Cobalt's Quest for Victory

            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.