Ben looked up as he clung to the rope.
"What's going on?" he thought.
Then he spotted Serena crossing the field with Winnie.
"Whoa." A few monsters started whispering.
"Who's that beautiful witch?"
"Hi, Serena!" Pixel called, waving madly. "I—oops!"
As soon as Pixel dropped the rope, Zork seized the opportunity.
"Pull, Team Orange!" he shouted.
Before Ben could react, he felt the rope slip through his hands.
A second later Mog landed in the mud pit, splattering mud everywhere.
Pixel fell in next, followed by Deb, Ben, and finally Jen.
Team Orange laughed and cheered.
Their fans went wild too, chanting, "Orange! Orange!"
"One point for Team Orange!" Mr. Gwarg declared.
Team Black pulled themselves out of the mud.
Mog looked disappointed, but he tried to shake it off.
"Okay, Team Black, good effort.
But if we want to win, we're going to need more focus."
"Sorry, everybody," Pixel mumbled.
"I got distracted by, um, somebody."
Mr. Freaky was racing around, waving his arms happily.
"What an exciting start to Field Day!
Get cleaned up, Team Black, and we'll move on to the next event."
Ben wiped himself down as best he could.
Then he went over to talk to Gaby.
"Nice win," he said. "I sure wish you were on our team, though."
"Me too." Gaby folded her arms and scowled.
"But Mog—and Waldo—never asked me to be on Team Black."
"I should have thought of asking you," Ben said.
"But I was worried about Winnie yesterday.
She seems so bothered by her cousin or something."
"I think Winnie is jealous of Serena," Gaby said.
"Which is dumb, if you ask me.
Serena's beautiful, but Winnie's really pretty too."
Ben nodded. "I know."
"She's even letting it get in the way of Field Day," Gaby went on.
"Zork asked her to join Team Orange, but she told him she was too busy with her cousin."
At the mention of Zork, Ben just grunted.
"Well, good luck with the sack race, Gaby. It should be another good competition."
A few minutes later, the two teams stood with Mr. Gwarg near a white line on the field.
"This is the starting line for the sack race," the gym teacher explained.
"And remember, there is absolutely no floating or flying in this event.
Your feet must stay in the bag, and you must hop to the finish line. Got it?"
"Got it," all the monsters replied.
"In the first heat, three members from each team will race.
Then the other three members will take a turn.
The top two finishers from each team will go on to the final round.
Now find your sacks, hoppers!"
Brunhilda, Carly, and Gaby climbed into their sacks for Team Orange.
Pixel, Mog, and Waldo were going to be Team Black's first hoppers.
"Hop as fast as you can!" Mog said.
"Aye-aye, Captain," Pixel and Waldo said.
Mr. Gwarg raised his whistle. "Ready . . . set . . ." Tweet!
As Gaby took off, her long legs immediately got caught in the sack, and she toppled forward onto her face. "Oof!"
"Get up, Gaby!" Zork yelled.
"Don't just lie there!" Gaby tried to get up, but she got even more tangled.
Brunhilda had been laughing as she hopped past Gaby.
But a second later, she plunged forward too.
Ben held his breath, watching his teammates.
Mog seemed focused only on the finish line as he hopped across the field.
Waldo wasn't too far behind Mog, but he kept having to stop to push his glasses up on his nose.
Meanwhile Pixel looked as if he was drowning inside his sack.
It was much too large for the tiny ghost.
"Go, Team Black!" Ben shouted.
"Feet, do your stuff!" Carly called out suddenly.
Then she began leaping forward with huge hops.
"Uh-oh," Ben thought.
Carly was rapidly catching up to Mog! "Go, Mog, go!" Ben shouted.
The racers kept going.
Mog dived for the finish line just as Carly took one last enormous leap.
Mr. Gwarg had crouched down to watch the finish line.
He stood back up. "And the winner is . . . Mog!"
"What?" Mog was still lying on the ground.
"You won. Carly is the second-place winner," Mr. Gwarg said.
"Rats!" Carly cried, stepping out of her sack.
The crowd gasped. In place of her normal feet, Carly had huge kangaroo feet.
"Hey! No fair!" a goblin yelled.
Team Black was complaining loudly too.
Mog pointed at Carly's feet. "She used magic!"
Carly grinned and stuck out her tongue at him.
"No, I didn't. It's not magic—it's an ability. Remember?
I'm a doppelganger. And doppelgangers can change shape."
Deb scowled. "Two can play this game," she muttered.