Episode 3

There is a second episode already done, and yet the Mole appeared once again before a victim. This time, Rosalina met her fate, having been one of the most calm players of the game and respected as well, but unable to pick out the true saboteur, resulting in her early doom. As the players continue to ponder the possibilities, the number of players begin to dwindle. They also continue to play the missions, hoping to win money with each one. But one of them is out to hinder their efforts of success, striking at every possible and available moment: the Mole.

Vivian

Surname: Shadens

Birthday: October 4

Occupation: Visual Display Artist

Bobbery

Surname: Keelers

Birthday: August 17

Occupation: Admiral

Wario

Surname: Garlimo

Birthday: September 29

Occupation: Moneylender/Explorer

Yoshi

Surname: Dino

Birthday: April 13

Occupation: Fruiterer/Waiter

Wendy

Surname: Koopa

Birthday: November 7

Occupation: Singer/Dressmaker

Luvbi

Surname:Nimbis

Birthday:May 5

Occupation:Harpist/Oracle

Diddy

Surname: Kong

Birthday: October 21

Occupation: Competitive Kart Racer

Goombella

Surname:Frankster

Birthday:April 16

Occupation: Archeologist

Diddy: Your view apparently changes after a morning. I felt shocked and terrible about Rosalina's execution. Now right at this second, I'm just motivated that I'm still here.

Bobbery: This game is quite a mind trip. There is sabotage by one person, but then a second later someone else sabotages. The Mole must be trained stealthily to do the most subtle sabotage out of all people.

Vivian: I'm guessing this new episode might bring a few surprises for all of us. As long as I try my hardest and play in the right parts then I hope I'll feel successful, personally.

At the dock of Delfino Plaza, the players met their host, who was dressed uncoordinatedly like always in his usual blue suit. The players faced him back in their tropical attire, unable to ignore the existence of the two boats waiting stationary at the dock.

"Greetings to Episode 3!" he told them. "Right now, I'll need three of you who hate working. The other five of you will be working with water." Wendy raised her hand immediately at full will.

"I absolutely hate working," Wendy said with a face of repulsion, keeping her hand up. "And I hate water."

Wario: Well, no duh Wendy hated work! But maybe it was set up so that she would easily be put into the team of three.

"Ah, I'll go," Yoshi said relunctantly, raising his hand too, leaving one more spot remaining. Wario looked around at the remaining players, then at Yoshi and Wendy.

"Fine, I'll go as well," he said, raising his hand willingly. McHallyboo nodded at the three players.

"The three of you, please go there," he directed, pointing to the smaller water vehicle, then faced the five non-volunteering player.

"The five of you, please board the larger boat. You'll find a portable screen inside that'll I'll use to communicate with you from afar. I wish you five luck." The players boarded their according boats, off to their diverse missions. Episode three started as both boats left the plaza simultaneously.

Goombella: Since we were all split into different games, it would be unfair for some people if the Mole sabotaged in one game, making the players in the other game unaware of what they did. So it all depended on word of mouth afterwards once the games were done.

McHallyboo rode along with the team of three, seeing their destination already in the distance. As all three players got a better look as well they immediately recognized their approaching station.

"Ricco Harbor, right?" Wendy asked, not believing her eyes. "You are kidding me, McHallyboo." As Yoshi looked on impatiently, Wario seemed indifferent as their boat reached closer to the gigantic port.

"Hey, you know you get the opposite of everything on The Mole," McHallyboo said, shrugging, an involuntary smile appearing on his face. Wendy sighed, not bothering to provoke a fight with their only host.

The boat approached the large port and stopped at the entry platform, as all four passengers stepped off into the midst of the gigantic harbor. Walking on, they continued until they reached a crane ladder, which brought them upon a raised platform, then to a fountain positioned at the center of the port. McHallyboo turned around, his arms folded.

"Well, my working-phobia friends, welcome to Ricco Harbor!" he announced to them. "I hope you enjoy your industrialized setting, because your game will be taking place here around this entire port. The game will be called One-Two-Three BLT." The players nodded, as the host spread his arms towards the vast water area, filled with platforms, levers, and construction contraptions of all sorts.

"Usually, BLT can stand for many things," the host said. "In this case it'll stand for Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato. You'll be having a relay race around this working site in order to form a BLT sandwich in the end." All mouths of the three players were dropped open, though mostly in confusion.

Wendy: Usually making a BLT sandwich doesn't require traversing an entire construction working site. This is crazy.

"There are three legs to this game, respectively, one person and ingredient for each part," the host continued, pointing to the narrow, yellow-colored cage hanging in the center of the port. While the top was open and exposed, the bottom was covered in a full layer of red-colored items.

"The relay will begin with the Tomato player, who will have to lower themselves down a cable rope and to the bottom of the vertically-long cage," McHallyboo explained. "Once at the bottom, they must find the green tomato, which holds the key to unlock the door in the grating. However, each harmed red tomato in the process will penalize 1,000 coins, so foot placing is apparently key. You cannot crawl, in other words, let your hands touch any of the tomatoes. Once the bottom door of the cage is unlocked, a tomato must be thrown down to the second player below as a baton."

He brought the players closer towards the edge, bringing a raised submarine into their view.

"The Lettuce Player must have the tomato in hand and enter into the top of the submarine. Once inside, they will find a refrigerator with a lock on it. A riddle is present that would help open the combination to the fridge in order to retrieve your lettuce head, quite frankly, retrieved after using your head. Once the fridge is unlocked, the submarine will automatically bring its way to the final part of the relay. You must then exit the submarine and hand your tomato and lettuce to the final player." He pointed towards their right, to a small wooden platform that stretched out from the main area of the beginning port platform.

"Over there, the third player will be Blooper Surfing," he informed them. "It's quite simple really. All you have to do is keep the tomato and lettuce in possession and surf your way through the path guided by the green flags, and into the sewer pipe all the way at the end. If you crash, your ingredients will not sink due to their buoyancy, but you must travel all the way to the beginning of the course, which of course, will waste valuable time. In the underground station at the end you will find your piece of bacon." The three players nodded, still overwhelmed by their mission as a whole.

"You'll be under an hour time limit," the host added. "The player at the end must then create a BLT sandwich and consume it. They do so under the allotted time, you add 15,000 coins to the pot. So, with all parts cleared, please assign yourselves with the three available ingredients."

"Okay!" Wario spoke up, facing his teammates. "Umm, say, what do you guys want?"

"I can do the tomato leg of the race," Yoshi said eagerly. "It actually sounds fun."

"I won't be doing the Blooper Surfing leg," Wendy said quickly. "I'll crash in the first ten seconds, and you guys will blame me just because I'm so physically inept."

"Leave it to me," Wario said arrogantly, the most physically inept of all. The three of them nodded, pleased with their assigned leg races.

"All right," McHallyboo concluded. "I'll be waiting at the end. You'll all be shortly brought to your starting stations. I wish your game the best of luck."

Yoshi: I was happy Diddy wasn't with us, because he would have just forced us all our roles. Then he and Wendy would have had a wrestling fight afterwards.

The boat with the five remaining players reached their location for the beginning of Episode Three. Already slightly-familiar with their location they were eager to jump off and explore Isle Delfino's icon beach location.

"Wait, the screen!" Goombella remembered, returning back to the boat to retrieve it. The other four splashed off into the shallow water, too excited to care for their soaked feet as they reached the dry sand of Gelato Beach.

"Yes, the pure foot soother," Bobbery said in a half sigh, remembering his past island days. As Diddy, Vivian, and Luvbi walked behind him, Goombella caught up, holding the screen up for them to see. It was McHallyboo, back at Ricco Harbor but ready to give their rules via advanced technology.

"Greetings, players!" came McHallyboo from the video feed. "Welcome to Gelato beach, Isle Delfino's icon beach location and home of fruit festivals. Now, does anybody know what Gelato means?"

"It's the Italian regional variant for ice cream," Luvbi answered, her voice sounding refined.

"Corretto!" McHallyboo said. "The Italian language plays a large role here in Isle Delfino, and will too in your next game. I'll need two of you to be the Italian buffs, two people who can roll things up, and one person who will dock at the end."

"Well, we got this," Diddy said with a grin. "I'll go with the rolling, someone can-"

"No, you are not controlling us again," Goombella spoke up. "Let's choose for ourselves."

Diddy: I'm not notorious for being a forceful player, am I? Or at least it's not a bad thing, I hope. Heh.

"Can I roll at least?" Diddy pleaded. Goombella nodded.

"Who is willing to roll as well?" Luvbi asked. "I'll obviously be an Italian buff."

"I'll go for the rolling job, whatever that is," Vivian said, going over to Diddy's side instantly. "I hope it doesn't involve anything heavy or tiring."

"I will assist Luvbi," Bobbery confirmed. Goombella nodded.

"Are you still there?" Goombella spoke to the portable screen. McHallyboo turned around from amidst the loud port of Ricco Harbor.

"Yep, and listening as well," he replied. "This game will be called Cocomero Corretto. All over this beach are little plants called Dune Buds. You apply enough water to one, it'll swell and a sand shape would burst into view. The two Italian Buffs, you'll be using a bucket to apply water to the dune buds in order to spring hidden paper instructions out, written in Italian, from the ground." Bobbery and Luvbi nodded.

"When translated, a paper will direct you towards a certain watermelon. Look around you. They're all over." The five of them looked closely at their surroundings and noticed the overlarge fruits scattered amok, located as far as up the cliff path and having been blended into the tropical background at first. Vivian and Diddy nodded in realization.

"The two rollers, you must roll the correct watermelons, without breaking them, to the pier on the west side. There, the solo player must bring the watermelon safely across the zig-zag pier and to the fruit stand hut. Each watermelon, or should I say cocomero, that makes it to the hut under the ninety minute time limit will add money to the team pot, with each successive one increasing in value. In total, this mission will be worth 15,000 coins." The players nodded, facing the screen so McHallyboo could see them back.

"We have producers in incognito hanging around this beach," the host added. "Consider them my Mole spies. They'll make sure that none of the rules during this game is broken; I'll have to give a penalization if they report any fishy behavior back to me during the course of this game. Bobbery and Luvbi, there is an Italian dictionary and bucket located in the hut on the right side of the beach that only you two can use. Only Diddy and Vivian can roll watermelons, and only Goombella can bring the watermelon across the dock.

Luvbi: My concern was that if the Mole tried to sabotage, they would try and persuade someone to read the Italian dictionary besides us, thus breaking one of the crucial rules.

Vivian: I was completely exhausted after the island mission, and the aftermaths were still kicking in for me. I wasn't sure if I would have enough strength to push watermelons, or at least give a full effort.

"Okay, so let's begin fellows!" Bobbery said, going off to the first Dune Bud plant in view.

"Wait, wait," McHallyboo spoke up rapidly, "I haven't even started the timer. Ease your ambition. The producers will put you in place. Goombella, please keep this portable screen with you at the dock." Three Nokis in shades faced their direction and proceeded over to where the five players stood dumbfounded, ready for the next game to begin.

Ricco Harbor's game was about to begin. Yoshi had been hoisted to the very top of the yellow shine cage, looking down to the red floor of tomatoes an approximate eighty feet below from the rim of the cage, where he was. He gulped, excited, but feeling more afraid than anything else.

"Oh wow," Wendy said, her voice in a half whisper as she saw the height Yoshi was located at.

"Are you ready?" McHallyboo yelled, speaking into the megaphone the players had been using from the previous episode. Yoshi stuck out a thumbs-up.

"Your hour timer begins now!" Yoshi immediately looked down the length of his needed travel, and giving his harness a quick check, he let go of the rim of the cage. Slowly, inch by inch, he made his way down the lengthened rope cable that would eventually bring him to the caged bottom.

Yoshi: Gah, it was scary. I can't hide it. But without fear, there's no fun at all, so I would rather been doing that than stay in a boring submarine.

"Keep it going, Yoshi!" Wendy cheered. At the halfway level, he paused abruptly, facing down at the remainder of his remaining path. He let out a wheeze of fear as he saw his distance from the tomatoes below.

"No, keep looking up!" Wendy shouted, putting herself in his place. "You can do it!" Yoshi nodded, wiping the sweat on his shoulder as he continued down to the floor, this time at a quicker pace. Letting his grip on the cables loosen up, Yoshi's body swung wildly as he quickly descended, lowering rapidly towards the end of the rope. At least, Wendy saw Yoshi's figure coming closer to the cage bottom, nearer and nearer, then completely in contact with it. He had made it.

"I made it!" Yoshi shouted, fully relieved and standing proudly, looking through the cage bottom at the waiting player below. Wendy gave back a thrilled look.

"Okay, now you have to…umm, oh no," Wendy said from atop the submarine. "What do you have to do again?"

"Find the key in the green tomato," Yoshi remembered. His eyes searched the red-colored flooring as he stepped forwards imprecisely, squashing two tomatoes in the process, then another with a second step. Wendy cringed.

"Come on, at least use foot placing," she said, aggravated. "We're penalized with each tomato, remember?"

"Gah, sorry," Yoshi said apologetically, hearing the loud voice from below. On tip-toes, he stepped forwards again, and again, watching for both open placements for his feet and the all-important green tomato. Wendy sighed, seeing his slow progress.

"We have to speed things up just a bit," she said, her voice with a tint of a demand. Yoshi stepped faster, searching around for the lone tomato of different color. In the process he also squashed three extra tomatoes, making Wendy grunt testily.

Yoshi: Wendy was getting angry at me. A second ago she was all proud, and the next second she was steaming and turning as red as a tomato…ah, no pun intended.

Wendy: He wasn't even watching his foot placements, and we were losing money! He was making me so mad.

"Balance," Yoshi said to himself, keeping on his feet and thoroughly searching over the array of tomatoes. At last, he spotted the tomato of diverse color.

"I found it!" he yelled, hopping over to the nearby tomato, picking it up carefully. He laid it on his palm and with his other hand pounded it swiftly, tomato juice spraying everywhere as Yoshi winced, still keeping his balanced footing. He then knelt down and felt the lock around the cage floor door, then with the key in hand, unlocked it. The door swung open as Wendy saw him clearly.

"Okay, now throw a red tomato down here!" Wendy shouted from below, positioning herself from the top of the submarine to be directly below the cage door. Yoshi grabbed a red tomato and held it above the exposed air, waiting for Wendy as she got ready for the thirty-foot catch.

"Are you ready?" Yoshi asked out loud.

"I'm ready!" yelled Wendy, sticking her arms out. Yoshi dropped the tomato, the fruit falling towards the Koopa child in perfect aim as she tried to catch it in time. But the tomato only splattered on the surface before her, hitting the top of the submarine and leaving a red splotch. Yoshi groaned at the failure.

"Phew, that was a doozy," Wendy said, wiping the juice from her shoes. She looked up at Yoshi and shook her head.

"I can't catch it!" she told him. "I should have brought my sunglasses or something. The sun gets in my way." Yoshi looked down at the yellow submarine, then at the water surrounding all of Wendy.

"Hey, wait," he said out loud, looking down at her. "Maybe we can drop the tomato in the water instead."

"Well, wouldn't it sink?" she replied back, but then her eyes widened with memory at the words the host had told them before, when he was explaining the rules.

"No, he said the ingredients wouldn't!" she said, facing up at Yoshi. "You're right! Drop it in the water!" Yoshi took another tomato and aimed his shot, then threw it directly at the water situated besides the submarine. The tomato disappeared for a quick moment, but then returned back to the ocean surface. Both players grinned triumphantly.

"Oh yeah, right on!" Wendy said, and without thinking jumped directly into the water of the harbor. She swam, still unfamiliar with her sea surroundings, but was able to grab the afloat tomato.

Wendy: I was so happy with the entire tomato discovery that I just jumped in after it, clothes and all. See? Bad stuff always has to happen whenever I become happy.

"Ugh," she said, taking off her shoes and placing her socks neatly in the sun, atop the submarine to dry.

"I need to dry a bit," she informed, trying to obtain sympathy for her soaked status and myopic action. Yoshi looked down at her, concerned about their game's decreasing time limit.

"Come on Wendy, we're being timed!" he reminded her. "You can dry later." Wendy looked up and shot him an annoyed look, but then realized the truth.

"Forty-three minutes left!" McHallyboo shouted, running towards the end of the harbor, to the underground pipe location where the third leg of the relay would be ending. Wendy hopped into the door on the upper side of the submarine and then began her search for the second ingredient.

"Ready…set…go!" Goombella gave the signal to Bobbery and Luvbi on the other side of the beach, as the two Italian buffs raced to the ocean water, bucket and dictionary in hand. Diddy and Vivian remained at the hut, waiting their return and for their own job of rolling watermelons to begin.

"Okay, that'll be well enough," Bobbery said, as he and Luvbi retrieved their first full bucket of water. They hurriedly carried it to the first Dune Bud plant in view, and slowly began to apply water to the base of the plant. The plant swelled up immediately, becoming a purple plant that struck both players by surprise, then into a narrow vegetable. Bobbery's eyes widened with alarm.

Bobbery: I knew what those plants did. I've known all about Mario's adventures and the tricky dune buds that he'd come across. I just didn't remember it until the last second.

"Wha-!" Luvbi cried, as Bobbery immediately tackled her to the side, just as an enormous shape of sand emerged from the sand in a flash directly from where the plant had just been. As quickly as it had appeared though the dune sculpture sunk back into the ground rapidly, as both Luvbi and Bobbery got up from the sand, gasping from their mission's beginning shock.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Bobbery sputtered, dusting the sand that created a glued layer on his shirt. Luvbi was still in a state of alarm, but then spotted the piece of paper that had appeared from the emerged Dune Bud. She and Bobbery made their way over to it and saw their first message, facing upwards at them:

Parte anteriore del primo specchio

"If we hadn't of gotten out of the way in time, we would have been flung up, you know?" Bobbery said, shaking his head. "A tragedy was just waiting."

"Yes, though I'm glad you knew," Luvbi said, dazed but focused on their first clue. She picked up the dictionary from the floor and searched for their needed words.

"If I can recall correctly, primo means first," Bobbery told her. She nodded.

"Parte anteriore means first part," she said, then looked for the definition of the word specchio next. She closed the dictionary.

"First part of the first mirror," she concluded. She and Bobbery turned around to see the three stout towers, located in a triangular formation and each one having its own solar panel placed on top of it. In front of the nearest mirror tower, situated right at is base was a single watermelon.

Bobbery: Those watermelons were clearly genetically engineered. I haven't a clue what those Nokis put into them prior, but they were all just too huge. I worry with the fact that these watermelons are actually consumed every year. Not safe.

"Okay, that must be it then!" Bobbery told her, as the two of them ran back to the hut on the East side of the beach. There, Diddy and Vivian sat waiting, watching them.

"Are you guys all right?" Vivian asked, concerned after seeing their near-injury experience.

"First part of the first mirror," Luvbi said swiftly, "and I'm assuming it's referring to the watermelon in front of that front mirror." The four of them saw their first watermelon clear in view.

"All right, let's go!" Diddy said, grabbing Vivian's hand, but then turned around to give them a pair of walkie-talkies, pointing to one in his pocket as well. As the two watermelon players departed, both Bobbery and Luvbi walked back to the water, starting their search for their three remaining papers.

Diddy and Vivian reached their first watermelon quickly, yet unknown to them, the frui locating was only half their trouble. They then had to roll each watermelon they found over to the pier where Goombella was waiting, each watermelon weighing over 400 pounds and having a diameter of four feet wide, from bottom to top, and side to side.

Vivian: As soon as I tried pushing it, it just wouldn't budge. So the only way I could push it was leaning against it which finally made it move.

"Yes, we got a move on!" Diddy said enthusiastically. They had managed their first ten feet after thirty seconds of initial attempt, and continued to roll the overlarge fruit in the direction of the fruit hut.

"Man, these are heavy!" Diddy said with wonder, huffing as he continued to put his weight onto the watermelon. Just a little more than halfway across their needed roll, Vivian got off the watermelon and looked at the ground, exhausted.

"You all right?" Diddy asked her. She nodded, her hands clutching her hips.

"I'm tired too," Diddy said reassuringly.

"I think we should have had Bobbery or someone else do this role of the game," Vivian said, her face full of fatigue. "Can we switch at all? I'm just so tired right now." Diddy gave her a look of worry.

"I'm sure it's against the rules to change roles now," he replied, trying to push the watermelon on his own. "But let's just bring this one to Goombella so we can rest afterwards. Come on!" Vivian caught her breath, nodded, and stood up straight, as the two of them applied pressure to the watermelon at the same time, continuing and bringing up once again their continuous roll as the 400-pound watermelon traversed its way to the pier. Once at its proper location, the two watermelon rollers dropped the fruit off at the front of the dock, and also in front of the cheering Goombella.

"Great job guys!" she said, as Diddy and Vivian both trudged off, back to the other hut. McHallyboo too gave a round of applause from his place at Ricco Harbor.

"Now that the first watermelon is here, I'll tell you how you will be rolling it to the end of the dock," McHallyboo spoke up. "This portable screen is actually a remote control. Inside these watermelons are large gyroscopic balls that roll according to your control. Almost like a Wii remote. They have just been activated, so test it, but lightly at first." Goombella looked at the device she was holding curiously, tilting it to its side. The entire watermelon rolled slightly to the left in response, as Goombella stepped back with surprise.

"Wow, that would have helped Vivian and Diddy a lot," she said, laughing as she watched them walk slowly towards the beach's other hut.

"You may only use the remote with watermelons that have reached the pier," McHallyboo warned her. "Or, you can willingly break the rules if you want." Goombella faced the screen, and at the host as well, her eyebrows narrowing with curiosity.

"Wait, what?" she asked, speaking into the screen-remote device.

"One of the watermelons has a thumbprint design carved into it, distinguishing itself from the others. If Vivian and Diddy manage to bring it to the pier, you can choose to steer the watermelon into the water for an exemption. However, once you do so, the money for that watermelon, plus the value of the watermelons already brought to safety, would then become void."

"Oh no," Goombella replied. With struggle, she resisted throwing the screen remote device, as well as McHallyboo himself, into the water besides her.

The two games go on for the beginning of Episode 3! How will the Mole play in the remainder of their food-involving mission? And just how many other exemptions are to be offered this episode? oiram atrac

I'm actually considering a website to go along with this story, containing Player Bios, Mission Details, and the always-fun-to-create Execution videos. I'll probably get news next chapter on whether I'll continue the idea or not.

But for now, stay tuned for next part!