And so we begin the first challenge today, after a bit of time passing since we last visited StarStream city. What will go down today, and will anybody be leaving? It is time that we found out. And hopefully find out about all the new faces that have shown up to be a part of this show, hosts and contestants alike. Let us see what happens in the challenge today.
Once all the contestants had met in the square, there stood Travis and Elizabeth, leaning on a nearby podium. They had remained at the same location as they were at the announcement, indicating that they had been in the square all along. Travis nodded and faced everybody who had gathered.
"Welcome everybody, to your first challenge on StarStream City." She greeted, her tone a mix of casual and professional. "I hope you got to take some time to know your peers, though not attached enough to where you are unable to compete against them."
"I can't imagine anybody here is that close yet." Margaret commented, glancing at everybody to confirm what she was saying,
"I think a few people already have made some enemies with each other as well," Garth agreed, his attention fixated on Tracy, who was once again leaning on Joseph, much to the ape's protest,
"Please, stop doing this." He pleaded, frowning,
"You're gonna have to make me stop Joey!" She replied, chuckling at his annoyance, after which Travis cleared his throat to get everybody's attention,
"Right, so nobody is besties, and there's some bad blood brewing. Sounds about right," He nodded, "Well, getting to know the others here might prove valuable, such as in today's challenge."
"What exactly is our challenge anyhow? I can't really see anything that would point to it." Clara questioned, looking around, as Will began to speak up,
"What I want to know is what's with this ring of podiums. Almost looks like something used for a ritual or whatever." He commented, eliciting a chuckle from a nearby Sydney,
"Now would that not be a spectacle? Rituals to cast forth true hatred onto the souls of the innocent, until they too are cast into damnation." He muttered, earning a look from the Tauros,
"You are really weird, dude." He pointed out, which was met with nothing but another chuckle.
"Regarding the podiums, take a closer look at them," Elizabeth responded, to which Will complied,
"Oh, it has my name on it. Is that what you mean?" He asked, earning a nod,
"Correct, now everybody find the podium with your name on it and we can begin." After she finished that the contestants squirmed and shoved around until they located where they were seated, in a pattern which Alexandria took note of,
"You sure enjoy doing things in alphabetical order," she commented, which was met with a shrug from Travis,
"It's easier to remember." He responded, looking to see everyone was in their proper location, "Alright now, things can finally get going."
"What are we gonna do? Is some kind of debate going on? Or a word game?" Macy questioned, looking around from her spot between Margaret and the Triplets.
"The second part is sort of right," Travis nodded, "Well, most of you are teens or older, so I'm sure you're familiar with a game known as 2 Truths and a Lie?"
"Oh yeah, I've played that!" Macy replied, smiling,
"Yeah, I think I've overheard a game or two," Joseph said, scratching his head,
"Oh my gosh I am like sooooooo good at that game when I play with Lana and Linda!" Lisa exclaimed, clearly excited,
"Yeah me too! I like always know both of your lies when we play!" Lana responded, just as jovial as her sister,
"Me too! We know each other like sooo well!" Linda smiled, causing the girls to squeal and giggle,
"Can't imagine why," Garth commented, eliciting a chuckle from a nearby Krieg,
"It is respectable to a degree, having a bond that close. Can't say I know what that's like," He noted, grinning at the triplets, who were on his right,
"Y-yeah, me neither…" Yang stuttered, before shaking her head and attempting to sound more confident, "Cuz I, uh, don't have time for friends or games when I got competitions to win! Like this one!"
"Hell yeah sister, that's the spirit!" Tracy complimented, clearly oblivious to her act,
"Ah, the masquerade of brutes, worn only by those who don't possess said traits. A term some in the psychological field refer to as the Paper Tiger act. Adorable really." Dr. Sleep chuckled, to which Yang was not sure how to respond,
"Uh, thanks?" She stammered out, after which Morgan sighed out, annoyed,
"Enough time wasting. What does that child's game have to do with our challenge. I'd rather not subject myself to trivial icebreakers with people I have no interest of making friends with." He complained, earning glances from some contestants,
"What I think he means to say is that is this game our challenge?" Winston asked in a much more polite tone,
"Thank you Winston, as for the answer, it's both a yes and a no." Elizabeth responded, folding her arms, "Functionally, the challenge is very similar, but also the reverse of the normal game. Rather than giving out two truthful things and one lie, it's instead two lies and one truth. Which one is the truth is up to the others to find out."
"Couldn't somebody just like, make up something about themselves to say, and have everything be a lie? Not that I would but I dunno about the others." Will questioned, which Travis returned with a nod,
"Don't worry, none of you are asking the questions, after all." He replied, earning a few confused looks from this,
"What does that mean?" Nora spoke up, "Surely if we were talking about ourselves we would need to be the ones talking about ourselves."
"Well, it's pretty simple. We looked into your profiles and found information about you we could use for this, and asked around with people who would know you. That way we know a lot of things to ask in case this drags on." Was the answer, which surprised some,
"Wait, you looked into our histories?" Margaret asked, not as shocked as the others "Isn't this gonna go against some sort of privacy standards of someone? Reveal something they don't exactly want known to everyone else, let alone on TV."
"Y-yeah, I have some things I'd rather not talk about really, if that's okay." Yang affirmed, which was met with agreements from quite a few others,
"What we have here is all stuff we believe you won't be too upset over having revealed. Nothing extremely personal or dark. It's stuff that you would likely talk about if it came up in conversation." This quelled some fears, but there we others who remained skeptical.
"Alright so we don't have to worry about embarrassing shit. Cool." Tracy spoke, seemingly not as concerned as others, "But like, how do I win? That's what I care about."
"You earn points for correct answers. Five is what you need to win." Elizabeth answered, "Deciphering which is the truthful answer will earn you a point, and so will guessing who that truth belongs to. Alternatively if nobody figures out who that truth belongs to after three guesses, the person involved gets a point, and another if people incorrectly answer with both lies before hand." With that explanation, people nodded, it seemed simple enough.
"In theory, could somebody win this challenge from nobody guessing any of their truths and that they are the ones it points to?" Was the next question, this one from Alexandria.
"We don't expect that to happen, but we have five questions for each of you just in case it comes down to that. Which reminds me," Travis started, before pointing at a certain Hypno, "Before we move on, I have to tell you all that Dr. Sleep is barred from competing in this challenge."
"Huh? Why?" Joseph asked, confused by this now, as were others. Dr. Sleep, for his part, was smiling with his arms folded.
"To put it simply. We looked high and low for stuff about the guy, but like nothing exists. I don't really get it, but it's the honest truth." Travis explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
From his podium, Morgan rolled his eyes at this, "Isn't that indicative of your failure to actually manage this show and the contestants. What a poor showing." He scoffed, and was met with a glare from Elizabeth,
Before she could speak up, however, Alexandria beat her to it, "I do not think this is the case. I looked into Dr. Sleep earlier and I as well found absolutely nothing about him. He himself told me that he prefers to keep himself entirely anonymous." the aforementioned doctor hummed in agreement,
"She is factually correct. Smart and beautiful. Perhaps the reason I recognize you is because you are just the type of woman to be in my dreams." He complimented, causing the Lurantis to shudder
"I… sincerely hope not." She responded
"Anyway," Travis interjected, trying to ease the unrest, "He isn't allowed to compete because we got nothing on the guy. It'd be unfair to let him answer questions about the others if they couldn't do the same to him. That said he is still an option to be voted tonight. The only one who can't be voted for is whoever wins."
"I am welcome to stay however, correct?" Dr. Sleep asked, "The information that will be presented here could prove vital to a future appointment."
"I don't see why not," the Sableye shrugged, "And with all that out of the way, I think it's high time we begin. If you think you know the answer to anything, just hit the button in front of you."
"Easier said than done." Garth muttered under his breath
"Lack of limbs has been a consistent problem in my life, such is the case with all of my species." Garth commented, looking a bit annoyed, "We can make due, but it takes a lot of energy that frankly I'd rather expend on something else."
"Now then, for the first question," Elizabeth began, holding in front of her a note card, "Your three options are: 'Was once addicted to drugs', 'Creator of a minorly successful comic' or 'Enjoys a job as a barista' feel free to discuss among yourselves and determine an answer. Remember that you can't answer if it applies to you."
"Am I allowed to partake in the discussion?" Dr. Sleep spoke up,
"I guess?"
"Well, in that regard, I've worked with a few drug addicts here and there, I can't say for certain any of you possess attributes I would look out for." he commented, looking around at everyone,
"And what would those be?" Winston replied, curious,
"That would take too long to list. Just take my word for it." Was the only response,
"Something tells me he doesn't actually know." Margaret scoffed, "Assuming he is right though, what of those would be the correct answer? I've seen nothing to suggest a comic creator among you all."
"Well, a barista is a pretty common job I think," Nora pointed out, "I wouldn't be surprised to know somebody here has that,"
"Well that doesn't answer the who," Will responded, "Sure it might point us in a direction, but not a full one."
Further discussion was cut off by a buzzing sound. Everyone looked around for a source to the sound, and noticed a red light emitting from the button stationed at Krieg's podium.
"Am I allowed to answer both the truth and the person behind it?" He asked first, earning a nod from the hosts,
"You are, doing both correctly would earn you two points even."
"In that case, I would say that the truth is owner of a comic, and the person behind it is Morgan of course." He stated, and the light on his podium turned from red to a flashing green.
"Both of those are right, 2 points for you. Nice." Travis complimented, pointing a pair of finger guns at the Garchomp, and then writing in a notepad he was holding, "Krieg takes the lead at the start with two points. Still anyone's game though, of course,"
"You own a comic?" Nora asked, turning to her fellow contestant, who had his arms folded,
"I do, not complete or well known yet, but with time it will get there." He responded, surprisingly less hostile upon the subject being brought up,
"I don't suppose we could read it some time?" Clara asked, intrigued
"I doubt the likes of you would get the concepts at work, but I suppose." was the response, causing the feline to sigh in response,
"There it is," Joseph commented under his breath, before turning to Krieg, "You answered that pretty quick, sure of yourself too. What made you so confident?"
"I've happened to get to know Morgan here slightly. I find him quite interesting." Krieg responded, nodding to his companion, who merely looked away,
"Well, uh, if you can make friends with someone like that more power to you." the ape shrugged, which got a chuckle in return
"Trust me, I've made friends with worse crowds. Far worse."
"I suppose that's the main reason I bothered with this whole show," Morgan explained, "I want more exposure to my work, nothing more. Aside from money obviously. If I get those I don't really care about what happens."
"I detect the presence of past sin within Krieg's words." Sydney claimed, a grim smile on his face, "I shall remember that. He too will not be safe from pandemonium.
Before further discussion could commence, Elizabeth cleared her throat.
"Next question," Elizabeth continued, flipping to a new notecard, "For most of their life, lived in a small woodland village, dreams to be a star in heavy metal, has no sense of direction"
There was silence among the contestants as they stopped to think, the first one to speak up happened to be Joseph, "Well, I guess nothing sounds too far fetched. If I had to make a guess though, none of you seem like the heavy metal type to me."
"You barely know us," Garth pointed out,
"I could totally nail a heavy metal song" Tracy grinned
"I guess the direction one seems a bit unlikely, we all made it to where we needed to be pretty safe." Yang shrugged,
"The majority of you traveled in pairs or groups when we weren't all together. The fact nobody got lost here so far is irrelevant." Morgan drawled, causing Yang to shrink away at his condescending look,
"Well, what about the village question?" Alexandria spoke up, "We have not discussed it yet, and in my eyes it would seem like the most likely of truths."
"You bring up a good point," Winston hummed, looking over everyone, "I'd be confident in saying that is the truth, and I feel as if there are quite a few people it could apply to."
"Like, oh my gosh, I could NEVER live somewhere like that" Lisa commented, earning a nod from her sisters,
"There's like, not even a mall in those types of places," Lana pointed out in response, causing a retching noise to emit from Linda,
"Yeah, uh, totes lame," the third sister complained, as the others looked on,
"Well that rules out one person," Margaret remarked, before another light went off, this one belonging to that of Will,
"So, uh, I wanna say that the whole village thing is the truth?" He started, "I don't really have a clue as to who it would apply to though."
The podium lit up, signifying that he was correct, causing him to grin slightly.
"Good choice, Will, but now the question is; who lives there?" Travis pushed onward, causing more speculation
"Were this about my wife, I think I could answer this easily," Winston chuckled, looking out among the other contestants.
"I'm certain it can't be Krieg, something about him screams not a village person…" Joseph muttered,
"Clara, it's not you, right?" Yang spoke up, "B-because you're like from a fancy city or something right?"
"Not sure why you singled me out, but no, it's not me." Clara replied. From his podium, Dr. Sleep hummed,
"I can assure you it's not me. A place like that would be terrible for business." He assured,
"Nobody asked you, you aren't even playing." Tracy spoke up, rolling her eyes, "Well shit, I dunno, who cares about that kinda stuff?"
Another flash of color came from a podium, this one belonging to Nora, "I want to say Macy is the one, I think that came up when we talked on the way here." She spoke up, and her podium flashed which indicated another correct answer.
"Correctamundo Nora, good stuff." Travis nodded, scribbling more in his notebook, "So that's a point for Will and a point for Nora, putting them on the map, but Krieg still has the lead."
"You really remembered that?" Macy asked, smiling at her nearby friend,
"It's in my nature to try and remember any new info I get, that and I want to be a good friend." she responded, smiling back.
"Question three," Elizabeth started, "This person once stole the ring to a wedding, they got kicked out of their family, or they are a frequent visitor to the therapist."
"Oh?" Dr. Sleep spoke up, intrigued, "I can't say the last one sounds very true. I haven't seen any of you in the past."
"You aren't the only therapist genius. Are you even a therapist?" Margaret jabbed, annoyed by the Hypno,
"I am whatever I please, doll." he chuckled, earning a look of disgust from the ghost,
"That comment aside, who in their right mind steals a wedding ring?" Margaret questioned
"Well, I wouldn't but they are beautiful. And valuable." Clara sheepishly admitted, chuckling.
"I have no use for a wedding ring. Not just because of no hands I just don't want to be married." Garth commented.
"Speaking of marriages, Winston, you're married aren't you? It's not you right?" Macy questioned, looking over to the tree,
"Oh no, it's not me. Our rings were gotten from 4 years of payment from work." He explained, which made enough sense to the Shinx.
"What about the family one? I don't know enough about most of you, but that seems like something that could happen." Yang spoke up, looking around.
"I left on my own terms, I'm not sure that counts though," Margaret replied, "I assume a lot of the older contestants moved out on their own."
"Probably." Tracy said, a bit annoyed, "Look it's getting annoying having to have a huge talk for each question, I'm just gonna go with my gut." And with that she slammed down on the button at her podium, "The answers are therapist and Sydney!"
Her light briefly flashed the right colors, but then a different color, confusing her. "What the hell does this mean?" She asked, looking at the hosts,
"You got the truth right, but not who it was for." Elizabeth responded, "Sydney has no known therapist. Try again."
"I need no therapist. One cannot understand my ideals and intentions through mere words. Soon though, I will make you all understand." the Absol spoke up, smiling wide,
"Yeah, good luck with that." Joseph said uncomfortably, "Well, uh, if what I've overheard is true, Krieg is in jail right? Do prisoners get therapists?"
"I had one for a short time. That was years ago though, I'm guessing this is for somebody still visiting." The Garchomp responded. Then another light flashed, and the group looked over to Garth, who had made the shape of a fist with his sand,
"The answer is Will." He groaned, "I would've answered sooner but this takes more energy than it's worth." Regardless of his complaints, his light flashed in the colors signifying he was in fact correct.
"Oh, that makes sense," Joseph said, "You did say something about wanting to control your temper."
"Yeah. Though whether I'm succeeding is up for debate." the Tauros sighed, before turning to Garth, "How did you know about that anyway?"
"I was on the boat with you. You were talking to yourself like a self help video before I spoke up and you went crazy." Garth responded, seemingly unphased by being forgotten.
Will's eyes widened, forgetting about the Sandygast's presence at that time, as well as realizing that he was seen at that time and now everybody knows. This caused him to get an embarrassed blush under his fur.
What he didn't realize though, was the glare he was getting from a nearby doctor.
"I'm unaware of who this therapist is, but who would need them? My services are the ones that would truly help him to a better life." Dr. Sleep seethed, before calming down, and obtaining a wine glass from seemingly nowhere,
"There's no problem I cannot fix." He said to himself, twirling the wine within the glass.
"Good on you Garth, that puts you on the board." Travis nodded, writing in his notebook once more. "Krieg still holds he lead, will he be overtaken, who knows?"
"This next question could help answer that," Elizabeth responded, "This individual is a die hard fan of Sinnoh Pop, suffers frequent issues regarding their gender status, or has once dated two people at once."
"Sinnoh Pop? What lame tastes." Lana gagged, her sisters joining in.
"Well, at least it's not Unovan." Joseph chuckled in response,
"What is wrong with Unovan Pop?" Alexandria questioned, confused at the response. This caused Joseph to awkwardly rub his head.
"Well, y'know…" Was all that he said before the conversation was over due to a sudden press of a button.
This time it was Morgan who pressed it, "Gender issues and Yang." Sure enough, his light flashed both times to signify two correct answers.
"Not bad at all Morgan, that's two points for you, making you tied with Krieg." Travis stated, jotting this down,
"That was fast. We didn't even go over the dating thing" Macy commented, a bit surprised,
"It was blatantly obvious from the minute she stepped onto the island. Perhaps you all need a vision check if you didn't see it." the Mienshao scoffed, leaning on his podium, "Now move on."
While some gave him looks, others were focused on Yang herself, who had her face buried in her paws.
"I was going to guess him," Margaret admitted, "Not because of the slap incident, no, but because it must be an issue being a massive dick and nothing else."
"Did they HAVE to bring that up?" Yang whined, a massive blush on her face, "My mom's gonna be all over me about that when I get home…"
"Moving on, then" Elizabeth stated, weary of Morgan's attitude, "This contestant is either an avid gamer, an orphan, or a distant relative of somebody else in the game."
"I feel as if we can rule out the last one" Alexandria started, "I'm sure something like that would have been mentioned if it was true."
"Maybe not if they are very distant. I'd put doubt on it, but it is something to think about" Winston replied, putting a hand to his chin.
"It would explain why everyone finds you so familiar." Krieg joked, much to Alexandria's chagrin
"Oh em gee that is a GREAT idea!" Lana exclaimed, hastily pushing on her button
"The truth is distant relative!" Linda called out
"And it's Alexandria!" Lisa spoke afterwards
Both lights that flashed showed that of a wrong answer, causing disappointment from the triplets, except Lana, who turned to Krieg,
"I can't believe you would lie to us. So uncool." She chided, causing the Garchomp to chuckle.
"Who ever said I was cool?" He asked, shrugging it off.
"That was an effective waste of time." Morgan commented, "The gaming thing seems a bit too common to be something that should be revealed in this type of challenge. I'm putting my doubts on that."
"If that's the case though who is willing to admit they're an orphan?" Will asked, "That seems like it'd be a pretty sensitive topic to me."
"They could've just accepted it." Garth pointed out, "Sure it's usually a touchy subject but I'm sure that after all those years they moved on."
"Is it you then?" Tracy asked, looking at him, "Even I don't think I'd care so little."
"If it was me I wouldn't speak up." was the reply.
"Whatever then, I'm just gonna go with my gut again," Tracy then slammed on her button, "Gamer and Joseph, he seems like the type of loser to do only that."
"Hey!"
Like with the triplets, Tracy earned two wrong lights, which could only mean one thing.
"So it was the orphan part, huh," Nora said, then briefly looked around, "Huh, no lights are flashing for a self point though."
"Yeah we thought about that," Travis interjected, "We thought it'd be unfair if you could just guess right after that, so that's a no go."
"Damn, that would've been an easy win." Tracy complained,
"In any case, who would the question apply to?" Yang questioned looking around before suddenly pressing her button, "Is it Winston? Not to be rude but with his age I'd figure his parents aren't around."
Her light flashed wrong, shocking the Arcanine, "They aren't then?" she asked
"Technically they are, but it feels strange to consider somebody his age an orphan in terms of the normal definition. Know what I mean?" Travis explained, to which Yang shrugged at.
"Two guesses left then," Joseph muttered before pressing his own button, "Umm Garth?"
Yet another flash of wrongness.
"And then there was one just like that." Margaret noted, she then looked over at Krieg, "I don't suppose you know the status of your parents."
"I haven't seen them since I was a toddler." Krieg admitted. "They aren't dead, but I didn't have them around."
"Couldn't that kicked out question apply to you then even if it was false?" Will asked, to which the Garchomp shook his head,
"It was a mutual agreement, that's just how Garchomps raise their young." Was what he said, shrugging it off.
"So he's out then," Macy noted, and she looked around at everybody "I have no clue then."
Another press of the button, this one from Clara, "I'm honestly saying you Macy, you mentioned your grandpa a lot, which leads me to believe you are raised by them."
And then a third flash of wrong over Clara.
"N-no, they're around." Macy replied, a bit unsure of herself.
"Well then who the hell is it?" Tracy asked, impatient.
Then they saw two correct answers, they belonged to that of Sydney, who had a small smile on his face.
"You're an orphan huh? Not sure I expected that." Will admitted, to which Sydney gave a low laugh at,
"They were but temporary servants. I need no family to dictate how I bring myself into this universe." He claimed, which at this point the Tauros just stayed silent.
Macy was in the confessional, looking slightly uncomfortable, "I uh, don't like to talk about my parents much." She admitted, before quietly leaving.
"Is that why he acts so weird?" Will questioned, confused about Sydney, "I don't know if I will ever understand a guy like him."
"They were unfit to be at my side." Sydney remarked, unphased by it being brought up, "More importantly was little Macy's reaction to being guessed. I will need to remember that. The flames can yet be cast."
"Onto the next one. This contestant either got dumped in the middle of prom, never wants children, or was bullied for never being in a relationship." Elizabeth started, earning a whistle from Joseph,
"Really coming for somebody's love life here." He chuckled, before thinking to himself, "Hey uh, Winston, do you have any kids?"
"Six of them," The Abomasnow answered, to the surprise of Joseph,
"Six!?" He exclaimed, causing Winston to chuckle,
"We tried for seven, but it never came." He shrugged, enjoying the expressions on others faces.
"Y-you gotta be kidding me. Six, almost seven!?" Needless to say Joseph was flabbergasted.
"That was a mental image I didn't need." Garth remarked, a slightly unnerved look on his face.
"Are people really shallow enough to bully somebody for such a stupid reason?" Garth questioned, before being interrupted by the triplets,
"Pfft, having no boyfriend at our age is soooo lame!" Linda giggled, accompanied by her sisters, as if they did not even hear the comment just made.
"Yeah you must be totes uggo if you can't get a boyfriend by now." Lisa cackled in turn
"What a loser!" Lana commented, joining her sisters in amusement. All the while, Morgan turned to Garth,
"I suppose that answers your question." He said, receiving a nod from the Sandygast.
"I can't imagine who would dump somebody in the middle of prom either," Garth then mentioned, "Though that might be because I never went."
"You didn't go to prom?" Clara asked confused, "Why would you not?"
"I didn't care enough about the people there." was the answer and that was that.
"This is none of my business but I dumped somebody at prom, not the other way around." Dr. Sleep brought up, making confused faces turn to him,
"Why?" Yang asked first, eliciting a chuckle from the Hypno,
"She was visiting a dermatologist and never told me. I could've helped with her skin problems easily." He explained, which just made everyone more confused.
Alexandria hit her button, "Ignoring him I would like to guess that the truth is not wanting children. I hear that is rather common these days." Sure enough her light flashed in a way that pointed to her being correct.
"And you're correct." Travis nodded, "But who is that person who doesn't want them."
Another hit of the button quickly after that, "I'm saying Margaret," Garth said, seeming confident, "Based on our meetings yesterday I just get that vibe from her." And with that his light too flashed correct.
"Well that's four people with two points now, things are going smoothly." Travis started, nodding his head and writing.
"You got that from our meeting?" Margaret questioned, which caused the Sandygast to shrug the best he could,
"I just have good intuition about that kind of stuff." He said, which sufficed for the Misdreavus.
"I guess in case anyone was gonna ask, I don't want kids because they're gross, annoying and ugly. I'd rather focus on a career." Margaret explained
"As for the next question," Elizabeth read, looking deeply at the notecard, "This contestant is either an aspiring politician, a murderer, or an adult actor or actress."
The options got a round of confused looks from the contestants, "What kinda options are those?" Clara frowned, "The first one I can maybe get but why would you even have the other two?"
"I admit I'm not sure I would come clean about those, but at the same time who here would be a politician?" Winston queried, just as uneasy as her.
"Perhaps adult films is where I know you from my dear Alexandria?" Dr. Sleep joked, before putting his hands up upon seeing her vicious glare and blush, "I'm merely toying with you, of course."
"I dunno if I agree about not coming out as an adult actor to be honest," Joseph shrugged, "That's probably some serious cash money and fame."
"At the cost of your dignity, maybe." Margaret replied, "I don't really want to know other people make a living off of that kind of thing."
"What exactly does an adult actor mean?" Macy spoke up, looking around at everyone. Upon saying this, a majority of contestants got a concerned look on their face.
"It's best if you don't know the finer details sweetie." Clara said, putting a paw to her lips which only further confused the Shinx.
"Why not? What's so bad about it?" She pried, which only made the situation worse off.
"Really it isn't something you should be knowing about at your age." Winston said, trying to dodge the topic.
"I hate to say you should wait til you're older, but you really should do just that." Will murmured, looking around at everyone, before Tracy spoke up,
"Why can't she know now? She's just gonna learn one day, why not speed that up?" She spoke, rolling her eyes at the matter, "This whole conversation is just a waste of time."
"I agree," Was the interjection Morgan brought in, "Not only is the matter something that will likely come up in the near future anyway, describing it is beyond irrelevant to this game. If anything it makes it easier on us knowing she probably isn't the one to be the pick."
"I can't say I know too much about what kids discuss these days, but if it's anything like what was discussed where I grew up I'm surprised she doesn't know." Krieg admitted, a bit amused by the whole thing.
"So, can I know or…" Macy started, before being cut off by a flurry of shouts, of "NO!" which even Travis joined in on.
The aforementioned Sableye then turned to his fellow host and muttered, "Maybe including that one was a mistake eh?" before she gave him the side eye
"You were the one who included it in the first place." She retorted, which caused him to sheepishly chuckle.
"I… thought it'd be funny?" He excused himself, which only led to Elizabeth sighing.
"Nevermind. Everyone, to stop this discussion before it takes a turn for the worst, I'll give you a hand and say that's not the truth. Move on. Please." She urged, which was complied with.
"So, either a politician or a murderer." Joseph thought aloud, before chuckling to himself, "Hard to say which one is worse, am I right?"
"I would prefer we not get into political opinions, even if that is the answer." Alexandria replied, still a bit uncomfortable from the earlier conversation.
"You'd be amazed that the two overlap somewhat often." Dr. Sleep interrupted, "Truthfully dealing with patients like that is quite intriguing."
"You are probably the only person who would find that intriguing." Garth drawled, giving the doctor a look.
"Well, who can we rule out for this whole ordeal?" Will asked, looking around, "Right off the bat I doubt that it's the triplets we have to worry about."
"You are so right Wally." Lana agreed, nodding at the Tauros,
"I would NEVER kill someone, never." Lisa stated, seeming dead serious.
"I think I like fell asleep during the classes about politics." Linda admitted, getting a giggle out of the other two heads.
"You SO did. It was hilarious and kinda cute." Lisa beamed, causing her sister to brighten up,
"Aww really? You are so sweet Lisa!" Linda cheered, the three all cooed and squealed to themselves as everyone else carried on.
"If they keep this up the murderer part might just apply to me." Margaret groaned, glaring at the Dodrio.
"Wally…?" Will pondered, giving them a confused look,
"Ignoring them, what are some other easy options to take off?" Nora spoke up, looking around at everyone, before Yang decided to speak,
"Well, I really think that-"
The Arcanine was interrupted by the press of a button, and everyone turned to the direction of Morgan, who was using his free hand to clutch his head,
"Enough of this nonsense. Murder is the truth, Krieg is the contestant." He growled, annoyed by everybody else,
"How can you be so sure of-" Before Tracy could continue, she was cut off by the fact that the light flashed the correct color. Both times in fact. And for a while there was a stunned silence among the contestants. Joseph was the first to speak up, turning to the Garchomp beside him.
"Krieg are you… really a murderer." He softly said, and on Krieg's face was not his normal grin, but a rather neutral look, and his arms were folded.
"That is the truth, yes." The land shark admitted, which caused a few gasps among everybody,
"No way…" Tracy spoke under her breath, joining everybody but Krieg and Morgan in the crowd of shocked contestants,
"We are in this game with a killer?" Nora said to nobody in particular, shaking slightly at the fact, and then there were a trio of screams, all of which came from the triplets.
"There's a killer next to us!? I don't wanna die!" Lana screamed, terrified at the prospect
"Y'know I'm with her for once, I don't think I feel right about that." Will admitted, looking unsure of the situation.
"I get your reactions, really I do." Krieg spoke up, seeming to be rather calmer than one may expect, "I can't change what you all think about this, but yes, I am a murderer. That's why I've been in prison."
"C-can we really be in a game with somebody like him?" Macy asked wide eyed to the hosts, who were attempting to take control,
"If you would let me explain-" Elizabeth started, before being cut off.
"I don't really feel safe about all of this." Clara admitted, giving a nervous look directed at Krieg,
"Well you will once I can tell you-" the Mawile tried again, yet again failing
"Screw this, I don't wanna be anywhere near a-"
"QUIET EVERYONE!" everybody, even those less phased were frozen in place by the voice that erupted from the host. They all turned to her, as she had an even more serious look upon her face.
"Yes, it is true that Krieg has killed in the past. Yes he is in prison for that and has served over 10 years due to it. He is under very close watch by both us and his prison, he was only allowed to join due to his very good behavior in prison, it was his warden's idea. Under no circumstances will I allow anything to happen to you during this game because of him, nor will I tolerate any sort of this behavior simply because of that." She explained, which nobody responded to. "Now, moving on, as mentioned Morgan was correct, and he now has a total of four points, placing him in the lead. On to the next question."
Even still, the majority of contestants looked at each other, uncomfortable about everything.
"I had a feeling it would come up, and once I heard the murder option I was certain," Morgan explained, seeming a bit less unnerved than the others, "I have no idea what happened, and it isn't my place to act out because of it. I will ask him about everything in time."
Clara looked around, still a bit uncomfortable, "That was… something. I don't really know how to feel about him right now. Especially with him acting so casual. I really don't know."
"The chaos that ensued was truly magnificent." Sydney chuckled, amused more than afraid, "I've learned something truly noteworthy today. He will be a fantastic vessel."
"To think he was like that all this time." Tracy stated, even she was feeling the shock of it all, before shaking it off, "Well, at least now I won't feel as bad when I have to kick his ass."
Lastly was Krieg himself, who wore a surprisingly somber look, "I have nothing to say in my defense. It happened and that's all I can really say right now. I don't expect people to want to be around me or talk to me, or even trust me. All I can say is that I hope I can gain all that."
"This next contestant did one of these actions as a child: was a member of the scouts, was a beauty pageant contestant, or was a martial artist." thankfully for the contestants this question seemed as if it would be far less chaotic than the last one,
"Well an obvious choice would be Morgan and martial arts," Joseph thought aloud, earning a scoff from the minx,
"Not all fighting types practice martial arts you cretin." Was what he said, earning a glare from Joseph,
"Fine, what about a beauty pageant contestant? You sure as hell are a drama queen." he retorted, causing Morgan to roll his eyes,
"Don't kid yourself. I'm no drama queen, I just don't enjoy tolerating those beneath me."
"Don't know how you see anyone beneath you with your head so far up your ass."
"Waste your time with somebody on your level, troglodyte."
"Will you both shut up?" Margaret growled, "Somehow you're more annoying than the Dodrio." Which was met with a glare from the triplets,
"We are NOT annoying uggo!" Lisa called out, which was met with no response other than an eye roll.
Alexandria hit the button on her podium, interrupting the conversations, "At the risk of sounding as if I am making assumptions, I would like to guess it is in fact the martial arts truth. Many Pokemon are taught to fight as is." her light flashed with the correct answer lights, pleasing her.
"That's step one down," Travis noted, before seeing another light go off, "And here comes step two."
"So I wanna say Tracy?" Will spoke up, staring down at his button, "She just seems like the type of person that would go into it for the competition aspect." His light too flashed with the lights of being correct, and was only met with a grin from Tracy,
"Hell yeah I am, was the best one there too!" She bragged as Travis wrote down more scores.
"Now for the next question," Elizabeth spoke out, "This contestant is either from a rich family, a proud single parent, or a former medical professional."
Instantly the button was hit by Macy, "Rich and Clara are the answers!" She shouted excitedly, and grew even more excited when she saw double correct flashings.
"You're rich? Why are you in this competition then?" Garth questioned the feline. Were he able to raise an eyebrow he would've done so.
"I wanted to show my parents that I don't need to be taken care of anymore." She explained, which only raised more confusion.
"Aaaaand instead of college, a job, or even just moving out you chose this?" the Sandygast pressed on, which was strange to Clara,
"What's wrong with that?"
"Seems like a poor way of doing things, but what do I know?"
"I really don't see an issue." Clara said, looking at her paws rather boredly, "Is wanting to prove my independence a bad thing?"
"Honestly I would've said former medical professional and Dr. Sleep if he were competing." Will admitted,
"I-is he even a medical professional?" Yang asked, looking at the Hypno,
"I'll have you know I am a current licensed professional. I do not have my license with me of course, but I certainly have one."
"Right," Margaret drawled, cocking an eyebrow.
"So our next contestant," Began Elizabeth, "They either live with a single parent, live with a same sex partner, or live with nobody but a roommate they hate."
"That last one is a mood." Margaret admitted, smirking slightly,
A button was hit, this one by none other than Winston, "I would say it's the first option. I know something like that is very common."
Evidently, he was met with the correct flashes, which only lead to the question of who it was.
"We've established it isn't Macy or Sydney," Will listed, tapping his podium softly, "Winston is too old, Clara mentioned parents plural so I don't think it's her, and Krieg, is, uh, in prison and all. And a lot of us seem as if they live on their own."
Another button was pressed, this being Tracy's "Yo Yang, I'm betting it's you!" Her light flashed with an incorrect light however, leading her to shout "Damn it!"
Another light was quickly pressed, this time it was Morgan, "I am guessing Joseph. I'm willing to believe somebody hated him so much they left a long time ago."
"Hey you watch your mouth you piece of-" Before Joseph could continue, the lights of being correct flashed.
"Well, I guess that settles it," Travis noted, whistling to himself, "The winner of the first challenge is Morgan. Congrats dude, you can't be voted for this time around."
"Naturally." He responded, turning his back to leave. "I no longer wish to speak with you all. I will see you all at the vote." as he walked away, several contestants looked at each other, some more annoyed than others,
"Would it kill him to be at least a little humble?" Clara whispered to Will, who shrugged,
"Well, I'm sure he woulda been easy pickings if he hadn't won tonight." he replied, as Elizabeth cleared her throat.
"And with that, let us move to the mess hall, I'm sure you all are starving. After that we can conduct the voting." She took her leave as well, with the remaining contestants following.
Eventually, everybody was inside the mess hall, with JJ working on fixing everybody a meal. True to his job, everybody was receiving sandwiches topped with various meats cheeses and vegetables.
"Hey, isn't that…?" Travis spoke up upon seeing it, which caused the Turtonator to grin,
"Jill's Stars Sandwich? You bet your ass it is, Purp." He remarked, passing one to Tracy, "I'm a king at making these things by now. Sure as hell beats instant noodles." With the teasing remark Travis looked away,
"No need to bring that back…" He muttered, before leaning against the wall. He had already eaten prior, so he was mostly there to make sure nothing bad happened between contestants.
Most of the contestants had broken up into small groups or duos to eat their meals, with the exceptions of Sydney and Krieg, who were both seated by themselves.
"This sandwich is pretty damn good I gotta say." Joseph commented, giving a thumbs up to JJ, "If you make em like this all the time I'd definitely give you business."
"Same honestly," Will confirmed, having already finished his, "I dunno what's all in this, but I could probably eat two or three of these if I wanted."
"I may do that myself," Clara admitted, also having finished hers, "I am used to high quality foods, but this was a very pleasant surprise."
"Definitely." Alexandria agreed, "But sandwiches aside, who do you think will be the one going home tonight?"
"If I'm gonna be honest? Krieg really made a bad impression after what came out today." Joseph shrugged, staring at his table, "Nothing against the guy but I don't think many people want a dude that killed someone around."
"Not trying for Tracy anymore?" Will joked, trying to dance around the awkward situation of Krieg.
"She's definitely somebody I'd wanna avoid, but I feel like I can deal with her anytime. If it were up to me though I'd be kicking out Morgan."
"He's… less than pleasant." Clara agreed, "Why does he always have to respond so negatively to everything?"
"I suppose some people are just like that." Alexandria shrugged.
Meanwhile with a separate table, Nora and Macy were seated on one end, with Margaret and Garth on the other.
"So how's the first day treating you?" Macy asked Nora, who was casually flipping through another book,
"Well I would've liked to win, but I'm sure everybody wanted that." She said, though didn't seem particularly upset, "I can't say anything bad happened to me. And I have a good feeling that I'll stick around."
"I hope so." Macy agreed, smiling, "I hope neither of us leaves."
"At the moment neither of you seem like you painted targets on your back, so that's a good start." Garth noted, "Come to think of it, this challenge really wasn't useful for identifying too many threats aside from the obvious."
"I take it that's who you're going for?" Margaret questioned him,
"I'm not sure yet. I'd rather I knew a good consensus so I'm not wasting my vote."
"Fair enough I guess."
"Hey Margaret, do you have a shelter yet?" Nora spoke up, giving her friend a look, "If you want, I found a nice place with a few rooms you can share with Macy and I."
"I'd prefer to live alone, so no thanks" the ghost answered, which disappointed Nora slightly, however she shrugged it off, "Garth?"
"I'm just gonna call the beach my home. Only makes sense."
Another table involved the odd trio of the triplets, Dr. Sleep, and Yang. Dr. Sleep seemed as if he was thinking, and Yang looked rather triplets were of course talking among themselves,
"So like, when we get home I soooo want to ask Gavin out." Lana admitted, which was met with excitement from the other two heads,
"You should totally do it! You two would be so cute together!" Lisa cheered
"You really think so?"
"Yes girl, you get him. He so wants you." Linda encouraged, which per usual was met with squealing from all three.
"Hmmm, very intriguing indeed." Dr. Sleep muttered, watching the trio. Yang looked at him strangely,
"Uh, what is?" She asked, making the doctor turn to her,
"Tell me, regarding these three what would you classify them as? Three separate individuals, or one being?" to this the Arcanine had no response,
"Ummm, I don't really know? Why do you ask?"
"Simple, I am curious if I would charge them triple for my services, or treat them as one patient. I always need to consider these things."
"I would say one patient? I don't know much about medical stuff but they are one body so they can't really leave each other."
"I suppose that is true, and morally some may see it as wrong to charge triple. However they do possess three brains, and that's what my services largely focus on."
"Oh. Uhhhhh…" Yang really wasn't sure how to respond, as the fields of study were beyond her, and she wasn't sure how or why she was involved in the doctor's questions and research.
Sydney was off by himself, but from the corner of his eye, he noticed another person sit across from him. This was none other than Winston,
"Good evening Sydney, I was thinking you may enjoy some company." The Abomasnow greeted, which Sydney gave him a look for,
"Hm, interesting, a being approaches and wishes to be my companion. I must decline. You know not the infinite wealth of desolation I can bring forth. You are unprepared for such a matter. You hold no interest for me. Please leave my presence now."
Unsure how to respond, the Abomasnow tilted his head, "Do you want to be alone then? I suppose if that's what you want I won't stop you." With that he picked up his tray and left, Sydney watching the entire time,
"What a fool," The Absol muttered as he watched, "He holds none of the darkness of the abyss, at least that I am aware of. Mark my words though, I will destroy you. And everything you hold dear."
Also by himself was Krieg, who had expected this. Seeing as the others largely wished to avoid him, and Morgan was nowhere to be found, it was not hard to imagine why he would be isolated. That is until Tracy pulled up.
"Yo!" She greeted, taking a seat across from Krieg, who looked up,
"So somebody's coming over to me after all then." He commented, a bit amused, "I guess there's something to be said about your bravery."
"You mean the killer thing?" She asked, folding her arms, "Well yeah, I'm surprised, but even something like that ain't gonna stop me. I'll still take you down, and that's just gonna make me feel even better about it!"
"You very well might," Krieg chuckled, "I like your attitude kid. Hopefully we get a physical challenge soon so I can show you what I'm like once I go all out."
"You're on shark skin, I'll make you wish you stayed behind bars!" Tracy bragged, "Y'know for a killer criminal or whatever I think you're one of the cooler people here. Somebody that might actually be worth my time competing against."
"I suppose we'll have to see who makes it to the end then. Survival of the fittest." Krieg commented, his grin fully restored,
"Hell yeah, and nobody's more fit than I am!"
"We shall soon put that to the test."
As Travis leaned against the wall, he noticed JJ approach him, a cocky grin on his face, "So how bout it diamond dork? Still unsure how good of a cook I am?"
"Well, you sure did please everyone." Travis nodded, a bit uncomfortable with JJ being around him, "Good job on that. Sorry I said some things that I shouldn't have."
"Damn right you did." JJ sneered, putting the Sableye in a headlock, "Guess I'm sorry too, but only cuz I'll be fired otherwise. Don't think I won't stop fucking with you little dude." Dropping Travis down, JJ swaggered back to his station, leaving the host to rub his head.
"Attention everybody," a voice com rang out, bearing the voice of Elizabeth, "In five minutes report down to the square again and we will commence voting."
Seeing that everyone was finished, and nobody really had anything left to say, Travis shrugged, and motioned everyone to follow him, "Just come with me everyone, might as well go early right?" Nobody argued, and followed him out the door.
Once the group made it back to the square, they noticed Elizabeth there, as well as Morgan.
"So that's where you were," Will noted, staring at the minx,
"As I said I had no conversations I wished to have with you all. Forcing myself to be with all of you would be a waste of all of our times."
"So why are we back here?" Yang questioned, looking at the host instead of Morgan, "Is this where we're supposed to vote?"
"Yes, but that comes in a bit," She replied, before gesturing to the podiums from earlier, "Everybody move back to where you were seated in the challenge."
"What, are we having a part two?" Joseph asked, finding his spot,
"No, but we are going to introduce a new concept." Was the response,
"New concept?" Alexandria asked.
"Yeah, one we haven't seen any other show do," Travis spoke up, walking over to his fellow host, "Elimination Debates. Not a final title, but I couldn't think of anything catchy."
"What exactly does that entail?" Nora questioned, which the hosts were happy to explain,
"Everybody will talk about what they intend to do for voting, and get to say their piece of who they want to go, people who are common picks can get to defend themselves, and perhaps even a brand new pick will come up and be the prime target." Elizabeth explained,
"Interesting, that sounds like a very real game changer." Garth nodded, intrigued by the concept.
"We will go in reverse alphabetical order of who you all intend to vote for, starting with Dr. Sleep and working down."
"Reverse alphabetical order now? Well it is different." Alexandria noted, curious if it was in response to her mentioning of it earlier.
"Dr. Sleep, if you would please,"
The doctor then cleared his throat, "Right, so who I am voting for. I see no better option frankly…" then he suddenly pointed his finger directly at Will "Than you!"
"W-why me!?" Will stammered, bewildered by the fact that he was the choice,
"I don't tolerate patients who see other doctors. I am perfectly able to perform any therapy that you need." Dr. Sleep seethed, glaring daggers at the Tauros,
"I don't even know you!"
"That is of no matter I can assist you with or without knowing your name address and availability for kidney transplants!"
"Why do you need to know about my kidneys!?"
"You never know!"
As everybody watched the bizarre argument, Yang felt it was her time to speak up, "So, uh, if it's reverse alphabetical then I'm next right?" she got a nod from the hosts, "Let's see… I, uh, vote Garth! Yeah…"
"Oh?" the aforementioned Sandygast looked over at the Arcanine, causing her to recoil
"Because you're, like, not a threat at all! Yeah! You're just gonna get in the way!" Yang tried her best to put on a brave act, though almost everybody could see completely through it, with the exception of,
"Hell yeah! You go girl!" Tracy cheered on Yang, unaware she was completely lying. Garth, however, was unamused.
"I fail to see what makes me in particular a non threat, but whatever." He commented, rolling his eyes at the canine.
"Quite truthfully, I really don't have much of an idea who to vote for," Winston admitted, looking around, "It's not something I found myself thinking about."
"Well I think most of us are voting for Krieg if you wanna bandwagon off that." Joseph replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"I'm not really sure if that's the right idea. I like to believe that he could possibly change."
"Well I'm sure not taking that chance," Will responded, "Even if he did he seems like he's the strongest one here, and I'd rather not have somebody who is gonna crush it at physical challenges. I'm voting Krieg."
"Strongest? I could take him." Tracy grinned.
"We'll see." Krieg returned the challenge with his own grin, which caused Joseph to look at the two,
"Well at least she's off my back." He muttered, but Tracy heard him regardless,
"Hey monkey man, you're lucky I'm not booting you yet! I was gonna but then my girl Yang mentioned Garth so see ya no arms!"
"You can't be serious." Garth groaned, annoyed that of all the reasons to go first, that was it.
"So Sydney is next right?" Macy spoke up, giving the Absol a look,
"My vote matters not. I intend to vote in such a manner that I get what I desire out of this, none of you. The ones who attempt to fan the flames are who I shall sink my maw into." Nobody was sure what to make of what Sydney just said,
"Does anybody have a translator or anything for whatever that was?" Nora asked, truly puzzled, "And I thought I spoke weird."
"Seriously, he talks like he's an edgy fanfiction." Margaret commented.
"I guess with that, I'm going next." Nora continued, "I really think it's for the best that I vote Krieg out. I'm not comfortable having somebody like him around, even if the hosts say they will make sure nothing happens."
Krieg remained silent, knowing he would be fighting a losing battle at these votes and reasons.
"So that means Morgan is next," Alexandria noted, looking at the Mienshao,
"I'd like to reserve my opinions for later." Was all he said.
"Really? You? The guy who is always ready to give his two cents?" Joseph questioned, which was met with an eye roll,
"Stop talking. I have reasons for my want to go last. I know that if I spoke now I would be talked over and nobody would bother to listen."
"You could at least say who your target is." Clara pressed, "You have immunity, what could you really be worried about?"
"If he didn't he'd probably be on the chopping block," Joseph interjected, "Dude's not exactly somebody I want to hang around."
"Comments like that will only prove my point later."
"Whatever you say."
"I guess that means it's my turn if he isn't gonna talk." Margaret started, "Honestly I'm probably in a minority here but I'd rather vote Clara than Krieg."
"Me? Why?" Clara questioned, confused,
"I thought about what was brought up during the challenge. You really have no reason to be here in my eyes. You're already rich and whatever, you're just doing this for a reason that could be done somewhere else." the ghost explained, though it was not enough,
"What's wrong with my reasoning? What's the big issue with wanting to prove that I can live on my own?"
"The fact that you don't need to be here to do that. Let somebody who actually needs the money win."
"What, like an actual murderer?"
"I'm sure he has a better reasoning than you do."
"What's your reason for joining then?"
"I didn't want to be around people in my actual life for a while."
"Oh yeah, that's really a better reason than mine. Yours can be done without being here too you know. It's called moving."
"Which is also an answer to your reason."
"Um, may I talk please?" Macy asked, causing the two girls to look at her, neither pleased, but that not being the Shinx's fault. "Like a lot of others I think I'm going to vote for Krieg. I'm kind of scared of the idea that I could be having to compete with somebody who might try and kill me."
Yet again Krieg remained silent, all the while Morgan rolled his eyes.
"Guess we have an idea of who the popular pick is at least." Will spoke up, "Though I guess it's probably not that surprising."
"Well, yeah, if you're a killer it's probably not a good idea for others to keep you around." Clara responded.
"Now this next vote I'm interested in," Winston spoke up, "I haven't heard anything from the triplets yet."
"So like, can we vote three times?" Linda asked Elizabeth, who merely shook her head no.
"Okay then like, we are voting for Margaret." Lisa spoke, which caused the Misdreavus to cock an eyebrow
"She is totes rude. And a complete uggo." Lana reasoned, causing the other heads to giggle,
"And she probably has no boyfriend!" Lisa jeered in response,
"No friends at all even!" Linda joined in
"She probably doesn't even get to talk with the popular kids."
"I bet she like gets invited to no parties."
"Totally, Gavin would SO not care about her."
"I know right? If she went to our school we would never have to worry about her asking him to prom."
"Totes."
"Doesn't she hate children too?"
"I do, and I happen to be listening to some." Margaret drawled, irritated not due to the fact she was the subject of their conversation, but more that they were just annoying to her.
"Better reasoning than she gave." Commented Clara, who got a look from the ghost,
"Don't even start."
"So if that's all, then that means…" Yang started, before setting her eyes on somebody, "It's Krieg's turn."
In an instant, all eyes were on the Garchomp. He looked around as nobody said a word, and then he sighed, "I suppose I can't really stay silent now can I?" He started, before getting to his feet. "I won't try and change your minds about everything you learned today. There's no true denying everything that happened. I won't beg for forgiveness either. You are all free to view me as you see fit. I only hope that you have trust in me. I don't think I deserve forgiveness, and frankly I don't want it. As for my vote, I suppose I will spread my arms and see where the wind takes me with that." With those words he sat back down.
"I appreciate you not attempting to deflect the vote on to anybody else, if nothing else." Alexandria started, giving a neutral look.
"Look man, you seem like an alright guy, but you gotta understand how weird it is talking with somebody who actually killed someone else." Joseph told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm aware. I once felt that way as well." Krieg admitted, giving a somewhat solemn look, "I won't judge you for how you feel. If I am to be your vote than so be it."
"To be honest, you were." Joseph admitted as well, "It just feels like something I should do."
"I understand."
"It appears you have gone silent," Sydney spoke up, staring at Morgan, who had been distant since Krieg's turn began, "Tell me, do you wish to continue the flames of terror alongside me? Or perhaps your speech later will be a dousing. I would choose my words carefully."
"I will speak when I'm ready." Was all Morgan said.
"Anything else you have to say Krieg?" Winston asked, "I'm willing to give you a chance if you do."
"I think that's it. Thank you." the Garchomp replied, and everything fell to silence.
"I guess since Joseph sorta already said, that means it's my turn," Garth spoke, "And yeah, I think I'm with Margaret, Clara seems like the choice that should go."
"Both of the ghosts are against me then?" Clara asked cocking an eyebrow, "Let me guess, I'm not deserving to be here?"
"Pretty much."
"And I'm sure you have a fantastic reasoning to be here."
"Not particularly."
"Then why are you?"
"I felt like I could win."
"Lovely reason."
"Thanks. Hope it doesn't get in the way of you having a fortune on top of your fortune."
"It won't."
"It is your turn isn't it?" Margaret started, giving the cat a look, "Are you going to vote one of us because we decided to go against you?"
"No, I still want to vote Krieg." Clara stated, "I'm sure neither of you have much chance in the long run, so I'll wait."
"Somehow I feel as if Krieg at least has good reason to be here." Garth commented.
"Can we, uh, move on from this?" Yang asked, "We just need to hear from Alexandria, then what Morgan wants to talk about."
"I really do not have much to say, I too am planning to vote for Krieg." Alexandria stated, looking at Morgan, "Do you wish to speak your mind now?"
"If there is nothing else, yes, I would." This time Morgan began to stand up. "As I thought Krieg is the popular pick to go home."
"Is that really a surprise?" Will asked, confused by the response,
"Not at all. But I'm somehow even more disappointed in all of you. How dull can you be?" the minx stated,
"And what's that mean?" Joseph asked, an annoyed look on his face,
"You all are truly idiotic if you are going to send him home based off of the flawed reasoning of him being a killer."
"So what, you're just okay with him being here despite that?"
"Let me finish. You all know that he murdered somebody, but nothing more. You are unaware of anything other than that. Is that not an incomplete set of knowledge? You all assume that he is just going to kill again. There are several things blatantly wrong with that. First and foremost is that he is under watch not only by the hosts, but by his own prison. He would have to be an idiot if he chose to kill under those circumstances. Not only that but he's on television right now. Not only would the media be up in arms, but law enforcement everywhere would be giving him a hard time. Furthermore it's making the assumption that he is just a mindless killer when that is most likely not the case." As he took a breath, he cast an eye to Elizabeth, "By chance, do you have Krieg's records? Or at least, based on that question do you have a good estimate of time for when what he did took place?"
"It was twelve years ago." Elizabeth confirmed, which Morgan nodded at.
"Twelve years. And since then he has been in prison for at least ten of those, possibly all twelve. He claimed to have seen and spoken with a therapist, supposedly there were no reports of him doing anything else in the prison. As a matter of fact the warden allowed him to be here due to his good behavior. I assume that he would not have been accepted if he didn't have good behavior as well. Based on that knowledge, I can infer that he has spent a lot of time rehabilitating. To toss all of that away here would make Krieg such a cretin that I couldn't even comprehend the logic behind that. Tell me, in what world would you even have to worry about such a stupid fear as Krieg trying something with these circumstances in mind?"
"Well, he-" Macy began, before promptly being cut off,
"Let's not forget the fact that none of us have any clue what happened. All of you are assuming that he did it ruthlessly and of his own free will. There are several things wrong with that if we don't have the proper background. It could have been an accident, he could have been paid to do it, he could have even been asked by the one he killed and then his defense was found illogical. We don't know. Frankly the fact that you all are so ready to cast him aside without any existing knowledge other than what he did without the how or why is sickening. And you wonder why I am consistently negative towards all of you."
Everybody was silent for a while. Morgan had brought up some good points, and nobody seemed ready to fully refute him at the time. It was a few minutes until Nora spoke up.
"I understand what you're saying," She started, a bit softer than he was, "But one thing I think needs mentioning is the fact that physically he's the strongest one here. In a game without teams, letting somebody like that by can be a big mistake."
"Do we know for a fact he's the strongest?" Morgan challenged, turning his attention to the alien. "We are again making assumptions based on the bare minimum we know about him. Granted yes, Garchomp are naturally physically strong, but because our only challenge so far has been based primarily on knowledge and guesswork, we have no idea how strong he is. Tauros and Abomasnow are also naturally strong, as are Mienshao. And then there's the fact that Tracy is a recognized athlete and from what we know of her, former martial artist who by her claims was undefeated. Claiming that he's a physical threat with no knowledge of such fact is quite honestly idiotic."
Again nobody spoke. Some contestants had looks of consideration, others were a bit annoyed at the words spoken by Morgan. Krieg seemed to have a look of complete shock on his face. Even he was unprepared for this.
"I happen to agree with the notion of voting Clara, as well," He continued, now turning his gaze to her, "I have no desire to see somebody undeserving of money potentially win. If you already are rich as I am told then I see no purpose in your being here. You can argue the validity of your reason all you want, but it is quite honestly a rather pathetic one. Numerous options to show your desired independence are available, and you don't need to be here to prove that. And unlike Krieg, who may I also mention has a reason to be here, you are in fact somebody we know is a threat. You have connections with quite a few people from what I've seen, you are at least acquainted with several people already. In my eyes, a social threat is far more of a concern than a mere strength threat who may not even be that. Sure a strength threat can win a challenge, but a social threat can fly to the end without needing to lift a finger, regardless of challenge performance."
As much as Clara wanted to argue his points, even she didn't have it in her. All she could do is look around, and glare at Margaret for even bringing her name up.
"I have nothing else to say," Morgan concluded, facing away from everybody, "If you truly are going to vote him just based off of these petty reasons that are filled with fallacies, then you have my contempt."
Still nobody spoke, until Travis let out a low whistle, "Can't say I expected that." He spoke to nobody in particular. "Guess with that, everybody is done debating, please, go to the confessional and cast your votes, then meet back here."
In time everybody seemed to have cast their votes and returned, seated back at their respective stands. Travis seemed to now have a pile of notecards in his hand, "Apologies in advance, we don't have anything to give you to show that you're safe." he chuckled sheepishly, though nobody seemed to particularly care.
"We will tell you if you are safe or not, I'm sure you don't need much explanation." Elizabeth started, and everybody nodded.
"With no votes to their name; Alexandria, Garth, Joseph, Macy, Morgan, Nora, Sydney, Tracy, Winston, Yang and Dr. Sleep. All of you please stand near me." Everybody did as told and approached her.
"With one vote, Will is safe." Still confused by the ordeal that caused him to be voted for, Will walked up to Elizabeth, attempting to ignore the glare he was receiving from Dr. Sleep.
"With one vote, Lisa, Lana & Linda are safe." All three triplets loudly squealed at this fact and rushed over to where everybody else was.
"With two votes, Margaret is safe." The ghost rolled her eyes, knowing who each of the two votes were.
"Real mature." She drawled, and in response the triplets collectively blew raspberries at her, while Clara merely smirked.
"I am as willing to be petty as you are." She remarked, which only caused the ghost to shake her head.
"Down to the final two, who's it gonna be?" Travis asked, looking between the two.
Clara for her part seemed relaxed, if only slightly. On the other hand, Krieg was silent, his face expressionless.
"One of you received five votes, and the other seven." Elizabeth stated, looking between the two, and passing the cards back to Travis.
"The one who is staying though is…"
As everybody looked on, Clara stared at the two hosts expectantly.
Krieg closed his eyes and looked down.
A silence invaded the air. Not even the triplets could speak.
Who was going to be chosen to leave first? The rich girl with social status, or the known murderer who could be a great danger physically.
Who would it be?
Who would stay, and who would go?
The answer…
Lied in the cards.
"Krieg. You managed to obtain five votes and are safe."
Both of the remaining two were shocked, it was difficult to tell who moreso. Krieg seemed astonished the fact he was given the opportunity to stay, as was Clara, who was especially surprised that that happened over her staying.
"Me? I-I'm going home?" Clara stammered out, bewildered.
"That's right, Clara. You are the first eliminated contestant on StarStream City." Elizabeth spoke
"So over the murderer? You guys chose an actual killer over somebody who just wants to live freely?"
"For the last time, you don't need to do that here." Garth groaned, annoyed at the feline by this point, "Besides, Morgan brought up a good point about your social game, which if you ask me isn't even that independant in the first place."
"Hypocritical even." Margaret agreed, causing the Liepard to glare at her,
"This is your fault you know, I was going to be able to stay here until you had to mention me." Clara chided, which the Misdreavus didn't seem to care about.
"Sorry not sorry."
"Whatever, I hope you and your ghost boyfriend are next." And with that Clara turned to the hosts, "I guess it's time for me to go?"
"As soon as you get your things." Travis nodded. Clara sighed and looked at everyone,
"I can't say I understand why I'm the one going, but I guess this is it." With that Travis began walking away, with Clara following him.
"Anybody who wishes to see Clara off is welcome to do so." Elizabeth spoke, and with that, a group consisting of Joseph, Alexandria, Macy, and Will all departed as well. "As for the rest of you, you are free to spend the night however you please. I would advise seeking out shelter though." And so everybody else went their separate ways.
"I get where Morgan is coming from, but I still think that I am voting for Krieg. I truly understand that we have no idea of what the circumstances behind everything were, but I would not like to risk anything bad happening." Alexandria stated, huddled up in the confessional.
"I was going to vote Krieg, but since he is going home anyway I don't think it will hurt if I send a vote Margaret's way." Clara said, glaring at the camera upon saying the Misdreavus' name.
"I never considered social aspects to be honest," Garth noted, "I only really thought about my own. Good catch Morgan, thanks for making voting Clara that much easier."
Joseph shrugged, "Sorry Krieg, but everybody else seems to want it still, and I don't feel right voting out Clara.
Krieg frowned, silent for a while before speaking up, "I truly didn't expect Morgan to say all of what he did. I owe him a great deal for that. I suppose that the most common pick that wasn't myself would be Clara, so I'll follow that."
"Pfft, Margaret is a loser, we're voting her." Lisa said, as the other heads giggled.
"Part of me wants to think that maybe Krieg has changed since he did that," Macy admitted, "But I really don't know, and I don't want to vote for Clara. Sorry Krieg. I hope things get better for you."
"Clara, I wanted to vote you for a long time, and your attitude towards it only strengthened that. Good riddance." Margaret groaned, annoyed at the arguments that took place.
"I don't regret a single word I said." Morgan started, folding his arms, "The way in which they were reacting to Krieg is something I could not allow. If it isn't painfully obvious I too am voting for Clara. She has no right to be here and act as if she has a moral high ground."
"There are a lot of things we don't know about Krieg." Nora admitted, but then looked up, "But one of those is not knowing if we can trust him, so I still vote him."
"My what unimaginable chaos was wrought from this day." Sydney laughed, thoroughly amused, "The flames have more than been ignited, they tower! Krieg's existence is going to further ignite the flames, while Clara merely attempts to douse them. A douser is unacceptable in my vision."
"Yeah, Clara can go. I guess I don't really have an answer for the whole social thing. Whatever, she sucks." Tracy shrugged.
"I really do think that Krieg can change, I know I'm trying to. But I don't know if this is the right way, so I'm voting him." Will explained, a bit unsure.
"I like to believe in second chances." Winston started, a thoughtful look on his face, "And I'm willing to provide Krieg with one for now. As for my vote, I will go with Lisa, Lana and Linda. I hold nothing against them, but I don't see them going home, so I don't think this will cause tension."
"I uh, overheard Tracy is voting Clara." Yang started, looking a bit uncomfortable, "And I like to think that's how I'm expected to vote, so I think I'll go with that too. Krieg is uh, a good challenge?"
"Will, you insult me by visiting another therapist. Leave my sight at once." Dr. Sleep seethed, folding his arms.
And so Clara arrived back at the shipyard, accompanied by the hosts and all those who wished to see her off. "Well Clara this is it," Travis started, patting her on the back, "Hope you could enjoy yourself here, short lived as your time was."
"I suppose for the most part I did." She said, looking to those who joined her. "I appreciate you all seeing me off. You're welcome to visit me any time."
"Sweet, we have a rich friend." Joseph said to Will, who chuckled.
"Bye miss Clara! I'll miss you!" Macy called out and waved, which Clara was happy to return,
"I'll miss you too sweetie." And with that, Clara boarded the ship that arrived and rode off into the night, leaving the others behind.
"It is a shame that she had to be first." Alexandria sighed, only for Joseph to put a hand on her shoulder.
"Sure it is, but that just means we got somebody to win it for right?" He smiled, which the Lurantis returned.
"Right you are Joseph, but hopefully you can actually follow through on that." Travis interjected, walking between them, "You kids oughtta get going. Elizabeth and I need to wrap this up." Following his orders, the contestants began walking back the way they came, talking to themselves about Clara.
"And so that concludes our first episode." Elizabeth stated. "Who will be the next one out, even we don't know. Hopefully you'll stick around to find out here on StarStream City."
"I think it went well." Travis commented, which was met with a nod.
Up on the same rooftop from last time, Morgan sat, sketching something in his book. "Well that went well," He muttered to himself, "And with any luck so to will this."
"Am I interrupting?" He heard from behind him, and once again Krieg stood there.
"If it's you then I suppose you can stay." The minx replied, and unlike last time, the Garchomp remained still.
"I really must thank you for everything you said," Krieg started, "I don't think I would be standing here otherwise."
"It was nothing, I enjoyed getting those idiots to understand common sense."
"But I must ask why? That didn't benefit you in any way."
"You're my ally aren't you?" Morgan questioned, closing his book, "In that regard it did benefit me. I have somebody on my side who is going to help me remain here. It's common courtesy that I return the favor."
"I see." Krieg replied, nodding,
"Furthermore, the things being said about you were just what I hate most of all. Baseless assumptions. It infuriates me when people are so quick to judge and make opinions that they even treat as fact with nothing to go off of it." Morgan explained, as Krieg listened intently.
"You did mention that, yes. I didn't expect even you to want to save me after what was revealed." Krieg admitted, which Morgan scoffed at,
"Don't be ridiculous. While your situation is far more advanced, you were choosing to approach me even after I had earned the hatred of everybody else. Is that not the same essentially?" As he asked that, Krieg had to take a moment and think.
"I suppose it is." He said softly,
"I don't like repeating myself, but I don't see you as a bad guy." Morgan claimed, "Not until you give me reason to believe so. In a way I think we're alike. Both of us are seen as many things because of faulty delusions of others. And, as I said, you're more tolerable than everybody else."
Krieg silently nodded, before bringing something else up, "While I can't say I agree with you on my status as a bad guy, I do have a serious debt to you for saving me here. All you have to do is ask something and I am more than willing to try and provide it."
"I would say your vote is enough, but after today, I think I must also mention something else." Morgan thought, then opened his sketchbook. "I want you to tell me your story. You said I intrigue you, and the feeling is mutual. I want to know about what you've experienced, and what led you to here. Even if I didn't see you as an ally, your story could provide the inspiration I need to finish this volume."
Krieg thought about it for a minute, before nodding, "I can oblige to that." He then came over and sat down next to Morgan, before thinking.
"I guess I should start from the beginning then. I hope the details aren't too boring for you, friend." Krieg chuckled, his usual grin returning.
Morgan looked down, and allowed himself the faintest of smiles.
"No, tell me it all."
Remaining Contestants: Alexandria, Garth, Joseph, Krieg, Lisa Lana & Linda, Macy, Margaret, Morgan, Nora, Sydney, Tracy, Will, Winston, Yang, Dr. Sleep
Eliminated Contestants: Clara
And so ends Chapter Two. Did you expect the one who left? Clara is the one who had her game end right out of the gate, but why is that? To be truthful with you, she was originally planned to go much further, at one point I think I even had her in the final five or so. But as time went on I begun to realize I simply had no plans for her, and any purpose she served could be filled by somebody else in the cast, and so she went.
Challenge was a bit of an odd concept, but something I felt as if would be useful in getting to know these characters a bit better, and help them be less of a blank slate. I wanted to reveal pieces of some backstory, hopefully without it feeling forced or shoved down a readers throat. To help with that I tried adding in more humorous interactions and making some truths less impactful as circle of podiums and the elimination debate later on are in no way a Danganronpa reference, nope, not even remotely.
Bits of backstory for a few contestants were sprinkled in here and there, most obviously some regarding Krieg. How will this affect his game from here on out? It's quite clear that save for Morgan, most seem to be placing him on the outs of the team. And speaking of Morgan, his speeches regarding Krieg and some of his actions perhaps give a bit of a hint that there's more to him than he lets on. Hmm, what do you think?
Those aside we also got little glimpses into some others, such as Macy, Margaret, Yang and even Dr. Sleep. Where will these tidbits of knowledge go I wonder? Time will only tell, so I hope you stick around to find out.
See you all next time I hope, where things will hopefully be even better.