Coltyne and his younger sister had
gone to summer camp for the week.
Every year at this time, the toys from their bedrooms always had a
competition to see who was the best.
This year Cobalt the robot was in charge of Coltyne’s team for the first
time. A doll named Bella was in
charge of Coltyne’s sister’s team.
Bella was last year’s champion and Cobalt was determined to not let her
do it again.
The
competition involved a game of “capture the flag.” Each team put up their flag at one end of the hallway. The teams then divided into defenders
and invaders. The defenders guarded
the flag and the invaders tried to break through to the other team’s flag. Bella took her job very seriously. Cobalt would have to really be creative
to outsmart her.
Cobalt’s
plan involved a toy helicopter, a parachute, and himself. While his defenders and other invaders
kept the other team busy, he was going to drop in behind enemy lines and get
their flag. He would have to make
sure his helicopter took off and dropped him before the other team figured out
what he was doing or this would not work.
It was a daring plan that could go very wrong, and that made Cobalt
really nervous.
The
toys from both rooms had worked hard to prepare the bridge that would divide
the hallway in half. They had used
the connecting blocks from Coltyne’s room to make it. It would span the entire width of the hallway and would mark
the spot where each team’s territory began. Each team would have to cross the bridge in order to enter
the other team’s territory. Most
of the contest for the invaders was spent trying to make it over the bridge.
The
night before the big contest, Cobalt met with his team to make the final
plans. “Ok, guys,” said Cobalt as
he tried to rally his troops.
“Remember, our game plan is to keep the other team busy while I prepare
the helicopter for take-off. Once
I am in the air, everyone will try to keep the other team’s invaders from
running back to their own flag.”
“What
if they break through our lines and try for our flag?” asked a shark toy.
“Our
defenders will just have to stand their ground until I reach the other team’s
flag,” said Cobalt confidently.
When
the meeting was over, Cobalt checked his parachute to make sure it was packed
correctly and went to bed. He
would need a good night’s sleep to be at his best the next day.
The
next morning both teams assembled in the hallway and brought out the dividing
bridge that was in Coltyne’s room.
Then each team placed their flags at their end of the hall and surrounded
it with the defenders. The
invaders took their positions on their side of the bridge and waited for the
horn to blow.
Bella’s team had
war paint on their faces making them look fierce. Coltyne’s team shifted nervously as they waited for the
beginning horn. Cobalt wondered
what kind of game plan Bella had but then turned his attention to his own
plan. He must stay focused.
When the horn
sounded, Cobalt threw on his parachute and ran to the toy helicopter. The helicopter lifted up into the air
with Cobalt hanging onto the bottom rails. It then flew over the bridge and over all the other team’s
defenders. When he reached the
other team’s flag, he let go of the rails and deployed his parachute. That is when disaster struck. His parachute tangled up in the
helicopter’s rotors, and Cobalt along with the helicopter came crashing to the
ground right in front of the flag defenders.
When Cobalt
managed to crawl out from under his parachute, he was surrounded by a group of
fierce-looking Barbies in army fatiques.
Each Barbie held a toy fork in Cobalt’s direction. Cobalt just sighed in disgust. He had failed.
Just then, he
noticed a streak of blue run behind the line of Barbies. Then he heard the shark toy yell, “We
win.” Sure enough, the shark toy
had managed to sneak behind enemy lines while everyone watched Cobalt fly over. When the Barbies surrounded Cobalt as
he crashed, the shark toy had made his dash for the flag. Cobalt’s team had won!
Even though his
plan had failed miserably, Cobalt was so glad the shark toy had made up his own
plan just in case. It didn’t
matter how they won. What mattered
is that they worked as a team to get there.
