Episode 1, Part 2: Money or No Money?
New Pork City Airport – 8:50pm
Bayonetta checked the times of all three planes as they prepared to check in.
Plane A – New Pork City to Neo Bowser City – 9:10pm departure – 9:55pm arrival
Plane B – Beanbean Kingdom to Neo Bowser City – 9:00pm departure – 9:35pm arrival
Plane C – Yoshi Island to Neo Bowser City – 8:35pm departure – 9:25pm arrival
"We're meeting all teams at 10:00 outside the airport. That gives us 2 whole hours to find our missing hedgehog."
"Sounds-a reasonable." Mario mused. Luigi nodded as well. Everyone was tired. Everyone was annoyed that it had taken this much time to get the final location.
Neo Bowser City. It was a dangerous metropolis, one full of noise and darkness.
The perfect place to hide a contestant.
XO
? – 9:45pm
By this point, Sonic was pretty much asleep, curled up near the stool. MH appeared out of nowhere and sweat-dropped when he saw the sleeping hedgehog. As much as he didn't want to wake him up, he had to.
"Sonic." He tapped his leg with his foot. Sonic snorted awake, yawning loudly.
"Huh...?" He saw MH. "Oh, hey."
"Sorry to wake you. Just to report, nearly all of The Mole contestants have arrived in the city. You can make 1-minute calls to them every 30 minutes...if you want."
"I'll wait until everyone has landed...and then I'll call. Oh, and MH?"
"Yes?" Sonic gave him a tired but distinct glare.
"You owe me a dream."
XO
Neo Bowser City Airport – 9:58pm
Bayonetta's team finally rushed out of the airport and saw the other two teams waiting.
"Finally! Where have you been?"
"They wouldn't let us off." Pit answered Falco's question. The clock struck 10:00pm. Suddenly, Mario's phone began ringing. It was an unknown number.
"Should I-a answer it?" He asked.
"Could be MH. Answer it I say." Rosalina suggested. Everyone more or less agreed with her. Mario answered it but put it on speaker.
"What took you so long to answer!?"
Mario knew that voice.
"...Sonic?"
"Oh, hey Mario. Thank goodness, a familiar voice! Where are you guys!?"
"We're outside the airport. Have you got another riddle for the last key?" Peach asked. There was the sound of clanging. His shackles, probably.
"Yeah, hang on..." The sound of tapping. "Got it here. This is the last riddle, just text me the answer, 'kay? The riddle is this: There are four days which start with the letter 'T'. Two of them are Tuesday and Thursday. Can you name the other two?" The line went dead, leaving 59 blank and confused contestants.
"Um...is this a trick question or is he being serious?"
"Ai, MH sets the questions, not Sonic. He's just doing as he's told." Mewtwo scorned, earning a dejected nod from Ai. Lucas clicked his fingers.
"What about today and tomorrow?"
"Those aren't real days." Ness pointed out. Lucas's fists clenched in confidence.
"I know I'm right. Try it!"
"You sure there aren't any other possible answers?" Rosalina pushed, still not fully convinced. Lucas shook his head. Rosalina nodded and typed the answer. A green tick came back. She blinked. "He was right."
"Whoa..." Luigi looked at Lucas. "Nice-a going!"
"Hehe...oh stop..." Lucas blushed. The phone buzzed.
Well, you got it! The key is back in the departure lounge, among the magazines in one of the shops. As for my location...I still don't have a clue, I'm afraid. I will give you a few clues. I'm in a really dark place, in a small room and I keep hearing something like tram or train horns. Sorry, but if MH would show me my surroundings that would be swell. See you all later...hopefully!
Sonic
"We have to wait 30 minutes until we can call him again, don't we...?" Bowser Jr. moaned, getting a chorus of grumbles and groans.
"The train line...Neo Bowser City has a high train line so he must be quite high up somewhere. A tower?" Yoshi mused.
"Dark room..." Captain Falcon began thinking and thinking but eventually lost his rag. "URGH, CAPTAIN FALCON DOESN'T KNOW!"
"Chill out. None of us do." Wario said.
"Guess we check out the train lines and-a find some targets." Mario instructed, beginning to lead the group.
He did have a point.
"Hang on, let's get the key first. I'll get it." Lucina interrupted, running back into the airport and running back out again about 5 minutes later with the last silver key in her hand. "That makes 4 keys!"
"Let's-a go!" Mario had to do his catchphrase, earning multiple sweat-drops from his fellow contestants.
"Typical Mario." Some said.
XO
? – 10:20pm
"OK, I think we've had enough darkness." Master Hand clapped, waking Sonic up AGAIN. This time, it really ticked him off.
"You owe me two dreams now."
He was blinded when MH opened some window. His chains extended, much to his joy. He stretched.
"Man, that feels good." He looked out the window and his pupils shrunk. "...Oh god."
"Enjoy the view." MH disappeared, leaving a stunned and now-slightly scared hedgehog behind.
"Oh chaos...what trouble have I got into now...?"
XO
Neo Bowser City - 10:35pm
"Want to call him now? It's been 30 minutes." Cloud asked, checking his watch. Mario nodded and dialed the number. He frowned a little when the voicemail came through.
"Are you-a sure it's-a been 30 minutes?"
"Definitely!" Cloud yelled back, not liking Mario's forwardness of doubting his timekeeping. "He rang at 10 o'clock. It's 10:35 now! Why isn't he picking up?"
"A twist to the game, perhaps?" Ai suggested. Captain Falcon noticed.
"Captain Falcon is wondering why that tower is dark." He pointed to a large illuminated tower way off in the distance, but the top few floors were in pitch darkness. Bowser chuckled.
"Renovations. Look, this city was named after me for a reason. It's a towered museum, but the top floor, which was an observatory, was old and dangerous so they shut the lights off so they could renovate and rebuild them. If we got closer, you'd probably notice the scaffolding. Anyway, stop getting distracted by little things." This mission wasn't going well. The Mole smirked to themselves.
"Try calling him again." They said, making Mario nod. They silently giggled to themselves, making sure no-one saw them do so. This time, the phone line went through but there was no voice on the other side.
"Sonic, you-a there?"
No response, but he could hear a loud train horn. He could hear the clanking of the chains but there was no speech.
"Give over." Ai snatched the mobile from him, took it off speaker and decided to talk to him alone. "You OK, Sonic? Ai here. Are you...OK?"
"OK?" Came a scared tone. "No, I am NOT OK."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"I have a phobia of heights, OK? And I'm..." She heard a gulp. "...v-very high right now..."
"You're high up?" She said that out aloud so the other team could hear her. "What else can you see?"
"City lights. I'm right next to a train line...I think it's trains anyway. Quite a way from...whatever building I'm in I think is the airport. I can see it from here. It's right in the distance though."
"Now, what I'm going to ask you next is really going to scare you but you have to tell me. I want you to look down and see what sort of building you're in."
"Are you crazy!?"
"I know you're scared but it's the best way to narrow down targets. Can you...?" The line went dead. The 1 minute was up. "Oh, damn."
"Well, that was...entertaining...what did you get?" Bayonetta asked, arms crossed.
"He's really high up, which doesn't help because he's scared of heights. He's really close to a train line and he can see the airport but it's right in the distance."
"That could mean he's on the outskirts of the city. The metropolis is massive." Lucas concurred.
"HANG ON!" It was Master Hand's voice, who suddenly teleported from somewhere. "I forgot to say! There is a helicopter at disposal, but there is room for only 3 people."
"...Why didn't you say this in the first place!?" Ike moaned, making Master Hand chuckle.
"Well, this is a test."
"Did you even know that Sonic has acrophobia?" Lucas asked, earning confused glances. "It means a fear of heights."
"He has what?"
"A FEAR OF HEIGHTS!" Everyone yelled at once, making Master Hand reel back a bit.
"Oh, come on! I'm sure he's fine. As for the helicopter, it's on the top of a building near here." He disappeared, earning a group worth of frosty glares.
"Who has flown a helicopter before?" Young Link asked.
"I have." Snake raised a hand.
"I'm good at navigation. I'll go." Red also raised a hand.
"Just because I have the phone now, I'll go too." Ai volunteered. No-one liked the fact that Ai now had the phone but they were too tired to argue. Master Hand, again appearing from nowhere, showed the three contestants to the helicopter and gave them a map of the city. Snake fiddled with the controls and the helicopter span into life. Ai looked down. She could understand why Sonic was scared. It WAS a long way down.
Now the challenge was getting heavier in its stakes.
XO
? – 11:15pm
He wasn't going anywhere NEAR that window again. The laptop was nearly out of battery, but was now plugged in when Master Hand had arrived at 11 saying he didn't know about his phobia.
Of course he didn't know. Not many people did. It was just a childhood thing. He had nearly fallen before. That sort of scarred him.
Much like water.
He wasn't thinking about that now. His fear of water was a lot worse than his fear of heights.
Thing was, he was usually in control. He just didn't look down. But here, alone, in some tower with dazzling city lights below him...he felt like screaming. It was like he was fearing the tower was going to fall down or something. Which was ridiculous. He knew it but his mind was using that thought to scare him. Not only was he scared, he was getting cold and tired. Mind you, it was January and the window was wide open. The sound of a helicopter entered his ears. He saw the flashing lights of something in the air slowly survey the city.
Was that them?
MH hadn't mentioned a helicopter.
It was probably some police 'copter.
XO
Neo Bowser City (Helicopter Team) – 11:30pm
"There are quite a few towers that could be where that hedgehog is..." Snake mused, now wearing a headset with a microphone because the engine in the helicopter was so loud that no-one could hear his voice. "Want to call him, Ai?"
"On it!" She, too, wore a headset. She dialed the number and immediately it went through.
"...A-Ai?" She recognized how tired and frightened he sounded but something else mixed in with the voice. It sounded almost like he was…cold.
"Hey! Listen, can you hear a helicopter nearby?"
"A helicopter?"
"Yeah, MH said he had one and failed to tell us at the start. I'm with Red and Snake. Can you hear the helicopter?"
"From a w-way off, yeah."
"OK, can you see the helicopter's flashing lights?"
"U-um…sort-of."
"You have to look down and see what building you're in. I know you don't want to but it may help you overcome that phobia of yours."
"Ugh…f-fine." She could hear him move. She heard a loud yell, almost like a weak scream. "I'm not doing that again!"
"What did you see?"
"Golden lights…some were broken. The floors I'm on are dark."
Dark at the top…golden lights…she got it!
"Sonic, I know what building you're in. Hold tight, we're coming to get you." She ended the call. "Snake, remember that tower Falcon pointing out earlier?"
"The museum one?"
"Yes! That's where he is! The darkened floors!"
"You're joking. We won't get there in 25 minutes!"
"The ground team will work something out." Red joined in, finally taking part in the discussion.
"I damn well hope so…" Snake moaned. Ai dialed Mario.
"Mario?"
"Hey-a Ai!"
"Tell Falcon he's a genius. That tower he pointed out earlier is where Sonic is. He's right at the top!"
"On our-a way!" He cut off. Ai sunk in her seat, but inside she was pleased with herself.
XO
Neo Bowser City (Ground Team) – 11:35pm
The team was running for as fast as their legs could go. They had 25 minutes to get to the tower and get to the top. Near impossible, but Fox, Captain Falcon and Bayonetta, who had the keys, were quicker and eventually reached the foot of the tower. They had 13 minutes.
"Damn." Fox scorned, busting the doors and reached the elevator. It was already near the top floor.
"Screw the lift. Take the stairs." Bayonetta could easily fly up but Fox and Falcon were on foot and, needless to say, they were knackered when they reach what they thought was the top. Unfortunately, none of the three had a watch.
"The next flights of stairs are closed off. We have to be very silent." Bayonetta shushed the boys, who nodded. They squeezed through the "no entry" gate and rushed up the next three flights, eventually being submerged in darkness. Luckily, Falcon lit the way by igniting his hand. There was only one door. It was unlocked. They peeked inside. Again, pitch black. Something cold hit their faces; wind. It blew Falcon's flames out, making him scream. A scream came back. Bayonetta rolled her eyes and took control, taking out all four keys. Fox could see someone shaking in the shadows.
"…You're Sonic, right?" Fox asked the shape. They got a nod. Fox was the first to get to him, snatching a key from the Umbra Witch and undid a shackle on Sonic's left ankle. Bayonetta did the right ankle and Falcon did the wrists. He managed to ignite his hand again and he closed the window. Fox could feel how cold Sonic was.
"You OK, hedgehog?" Bayonetta asked. Sonic nodded, even though he was badly shivering.
"Much better. Hang on, I'll message MH." He grabbed the laptop and sent a quick "I'm rescued" message to the big boss. He thrush it aside and got to his feet, though he suddenly and dangerously lurched, making Fox grab him.
"Take it easy. Come on; let's get you out of here." Fox smiled, taking off his jacket and placing it around the hedgehog's arms, earning a look of confusion. "You're shivering like mad. What was MH thinking, leaving that window open in the middle of January?"
"He's mad, kidnapping me like that. One moment, I'm at that Jewel Tower place. The next minute, I get clobbered over the head and I wake up here. That jerk. He even owes me two dreams."
"You can't give dreams." Falcon pointed out. Sonic rolled his eyes.
"I was being metaphorical." He suddenly stopped. "I never asked. Who are you, guys?"
"We're on The Mole, too. I'm Fox, the racer is Captain Falcon and the witch is Bayonetta."
"…I'm not good with names but OK." A sudden smirk crossed his face. "Race you back down." He ran off, disappearing in a flash. That made his three rescuers blink.
"God, he's fast." Bayonetta praised, whistling. Fox playfully scoffed.
"Guess that's why his name is Sonic. Come on, he'll probably be impatient as well."
"I'M WAITING!" Came a loud shout from the ground floor. Falcon eyed Fox.
"You got that right."
XO
Outside Museum
As the four emerged, Sonic was surprised at how many people were waiting.
56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 60 in all including him. Gee.
"Congratulations!" Master Hand, who appeared behind the group, cheered, clapping. He only got a frosty silence.
"If you weren't the host, you'd be dead right now." Sonic snarled, his bottled up rage now flaring up, making his rescuers back away as his fur bristled, making him look bigger than he was.
"MH, you owe Sonic an apology." Rosalina hissed. Master Hand shrugged.
"The producers give the orders, not me."
"Ugh, OK. Guess the producers owe him an apology." The cosmic princess rephrased her question. "Hang on, the money."
"I would give to you…" Master Hand started but his face didn't look excited. "…but you didn't pass the challenge."
"WHAT!?" Everyone gawked, excluding Sonic, who wasn't sure on the conditions of victory.
"You mean, we went through all that and we don't get the 50 grand?"
"50 grand? Are you saying you rescued me for nothing? We don't get 50,000 coins?!" Sonic angrily asked Falco, who shook his head. Sonic growled at this. Master Hand was waving a phone to get attention.
"I received the message a minute after midnight. You fail."
Group Pot: 0 coins
"No, that isn't fair." Ai moaned. "Sonic went through all that! He's cold, tired and had to go through his…what was it? Acrophobia? YOU OWE HIM SOMETHING!" Master Hand had been stunned into silence. He eventually groaned in defeat.
"Fine. I'll give you half the money."
Group Pot: 25,000 coins
"BUT THAT'S THE LAST TIME I GIVE IN TO DEMANDS!" He yelled, but the contestants were too busy high-fiving and whooping to pay attention. Master Hand whistled for silence. "OK. Now, I do have a slight bit of bad news. The producers were moaning on and on about how much luggage you guys have so half of you will have to do a bit of repacking before we head to the hotel."
Silence.
"Are you f***ing kidding me?" Falco spluttered. "It's after bloody midnight!"
"Yes, I know. However, giving Sonic's condition, my original idea of having the first 30 contestants, ordered alphabetically, had to be slightly re-arranged. I'm swapping Dr. Mario with anyone of his choice."
"Anyone want to swap?" The doctor asked, not expecting an answer.
"I'll swap." The voice was Roy's. "I don't mind doing some repacking."
"Sorted! Also, it's about time I gave out your journals. Here you go." A pile of 60 journals appeared in a pyramid and everyone grabbed one.
Falco: Finally, I can write in this bloody thing.
Sonic: I hate MH so much right now! Kidnapping was enough. I was really going to punch him one if he made me repack some people's bags. Thank the lord my name begins with S.
Dr. Mario: Sometimes, my occupation does come in handy. I got out of repacking. Wasn't expecting Roy to volunteer to take my place. He's low on my radar, as well as Sonic (the guy got kidnapped for crying out loud!) and Captain Falcon. Right now, I suspect Ai to be the Mole. She seems too smart to be normal.
Repack Team: Ai, Bayonetta, Bowser, Bowser Jr. Captain Falcon, Cloud, Dark Pit, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Duck Hunt Duo, Falco, Fox, Ganondorf, Greninja, Ike, Jigglypuff, Kamui, King Dedede, Kirby, Link, Little Mac, Lucario, Lucas, Lucina, Luigi, Mario, Marth, Mega Man, Meta Knight, Roy
Hotel Team: Dr. Mario, Mewtwo, Mr. Game and Watch, Nana, Ness, Olimar, PAC-MAN, Palutena, Peach, Pichu, Pikachu, Pit, Popo, R.O.B, Red, Reflet, Rosalina, Ryu, Samus, Sheik, Shulk, Snake, Sonic, Toon Link, Wario, Wilma, Wolf, Yoshi, Young Link, Zelda
XO
Dragon Hotel – 12:16am
Room 12
"Thanks for looking after me, Doc." Sonic smiled, still shivering. Dr. Mario nodded as he tossed a blanket around the hedgehog's arms.
"It's my pleasure. What sort of person would I be if I didn't tend to the ones who need assistance? I mean, I am a doctor." The two laughed.
"You may be Mario's cousin and you may look near identical, but you two are polar opposites."
"Yeah, I know. Mario's got that Italian side of him. I don't. That's why he has the accent and I don't. Do you two even get along anyway?" Sonic's smile faded.
"...We still hate each other to a degree but it's not as hostile as when we first met."
"Mario is one to hold a grudge. I mean, have you seen him and Bowser? Even in kart-racing, they try and kill each other." Sonic shuddered badly then, a broken cough exiting him. Dr. Mario felt his forehead. "Uh-oh...don't tell me you're getting a fever."
"I hope not. I don't want to get taken off the game for medical reasons." He coughed again. Dr. Mario flicked his nose.
"Silly boy, you won't be taken off the game just because of a fever. It's not like you're on tablets or anything, right?" He meant it as a joke but when he didn't get a laugh, he blinked. "You're...not, right?"
"...Well..."
"What kind?" His tone sounded suspicious. Sonic raised his hands in defense.
"It's nothing criminal! They just...you-know...iron supplements. I'm slightly anemic."
"Anemic? Seriously?"
"Hey, blame my parents for a bad diet."
"Are they in your bag?"
"Yeah. I actually forgot to take one this morning. Maybe that explains...well, how I'm feeling.
Dr. Mario: I wasn't expecting Sonic to tell me that. Anemic...that's bad.
"I'll tell MH. He can get them for you." A tired smile came across Sonic's face.
"Yeah, OK."
XO
Museum Lobby (Repack Team): 12:31am
Each player had been given two bags to repack. The majority of them were done. Ai decided to do Sonic's bag. She was surprised at what she found.
"Hey, Junior, look at this." Bowser Jr., who had already done his bag and was doing Wario's bag (easier said than done when the entire bag smelt like garlic), scuffled over to the girl in wonder.
"What's up?" Ai held up what had sprung to her attention, a small tube of what seemed to be medicine. "He's sick?"
"I haven't an idea. I hope they're not illegal drugs."
"Come on, Ai, he's 17. He wouldn't be able to buy them anyway. He didn't look like a druggie."
"Excuse me!" It was MH. The group stopped. "Who is doing Sonic's bag?"
"I am." Ai raised her hand. MH noticed the tablets in her hand.
"Can I have that tub please?"
"He's confiscating them." Junior giggled. MH shook his head.
"No, he needs them." He teleported away, leaving a speechless group but they shrugged it off and continued unpacking. Ai found something else: Sonic's journal.
"You can't read it!"
"Is there a rule against it?" Junior paused for a second but shook his head. "See? It's fine." She flicked open the book. It wasn't particularly full but there was a list at the top. Ai's eyes widened. It was his top 3 suspects for the Mole.
Number 1 was Falco.
Number 2 was Lucas.
Number 3 was...
"I'm a...suspect...?" She choked, throwing the journal down in anger. "I'm not the Mole..."
"I believe you." Junior chuckled. "Here's an idea. Want to join my alliance?"
"Huh?"
"Me, Lucas and Red are in a group. Wanna join?"
"Um...OK...I don't see the harm."
"Cool!"
Ai: I don't know if I can trust Junior at this point but right now, I'm trying to think of a cool prank to get Sonic with.
Junior: I wish Ai hadn't read the hedgehog's journal. Sweet girl has turned into mischievous mastermind in 4 seconds flat.
XO
Dragon Hotel: 12:45am
Room 12
"Here we go. Got those tablets of yours." Dr. Mario announced as he re-entered the room.
"Good." The doctor then noticed something was wrong with the hedgehog. He looked weaker than before and looked faint. He quickly got one tablet out and gave it to Sonic, who didn't hesitate in consuming it. He gulped down a bit of a glass of water the doctor had given him. He felt a bit better, but it would a bit for the tablet to do its magic. A knock came at the door. It was MH, who was holding a small black bag with a green thumbprint on it as well as his name in spiky green font.
"Got your new bag here." He noticed Sonic's pale complexion. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah. I've taken my tablet. I'll be OK in a bit."
"If you say so..." He left, not fully convinced. As Sonic opened his bag, he almost screamed. Crawling in his bag was a Horned Elephant, its jaws snapped. He scrambled back in panic. Dr. Mario quickly grabbed it, opened the window and gently tossed it on the balcony.
"That's one sick joke." He moaned, closing the window.
"You're telling me…" Sonic replied, trying to calm himself. His breathing was clearly panicked from the surprised shock. There was only one person who he had heard carried bugs everywhere.
Ai.
Sonic: I'm going to KILL that kid.
Ai: I wonder how much Sonic loved my "present". I'm so evil.
XO
Room 17
"You really put a beetle in Sonic's bag?" Lucina asked. She had checked to see if Ai was OK, seeing as the girl was only in her early teens, not even that. "That's a bit…malicious, isn't it?"
"He thinks I'm the Mole! I've got to prove to him I'm not!"
"The more you retaliate, the more he's going to suspect you."
Ai was about to retort but stopped short. She HAD no retort. Lucina smirked.
"I win."
Lucina: Is Ai the Mole? No, it's too obvious. I don't suspect anyone yet. We've only had one challenge so far…
XO
END! Now, with Sonic rescued and with tensions flaring, what will the second and last challenge of Episode 1 be like? Will they win more money or flop short? Also, who will Sonic give the negativer to (and no, I didn't forget about it)?
Toodles!