Pokemon Drama Island

by Autonomous Orange

What happens when you put 32 Pokémon on an island and make them compete for one million dollars? Romance, drama, comedy, rivalry, and (probably) much more! But only one can win...so who will be the winner of Pokémon Drama Island?

24. Trivia Night!

Hello, dear readers! It's me again! I hope you've all been well in my absence. I do apologize that it continues taking me so long to write these, but I have a gazillion other things I'm working on and motivation is definitely fleeting sometimes. Blegh. Still, better late than never, right?

One thing I forgot to mention last time was that this story has officially surpassed ten thousand views, yet somehow within the span of one chapter we've reached over twelve thousand views instead! I cannot thank you all enough. It makes me really happy to see that people are still enjoying this story.

Anyways, I took down the poll on my profile since there weren't any new votes. I know how the final ten will play out at this point, and the poll was always just for fun anyway. Thank you if you voted!

...And seeing as my Q&A idea kind of fell through since nobody submitted questions, I recycled that idea into a trivia-based chapter! I'll probably put some extra fun facts at the end too, in case people care about that kind of stuff.

Here's the chapter. Enjoy!

---

It was morning again on the island when the door to the male Milotics' cabin burst open and Jolteon entered suddenly.

"I'm back!" he announced, seemingly oblivious to the abruptness of his appearance. Chatot, who was perched on his own bed, was visibly startled before realizing the intruder was just Jolteon. Jolteon walked over to the bed below Chatot's with a plate full of pancakes drizzled in syrup.

"Why am I not surprised you were at the cafeteria?" Chatot muttered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. Jolteon ignored Chatot's remark, hopping onto the bed where he immediately began munching on a pancake.

"You should head to the cafeteria before Diancie runs out of pancakes this morning," Jolteon told Chatot through a mouthful of food. "They're chocolate chip pancakes!"

"Wondahful," replied an unenthused Chatot. He heard a creak from one of the other beds in the cabin, and glanced over to see Dusclops sitting up.

"Chocolate chip? Count me in," Dusclops said, his eye lit up. He rubbed his hands together and hopped off the bed, passing by Jolteon on the way out. Dusclops waved at the Electric-type before leaving, a gesture which Jolteon returned.

"Guess someone's excited, at least," Chatot commented. Now that Dusclops was gone, he flew down to Jolteon's level and perched on the bed across from him. "So. What'd you find out today?"

"Nothing," Jolteon mumbled, his mouth still full. Chatot's eyes scrunched up as Jolteon chewed his food loudly. "Whatever Mienshao is doing, she's been doing pretty carefully. I haven't seen her around camp much."

Chatot frowned. He'd been wanting to keep an eye on Mienshao after the last challenge, but evidently Mienshao was being cautious now that her immunity idol was out of play. "I didn't see her last night, eithah," Chatot said, his brow furrowed. "No mattah. We shouldn't have ta work hard ta send her home aftah the next challenge. As long as the two of us stay safe, we're golden."

"Yep!" Jolteon agreed brightly. "But, um, speaking of which...do you think it might be time to invite a third Pokemon into our alliance? We only make up a fifth or so of the votes, so I was thinking..."

He trailed off once he saw Chatot's annoyed look. "Whaddaya mean?" Chatot asked gruffly. "Every time we've added more Pokemon ta the alliance, it's worked out horribly! Druddigon constantly voted against us, Noivahn and Castform didn't work with us at all, and need I remind ya what happened with Mienshao and Lopunny?"

Jolteon shrank back. "No...no, you don't," Jolteon responded timidly. Chatot folded his wings and waited for Jolteon to state his case. "I was just...I was thinking we could maybe add Dusclops."

"Dusclops?" Chatot repeated. He tilted his head curiously. "Why?"

Jolteon shrugged. "Why not? He's the Pokemon we know best on the island. I would trust him, personally," Jolteon said. "We've lived in a cabin with him since day one and he hasn't done anything shady. Not to mention that he helped me out of a rut after, um...the Mienshao incident happened. He didn't have to do that, but he chose to."

Chatot paused to muse over Jolteon's words. "Yeah, you may have a point," Chatot concurred. "Still, I'd rathah keep an eye on him fah a little bit before we make anothah rash decision. It hasn't ended well fah us in the past."

"I hear you, I just don't think we have much to lose this time," Jolteon reasoned. "We've reached the final ten. The stakes are higher than ever, and our opponents aren't going to hold back against us. Not only could we use Dusclops's help, but I'm sure he could use ours."

Chatot nodded and took to the air. "I'll think about it today," Chatot told Jolteon. "Once this challenge is ovah, we'll decide togethah, all right?"

Jolteon gave Chatot a nod in response and Chatot flew to the door. "I'm off ta get some pancakes now," Chatot decided. "See ya around."

-static-

"Look at these," Dusclops breathed, holding up a plate of Diancie's chocolate chip pancakes in awe. "They're perfect! I've never seen a pancake so immaculately crafted before!"

He shoved a pancake into his mouth and chewed it with a blank expression. "I just wish I could taste them," he said seriously. "I guess being a ghost has its downsides. Can't have everything, I suppose."

Dusclops set down the plate of pancakes next to him. "Anyways, I really should try to keep my head in the game. Castform's out now, so it's just...me. By myself," Dusclops stated, slouching over sadly.

After a moment, he struck a contemplative pose. "I guess I should probably start thinking about recruiting help, perhaps in the form of a new alliance. That's what Cryogonal would do, right?"

He held up his ghostly fingers and began to count using them. "Clauncher and Lilligant are both good Pokemon to ask, but who else…?" Dusclops murmured. "Urgh, this feels harder than I thought. I'll have to give serious thought to who I should ask.

"But whatever happens, you can count on this—I'm not giving up!" Dusclops declared, giving the camera a grin. "Only nine campers stand between me and that money, and I sure as heck didn't come this far to lose!"

-static-

In the cafeteria, Diancie handed Chatot a plate of pancakes, which he took over to a table to enjoy by himself. Next in line was Combusken, who gave Diancie a smile once he reached the counter.

"Good morning, Combusken," Diancie greeted him pleasantly. She slapped a small stack of pancakes onto a tray and handed it to him. "How are you today?"

"Oh, I'm o-okay. Same as usual," Combusken replied awkwardly. "H-how are you doing?"

"I'm doing well enough, although something has been bothering me," Diancie confessed. Combusken could tell she was feeling stressed by the look on her face. "By any chance, have you seen Jirachi today? He hasn't been spotted anywhere around the island since the elimination ceremony last night."

Combusken scratched his head. "No, I guess I haven't," the fowl said. "Sorry."

Diancie frowned. "Well, let me know if you do see him. I need to have a discussion with him, which is kind of hard when he just disappears like this," she said irritably. Combusken swallowed nervously, not wanting to be around an angry Diancie. "He'd better not have run off with that Hoopa, or I swear…"

"I'm just gonna g-go now," Combusken said meekly, scampering off as Diancie quietly ranted about Hoopa to herself.

-static-

"Jirachi's hard enough to keep under control as is, and Hoopa's never been anything but trouble, trust me," Diancie explained. "There's a reason she's been sealed away for several centuries and only allowed to keep a fraction of her power. She's unstable."

Diancie crossed her arms with a frown. "I can't believe Jirachi would ditch me to run off with her. If I'm the one who has to run the whole island, why am I not the one receiving his paycheck?"

Diancie blinked. "Actually, that's a great question," she said, pulling out a phone and dialing a number. "I'm going to give the producers a call."

-static-

Meanwhile, a faraway portal appeared in the middle of a pitch-black room. Jirachi, totally disoriented, tumbled out of the portal and landed flat on his back.

From behind him, Hoopa swiftly exited the portal, closing it with a smooth motion and putting the golden ring back on one of her horns.

"Oough...I don't feel so good," Jirachi moaned. "Hoopa, come on, you know I have portal sickness. There's a reason I stick to teleporting."

"HOOPA OFFERS A MOST SINCERE APOLOGY," Hoopa apologized, though the sincerity in her claim was debatable. She used her psychic powers to pull back two chairs that were situated at a table in the middle of the room they were in. "TAKE A SEAT SO WE MAY DO THE TALKING, YES?"

"Of course, where are my manners," Jirachi muttered crossly, getting up and moving over to sit in one of the chairs. Hoopa floated into the chair across from him and snapped her fingers. Instantly, a lantern in the center of the table lit up, illuminating the entire room.

Jirachi got a good look for the first time at where they were now. The room he was in was tiny, decorated only by the table, chairs, and lantern in its center and a Hoopa-sized bed off in one corner. There was nothing else here; no windows, no doors, nothing else Jirachi would have expected to find.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE HOOPA'S ABODE?" Hoopa asked curiously. "IT IS SMALL, BUT IT IS HOME!"

"Yeah...wait, this is where you've been all this time?" Jirachi inquired, doing a double take. "It's a little cramped in here, don't you think?"

Hoopa clicked her tongue. "TSK. HOOPA DOES NOT COME INTO YOUR HOME TO POKE FUN, YET YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO DO SO TO HOOPA."

"You're right, sorry. It's not my place," said Jirachi, holding his hands up apologetically. "But surely you didn't invite me here just to critique your decor. You wanted to talk about something, right? And I'm assuming it must have been important to warrant kidnapping me."

Jirachi donned a smirk and leaned back in his chair slightly. "Let's make this quick, shall we? I've got a show to get back to running, you know."

Hoopa chuckled. "WE SHALL GET DOWN TO THE BUSINESS, THEN! PERHAPS JIRACHI ALREADY HAS AN IDEA OF WHAT I INTEND TO ASK?"

"I have an idea, yes," Jirachi confirmed. "But if that's what you want, Hoopa, it's out of my control. You know Arceus would kill me for that."

Hoopa's friendly demeanor was replaced with a scowl. "OUT OF JIRACHI'S CONTROL, HM? HOOPA HAS BEEN UNFAIRLY IMPRISONED HERE FOR CENTURIES. YOU KNOW THIS, YES?" she pressed. "WHY DID YOU NOT TRY ANY HELPING OF ME?"

"Well, let's see. You granted wishes to other legendary Pokemon without thinking of the consequences, and we both know that did NOT end well," Jirachi reminded her with a shrug. "I'm just saying, after what you did, you definitely could've gotten off with worse than being stuck in a room for a few hundred years. Gotta be careful whose wishes you grant."

Hoopa crossed her arms unhappily. "HOOPA DID NOTHING MORE THAN GRANT WISHES. SHE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT THOSE WISHES MAY HAVE ENTAILED," she boomed. "BESIDES, HOOPA HAS ALREADY ATONED FOR MISDEEDS FROM HER FAR PAST. CERTAINLY, IT IS TIME TO LET HOOPA BE FREE AGAIN, YES?"

Jirachi shook his head. "Hoopa, I can't just—"

"ONLY ANOTHER LEGENDARY POKEMON MAY SUMMON HOOPA OUTSIDE OF THIS CHAMBER," Hoopa continued. "JIRACHI CHOSE TO SUMMON HOOPA FOR HIS OWN BENEFIT. WHAT WOULD ARCEUS MAKE OF THIS?"

"Well, Regigigas canceled on me, so I didn't have many people to call," Jirachi mumbled. "Please don't tell Arceus."

"HOOPA WILL NOT TELL ARCEUS IF JIRACHI RELEASES HOOPA," Hoopa declared, giving Jirachi a serious look. Jirachi scooted around in his seat uncomfortably as Hoopa continued.

"THE SUMMONING WAS ONLY TEMPORARY, YES. BUT, AS A FELLOW LEGENDARY POKEMON, JIRACHI CAN FREE HOOPA WITH PERMANENCE. JIRACHI KNOWS THIS, YES?" Hoopa urged him, leaning forward. "THIS IS FAIR COMPENSATION FOR HOOPA'S ASSISTANCE, IS IT NOT?"

"...No, it isn't," said Jirachi firmly after a moment of contemplation. Hoopa evidently wasn't expecting this answer. "Hoopa, we may have been...friends...for a while, but trust me. It's for the best if you stay here."

Hoopa slammed her hands on the table. "IT IS NOT SO! JIRACHI OWES HOOPA!" she insisted, glaring daggers at the other psychic. Jirachi jumped slightly in his seat, unnerved but trying to keep his cool. "PAY UP. HOOPA WANTS OUT."

"Easy, Hoopa. We're not allowed to fight, remember?" Jirachi reminded her, holding up a hand. Hoopa let out an exaggerated sigh and backed down, slumping into her chair. "We'd both be in a world of trouble with the higher-ups if we did that."

Jirachi cleared his throat, knowing his next words were important for Hoopa to hear. "Look, I know being stuck here is hard on you, and the last thing I want is to not pay you back for your help. I do owe you, after all. So let's make a deal."

"GO AHEAD, MAKE A STUPID DEAL," Hoopa agreed resentfully, fixing her enigmatic gaze on Jirachi again. "IF JIRACHI WILL NOT HELP, HOOPA FINDS SOMEONE ELSE."

"Okay, I see we're being bluntly honest. Cool," Jirachi murmured, collecting his thoughts. "All right, Hoopa, I'll be honest too. I shouldn't have summoned you to the island in the first place. It wasn't fair to bring you there so suddenly, especially since I, uh, always intended to send you back."

Jirachi did his best to avoid eye contact. Hoopa's expression hardened. "But the least I can do is keep you company for a little while while you have me here, right? It can be just like old times!" Jirachi promised, hoping to appeal to Hoopa's fonder memories of him.

"JUST LIKE OLD TIMES?" Hoopa repeated, a glimmer in her eye.

"Okay, maybe not just like old times," Jirachi amended his statement hurriedly. "But it'd be nice to catch up, don't you think?"

Hoopa seemed to ponder this proposition for a while. Jirachi waited anxiously for her answer, sweat forming on his forehead.

"IT IS A DEAL!" Hoopa finally exclaimed. "HOOPA HAS BEEN OUT OF THE LOOP FOR TOO LONG. YOU MUST TELL HOOPA WHAT SHE HAS MISSED! AND WHAT HAVE OUR OTHER LEGENDARY FRIENDS BEEN UP TO?"

Jirachi cracked a grin. "Oh, I have some stories to tell. We might be here a while."

Hoopa cackled softly and grinned at him even more widely. "HOOPA HAS ALL DAY."

-static-

Back on the island, the door to the male Gastrodons' cabin swung open wide. Beedrill stepped inside, looking thoroughly exhausted after a morning of intense exercise.

"Whew," the bug panted. He took a quick glance around the cabin. "Hey Clauncher, you should've come with me today. I had a good workout."

Clauncher appeared to be lying face down on a pillow, however. Beedrill walked closer to see if Clauncher had heard him. "Clauncher, buddy. You all right?"

Clauncher lifted his head and let out a sigh. "Don't worry, Beedrill, I haven't forgotten to water Buddy," Clauncher groaned, extending his claw towards the cactus. Beedrill gave him a puzzled look.

"Okay, that's not actually what I meant, but let me stop you there. Have you been watering that cactus every day?" Beedrill asked, eyeing the potted plant with a look of pity.

"Yeah. Reuniclus left him here with me, I'm not gonna let him die," said Clauncher indignantly. "What, did you think I'd forget?"

Beedrill raised a brow. "It's a cactus, Clauncher. They're known to retain water quite well. You only need to water it about once a week."

"Oh." Clauncher didn't seem to have much of a reaction. "Well, I think Buddy's doing all right in spite of that."

"Right. Great for Buddy," Beedrill said, sitting down next to Clauncher on the bed. "But I didn't come here to check on Buddy, I came to check on you. You missed the training session today, and I think I know why."

"If you're going to guess that it's because of my failed evolution, I'll save you the effort," Clauncher grumbled. "Why should I keep training? I missed my shot."

Beedrill fixed Clauncher with a stern look. "Okay, Clauncher, I've two points to counter that and I want you to listen. First of all, evolution isn't a one-off occurrence. If you keep training yourself, another opportunity will present itself eventually," Beedrill told him. "And second? Even if it didn't, that's no reason to give up."

Clauncher didn't meet Beedrill's eyes. "Look at how far you've made it here without evolving. We're in the final ten now, and most of the Pokemon here are fully evolved. You're still holding your own in your basic form," Beedrill stated. "That's something you should be proud of."

"I know, man. It's just...hard to motivate myself to try again when it feels like all my hard work went to waste," Clauncher sighed. "I wouldn't expect you to get it. You've evolved twice already. It was never a problem for you."

"Is that what you think?" Beedrill asked. His voice wasn't judgmental or angry, but rather somewhat surprised. "Clauncher, I was born a Weedle. I can think of very few Pokemon, save maybe Magikarp or Feebas, that have a harder time growing strong enough to evolve."

Clauncher blinked as Beedrill continued. "Sure, bug Pokemon evolve quickly compared to most," Beedrill admitted. "But do you know how many times I lost to stronger Pokemon than myself just trying to win my first battle? Even I don't. I lost count after a while."

Beedrill gave Clauncher a sliver of a smile. "My point is you won't always succeed the first time. But don't ever make the mistake of letting your first try be your last."

Beedrill gave Clauncher a comforting pat on the back with the dull side of one of his needles. "Anyways, if you feel up to training later, I'm at your disposal," Beedrill offered kindly. "I understand if you need a little time to yourself. Just don't get lost in your head, all right?"

"Yeah, I hear you," Clauncher agreed after a brief pause. "Thanks, man. I think that's what I needed to hear."

"That's what friends are for," Beedrill assured him with a nod. The Poison Bee stood up. "I've always got your back. Anyways, I'll be hanging out in the rec room if you want to find me again," he finished. "See you."

"See ya, dude."

-static-

"Not evolving isn't the end of the world, I guess," Clauncher said, looking upbeat. "I made it this far on skill alone. So who needs evolution, eh?"

Clauncher sat there for a moment, twiddling his claws. "...me. I still want evolution," he muttered sheepishly. "But it's not too late! I can still do this!"

-static-

"Like I said last night, there isn't much I can plan yet. The details are too sparse until the challenge gets announced."

Mienshao huffed impatiently, but she knew Chandelure had a good point. "We need to start eliminating the big threats," Mienshao reiterated. "Beedrill is competent enough to be a threat to both of us, and Seviper's been a thorn in my side since day one. I want them both gone."

"They will be," Chandelure muttered, her own patience with Mienshao clearly worn thin. "Although at this rate, I can't say whether they'll be gone before you or not."

"Okay, STOP saying that," Mienshao snapped. "I am not getting sent home."

"Really?" Chandelure asked, not a hint of amusement in her voice. "And what's protecting you now? Not an immunity idol, last I checked."

"You agreed to help me if I joined your stupid little alliance," Mienshao snarled. "So hold up your end of the bargain while I hold up mine. I'm helping you to eliminate threats."

"So you say, but you haven't offered anything of real value to me yet," Chandelure stated bluntly. "I'll tell you what. If you manage to outperform me in the next challenge, I'll let you start calling the shots in this alliance. How does that sound?"

"You don't hold all of the power in this alliance to begin with," Mienshao said in irritation. "But yes, if it'll get you to stop being so damn condescending all the time, I accept your challenge."

"Good. You won't win, but it should prove a point," Chandelure predicted, opening a book she had with her and focusing her attention on it. "Meeting adjourned."

Mienshao scowled at the chandelier and stormed out of the clearing. Chandelure's empty gaze continued scanning the book's pages, ignoring Mienshao.

-static-

"I can't stand Chandelure!" Mienshao told the camera furiously, wringing her hands together. "Once I'm done with Beedrill, Seviper, and all the rest of the obstacles in my way, I am taking her DOWN. And let me tell you," she added with a chuckle, "THAT will be satisfying."

-static-

"Somehow, Mienshao still doesn't seem to realize the pit she's dug herself into," Chandelure said, looking bored. "I'll try to use her for what she's worth, but her clock is ticking. It's a matter of days before she leaves."

-static-

As Mienshao entered the campgrounds once more, Seviper jabbed Lilligant with her tail. The two of them were camped out in the bushes just on the outskirts of camp.

"Ow! Seviper!" Lilligant yelped, swatting Seviper's tail away. She gave the serpent a hurt look. "Careful!"

"Look," Seviper hissed, using her tail to point out Mienshao. Lilligant peeked out from her hiding spot to see Mienshao wandering back into her cabin. Seviper's head peeked out from the bushes beside hers. "Sssee? I told you ssshe'd be coming from that area again."

"Well, it doesn't confirm our suspicions completely, but I can't fathom any other reason why Mienshao would be going out in the woods," Lilligant concurred. "There's not another key to find, which means…"

"...she'sss meeting with sssomeone out there, yesss," Seviper finished for her. "And now we get to find out who."

Seviper went silent, and the two waited in anticipation for another Pokemon to emerge from the woods. Lilligant pulled out a pair of binoculars, which she passed back and forth with Seviper as they waited. After a few minutes, it started to feel like their suspicions may have been misplaced; no one was showing up.

"What are you two doing?"

"Gahhh!" Seviper sputtered, completely losing her composure. Lilligant silently jumped as well, dropping the binoculars on the ground as Jolteon's head appeared between theirs.

"Are you playing hide-and-seek?" Jolteon guessed. Lilligant and Seviper exchanged a concerned glance. "You know, it's not really a good idea to hide in the same place as each other. Who are you hiding from, anyway?"

"...Mienssshao," Seviper lied on the spot. "Don't tell her if you sssee usss again."

"Uh...right," Jolteon agreed, giving her a puzzled look. "I thought you didn't like her."

"We don't, but Seviper and I made a bet about who could hide from Mienshao longer without her knowing," Lilligant said, expanding upon Seviper's excuse. Seviper glanced over in surprise. "So don't tell her, okay?"

"Sure, your secret's safe with me!" Jolteon agreed. "By the way, Diancie is serving pancakes at the cafeteria. You should go!"

"No thanksss," Seviper declined politely. "It was nice ssseeing you though, Jolteon."

"Thanks! Right back at you," Jolteon said. He struggled to untangle his fur from the branches of the bush, finally breaking free with a strained grunt. "Oof! See you around!"

As Jolteon wandered off towards the rec room, Seviper returned her gaze to the woods. Jolteon had distracted them for long enough that they could have missed it if someone else had come out of the woods. She'd have to come back here with Lilligant later. However, an abrupt announcement interrupted her current train of thought.

"ATTENTION, CAMPERS, THIS IS DIANCIE SPEAKING. PLEASE REPORT TO THE MULTI-PURPOSE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY, WHERE I WILL MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT. THANK YOU."

"Diancie?" Seviper muttered. "Doesssn't Jirachi usually do the challenge announcements?"

"Yeah," Lilligant confirmed. "And it's only been a day since the last one...I hope we don't have another challenge already."

"Only one way to find out," Seviper decided. "Come on, we don't want to be late."

-static-

It wasn't long before all ten campers were gathered in the multi-purpose building where Diancie had told them to meet. Seviper was surprised to see Diancie there without Jirachi, but what was more interesting was the way the room had been set up.

On one end of the room was what appeared to be the same stage that had been used in the talent show. Behind the stage was a large projector screen, and in front of the projector screen was a small podium with a microphone. Down on the floor below the stage, ten similar podiums were lined up in two rows, with each podium having a conspicuous button attached.

"Okay, everyone. I understand that this isn't the norm, but today I alone will be hosting your challenge," Diancie began. The campers seemed confused at first, but after taking a few seconds to think about it, most of them concluded that this was probably a good thing. "Jirachi is...taking care of business somewhere else. I think."

"You think?" Beedrill repeated.

"Well, he didn't exactly leave a note for me, so I'm taking matters into my own hands," Diancie said defensively. "The plan was to host this challenge together, but I was able to find the questions we prepared, so the challenge I will be hosting today is…!"

The lights suddenly turned off and the projector screen lit up behind Diancie. On the screen was an image with text reading "TRIVIA NIGHT!" in large bold lettering, superimposed over a highly zoomed in picture of Diancie's face. The room was completely silent for a few moments before Diancie flicked a hidden switch on her podium to turn the lights back on.

"No reaction to that?" Diancie asked with a disappointed sigh. "I spent all morning setting it up."

"It just feels more like something Jirachi would do," Clauncher commented. "He always does these over-the-top challenge announcements."

"Alssso, it'sss not even nighttime," Seviper pointed out. "Why bother calling it trivia night?"

Diancie shrugged. "It had a better ring to it than 'Trivia Day'," she simply admitted.

"But anyways, as it stands, I will be hosting this challenge by myself. For those of you who can't read, this will be a trivia challenge. What that means is that I'll be asking you questions, and it's your job to answer them to the best of your ability," explained Diancie.

"That's basically a free win for me," Chandelure quietly said to herself with a chuckle. Dusclops looked over at her and began feeling nervous; how was he supposed to compete against the knowledge of someone like Chandelure?

"As you can see, there are ten podiums. All of you can go ahead and take a place at one of them," Diancie explained. The campers did as instructed, each standing behind a podium. Clauncher curiously prodded the strange button on the podium, which triggered a loud buzzing sound. A light on the front of Clauncher's podium lit up.

"Uh...sorry," Clauncher apologized nervously.

"As Clauncher has just demonstrated, each podium is equipped with a buzzer," Diancie indicated. "If you know the answer to a question I ask, press the buzzer in order to answer. Whoever buzzes in first gets to answer first, although if their answer is incorrect, other contestants may then try to answer as well."

Beedrill nodded and glanced across the room. If he had to guess, he would assume his biggest threat this challenge was Chandelure; if there was some prize for the highest amount of questions answered, she'd probably be hard to beat.

"The way this will work is that contestants will play until they earn five points," Diancie told the campers. "Answering a question correctly earns you one point. Once you manage to collect that many points, you will be granted immunity."

Combusken froze; all of a sudden the stakes were a lot higher. "I will keep asking questions until every Pokemon but one has immunity," Diancie said, scanning the room with her eyes to see the campers' reactions. "As some of you may have guessed by now, this is an automatic elimination episode. When the challenge concludes, whichever contestant did not win immunity will be eliminated."

-static-

"Automatic eliminations are always interesting. Nerve-wracking, but interesting," Beedrill confessed. "I have faith that Clauncher, Combusken, and I can pull through. But that does beg the question: which one of the final ten isn't going to make the cut?"

-static-

"I'd like to think I've been paying pretty close attention to everything that's happened since I arrived on the island," Lilligant stated. "So unless the questions are completely random trivia, I should be fine, right?"

-static-

"Oh j-jeez," Combusken said, sweating from anticipation. "I hope the questions aren't bad. I mean, I probably know s-some of the answers...I'm just n-nervous!"

-static-

"Are there any questions before we begin?" Diancie asked, pausing to let the campers speak.

Jolteon raised a paw. "Yes?" Diancie prompted him.

"Are the questions related to things from the show, or just random trivia in general?" Jolteon inquired. "That seems important to know."

"The questions will all be trivia related to Pokemon Drama Island," Diancie told him. "If you've been paying close attention, or if you're a good guesser, you should be fine."

With Jolteon's question answered, it seemed like the rest of the contestants were ready to begin. Diancie cleared her throat and flicked her secret switch again, darkening the room to better illuminate the projector behind her. "Without further ado, it is now time for Diancie's Trivia Extravaganza to begin!" the rocky host shouted.

As soon as she said this, the first question appeared on the screen behind her as she began to read it aloud. "First question! Which contestant was the first to use the show's confessional feature?"

Chatot scratched his head as he tried to think of who it could be, but a buzzer rang merely two seconds after the question was asked. "Noivern," Chandelure responded without hesitation once her podium lit up.

"Very good," Diancie confirmed with a smirk. "The first point goes to Chandelure."

Chatot gave Chandelure a bewildered stare. He knew she was smart, but evidently her memory was nothing to scoff at either. "This ain't gonna be easy, is it," Chatot murmured. "Just keep ya head in the game, Chatot."

"Question two!" Diancie shouted. "What method of communication did Boldore utilize while she was on this show?"

"Uh, you realize she never talked, right?" Clauncher pointed out.

"You have to press the buzzer," Combusken reminded him.

Clauncher slammed his pincer on the buzzer with vigor. "She can't talk!" Clauncher shouted, sounding quite sure of himself.

Diancie stared at him blankly. "No, that is not correct...er, well it is. Partially."

"So do I get half a point?" Clauncher asked hopefully.

"No," Diancie responded. "That's not how this is supposed to work."

"All right, how about we just round up and give me a full point then?" Clauncher suggested.

As Diancie's eyes narrowed at Clauncher, Chandelure buzzed in to answer. "Chandelure, go ahead and answer," Diancie said, shaking her head at Clauncher, who frowned.

"Boldore communicated using Morse code," Chandelure stated, as if it were an obvious fact. "Seeing as most other Pokemon didn't understand how to interpret that, I'm not surprised my team chose to vote her out, thinking she couldn't communicate at all."

"Very astute observation, Chandelure. You're in the lead by two points now," Diancie informed her. Mienshao could practically feel the smug aura radiating from Chandelure, and she clenched her fists in annoyance. "Next question! Which two contestants randomly received the compasses during the challenge where the campers had to find their way back to camp?"

Chandelure was about to buzz in when another camper slammed the buzzer before her. "Scrafty and I," Beedrill answered quickly.

Diancie checked the question card she was holding and nodded. "Correct! Beedrill gets a point."

Beedrill returned his intense gaze to the projector screen. Chandelure might have known more of the answers than he did, but he had an edge that she didn't: he was faster to react when pressing the buzzer. Chandelure seemed to realize this now too; with her lack of limbs, Beedrill had a much easier time reaching the buzzer before she did. Still, she wasn't worried about losing; she already had the most points out of anyone.

"Onto the fourth question," Diancie said. "During the fear challenge, what fear did Mawile face?"

Beedrill hesitated; he couldn't remember what Mawile had to do during that challenge. Was she afraid of fire? That would make sense for a Steel-type…

BZZT! Beedrill, half-annoyed, looked to see Chandelure's podium light up.

"Mawile faced her fear of heights by jumping off of the cliff a second time," Chandelure stated, visibly bored.

"That's correct," Diancie said with a nod. "Well, Chandelure has solidified her lead further, bringing us to question five. Which contestant took out Minun during the dodgeball challenge?"

Chandelure reached for the buzzer, but Beedrill pressed it with lightning-fast reflexes; he remembered that challenge well. "Druddigon hit Minun with a dodgeball in the final round," Beedrill recounted. "If that hadn't happened, we may have won that round."

"Regardless of who won then, Beedrill wins a point now!" Diancie announced. Chandelure's eyes drifted over towards Beedrill, who was giving her a confident smirk. She pretended to ignore him and faced straight ahead.

-static-

"There's no doubt in my mind that I'm the most well-suited to win this challenge," Chandelure stated arrogantly. "Still, I didn't expect anyone to take advantage of my slower reflexes like Beedrill did. The only reason he scored any points at all before I had finished is because he's faster at hitting a button."

Chandelure snorted derisively. "A lot of skill that takes. He probably thinks he's an even match for me."

-static-

Beedrill smirked at the camera. "I can tell I've gotten into Chandelure's head a bit—she probably didn't expect anyone to put up a fight at all," he reasoned. "But the fact of the matter is that she's not the only one who's been paying attention on this island. I think it's probably time someone knocked her down a peg."

-static-

Seviper focused on Diancie as the next question was asked. So far, Beedrill and Chandelure had claimed all the points, but that couldn't be the case forever. She wanted to score some points before it was a last minute rush just to survive.

"Question six! Frillish mentioned having a boyfriend on a number of occasions. What species is her boyfriend?" Diancie asked the campers.

Several seconds passed, and neither Beedrill nor Chandelure buzzed in. Beedrill felt that he should know the answer, but he hadn't really paid close attention to Frillish when she was here, a mistake which frustrated him now.

Dusclops buzzed in with a guess. "Tentacool?" he suggested, taking a shot in the dark. "I mean, they're both jellyfish...it would make sense."

Diancie shook her head. "Be that as it may, it's not the right answer. Anyone else?" she asked.

A light bulb seemed to go off in Seviper's head. "Dragonite!" she called out after buzzing in. "I remember her telling me that now."

Beedrill smacked his forehead with one needle. Now that Seviper mentioned it, he'd definitely heard Frillish talk about her boyfriend Dragonite at least once or twice in the cafeteria.

"Correct! One point goes to Seviper," Diancie announced. "And now for another question. Which team had the longest winning streak?"

Beedrill hit the buzzer before Chandelure or anyone else had a chance to react. "The Great Gastrodons," he stated confidently. "We had five consecutive wins following Minun's elimination."

"That would be correct!" Diancie congratulated him. "And that puts Beedrill in the lead, tied with Chandelure. Seviper is the only other Pokemon on the scoreboard right now, but that can change!"

Clauncher gripped his podium with determination. He was going to get one of these questions right soon!

"Question eight!" Diancie began. "Which contestant initially walked into the wrong cabin when unpacking during the first day on the island?"

Clauncher hit his buzzer and paused to think for a moment. "Uh...Clefairy!" he recalled after a moment. "I remember her talking to Amoonguss!"

"That's right. Clauncher earns a point, bringing us to question nine," Diancie said, moving along. "Which camper received almost unanimous votes against them during an elimination ceremony?"

"Baltoy," Chandelure answered after buzzing in. Diancie confirmed that Chandelure's answer was right before moving on to the tenth question.

"What prize did Vaporeon win in the treasure hunt challenge?" Diancie quizzed the campers.

Chandelure pressed her buzzer before anyone else. "A pair of sunglasses," she said.

"That's right! And with that, Chandelure has collected five points, granting her immunity in today's challenge!" Diancie announced. Beedrill frowned; in the end, Chandelure had beaten him at this challenge after all.

Diancie pulled out a remote control and pressed a button on it, activating the bleachers on one side of the room. "Chandelure, you're welcome to have a seat and watch the rest of the challenge if you'd like," Diancie offered. Chandelure floated over to the bleachers and took a front row seat. "As for everyone else, there are still eight spots of immunity left! Don't lose your chance to claim one, or it's game over for you."

Combusken swallowed nervously as Diancie got back on track. "Anyways, question eleven! What item did Azurill use during her performance in the talent show?"

Chatot buzzed in. "A Blast Seed," he said. "Can't fahget about that. Nevah expected Azurill ta even have one."

"Correct! Chatot scores his first point, joining the likes of Seviper and Clauncher on the scoreboard," Diancie mentioned. "Next question! What name did Reuniclus give to his cactus?"

Clauncher mashed the button for his buzzer many more times than was necessary. "I know this one!" he called out.

Diancie raised an eyebrow. "You may answer."

Clauncher let out a breath he had apparently been holding in. "Buddy," he finally said with a fond look. "Buddy the cactus."

"Very good," Diancie admitted. "Clauncher is now up to two points! Now, for your thirteenth question, which contestant defeated Tyranitar in the battle tournament?"

Mienshao buzzed in first this time and crossed her arms. Diancie waited for her to answer. "Easy. It was Scrafty," she said, looking proud of managing to answer one of the questions first.

"That...is not correct," Diancie informed her. Mienshao's brow furrowed.

"What? Scrafty fought Tyranitar in round one, I know that!" Mienshao argued, her fur bristling. "The whole reason we eliminated Tyranitar was because he didn't fight!"

Another podium lit up as a second buzzer went off. "Exactly. Tyranitar didn't fight, which means Scrafty never had to actually defeat him," Beedrill explained. "It's a trick question. Nobody defeated Tyranitar."

Diancie smiled at Beedrill. "Excellent work! I thought that question might trip some of you up," Diancie admitted. Mienshao scowled at both Beedrill and the co-host, bitter about having her moment ruined. "Beedrill earns another point! Only one more to go until he wins immunity."

"Nice work, dude," Clauncher said, grinning at Beedrill. "You got this."

"You're not doing too bad yourself," Beedrill said with a smirk. "You'd better not mess up and miss that immunity."

"Don't even worry about it. I wouldn't dream of it," Clauncher assured him with a dismissive wave of his claw.

"Question fourteen!" Diancie's voice echoed throughout the building as she leaned closer to the microphone on her podium. "Which camper received the first Pokeblock given out on Pokemon Drama Island?"

Lilligant buzzed in, but she didn't look confident. "Was it Lopunny?" she guessed uncertainly.

"It was not, unfortunately," Diancie said, shaking her head. Lilligant frowned. "Any other answers?"

Beedrill racked his brain for who might have received the first Pokeblock. Lopunny would've been one of his first guesses too, but Lilligant had ruled out that possibility for him. It certainly wasn't Beedrill, or else he would have remembered receiving it.

Chatot hit his buzzer. "Vaporeon," he guessed, with little conviction behind his answer.

"Nope," responded Diancie simply.

Chatot shrugged. "Couldn't hurt ta try." At the podium next to him, Jolteon was mentally trying to figure out who the Great Gastrodons wouldn't have voted for, but as a member of the Milotics he was struggling.

Beedrill finally pressed his buzzer. "Minun," he said.

"I'm afraid not, Beedrill. Your immunity will have to wait another round," Diancie said. "If one more Pokemon guesses incorrectly, I'll offer a hint."

Seviper hit the buzzer with her tail. "Chesssnaught," she said with a flicker of her tongue.

Diancie smiled at the serpent. "Correct! Chesnaught was the first Pokemon to receive a Pokeblock out of all of the campers," she confirmed. "Question fifteen: which Pokemon got stuck in the webbed wall during the first maze challenge?"

Lilligant meekly pressed her button, somewhat intimidated by the fact that she had guessed wrong the first time. "It was Shiftry," she said softly. "I saw him stuck in there."

"That is correct! And with that, Lilligant takes her first point!" Diancie exclaimed. Her tone suddenly shifted. "Let's take stock of the scores, shall we? At this point in the game, we currently have…"

The screen behind Diancie stopped displaying questions momentarily to show a poorly constructed graphic instead. In one column were pictures of the campers, while in another column there was a tally of how many points each camper had.

"In first place...well, I suppose in first place is Chandelure, who has already completed the challenge!" Diancie said, amending her sentence after it had already started. "But in first place out of our remaining contestants is Beedrill, with four points! Will he finish strong, or lose the best lead we've seen besides Chandelure's?"

"I'm really hoping it's the former," Beedrill commented sarcastically, loud enough for the other campers to hear. Seviper snickered from the row behind him.

Diancie ignored Beedrill's quip. "With two points each, Clauncher and Seviper follow up Beedrill's score!" Diancie announced. "Chatot and Lilligant each have one point, and everyone else is stuck at the bottom with zero. They'll need to pick up the pace before they get left in the dust!"

"Anyone else kind of worried about being at the bottom?" Dusclops asked nervously. "Or is it just me?"

"These questions seem kind of hard," admitted Combusken from next to him. Dusclops felt a bit relieved that he wasn't the only one struggling to come up with the answers.

Combusken glanced up as Diancie began speaking once more. "And now, we move onward to the sixteenth question!" said Diancie. "What game did Cryogonal and Boldore frequently enjoy playing together in their cabin?"

"Ooh, I know this one!" Dusclops exclaimed, hitting his button. Dusclops bounced up and down on his feet, excited as he answered, "They played chess together!"

"That would be correct," Diancie agreed, adding a point to Dusclops's score. Combusken's head drooped; now that Dusclops had a point, he was one of only three Pokemon without any points. Jolteon and Mienshao also appeared nervous for not having any points, although Mienshao was doing her best to conceal her own nerves.

"Time for question seventeen. Which contestant was successfully able to break into the warehouse?" Diancie inquired. A silence followed, as no one was really sure of the answer.

"...Zoroark?" Lilligant guessed, buzzing in after a moment's pause. "I saw him hanging around by the warehouse a lot while he was here."

"A good guess, but not the right one," Diancie told her. "Any other takers?"

Mienshao suddenly had an idea. "Liepard!" she shouted, buzzing in. "It was her, wasn't it?"

Diancie looked at Mienshao in surprise before shaking her head. "No, it was not Liepard who made it into the warehouse. According to our security camera footage, only one Pokemon made it in," Diancie elaborated.

Mienshao crossed her arms and scowled. She thought she'd had that one figured out for sure.

-static-

"Everything would add up if Liepard had been the one to break into the warehouse," Mienshao said, explaining her logic. "I discovered the challenge calendar here in the confessional as soon as she left. It would stand to reason that she might have left it behind for someone to find."

The weasel slumped over in defeat. "But I guess not. Damn it, this challenge is hard," she groaned.

-static-

"Baltoy," Chatot said next, using his wing to press his own buzzer.

"Correct!" Diancie confirmed. Chatot smirked in satisfaction; he had a sneaking suspicion that it would have been Baltoy, since the clay Pokemon had always acted secretively, even when they were on the same team.

"Question eighteen!" Diancie began. "What injury prevented Lopunny from performing well during the boot camp challenge?"

Mienshao pressed her buzzer again, looking annoyed as she leaned against her podium. "She had a leg cramp," Mienshao stated flatly.

"That's correct!"

"About damn time," Mienshao muttered under breath.

"Question nineteen is this: which two previous challenges took place back-to-back?" Diancie asked.

Beedrill slammed his buzzer with a needle before anyone else could try to buzz in. "The race around the island and the challenge that required us to stay awake took place with no breaks in between," Beedrill responded. "All other challenges have given us at least some time to rest."

Diancie smiled at him. "That's a very thorough answer, and also completely correct! Congratulations, Beedrill, you're the second Pokemon to be granted immunity in this challenge!"

Beedrill smirked and got up from his podium, floating over to the bleachers where he sat a distance away from Chandelure. The chandelier Pokemon seemed to be doing her best to ignore him, although Beedrill looked pleased that he was now sitting in the winners' section. Clauncher gave him a thumbs-up from afar, and Beedrill grinned.

-static-

"That was simple enough," Beedrill stated nonchalantly. "Now all I have to do is wait for Clauncher and Combusken's safety. Although I will confess that I'm a bit more concerned for Combusken," he finished with a frown. "He doesn't do well under pressure, so I hope this challenge doesn't make him lose his composure."

-static-

"I knew Beedrill could handle this challenge no problem," Clauncher said with a grin. "He's probably the smartest Pokemon here, maybe not counting Chandelure. And he even gives her a run for her money!"

Clauncher rubbed his claws together. "All I gotta do now is answer three more questions to get immunity for myself. Immunity, here I come!" he cheered.

-static-

"Question twenty! Who are the only contestants who have voted for themselves during an elimination ceremony?" Diancie asked.

Chatot reached for his buzzer, but it seemed that Dusclops had pressed his first. "Easy! Azurill and Baltoy," Dusclops answered. "I remember when that happened. It was, uh, weird, to say the least."

"Dusclops is correct," Diancie confirmed. Dusclops pumped his fist in the air enthusiastically. "Question twenty-one! Who was the twentieth camper to arrive on the island?"

Clauncher stared forward blankly before exchanging a glance with Seviper. They had been the last two Pokemon to arrive on the island, and as a result had no idea what had happened before they arrived. Seviper sighed, drawing the same conclusion that neither of them were going to answer this question correctly.

Someone finally pressed the buzzer after a few seconds, however. "Castform?" Jolteon guessed, tilting his head.

Diancie smiled at him. "Correct!"

Jolteon glanced down at his podium in confusion. "Why do I remember that?" he asked himself.

-static-

"Oh, sure. NOW he remembers the exact order of the campers, when it's only himself at stake," said Chandelure bitterly with an angry sigh.

-static-

Chatot gave Jolteon a nod of approval from the next podium over, and Jolteon began to feel a bit better about his odds. Now he wasn't in last place anymore; only Combusken didn't have any points yet.

Speaking of Combusken, the poor bird was now beginning to enter panic mode. Clauncher could see that his friend was racking his brain for any information that might help him at all, even though this kind of stress was more likely to sabotage him than anything.

"Hey, dude. Take it easy," Clauncher whispered gently. Combusken shivered as he looked over at the crustacean. "You're not out of the game yet. There's still plenty of time to answer the questions, so don't sweat it too much."

"I'm in last place!" Combusken reminded him, visibly shaking. "Wh-what do I do, Clauncher? I-if I don't answer the questions, I'm d-done for!"

Clauncher pondered the question for a moment before smiling at Combusken. "Hey, you and I both know being in last place doesn't mean you're done for," he said in a comforting voice. "Me and you, we've escaped the bottom two a lot more than anyone, yeah?"

Combusken nodded silently as Clauncher's grin grew wider. "So all you have to do is not be at the very bottom," Clauncher explained. "As soon as you gain even one point, you won't even be in last anymore. So don't count yourself out yet."

"R-right," Combusken agreed with a nod. Clauncher's logic didn't exactly comfort him, as Combusken wasn't very certain of his ability to answer any questions correctly at all, but the part about not being at the very bottom managed to spark a bit of courage within him. Combusken had escaped from the bottom more times than anyone else; what was one more time, really?

Unfortunately, Clauncher and Combusken had managed to talk all the way through Diancie's last question, which was something along the lines of "How did Clefairy's grandfather die?" Chatot had managed to get that question right, since Clefairy had been talking to him when she mentioned that her grandpa was hit by a bus.

"Nevah thought I'd be glad that Clefairy talked ta me," Chatot muttered as Diancie moved on to the next question.

"Who was the only camper to be in two alliances at once?" Diancie asked next.

Dusclops buzzed in. "Mawile," he said with a frown. Diancie nodded and gave him his point, although Dusclops looked more glum about it than anything.

"Question twenty-four! How many Pokemon have evolved here on the island?" Diancie asked, her voice amplified by a microphone.

Finally, Combusken buzzed in. "T-two!" he shouted out. "Just Beedrill and me!"

Diancie opened her mouth to answer, but was suddenly interrupted as Clauncher suddenly buzzed in. "OBJECTION! Does it count if you started evolving?" he asked. "Because if so, I almost did, so that's three!"

"I...don't know if I should count that," Diancie admitted, but she was cut off again as another contestant buzzed in.

"What about Mega Evolutionsss?" Seviper hissed. "Mawile usssed one of thossse, which would make it four, assssuming that countsss."

Diancie was about to respond, but Clauncher buzzed in again. "Hold it!" he exclaimed, slamming his claws onto his podium for emphasis. "Sharpedo used a Mega Evolution while fighting me! So that's five!"

"Fair enough," Seviper said with a slight snake-like shrug. However that works.

The contestants all stared at Diancie expectantly as she mulled over all of their answers. "...I was only thinking of basic evolutions like Beedrill and Combusken's," Diancie admitted. "But you're all kind of right, so I'm just going to give everyone who answered a point."

"Not so fast!" Clauncher interjected, buzzing in again. "I answered twice, which means I get two points! Right?"

"No," Diancie responded flatly.

"Fair enough," Clauncher said with a shrug, leaning back from his podium.

Combusken seemed happy that he now had even a single point, while Seviper was smirking subtly about being tied in the lead again. Lilligant was happy that Seviper had another point under her belt, but was still worried about how few points she had for herself.

"Okay, that question was a bit of a trainwreck, so we'll do something simple for question twenty-five. How about…" Diancie trailed off, looking over her sheet of questions. "Ah, this will do! What was Reuniclus's handicap during the tag challenge?"

Lilligant buzzed in. "I believe he had an iron ball," she stated uncertainly.

After a moment, Diancie confirmed her answer. "Very good, Lilligant. You're up to two points," Diancie said. Lilligant let out a sigh of relief as she felt a slight weight lifted from her shoulders.

"Question twenty-six! How many brothers does Swinub have?" asked Diancie.

The campers puzzled over this for a while, since most of them hadn't gotten to know Swinub very well. Combusken hesitantly decided to buzz in, hoping he remembered what Swinub had said correctly.

"Two?" Combusken guessed hopefully. "At least, I think that's what h-he said…"

"And you would be right!" Diancie announced with a bright smile. Combusken looked relieved. "Question twenty-seven! Which camper eliminated Liepard during the paintball challenge?"

"It's gotta be a Gastrodon," Chatot reasoned. He paused to think of which Gastrodons lasted a long time in the paintball challenge. After pressing his buzzer, he took a guess. "...Minun?"

"Nope!" said Diancie. Chatot frowned and waited for someone else to try to answer. It was Mienshao who buzzed in next, however.

"Azurill was the one who eliminated Liepard," Mienshao recalled. "She hit me and Liepard with the same paint grenade."

"Very good! That's one more point to Mienshao," Diancie stated. Nobody looked happy that Mienshao was catching up, except for the weasel herself of course. "Onto question twenty-eight! Who was the first camper to—"

Before Diancie could even finish her sentence, a portal with a golden rim materialized beside her. Diancie stopped to analyze the portal, and it didn't take long for something to emerge from it. As one may have expected, the thing that came out of that portal was none other than Jirachi.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" Jirachi greeted everyone in a chipper voice, ignoring the fact that he had just appeared out of nowhere. "I'm back!"

Diancie crossed her arms. "Where have you been?" she asked, unimpressed by Jirachi's flashy entrance. "I take it from the portal behind you that you've been spending some time with Hoopa."

"That's neither here nor there," Jirachi said with a dismissive wave. "She just wanted to chat, is all."

"And you decided to skip a challenge in order to chat with her?" Diancie said, raising an eyebrow.

Jirachi chuckled awkwardly. "Actually, she sort of took me from the island by surprise. But it's okay, everything is resolved!" he assured Diancie, who was still giving him a disapproving look. "All I had to do was talk to her, and then I gave her the Magic Hat in exchange for letting me go!"

Diancie stared at him in horror. "You gave her the Magic Hat?" she repeated, her voice strained.

"Yes, and we'll talk about this later," Jirachi urged her, glancing over to see ten campers staring at both of the hosts. "You were right about Hoopa and I didn't have any other options. There, are you happy?"

Diancie did indeed look a bit smug after Jirachi admitting that he was wrong. "Yes, that'll do," she said. "Anyways, as you can probably tell, I started the challenge for you."

"Oh," said Jirachi. He glanced backward at the big projector screen, which Diancie then changed to display the scores for him. "Wait, Chandelure and Beedrill are already immune?"

"Yeah, you've been gone for a while," Diancie reminded him. "We've gone through twenty-seven questions already."

Jirachi wore a look of betrayal for several seconds before snatching the question card out of Diancie's hands. "GIVE me that," he demanded, before scanning it over with his eyes. "Jeez, you really did ask twenty-seven questions, huh? Those poor campers must have been bored out of their minds!"

"...You're not being serious right now, are you?" Diancie asked with a look of disbelief.

Jirachi shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. There's a reason why I'm the host and you're the co-host, Diancie! The difference between us is a little something called charisma!" he said with a dramatic flourish of his arms. "Let me show you how a real host does it!"

Diancie looked rather offended but stepped back as Jirachi took over at the podium. "All right, campers, welcome to part two of your trivia challenge!" Jirachi shouted. "Hosted by yours truly, this second round will be filled with only the most intriguing, shocking, and dare I say even the juiciest of questions!"

Jirachi held the microphone closer to his mouth. "If you're not prepared to give your all in the second round, then prepare to be sent packing!" he announced with a gesture towards the doors. "So, without further ado, I present to you the next question!"

Jirachi cleared his throat. "Which contestant threw up in the Marvelous Milotics' salad bowl during the cooking challenge?" Jirachi asked.

This question was initially met with silence, but Jolteon trembled behind his podium. He knew the correct answer to the question, of course, because it was him—but nobody else knew that, and he would be exposing himself if he answered it now.

Chatot buzzed in first to answer the question, however. "I'm gonna assume it was Baltoy, because we left him ta guard the food fah us," Chatot said. "Although that does beg the question of how he can puke without a mouth."

"Well, Chatot, your answer doesn't make sense because it's not the right one!" Jirachi said with a snicker. Chatot glared at him from across the room. "Anyone else? Going once? Going twice?"

Jolteon finally pressed down on his buzzer, a shameful look crossing his face. "It was me," he muttered, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Jirachi pressed a hand to his ear. "I'm sorry, what was that?" Jirachi asked with a grin. "Care to repeat that a little louder?"

"It was me. I threw up in the salad," Jolteon admitted, his face flushed out of embarrassment. Chatot blinked in surprise as Mienshao laughed from across the room.

-static-

"I never would have guessed Jolteon was the one who sabotaged his own team," Mienshao said, laughing to herself in the confessional. "He really can't do anything right, can he?"

-static-

Jolteon sat in the confessional, covering his face with both of his front paws. "I hate this show," he mumbled miserably.

-static-

"Doesn't it feel better to get the truth off of your chest?" Jirachi asked rhetorically as he watched Jolteon sink behind his podium to avoid everyone's eyes. "Congratulations, Jolteon, you've earned yourself a point! Now, onto the next question!

"What is the shortest lasting alliance in the history of Pokemon Drama Island so far?" Jirachi asked. "Here's a hint: it lasted less than one episode!"

"Less than an episode?" Clauncher wondered. "That's got to be some kind of record. And it's definitely not my alliance, so who could it be…?"

In the bleachers, even though she was out of the game, Chandelure mused over the question as well. The shortest alliance she knew about was between Druddigon and Escavalier, but according to Druddigon, it had lasted for approximately two episodes. Chandelure was curious to know which other alliance had slipped under her radar undetected.

Mienshao buzzed in to answer the question for Chandelure, however. "There was an alliance between myself, Lopunny, Chatot, and Jolteon that lasted for very little time," Mienshao responded, looking up at Jirachi on the stage. "Could that be the answer you're looking for?"

"Another alliance led by Mienssshao? No wonder it didn't last," Seviper snorted. Lilligant tried to hide her smirk behind one hand as Mienshao shot Seviper a glare.

"That's right, Mienshao! One point for you, and a tip from me! If you want your alliances to last, consider not making your alliance members hate you!" Jirachi said cheerfully. Mienshao scowled at him and looked away.

-static-

"I'm not sssurprised to hear that Mienssshao tried to run another alliance after her alliance with Minun and Lilligant fell apart," Seviper said, slithering into the confessional. "What I am sssurprised to hear is that anyone elssse agreed to it that late in the game. Chatot, Jolteon, and Lopunny mussst have been pretty desssperate to team up with her of all Pokemon."

-static-

"Time for question thirty, I suppose!" Jirachi decided, holding up his question card. "Ah, this should be a nice, easy one for whoever remembers the fear challenge well!"

Clauncher had a quick flashback to the fear challenge, where he had been left alone in the woods. Seviper recalled being stranded on a boat by herself, Jolteon trembled at the thought of Spinarak, and Lilligant had a vague recollection of being on fire for some reason.

"The question is as follows: which contestant had a fear of triangles?" Jirachi inquired.

BZZT!

"Escavalier," Mienshao answered before anyone else managed to do so, even though many knew the answer. Chatot groaned as a fourth point was added to Mienshao's score; she now had the most points out of everyone remaining.

"And with that, Mienshao now tops the scoreboard with four points!" Jirachi announced. Beedrill, off in the bleachers, glared down at Mienshao below. Even though she no longer had an idol, Mienshao could still make it through the challenge since it was an automatic elimination.

-static-

"It really should not be this hard to get the most disliked Pokemon on the island out of the game," Beedrill reasoned, tapping his needles against the seat. "...I still can't fathom how Mienshao has made it this far. And she's about to win immunity AGAIN."

Beedrill groaned. "One of these days, Beedrill. One of these days she'll be gone."

-static-

"I guess now that we're thirty questions in, now is as good a time as any to announce the scores!" Jirachi declared. "Mienshao is in first out of the remaining campers with four points, followed by Chatot, Seviper, Dusclops, and Clauncher with three points each, and finally Jolteon, Combusken, and Lilligant in last with two points each!"

Jolteon, Combusken, and Lilligant were all looking somewhat nervous about having the lowest amount of points, but Lilligant took a deep breath and tried to relax. She knew that if she let her nerves get the better of her, she had a higher chance of making a mistake. Combusken saw her doing this and tried to replicate her technique, although he still felt his arms shaking a bit even after he tried it.

"Question thirty-one: which contestant was given a bubble blower during the paintball challenge?" Jirachi asked, floating over top of his podium now for no apparent reason.

Combusken was the first to buzz in this time. "I-it was Chesnaught!" Combusken answered. "He ranted about it the whole night afterward…"

Clauncher snickered. "Yeah. Dude had a bit of a temper."

"Be that as it may, Combusken is indeed correct! That's a third point for him, and now it's time for another question!" Jirachi announced loudly. "Which four campers did not complete the first task during the boot camp challenge?"

Seviper tapped the buzzer with her tail. "If memory ssservesss, it wasss Reuniclusss, Cassstform, Dusclopsss, and myssself."

"Bingo! Seviper jumps into first place next to Mienshao!" Jirachi announced with an excited grin. Mienshao and Seviper exchanged an intense look; their rivalry was still going strong, and neither of them wanted to lose to the other. "Boy, this is getting good now!"

Jirachi slammed his hands on the podium emphatically, spooking some of the more jittery campers. "Question thirty-three! Which two Pokemon formed the first couple on the show?"

Dusclops reached for his buzzer, but Chatot was quicker. "Cryogonal and Boldore," the bird squawked. "The whole team was there ta see it. Kinda felt bad for votin' out Boldore afterwards, ta be honest."

"Yeah, we really didn't want to," Jolteon agreed, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "Had to be someone though."

Jirachi shrugged. "Well, Boldore and Cryogonal are both long gone by now anyway. But you, my friend, have earned a point!" the host exclaimed, pointing at Chatot. "Next question! Which campers scored the lowest in the talent show, and what was their talent?"

Clauncher buzzed in before mumbling his answer. "Frillish, Vaporeon, and I scored the lowest," he mumbled. "We put on a fancy show with water, but we messed it up."

Jirachi beamed at him. "You sure did! But on the bright side, you get a point for it now!" the host added. Clauncher sighed, but was mostly just happy that he had one of the highest scores again.

"Let's see, question thirty-five…" Jirachi began, trying to pick out a good question. "Mienshao knew the answer to the shortest-lived alliance on the show. But which alliance has lasted the longest?"

Clauncher immediately buzzed in again. "Reuniclus, Tyranitar, and I formed an alliance before the second challenge!" he stated. "That's got to be one of the oldest alliances, right?"

Jirachi tapped his chin thoughtfully. "It is, although Reuniclus's departure from the show several episodes ago means it's not quite the longest lasting alliance," he explained. "And since Beedrill only joined your alliance later, he doesn't count here either."

Clauncher frowned, but Jirachi was probably right. Beedrill wasn't an original member of his alliance, and neither was Combusken, who had joined much later than Beedrill despite occasionally working with Clauncher beforehand.

Chatot buzzed in. "Jolteon an' I must be the longest lasting alliance, then," he said with moderate confidence. "We've been workin' togethah fah almost the whole game."

Jirachi nodded. "Correct. Although there were other alliances formed before you and Jolteon became allies, none of them lasted for as long. Clauncher and Reuniclus's alliance does merit an honorable mention, though," Jirachi said with a nod to Clauncher.

"Darn right it does," Clauncher said proudly, vehemently nodding.

-static-

"I do wonder how this game would play out differently had Reuniclus not been eliminated in the maze challenge," Beedrill lamented. "It's a shame he was cornered into a losing fight against Chatot and Jolteon. Without Reuniclus, it's been...difficult for me to keep the alliance in order."

Beedrill's expression morphed into a bittersweet half-smile. "I'd like to think I'm a pretty smart Pokemon, but I'm not half the leader Reuniclus was," Beedrill admitted. "I don't think I ever gave him enough credit for that."

-static-

"And with that, Chatot secures his fifth point and is the third among you to receive immunity!" Jirachi announced. Chatot adjusted his hat with one wing as he made his way to the bleachers, donning a smirk. "Only six spots left, people! You don't want to be in last!"

"We know," Seviper said snarkily. "That'sss the whole point of the challenge, not to be in last."

Jirachi gave Seviper an annoyed look and leaned against the podium with one arm. "All right, smarty-pants, let's see you get this question right then," he said snappily. "Which contestant has received the most votes against them during their time on Pokemon Drama Island?"

Seviper pressed her buzzer with a knowing smirk. "That'sss an easssy one. Mienssshao," the serpent stated, casting a glance in Mienshao's direction. Mienshao looked mildly offended, but took a moment to consider that Seviper was probably right.

Jirachi grinned at her. "Nope!"

"Wait, what?" Seviper asked with a look of disbelief. Even Mienshao looked shocked, before she snickered at Seviper's misfortune.

"Guess someone's not so good at this challenge after all," Mienshao taunted her.

"I don't sssee you anssswering the question," Seviper fired back with a hiss.

Mienshao pressed down on her buzzer in defiance, only to pause for several seconds to think. Jirachi waited patiently before prompting her. "Uh, Mienshao?"

"I'm thinking," she snapped irritably.

"You're supposed to do the thinking before you buzz in," Jirachi reminded her with an eye roll. He glanced at his watch, which had conveniently materialized on his wrist for him to check it just now. "I'm gonna give you ten seconds before the question is open to everyone else."

Mienshao's brow furrowed as she tried to think of an answer on the fly. Coming up with nothing, she took a guess. "Scrafty?" she asked. "He would make sense, right?"

Jirachi shook his head. "Perhaps, but the total amount of votes against him is still even lower than yours," the host revealed. "There's only one Pokemon who's accumulated more votes than Mienshao, actually."

Mienshao's eye twitched in annoyance, but another Pokemon buzzed in to answer the question with little delay after Jirachi had finished speaking. "It's Baltoy, isn't it?" Jolteon asked, his paw still on the buzzer.

Jirachi blinked in surprise. "Er, yes. That's right," the host said. It was clear to everyone that he hadn't expected Jolteon to be the one to answer correctly. "Well, congratulations, Jolteon! You're no longer in last place."

Jirachi turned to face Lilligant with a cruel grin. "That distinction now belongs to Lilligant!" he declared. Lilligant anxiously wrung her wrists; this wasn't going well for her.

"But I suppose there's still time for things to change," Jirachi said with a nonchalant shrug. "I have plenty more questions to ask, after all. So I suppose, in the same vein as the last question, which contestant has accrued the LOWEST amount of votes during their stay on the island?"

Dusclops raised his hand. Jirachi squinted at the specter in confusion. "Dusclops, you're supposed to press the buzzer."

"No, I just have a question," Dusclops clarified.

"I'll allow it," said Jirachi after a moment of contemplation. "Pray tell, what is your question?"

"How on earth are we supposed to know who has the most and least amount of votes?" Dusclops complained. Several other campers at the other podiums nodded their agreement. "We're not privy to that sort of information, since you never showed us the votes."

"Dusclops, my boy, have you learned nothing?" asked Jirachi with a shake of his head. "I don't care if this challenge is fair! What matters is that it's equally unfair to all of you. Which, I guess, does make it fair in the end when you really think about it!"

"Wait, does that make it fair?" Dusclops stopped to ponder. He held his head in both hands as he tried to make sense of Jirachi's statement. "...I don't like this."

Diancie stepped in to provide better reasoning for the question Jirachi had just asked. "While you may not be able to discern exactly how many votes a camper has, Pokeblocks have always been passed out to the campers with the lowest amount of votes first," Diancie explained. "It's sort of a process of elimination for who it could be."

Clauncher shrugged and decided to try his luck. "Azurill," he guessed once his podium lit up.

"You're not terribly far off, although there are several Pokemon with fewer votes against them than Azurill," Diancie told Clauncher. Clauncher clicked his claws in disappointment.

Combusken buzzed in next, to both of the hosts' surprise. "S-Swinub?" he guessed, with a slight tremor in his voice. "I can't think of a-anyone who would vote him out."

"Wrong!" Jirachi denied the fowl happily. Combusken hung his head. "After his failure to stay awake after the race challenge, Swinub actually acquired quite a few votes, which led to his elimination!"

"How about Noivern?" asked Dusclops, buzzing in. "She didn't have any enemies on our team."

"Actually, Noivern did have one vote against her," Jirachi informed him. "Only one contestant out of all thirty-two has never received a single vote against them."

Some of the campers looked shocked. "Wait, one of us has NEVER had a single vote against them?" Mienshao repeated. "How is that even possible?"

"Yeah, that's a foreign concept ta you, ain't it?" Chatot said snarkily. Mienshao threw him a dirty look.

Jirachi shrugged. "Beats me, I'm not the one doing the voting. Evidently someone slipped underneath everybody's radar," the host said, rubbing his hands together. "Whoever could it be?" he added in a sing-songy voice.

Lilligant glanced over at Dusclops, whose podium had gone dark now that his turn to answer was over. If Lilligant's logic was right, odds were high that the Pokemon who had never been voted for was still in the competition—everyone eliminated prior to the merge had been eliminated by popular vote, and only a few Pokemon had left after the merge due to automatic eliminations.

With this in mind, Lilligant pressed her button confidently. "It's Dusclops," she said, having figured it out. "He's never been voted against, has he?"

Dusclops stared at Lilligant in shock as Jirachi grinned at the plant Pokemon. "Well, well, look at you," the host congratulated her. "That's precisely correct! Dusclops is the only camper who no one has ever voted for."

Dusclops felt everyone's gazes turning to him, and he uncomfortably shrank down behind his podium. Dusclops could feel several beads of sweat forming, which was kind of impressive given that he was a ghost. "Well, this is awkward," he laughed nervously.

-static-

"You're telling me that nobody's ever voted for me?" Dusclops said in disbelief, fixing the camera with an inquisitive look. "Man, I had no idea. Seriously, not even Mawile when I tried to vote her out?"

After saying this, Dusclops drooped over with a sad expression. "Well, now I feel kind of bad," he confessed. "I don't deserve to be the one who nobody voted for. I've messed up a lot while I've been on this show, honestly."

He couldn't seem to think of anything else to say, so he sat back up and struck a more thoughtful pose. "Well, I guess there's no use clinging to the past," he said, trying to brighten up. "As long as I learn from my mistakes, maybe I can be the one who goes the whole game without getting a single vote!"

Dusclops chuckled heartily, having managed to put himself into a better mood. "Yeah! I can do this!" he reassured himself with a sly grin. "It'll be easy, right?"

-static-

"Uh...I promise I haven't been cheating or anything," Dusclops told everyone uncomfortably. "I guess I just have good luck?"

Lilligant smiled at him, trying to ease his discomfort. Dusclops seemed to relax a bit after he noticed Lilligant looking at him. "It makes perfect sense to me," she explained. "You always try to make friends with everyone, Dusclops. It's hard to see why anyone would want to vote you out."

Dusclops blushed, proving that he was capable of yet another feat most ghosts were not. "Aw, shucks."

"All right, that's enough of that." Jirachi cleared his throat and went on to the next question. "We have a show to keep on track, don't we, Diancie?"

"Yes, we do," she responded with a level stare directed at Jirachi. "Wouldn't it be nice if we all showed up on time for the challenges."

Jirachi blinked and turned to his co-host. "I'm sensing some animosity here, Diancie. Is there anything you'd like to share with the class?"

Diancie smacked a hand to her forehead. "Just...finish the challenge."

Jirachi snickered. "You got it. Question thirty-eight!" he shouted. "Who was the first camper knocked out after I announced that sabotage was allowed during the challenge to stay awake?"

Mienshao devilishly grinned as she pressed the buzzer. "Cryogonal," she replied smoothly. "I had the pleasure of taking him out myself."

"Yeah, and then you lost to me!" Dusclops shouted at her from across the room. "Remember that? That was fun!"

Mienshao bit her lip angrily as she did her best to ignore Dusclops.

-static-

"Enjoy the zero votes while they last, Dusclops," Mienshao jeered. "I'll be happy to be the first."

-static-

"And with that answer, Mienshao is the fourth Pokemon to win immunity!" Jirachi announced. "Congratulations, Mienshao!"

Mienshao walked over to the bleachers to the deafening sound of nobody applauding. She gave Chandelure a subtle nod as she sat down in the bleachers, far enough away to avoid causing any suspicion that the two were affiliated.

Beedrill watched her movements carefully before glancing over at Chandelure. The Ghost-type seemed to be paying no attention to Mienshao. Was it his imagination, or had Mienshao tried to send a subtle message to Chandelure?

-static-

"I hope I'm not going crazy, but I think that Chandelure might be working with Mienshao," Beedrill realized. "I had never even considered that before. No one in their right mind would want to work with Mienshao this late in the game, right? So who would do that?"

Beedrill smirked at the camera. "Only the last solo player remaining in the game, that's who. Chandelure would certainly have her reasons, if I'm right about this. Now, as for what to do with this information…"

He tapped his chin with a needle unsurely. "We'll see. I don't want to become a target for Chandelure, assuming that I'm not already," he admitted. "I'll let Clauncher and Combusken know of my suspicions soon, and I suppose we'll act from there."

-static-

"And staying on the topic of the no sleeping challenge, the last Pokemon awake on the Great Gastrodons' team during that challenge was Torchic," Jirachi reminded the campers. "Question thirty-nine: which camper took Torchic out of that challenge?"

Combusken had a quick flashback to Druddigon picking him up in one hand and knocking him out with a single punch. "D-Druddigon," Combusken stated with a slight quaver in his voice. Even now, the mere thought of Druddigon still intimidated him quite a lot.

"Seems like you remember that quite well," said Jirachi with a snicker. "Well, that's point number four for Combusken. So, before we get to question forty, let's check the scores, shall we? It's a big milestone, after all!"

Diancie pressed a button for him, and Jirachi turned to see the scores on the big screen. "Leading the pack with four points each are Seviper, Clauncher, and Combusken!" the host announced. "And behind them with three points are Jolteon, Dusclops, and Lilligant! The scores are close, folks—it could be anyone's game!"

Despite being in last again, Jolteon and Lilligant didn't seem as nervous anymore, probably because the difference in points wasn't as prominent anymore. Dusclops seemed confident that he could bring up his score if the hosts asked the right questions, too.

"Now, on to question forty! Which Pokemon has been in the bottom two the most times during voting ceremonies?" asked Jirachi.

Seviper tapped the buzzer with her tail. "Combusssken," she said, willfully avoiding any eye contact with the chicken himself. Combusken seemed a bit hurt by the fact that she would guess him, but he did realize that he had been in the bottom two a few times.

"Close, but not quite!" Jirachi said. "Combusken has only been there three times, while someone else has been there four!"

"Baltoy." Dusclops pressed down on his buzzer and leaned into the podium. "He received the most votes, so it adds up, right?"

"Indeed it does, Dusclops! You're right on the money, and thus you get to enjoy your semifinal point!" Jirachi exclaimed, before pausing momentarily. "Or maybe it's your final one. There's still time to lose, truthfully."

"Not happening, bud," Dusclops promised the host with a smirk.

Jirachi shrugged. "If you say so. Question forty-one! Which contestants did not jump off of the cliff in your first challenge?"

Seviper tried to recall the ones who didn't jump as best as she could. She knew that, from her own team, Amoonguss, Tyranitar, and Torchic hadn't jumped, as all of them had done poorly in the elimination ceremony that followed. After a moment, she also recalled that Swinub didn't jump, but she was having trouble remembering which Milotics had refused to take the plunge.

To her dismay, the time it took Seviper to do all of this thinking was interrupted by another camper buzzing in.

"Zoroark, Scrafty, Boldore, Chandelure, Amoonguss, Tyranitar, Torchic, and Swinub were the ones who didn't jump," Jolteon recited, as if it were obvious. Everyone stared at him in surprise for several seconds.

-static-

"I have no idea how I remember these things sometimes," Jolteon admitted, his ears twitching as he scratched behind them. "The thoughts just kinda...come and go."

Jolteon paused for a moment. "I wish they didn't go so much."

-static-

"Very good," murmured Jirachi with an impressed nod. "That's one more point for Jolte—"

"OBJECTION!"

"What do you want, Clauncher?" Diancie asked with an impatient sigh. "This had better be good."

"Oh, but of course," Clauncher prefaced his statement with a confident nod. "Jolteon's statement, while certainly correct, is also incomplete!"

Jolteon looked confused by Clauncher's statement, while Jirachi simply intertwined his fingers and leaned forward with interest. "Explain," the host ordered.

"While Jolteon listed all of the campers who did not voluntarily jump off of the cliff, he omitted Pokemon such as Clefairy and Kakuna who were instead pushed or thrown!" Clauncher declared. "Which, if you were to ask my opinion, are quite different actions than jumping!"

Jirachi pulled Diancie aside, and several seconds of whispering ensued until the hosts arrived at a decision. "We'll allow it!" Jirachi announced. "Diancie has explained to me that she has given out multiple points before, so Jolteon and Clauncher will each get a point for this question!"

"Yeah!" shouted Clauncher excitedly. "Five points!"

"Clauncher, you now have immunity," Diancie explained, although Clauncher was clearly already aware of this. "You may go over to the bleachers now."

Beedrill watched Clauncher with intrigue as the crustacean eased his way into a seat next to Beedrill. "I wasn't expecting you of all Pokemon to win with the technicalities," Beedrill admitted. "What's gotten into you today?"

"Technicalities are the way of the future, my friend," Clauncher said with a grin. "Sometimes you need to learn how to play the hosts, rather than play the game."

"Huh," Beedrill grunted, mildly impressed. "Maybe."

Jirachi tapped his fingers on the podium. "Okay, with Clauncher immune and Jolteon up to four points, everyone remaining is now at four points except Lilligant!" the host announced. "Pick up the pace, Lilligant!"

"I'm trying!" she protested desperately. "I just don't know some of these questions!"

Jirachi chuckled. "Then you'd better hope that changes! Question forty-two," the host began. "How many campers brought Mega Stones to the island?"

Lilligant reached for the buzzer, but was beaten to it by none other than Seviper. "One. It was jussst Mawile," the snake said confidently. She turned to the side afterward, giving Lilligant an apologetic look. "Sssorry, Lilligant."

"No, it's all right. I would've answered first too if I could've," she said unhappily. "At least you have immunity now."

Seviper felt bad for being unable to help Lilligant, but she slithered over to the bleachers as Diancie announced that she was safe from elimination now.

Only Lilligant, Jolteon, Combusken, and Dusclops remained without immunity now. Jirachi cleared his throat before the next question. "Now that Seviper is out, I suppose this is a good time to ask this question," Jirachi surmised. "What prize did Seviper win before the cooking challenge began?"

"There were prizes given out before that challenge?" Jolteon muttered nervously. "I don't remember that."

"Only one prize, actually," Jirachi informed him. "And only to Seviper, because I felt like it."

Lilligant buzzed in, hopeful that she might actually have an answer to one of the questions. "Was it a wristwatch?" she asked. Lilligant remembered seeing Seviper bringing one of those back to the cabin after a challenge before, despite having no way to wear it.

Jirachi shook his head. "Nope! Seviper did win one of those, but it was after the treasure hunt challenge," he corrected her. Lilligant felt a wave of dread as the question went to another Pokemon.

BZZT! "Was it a...r-rubber Ducklett?" Combusken asked meekly.

Jirachi nodded. "Yep! Good work, Combusken. You have officially earned immunity for yourself!"

"Oh, thank g-goodness," Combusken breathed. He hurried over to the bleachers, where he was greeted by a cheer from Clauncher and a nod of approval from Beedrill.

-static-

"I thought for sure I was a goner when this challenge started," Combusken admitted, fidgeting with his claws. "But I guess I wasn't so b-bad after all, huh?"

-static-

"How the heck did Combusken manage to remember a prize that Seviper won that long ago?" Dusclops asked, rubbing his head with a confused expression. "Ah, I guess it doesn't matter. What matters is not letting myself lose!"

Dusclops pounded one knee with a fist in determination. "I've gotta keep going! For all my friends who helped me get this far!" he declared loudly.

Suddenly, the confessional door opened as Mr. Mime entered with a broom to do some cleaning. Dusclops let out a shrill scream and instinctively ran out the door to escape.

Mr. Mime shook his head wordlessly and started sweeping.

-static-

"Question forty-four! What movie did Clauncher and Reuniclus stay awake watching during the challenge where they couldn't sleep?" Jirachi spoke into the microphone.

Dusclops hit his buzzer quickly. "Cosmic Skirmishes," he answered confidently. "The new ones just aren't as good."

Jirachi rolled his eyes. "All right, you get the point. Congrats on your immunity, Dusclops."

Dusclops did a little victory dance before sauntering over to the bleachers. He plopped down next to Seviper, who was watching Lilligant with a worried expression. There were only two Pokemon left without immunity, and Jolteon was still ahead of Lilligant by one point. If Jolteon answered a question correctly before Lilligant got two right, it was all over for her.

Chatot looked a bit nervous too. On one hand, Jolteon was still ahead of Lilligant, but Chatot also had misgivings about Jolteon's ability to answer the questions. His memory seemed unreliable at best, but at least it was accurate when he did recall something.

"Come on, Lilligant," Seviper whispered. "You can do thisss."

Chandelure glanced over at the snake in surprise. "I wouldn't worry about her," the chandelier said, sounding quite confident in her own prediction. "There's no way Jolteon wins this challenge. I've seen him try to use that tiny brain of his before, and I assure you that it's pure luck that has carried him this far."

"Whaddaya mean?" Chatot snapped from the row above them. "He recalled everyone who didn't jump in the cliff challenge! That ain't luck."

"Actually, I recalled everyone who didn't jump," Clauncher butted in. "Jolteon was close, though."

"You won on a technicality," Chatot said sharply, disregarding Clauncher. "Point is, Jolteon ain't outta the game yet. The numbahs don't lie; he's still beatin' Lilligant."

"For how much longer?" Chandelure retorted smoothly. "Sure, it's theoretically easier to bet on Jolteon, but have you seen him under pressure before? It's pathetic," she said coldly. "Lilligant is no genius, but she doesn't rely on dumb luck like Jolteon. I'm amazed he made it to the final ten at all."

Most of the others were taken aback by Chandelure's bluntness, although Seviper suspected Chandelure's disdain for the Electric-type stemmed from them being forced to work together in the partner challenge. "I hope you're right," Seviper murmured. "Lilligant'sss in a tough ssspot now."

"I'd say the odds are about even," Beedrill commented. "Jolteon's memory is selective, but that doesn't mean he's an idiot. If Jirachi asks the right questions, I don't doubt he'd win."

Chandelure listened to Beedrill with interest; so far he was the only one to offer an alternate perspective that she thought had some merit. "Lilligant just needs Jolteon to guess wrong," Beedrill predicted. "No matter what, when it comes to the final round, it's just a matter of who buzzes in first. And Jolteon is faster."

Seviper narrowed her eyes as Jirachi prepared to ask what was possibly the final question. "All right, Lilligant and Jolteon. Everything rides on this question," he said with a wicked grin. "Lilligant, if you don't get this right, you're going home!"

Lilligant swallowed nervously. She had her hand on the buzzer already, but she could feel her arms trembling. "And Jolteon, if you don't get this question right, you lose your lead and give Lilligant a chance to send YOU home instead!" Jirachi cackled. "Ah, how I wish this tension could last forever! But alas, it's time for the question to be asked."

Jolteon placed his paw on the buzzer, mimicking Lilligant's stance to some degree. "Question forty-five," the host began. "Which contestant consumes the most lemonade per week on the island?"

BZZT!

"Lilligant," Jirachi said, giving her the cue to answer. "You may speak."

Lilligant blushed in embarrassment. "It's, um...it's me," she said, her voice almost coming out as a squeak. "I like lemonade."

"We can tell," said Diancie with a lighthearted chuckle. "But good job getting yourself a point."

"Would you look at that? The scores are tied! Who'd have thought?" Jirachi announced with an enthusiastic gesture. "Looks like this one's coming down to the wire, folks!"

-static-

"Jirachi gave Lilligant an easy question on purpose to milk the tension for all it's worth," Chandelure stated, rolling her eyes. It wasn't hard for her to decipher Jirachi's true intentions. "Not that it matters to me. Whether Jolteon or Lilligant falls next, neither of them stood a chance from the start."

She chuckled darkly. "They're just stepping stones to reaching the end. Now, Beedrill, he's a worthy player," she mused. "I look forward to being able to take him out."

-static-

"With the scores tied, whoever wins the last point will be granted immunity, and the loser will be automatically eliminated," Diancie reiterated. "This is your last chance, you two."

Jolteon and Lilligant exchanged a frightened glance. Being this close to elimination had their hearts racing; Jolteon had only experienced this once before, but at least that was during a voting ceremony. This time, all the pressure was on him to save himself!

"Hey, no hard feelings if I win, right?" Jolteon asked with a nervous laugh.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Lilligant responded with a half-smile, although she didn't sound very sure of herself either.

Up on the stage, Jirachi passed his microphone over to Diancie. "Here. I've done all the questions since I got back, but I think I've done a good job of showing you how it's done," he said with a wink. "Besides, you set everything up for me and took care of the show while I was away. The last question is all yours."

Diancie, visibly surprised, took the microphone from Jirachi. "Um...thanks," she said compliantly. A smile made its way onto her face. "I'll make it count."

Jirachi cackled. "I saved the best question for last. Have fun!" he said, swooping off to the side to let Diancie take over at the podium.

Diancie glanced down at the question card before giving Jirachi a disappointed look. The host couldn't help but stifle a laugh. "All right, Lilligant, Jolteon. This is your last question," Diancie began with a sigh.

"What is the name of the first contestant who was eliminated from Pokemon Drama Island?"

Lilligant was momentarily stunned by the fact that such an easy question would be the last one asked, but she pressed her buzzer as soon as the answer hit her. Unfortunately, she was too late in pressing the button; just a fraction of a second earlier, Jolteon's podium lit up brightly.

Lilligant nervously glanced over as Jolteon readied his answer. "The first one out?" Jolteon muttered. "That's easy. Clefairy."

Dumbfounded silence followed. Jirachi and Diancie were completely caught off-guard that anyone could have possibly answered the question wrong. "Well, no. Not exactly," Diancie told Jolteon gently. His face immediately changed to one of horror as Diancie made it clear he had made a mistake. "Clefairy was the second one out."

From the bleachers, Mienshao burst out laughing for several seconds before Chatot smacked her in the back of the head with his wing. Mienshao whirled around to glare at him, but Chatot glared back with ten times more menace.

"But...but…" Jolteon stammered. "Who got out first?"

Lilligant's buzzer finally went off as the light on Jolteon's podium died out. "Amoonguss," Lilligant said calmly. She gave Jolteon a sad look. "Sorry, Jolteon."

Jolteon frowned as Jirachi pressed a button and confetti started raining from the ceiling. "DING-DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!" Jirachi shouted. "Congratulations, Lilligant, you did it!"

"Uh...y-yeah," Lilligant laughed awkwardly, brushing her leafy hair back with one hand. "Thanks."

"Aw man, I really flubbed it," Jolteon moaned sadly. "Dang."

"As for you, Jolteon, you know the rules," Jirachi reminded him. "You have been automatically eliminated from Pokemon Drama Island. You'll be allowed to stay until the Lapras arrives tonight, but then it will time for you to go."

"Yeah," Jolteon acknowledged him with a sigh. "Well, this blows."

-static-

"It's a shame that this is the end of the road for me, but I don't think I ever really expected to win," Jolteon admitted with a shrug. He seemed to have collected his thoughts by now, and was looking a lot calmer. "Obviously it would have been nice if I could have won, but at least I can still root for Chatot. He might be rough around the edges, but he's a really good guy, I think."

Jolteon shifted around on the seat. "I think if anyone can take down Mienshao and give her what she deserves, it's him," Jolteon said. "Uh, that said, I guess it's gonna be kind of nice to not be on the same island as all the drama anymore. That sucked, for sure."

Jolteon waved at the camera with one paw. "I'm still gonna be around for a few more hours, but uh...this is probably my last confessional. So, bye," he finished. "And if anyone watching placed any bets on me winning, uh, I'm really sorry about that."

-static-

"All right, you're all dismissed. Challenge over," Jirachi shouted out, growing bored. "Jolteon, I'll see you at the dock when your Lapras arrives."

With that, Jirachi snapped his fingers and disappeared in an instant. Diancie left out the only exit, and Chatot flew down to speak with Jolteon.

"Clefairy? Really?" was the first thing out of his beak.

"I'm sorry! I didn't remember!" Jolteon said defensively, visibly flustered. "Sometimes it's easy to forget there was an Amoonguss!"

Chatot sighed and looked at Jolteon in disappointment. "Well, I guess that little mistake cost us," Chatot grumbled. "I wish I could have helped ya, but this bein' a solo challenge an' all…"

"No no, I don't blame you at all," Jolteon said quickly. "I mean, I probably wouldn't have even made it this far without your help!"

Jolteon smiled at Chatot. "I mean, we were the longest lasting alliance in the game, right?" he reminded Chatot. "That's gotta count for something."

The slightest hint of a genuine smile graced Chatot's face before he caught himself and stopped. "Yeah, yeah. Ya weren't bad, kid," he said gruffly, trying to disguise his emotions with a cough. He waved Jolteon closer with one wing. "C'mere."

Some of the other campers watched in surprise as Chatot wrapped a wing around Jolteon and gave him a pat on the back. Chatot pulled away quickly afterward and distanced himself from Jolteon once again. "I wouldn't have made it this far without ya either," Chatot admitted for the first time. "So thanks for everythin'."

Jolteon beamed at Chatot. "Come on, we've still got a few hours before I have to go," he said excitedly. "Let's grab some lunch!"

"All right, all right," Chatot conceded, going along with Jolteon as the Electric-type pressured him into following him to the cafeteria. "Ya don't gotta be so pushy."

-static-

"I'm gonna miss Jolteon," Dusclops admitted sadly. "He was a cool dude, even if he was a little weird. I mean, I didn't want Lilligant to go home either, it just sucks that it had to be Jolteon instead."

Dusclops shook his head. "Why can't it just be Mienshao already?" he asked, waving a fist at nothing in particular.

-static-

"And just like that, Jolteon is gone," Mienshao purred smugly, looking quite satisfied. "Sure, he's gone a few episodes later than I wanted, but getting Lopunny out was important too. Now I'm yet another step ahead in this game."

She laughed to herself. "It's too easy! As long as they keep throwing automatic elimination episodes my way, I'm as safe as can be!"

-static-

The brim of Chatot's hat covered his eyes somewhat as the bird heaved a sigh. "Losin' Jolteon is a bit of a blow," Chatot admitted. "He's been with me from the start, and he's the only one I feel like I could rely on ta always have my back. Votin' folks out is gonna be a lot hardah goin' forwahd."

Chatot suddenly stopped to think. "Although, Jolteon did mention that we should invite Dusclops inta the alliance," he recalled. "...Maybe that ain't such a bad idea."

-static-

Dusclops stood in the lunch line at the cafeteria as Diancie served up some food to the campers. He accepted a burger and some fries from her with a grin before going off to sit at the end of one of the tables. Dusclops got a few bites into the burger before he saw someone set their tray down across from his.

"Oh, hey," Dusclops said warmly as Chatot took a seat. Moments later, Jolteon joined them, sitting next to Chatot. "What's up?"

"Nevah mind that. Why are you eatin' lunch? You can't even taste anything," Chatot pointed out to Dusclops, perplexed.

"Force of habit, I guess," Dusclops said with a shrug. "Sometimes it feels nice to pretend to be normal."

"...Fair enough, I guess," said Chatot, still a bit confused. "Anyways, that's not what I'm really here ta talk about. Jolteon an' I got a proposal fah you."

"I'm listening," Dusclops told him, wiping off his ghostly fingers with a napkin.

"As ya know, Jolteon's gonna be leavin' soon," Chatot said. "And it probably ain't a secret that he and I have been workin' togethah."

"Yeah, it really wasn't," Dusclops agreed. "Sorry you got out, Jolteon. I was rooting for you."

"Thanks," Jolteon said with a friendly smile. "But as Chatot was saying, I'm leaving. Earlier, he and I were talking about adding someone to our alliance, though."

Dusclops pointed to himself in surprise. "Me?" he asked.

"You," Chatot clarified with a nod. "You're the Pokemon we trust the most on this island. I mean, we live in the same cabin; it ain't like you're keepin' secrets from us."

"Yeah, I suppose that's fair," Dusclops muttered in agreement. "But are you sure about forming an alliance this late into the game? I mean, we're probably going to be pitted against each other at some point."

"The same goes fah any alliance," Chatot pointed out. "Fact of the mattah is, with Jolteon gone, it's gonna be three Milotics to six Gastrodons remaining. Tell me, once they vote off Mienshao, who do you think they're gonna come for next?"

Chatot had raised a valid point, and Dusclops stopped to think about it. "I guess I hadn't thought about that," Dusclops confessed. "But you're probably right. You, me, and Chandelure are all going to have targets on our backs."

"Precisely."

The spooky voice of Chandelure startled Dusclops as she appeared behind him. Even Chatot and Jolteon looked like they hadn't expected her to appear.

"Let me be clear that I have no intention of joining this alliance of yours, at least not yet," Chandelure said ominously. "But once Mienshao leaves...perhaps it would be in our best interests to work together to eliminate the Gastrodons until we are no longer outnumbered."

Chandelure didn't wait for a response, floating off to sit somewhere else and read her book since she wasn't here to eat. Dusclops turned back to Chatot and Jolteon. "Did you guys also invite her, or…?"

"No," Chatot said plainly, eyeing Chandelure suspiciously with his peripheral vision. "I suspect she just came ta the same conclusion that Jolteon an' I did. She's a sharp one, I'll give her that. That's why I don't trust her one bit."

Dusclops shrugged. "Maybe we should give her a shot. I don't think she's that bad," he said kindly. "I just think she comes across the wrong way a lot."

Chatot raised a brow. "Well, I'll think about invitin' Chandelure later then. Besides, she said she wasn't gonna join us now anyway," he reminded Dusclops.

Chatot snatched up a fry in one talon and popped it into his mouth, swallowing it whole before returning his gaze to Dusclops. "But what I need ta know now is, are you in?"

Dusclops paused to ponder Chatot's offer for a moment before reaching his hand over the table to shake on it.

"I'm in."

-static-

Lilligant breathed a sigh of relief as she returned to her cabin with Seviper. "Whew, that was a close one," she admitted, opening the door and letting Seviper in first.

"Too clossse for my liking," Seviper said back, looking concerned for Lilligant. "You need to be more confident in yourssself. The hostsss are almossst definitely going to hold more automatic eliminationsss, and you don't want to end up at the bottom again jussst because you sssecond-guessssed yourssself."

"No, you're right. I definitely don't want that," Lilligant confirmed, trying to alleviate Seviper's concern as well as her own. She sat down on her bed and let her bottom half dangle off the side. "So, what should we do now? There's nothing going on until Jolteon gets sent home."

"We ssstill haven't figured out who Mienssshao isss working with," Seviper hissed with a flick of her tongue.

"If anyone," Lilligant added.

Seviper shook her head. "You know I find that unlikely," she stated. "Tomorrow, we'll ssstake out again. Jolteon won't be there to interrupt usss next time, after all."

Lilligant frowned, unhappy about the prospect of hiding in the bushes for another hour or two the next day. "...If you say so."

-static-

"I'm all for taking down Mienshao's new alliance, if she's made one," Lilligant clarified. "But I'm thinking there's got to be a better way."

Lilligant pouted slightly. "I don't like hiding in the prickly bushes."

-static-

Night finally fell on the island, and Jolteon wheeled his suitcase down to the dock. Everyone except Chandelure and Mienshao was present to see him off, and Jolteon gave them all one last friendly wave before hopping onto his Lapras.

"Goodbye, everyone! Take care!" he shouted. "And get rid of Mienshao for me too, if you can!"

"You can count on it," Chatot said, tipping his hat respectfully. "So long, partnah."

Jolteon smiled as he drifted further and further away. "So long."

-static-

"So you got everything sorted out with Hoopa?"

Diancie collapsed into a comfortable armchair as Jirachi sat down on a sofa. "Yeah, don't worry about it," Jirachi assured her nonchalantly. "She won't bother us for a while."

"A while?" Diancie repeated. "So you mean she—"

"Relax, Diancie. I said I took care of it."

Diancie sighed and decided to take Jirachi's advice, against her better judgment. "I'm just not comfortable that you gave her the Magic Hat," Diancie confessed. "Who knows what she could get up to with that?"

"Well, it was either that or you'd be stuck hosting the show by yourself. And I can't have that!" Jirachi said jokingly. "We both know I'm good for the ratings, Diancie."

Jirachi then proceeded to be struck by a pillow to the face.

-static-

"WHAT CAN YOU DO, HOOPA WONDERS?"

Hoopa gently set the witch-like hat atop her head and floated around in her dimly lit chamber. "IT IS NICE TO HAVE A FRIEND IN HERE," Hoopa said to her new hat. "YOU ARE HOOPA'S FRIEND, YES?"

The hat wobbled back and forth in response. Hoopa grinned as she turned off the lantern in the center of her room.

"GOOD. THERE IS MUCH MISCHIEF WE MUST GET INTO."

---

Whoa, slow down there, partner! This is the end of the chapter! It's time for that trivia I promised at the beginning, remember?

So here's some fun facts before I discuss the happenings of this chapter!

#1 - In the first episode, campers were introduced in roughly the same order that they were conceived for the show (i.e. Jolteon was created first and Seviper was made last). This means that Jolteon was actually the first character created for the show! I'm gonna consider that a fun fact about him since I don't have much else to say about him.

#2 - Amoonguss and Baltoy both sprouted from the same character idea. I then split them into two after I decided I wanted Amoonguss to be the early boot, and Baltoy got a lot more backstory as a result.

#3 - Cryogonal and Boldore, despite being the first official couple on the show, was one of few that was not originally planned. I'm very happy I got them together though, because they're pretty cute together for a weird snowflake and a rock monster.

#4 - And while we're on the topic, fun fact #4 is that Cryogonal and Boldore will be back in season two!

I have a lot more trivia I could put here too, but I can't give away EVERYTHING, can I? :p

Well, that's enough for this chapter. Will Dusclops and Chatot's new alliance work out? Will Chandelure betray Mienshao to join them, or try to sabotage Chatot's new alliance instead? Will Clauncher ever evolve? And what more can we expect from Hoopa? Stay tuned to find out!

As of this chapter, this story has also reached over three hundred thousand words, which I consider a pretty nifty milestone. Thanks for reading! We're finally starting to near the end.

Jolteon: And don't forget to review! Er, that's all I was supposed to say, right? Cool.