Episode 1 (Part 2)
The clouds in the sky over Flower Fields were slowly starting to describe the mood of the players on the ground as they waited in angst to discover the results of the final jump. Vinny currently stood a couple thousand feet above their heads, but remained out of eyesight.
"I swear, if he doesn't jump, regardless if he's the Mole or not, I'm gonna be...displeased," Dimentio complained, kicking a nearby flower stem.
"Hey! You don't have to vent your anger on wildlife," Sushie pleaded, irritated by his immaturity.
Suddenly, a faint object flew out from the cloud. After a few seconds of squinting, the players recognized Vinny's paraglider coasting to the ground.
"Yes! Four for four...er, whatever!" Bandy Andy cheered.
"Yeah, at least we'll be earning something," Nastasia added cautiously.
Vinny: My motivation ta go along with it had nothin' to do with da game, but rather my reputation at da syndicate. I'm proud of my size, and I don't want them to see a moment when I fear it. An' I swear, if you use dis clip, someone is getting it.
Vinny remained frozen in his speech, even after making contact with the ground. The group ran to him in congratulations as he removed himself from the glider.
"I'm jealous now! You guys made it look easy!" Goombella complimented. The four success stories beamed.
"Just have to keep up your guys' end of the draw, and 50000 coins is ours baby!" Parakarry cheered.
"Congratulations!" Blue Toad greeted, reappearing nearby. "I know you're dying to discover how much Koover and Peach bet on your victory, but we have three more challenges to complete before then. Now, if you'd follow me, please."
Koover held his hand above his eyes to shield them from the sun as he watched Vinny make the descent. "That's everyone!"
"Good thing we chose them, then!" Peach added, highfiving Koover.
After a five-minute nature hike across a log, over some vines, and through even more flora, the host stopped in front of a multiple-story high building. Several fallen rocks from the structure laid scattered along the side of the weathered tower.
"This looks a bit...intimidating. But interesting," Pennington observed.
"I bet this place is just crawling with tidbits of archaeological remnants," Goombella grinned.
"So, what is the significance of this, Mr. Blue?" asked Ms. Mowz curiously.
"Hm...I like the sound of that. Mr. Blue. How official," the host beamed. "This is also the official place of your next 'plunder'." On cue, several producers draped ropes and hooks alongside the tower.
"Still intimidated?" The group cheered at the sign of a challenge. "The 'archaeological remnant' in front of you is the Sun Tower, which serves as a resting place for the Sun of Flower Fields as it journeys across the sky each day. Peach and Koover have assigned three of you to rapel down the side of the Sun Tower within 30 minutes or less."
"Dang..." Bandy Andy trailed.
Sushie's eyes drifted from the tower to the host. "So, who out of us is participating in this 'plunder'?"
"A total of three: Dimentio, Ms. Mowz, and yourself." Sushie's stomach nearly sank as the other two remained anxious. "Well, no need to stand and wait. Head on up."
"Good luck you guys!" encouraged Mamar as the three began ascending the steps to the top, not knowing what to expect.
"Hoo...those stairs...are brutal!" Sushie exclaimed, clutching her stomach once she reached the top.
"Please, that was easier than climbing Pagoda Peak with an escalator," Dimentio remarked coolly.
Ms. Mowz almost scoffed as she was approached with rapelling gear. "Please, I do this sort of thing on a daily basis without those. I'm practically a professional."
"Well, I'm certainly not going to reject them," Sushie added, willingly accepting the equipment.
Sushie: I've had an issue with heights for about as long as I can recall, which hasn't been THAT long but...well, you get the point. Still, knowing how this is The Mole, of course I have to face it early on.
"Seriously though. Repelling is a piece of cheese," Ms. Mowz informed the nanny. "Plus, it's not like we're climbing up the tower."
"That certainly takes a load off," Sushie said. She finished gearing up as Dimentio resumed pacing impatiently.
"Are we starting anytime soon? The host gave us almost no instruction," he complained, irritated at the thought of wasting time. To answer his question, a television monitor on one of the ledges lit up, revealing Blue Toad.
"Hello players. In order to win whatever sum of coins your Moles bet on this challenge, each of you must make it to the ground via rapelling within an accumulative time of 30 minutes. Also, only person can be on the ropes at a time, which, by the way, starts now." Instantly the host vanished, replaced with a screen reading 29:59, a number that gradually continued decreasing.
"Guys, the clock's starting," Sushie cautioned.
"I know. I have eyes that can visibly see that," remarked Dimentio. Sushie huffed in irritant response.
Ms. Mowz scooted her way to edge of the tower, hooking herself onto the cable. "Allow me to go first so I can show you the ropes, both literally and metaphorically."
"Be my guest," Dimentio motioned as Ms. Mowz began stepping one foot over the edge. Her hands clutched the cable as she released her other leg and began to kick off the side of the tower.
Back on the ground, their seven companions nervously watched as they saw Ms. Mowz begin.
"I could never do that," Parakarry commented, having been immediately influenced by the height.
"I've been rapelling on a spelunking tour once, but this looks a lot more difficult than simply lowering yourself," reflected Goombella. Nastasia rolled her eyes at the camera.
Nastasia: I'm not sure what I think of some of the players at this point. One of them is already the Mole, and will definitely be sticking around until the very end. But, yeah, I have a slight tendency to get easily annoyed at other people or their habits or personalities or...whatever, I'm just hoping it'll be easy to put up with my fellow 'players' for the next month.
Bandy Andy whistled. "Dang, the tower almost looks as tall as the clouds we paraglided down from."
"Here's hoping we'll earn more moolah," Vinny grinned.
"I wouldn't get too confident. For all we know, our paraglide may have only been worth 5000 coins," Mamar replied, coolheaded.
As the players on the ground spectated the tower, Ms. Mowz withdrew her other leg from the tower, positioning herself along the side so that both feet were parallel to each other. In one hand, she held the ropes that the instructor would belay upon her descent; in the other, she clutched the downward rope that she would use to maneuver her way along the tower's face.
Ms. Mowz flashed a confident smile towards the camera attached to her helmet. "Cakewalk, really." Her fingers slid a large portion of the rope through the figure-eight descender which, to her surprise, released much more rope than expected. This caused her to fall backwards, her feet practically even with her head's elevation.
Ms. Mowz: I don't need to remain humble when I say that I have scaled numerous wall-faces throughout my career. However, I tend to do so without the usage of safety equipment, so needless to say, I was caught off guard.
"You okay up there?" Pennington called out, concerned by her miscalculation.
"Never better, dearie," Ms. Mowz responded. Her voice hinted a trace of remorse, but she blew her compatriots a kiss of assurance. Parakarry's eyes widened.
Refocusing, Ms. Mowz took a calmer approach, repositioning herself in a more comfortable manner for her descent. She proceeded to glide down the wall, slowly, so as to regain form. After a few pulls from the rope, Ms. Mowz decided to kick off from the wall in hopes that it would pick up her speed. To her alarm, her feet slipped and the right side of her body made contact with the wall.
Dimentio glanced over the edge of the tower at the noise. "Hmm...not as grand a cakewalk for her, it would seem," he slyly remarked. Sushie reached a similar conclusion.
"That...doesn't look too comfortable," Parakarry said, pointing to Ms. Mowz as she attempted to swing her body around so that he back was away from the tower.
"It seems to me like she's struggling quite a bit," Peach observed, passing her binoculars to Koover so he could have a look.
"Wouldn't you agree that she seemed like a natural fit for this task, though?" Koover asked. "You said she had a reputation as a thief from what Mario told you."
Peach shrugged her shoulders. "Mario also told me she was a bit of a flirt. That much I can agree with."
"Focus, Bree," Ms. Mowz whispered to herself as she regained stance. Knowing that her challenge ran on a timer, she took on a slow-but-steady strategy, inching down the wall so as not to become entangled again.
"Keep it up! You're almost there!" Goombella encouraged. Ms. Mowz looked below her and noticed that she was less than fifty feet until finishing. In an effort to maintain her reputation, she proceeded to let loose much of the rope, and quickly reached the bottom.
"Phew, finally!" She teased, allowing her feet to land on the dirt. She effortlessly untied the figure-eight knot and unclipped the carabiner from her harness. Bandy Andy offered her a high-five for her achievement as she rejoined the group.
Above them, Dimentio received a signal from a producer that he could begin. He glanced at the clock: 22:01.
"Crud," he spat, running towards the ledge. Since the system was structured that only one person could rapel at a time, Dimentio still had to hoist the rope that Ms. Mowz had used so that he could be fully harnessed and begin his own rapel.
"Need a fin?" Sushie offered, watching as Dimentio pulled the rope up several hundred feet to the top of the tower.
"I'm quite fine, thank you," Dimentio huffed. His increase of inhalations did not reassure Sushie about when it would be her turn to do so.
A few seconds later, Dimentio had gathered all of the rope and was being tied in by a professional. "Could you hurry it up a bit? I've got 50000 coin waiting for me at the bottom if you catch my drift."
"All set!" The climbing instructor issued, permitting him to begin the rapel. After a satisfactory tug on the rope to ensure the knots were taut, Dimentio situated himself alongside the edge.
"See you at the bottom?" Sushie hesitated. Dimentio didn't respond, disappearing from her sight.
"Wait a sec, you're being timed?" Nastasia asked in vivid disbelief.
"The absurdity! What if a technical error occurred, and you three were displaced during your mission? That scintilla of a possibility could be jeopardizing to your success!" Pennington fumed.
Ms. Mowz sighed. "It's a thirty minute time gap. I'm pretty sure that number was coordinated to allow plenty of maneuvering space for such error you might speak of."
"Again, it would seem that the fear factor is what controls it the most," Parakarry said, playfully nudging Vinny in the shoulder.
"Whatever. Dis one looks much easier than our task. You have da extra comfort of harnesses, helmets, and safety supervision. I had da wind and a sweaty instructor half my size."
Above them, the second competitor appeared, feet planted against the tower wall. A couple of players called out to him, but Dimentio remained unfazed, refusing to acknowledge their existence. His focus was directed towards reaching the bottom as his fingers rested along the downward rope.
Dimentio: Master of Dimensions, Pleaser of Crowds...I am Dimentio, and there's nothing in this game that I can't or won't conquer.
Without resistance, Dimentio guided himself along the cobblestone. His steps appeared to be much gentler than those of Ms. Mowz, guiding them steadily as if in musical rhythm. His face, however, displayed no expression of nervousness, let alone interest.
"Is he...dancing?" Pennington wondered, raising his magnifying glass towards the magician above him. "Preposterous!"
Mamar bit her lip. "He could be moving a bit faster, in my opinion.
Almost as if he had heard, Dimentio began to speed up, though not so much as to off-balance himself. This gradual crescendo brought him closer and closer to the players below.
"Confound it! He's doing an awful lot better than...um..." Parakarry's voice trailed, but Ms. Mowz did not look amused.
Upon reaching the halfway point, Dimentio flashed a grin to no one in particular. He began kicking away from the wall as he leveed the rope, building momentum as he went. Suddenly, a foot slipped, causing him to reposition himself away from the wall.
"And there goes his ego," Ms. Mowz smirked to Goombella, who attempted to hold in her laughter.
With his legs angled away from the wall, an exasperated Dimentio was forced to swing his body so as to both turn himself around and reach the edge of the tower as the ropes dangled several feet away. However, once he managed to realign himself, the rest of the descent went as smoothly as it had earlier.
"Touchdown!" Bandy Andy joked, making a goalpost with his hands. The magician glared at him.
"Hush. No need for you to be the cashew in the peanut gallery. Now leave me be; that babysitter bass still has to go, and it won't happen unless I get this rope off of me."
"Ouch, the heck did I do?" the fighter replied, now raising his hands in surrender as he left Dimentio to untie himself. The knot, however, had become entangled after his earlier mishap, giving Dimentio an added difficulty.
"Goodness, must a woman do everything?" Mamar remarked, noticing Dimentio's apparent struggle to remove the rope. She proceeded to help him solve the nylon maze before Pennington suddenly intervened, separating the two.
"Wait! You're not partaking in the rapel, so it can only be deduced that he must solve this dilemma himself!"
Dimentio rolled his eyes. "Relax, grandpa, I've got this under control, kapeesh?" A few seconds later, Dimentio's harness was free of the cord. Sushie's part had begun.
Back on the summit, a producer informed Sushie that she could begin raising the rope. 14:29, 14:28-
"Oh...tarter sauce!" Sushie muttered, no longer hypnotized by their countdown clock. She was left the striking realization that she alone would have to pull up her rope.
Sushie: It's not difficult to speculate that I'm the most...mature out of my opponents. But I'm not about to let my age serve as a dollop to their confidence!
"I don't suppose this is the part of the romance where the dashing young prince swoops in to offer the poor maiden assistance, is it?" Sushie asked her climbing professional. His following silence provided her with an unfortunate negative as she continued to raise her vital cords with strenuous effort.
"And I was told by the fairytale that Rapunzel let down her long hair," Sushie huffed to herself, relieved as the final stretch of rope piled at her feet. The climber immediately stepped in, harnessing her to the rapelling system in diligent time. After peering over the ledge and whispering a quick prayer to herself, the Cheep Cheep proceeded to lower herself along the Sun Tower with a little under twelve minutes remaining.
Koover let out a sigh of relief as he witnessed Dimentio be released from the rope. "Two out of three, baby! And it looks like they're making pretty solid time, too!" Peach, meanwhile, continued to pace nervously alongside the log where she and Koover were instructed to stay in isolation from the rest of the group.
"Yeah, but anything can happen when you have a Mole in the game. Just because two have been successful doesn't mean the third will, and even if Sushie fails, the blame still rests on our shoulders."
"Lighten up, will ya?" Koover teased lightheartedly. "One of the groups has already banked some dough under our jurisdiction, so you can't fairly pin everything on us."
Koover: As much as I hate being ostracized from the rest of the group since being with them would offer ten different perspectives on what happened as opposed to just one, I wasn't about to let up an opportunity to absorb as much information as possible that could play to my advantage.
"Well, since it's just you and me here, you don't mind if I ask you what you're thoughts are, do you?" Koover asked.
"You mean like my suspects?" Peach asked. "Well, I feel like it's way too early to truly place all my eggs in one basket if you catch what I'm saying."
Peach: In a game void of trust, you can never let too much information slip, because what you have is what advances you in the game. So no, I'm not about to clue Koover in on what I've gathered. Why? Because he could be the Mole.
"Exactly why I hate being restricted from the others," Koover added. "I'm not sure whether or not the Mole would sabotage so early on, so I'd rather see how the others act to help formulate my opinion."
Peach nodded. "Honestly, I have no clue what to expect. I feel too inadequate at this point, y'know?" Suddenly, both players noticed a fish figure at the top of the tower, and their focuses were redrawn to the game currently being played.
The sun was now directly above the players, blasting its rays without any protection. Nevertheless, the atmosphere in Flower Fields remained pleasant, though the atmosphere amongst the players remained tense.
"My goodness, she's doing it," Mamar stuttered, amazed as Sushie attempted the repel.
"She'll blow this out of the water, no sweat! Hopefully..." Parakarry pleaded, watching the nanny begin her descent.
"Dearie, you best be realistic," Ms. Mowz said. "I don't believe this system is as simple-minded as you all may believe. Considering the level of difficulty I had with it, there's no telling how Sushie will compare."
Dimentio scoffed. "Ha! You may have found yourself caught in the cobwebs, but I performed quite splendidly." Goombella rolled her eyes.
"She still has ta make it down in time for us to earn money, though," Vinny reminded.
Overhead, Sushie gasped to herself at the astonishing height. "This does not look pretty," she muttered, clasping both hands on the rope to position herself against the wall. Lacking lower limbs, she was forced to press her body against the wall to balance herself as she lowered the rope.
"OOF!" A missed slip of the fin sent Sushie tumbling into the tower without warning. Regaining herself, she attempted to jiggle the rope to readjust her body. "Focus, Sushie," she hummed, resuming her rapel. A few feet lower, however, she slipped once again and contacted the wall yet again.
Nastasia squinted intensely before wiping a smudge on her glasses. "Yeah, not looking like the splendid performance you were talking about."
Sushie: The rapel was awfully frustrating because no matter what I did, I continued to struggle with it. I would much rather paraglide in comfort than spend the rest of my days stuck against a crumbling tower.
Sushie groaned as she landed against the wall for a third time. "Okay, something is up with this rope, because this is just ridiculous." She pulled on the lower edge of the nylon, only to discover that it wouldn't budge.
"What in the..." She tried again to lower herself, but to no avail.
"I'm stuck!" Sushie cried out to the players below, who looked up at her with alarm.
"You're kidding me! Are you okay?" Pennington asked on behalf of the group.
"Do I look okay to you?" Sushie shouted. She continued to pull down on the rope, but remained stationary midair. The clock didn't stop for her, however.
Pennington: I daresay, something was fishy at the Sun Tower, and it wasn't just Sushie. Could the Mole be at work already?
"Try to untangle it! It might be caught on something!" Mamar suggested in vain. Sushie took a moment to gather herself before twisting the figure-eight in a counterclockwise direction. To her amazement, the rope loosened.
"Oh thank heavens," Sushie sighed as she continued repelling. The journey was met with more stumbles, but her main priority was to get out of the air as quickly as possible.
"Let's go Sushie!" Bandy Andy cheered as the Cheep Cheep snailed down the wall. Now ten feet from the ground, Sushie let out a victory cry and allowed herself to fall to the ground, thus effectively stopping the clock.
"My God, is she okay?" Koover asked, concernedly.
"Well, she made it. That's all I can say," Peach said. "But did she make it in time?"
"So, what's the verdict, your honor?" Dimentio asked as he, Ms. Mowz and an exasperated Sushie stood before the approaching host.
Blue nodded. "As soon as you finished your rapel, Sushie, the clock for your mission was halted."
"Can we just cut to the cheese, perhaps?" Ms. Mowz inquired. The other players crossed their fingers in anticipation.
"When Sushie reached the ground, the time on the clock...had expired one minute and seven seconds prior. I'm sorry, but your combined efforts did not allot to whatever money amount was placed on this task." Sushie's face dropped at the news.
"At least you attempted, guys," Parakarry offered weakly. Dimentio did not seem amused.
"But cheer up! There's still three of you left, two more tests to partake in, and one ultimate prize to be won," Blue reminded, causing the others to perk up briefly. "Let's follow the Northeasterly, shall we?"
The players hiked along a flowerbed trail after a Toad that few of them were particularly happy with at that moment. Nevertheless, some sought comfort through the lush environment around. This easement was soon crushed by the host.
"Here lies your third task," Blue stated. In front of him laid a large red, green and purple block structure of disproportionate heights. Surrounding it was a garden of prickly rose vines.
"That does NOT look appetizing," Goombella remarked.
"Ah, but Koover and Peach designated you to enjoy this entrée, along with...Pennington." Pennington raised an eyebrow.
"This is the Block Puzzle. Yet another architectural feat in a land lacking in civilization. In order to succeed, the two of you must figure out how to make it from Point A on this side to Point B on that platform yonder. Should both of you be standing at the finish before twenty minutes elapse, you win. Don't worry, for the solution is rock solid. Good luck, for your time starts...now." A monitor nestled against a rock behind him lit up with the numbers: 19:59, 19:58...
"Yikes! Hut-two!" Pennington said as he and Goombella made a beeline towards the intimidating structure. The other eight were led away to watch from afar.
"Look around," Goombella commented as she and Pennington reached the puzzle. "I'm willing to bet that there's something around here with some form of instructions."
Pennington did a quick 360. "Nah, I think we need to begin and learn as we go. We only have twenty minutes to complete this."
"But Blue gave us, like, nothing about this thing. They wouldn't just leave us to fend for ourselves, would they?" She surveyed the structure, her archaeological instincts kicking in.
"The biggest things I notice are the arrows and the colors. Red, purple, green, and they're scattered all the way across. That's gotta mean something, right?"
Pennington rubbed his chin. "But what about the arrows? Why are some pointing up while others point down?"
"Maybe we're supposed to move in the direction they face? Or, maybe the blocks are supposed to move that way?" Goombella asked, clueless as ever.
"Here, you go stand on that ledge over there and see if you can get a clearer view of the entire puzzle. I'll try to see if these blocks can move," Pennington instructed. Goombella nodded, running off in hopes of a better perspective. Pennington hesitantly stepped down onto the first panel, which happened to be red with an up arrow. In front of him at the same height was a green block, also with an up arrow. Surrounding the Bumpty on both sides was the vine field.
"Rudimentary!"
Still in their own form of solitary confinement, Blue met up with Koover and Peach, who were disappointed to discover that the rapelling group was unsuccessful.
"How confident do you feel trusting Goombella and Pennington to complete the block puzzle?" Blue questioned.
Peach frowned. "I mean, I know that both of them are intelligent and what not, but looking at it from this angle, the task looks much harder than I had expected."
"It's out of our hands now," Koover said openly. "We bet that they would be successful at a life-sized Rubik's disaster, so at this point, we can only hope that they will be."
"And if one of them is the Mole?" Blue asked.
Koover turned to face the host. "Then that would certainly complicates things, wouldn't it?"
"Pennington! I'm counting seven panels all together, three of which are green, with two for both red and purple," Goombella observed, climbing onto a small knoll to get a better look.
"So, green must be sufficient somehow," Pennington remarked. He proceeded to move towards the green panel before him. "I can't get any farther than this because panel in front of me goes up about ten feet! Blast!"
"Chillax, okay? I'm telling you, there's probably something somewhere that tells us how we're supposed to work this thing."
"Never mind that, come over here and see if you can help me push this block!"
Goombella: I was positive that without a manual or guideline of some sort, it would be impossible to figure out the puzzle. Mister Wannabe Sherlock, however, felt differently.
"It's not going to work," Goombella said as she joined him on the green panel. "On three, okay? One...two, three!" Both players pushed against the block before them, but nothing happened.
"I'm telling you. The one behind it is half it's height, but high enough to be in the way," Goombella smirked. Pennington frowned.
"What color is the one behind it?" he questioned.
"Green...I think. And it had an up arrow, I'm sure. Come to think of it, all of the green blocks had up arrows."
A light bulb went off in Pennington's head. "The colored block have to be interconnected somehow. Now, if we could just manipulate some method to move from one green block to another, than I think we'll be golden!"
"Great detective work. Now, how exactly are we supposed to do that if we're trapped behind a red block that's impossible to climb over?" Goombella questioned, knowing Pennington wouldn't have the answer. "Never mind, I'm going to look around. We don't have much time, so if the producers hid a clue, it can't be TOO elaborate."
"Suit yourself, madam," Pennington mumbled, continuing to survey the scene around him. The moshpit of vines was currently even with the height of the two front blocks they could access. "The end platform is higher up than the starting one, which means we'll have to elevate ourselves somehow. We can't go over the block in front of us, and we can't go around because of these prickling pestilences...I wonder, if there's some way we can traverse over the vines to get to blocks in the back?"
Goombella paused to look at the puzzle once more. "Well...the sixth block is even-leveled with where you're standing. And it's green. With an up arrow."
Pennington's face lit up. "Then we clearly must construct a bridge between blocks of the same color! JUST as I suspected!" Goombella did a double-take before sighing to herself and continuing her search for a potential clue.
On the sidelines, eight competitors spectated the scene, feeling fortunate to not partake in this portion of the mission. Seven of them had already performed; one, however, was anxiously awaiting what obstacle she would have to conquer.
"I have ta say, I'm glad I was a paraglider now. I'd be so out of place with dis," Vinny commented, perplexed by the massive puzzle. He noticed Nastasia out of the corner of his eye, gnashing her fingernails like a woodchuck.
"Come ta think of it, there's still one more task left after dis, and you'll be da only one. Wonderin' what it will be?"
Nastasia didn't bother turning to face him. "Well, no use speculating about it now, is there? So how about you mind your own P's and Q's, K?" Vinny didn't continue the conversation.
To their right, Mamar was having her own discussion with Sushie, who took the leisure of laying down on the pink tulip patch. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened during your rapel? You were looking so great before you seemed to stop, so I was pretty concerned," she asked politely.
Sushie chuckled. "There's no need to exaggerate the truth for my sake, sweetheart. I was completely out of my element back there and everybody could tell. But I will say one thing: the moment you're referring to, my rope seemed to tighten suddenly. I couldn't pull myself up, let alone fall to gravity."
"Seriously? Was it just tangled, or did it get knotted up?"
Sushie shook her head. "Just as free as it had been. So no, even with my wretched abilities taken into context, I don't find it mere coincidence that the two rapellers before me had minimal difficulties whereas my rope wouldn't even budge until some divine intervention rescued me." Mamar nodded to herself before standing back up again.
Back at the puzzle, Pennington was rubbing his wing after testing the spikiness of the surrounding vines. Needless to say, he would be avoiding direct contact from then on.
Goombella, meanwhile, was frantically weed-whacking through a pile of cattails. "Ug, this isn't working...say, you don't recall Blue dropping any subtle maxims that might help us, do you?"
Pennington shook his head. "Nothing that sounded suspicious. I recollect that him stating that we had twenty minutes to reach the opposite platform, but that our solution would be rock solid...egad!"
"The boulder!" Goombella shouted in realization. Abandoning some daffodils, she darted towards the rock which their countdown monitor was propped up against. To her horror, seven minutes had already ensued. Nevertheless, she leaned up against the boulder in an attempt to roll it when she spotted a paper peeking out from underneath.
"I found something! Come have a look!" she called out to her partner, who wasted no time reaching her.
"Clever! There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he philosophized. "But what is it implying?"
On the paper were two peculiar pictures. The first featured a pile of dirt with the letters "lb" labeled next to it. The second picture displayed what appeared to be a cloud hovering over a pile of grapes.
"...this makes, like, NO sense whatsoever," Goombella complained. "What is LB supposed to stand for? Low Battery? Lunch Break?"
Pennington frowned. "And why in the world would it be lowercase, hm? Let's see...dirt...earth...surface...ground...sedimen-"
"Ground pound!" Goombella interrupted. "That has to be it! The "lb" is the abbreviation for pound, and the pile of dirt refers to the ground! But what are we supposed to ground pound?" She looked at the puzzle before her in wonder. A few seconds later, another light bulb went off in her head. "Ohmigosh, I think if we ground pound the panels, it'll cause the platforms to rise! Go try it out!"
"But wouldn't that be too easy, though? I don't think the clue is as straightforward as you want to presume it to be," Pennington cautioned, resuming examination of the paper. "Dirt...Left Bank of dirt?"
Goombella groaned. "Fine, I'll be the guinea pig," she muttered, running to the first two panels. Walking as far out onto the green panel as she could, she held her breath, jumped into the air, and landed cris-cross atop the block.
"Aaaaah!" she screamed, feeling the floor beneath her vibrate violently. She jumped off onto the red panel before her as the green panel rose abruptly, doubling its previous height.
Pennington looked horrified. "Well, jiminy-crickets! Why on earth did you move? Now you can't reach the green panel!"
Pennington: I never make exceptions. An exception disproves the rule of the game, that any of these players could be the Mole. So just because Goombella is young and full of spunk does not erase her off of my suspect list.
"Uh, yeah I can! Watch!" Goombella replied, performing another ground pound on the red panel, causing it to match the height of the green one. To her surprise, the third panel also rose the same amount.
Pennington raised his magnifying glass. "That confirms it, then! The colored panels are definitely interconnected! But all that did was create the same image we had at the beginning, except with extra height. And now I can't reach them," he observed. From the starting line, Goombella's ground pound had raised the block to a height that was too tall for Pennington to pull himself onto. "Here, ground pound it once again so I can join you!"
"But if you stay there, you can tell me where to traverse since you'll be able to see the whole puzzle!"
"But both of us have to make it across in order to pocket the money! Besides, this way we can each ground pound a block. Without me, you won't be able to ground pound the other panel because you'll be lower than it."
"No I won't! If I keep ground pounding the green panel, then I'll be able to climb over the one in front of me! Just watch," she said, steadying herself over the green panel. Her ground pound had visibly gained technique. Her height, however, decreased.
Pennington let out a harrumph. "It would appear that the arrows actually possess importance. Because the panels only ascend and descend one level. If you've already gone up, a downward arrow appears, indicating that the next switch will take you down." Goombella frowned in realization as she performed another ground pound to rise back up.
"Wait a second! There's more to the paper!"
"What is taking them so long?" Koover wondered, watching the performance with deep interest. "They haven't even made it past the first block yet!"
Peach bit her lip. "There is a solution to this puzzle, right?" she asked, gesturing to their host. Blue remained motionless. "Of course you wouldn't tell me..."
After ground pounding the first red panel once again, Pennington was able to join Goombella to solve the second picture clue they had overlooked. Goombella grabbed the sheet away from Pennington. "Okay, the vines surrounding the puzzle are totally the ones being referenced to! But what is that supposed to be above it? A CLOUD?"
Pennington stared up at the cumulus currents that four fellow players had used to paraglide off of earlier. "There's no logical way. And logic is the only way to go about this."
"But what if we used something similar to get around the vines?" Goombella wondered. "There's no way we can get over the third panel, so obviously the clue says there's some method to get around it."
Pennington surveyed the surrounding area. He noticed the ledge Goombella had stood on earlier had a small crevasse underneath. "Over here!" he called, rushing to investigate. To his astonishment, two Lakitu clouds were floating inside the crook.
"See? Easy solution," Goombella explained.
"Blasphemy! Are we truly supposed to use these? Are these even capable of sustaining our weight?"
"They're there for a reason, aren't they? But how do they work..." She grabbed one, compressing the soft material in her hand, before stepping inside of it. "No way! I'm totally floating right now!"
"Well, no need to dilly-dally! Time is of the essence here," Pennington reminded, snatching one for himself and running back to the puzzle.
"Okay, one of us should stand back and guide the other person along," Goombella reasoned.
"We don't have the time for that, woman! Now ground pound the first panel so we can get back up!" Appalled by the sudden mood swing, Goombella was quick to remove her cloud so she could raise the platform. Now, they were parallel to the green panel.
Goombella raised an eyebrow. "Well, what was the point of that if we can just use the clouds to get around?"
"Because your incessant ground-pounding has disordered the puzzle from its original state! I'd be hesitant to proceed in case we've already discombobulated it somehow. If each of us ground pounds a panel, then we can have a fresh start, no?" The goomba nodded understandingly as she moved back to the green panel. The two of them delivered a ground pound in near unison, causing both blocks to lower to a height even with the vines, just like in the beginning.
Pennington smiled. "Well, now that that's been taken care of, I daresay we ought to investigate the further four blocks, no?" He positioned himself atop the Lakitu cloud and, without wasting any time, hovered over the sharp vines.
Goombella gasped. "You can't feel anything?" The Bumpty shook is head, encouraging Goombella to follow his lead. The two of them glided along the vines as they surveyed the latter blocks.
"The fifth and last are purple, and the fourth and sixth are green...hey, I can reach the sixth one!" Goombella cheered, hovering over the green panel with Pennington quick to follow.
"Let's not jump to conclusions-" Before Pennington could finish his sentence, Goombella had been quick to ground pound it, causing the block to rise.
"Darn, the last one is still too tall...and the purple one behind us will go down if we hit it," she noted disappointedly.
"But it's the only one we have access to, so we might as well try," Pennington said, grabbing Goombella and ground-pounding the fifth block in the series. "Oomph...my back will thank me later..."
The purple panel was now parallel to the vines. The one closest to the end platform, however, was now parallel to the green panel in front of it. "Well, back to the vines," Goombella began, grabbing her cloud.
"Wait! We can solve it right now!" Pennington disagreed, preventing Goombella from continuing. "Look! The two end panels are even with each other, are they not? If we re-ker-smash this one again, I should be able to reach the sixth. And if you smash the fifth while I'm on the sixth, the end platform will be lowered to my height, and I'll be able to reach the finish!" Excitedly, he did another ground pound, sending the two back to their previous height.
"Stop!" Goombella shouted, attempting to balance herself at the sudden transformation. "Both of us have make it to the end in order to win, remember?"
Pennington was exasperated. "But we can! As soon as I'm up there, it'll be easier to guide you along, don't you see?"
"No, we're making it to the end. Together," she insisted. Before Pennington could react, Goombella had floated over the edge onto the vines.
"What in tarnation did you do that for?" Pennington shouted, flabbergasted at Goombella's sudden action. "Now you can't even get back up here!"
"Ug, will you just listen to me? Of course I can!" Goombella took the liberty to survey the overall puzzle in the safety of her cloud as she floated out across the thorn field. "Think, Goombella...the only other block we have access to is the first one...if we jump on that, we'll reach the second, which we can lower. Doing so will lower the sixth panel, which...Pennington! Follow me, I figured it out!"
"Rubbish! I had it solved, had you not taken that leap of fallacy," Pennington argued, shaking his head in dismay. "It'll be a miracle if we finish in time now!"
"Quite the miracle indeed," came a familiar sound. Goombella gulped, watching a blue-spotted figure emerge atop the finish platform. In his hand, he held a disheartening monitor: 00:00.
Koover's face dropped. "Darn! Looks like they failed as well."
"I thought they would be ideal for something so intelligence-demanding, too," Peach remarked, staring at nothing in particular.
"At least it hasn't been a total loss. The paragliding group was successful, right? And besides, there's still one more task pending."
Peach didn't seem affected by Koover's attempts at optimism. "I'm just worried about rejoining the group at this point..."
"What happened?" were the first words to come out of Bandy Andy's mouth as Blue led two crestfallen people back to the less-than-welcoming group.
"That puzzle is a LOT more difficult than it looks, dude," Goombella defended. "It took us forever to figure out how to move the panels, and then there were these bizarre clouds-"
"Defend yourself all you want, buttercup. Still doesn't change the outcome," Dimentio exclaimed.
"Oh please," Ms. Mowz stammered. "You weren't so impressive either, darling."
Dimentio chortled. "Yes, because your performance totally won the crowd over."
Pennington cleared his throat. "All I can confess is that Goombella and I tried our hardest, and at the end of the day, that is all one can ask for."
Parakarry: Already, we'd witnessed two groups fail their assigned task. Is this supposed to be a precursor of how the Mole aims to sabotage?
"Regardless," Blue proceeded, "the two of you did not solve the puzzle before twenty minutes were up. The festivities are all but over, however! For one ultimate challenge still awaits one of you." Everybody turned to face Nastasia, who avoided making eye contact.
"Hm...eenie...meenie...miny...Nastasia, would you please follow me?" Arms crossed, Nastasia reluctantly followed Blue away from the others, who were led to a distant spot to watch the a-maze-ments in store.
The overarching sign read "Rose Hedge Maze," but a flushed Nastasia was too ignorant to notice. "There's no possible way," she trailed, hoping to find asylum in the host. Instead, she found a helmet camera.
"Ah, but there is!" Blue teased. "For the two 'Moles' of questionable trust placed their trust in you as the sole contender for this assignment. Your job is simple: complete the maze within the course of ten minutes, and the money is yours. Should you instead lose yourself in the labyrinth, then no money, whatever that amount might total, will be won. If there are no questions, then good luck! You may begin the maze...now." It took a second for Nastasia to compute what was going on after Blue clicked his stopwatch before heading for the entrance.
Nastasia: Yeah, mazes have never been my strong suit. That, combined with a dash of time limits and a hint of claustrophobia, and this was a recipe for disaster.
"Left?" Nastasia asked herself, unsure where to wander herself. She continued heading in that direction until she reached and intersection, where she decided to head left again.
"Dead end," she sighed, turning back the way she came. When she reached the intersection, however, her mind panicked as she forgot which direction she had previously come from.
After a few seconds of confusion, Nastasia made a right, continuing passed the shrubbery until she alarmingly found herself at the entrance. "Duh," she grumbled, instead electing to follow down the other path in hopes that it would be more promising.
"You're kidding!" Upon rounding the corner, Nastasia found herself facing nothing but green hedge. Irksomely, she made a U-turn and guided herself past the entrance once again to the only intersection she had encountered. This time, continued forward.
Nastasia: My biggest frustration was that I was completely engulfed by the hedges. In some places, it had overgrown so thickly that I had to duck just so I wouldn't be decapitated. And in others, it was impossible to distinguish whether you had reached a dead end because the produced optical illusion might conceal a turn at the end.
The secretary grew vehemently frustrated as she reached what appeared to be yet another impasse. She brushed an overgrown flower vine out of her hair as she checked to ensure that there was truly nothing at the back side. To her astonishment, she noticed a shining red warp pipe out of her left eye.
"Ug, am I supposed to use this?" she complained, talking to no one in particular. Since it was the first one she had come across, she decided to see where it led to.
"Seriously?" On the other side of the pipe, Nastasia discovered that she was still within the labyrinth. "How in the world am I supposed to figure out where I am NOW?" She proceeded to follow the path in front of the path, discovering it led to an intersection. Heading left, she strolled down the path...to realize that she had found her way back to the entrance
"Bloody..." Nastasia began to mutter beneath her breath. "Yeah, thanks for nothing!" Forced to retrace her steps once again, she turned around, choosing to run for the first time.
"Left's a dead end...right's a pipe...forward had an intersection and another pipe?" She ran forward, hopelessly deciding to go wherever the paths would take her. She quickly rounded another corner, hoping it would lead to something unfamiliar. Fortunately for her, it was another intersection.
"Oh!" Nastasia cried out. With her focus on the route ahead of her, she had failed to notice an overgrown root. Her foot had, however, tripping the secretary in the process. Fuming, Nastasia brushed off her shoulders and felt around with her hand to help stand back up. To her alarm, something important to her specifically was not within reach.
"My glasses!"
And so, the Commencing Countdown mission draws near conclusion. Just how much will the group earn? Find out in January 2015!
KIDDING. Hopefully. :O I'll try my hardest to update this as often as possible, but school has been crazy busy. And it's still summer, lol. Basically, AP course work in August has found a way to dissipate Fanfiction writer's block...and give it to the work that actually needs to get done. Oh well, who needs college credit?
Don't forget to leave a review! :)
