Chapter 7...Calamitous Cliffhangers!

Bri was dangerously equipped with a water gun. It was filled to the brim, and she was intent on using every drop of water in it to eliminate every candle holder, which so happened be her quickly-turning-enemy, Gary, and some other people she didn't familiarize herself with. Her roommate and friend Erin was also holding a gun, but was afraid she might hurt someone with it so she placed it on the floor till the game started.

"This will be easy." Bragged a girl with brown hair and red as fire bandana, the girl Bri remembered meeting yesterday; May was it? She was wielding a slightly larger bazooka and was aiming it at her green haired counterpart, who looked like he was holding a measly birthday candle to her water gun.

"Can you please put that down? You could poke an eye out." Drew said, holding a birthday candle-sized match in his other hand.

"That's the idea!" She exclaimed.

"Hey!" Bri called, running over to them, Erin silently following while kicking her dangerous weapon with her, "May and Drew right?" She asked, hoping she remembered their names. If they said no, that would be embarrassing.

"Yep!" May said happily, "It's great to see you're still in the game Bri!"

"Thanks! Hey, aren't all Candle People supposed to hide in the barracks?" Bri pointed to the arched hallways.

"Yeah, but I want to stay here and make sure that May doesn't kill anyone with her bazooka." Drew said hastily. Bri suspected he was lying to cover up a different reason.

"Oh please Drew, the only thing in these things is water. You've got to calm down and quit thinking their loaded like a machine gun."

"I'll never trust you with a gun ever since that Veilstone incident."

"I already said I was sorry! You recovered!"

"Huh?" Bri asked, already confused.

May smiled sheepishly and tried to wave it off, "Oh nothing!"

"You killed Drew with a gun!?" Erin gasped out, now picking up her gun to protect herself from her teammate-menace.

"Uh, no, he's still here." May said, pointing to him.

There was a buzzer sound and every quieted, and all the Candle Holders ran to the arches. The room's lights were cut off and Bri could feel water hit her in the back.

"Erin!"

"Sorry!"

The coliseum sized arena was in dead silence and everyone was already getting bored with waiting. A single spotlight lit in the middle, finally. Hostess in a green knee-length strapless dress and cape appeared, baton poised towards the sky.

"Welcome!" her voice boomed, "To Candlelight Fight! The rules of the game are simple; people with water guns have 1 minute to put out the fire of every Candle Holder before times up. If there are no candles lit remaining, the water squirters all win a star. But if there is still one candle standing, then all the candle holders win a star!" She was lifted into the air by a black pole that no one could see because of the dark. "Begin!"

Another buzzer went off and bright lights began to light up the room as the Candle Holders ran out of the arches, all with uncertain faces while they ran in the dark. As they ran around, the candles lit up a water gun and then they were blasted with water. This one person happened to be Drew, who ran into May and her bazooka.

"Ha! Put that in your salad and spin it!"

"That was a terrible comeback."

"I know." She chirped, then spotted another candle in the distance, and pulled the trigger to her bazooka. Nothing but air came out. She gaped at her empty instrument. "Are you serious?! I only get one shot!?" She looked up to Hostess for moral support but only received a shrug.

"MAHAHA!" July maniacally laughed while running with his torch, dodging all the blasts sent in his direction, "You'll never catch me coppers!" May stuck out her foot and tripped him, making him tumble onto the ground. Erin shot at his torch and it was out. He then began to whine how unfair they were, and turned to Hostess for a ruling. Again, she shrugged.

"20 seconds!" Hostess called after about 30 seconds of the same results, there was still one candle left and one person with a fully-loaded water gun. The Candle Holder happened to be Paul, who merrily stood in one place for the other forty seconds and dared anyone who stepped closer, were to lose an arm. The person with the last water rifle happened to be none other than Nicole, who couldn't chase anyone because she couldn't see in the dark, and she had wandered into lonely territories.

"Go get 'em Nicole!" rooted Kelly with an empty tiny hand gun, standing between May and Drew.

"He's mine!" Nicole growled, running at an amazing speed towards them. Paul and her swapped glances, both of them eyeing each other like Japanese Swordsman. The clock was ticking and he was taunting her with his eyes. She growled under her breath and tried to find the best place to aim, but she knew he would move at the last second.

"Just shoot!" May screamed from behind.

Nicole pulled the trigger. Paul jumped. The buzzer went off.

"And who is left standing??" Hostess spectated from her pole.

Paul smirked. Nicole gasped in shame. His hair was wet. Not the candle. She missed. He won.

She lost.

They lost.

"And that's it! The Candle Holders have all won a star!"


The scores were tallying up but Nicole was still in the lead. She was followed by May, Jenina, Kelly, Drew, and some other minor characters. After another race across the board, Drew's Absol found Sableye, but he wouldn't cough up the stars that easily. He had to be beaten first.

Through seconds of speed and glares, Absol fell and Sableye escaped after another maniacal laugh. Drew gave his Pokémon a few insults and reassuring pets before the wheel was spun. Double-Double-Double-Star. Eight stars to be won. And the game was decided; Take a breather. Time off was given to change into their water things.

Meanwhile with May and Jenina…

"I'm just saying, tripping July wasn't very nice." Jenina said, looking for her lost-again two piece.

"Hey, brutal force is always the best force."

"Oh? So when you want to go out with a guy…"

"That's a totally different situation!" May argued in her bathing suit, who had tracker-skills unlike her sister, "What are you getting to?"

"Well, if you want to go out with Drew, you don't have to push him against a wall—"

"Whoa—whoa, whoa. When did I say I wanted to go out with Drew?"

"You didn't!" Jenina chirped, "I was just using him as an example! But since you did bring it up…"

"Did not!" Protested the red-faced May, "Just go change into your friggin' bathing suit!" She pointed to the crumpled up clothes in the corner of the room. Jenina's face brightened when she saw it and hopped into the bathroom.

There was a knock at the door. "We're decent!" May called, turning on the TV in boredom.

Corey emerged from the door in his trunks and covered in sun tan lotion, a blood red rose in his fingers. "Delivery!" He sang, giving the rose to her, "It's from Drew."

"Oh?" She took the rose, "And…why couldn't he just give it to me himself?"

"That's what I said!" He whined, "Oh well. Hey, where's Jen?"

"Bathroom."

"Oh."

Corey went over to the dumbwaiter. It had a poorly written Out of Order sign taped to it. "What happened here?" He asked, jerking his thumb at the transportation device.

"They've suspended us on room service for a while." She answered, flipping the channel.

"Jenina?" He accused with a smile,

"Yep." She answered with a straight face. Jenina exited the bathroom and put her other clothes back into her suitcase.

"Oh, hey Corey! I didn't hear you come in." She said, greeting her friend.

"That's probably cause you were listening to your iPod."

"Guilty." She smiled, "May, you wanna head over now? We can practice."

May got off her lazy butt and shut off the TV. "I'm in."


Nicole held up another flag on one side of the pool, nine other people on the other side, ready to practice. On the other side was May, Jenina, Corey, Drew, Kelly, Erin, July, Bri, and Gary. Gary pushed Bri into the pool and when she resurfaced, she wasn't happy.

"Can you stop doing that?!" She shrieked, climbing back up.

"No, it's too much fun." He replied, smirking. She placed herself between Erin and July so he couldn't touch her anymore, than stuck her tongue at him. Everyone began to stare each other down, until Nicole blew her whistle to get everyone to face her.

"Five seconds to take your breath!" She yelled across the water, "Go!" Everyone began to inhale, they took in so much air that their lungs almost burst. May waited for a few seconds, then took a big breath, and Nicole yelled, "And JUMP!" Everyone hopped in simultaneously, some praying for their life cause they didn't know how to swim.

And the underwater life began. Only a few seconds ticked before July hopped to the surface, having talked to Bri, and lost all the remaining air in his lungs. He shook his head at himself, and then she resurfaced at well, angrily looking down at the water where Gary was floating.

"What happened?" He asked, swishing his feet around.

"Gary kept making faces in the water! I laughed it up till I couldn't breathe anymore." She answered with a shrug. After she said this, Jenina, Corey, and Erin resurfaced. They were gasping for air like a Magikarp out of water.

"You can breathe under water?!" July cried out randomly. Erin and Bri gave him looks before climbing out of the water.

After fifteen seconds passed, May and Kelly were the only two who remained under water. They held their noses, plugging air from escaping. The two glanced at each other, and Kelly pointed upwards. May nodded. The two agreed that they would go up at the same time. But when they went, it was obvious that May swam up faster, and lost. She then glared at Kelly, who shrugged innocently.

The pool was surrounded by all the contestants, all of were standing at the edge, spaced out from their competitors. Hostess and Noel sat in the middle of the water on an inflated set, Hostess' Ludicolo judging from the bottom of the pool. Noel gave her the microphone and she grabbed it egotistically, then said, "Welcome to Take a Breather! The rules of the game are simple and straight forward; whoever can hold their breath the longest wins a star! Noel, take it away!" She tossed the mic in hopes that he'd catch it, but he wasn't paying attention and it dropped into the water, sinking all the way to the floor.

He shrugged and blew his lifeguard whistle.

Everyone jumped in, the hosts getting splashed in every direction possible. It was silent as bubbles popped at the surface.

"So." Hostess said, bored, "Is the egg close to hatching yet?"

Noel shook his head, "Not even close. I'm having Lude watch over it."

"Oh. So does it evolve into Luminine or is that its basic evolution?"

"Luminine? I thought we agreed on Luminarc!"

"Yeah well Luminine sounds more fierce."

While the two continued their conversation over plot-irrelevant topics, several people rose to the surface out of breath, including Kelly, Bri, Gary, Erin, and July. Hostess got bored and told her Ludicolo to "mix things up", which caused it to think that its master wanted a whirlpool. A whirlpool is what they got as the water began to spin out of control and a fast pace, the people at the bottom being taken with it. The hosts' on the stage began to spin uncontrollably, making Noel fall off.

May on the other hand was being tossed around like a rag doll in gelatin. At least she knew what it felt to be flushed down a toilet. She plugged her nose and closed her eyes as she began to get dizzy, either from the spinning water or from the lack of oxygen. She knocked into Jenina and the two resurfaced, climbing out of the pool before the revolving water pulled them down again.

"I….Iiiiiiim diiiiiiizzyyyyyyy…" Jenina trailed off while swaying side to side.

"Diiiiiittooooo…" May said, lying on the tile floor. Her sister tripped over her and the two moaned in pain.

More people began to resurface like dead fish. These people happened to be Nicole and Dawn, who almost drowned if it hadn't been for Paul, who didn't like the idea of both of them dead. Nicole on the other hand was mad at him for ruining her chance of winning the game, to which he answered, "You wouldn't have won anyway."

Several more people came up and Ludicolo stopped the whirlpool. Hostess, who was as dizzy as a person who was struck by a Spinda's Totter Dance, blinked herself back into place and peered into the water. There was only one more person left, and that person was Corey.

"He won!" Jenina cheered to May and Drew, jumping up and down happily, "He won he won he won!"

"How come he's not coming up?" Drew questioned while peering into the blue-tinted water.

Ludicolo rose to the surface, shrugging to her trainer. Everyone on the sidelines peered down, trying to get a good look at Corey, who looked like an overturned Ken-doll.

"Is he dead?" July speculated, getting a slap from Kelly.

"He better not!" Hostess cried out, "That'll make the ratings for the show go down!"

"I'll get him!" Jenina volunteered quickly, and dived before anyone could stop her.

"But Ludicolo could've got him!" Hostess replied albeit lamely, "Go help!" She snapped to her Mexican-Dancer Pokémon.

Jenina kicked her legs harder to get down, ignoring gravity trying to pull her in the opposite direction. Almost there, She thought to herself as she reached for him, but then her eyes widened as the last of the air in her lungs left her nose. She attempted to resurface, but her kicking only made her sink further to the ground. Tears left her eyes as pain began to sink in, and she turned her head to where her friend was also floating. At least we'll die together…

Just before she blacked out, a large green hand scooped her and Corey up, and the way they ascended up the water was like flying through the air. When sunlight and air hit her, she was coughing up water like mad. Cheers and clapping entered her water-filled ears, and she opened her crusty eyes only to be blinded be sunlight.

Wait—what about Corey?? She turned her head to see him coughing up water, and shaking droplets out of his brown hair.

"Are you okay?" She asked him as Ludicolo brought them to the edge of the pool.

"Yeah…hey, did I win?"

She laughed, "You sure did."


After another race across the board, several people found Sableye again, only to be defeated by his killer Shadow Ball. One of these people was July, who was scowling at such a rigged board. So far Corey was in the lead with his 10 or so stars, followed by Nicole. The rest of the stats didn't change and the TV screen in the basement returned to the game screen. The wheel was once again spun by Lude, and the marker landed on Elimination Round. The game was picked, and it was Booksquirm.

Everyone was placed on a giant dictionary with Pokémon-shaped holes in the pages. Noel's Alakazam stood at the front of the book, to be the page turner.

"I wonder where they get a book this big." Kelly wondered while standing on the word "Zapdos".

"This is going to be fun!" May cheered, ever the optimistic.

"What's so fun about being crushed like ants?" Drew asked, the pessimistic.

"What's not fun about it?" July answered with another question, hopping up and down excitedly.

"I prefer my guts inside my body." Drew answered, crossing his arms, "May, good luck finding a hospital."

"I'm not gonna get squashed first!" She protested, and as she spoke, a surprise test run commenced and she didn't notice till the page was toppled over her. Kelly, July, and Drew sweatdropped from a whole shaped like a Voltorb. May was teleported out and was back on top of the page. "No fair! I wasn't paying attention!" She screamed at the human-fox-like Pokémon with one spoon in each hand. Kado 'hmph'ed defiantly and teleported her into the air so she could be dropped on top of her friends. They groaned in pain.

"Uuuuurg…" moaned Kelly as she pulled over the hoodie that closed over her a few seconds ago, "Nice going May."

"I was going to say the exact same thing, only with Italics." Drew shrugged.

A loud buzzer shut every up and Hostess and Noel were teleported beside the maniacal Alakazam.

"Welcome to Booksquirm!" Noel announced dramatically, "While Hostess is tied up, we'll play a fun little game! First to get squashed is eliminated! Lude, the lights!" As he spoke, the lights shut off and all that was seen was the large dictionary. Hostess protested with muffled shouts through the duck tape across her mouth, and Noel just patted her head brotherly. She wriggled the rope that tied her wrists together, but figured that it would take her a while to get out of it. She glared at him in defeat and kicked him in the shin, and he howled in pain, and Kado took it as a sign to start the game.

The pages were turned by Psychic very slowly. People huddled into the shadows of the holes and for awhile, no one was squashed. That was of course, until Kado started flipping pages like mad. People began to scream as they were squashed in between pages and the eliminated person was Tracey the sketcher, and was teleported out of the pages when May tripped over him and was covered in another page.

"Move!" Jenina yelled when Corey was just standing there like an idiot; he was blocking her path to the giant-Pikachu hole.

"Let's get squashed together!" He smiled whole-heartedly, and she blushed at what he meant, but as the page casted a giant shadow over her, she had to deny his request, and ran over him to the hole. He was squashed along with July, who couldn't stay in one hole all that long.

After more page flips, the only people who remained were Erin, Nicole, and Paul. There was only one hole for the next page and while Erin was calculating it's decent, the other two huddled into the open space while she was covered by the quick turning page. If Alakazam's could smirk, Kado would've.

"We're really coming down to the wire now folks!" Noel announced as he grinned into the camera a random Magnezone was holding, "It's between Nicole and Paul once again! Kado, turn it up even more!" The Alakazam complied happily, and the last two contestants cursed to their selves as the pages flipped like a flipbook.

This is my chance, Nicole thought to herself as she rolled into another hole shadow, I can finally redeem myself from the candle game with Paul. She hurried to another hole, I WILL win! While she was dodging dictionary sheets, she watched his movements. He was like a jungle Persian; disappearing in one spot and appearing in another. As the shadow of the page fell over her, she thought it was over. That was, until she knocked into Paul, who took the last spot. He was squashed under the page, and when he was teleported out and she was declared winner, he shot her death glares.

I wonder if it was worth it. She thought to herself as Kelly and Bri congratulated her.


The last game of the day was coming upon the contestants and the night sky was looming overhead. The game was decided; Cliffhangers. Everyone was given an hour break while the mountains were created, and so that everyone could put on their heavy coats. The teams were already decided; May with Jenina, Drew with Corey, Kelly with July, Bri with Gary, and Nicole with Erin. May and Jenina decided to call home from the lobby, that way they could get their coats from back home.

"Do you remember the number?" May asked while holding the green phone piece.

"Shouldn't you?" Her sister retorted.

"Umm…no? I've been gone for like—two years. How am I supposed to remember?"

"Well I was living with Uncle Rolan when I was at "home". So I think this is your fault."

"Pfft! No it's not!"

"Yeah it is! Now go get a phone book!"

May glared at her sister before opening the cabinet below the videophone where the phone book lied. She flipped it open before realizing it was the book for Sinnoh. She put it back and found the Hoenn addition, then looked for Petalburg City, and found the Gym on the first page in bold. She punched in the numbers and waited for someone to answer.

"Max!" Jenina cried out at the sight of her younger-by-a-month brother. "I haven't seen you in the longest time! How's Gallade?"

"He's…fine?" Max answered in more of a question, fidgeting with his glasses, "Why are you calling? Don't you have another event coming soon?"

"Yeah, we do Max." May said, coming into the picture, "Can you send over my red coat?"

"Oh, and my pink one! Just ask Dad where it's at." Jenina added.

"Guys, it'll take forever for me to send it over. Why don't you just buy some?" Max asked, too lazy to get up.

"Just send Gallade over with it!" May snapped impatiently.

"Nooooo!" he whined, "It's my Gallade!" He received angry glares in response. He sighed of defeat and called his Pokémon over. "Teleport their coats over to Party Island." He commanded over desperation. The human-like Pokémon with sharp blades closed his eyes and concentrated, and then two coats fell on the girls.

"Hey, this isn't mine!" May whined when she looked at the pink bulky coat.

"And this definitely isn't mine!" Jenina declared as she held up the red parka.

"I can fix this problem." Said the wandering Corey as he returned from outside, donning a thicker windbreaker. He took their coats and swapped them.

"Hooray! It's my coat! Thanks Corey!" Jenina beamed at him and pulled it over her.

"I could've done that!" May said, putting on her parka.

"Then why didn't you?" Asked Max from the screen.

"Who asked you?" She spat, and ended the call by hanging up.


The mountain was huge. For an hour's work of rock-type Pokémon raising a mountain out of nothing, it was pretty big. It was covered in snow thanks to various ice-types that resided on the island, and several people who looked up at how far they'd have to climb took huge gulps.

May was currently pulling on mandatory gloves that were thick and tight, causing her fingers to remain numb. She turned to her teammate slash sister who was she was tied to via rope. The rope looked around their pant's belt loop and stuck them together, as the instructions were indicating. If one of them had to go to the bathroom, they'd have to hold it. It was the same for the other teams, who were still trying to adjust to their new "other half".

"You guys are going down!" Bri taunted, heading their way while pulling the struggling Gary with her, "I've had plenty of climbing experience!"

"You do realize that I don't, right?"

"Yeah, I know, that's why I brought some scissors just in case you slow me down."

"You do realize that those are safety scissors, right?" Erin asked from behind them, hauling Nicole, who was trying to make snow angels in the snow while being pulled.

"Shut uuuuuup!" Bri whined while holding her tiny pink scissors, "My mommy won't let me hold sharp objects!"

"I wouldn't either, considering you were trying to stab me with a spoon during dinner." Gary muttered. She pushed him angrily, but was brought down as well since they were bound together by rope. And friendship. Or maybe just rope.

"You guys won't win with that kind of teamwork…" May muttered while watching them attempt to get up, only to find themselves slipping over snow and onto each other again.

"It's too late! I can't switch partners!" Bri whined, and began to snip the thick rope with her measly cutters, "Come on damn scissors!! CUT!!"

May and Jenina sweatdropped. "You have everything ready?" May asked her sister. Jenina nodded, and everyone went up to the face of the mountain as a buzzer went off. Noel and Hostess were on their own this time—she was riding her Pelipper and he was on the top of the mountain, freezing his butt off.

"Time to play Cliffhangers!" Hostess announced as she flew overhead, "The objective of the game is simple. Whichever team reaches the top of the cliff wins the game, and wins 50 coins to spend on the board! If you fall, there's a chance that you will be saved by Kado, our maniacal Alakazam!" She gestured up to the top of the cliff where the meditating yellow Pokémon was. Noel patted him comfortingly, knowing he was probably tired from all the Psychic energy he was using.

"Begin!" Noel said, and everyone was off.

May and Jenina were fast, they climbed without much effort, and they were quickly passing the hyperactive team of Kelly and July. May lost her footing and slipped, but caught a piece of rock before she fell.

"You okay?" Jenina asked, her breath frozen white.

"Err—uhh, yeah. Let's keep going." May answered, kicking the snow off her boots.

The two continued up. A gust of cold air pushed them to the left. "Hold on tight!" May squealed through the tearing winds. Her sister complied and held on tight, her fingers turning white from how hard she was holding the rock. The wind stopped and the two continued up.

"That was exhausting." Jenina muttered as they dodged a jutting stage.

"Yeah." May said, and spotted Hostess and her Pelipper, "Hang tight, she's 'bout to do it again!" The large pelican whipped its wings and the two girls held on for their life, and after a few seconds the pair left to irritate other teams. While they were holding on, Erin and Nicole got ahead.

"Peace out suckas!" Nicole said as they got up farther. She didn't even look like she was carrying her own weight—Erin was pulling both of them up.

"Nooooo!" Jenina yelled, "We will not lose! Let's go May!" May agreed and tightened her bandana with one hand, then continued to scale the mountain. She looked down when she heard screaming and found that Drew and Corey both fell from 20 feet in the air, and was caught by Kado.

After a few more minutes of rigorous climbing and flurries of wind, the team consisting of May and Jenina were almost there. They could see the edge, and they could see Noel's carmine colored hair popping from rim. But they were exhausted, and May was on the brink of falling. But the light from above urged her to move on.

"May—please—can we—rest??" Jenina gasped out, sore.

"No!" May yelled, "We can't lose to the others!"

"But the others are so far down!" Her sister whined, "Just a few seconds!"

May sighed in defeat. "Fine! Ten seconds." Her sister didn't argue and rested her head on her hands, then shivered from the cold. Her eyes widened.

"Oh no—"

"Jen what's wrong?"

"Oooooh no—"

A huge gust of hair hit both of them. Jenina screamed as both her feet lost footing, and now she was holding on to the rope that kept the two bound. May struggled to carry the extra weight. "Get a hold of the rocks!" Her eyes widened as she saw bodies through the thick fog, "Hurry! The others are catching up!"

But Jenina was frozen with fear as she looked down. She couldn't move.

We're gonna lose! May thought while watching her sister dangle, and we're both about to fall! An idea popped into her mind. With one hand she held the ledge, and then she started to unknot the rope that bound them. Jenina eyes widened in shock when she realized what her older sister was doing.

"May don't—"

It was too late. The rope slid out from May's belt, and Jenina began to plunge towards the ground.


I felt as though the ending was rushed. And I know I promised 10 games...but oh well! Take 4 or leave it!

Oh, and Review it!