Summer! IT HAS ARRIVED!
So has the next update! Hehe. Now that the days have become a bit freer, the updates should be more likely now.
Now, how can I make it up to you guys for being gone for so long? Hmm…ah, I know!
A HIDDEN CLUE TO THE MOLE!
That's right. At least once or twice until the final episode, I will be having hidden clue contests. They will be a little challenging to get, but they can be received by anyone. At the very bottom and end of this chapter is a puzzle. Solve it, then message me the answer. And then you will receive a clue that will help you identify the Mole.
Reader: Okay, cool. So I'll just scroll down to the bottom of the chapter right now and receive it first!
Krisetchers: Ahaha! Not quite. First of all, you'll be skipping a whole chapter. Second, the puzzle's answer is included in this very chapter. So it'll be impossible to receive it without reading the chapter : )
Anyways, let's put that aside and forget there's a clue for now! Enjoy this chapter as the players continue to live through…the apocalypse! Just what is in store for the rest of this mission? And what final twists remain for this game?
Let us continue…to an approaching end of the world.
Episode 7 (Part 5)
45 Minutes until the End of the World
BANG!
Another shot rang out through the air, making all four players cower with clueless fright. They were hiding under a fallen wooden sign, collapsed from a building's front display, and each one of them was tattered and dusted from the dilapidated world around them. It was not long until the end of their current world was to arrive, and with it, the end of their game.
Snifit: The plan was to run and duck. But now…we were just holding still. Because the world was not safe.
Piantissimo: The world was still full of danger and we couldn't risk another step. So we did what we could do best, truthfully. We stayed still.
"Was that a machine or a rifle?" Snifit shouted with question. Next to him, Piantissimo shrugged with an unknowing face of panic.
"You are the gun expert!" Piantissimo replied, eyes confusing around the strange land. After a few seconds, the shots seemed to echo out of existence, and the air was silent again. All players brushed themselves off.
"It is safe now," Éclair sighed, as everyone slowly got up.
"We must reach the rocket ship to escape," Piantissimo voiced with alarmed urgency. "No matter what dangers are ahead…we have to go there to escape." Tiny, who remained behind everyone else on the path, had a face that was of fear and disagreement.
"So even if we hear bullets in front of us again, we just go ahead?" voiced Tiny with a pensive look. "I...don't like that."
Tiny: I was already feeling that we weren't going to win this game. Part of me secretly wanted to quit.
"Why don't we just be smart and wait a little bit here?" reasoned Tiny. "There's bound to be something dangerous ahead. If we get hit then…we'll have no chance of winning later on." Everyone looked at each other momentarily for a thinking second.
"I don't think we should pause," Snifit decided. "The danger might just come here instead."
"He's right," Piantissimo said with firmness, looking at the destroyed land of buildings ahead. "We still have to stay under radar, but being still might just be more dangerous than going on." Tiny nodded, but a little disagreeably.
"And there is still so much danger around us," Éclair added. "No matter where we go." The four of them looked up at the blazing red sky above them.
"It's so…red…" Éclair realized. "It is more red than before."
"I am just waiting for this to be done, and so we can win our money," Piantissimo muttered, kicking a wooden post out of his way.
"I hope it doesn't end…with us just falling into a trap," Tiny uttered silently, as everyone looked at her. "And that we don't lose and realize in the end that this game and money...wasn't worth our mental torture."
"Let's hope none of that happens, all right?" Piantissimo said, walking. As his face turned to worry at her statement, Snifit got up from the ground. He was holding a metal spoon that he got from the cafe. They all stopped walking.
"I am sensing clearness," Snifit said, and his face showed certainty. "I do not hear any vibrations ahead."
"Are you sure that's a reliable method?" Piantissimo expressed with doubt.
"I actually know," Tiny spoke suddenly, as everyone turned to her. "When I was younger, we used to hear trains approaching by putting out ears next to train tracks. Even miles ahead, you still could hear it." After a few seconds, everyone turned to each other, then nodded.
"Then let's go," Piantissimo began, standing up and motioning the others to go. "Forwards. To the rocket ship." Everyone took a breath to brace themselves.
"To escape this world," Snifit said with confidence. And then the four of them continued forwards, not knowing that in ten minutes, they would be entering the most deadly area of the entire apocalypse.
40 Minutes until the End of the World
The canyons were now different, and as they looked around, they couldn't help but stare at their surroundings in shock. The sand in the world was now uneven, pushed to one entire side of the land as if the whole earth had shifted to its side. Sand mountains were almost as tall as the ominous cliffs that still stood present in the desolate canyons. The dark shadows that loomed over the rocky cliffs now made the area seem like that of a nightmare, and as the players walked past them, they couldn't help but stare in awe at the ruined desert.
"The land…is very different,"Snifit commented. He looked to his left, seeing that a large hill of debris had formed amidst the disasters in the world. As he turned to his right, he gasped: the shooting range, where he and Éclair had played their game to win a pair of shoes, was now torn and almost unrecognizable in collapsed pieces on the dusty floor.
"Oh dear…" As Éclair stepped towards it, she covered her mouth in sad realization.
"Did this place look this strange since you guys first came here?" Tiny wondered with perplexity.
"No," Éclair explained with confusion. "It was more…lively. And happy." She touched the base of the shooting gallery softly.
"Well, the entire world has seemed less lively and happy ever since that purple paper exploded," Piantissimo reasoned with a huff. "So much for things being happy."
"Do you think…." Snifit wondered out loud, "That this is what the world would look like during a real apocalypse?" At his sentence, everyone turned to him with uneasy looks.
"Can we please NOT think of stuff like that?" Tiny begged, covering her ears at his line.
"Whoever made this world and this mission…the Mole…has a twisted mind," Piantissimo said with a little grin, turning to the others. Snifit nodded, and so did the others.
"Look…at that." As they came across a small wagon that was abandoned in the middle of the sand, they stopped. On the side of the used-to-be mobile shop was a note that seemed newly placed. They read it:
"Look above, at the top of the mountain…the pinnacle, the cliff, the summit, the peak. Its head full of danger, you'll see that now that you're here, the situation will soon be bleak.
"The air…is changing," Tiny realized, as everyone halted. With no warning, she jumped up, making Piantissimo look at her with startled question.
"Did you feel that? A shake?" she said, panicked. Everyone looked at her, confused.
"Uh...no?" Piantissimo answered. All of a sudden the air above them seemed to swirl. As they shielded their eyes and looked high above them, a flock of birds had seemed to magically make its way into the red sky. The four of them observed the group of flying creatures, as it made a strange dart left, then right, and then into a downwards direction. It was a path of peculiarity that made the players question.
"What's up with those crows?" Piantissimo said, squinting his eyes and looking up.
"They are not moving in normal pattern," Éclair realized. "Like in a letter 'N' shape...in a strange pattern. But why?"
"Oh…" Snifit began, and he looked right at Tiny. Feeling his stare, Tiny faced the red-suited player with a strange face.
Tiny: All of a sudden…this strange, suspicious stare came from Snifit. Did he suddenly think I was the saboteur?
"What?" Tiny exclaimed. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because non-humans can sense things before others can…" Snifit said, almost a little oddly. And then suddenly, right after he said that, the ground right under their feet shook. It was a sudden tremble out of nowhere that made the players stare down to the ground with alarm. It seemed as if the entire world had shook slightly.
"What…" And then the ground shook again, but this time stronger than before. The players looked down first, at their moving bodies that were beyond their control, and then at the shifting land around them. With each small tremor, sand and dust from the air seemed to shoot into the air, hitting their eyes.
"This land…oh no," Snifit said with dismay, and the shaking around them got worse. All of a sudden, a shift of the ground sent each of them stumbling backwards. They all shouted out with fear as the ground became unsteady, and now, buckets of sand filled the air.
Piantissimo: This strange shaking was just getting bigger and bigger…and before I knew it, sand was filling the air and I couldn't see.
"Ah!" Tiny sputtered, as a sand wave violently hit their faces.
"What is going on!" Piantissimo shouted. Snifit, the only player still able to keep his balance on the ground, gasped as he looked to his right direction. One of the large mountains that existed in the Western world seemed to slowly shifting ever so slightly to its side. As everyone else struggled to stand up and maintain their balance, Snifit's face turned to one of panic. He ran up to the others.
"Run! The mountain!" he shouted, facing them all within the sandstorm.
Snifit: And then I saw the true threat in the Western world.
"What?" Tiny asked, still trying to scratch dust off from her face.
"The cliff is going to fall!" Snifit yelled.
"Oh…" Éclair gasped. As each of them looked to their right in horror, they saw that the cliff was no longer still, but wavering back and forth like a balancing coin on the edge of a table. But now, it was soon to collapse to its side. All four players stared in frightened disbelief at the structure, seemingly swaying in the wind. And then for a second, it seemed as if it was still and unmoving for a single second. But each one knew that it was not a stance that would last.
Piantissimo: Not even another second to think. No time to react. Whether we stood still or ran…it made no difference.
"Run!" Snifit shouted, pulling a frozen Éclair out of the cliff's path. "Run!" All players ran, some of them linking hands in the face of danger, and some of them to their own safety.
And within seconds, the cliff had moved just enough to lose its footing in the world. With tremendous force that seemed to shake the whole world they were on, the cliff hit the Earth.
20 Minutes until the End of the World
"Are you…okay?"
The air was still dusty, but not as it was during the catastrophe. Nearby, black gravel was present, and it seemed like they were out of the Western world and back on the roads of the shattered city. Everything around them was deserted. Nothing moved, except for the four of them.
Snifit opened his eyes. Éclair was looking over him and he didn't say anything for a second.
"We're still alive?" he asked, looking around slowly and tired.
"Yes…" Éclair smiled, but she still looked worried. She looked down.
"You had pulled me away from the cliff," she said in a thankful tone. "For that…I thank you." Snifit nodded slowly.
"Please don't thank me…we must work together to beat this world," he stated, emotion in his voice. Then he stopped, looking behind him to hear a series of bickering voices.
"You're being ridiculous!" Tiny and Piantissimo were facing the rest of the city and the unknown path that laid ahead of them. Now back on track, it was only a few minutes remaining until the rest of the world was to end, along with the desert cliffs of the Western world. But Tiny and Piantissimo were still talking, voices elevated and arguing for a larger and longer portion of time than they should have been doing so in their limited twenty minutes remaining.
"No…just…no!" The verbal disagreement ended with Tiny giving her a single shake of her head.
Eclair: What was going on?
"What's the use?" argued Tiny, but her voice was soft in question and she closed her eyes. "We're not going to make it. Might as well give up and stay here before anything else bad happens. And…that is my final answer."
Tiny: I wanted to quit earlier anyway…and now I was quitting. I was done. A mountain cliff almost fell on me, and I'm through. Was this sabotage? Perhaps…but it was to keep the good and sanity in me alive before I lost it all.
"The space station is RIGHT there!" Piantissimo argued, motioning his hands to the city's continuing path. "What do you mean stay here?! His face turned to her, eyes fierce.
"But if we go forwards, we're just going to expect another cliff to fall on top of us," Tiny whispered, and as they looked at her, they saw she had small tears in her eyes.
Eclair: It was a conflicting game. We all had to work together to win. We needed to stay tight.
Snifit: Tiny? Quitting? Then that means we wouldn't be able to succeed in the game. We needed to…
"I am not joining you guys," she declared with a steady voice, and with that, she turned away from the other three. Piantissimo, Snifit, and Éclair all looked at her in stunned silence.
"But…but…" Piantissimo began, aggravated. He was dumbfounded at her last words.
"How will we win?" Snifit asked, eyes troubled. "How?" There was a small moment of silence in the city. All four of them stood silent.
Eclair: And as simple as that...our group was broken.
"Just…argue with McHallyboo that the three of you escaped," she reasoned, turning to look at them. "And ague that, that is enough to warrant a win." Before the others could speak, she spoke again, but this time more strongly.
"Just go without me and face more danger on your own. While I remain here safe…you'll all be risking your lives instead. Good luck" The others were quiet.
Piantissimo: If she didn't continue the game with us…she knew EXACTLY that we wouldn't be granted the money
Snifit: It was a move she made out of fear, it seemed. But it would cost us in the end.
"What….ever," Piantissimo murmured, grabbing Snifit and tapping Éclair as he turned around as well. "Let's go. She doesn't want to help us win. She won't."
"Tiny…" Eclair began. She turned to Snifit, who faced back with concern and in fear. But after a few seconds, they walked on. And with that, the three of them hesitantly moved on, away from the single player who remained in the center of the city and who became the farthest from completing the mission.
15 Minutes until the End of the World
"Perhaps she is right," Eclair rationalized, as the three of them continued to walk on in the deserted city. "Maybe we can get partial money for just the three of us escaping." They were heading towards the direction of the space station, and were only a few moments away from encountering the final finish of their world.
"You know how pedantic McHallyboo is with pointing out rules…he will not bend," Piantissimo muttered. "The paper specifically said that we all must escape to win. All four must escape the Earth to win 40,000 coins." He continued on, ahead of the other two.
"And he is always so particular to let us know when we broke them," Snifit added, shaking his head. He paused.
"Well, he isn't the friendliest of guys when it comes to granting us money," Snifit said with realization, and then let out a little chuckle. The three of them continued on in the empty town. All the shooting and chaos from earlier seemed to have disappeared. In a strange sense, it was peaceful.
"This has been," Piantissimo began, looking at them, "an unpleasant game. We had hoped to work together, but in the end, we had not succeeded."
"We have not lost yet," Éclair spoke. "We can still win...if we try."
Eclair: I truly believed we could still win. I would not quit...we would not quit.
"We WERE close…so close…it's just that one of us was a bad egg," Piantissimo couldn't help saying.
"If this is the game before the final episode…I am in fear of what some of us may have to suffer in the final episode of this game," Snifit spoke, as the others turned to him with concerned thinking.
"Hopefully not too bad at all," Piantissimo said with a grimace. "Nothing can beat this. This…" His sentence was cut mid-short, as his face suddenly grew into a big smile. They had reached a crosswalk, and a sign ahead of them glimmered to their eyes, despite its dark and ominous layer of dust upon it.
SPACE STATION – TO YOUR LEFT.
"It's here!" Piantissimo shouted, running forwards. "Right here! I told you guys!" Suddenly, it was a surge that filled all three of them with hope. It was the final run.
"Perhaps we will indeed be awarded with money, at the least, for finding the finish," Éclair said hopefully, smiling as she decided to run as well. Snifit, too followed lead, and the three of them with glistening smiles ran down the path that contained the space station at its end.
Snifit: We were right here…at the finish. At the end of our game. We did not have to suffer any more. And I could taste the money.
"Oh…I do feel giddy," Snifit admitted, and he smiled as well as he continued to run. Piantissimo smiled, and then in view, the space station that loomed into the distance hit their eyes after just seconds. The grand white buildings were all still intact, seemingly undamaged from the apocalypse. The station was now in view.
"I TOLD you guys!" Piantissimo exclaimed, happy, as all three of them laid their eyes upon the magnificent structures of the Neon Heights space station. "I told you! I told-"
Then, his face was hit with confusion, as he halted to a stop. Now, he stood still, and as Éclair gasped, Snifit looked on in disbelief.
"Huh…?" And then all of a sudden, they were still, as they looked ahead at the barren land in front of them. Their excitement seemed to transform, curling into a sickly and confused feeling of dread in all three of them.
There was no rocket.
"What…what…how…?" Piantissimo, defeated, fell to his knees with despair. "How is there…why…?!" As Piantissimo keep on stuttering, they were still and frozen. None of them said a word.
Snifit: Pure confusion…and lost. We were lost, because our whole mission objective was changed.
"We came all the way here, just to discover that there's no rocket…" Snifit said, eyes wide with incredulity. He stared ahead, eyes surveying the empty land for certainty. He nodded.
"No rocket," Snifit confirmed.
""Perhaps the rocket is elsewhere?" Éclair thought. "Maybe it is not here."
"Why would it be? This is the only place it would be," Snifit reasoned, and they knew that he was right. Piantissimo got up, eyes still looking down.
"Great," he muttered, looking around with a despondent look. "Great..."
Piantissimo: So there went the WHOLE plan of this entire mission.
Snifit: We jumped too fast to make a conclusion.
"We need to find the true objective of the game," Snifit stated with a strong voice, and after a moment, the other two nodded, downhearted but in full agreement.
Snifit: We needed to take a step back. And solve the game.
"Escaping his world…we first believed it meant escaping through a rocket. But that is wrong," Snifit said, as he seemed to be counting his fingers one by one with each possibility.
"How else are we to escape, if not with a rocket?" Piantissimo asked.
"Perhaps it is through another vehicle?" Éclair wondered.
"Or maybe it's not…like that," Snifit said, thinking hard and closing his eyes. "Maybe it's…maybe the way to escape is…no." His eyes suddenly opened. Éclair turned to him, noticing and seeing his disturbed stare.
"What is it?" Éclair asked, looking at him with worry. "Snifit?" Snifit was silent for a second. He gulped, but tried to conceal his action that signified his nervousness.
Snifit: And then something hit me. As if something was struck into me suddenly...to know something.
"I...I don't know if I'm right or not," he said slowly, "...but I do know one thing. We have to make it back to Tiny." Piantissimo faced Snifit with an incredulous look.
"Back to Tiny?!" he exclaimed, and his voice sounded reluctant. "But time is running out!"
Piantissimo: We had no time left. The game was ending. The...WORLD itself was ending before our very eyes. And we did not have much time.
"If making it to the space station isn't the answer, then that means Tiny can escape as well with us," Snifit said silently. "All four of us…together…can." Éclair looked hesitant as well, but she turned to Snifit.
"Okay…I trust you." With a confused but obedient face, Éclair nodded. Then, Piantissimo nodded, and the three of them ran back down the path they had come from. As they ran farther away from the false answer, they got closer to the final and correct answer of their entire game.
The grimmest answer of all.
5 Minutes until the End of the World
"What…Snifit? Éclair? Piantissimo?"
Tiny stood up, seeing the figures in the distance make their way to her.
"Why are you…why are you coming back for me...?" she asked slowly, as if she was talking and thinking to herself.
Tiny: To be honest, I didn't know why they were coming back…or better yet, why they were bothering to come back for ME. Didn't they know I lost the game for them? I had no reason to be ran back to.
"Don't ask any questions," Piantissimo said, panting and arriving to her first. "First of all…"
"I am afraid there is no rocket," Éclair told her, making her way to them as the two others looked at Tiny's surprised face. Her eyes showed shocked disbelief.
"That's…crazy," Tiny stuttered, taking a moment after hearing their explanation. "We thought the whole time, the rocket was the answer. It's not?" She looked around, then at them.
"Why are you back though? I told you guys that I decided-"
"Because we can all escape together," Snifit declared, as the small individual finally joined the rest of the group. Now, all four of them were together, and while three of them were clueless, one had a faint idea that lingered on both guess and faith. As Piantissimo and Éclair turned to Snifit slowly, the hesitant player of knowledge took a breath.
"Escape the world…" Snifit finally said. "That is the name of the game."
"And it means to escape with a rocket, I know," Tiny said in a hurried voice, but Snifit shook his head strongly.
"No…it means," he continued, "that there is just one escape from this world, and it's not through a rocket, or ship, or running someone with our feet. It's…by…" At this line, Éclair covered her mouth with shock and realization.
Éclair: It was instant that I knew what he was referring to.
"Oh, Snifit…I believe I know what you are saying." She looked down for a second. Her face was solemn, but then she nodded with acceptance.
"Then we do not have much time." She faced Snifit, who nodded. But as they both understood together, both Tiny and Piantissimo held perplexed looks on their faces.
"I don't get it," said Piantissimo blankly, frowning.
"There's only one way to not suffer the end of this world that is approaching." Snifit looked at each of them one by one in the eye.
"How?" Tiny said, flabbergasted. Piantissimo stared back at Snifit with wide eyes.
"What are you saying?" Piantissimo uttered silently. Then, without hesitation, Snifit spoke again.
"We have to end our lives." It was this line that made Tiny and Piantissimo's faces turn to one of ultimate shock.
Tiny: …wait, WHAT?
"Wait a minute…HUH?" Tiny shouted with astound at his sentence. "What do you mean 'end our lives'? That's not the point of this game!" Against Tiny's exclamation of shock, Snifit stood still.
"Or maybe it is," he said quietly.
"You mean to…actually get out of here…we have to-"
"That is…what this entire game is all about," Éclair said with realization, looking at Snifit. "Escape the world…escape the apocalypse. It is the only way to not be here anymore. To end our time here. Not be on this planet."
"No," Piantissimo muttered, shaking his head. "I'm not going to…that can't be the solution. I don't believe you." As Tiny looked lost as well, Snifit spoke sadly.
"It's what we must do," said Snifit with a melancholy face, "in this fictional world. We have to beat the real enemy." He paused.
"In this game, the real enemy is not each other. It's this world. And we have to do whatever we have to do to beat what we are faced against." He took a breath.
"Together." Tiny, in almost a complete change of reaction, gasped at Snifit's last words.
"Oh my gosh…now I know," Tiny whispered slowly. To everyone else's shock, Tiny's face showed decreased panic, and a second later, there was the smallest of smiles present on her face.
"Everything is fake…I…almost forgot," Tiny continued, her eyes watering as she let out a laugh. "And even though I secretly know deep down that it is all fake…" She looked at the sky above her, as it glistened across her eyes.
"It seems real. But now…now I know. None of it is real. Thanks…thanks for making me realize." Then, finishing, she faced Snifit and Éclair.
"Sorry for almost quitting twenty minutes ago…that was NOT the regular kind of move I make," she spoke to them, almost apologetically. As they looked at her face, it was of genuine remorse. But she still looked hesitant in decision, as Éclair and Snifit turned to each other in worry.
Snifit: Would she not agree with us? Would Tiny sacrifice the decision to win the money?
Tiny: I messed up so much in the game. So I knew what to do. The only thought now in my head was, "Might as well make a right move".
"I'm with you. Let's just do this…and get it over with," stammered Tiny in a hesitant voice. "Let's…do this and win." At her words, Piantissimo looked lost.
"But I don't want to," he begged, almost in the tone of a child. "I don't want to at all!"
"We have to…to win…" Snifit stated in a strong voice. And at that second, the whole ground shook. It was a larger tremor than they had encountered anywhere else in the world, and they each held each other close as the ground seemed to open up before them in the middle of the city. The four of them gasped, looking at the breaking land ahead of them.
"Oh my goodness…" Éclair whispered. With a large crack, one that was so loud that it echoed through the entire city, the land before them had shifted apart slowly. Gravel crumbled and fell into the now-open street, and the players looked at the mysterious and sinister opening that had appeared before them.
Eclair: All of a sudden, the Earth opened up before us. As we looked in, we saw endless darkness. And I saw it as an invitation to win the game.
Tiny: It was the only way to escape...and we were scared, but we were ready.
"We have to go in there…" Peering into it and leaning to see it with fright, they saw that at its bottom was a darkness that battled that of the sinister image of the red sky above them. Snifit turned to Piantissimo, who was silent in fear.
"O…okay," Piantissimo uttered.
1 Minute until the End of the World
"Okay…" Snifit turned to his side, as he looked at Éclair. She faced back with a sad but hopeful smile.
"Together…" she said, as they grabbed hands. Then, she faced to her right at Tiny.
"I…I'm ready," Tiny replied, trembling with fear. Tiny held a straight face, but she gulped as she grabbed Éclair's hand. Then she offered a hand to Piantissimo, who looked at it with a scared look. But, he nodded, and grabbed her hand as well.
Piantissimo: If this was the way to win the game…then I had to do it as well.
"All four of us…" Piantissimo shouted. "Together."
CRASHHH! The world shook. To their left and right, they saw the world crumbling apart. Land started to crack and sink, and buildings collapsed with the falling land, as they all looked at it in fear.
"OKAY!" SNIFIT shouted. "ONE!"
"TWO!" The sky seemed to explode in fire, as they ducked and shielded their eyes from the flames above. The world was about to end.
"THREE!"
Just like that, all four players jumped together, holding both hands and each other as they closed their eyes in fear. And as rapidly as the world around them was falling and disappearing, they rapidly fell into the abyss of the Earth's hole, escaping the apocalypse of the world that they were leaving.
And all four of them, as they left the world, let out a final scream to secure their win.
"SURPRISE! CONGRATS!"
There were lights everywhere, and astonishingly to them, there was color. As little strips of colored paper fell through the air, each player was dazed, standing on their feet in complete confusion. They were standing on the ground, and as they looked around, they discovered something with disbelief: the city was back to normal.
"Where….are we?" No fire existed, nor was any of the ground around them cracked. They were relieved, most of all, they were relieved that they were alive.
"Are we back?" Snifit asked, baffled. Through the confetti and mid-day sun in the sky, they saw that a figure with a bucket of colorful paper in his arms was standing in front of them. It was McHallyboo.
"Surprise!" he shouted again, and he poured the entire bucket of confetti onto them, making them recoil back in surprise on the city sidewalk. They looked around once again, blinking a few times.
Tiny: All of a sudden…we were back?! This was beyond my wildest imagination.
"Umm…where are the destroyed buildings? The broken earth? The city of…fire?" Tiny asked, bewildered but skeptical of the whole situation. McHallyboo laughed.
"Now, you are here…safe…in a world that is not destroyed anymore," the host explained, as the players looked back at him. Every one of them was still confused.
"The mission is over, and you have won," McHallyboo explained even more. "You're out of the mission. That was all fake. But of course, you all knew that all along, didn't you? You did it. You won!" As most of them still stood lost, one player, Piantissimo, burst into anger.
"We absolutely did NOT win!" Piantissimo told him in an enraged voice "You forced us to END our own lives, and then you try to compensate that everything is okay with all this trivial confetti?" McHallyboo was silent, but he remained smiling.
"I'm sorry if you're upset," the host stated with a smile.
"Oh, I am certainly UPSET!" Piantissimo shouted, as McHallyboo's smile decreased ever so slightly. "You make us play this awful mission, all in hopes of winning money. And yes, we did win money, but at the expense of your…your…sadism."
"I am sorry to say, but I do not believe any of us liked this mission at all," Tiny stated, shaking her head at the host. "McHallyboo...just...no. I didn't like it.. Even in the slightest." She looked at him, upset.
"I'm sorry, but…we did not appreciate the fact that we were forced through an apocalypse."
"I..must agree," Eclair decided to add, her eyes also troubled. McHallyboo was still, and it was his turn to not know what to say.
"But…" It was Snifit, not the host, that spoke up instead. Everyone turned to him slowly, as the masked player spoke again.
"But we now all know that we are a real team," Snifit voiced. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes. The host smiled again.
"What do you mean?" Piantissimo asked in aggravation. They were all still heated up in emotions in the calm city.
"What I mean is…" Snifit said slowly, "Is that in the end, we agreed that working together was what mattered the most. We split off so many times in the game...almost giving up."
"That is true," Eclair voiced, nodding her head. "And yet…"
"We still managed to stay together and survive everything we faced," Tiny said with growing face of realization. "I...you're right."
"And we never gave up to win…no matter how terrible the final decision had to be…we did it together," Snifit finished. The four players were silent, not saying anything in the city that was no longer violent. The mission was over, but the reflections remained. They would become thoughts that would continue to linger even after their stay in the game of the Mole for all of them.
"Yes. You are right." Snifit turned to McHallyboo, who nodded back with a smile.
Tiny: Like…I admit. I hated this game, but maybe the mission did have a deeper meaning. Maybe it was supposed to make us realize that we were still functional. In so many times in the game, I thought we were already dead as a team…but oh my gosh. I hated this mission, but maybe this wasn't that bad of a game as I thought it was.
Eclair: And that was why we had to face something as terrible as the apocalypse. To realize that we could still work together. No matter how terrible things could become. When faced with a bigger adversary, we forgot that we were adversaries of each other.
Snifit: It was a great and incredible mission. Who knows? Maybe one day, this mission will go down in history. In a way, I think we were all grateful from playing it. I was grateful. Thank you...for this game.
Piantissimo: Hppmmpht. I still believed the whole message of this game was bologna. But, alas, no worries. No stress. No qualms. We had survived and won.
"Thank you all…for playing the most intense mission that had ever been presented across the three seasons of this show," McHallyboo said, and he bowed to them. Almost sensing as if the host was giving them a verbal accolade of respect, the players didn't know what to do at first. But then, they slowly accepted his comment as they nodded their heads to him in reply. After a few seconds, McHallyboo stood back up straight, and smiled.
"So what now?" Tiny asked, looking around with her hands on her hips. "Where do we go? What do we do?" The others looked at the host, waiting for his answer. But he only smiled.
"Where else would we go?" McHallyboo turned around, at the large structure that existed before their eyes. It was almost as big as a sky scraper, but was more stunning and beautiful than any of the buildings that stood in the city. It was the very object that the players initially believed they needed to escape the world of the apocalypse, and the very object that they initially believed would lead to their salvation. Now, it would be the one thing they needed in order to continue on in the game. To enter the last location of their episode.
To the last location for one of them and closer to the end of the game.
"Now...we are truly escaping this world," Snifit realized. And before them, they stared at the rocket together.
And…booyah!
There is the end of the chapter!
The next chapter….is the…final end of the penultimate episode.
Can you believe that the end is so close? After that, only the final 3 will remain….
WHO WILL BE THE FINAL 3 OF THIS GAME?
Now, let me announce some updates for you all. : )
NEW FINAL 4 POLL!
Please visit my profile and vote for who YOU believe to be the mole of The Mole: Agent's Elevation.
Who do you believe it is? Please CAST YOUR VOTE! : )
Only one vote per person! Thanks guys!
SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO REVIEWERS OF LAST CHAPTER!
Sorry I can't have individual replies. I'll try to have that soon : )
If your name is below, you are AMAZING! Instead, I'm going to give you guys all little shout-outs. Thanks for coming back in March after my 3-month hiatus.
Dark Punxysaur (hey! How are ya!?)
sixthsense6 (My awesome reviewer! : ) Missed ya!
Masking What Remains (Nice quote! I approved so much!)
NintendoMLP (WONDERFUL! :D ALWAYS love reading your thoughts so much! : )
Guest (Amazingg reviews! I NEED YOUR REAL NAME NAO! Lol. Hehe)
FireKai (You are an awesome human being! Thanks for being a loyal fan and friend : )
Guest (ah I always love your opinions! : ) thank youu!
Elegance Silenced (Ooh, you painted me intrigued ; )
And now...drumroll...
Clue Opportunity:
This clue will lead as a hint to the identity of the Mole. Do you have what it takes to receive it?
45 40 20 15 5 ?
What number fits in the question mark above?
Only first 7-8 people who private messages me the answer to the following puzzle above will receive the secret clue! This will bring you closer to the identity of the Mole!
After the first 7 people, the rest of the readers who message me the answer will be put into the Lottery Pot. Out of the lottery pot, I will choose another 7-8 or so more readers to receive the hidden clue to the Mole by the end of the next chapter update. Good luck all.
(Remember…the answer to the puzzle can be found in the very previous chapter above ; ).
Phew! That was a good amount of updates! DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR THE POLL! : )
The end is coming closer. Just one chapter away for this episode of the final four of the game.
Just who will be the next player executed?
Who will be the one to leave the game, right before the Final 3?
Secrets will be revealed. Don't miss the next chapter, as the next chapter, reveals ALL.
Stay tuned!