As we waited in the lobby the man who often addressed us mounted the podium to speak to us.“Okay candidates, settle down. I’m aware most of you are surprised as to how the results turned out. I congratulate those who managed to avoid elimination, and to those who were eliminated unfortunately, we have to ask you to return to your rooms, pack your bags, and vacate the building immediately. Once again, congratulations to those who made it this far, I commend your efforts, and the organizers of The Corporate Assessment Gauntlet wish to commend you as well, as such, you have been given the rest of the week off. You are free to move about as you place, and leave the premises as well. All candidates should ensure that they are back Saturday night, as the next challenge will begin the next week. Thanks for your cooperation and have fun candidates,” he said.The cord went wild, and everyone began screaming loudly and jubilating.I looked at Eleanor and she was also beaming with excitement.I
****The next day.I was in the lobby looking for an official. I had a certain I’d sure I wanted to address, and basically needed permission for something.After searching for a while, I finally found a man standing at a desk, operating a computer.I walked up to him and spoke.“Good day Mr?…” I paused for a moment as I looked at his name tag. “George, Mr George Whitmore,” I said.“Good day candidate, how may I help you today?” He asked and smiled.“A lovely morning isn’t it today?” I responded.“Why of course, the weather is certainly very inviting,” he responded.“Back at my old house I would spend mornings like this in my pool, basking in the early morning sunlight,” I said.“Sounds like you have a lot of fun Mr Damon,” the man said.‘So he knows who I am? Well I’m not surprised given that Anon is here,’ I thought to myself.“So you do know who I am?” I asked.“Why of course sir,” he responded and we both laughed.“Either way I’ll cut to the chase Mr George. I like permission to go
****Pineapple Headquarters, Silicon Valley.About two hours later we finally arrived at our destination.From the helicopter, Michael and I could see the sprawling, ultra modern skyscraper complex, which had the pineapple logo largely engraved on the front.As we got closer to the rooftop, we could see the pilot being guided down by some men as he skillfully landed the helicopter on the helipad.We disembarked from the helicopter, and brushed ourselves off.Standing right there in front of me, was the head of pineapple himself, Stephen Johnson, along with a small group of his high level executives.As we approached him and the executives, i extended my hand for a firm handshake and said, "Good afternoon, Mr. Johnson. It's an honor to meet you and your esteemed colleagues. Thank you for welcoming us to Pineapple Headquarters. We're very excited about the possibility of working together." Stephen Johnson, a charismatic man in his mid-fifties with a warm smile, grasped my hand firmly,
****The night of the same day.I returned back to the Corporate Assessment Gauntlet hotel feeling motivated.Things didn’t go as I had planned, but it was all my fault for not preparing and practicing for the pitch more adequately, as well as making proper research and taking into account a bunch of other things.This didn’t bring me down emotionally. I chastised myself, and would prepare more adequately for the next meeting.Negotiations hadn’t broken between Blackstar and Pineapple, we had adjourned it to a later date, as they needed time to consider our offer and take into account a lot of other stuff.I was fine with this, I would have enough time to focus on other important things, like the third challenge.‘I wonder what it has to offer, the official said the challenge would begin tomorrow, and I currently don’t have any information of the details of the challenge, so I guess I’ll just have to wait and see,’ I thought to myself.I finally walked into the lobby as I was in the c
****I woke up the next morning feeling rejuvenated, all my stress from the previous day had been alleviated and I was ready to take on whatever the day had to offer.It was around five in the morning, and I stretched out on the bed before getting up.Eleanor was still sleeping and we hadn’t gotten an announcement from the officials yet, so I thought about what I could do to pass the time.NOTICEDaily Quest: Complete a 30-minute workout. (Status: Incomplete)Reward for completing the Daily Quest "Complete a 30-minute Workout":Enhanced Physical Fitness: Gain improvements in strength, endurance, and overall physical condition.Strength +1Endurance +1Exp +10Penalty for failure to complete the Daily Quest:Physical Deterioration: Experience a temporary decrease in physical performance, resulting in reduced strength and endurance.Strength -1Endurance -1‘Well that works out for me then, I was just going to do that anyway,’ I thought to myself.I’d been completing my daily quests dil
Looking around I noticed that I wasn’t the only one who was calm about the situation.Everyone else seemed to have an indifferent opinion toward the situation, and handled the news pretty easily, even Eleanor.These twenty two of us currently standing in that room were the best of the best, elites, intellectuals in terms of quick thinking and accurate analysis.Now the competition would only get harder from here, the small fry had already been eliminated, and I was facing tougher opponents now.‘I like this, to be able to compete at such a high level. I just want to have fun this round, these are all people who once upon a time I would look up to, and try to emulate their lifestyles as students, but now, we are all equals and I consider them as fair game,’ I thought to myself.We waited once again for the rules to be announced. After a short while, another official mounted the podium to speak to us.“Now candidates, I'm here to relay the rules of the third challenge to you. You are ad
I chose to remain calm, I needed to be as calm as possible in this situation so I could think of a way out.“Eleanor, what happened here?” I asked, the concern was evident in my voice.“I-I’m not sure Damon,” she responded.‘Even if someone wanted to sabotage us, how did they know the location of our room, and after that, how did they manage to get in?’ I thought to myself.“Eleanor, can I see your key please?” I asked quickly.“Yeah sure I guess,” she responded and dipped her hand in her pocket, bringing out a shiny metal key.I brought out mine as well, and they were identical, so now we were both more and more perplexed.Both of our flash drives, which contained all our information, were missing.This basically meant that all the information we had gathered before which was worth ten points, could be distributed, or worse. If we didn’t get it back we wouldn’t have anything to turn in at the end of the challenge, we would be left with nothing.I began cleaning the room looking for w
****[Jake’s POV]Later that evening, Eleanor and I met at a secluded corner of the building’s rooftop garden.The view of the city below from up there was mesmerizing. The cars moving around, heading to their various locations, the traffic lights, the scenery, it was like the city had come to life.My brow furrowed as I recounted Damon’s desperate and defeated behavior during our last encounter.Eleanor listened intently, with an expression of a mixture of sadness and determination on her face.“I met him on his knees, his whole demeanor, the look on his face, it was a pitiful scene to experience. He didn’t try to argue or fight back, he just walked away and said I’d won.”I gritted my teeth in anger as I recalled the look on his face.‘I wanted more, even though I won and broke his spirit, he was just going to roll over and accept it? This was supposed to be a challenge! I took him as my rival and this is what I get?’ I thought to myself.“I can’t help but feel pity for him,” Eleano