= Drawlloween Story #5 - Pirates of the scary seas =
 
"Hey, guys, it's time, Sam's on TV!" shouted Emily from the Paleos' living room.
It was her sister's first appearance as a commentator on a "sports" event. Nicky was originally invited to announce the first publicly broadcast Davy Back Fight between two Salvoreger companies, which was supposed to be similar to the ones the intergalactic pirate gangs fight among themselves, but since she was bound by the exclusive contract at Black Hole Busters, she suggested Sam. The latter had prior experience only through her own live streaming channel on "Snitch," but after an audition and two unpublished tryouts, she had the job.
Emily's parents Patty and Blake joined the inseparable trio that Emily and her best friends, Arachnid twins Lele and Kiki, had melted into, listening to Sam describe the competition between the two companies as they tried to steal each other's best Salvoregers. At the same time, the corporations were hoping for some free publicity from the public airing. And this was obviously necessary, because neither the parents nor the trio had heard of Excalivore and Digg-Est beforehand.
 
Each of the two companies picked their preferred candidate from the other's staff and deposited the name in secret before the first event was drawn. Sam spun a lottery wheel, and the pointer stopped on the sign for "Gulpathlon."
This competition was not unlike the competition at Black Hole Busters, but the rules were slightly different: it was a duel, and the celestial bodies to be devoured were arranged in a course of a fixed order. If one of the celestial bodies was reached, you had to either devour it or leave it. It was a competition in which speed was important, both in distance and in devouring, as well as in a selection strategy. If you miscalculated the size of a planet, your competitor could overtake, make up ground, and choose the most suitable specimens for them. In the end, the weight of the scales counted, and gobbling up the opponent was forbidden.
 
There were two different species in this contest: one was a Space Naga. Not really known for their acceleration, but notorious for their capacity, the second was a rabbit creature, famous for being able to scurry from planet to planet insanely fast, but taking longer to devour the planets.
What followed was a spectacle that made the Naga look quite bad. The first planet was of course taken by the rabbit, which was overtaken by the Naga while it was still devouring it in one piece. When the rabbit was done, she gave full speed again, and snatched the second one from under the Naga's nose, then the next one, then the next one again. It looked as if the Naga had no chance at all, and Sam was trying to add some excitement to this one-sided competition with her contributions, until finally, after about a quarter of the way, the Naga was able to grab the first planet for herself, and a score greater than zero was finally displayed on the screen under her unpronounceable name. With an increasingly full stomach, the rabbit slowed down, and so the Naga gradually grabbed more and more of the planets, and thus at first slowly, but then faster and faster, the numbers converged.
 
Now there were only two planets ahead of them, the rabbit still had a slim lead as the Naga approached the second to last planet, slowly opening her mouth.
"And there Ssshrrr sets to bite, but! No!! She hesitates too long, and Hippety snatches it back from under her nose after all," Sam yelled into the microphone to drown out the crowd of spectators watching the whole thing on the giant screen in the stadium orbiting the last planet in front of her.
The girls in the Paleo house also went wild, while Patty just calmly said, "She feigned the bite!" and Blake nodded in agreement.
In fact, while Hippety still had her planet in her mouth, Ssshrrr mobilized her last reserves, and accelerated towards the last planet almost twice the size of the penultimate one, which she reached and devoured directly in front of the crowd just before Hippety arrived. Since her score was not raised until she had completely consumed it, there were a few seconds of dead silence, the control room switching the screen's display from the track to the corporate boxes, where the owners also stared spellbound at the screens until the final score finally appeared there. Just a tenth of a planetary weight, Ssshrrr was in the lead. The people in the Ecxavore box slumped, a curse word could be read on the CEO's lips, while at Digg-Est everyone jumped up and cheered.
 
At the Paleo house, Emily sat quietly, not knowing for a moment what to make of the last few moments.
Patty noticed, and said to her, "Watch and learn!" She knew her middle daughter would figure it out, even if she hadn't apparently caught on yet.
 
Sam was now connected to Ssshrrr for the interview. "Ssshrrr, well, that's what I call luck!" said Sam, but Ssshrrr waved it off.
"Of course, luck is part of it, but I still know Hippety from the academy. Mental arithmetic has never been her strong point, but food envy has."
"Oh, so you did intentionally delay too much on the second to last planet! How clever!" concluded Sam.
 
"How did you know that she lured Hippety to eat the smaller planet, Mom?" asked Emily.
"That comes with experience dear, who do you think taught Sam and Tammy all the pred techniques they know? But promise me that when you graduate from Salvoreger Academy, you won't be in on any of this stuff until I've taught you a few more of my tricks. I bet I'll be able to teach you a thing or two those instructors only dreamed of!"
"Deal!" agreed Emily, as Sam revealed on the screen the card that had the name of the Salvoreger that Digg-Est had chosen as the prize. It definitely wasn't Hippety.
 
Sam had the next two envelopes handed to her, and turned the draw wheel again. "And the next game is ..."