Tattle's Show for Freedom

TSFF - Six

Mousey crossed her arms, sitting down on what seemed to be a chair. Feathery was sat on a seat to their left, fidgeting with their hands, and Paper Ball was to its right, peering around the room with curiosity. Collar and Rat were stood, Rat looking awfully bored and Collar seeming a bit nervous to be on this team. She decided to herself that the team, Team Rodent, had probably gotten lucky with Collar instead of one of the other team-less individuals. Mentioning those teams... Its head turned to the others gathered. It could hear things coming from certain objects, but hadn't been too focused on who said them. She now payed close attention.
"Fantastic. My teammates are completely incompetent." That was Goldfish.
"God, why... this sucks." That was Scratchy.
It couldn't help but be amused by this. If they hated their teams so much, why didn't they just pick people to join theirs and pair up with people who they wouldn't judge so harshly? That was, a little silly, she smiled. However, there were a few who weren't as disappointed, instead accepting their teams. She listened.
"Woo! These teams seem fun!" One of the three Bells had said that, but Mousey couldn't quite see who.
"It seems everyone else has some energy... that's good. We'll get along." That was Milk.
"I agree!" Cat Cave had been in agreement with Milk the entire time. It seemed those two knew each other fairly well.
"Hi, I'm Catnip, who are you? Tubey, what a great name! There's Clawey, Tubey, Goldfish, Ring, Chime and Ding how exciting this is so much funn!!" This was Catnip, with an awful amount of energy. They barely even stopped to breathe as he skipped around, talking to their teammates with a lot of excitement. That made a lot of sense - he was full of a lot of Catnip after all. Or maybe not - Goldfish was a catnip fish and didn't have energy at all. Oh well. Mousey peered over to Team Cat, who were closely bundled together discussing things. This was the only team, it noticed, that hadn't been loudly complaining or being happy about the teams. That was understandable, as they had all chosen to be on a team together and were likely planning. However, this thought was cut off as the television screen lit up to show a very pleased looking Tattle.

"Hello contestants! Now that you've all bonded, we shall start our challenge! I'll make my way there to guide you to where it will take place." Before anyone could react, the screen blacked out again. Everyone glanced around awkwardly for around a minute, until Tattle appeared out of seemingly nowhere. This took a few by surprise, but meow took no notice as they waved. "Follow me, teams! We'll be making our way to the largest segment of the Cat Room, the Challenge Zone!" He beckoned with meows paw-like hand and led the way up two pairs of ladders. The teams could barely catch up, but as Mousey followed she noticed they were all fairly excited about this. It couldn't blame them - they were pretty enthusiastic too.

"This challenge will be a fairly simple one. There will be a large platform above the ground, with different segments and holes in it. Your task is to not fall off the platform! You must work as a team to knock off other members, and the team with no members left is automatically put up for elimination. Any questions?" Tattle hummed, cupping his hands together and grinning at them. Bird Ball quickly raised wings hand. "What about me? I have wings, I could just fly back if I fell off." She questioned. Tattle placed his hand on meows face for a moment, thinking of what to do. A lightbulb went off in their head, and they nodded. "If you go any lower than 15cm off the platform, you cannot come back up. This includes flying, and also if you fall and a teammate tries to assist you. Got that?" After Bird Ball nodded, his head turned. "More questions?"

As this Q&A went on, Laser couldn't help but feel drawn to the room. Considering that they had been teleported here, this large open space probably meant something, but he couldn't help but contain its curiosity. Would Tattle raise the floor? Teleport something here? Or would meow waste their time building something that was more unstable than its relations— never mind. He shook his head and looked back.
"Lower than 15cm below the platform is an instant disqualification, there will be water to prevent severe fall damage, the challenge will go on until a team has lost all of its members, disqualified players can just watch it go on or question if they'll be eliminated - I'd recommend both - and you can use any plans you'd like as long as it isn't, like, a crime! Now! Let the challenge begin."