by Lisa Yee
“Then why are they doing this?” Katana asked.
“They were promised a year’s worth of gourmet grubs and an annual subscription to Tunnel Talk magazine to participate,” Beast Boy explained to the team.
Wonder Woman nodded. Tunnel Talk was an excellent periodical. “I have a plan,” she announced. “Here’s what we’re going to do….”
Wonder Woman placed the dirt back onto the ground, while two hundred feet away at point B, Katana used the flat side of her sword to loosen the heavy chromium plate from where it was anchored. Once Katana got it on its side, Wonder Woman could use her Lasso of Truth to move the two-ton chromium, revealing a fresh patch of soil. Meanwhile, Beast Boy returned underground to talk to the moles again, and Frost used her powers to create a fun, perfectly mole-sized ice tunnel slide for them to rush toward point B. There, under the arrow, the dirt flew as Team Super Hero High cheered on the moles creating a lovely molehill.
“The first round goes to…,” the Unseen Announcer said, “CAD Academy!” Surprised, Wonder Woman looked over at her competition. Their molehill sat atop the chromium circle…along with a family of angry moles who had been bullied into building a molehill with displaced dirt.
Captain Cold smiled at Wonder Woman and shook his head. “Oops, you lost,” he said with faux sadness. Then his team broke out laughing and congratulated themselves, as their moles chirped bitterly and squinted under the bright lights.
“In the next event of the one hundredth Super Triathlon, our young elite super heroes will be up against fire!” the Unseen Announcer told the crowd.
As the teams took their places onstage, Maxima from Interstellar Magnet was looking particularly glum. Her team was in a distant third place. With CAD Academy in first place, Captain Cold was even more smug than usual. Team Super Hero High was solidly in second place, and would have been even closer had they just displaced the moles instead of working with them. But it was important to Wonder Woman and her team to respect everyone. Besides, it was just the first challenge of the A/P Test. They could make up the points in the coming events.
Wonder Woman waved to her mom, who was sitting in the parent block of the Super Hero High cheering section, then focused on the announcer.
“For fire, teams will take their places on the field. In each team’s designated area is a bunker of unlit fireworks. Fire Trolls are standing by to lob fireballs. Their goal is to ignite the fireworks. If any team’s fireworks explode while the clock is counting down, that team loses the fire challenge. If no fireworks are lit, then the number of fireballs destroyed or lobbed back at the trolls counts for points.
“Super heroes, take your places!”
As her team marched to their area, Wonder Woman noticed Frost and Captain Cold glaring at each other.
“Don’t do it!” Wonder Woman cautioned.
“Do what?” Frost asked.
“Use your powers on him. That would be a mandatory point deduction for us and could even get you disqualified.”
“He thinks he’s so great,” Frost said coolly. “Sure, he can make things cold, but I can freeze them.”
“We’re all counting on that,” Wonder Woman told her.
As they took their places around their fireworks bunker, Katana readied her sword, Frost braced herself, Wonder Woman adjusted her bracelets, and, to the crowd’s delight, Beast Boy turned into a dragon.
The Fire Trolls slogged their way into the arena, and the crowd gasped. They were rarely seen in public, and the last confirmed sighting had been years earlier. Since then, they had gained weight and looked out of shape. Yet one should never underestimate a true villain. These hulking red creatures dripping with lava seldom came out from beneath their volcanoes. But, as the Unseen Announcer explained, “In the spirit of the one hundredth Super Triathlon, everyone is eager to play their role in history.”
The fireballs started slowly, with only a few at first, but that was just a warm-up. Katana leapt and whirled, using her sword to slice each fireball into a thousand embers that glowed bright orange before disintegrating. Wonder Woman used her bracelets to deflect fireballs and send them flying into the atmosphere, and Frost froze the fireballs in midair, watching as the ice melted and steam rose from where fire once was. But it was Beast Boy who wowed the crowd.
As a fire-breathing dragon, he fought fire with fire. One roar could emit a fifty-foot flame that knocked the wind out of the Fire Trolls’ cantaloupe-sized projectiles. Soon the trolls teamed up to bring Beast Boy down.
“Frost! Now!” Wonder Woman ordered.
Katana ran to Beast Boy’s side as Frost began blanketing the firework bunker with sheets of ice to render them unusable. Looking over at the CAD Academy team, Frost accidentally-on-purpose sent an icicle missile aimed at Captain Cold. He intercepted it with a blast of cold, sending it back and knocking her over.
“Stop goofing off and get up!” Wonder Woman yelled at Frost. “Katana is in trouble!”
There was no time to finish icing the fireworks. Katana’s sword was on fire! How could that be? It was made from the strongest metal on earth. But there it was, in flames. Frost quickly put out the fire with a blast of ice, leaving Beast Boy to battle the Fire Trolls alone. Suddenly, there was an explosion. The blast lit up the sky in a rainbow of colors as CAD Academy’s fireworks bunker ignited. Beast Boy turned to see the explosion, and a fireball swept past him. In an instant, Team Super Hero High’s fireworks bunker exploded, too.
By default, Interstellar Magnet won the round and were suddenly back in the game.
Wildcat was trying to calm Bumblebee down. She was in a tizzy. As weapons manager, it was Bumblebee’s job to make sure everything was in working order.
“Who did this?” Katana demanded. “Someone will pay for sabotaging my sword!”
“I don’t know,” Bumblebee said, flying circles around the locker room, on the verge of tears. “I have your backup swords right here.”
Beast Boy looked up, having guzzled several gallons of water. Being a fire-breathing dragon was exhausting. “Maybe someone doesn’t like you,” he said.
“Maybe I don’t like you,” Katana shot back.
“Is there anything I can do?” Hawkgirl asked as she paced the room.
“It wasn’t you, was it?” Katana said, her eyes narrowing. “You’re the alternate, and if I’m out, then you’re in!”
Hawkgirl looked shocked. Before she could answer, Wonder Woman stepped between them.
“She didn’t do it,” Wonder Woman said. “Hawkgirl would never do something like that. Katana, I am so sorry your sword was sabotaged, but we don’t have time to dwell on it right now. Our next competition is up.”
Katana did a side kick, deliberately knocking over a trash can. “I’m sorry,” she told Hawkgirl. “And sorry to you, too, Beast Boy,” she said, clenching her fists. “It’s just that I want to win so badly.”
“We all do,” Star Sapphire said. She looked over everyone’s uniforms as Golden Glider expertly mended the torn parts.
“Let’s go!” Wildcat shouted. He pulled Wonder Woman over. “We’ll get to the bottom of this later. If someone tampered with Katana’s sword, that’s serious business. I’ll make sure Bumblebee keeps an eye on the weapons. And for extra security, I’ll have Star Sapphire help her.”
The deep-water challenge took a lot of strategy. With no aqua members on any of the teams, they were all forced to make do. However, Team Super Hero High had the advantage of Beast Boy’s ability to shape-shift. Wonder Woman was glad that when she was little, her mother had forced her to take swimming lessons, even though she didn’t like putting her face underwater.
There were three chests at the bottom of the sea, but only one held treasure. Whichever team was able to bring it to the surface would win. But the chests were guarded by armies of Eclectic Electric Eels—that is, eels of various sizes and hues with the ability to electrify anyone who came in contact with them. The teams were flown by a Ferris Aircraft to a remote ocean and droppe
d from a thousand feet in the sky as camera-equipped drones broadcast from above the water. The prototype Ferris Aquatic Camera Cars videoed from below.
The battle was brutal. The Eclectic Electric Eels took too much delight in shocking the competitors, who had to constantly come up for air. As the Super Hero High team swam toward the treasure chest, Katana released her sword, letting it float to the bottom of the ocean. Beast Boy shook his head. Wonder Woman motioned for them all to surface. When they did, Katana explained, “The eels are drawn to metal. If you have anything metal on you, get rid of it.”
Wonder Woman took off her bracelets as she and Frost hitched a ride on Beast Boy, who had morphed into a giant sea turtle. Free from the Eclectic Electric Eel attacks, they made it to the three treasure chests before the other teams. Beast Boy—who was now a massive blue whale—blocked the other competitors. Wonder Woman dived to the ocean floor and retrieved the treasure chest. She opened it to find that it was full of gold coins, but instantly, the eels were alerted. In one sweeping gesture, she dumped the coins out, then pushed off from the ocean’s floor with such force that she shot out of the water. Once in the sky, she kept flying all the way back to the LexCorp Arena as her teammates followed.
“Why did you dump the treasure?” Harley Quinn yelled as the triumphant team walked toward the locker room, leaving puddles behind them. Beast Boy kept blowing water out his nose.
Wonder Woman tilted her head to the side and hit it to try to get the water out of her ear. “The task was to bring back the treasure chest, but not necessarily the treasure,” Wonder Woman explained.
Bumblebee was still buzzing in circles when the team entered the locker room.
“What’s the matter?” Wonder Woman asked. Bumblebee was on the verge of tears as she returned to her full size. “What is it?” she asked gently.
“Your lasso—it’s missing!” Bumblebee blurted before getting small again.
Wonder Woman froze. How could that be? Wonder Woman had left it in the locker room for safety, knowing she couldn’t use it underwater. But now it was gone? First Katana’s sword was compromised, and now her lasso was missing!
“Star Sapphire,” Wonder Woman called, “my lasso has disappeared, and…” Before she could finish her sentence, Wonder Woman was relieved to see Golden Glider at the far end of the locker room holding the Lasso of Truth. “You found it!”
Before Golden Glider could respond, Cheetah appeared from nowhere. Golden Glider tried desperately to skate away, but Cheetah was faster. She lunged for the lasso, wrenching it from Golden Glider’s hands and growling, “Give it up!”
As Cheetah was about to run off with the lasso, Bumblebee flew in and grabbed it, delivering it safely to Wonder Woman’s hands.
“Cheetah?” Wonder Woman gasped, confused.
“I—,” Cheetah started to say.
“Team Super Hero High, on the stage NOW,” Wildcat ordered. “We will deal with this when the competition is over.”
“Cheetah?” Wonder Woman said again as she left the locker room.
“You don’t understand,” Cheetah said defiantly. “You just don’t get it.”
As they made their way to the stage, Katana whispered to Wonder Woman, “She’s had it in for you ever since you knocked her over and she hurt her leg. Cheetah’s gone around telling everyone that you stole her spot on the team.”
Wonder Woman shook her head. “It was an accident,” she insisted. “Does she hate me that much?”
The official music started playing, and all the teams faced the audience as the Unseen Announcer began. “There is currently a tie between CAD Academy and Super Hero High. This final event will determine the winner of the one hundredth Super Triathlon.”
The crowd shifted anxiously. Wonder Woman waved to Hippolyta, who was holding up her GO, WONDER WOMAN! sign and wearing a Wonder Woman T-shirt. Next to her, Hawkgirl’s grandmother held a TEAM SHHS banner. Too bad she can’t see her beloved granddaughter in competition, Wonder Woman thought.
“This final event harkens back to old-fashioned picnic games, with a super hero twist,” the Unseen Announcer declared.
This last event of the competition took place in the center of the arena. The anticipation was high, and the spectators could barely contain their excitement. Several elementary- and middle-school super heroes were put in a time-out, and many famous super hero parents were reminded that they were role models and were asked to calm down.
As the referees passed out burlap sacks, the competitors looked confused.
“The sacks are for you to wear,” the Unseen Announcer began. Impatient to begin the competition, Ratcatcher and Beast Boy put the sacks on their heads. Wonder Woman and her team waited to hear whether the sacks would self-destruct, squeeze them into incapacitation, or perhaps emit a rash-causing poison. All were surprised to hear, “You step into them, and then you hop to the finish line! No flying, shape-shifting, or teleporting is allowed on the ground. Only jumping.”
“This stinks!” muttered Magpie as her teammates nodded. “Who do they think we are, average mortals?”
About a mile away, another referee waved and pointed to the end of the race, one foot away from the edge of a cliff.
The Unseen Announcer explained, “You must stop at the end, and anything past that disqualifies you. If you find yourself falling off the cliff, you may use your superpowers to rescue yourself or your teammates, should that be necessary. Got it? Good. Ready? On your marks, get set, go!”
Laughter swept through the stands as the audience watched some of the best young super heroes in history hopping up and down in burlap sacks. It looked awkward and easy at the same time. Just when Wonder Woman was getting the hang of it, she felt the wind change.
“All eyes to the west!” she yelled to her teammates. Headed straight toward them was a massive supercell formation—twin tornados! Before anyone had a chance to react, they were swept up into the air. “Hold on, we’re going for a ride!” Wonder Woman shouted.
The twister left the super heroes tumbling around, hitting each other while upside down, sideways, and backward. “Frost!” Wonder Woman yelled. “Can you freeze the tornados?”
“Yes,” Frost yelled back, “but we’re not allowed to use powers, only jumping!”
“That’s when we’re on the ground,” Wonder Woman said. “Right now we’re swirling in the air.”
“Got it!” Frost said, and suddenly the twister froze in midair.
“Katana!” Wonder Woman called out. “Break it!”
With a couple of swift two-legged kicks from inside the burlap bag, Katana shattered the frozen twister. Team Super Hero High fell to the ground and hopped to the finish line as two members of CAD Academy, and all four students from Interstellar Magnet, tumbled off the edge of cliff, embarrassing and disqualifying themselves.
The A/P test continued with a killer game of dodgeball—only, instead of regular balls, they used an assortment of ancient cannonballs. Heat Wave from CAD Academy hit Interstellar’s Kanjar Ro so hard with a cannonball, Ro had to be carried out on a stretcher, and his alternate was put in the game.
During the three-legged race, where super heroes were paired up and two of their legs were tied together, the squabbling rose to epic levels as they tried to outrun a hail storm that was so massive it turned into a tsunami. All were caught up in the whirl, and when the water washed away, the Supers found themselves tied to their competitors.
Though the audience was having a great time, the finalist teams were not. Playing these innocuous human picnic games was far more difficult than they had expected. They had not been prepared for the water balloon toss, with balloons filled with venomous robotic lake lizards.
“In this final A/P test of the final games, the scores are as follows,” the Unseen Announcer said. “In first place by only a fraction of a point is CAD Academy. At a very close second is Super Hero High, and in a distant third is Interstellar Academy. For the Triathlete of the Year, in third place is Magpie; in s
econd place is her CAD Academy teammate Captain Cold; and leading by a wide margin, from Super Hero High, is Wonder Woman!”
Pride washed over Wonder Woman as she saw her mom cheering. She wanted to bring home the gold medal so badly. It was what she had been training for.
On the sidelines, Bumblebee sent her a hug, and Hawkgirl waved, calling, “You can do it! Go, Team Super Hero High!” During all the weeks of training, the 24/7 of drills and studying and pushing themselves to the limit, Hawkgirl had been right there with them. Wonder Woman watched Hawkgirl, who was now blowing a kiss to her abuela.
“In this game,” the Unseen Announcer was saying, “everyone will be given an ordinary spoon and an egg.” But Wonder Woman wasn’t listening. Instead, she was thinking about how proud she had made her mother, and how just being on the team was an achievement she would never forget.
The crowd cheered loudly as the announcer said, “Competitors, take your places….”
“Wait!” Wonder Woman called out. She grabbed her leg. “I’m hurt!”
Wildcat, Bumblebee, and Star Sapphire raced over to her.
“Where does it hurt?” Wildcat asked. The rest of the team stood stunned. The audience was silent. Hippolyta got to her feet as the rest of the audience sat frozen in their seats.
“I can’t compete,” Wonder Woman told Wildcat. She had played long and hard, and had garnered most of the audience’s applause. Now it was time for someone else to shine. “Put Hawkgirl in.”
Wildcat looked her straight in the eyes. “Is this what you really want, Wonder Woman?” he asked evenly.
Without blinking, she answered, “This is what I want.”
“You know that all you have to do is ace this last test, and no matter how the team does, you will be Super Triathlete of the Year,” he reminded her.
“This is what I want,” Wonder Woman repeated.
