a showdown between Curveball, Stuntman, and Rosa as Team Red, and Jade Blossom, the Candle, and Dragon Huntress as Team Black. Now we’re down to the wire, and the stakes are higher than ever.
This week’s challenge was a mystery to the contestants—no briefing, no warning, no time to plan. The six remaining aces were blindfolded before being driven to the location of their next trial, to prevent any chance of them anticipating what lay ahead. There, they stepped out of their vehicle, removed their blindfolds, and found themselves in the middle of a disaster zone.
Imagine the worst combination of earthquakes, mudslides, and wildfires could do to a community on the California coast, and that was what the American Hero effects and stunts crew engineered this week in the most intense challenge yet. Houses in the process of toppling, entire cliff sides melting into the ocean below, damaged electrical wiring and gas lines complicating matters—and in the midst of it all, people in desperate need of rescue.
Team Black had its work cut out for them. The Candle plunged into the action, freezing walls of mud solid with his blue flames to prevent further collapse. It was up to Dragon Huntress and Jade Blossom to reach the people trapped both in crumbling houses and the damaged landscape outside. Dragon Huntress was able to shuttle several victims to safety by making several trips with her giant stuffed pelican. But Rachel can only transform one stuffed animal at a time, and partway through the challenge she was forced to abandon the rescue effort in order to use her giant dragon Puffy to help the Candle shore up the hillside and keep a key structure from collapsing further. Jade Blossom made herself light enough to float above the chaos, survey damage, and look for people needing rescue. Unfortunately, she couldn’t lift the victims out while in her super-light form, and relied on the Candle and Dragon Huntress to follow her relayed instructions. Overall the team successfully rescued many victims. However, one person—a baby in a crib—remained trapped in debris, overlooked by the would-be heroes.
After a brief conference, Team Red leapt into action. The nigh-indestructible Stuntman took on the task of clearing some of the most dangerous obstacles, like fallen electrical wiring, in order to reach trapped victims and pull them to safety. None of it posed a threat to Stuntman. Curveball, as usual, took the offensive. And how did she battle an earthquake? With a series of controlled demolitions that shored up the cliff and stabilized the row of damaged houses. Throwing everything from marbles to pieces of broken concrete, she knocked over trees, boulders, and abandoned structures until she’d built a dam that kept the ground from disintegrating further.
This gave Stuntman all the time he needed to reach trapped victims—unlike the Black Team, which was in a race against time to finish its rescue. Meanwhile, Rosa Loteria drew a familiar card, giving her the lasso of El Caballero. At first, she seemed uncertain how to use the power in this scenario. But the same lasso that tripped Stuntman in the fourth week’s challenge, the Hunt for the Hero, now helped her maneuver through the wreckage of the disaster zone. She lowered Stuntman into hard-to-reach areas as well as pulled victims to safety. The team rescued all the people trapped by the disaster.
By this time, all the contestants have had a lot of practice using their powers, staging amazing challenges, and working together as a team to achieve the goal. Unlike the very first challenge—what must now seem like a simple rescue from a mere burning structure—the judges couldn’t fault the performance of either team. But the numbers don’t lie—the Red Team didn’t leave any victims behind, and so they won the challenge.
Peregrine then informed the contestants that this week’s challenge was all or nothing. There would be no playing cards during the Discard Round: all members of the losing team would join the Discard Pile. Digger Downs made the announcement: “Black Team. You are discarded. Curveball, Stuntman, and Rosa Loteria, you are the American Hero finalists.” The Candle, Dragon Huntress, and Jade Blossom greeted the news somberly. The Red Team—and the final three candidates for the title of American Hero—were obviously relieved, smiling and hugging.
So close. The Black Team made the journey farther than almost all the other contestants. Just not far enough. Dragon Huntress, Jade Blossom, and the Candle join the rest of the Discards. But we’re not done yet: join us next