OC Apprentice Fifth Pre-Challenge Announcement · 12:30am Mar 6th, 2016
Veggie slumped down against a wall of boxes. She was lost. No, she was more than lost. This wasn't a basement, this was a storage unit if anything! This was more like a warehouse than a basement! It would take years for a group of the best explorers to make their way out of this horrid maze. Throughout her journey, Veggie found some interesting things. Antique weapons, old books from almost every era in history and artwork from some of the greatest artists Earth has seen. But all her discoveries weren't distracting Veggie from how she felt. She felt cold, scared, and alone. She shivered as the cold atmosphere of the basement engulfed her. She had to keep going, though. It wouldn't be very godly of her if she were to stop now. But she simply could not find the energy... Not yet at least. She needed rest and decided to take a little break sitting against the large wall of boxes. Feeling a little bored with simply resting, Veggie pulled out the journal and continued where she left off.
"I don't understand why Cortés insisted we enslave and attack the Aztecs. They weren't as sophisticated as we were, but they were still intelligent in their own right. How they grow their crops and lead their government is impressive. Why must Cortés do this? Why are the rest of the explorers following his orders? My love, I'm feeling as though I should fight against the horrid man. But I have no choice. If I were to do so, he'd have my head. I better stay quiet at least for now."
"I couldn't handle it anymore. I couldn't handle the bloodshed and death any longer. Cortés and his conquistadors have continued through Mexico to slaughter the rest of the Aztecs all in the name of Spain. I found it disgusting and escaped. I no longer work for that devil man or his soldiers. I don't know how I'll get home. I know it won't be for a while, so please await my return, my love."
"My beloved... I've found something.... Amazing. Something only thought of in legend. It appears to be a fountain. It's so beautiful, it's water is so clean and fresh. I believe I know what this fountain is, but I know it's only a silly legend and nothing more. I'm still thinking of a way to get home to you, love. But I heard Cortés destroyed the ships, so I am unable to use those to get back home. Hopefully, I can figure out a plan soon."
Veggie read on. The journal continued to describe the landscape this adventurer saw and witnessed. The pages told a story about him having to hunt for food and scavenge. It described how he had to hide from the increasing amount of conquistadors in the area. However, the final page that had words on it was very different and made Veggie wonder what that journal meant.
"My beloved... I don't think I'll be coming home at all. Cortés has set up small villages here and I am unable to think of a way to return to you. Writing in this journal has made me believe I'm really talking to you. I am very sorry, love. We were to be wed soon after my return, but you must become a widow before you even become a wife. I will miss you beloved. Today is my last day writing in this journal and is the final day of my existence. Grace, my beloved, I hope to see you in God's kingdom.
Your lover, your fiance, your friend,
Oscar Esteban."
Silence. That was all Veggie could hear throughout the entire basement of GOB's. Complete and total silence. Veggie closed the small journal and placed it on the floor. She had no idea who these two lovers were, but she knew it must have been a sad time for Grace and her lover. However, something was odd.
Oscar? Grace? Those two names. The two names she gave to her trees. Why did those names seem important to her? What did it mean? Who were Oscar and Grace to Veggie?
~***~
"I know you want to make America great again, but I'm telling you I don't understand why you insist on running. You're a business man! One of the greatest Earth has! You already own the world of economics. Why must you run a country? A country that's already broken might I add?" GOB asked. He was alone in his office talking on his 80's styled phone. "Right... Well, yes, you are the only one who REALLY knows how to handle trade and economics. I still don't understand. Anyway, you still have my endorsement, Mr. Trump. Alright. I'll talk to you later." GOB hung the phone up and slumped in his chair. He sighed, feeling bored. All his daily duties were completed, he just finished talking with Mr. Trump, he had his picnic with Stalin and Hitler just a few hours ago, and he went to a performance with Mr. Lincoln that morning. What was there to do now? GOB wondered as he looked up towards that weird ruby fixed on his forehead. He didn't like it. it's been there for a while now and it's caused nothing but irritation and confusion. It was time to end it!
GOB rushed to his bathroom and stared himself down in the mirror. He glanced at the ruby and huffed. He put his left and right knuckles against the ruby and tried to squeeze it out like a zit. It wasn't easy and it hurt a lot. Giving him a migraine.
"Hot damn, this hurts!" GOB shouted as he continued to add pressure on the stupid gem. It wasn't working. GOB would have to give it his all. He eased the pressure and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. He let out a huge and loud war cry and put all his strength in popping the horrid stone out of his head. Surprisingly, it worked! The gem popped out with an audible 'pop' and landed in GOB's sink. GOB stared at his forehead which had a gaping hole in it now. Cringing, he snapped his fingers and his normal skin grew over the hole. GOB then lifted the red gem and looked it over. He banged it on the counter. It wasn't fake. GOB then glanced side to side, making sure nobody was watching. He then slowly stuck his tongue out and licked the gem.
"Cherry?" He licked it again. "It's candy... This thing was candy the entire time..." GOB reasoned with a smile.
'Whelp, mystery solved! Crisis averted! Galaxy saved! Now let's get the competitors here!' GOB thought as he made his way back to his office. With his fingers, he snapped and suddenly all the players, Nova, Sentinel, Spark, Coalstone, and Reneigah arrived. It seemed as though GOB caught them at the wrong time since it appeared Spark was in the middle of a shower due to the shampoo and suds in her mane, Reneigah and Nova were still sleeping, Sentinel had a spoon in his mouth, leaving Coalstone to be the only one who appeared ready for the transportation. Of course, Spark screamed, Nova and Reneigah jerked awake and Sentinel spat the spoon from his mouth.
"You know you could let us know when you're going to poof us here next time!" Spark exclaimed angrily as she covered herself with her hooves. Since she appeared to be taking a shower, she wasn't wearing her prosthetic wing.
"Well SORRY, I don't know when you are and when you aren't taking a shower. And why are you covering yourself? You're a pony! You have nothing to hide! Now maybe if I turned you into a human," GOB said with a devilish smile.
"GOB, don't do it, man!" Sentinel warned.
"Wait, wait-" Spark tried to stop GOB but it was too late. GOB had already snapped her fingers and Spark turned into a human still covering herself. Reneigah quickly covered Nova's eyes who protested against the protective act, and Coalatone and Sentinel only stared, jaws wide open. "YOU TWO HAVE NO DECENCY!" She shouted. Sentinel shook his head and cowered.
"Oh gosh, sorry, sorry, sorry!" Sentinel exclaimed as he covered his eyes with his hooves. All the while Coalstone seemed to be frozen in place. He couldn't move one bit. He tried but simply couldn't. GOB was hysterically laughing at the scene.
"What's wrong with you, Coalstone? Cat got your tongue? Why don't you look away from Spark, hm?" GOB asked.
"C'mon, GOB this isn't funny!" Spark exclaimed.
"It kinda is," GOB argued. "Here, I'll give you some privacy." GOB then conjured a magic door. GOB told Spark to open the door which led to a closet full of human clothing. He told her to go in and get dressed. Before he closed the door behind her, he used his magic to throw Coalstone in with the still nude Spark and slammed the door behind them.
"Ha! Funny! Candle, did you get all that!?" GOB asked. Suddenly, Candle appeared from the ceiling of the office.
"Sure did, boss!" Candle said with a chuckle.
"Not you too, Candle!" Reneigah said with disappointment.
"What? It sounded like a funny idea."
"What? What did I miss?" Nova asked, Reneigah still covering his eyes with her hooves.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop the joke." GOB snapped his fingers and Spark and Coalstone appeared once again. This time, Spark was fully clothed (still human) and Coalstone could move. However, he couldn't move at the moment since his moments with a naked Spark was more than enough to keep him frozen with shock. "Come on, Coal, it was just a prank bro. Quit bein' so gay man, it's just a prank." GOB arose from his seat and lightly punched Coalstone in the shoulder. He still didn't react. "It was just a prank, bro. What, you wanna fight me? Wanna fight, bro? Hey, check this out faggot." GOB rushed back to his desk and poofed up an old looking projector. It turned on to reveal what looked like a high school.
"That was just an example of what could happen between two students at a high school. Friendly insults, pranks, calling each other offensive names, it's always a barrel of fun!" GOB said. "See, we'll be doing more than just earning money for our company. We host charity events as well, and this time, I was asked to host a charity event to build middle and high schools all around the world. I want you guys to help organize that charity event. However, I think you all need a little reminder of what it was like to be a high schooler. So to give you a little idea of who we're helping here, let me do something for ya." GOB said with a smile. With a quick snap of his fingers, the contestants turned to human once more, however, all suddenly began to change. Some became slightly shorter while others didn't change much at all. Once it was all over, the contestants were shocked to see their new selves.
"Well, girls and boys, it's your first day of your freshman year of HIGH SCHOOL!" GOB said with a toothy grin.
"YOU MADE US YOUNGER!?" Coalstone exclaimed loudly. However his voice resorted back to a teen's and he experienced a voice crack. Embarrassed, he went silent. Sentinel and Reneigah couldn't help but laugh at Coalstone's teen voice.
"Dude, do we seriously need to be younger in order to get an idea of what it's like to be a high schooler? I already am one!" Nova complained.
"That's why I didn't change your age dingus. You're still in high school and you know what it's like. You're technically older than your contestants now, by the way." GOB said with a smile.
"I didn't even like high school, why do we need to do this?" Coalstone asked.
"Hey, do you NOT want to help charity? COALSTONE DOESN'T SUPPORT CHARITY, PEOPLE!" GOB called out. Candle put on a shocked face to mess with Coalstone even more.
"Okay, dude, seriously quit messing with him," Sentinel said.
"Sorry, bucko, ain't happening. Maybe he should have thought about all this before nearly choking me to death!" GOB shouted angrily. "Anyway, let's get you five out of here. You'll be late for school!" GOB said with a rushed voice.
"Wait, this is our pre-challenge? Just go to school?" Reneigah asked.
"Well... Technically." GOB said as he magically poofed a red apron on. In his large hands were brown sack lunches. The contestants lined up and took their lunches one by one. Each bag had their name on it with a little message saying, 'love mom' stuck to the bag.
"Wait, did you seriously make us lunches?" Nova asked.
"What? No. I can cook, but I'll never make food for school students. They're always so picky. Instead, I got some help..." GOB said with a smile. Suddenly a knock was heard and GOB used his magic to open the door. In came some older looking pony adults who rushed to each of the contestants.
"Wait, you got our parents to make us lunches!?" Sentinel asked.
"Sure did. Now say your goodbyes and kiss your mamas because you gotta get going!" The happy reunion couldn't be better for the contestants. Granted they were children again, but it still felt nice to have a visit from their parents. Once the goodbyes were said and the kisses were given, the contestants were poofed to school. However, they found themselves on an empty campus. Each contestant wore a backpack that resembled their fur or scale color.
"What do we do, guys? We don't have a schedule and I'm already getting the first day of school nerves..." Nova worried.
"What are you all doing!? You're all an hour late! You missed almost all of first period! That's detention for all of you!" A large man approached them. He was bald and had a scruffy gray mustache on his lip.
'Oh man, the principle.' Sentinel thought.
"What!? Detention already! We just got here!" Coalstone defended.
"Don't you raise your voice with me, young man!" The principle jabbed his thick finger in Coalstone's chest. "Now all of you, get to class or I'm calling all of your parents!" The principle shouted with anger.
"But we don't have schedules, sir." Spark said politely.
"THEN FIND A CLASS AND STAY THERE!!" The principle shouted, scattering the five competitors who searched for their own classes to attend
Now you may be wondering, what the hell was that. Well, I don't know either. But I do know this. Your pre-challenge!
The pre-challenge is to reenact some scenes from one of my favorite films from the 1980's: The Breakfast Club. If you don't know what that movie is, look it up. I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix. Anyway, if you know what the movie is and what it's about, that's great! So, here's the tasks. I want you all to have your OCs reenact the following scenes as if they were in that situtation. So take out the characters from The Breakfast Club and replace them with your characters and have your characters react the way they'd react to whatever happens in the scene. Here are the following scenes you must reenact.
The opening.
Just the detention part where the principle is giving Bender more and more Saturday detentions and anything after that part.
"You are a parent's wet dream." I know the characters already know each other's names so just try to be creative with it.
Eh, this one's optional. But it'd still be nice to see it.
This one is mandatory, however. You must do this one.
I feel like this would make for a good opportunity for each character to think about and contemplate what will happen to the each of them after the contest. Like, if they'll be friends (or enemies) after it's all over. So I'd say you should take advantage of this scene.
Finally, the most iconic and memorable scene from the movie.
You all don't need to do it, but gosh darn, no reenactment of the Breakfast Club is complete without the dance scene.
Alright, so specifically speaking, this is an "All Together Now" pre-challenge where you all must work together to write out the submission. I don't care who submits it, just make sure everybody participates once. Assign the character's their rolls among yourselves, however, I think I have an idea of who's who already.
Centurion, I'm thinking Sentinel would make a good Andrew, don't you agree?
Anyway, good luck, and since this is a pretty big project, it won't be due until next Saturday. An entire week from now! Happy trails!
I'm Sentinel again, and Why is Sentinel such a bitch in these? He's a good guy, but not such a cowering bitch.
Totally Andrew BTW.
I don't even need to be half-way through, and I've got roles figured out XD
Baby Dragon Thing- Brian
Rocky McRockerson- Bender
Guardy Guardling- Andrew
Zebra Face- Cuh-laire
Cyborg Child- Allison
It all fits, does it not? Anyway, I have a document made, and I'm putting it here where everyone will see it. So, I'll see you all there!
I didn't do something to piss you off did I. Seems kind of like BBQ is gungho to kill Coal.
3793346 Oh, no you did nothing wrong. GOB just likes to tease.
3793358
Okay, just checking.