Hello again people, welcome to Chapter 9 of The Faceoff!
Sonic: Do you actually think this story could have more chapters than your other stories?
Well it is kind of hard for me to tell right at the moment, but regardless, I will still put in my fullest effort in every single one of my stories.
Cosmo: That is good to hear from you.
As usual, I do not own sonic characters or Mario characters as everything is owned by Sega and Nintendo respectively.
Dixie Kong: All right, let us begin with this story already!
Enjoy the chapter!
Charmy: Finally, I found the freaking camera again!
Everybody: Charmy, quit it and go get a life!
Chapter 9: Back in the Game
"All right players, time is up, please reveal your answers!" MC Ballyhoo ordered the players.
Team 1: B- The side of a triangle
Team 2: B- The side of a triangle
Team 3: B- The side of a triangle
Team 4: A- The side of a trapezoid
Team 5: A- The side of a trapezoid
Team 6: B- The side of a triangle
"Now then Team 3, why did you pick B as your answer?" MC Ballyhoo asked the team members.
"We all came to an agreement that the answer was B because we have all learnt this before," Metal Sonic answered.
"Sadly, we learnt this when we were trapped in a cage," Tails stated.
"Will you just forget about that crazy incident already?" Vector yelled.
"The correct answer is in fact B: The longest side of a triangle is also known as the hypotenuse, so congrats to Teams 1, 2, 3 and 6 for earning 10 points!" MC Ballyhoo cheered.
Peach: This just goes to show that even if you are a rich girl who gets picked on by many others due to your weakness, you can still be very smart.
Waluigi: Well then, looks like we are stuck in another mess yet again; let us hope that Daisy is doing well in her game.
"And this will be the simple dish... a big slice of pizza that is cut into four equal parts," MC Ballyhoo revealed.
"That is the simple dish?" Blaze checked.
"Well, you can either take it or leave it," the host replied.
"We will take it," Blaze answered quickly.
"And as for Teams 4 and 5, you also have to eat a big slice of pizza, but this pizza is not cut into any pieces at all, and to add on to the difficulty level, this pizza is topped with cheese, onions, mayonnaise and a lot of cherries," the host said.
"W... who on earth puts cherries on a pizza," Toadette asked. "That is just plain stupid!"
Unfortunately for Toadette, she did not get her answer as the dishes were served to the teams.
"Your time starts now!" MC Ballyhoo said.
The players started biting into their slices of pizza.
Team 1
"Good thing they cut this pizza into 4 equal slices, that sure makes things easier," Tikal stated.
Just like Teams 2 and 6, they had each assigned one player with their own slice of pizza.
Tikal and Sonic were calmly eating their slices while Peach and Hammer Bro stuffed a huge piece of their slice into their mouths.
"Ok look, I know that food in the Mario universe is more realistic as compared to food in the Sonic universe, but you do not have to eat at this fast pace; you are not some food freak like Wario, Donkey Kong or even Dr Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed.
"I heard that!" Dr Eggman roared.
"Like I care," Sonic responded.
Team 5
The team members came up with a "smart" way to make their food more delicious.
They had removed all the mayonnaise, cherries and onions from the pizza and they were all happily enjoying their treat.
"Ok, I amdefinitely not going to have breakfast today," Luigi decided.
Gray Shy Guy walked into the gym and greeted the 7 players before walking off.
"Ok, that was little bit weird," Blooper remarked.
"Why the hell are the Shy Guys constantly changing colors, there must be some sort of a connection," Shadow grumbled.
"Either that, or it could merely be a red herring to distract us," Mario suggested.
"Red..." Daisy stuttered.
"Yeah, a red herring is like a..." Knuckles tried to explain.
"I know what it is!" Daisy snapped back angrily.
"Sheesh, I was only trying to be nice..." Knuckles mumbled under his breath.
"Although I am not sure of the connection, but the different colored Shy Guys does not seem to be some mere coincidental," Espio thought.
At that moment, Daisy figured out what the real mission was this whole time.
Daisy: Different colored Shy Guys, constant checks in ten minutes, red herring, working out; it is all coming clear to me right now!
Team 4
"Oh god, this truly is a tough dish," Dixie Kong remarked.
She and Vector were the only 2 team members that were still attempting to complete the dish. Waluigi had already given up on the dish; Rouge was, well, sleeping.
"Wake up Miss Sleeping Bat!" Vector yelled into Rouge's eardrums.
The white bat was taken by surprise and fell off her chair, in an attempt to regain her balance, she grabbed on to Waluigi, who grabbed on to Dixie, who grabbed on to Vector.
"Wow, even when she is sleeping she is still a dangerous threat," Dixie Kong said.
"Nobody asked you!" Rogue roared.
All of a sudden, a loud ear piercing scream was heard.
"Huh, looks like Daisy was not kidding when she said that her ears are planted in all the walls of the hotel," Waluigi noted.
"All right, time is up!" MC Ballyhoo announced as he examined the dishes.
"Apparently, only two teams were able to complete their dish this time: Teams 1 and 6, the other teams were not able to do so; Teams 2 and 3, the other two teams that had received the easier dish, tried their best and cleared most of their dish, but did not finish the entire dish," MC Ballyhoo tallied up the results.
Metal Sonic: Looks like Blaze did drag our team down by eliminating Rosalina for today.
"Team 4 was not able to clear their dish, and neither was Team 5," MC Ballyhoo continued.
"But... but we ate finish the huge slice of pizza!" Yoshi moaned.
"Um, true, but you did leave behind a huge pile of mayonnaise, onions and cherries underneath your table and that is considered cheating, which is not allowed," MC Ballyhoo explained.
"Ok, who was the dumb idiot who thought the team could slip away with the victory by hiding everything underneath the table?" Charmy demanded.
Yoshi, Toadette and Luigi just stared at Charmy in silence.
"Oh, it was me..." Charmy said softly in an embarrassing tone.
Team 1: 50+10+20=80
Team 2: 60+10=70
Team 3: 30+10=40
Team 4: 30+0=30
Team 5: 60+0=60
Team 6: 50+30=80
"Well, it appears that Teams 1 and 6 are currently in the lead, while the other teams are all trailing behind, in this final round, what could happen?" MC Ballyhoo created the suspension.
Amy: Blaze was right, this guy is a weirdo.
Dr Eggman: Our team should be able to beat Team 1, I mean come on, Donkey Kong and Wario could eat anything, including the bones that they ate in the beginning.
"Now then, since Team 4 is in last place at the moment, I will let them decide on the card, but, I will not read out the choices," MC Ballyhoo said.
Vector, the team leader, went forward and chose a card.
"Fourth and final question: Alphabetically, who is the last judge that appeared yesterday in the LVP and MVP session?" MC Ballyhoo read out the final question.
All of the players were rather stunned by the last question of the game.
"Wow, you guys must have spent quite some time working out," Blue Shy Guy remarked.
"We sure have," Daisy and Knuckles boasted.
"Well then, good luck for your challenge, you will so need it," Blue Shy Guy said before he left.
"Luck has got nothing to do with it, Blue Shy Guy," Daisy said, heavily empathizing on the word "blue".
"Sorry, what did you just say?" Knuckles asked.
Daisy merely turned and walked away while whistling.
"Freak," Knuckles said silently.
"All right, time is up, please show me your answers," MC Ballyhoo announced.
Team 1: Vanilla
Team 2: Vanilla
Team 3: Wave
Team 4: Vanilla
Team 5: Vivian
Team 6: I don't know, so just give me the freaking dish already! (As copied from Team 6's answer)
"Apparently, the correct answer is actually... Wave, so congrats to Team 3 for solving the toughest question," MC Ballyhoo proclaimed.
Tails, Metal Sonic and Cosmo cheered in happiness.
"Now then, I know that all you are probably desperately waiting for your dishes, but there is another twist; you see, since this is the toughest question and did not have any choices at all, the team that answered the question correctly will earn the full 30 points!" MC Ballyhoo exclaimed.
The other players were in shock as Metal Sonic, Tails and Cosmo applauded.
"And with that final adding of marks to the total, we have now completed the Fantastic Food challenge, let us take a look at the results," MC Ballyhoo said.
Team 1: 20+30+30+0=80 points
Team 2: 30+30+10+0=70 points
Team 3: 0+30+10+30=70 points
Team 4: 0+30+0+0=30 points
Team 5: 30+30+0+0=60 points
Team 6: 20+30+30+0=80 points
"All right, that is all you players need to do for your game, you may proceed and have your breakfast or do whatever you like, just be sure to meet here again by noon, I will see all of you soon," MC Ballyhoo concluded.
Vector: Gosh, we were so good yesterday and yet we scored the lowest points in this challenge, Daisy is not going to be happy.
Cosmo: Overall, I am rather proud of myself, because my team still got quite a good score despite missing one very strong player from our team.
Dry Bones: It is a small shame that we did not manage to score higher than Team 1, but just like MC Ballyhoo said, we can either take it or leave it.
Back at the gym, the players were still training intensively as they waited for the next Shy Guy to arrive. And somebody did arrive, but it was not Shy Guy.
"So players, it seems that all of you had really been working out for quite a while, now then if you could all just follow me for your challenge," MC Ballyhoo instructed the players.
All of the players followed MC Ballyhoo to a certain area of the gym where MC Ballyhoo had put together 6 tables and a few sheets of paper.
MC Ballyhoo instructed the 6 players to go to one of the tables and listen to his instructions.
"Now then, I will now ask you a question that is worth 35 points, get it right, and the points are yours, are you ready?" MC Ballyhoo told the players.
The 6 players from the different teams nodded their heads and waited for the question.
"All right, the question is: Five different colored Shy Guys went to check on you every ten minutes while you were working out, list the sequence in which they arrived," MC Ballyhoo read out the question.
"Ha, I knew it!" Daisy exclaimed softly.
"You have 90 seconds to answer this question, good luck, your time starts now!" The host announced.
The 6 players all racked their brains in an attempt to correctly remember the sequence.
For the only female Great Gym player, the question was not of any difficulty to her.
Daisy: Good thing I suggested that I should be the Great Gym player; because Vector would not have expected MC Ballyhoo to ask him this question.
"Ok, let's see, the first Shy Guy that entered was a red one, the next one was a Green one, as indicated by Mario..." Blooper tried to recall the sequence.
Blooper: Apparently all the effort we put in for working out all went to waste.
"All right, time is up, please reveal your answer!" MC Ballyhoo ordered.
Knuckles: Red, Green, Gray, Blue and Yellow
Mario: Red, Green, Yellow, Blue and Gray
Shadow: Red, Yellow, Green, Gray and Blue
Daisy: Red, Green, Yellow, Gray and Blue
Blooper: Red, Green, Yellow, Gray and Blue
Espio: Red, Green, Yellow, Blue and Gray
"Hmm, it seems that Daisy and Blooper have the same answer, Mario and Espio also have the same answer, while Knuckles and Shadow have their own answers, and this is the correct sequence: Red, Green, Yellow, Gray and Blue, so congrats to Daisy and Blooper for winning 35 points for their team!" MC Ballyhoo announced.
"Yeah, I did it!" Daisy exclaimed.
"Sheesh, I know you just won some points for your team but do you seriously have to act like as if you are on drugs?" Blooper asked.
"As for the other 4 players, you unfortunately, did not get the sequence correct and thus, you do not win any points for your team," MC Ballyhoo continued.
"Oh crap," Shadow grumbled.
Knuckles: Can't believe I was not able to identify that certain flaw with the Shy Guys.
Espio: If only if I had paid more closer attention to the Shy Guys, I might have been able to help my team big time.
"Now then, for your second part of your challenge, I will leave it to Rosalina," MC Ballyhoo said as Rosalina came to the front.
"All right, just a few minutes ago, your teammates in the Fantastic Food category just completed a challenge that was worth 120 points, what you need to do is guess how much points they have acquired, firstly, you players have 20 seconds to decide on what range of points did they get: A- 0 to 30, B- 31 to 60, C- 61 to 90, or D- 91 to 120?" Rosalina said. "Best of luck to you, your time begins now."
The 6 players started thinking of how well their other teammates had performed.
Daisy: I have very high expectations of my teammates, and I hope my intuition was right.
Mario: It is unknown how well my teammates performed; they could have done badly again, or they could have stepped up their game in that challenge.
"Players, I am afraid that your time is up, so please reveal your answer," Rosalina announced.
Knuckles: C- 61 to 90
Mario: C- 61 to 90
Shadow: C- 61 to 90
Daisy: D- 91 to 120
Blooper: C- 61 to 90
Espio: C- 61 to 90
"Now then, Daisy, you were the only player that picked option D, could you please explain to us why?" Rosalina requested.
"Well, that is because I am extremely confident of my teammates' ability, and plus, it sure seems ironic that the only girl here in the Great Gym category also happens to be the most confident player," Daisy said.
"Well then, here is the second question: Now that you have decided what range your team scored, try to guess how many points they won, give the exact number and you will win points, give the wrong answer, and you will not earn any points," Rosalina explained to the 6 players. "Hence, if your range is already incorrect in the first place, then you will not win any points for the second question, best of luck, your twenty seconds begins now."
Espio: I think my team should fall under the range I had picked; I just do not know how many points they scored.
"All right, your time is up, please show your answers," Rosalina commanded.
Knuckles: 80 points
Mario: 85 points
Shadow: 80 points
Daisy: 110 points
Blooper: 87 points
Espio: 70 points
"All right, let me explain the process, if you had answered the first question correctly, you will earn 5 points and also earn a chance to score 40 points in the next question, but if you did not answer the question correctly, then you would not earn 5 points, and you would automatically lose the chance to score 40 points," Rosalina explained. "And as for the first question, 4 of you gave the correct answer whereas 2 of you did not do so."
Shadow: Getting this question wrong would cause us to lose 45 points, which I really need since I answered the first question on the Shy Guys incorrectly.
"The 4 players who had answered correctly are Knuckles, Mario, Shadow and Espio while the two players who answered incorrectly were the two players who got the first question correctly, Daisy and Blooper," Rosalina revealed.
While the 4 player heaved a sigh of relief, Daisy's jaw dropped upon learning she did not give the correct range.
Blooper: It is unfortunate that I did not guess the range correctly, but then again what are the odds that the other 4 player would actually pick the correct score?
"Also, one of the 4 players actually picked the correct score to win 40 points, that player is from Team 1, Knuckles," Rosalina announced.
"All right," Knuckles cheered.
"And so that concludes the Great Gym challenge, let us check out the final scores," MC Ballyhoo announced while he walked to the front.
Team 1- Knuckles: 0+5+40=45
Team 2- Mario: 0+5+0=5
Team 3- Shadow: 0+5+0=5
Team 4- Daisy: 35+0+0=35
Team 5- Blooper: 35+0+0=35
Team 6- Espio: 0+5+0=5 85
"And that concludes the score for the Great Gym, now then, may I request for all seven of you to go about your own way and meet me at the buffet bar by noon for lunch, I will see all of you soon," MC Ballyhoo announced as he left the gym.
Daisy: I am so disappointed in myself! Well, technically, I am extremely disappointed with my teammates because I had very high expectations of them.
Rosalina: If there is one thing I learnt from that game, it is the fact that Daisy is an extremely confident player but she can tend to get too complacent at times.
At directly 12PM at noon, all the 30 players gathered in the buffet bar as MC Ballyhoo had called for an important briefing.
"Ok players, as all of you know, you just had 2 challenges just a while ago, and I will now reveal the results of both challenges," MC Ballyhoo announced.
"After adding the two scores together, the team that got the lowest points is Team 4: They scored 30 out of 120 points in Fantastic Food, and 35 out of 80 in Great Gym, summing up to a total of 65 out of 200 points," MC Ballyhoo stated.
Daisy was in complete shock and disbelief as she turned to face her teammates.
"Followed by that are Teams 2 and 3: They both scored 70 out of 120 and only 5 out of 80, leading to a score of 75 out of 200," MC Ballyhoo continued.
Silver: Aw man, I thought for sure we could do better than that!
"In the middle, is Team 6: They scored 80 out of 120 and only 5 out of 80, making their total score 85 out of 200," MC Ballyhoo said.
"Wait, you scored only 5 out of 80 points?" Wario asked Espio.
Dr Eggman: From the way Espio faired, it is safe to say that the Great Gym category may not have been a physical challenge.
"In second place is Team 5: They scored 60 out of 120 and 35 out of 80, making their total 95 out of 200," MC Ballyhoo announced.
The 5 players applauded and cheered for being ahead of the other teams.
"And last but not least, is Team 1, who completed ahead of the other 5 teams: They scored 80 points out of 120 and 45 out of 80, making their total and final score 125 out of 200 points!" MC Ballyhoo exclaimed.
All of the players, though rather disappointed, applauded for Team 1.
Hammer Bro: Ok, I am not really good in mathematics but I am pretty sure that our score is more than the average... I think...
"And that sums up the first two challenges of today, afterwards, we will be having another huge challenge in the late afternoon, or perhaps early evening, and we have also planned a treat for you players; we have prepared a big feast for all of you with a huge varieties of food for you players, so please enjoy!" MC Ballyhoo exclaimed.
Though most of the players were tired, they were still excited about the buffet they were having.
Team 1: 125 points
Team 2: 75 points
Team 3: 75 points
Team 4: 65 points
Team 5: 95 points
Team 6: 85 points
12.30PM
All of the players were in the buffet bar enjoying the lovely food prepared for them with the other hotel guests.
"Now this milkshake is amazing!" Tikal exclaimed.
"Believe me, there is even more to come," Peach told her.
As Peach and Tikal went about to take some more refreshments, Cosmo and Rosalina had a chat with each other.
"Wow, you sure were lucky that you did not bite into that chicken wing; otherwise your mouth would have been piping hot," Rosalina commented.
"Looks like all of us underestimated the title "Great Gym" and thought it was a physical challenge," Cosmo sighed. "And you just played along with the players?"
"Yep, it sure was tempting to give them some hints," Rosalina said as she picked up a piece of ham with a pair of tongs.
She and Cosmo had a small portion of their food on their plates and they were heading into the snacks corner, with the donuts at the beginning of the section. Cosmo took one look at the small note placed on the table and her interest sparked up.
"Hey look at this note they placed here," Cosmo told Rosalina. "It says here that these are very rare donuts that were first founded in 417BC by some guy called Dino Donut who was the fifth son in the Donut family, hence explaining why these things are called donuts."
"And he was also a kind person with a sweet personality," Rosalina completed the sentence as she looked at the donuts.
There were 3 different types of flavors, chocolate, strawberry and almond, and they were all neatly arranged in their respective rows, with there being 25 chocolate and almond donuts and 20 strawberry donuts.
"Come on Rosalina, let us move on," Cosmo suggested.
"One second, let me go put my plate down first, I think I need to go to the bathroom, you go on ahead and I will see you later," Rosalina said.
"All right," Cosmo replied.
She went ahead while Rosalina went to find a table to put down her plate but not before grabbing a certain donut from the tray.
Meanwhile, Donkey Kong and Wario were facing off in a mini eating competition. Both of them were furiously eating anything and everything they could find, even from the other player's plates.
"Guys quick eat up your food before the fatties come over and gobble it down," Amy teased only to get her foot stepped on by Blaze, who immediately pushed the blame to someone else.
"Daisy, how dare you step on my teammate's foot," Blaze roared.
"Nobody asked you, and if you want to push the blame on me, could you actually do it smartly like a professional and not dumbly like an idiot?" Daisy requested.
"That is it, time for a food fight!" Blaze demanded.
Upon hearing the two words "food fights", Luigi immediately dropped his plate of spaghetti and took cover while Toadette, Charmy and Yoshi quickly grabbed a huge pile of food.
After a chaotic lunch which seemed like a civil war, the players gathered in the lobby for a briefing on the game later on.
"Ok, so it seems that all of you managed to get out of lunch unharmed, so let me brief you players on the last challenge of the day called Shy Guy Says," MC Ballyhoo announced.
"I get it, it is similar to the game Simon Says, but Shy Guy will be playing the role of Simon," Daisy immediately responded.
"True, but at least let me do my job and explain the rules, there will be a total of 5 rounds where Shy Guy will be using his confusing commands to try to get you out of the game, survive through the first four rounds, and you will be in the final round where you get a chance to compete with the remaining players and be the winner," MC Ballyhoo elaborated. "However, make one simple mistake, and you are out of the game, is that clear?"
The 30 players nodded in agreement.
Birdo: Come on, Shy Guy says, this should be the easiest game ever!
Dry Bones: Though on hindsight it looks like an easy question, it could be rather tricky; after all, the commander is Shy Guy!
"However, we have yet another twist, and if you were eating the donuts today, you would have noticed," MC Ballyhoo said.
The players listened attentively to what Shy Guy had to say.
"If you had studied carefully, you would have seen a small note beside the tray of donuts," MC Ballyhoo explained.
"Yep, I saw it," Cosmo replied.
"Me too, but it was just some crazy history about donuts, so I did not really care," Sonic added on.
"Well, if you had actually studied the note carefully, then you would have noticed a small flaw, let me announce the facts on this donut," MC Ballyhoo read out the contents on the note which Cosmo and Rosalina had said earlier on today.
"Doesn't that seem the least bit strange to you people?" Shy Guy asked.
The players stared at the host while some chatted with their teammates.
"Well, it did to me, so I figured that the note was a hint, and I picked out clues like "fifth" and "sweet" and carefully studied the donuts, afterwards I picked the fifth strawberry donut in the row, because strawberries are quite sweet, and then I carefully sneaked away to the bathroom without anyone noticing," Rosalina explained. "Inside the ladies room, I tore the donut into two pieces and in one of the pieces I saw this piece of paper that was folded into a very small piece, so I took it out and looked at it."
"Girl, could you cut to the damn freaking chase already?" Rouge rudely interrupted.
"I will take over from here," MC Ballyhoo steeped in the conversation. "This was what was written on the note: Present this note to MC Ballyhoo before the meeting in the lobby and earn a reward, if you are Rosalina, you are back in the game, if you are another one of the 29 players, you have just helped your team to earn 50 bonus points."
"And Rosalina handed me this note before this meeting, so do you know what it means?" MC Ballyhoo asked.
The 4 Sonic universe players in Team 3 immediately felt a sense of joy.
"That is right; Rosalina is back in the game!" MC Ballyhoo exclaimed.
The players in Team 3 got up to their feet and cheered in delight.
"All right, way to go Rosalina," Tails cheered.
"That was a very smart move indeed," Metal Sonic complimented her.
"Now then, this means that all 30 players will be taking part in Shy Guy Says which will be held at 5PM today, get prepared and meet at the same area yesterday for the huge challenge and do your best," MC Ballyhoo announced.
Shadow: It was clear why Rosalina deserved to be the MVP player for yesterday.
Amy: So what if Rosalina is back in the game, we can still beat her team if we do better, which I am hoping we do.
5PM
All the players had gathered at the designated area for the game. As expected, there were a lot of spectators cheering for the players.
Shy Guy, the red one, calmly went to the front to give the commands for the game. Although all of the players had prepared themselves for this game, they were still rather apprehensive.
"Ok players, you know the drill, execute out the commands correctly, ignore them if I did not say "Shy Guy Says" at the beginning, and make it to the end, is that clear?" Shy Guy asked.
The 30 players, thinking that the game had already started and did not want to be eliminated, did not respond.
"People, please, no need to be so tense; the game has not started yet," Shy Guy reassured them.
With Shy Guy as the host of this game, it is no surprise that everyone is feeling pretty nervous.
"Ok then, the game officially starts now!" Shy Guy announced.
The spectators started cheering and applauding for their certain player.
"Now then Shy Guy says, turn to that camera there and say "We will be right back after this commercial break"," Shy Guy started off.
All of the 30 players turned to the designated camera.
"We will be right back after this commercial break," They said.
Stick around for the game, because I can assure all of you that it will surely be a very interesting one.
So, Shy Guy Says is about to start very soon, exactly who will triumph in this game, and who will be eliminated rather early?
Shy Guy: If you want to know, then you will have to stay tuned to the next few chapters.
See you very soon!
Everybody: BYE!
