//------------------------------//
// Another Midnight Run (A New Beginning) 
// Story: Dreamquestria 
// by TheBBofC 
//------------------------------//

	“Welcome back, America, to the final run of another amazing Wipeout.  I’m John Anderson and with me, as always, is John Henson.”
“That’s right, John,” John Henson responded.  “We are set on the final run of the final stage and we’ve finally convinced our final contestant to board the human catapult.”
“That’s a lot of finals, John.”
“Reminds me of my last month of college.”
“And much like my last month of college, today has involved heavy use of a protractor.  That being our contestant, ‘Mr. Protractor’ Stephen.  Let’s take a look at his highlights for the day.”
A dip-to-white dissolve and rushing wind sound effect brought a national audience away from a studio overlooking a menacing obstacle course and into a montage of Stephen being swatted about by various heavily padded mechanical traps on an obstacle course earlier that morning.  “Mr. Protractor was our only contestant today to clear the ‘Big Balls’ and take the five hundred dollar bonus.”  Edited over each of his falls was a variety of crunching, clanging and smashing sound effects mixed in with a few embarrassing screams he had unintentionally let out as he took the hits.  “He got his circumference divided by ‘Granny’s Humble Pie’ during the qualifier but managed to squeak by just in time.”  More clips played alternating between Stephen slowly clearing obstacle courses and stopping before each one to observe it, his eyes darting about as he watched the spinning mechanics.  “He carefully calculated his way through the day and was the first to beat both the ‘Octoclobber’ and ‘Sugar Smacks’.  Now if he wants to wash down that candy with the sweet taste of victory and fifty thousand dollars, he’ll have to face the ‘Wipeout Zone’.”
Another dip-to-white transition brought the cameras to Stephen tapping his foot nervously in a chair.  Wearing a black wet suit, helmet and armored life vest, his breaths were deep but quick and his eyes were focused forward like a laser beam.  “Well, Stephen had better make sure he can make those calculations quick in the brutal conditions of the ‘Wipeout Zone’ as the time to beat is set at ten minutes and seventeen seconds.”
The audio quickly faded to the camera that was set on Stephen just in time for him to clench his legs together, cross his arms, clutch the armpits of his vest and nearly hyperventilate, “Be brave.  You can do this.  It’s just a little drop.  It’s not like you’re getting thrown from a cliff…”
“Stephen psyching himself up for the launch,” Anderson commented.
The last year-and-a-half of Stephen’s life flashed before his eyes.  Despite some initial trust issues, him and Selena managed to recover their relationship with the help of advice from their families and friends.  Reluctantly, Stephen went back to his customer service job.  Although Damien was now making a point of avoiding Stephen or being respectful towards him, Stephen still took a major pay cut.  Between this, utilities, mortgage, and hospital bills, money became tight and he had considered a second job.  However, Stephen had found it tough to figure out exactly what he could do that would employ his talents.  Just as it was looking hopeless, he caught Selena watching this game show on television and his hope returned almost instantly.
Deciding to suffer financial hardship for a bit longer, he employed the help of Jake to increase his fitness level and save for the necessary expenses.  Several months and two trips to California later, Stephen found himself about to be hurled through the air by a hydraulic catapult.  Night had fallen hours ago and his anxiety to begin the final test was mounting by the minute.
“The catapult is fifty feet tall,” Stephen attempted to console his fears.  “At about one-hundred-sixty pounds I’ll probably travel between sixty and seventy feet…”
“Listen to him go, John!” Henson interjected.  “It’s almost like he’s trying to apply all that useless math they tried to teach me in school.”
“Probably makes you wish you paid attention, doesn’t it?” Anderson responded.
“Not at all.  That’s why I’m getting paid to be up here while he’s down there.”
Stephen lost track of how fast his heart was going and all of the logical thoughts that his head was swimming with a moment ago were replaced with how much he’d wished there had been a water slide or something that didn’t involve as much air time as a catapult.  Tapping his thigh, he felt his cutie mark through the wet suit and reminded himself that he could do it.  He’d done it before when it was much more dangerous.  Taking a deep breath, he readied himself one last time.  “Remember the proper diving form but don’t think…” he muttered to himself.  
“How’s not thinking going to help him?  He’s been doing nothing but thinking all day!” Henson commented when the camera cut to him for a second.
The beeping of the launch sequence started as Anderson replied.  “Well we’re about to find out as the final run gets underway.”
Beep...Beep...Beep...BEEP!
"AAAAAAHHHHHHhhhh!!!"
Stephen’s stomach lurched with the chair as it pulled through the air, going from zero to thirty in two seconds and stopping abruptly at its apex.  Despite his gut-wrenching fear of falling, Stephen stayed curled into a ball until he felt himself turn over the water below.  Still screaming, he straightened out his body and spread his arms, holding it as he slowly turned mid air.  At the apex of his flight, he followed his trajectory to a spot in the water.  Plummeting towards it, he held his breath, tucked his chin into his chest and pointed his fingers over his head.  The result was a forty-five degree angle entry into the frigid water after a terrifying three-second drop.  
“Whoa!  Look at that perfect Swan Dive form straight into the drink!” Henson called out over an instant replay.
“Mr. Protractor is off to a great start as he heads for the first obstacle, the ‘Flaming Throwtisserie’.”
Letting his leftover momentum carry him, he turned his body and effortlessly glided through the frigid night time water until he was halfway to the first platform.  Ascending a narrow ramp, a wall of flames roared up at the back of the stage and dissipated as quickly as it came.  Stephen found himself faced with heavily padded beams about thirty feet long and twelve inches thick.  There were five of them laced with glowing LED lights and set on a spinning rotisserie.
“There he goes again.  Mr. Protractor calculating his obstacle before trying to find the solution,” said Henson.
“That’s right, John,” Anderson replied.  “It’s good to figure out what you’re going to do but that only helps if you get it right the first time.  Otherwise you add to your time, which can slip away quick in the ‘Wipeout Zone’.”
“But that strategy has been paying off for him most of today.  Let’s see if it can help him here while fighting both the clock and the hazards.”
With a plan in mind, Stephen climbed through a hole and into the rotisserie.  Right away, he grabbed onto the beams and pressed his footing into the padding.  It was slick with water and he almost slipped.  But since falling wasn’t an option, he willed himself sturdy and made it so.  Thanking Pinkie for the advice over a year ago, he shuffled sideways while simultaneously hamster-walking forward and against the rotisserie’s spin.
“I think he’s going to do it!” Henson called out as Stephen passed the halfway mark.
“But he’s got to be careful.  That moving platform at the end tripped up the first contestant three times.”
Stephen eyed the platform through a hole.  He only had a second to pick his course and landing position.  Acting quickly, he dropped onto the platform.  As soon as his feet touched down, it dropped two feet out from under him.  He was caught by surprise, but kept his eyes forward and latched onto the next platform.  Touching both feet down on the lowered finishing platform below him, he was clear.
He didn’t allow himself a moment to relax.  There wasn’t a moment to spare as he pulled himself towards the next obstacle by his elbows.  Jogging around the Throwtisserie, several dozen spotlights illuminated the dark obstacle ahead and water jets spurted into the air over it.  When the mist cleared, Stephen was looking at a two-story spiraling staircase.  Padded helicopter blades spun at the quarter and three-quarters mark of the staircase, which lead to the top of a large, gray and spinning flat-topped sphere.
With a leap, Stephen flopped safely onto the starting platform.  Quickly but carefully getting to his feet, he scurried towards the obstacle.  Using all fours, he noted the speed of the spinning poles and began scaling the stairs.  After three steps, he stopped and ducked as a padded blade swung over his head.  It bonked his helmet just hard enough to jostle his grip.
“Oh, that looked like a hard hit from the ‘Sweeper-Arm’, but Stephen holds tight!” Anderson commented from the studio.
Double-checking his grip, Stephen bolted halfway up the stairs and just barely missed the second half of the pole swinging across his feet.  At about three-quarters of the way up the stairs, he stopped and waited for the next padded pole to pass over.  Time was running out and he wanted to move faster.  But that idea was quickly squashed as doing so would sacrifice time to assure proper footing and reading trajectories, which would guarantee time-killing visits to the drink.  So he’d simply have to keep his pace, hope he had enough time and not mess up.  Once more, he tapped his thigh and felt his mark through the wet suit.  I can do this, he reminded himself.  This is wasn’t easy but it was still much easier than it was the first time he’d done something like this.  After all, he’d been practicing and nobody was shooting at him.
A harsh blast of water doused his face and blurred his vision.  Correction, he thought to himself.  No pony is shooting at me.  Stephen had just enough time to wipe his face while the sweeper bar passed over his head.  His vision mostly clear, he bolted to the top of the steps and hopped onto the real obstacle.  A brief torrent of pyrotechnics greeted his arrival.
“‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ is a real poser to most contestants,” Anderson stated.
“Our Mr. Protractor has been very lucky to not have any wipeouts yet.  But that’s likely been due to his ability to see what he was doing.  Here, he has to jump down the shaft of the moon and slide blindly to the finish platform,” Henson retorted.
“This obstacle will test your timing as well as your luck.”
“Even with luck, you’ve still got to get down the slide fast enough to clear the gap between the moon and the next platform.”
Stephen wasn’t going to get fooled here.  The two contestants that had gone before him both jumped into the hole blindly as well as did it wrong.  The slide before him was a completely covered shaft that dropped through the ‘moon’ and spat him out about halfway down.  He would need enough momentum to be launched about five feet through the air at an arc and onto the next obstacle’s platform.  It was risky and Stephen didn’t know how much time he had left, but he was going to stand at the top of the slide and wait for just the right moment.  Even worse was that he happened to land on the obstacle just as the slide’s opening, forcing him to wait one painfully slow rotation.
As soon as the time came, Stephen lept into the air and dropped straight down into the shaft.  Taken by the nearly frictionless surface of the wet slide, he gained excess amounts of momentum during the drop and was spat out with more than enough force to not only land on the other platform, but slide across and bump into the next obstacle.  Stephen tried to shake off the adrenaline as he clambered to his feet.
The ending was in sight and there wasn’t any more time left to lose.  All Stephen had to do was hop from a trampoline and through a waterfall.  He’d be landing on a slick platform on the other side to do it again with another trampoline.  Then he’d be at the finish line.  All he had to do was land properly and he’d be fine.
Rushing ahead, he slammed both feet down onto the trampoline and lunged forward.  The next thing he knew, he was overwhelmed by darkness and submerged in water.  Resurfacing, as quickly as possible, he took a shocked breath and winced at his ribcage.  Looking up at the obstacle, he saw two sets of rapidly spinning padded blades.  The darkness of night and the waterfall had perfectly concealed the traps.  How could he have been so foolish to not check for those before rushing forwards?  That’s exactly what the first contestant did and it caused that guy to go through this obstacle three times before finally making it to the finish.
“Oh!  And Stephen, not paying attention, takes a rough hit into the freezing waters!” Henson shouted as they watched Stephen plummet on an instant replay.
“He took his eyes off the prize and broke away from his careful strategy, John.  Now he’s going to pay the price as that swim back to the start takes a serious hit to his remaining time.”
He’d been moving too slow.  It was over, he knew it.  There’s no way he’d win now.  The other competitors may have needed to do the obstacles at least twice each, but they all moved much quicker than he did.  Any lead he might have had from not having to repeat the prior obstacles was demolished by that one stupid mistake.
But after two seconds, the buzzer didn’t go off yet.  Time wasn’t out.  Failing was unacceptable but even worse would be failing without giving it everything he had.  Unlike the first time he had taken this mentality before going into battle, this time, Stephen knew exactly what to do.  
Bearing the pain and doing his best to ignore the bitter cold water, Stephen stroked his way ten yards back to the ladder and climbed back up to the obstacle.  This time, he carefully stepped onto the trampoline, righting himself as it bounced him slightly.  He couldn’t see through the waterfall.  Knowing better than to try and guess it a second time, he stuck his head through the waterfall and gauged their speed.
One...one-two...Two...one-two...Three...one-two...Four...one-two… Stephen counted the beats in his head as each pole passed his vision.  Keeping the timing in his head, he straightened back up and started to bounce on the trampoline.  After a few warmup bounces and reminding himself to ‘just do it’, he stomped hard onto the trampoline.  
Blindly bouncing, Stephen passed through the waterfall and right in between the padded propeller’s blades.  However, he realized he’d overshot the platform as soon as he found himself hurtling directly towards the gap between the platform and the next trampoline.  Letting out a cry of desperation, he angled his feet forwards and caught the next trampoline.  At the angle he landed, he might have bounced backwards.  Instead, he righted himself before going airborne by throwing all of his weight forward as hard as possible.  Not having any choice, he flew through the second waterfall and towards the finishing platform.
As he reached out for the finish line, a propeller nicked the heel of his foot and threw off his trajectory.  Adrenaline shot through his system as he clawed desperately for the finishing platform.  He landed awkwardly with his solar plexus to the corner and started to slide.  “No!” he shouted and gripped the padded canvas so hard that it bent his fingernails back.
“Stephen, not going down without a fight, holds on for dear life!  Can he make it?” Anderson shouted from the studio.  
Shouting his determination to the heavens, Stephen dragged himself up inch by painful inch.  A year’s worth of Jake’s torturous fitness drills and another rush of adrenaline couldn't make the difference through his fingers alone.  Taking a huge risk, Stephen swung his lower body to the right and used every ounce of his abdominal strength to launch his hips to the left.  Swinging his legs, he propped one ankle over the platform’s edge to aid his fingers.
With one last shout and powerful tug, Stephen threw himself onto the platform with a wet thud.  His lungs were on fire as bad as when he had been walking through the desert and despite all of the cold water surrounding him, he had been just as dehydrated.  The finish platform was padded comfortably and it would have been too easy to rest for a moment to regain his composure.  But even though the buzzer hadn’t gone off yet, resting still wasn’t an option.  It could go off at any second and defeat every last bit of Stephen’s efforts.
Grunting, panting and subsiding adrenaline prophesying a serious energy crash, Stephen shakily placed one foot flat on the platform.  Launching himself straight up, he smashed the second foot down with a mighty stomp and bellowed victoriously at millions of people watching comfortably from their homes.  Breathing heavily, he finally relaxed and looked at the clock.
“And with that, Mr. Protractor comes in with an Earth-shattering time of six minutes and four seconds!” Henson cheered from the studio.
A distant feminine voice washed over Stephen’s ears.  “Stephen, you’ve just won fifty thousand dollars!” Jill Wagner called out from just outside the obstacle course.
Revitalized by the good news, Stephen burst into laughter representing his unparalleled joy.  First, he would pay off his medical bills and mortgage.  But there was an even more important piece of news that he needed to get off his chest right away.  Looking straight into the camera, he shouted, “Pack your bags, Selena!  We’re taking a vacation!”