perfect person for this. My dad always said, if you're afraid of something, try thinking of the thing you love the most and pair it with your fear. Just see if it works."
Owen looked down at his target, his nervousness slowly turning to wonder. Ezekiel's mouth watered. "Holy crap, macaroni! Guys, I didn't even know Chris left food. Come on!"
Owen then picked up Ezekiel, Beth, and even Heather, holding them with his arms and body.
"Owen, wait…" Beth shouted.
"Don't you dare…" Heather said sternly to Owen.
"CANNONBALL!" Owen shouted.
The boy jumped off the cliff without any fear. The others fell screaming into the middle of the target. Ezekiel felt the impact as they hit the water, then Owen's grip loosened and a huge force propelled him to the right.
They were soon out of the water, Ezekiel standing panting, trying to process the adrenaline of the fall.
Beth slowly stood up, wiping the water off her glasses, and blushing slightly as she smiled at him.
Heather stood with her arms crossed, trying to contain her fear and excitement, but a small, barely noticeable smile played on her lips.
"Holy… that was crazy!" Ezekiel said, still shaking.
"Seriously… I never want to go through that again." Heather sighed, glancing back at the water.
Beth laughed and waved. "Neither do I… but Owen really knows how to lead the team through the madness."
Owen stood on the shore, still smiling. "See? We're alive, we all made it. Fear only exists in our heads!"
"Yeah, but that was a little too much for me," Ezekiel said, smoothing his wet hair.
Heather took a small sigh and stepped closer, standing on the edge of the shore, watching the team. "Well… maybe now we're really starting to come out of all this madness."
Beth wiped her forehead and looked at Ezekiel with a smile. "Thanks for being there for me… and encouraging me. I don't know what would have happened without you."
Ezekiel smiled softly, patting his shoulder. "No problem. It was a team effort. Everyone's safe. And... at least now we know that Owen can really do anything for food."
"That was freaking awesome! And guess what...the Screaming Gophers win!" Chris said.
Ezekiel and the other Gophers celebrated their victory.
"This first part of the challenge."
The celebration stopped as there were a couple of mumblings and groanings from the Gophers.