Author's Notes: Welcome back! Last time we saw Episode 7 finally begin to heat up as the first mission began and a most tempting prize was revealed: the final exemption. Can Mallow and Mona catch these art thieves, or will one of them get a pass straight to Episode 8? Or will their desire to win keep anyone from coming out victorious?

For those of you kind enough to leave a review, I'll leave a brief response at the end of the part (though I'd recommend not scrolling down there immediately to avoid spoilers in the ending author's note). But for now, enjoy!

Episode 7 Part 3

Toadiko and Shy Guy finally reached the bottom of the hill, charging out of the quaint, winding road shaded by palms and onto a bustling pedestrian street lined with dense rows of restaurants, pubs, and shops. By the time they were a block down the street, they were mostly concealed by locals and tourists alike darting from store to store. Hidden within the crowd, Toadiko slowly came to a stop to catch her breath.

"I think we're safe for now," she said, still panting.

"Not for long," said Shy Guy, pointing down. Their shoes were still leaving prints, though in the time since they'd left the university, the marks had degraded from perfect, dark shoeprints to faded, incomplete splotches.

"Seriously?" groaned Toadiko. "How long is this paint going to last?"

Shy Guy cast a nervous glance at the university looming atop the hill. "And how long until they get here?"

Toadiko sighed. "We'll probably still be leaving a trail for them to follow. And I don't think I can keep running for two hours."

"And we can't outrun Mona," Shy Guy said bluntly. "Human legs are just too long."

"Do we try to hide, then?" asked Toadiko, glancing at the shops surrounding them.

"We need to confuse them," Shy Guy said immediately. "If they want to follow our trail, then they'll have to work for it." As he spoke, his tone shifted from his usual low, matter-of-fact tone to something gruffer and almost sinister. His posture also changed, moving to a more twitchy, battle-ready stance.

Toadiko: I've unfortunately never had the chance to watch any of Shy Guy's movies, but I could immediately tell he was reliving an old character for this mission.

"Do you have something in mind?" asked Toadiko.

Shy Guy scratched his chin for a moment. "You're right that we gotta hide eventually, so here's what we do: scout all the buildings on this block for a good place. When we run, we make it look as confusing as possible. Run in circles. Run over other footprints. Run backwards, if you can. We gotta absolutely bamboozle 'em."

Toadiko giggled. "'Bamboozle'?"

Shy Guy immediately snapped back to his normal persona. "Er, Goldenmask was a pretty campy villain."

Toadiko: So it was a character! Shy Guy tries to act mysterious with his mask and awkward demeanor, but I can read him like a book at this point.

"Alright!" Shy Guy's voice went gruff once more. "Let's bail!" And with that, the two art thieves darted away from each other, weaving around pedestrians as they made their way into shops on opposite sides of the street.

The University of Villepario sat atop a steep hill overlooking the city, and so the road down had to be incredibly winding to compensate. It would gently slope sideways down the hill before hitting a hairpin turn and continuing the other way. Mona, who was charging at full speed down the road, had to skid to a stop at each and every turn or risk plowing straight into the palm trees. These skidding turns were the only reason Mallow, who was huffing and puffing to keep his little legs moving, was able to keep up with her.

Mallow: Why do detectives always wear trench coats in the movies? These things are so hard to run in!

After a few minutes of dashing down the hill, Mona and a breathless Mallow came to the same busy street of shops. Mona finally came to a stop at the edge of the crowd, nearly plowing into a few locals.

"Oi! Excuse me!" Mona shouted, waving her hand wildly. A few people stopped and looked her way. "Any of you guys seen a couple of people walking around leaving footprints?"

"They're probably pretty small!" added Mallow.

The two locals, a Koopa and a Spike, looked at each other before looking back to the players quizzically. "Uh, I think I know what you're talking about." said the Koopa. "They're probably a couple blocks thattaway." He pointed over his shoulder.

"Yeah yeah," said the Spike, nodding. "There's a whole big patch of footprints that way. Real ugly. Can't miss it!"

"Got it!" shouted Mona, immediately running off.

Mallow stared off after her for a moment, caught off guard. "Oh, uh, thank you guys!" he said before running off with a wave.

Mona and Mallow dashed a few more blocks where, lo and behold, they found the patch of footprints. Though "patch" as the local had phrased it, was putting it lightly. Paths of prints crossed the street in every which way, sometimes moving straight, sometimes going in curves, somethings abruptly changing directions. All of these errant paths congealed in the center of the road, forming a hefty region of nearly pure black. From that region, paths seemed to go to every building in the immediate vicinity, and a few seemed to stretch even farther beyond.

Mona let out an overdramatic groan. "Oh come on!"

Mallow eyed the prints leaving the block. "Do you think they maybe left?"

"Uhhh, maybe?"

Mallow slowly surveyed the entire block of prints. "On the other hand, why spend so much time on all this if you're just gonna run?"

Mona shrugged. "As a diversion maybe?" She rubbed her chin for a bit, deep in thought. "That's a good point though. If they wanted to run, they could've still made a confusing blob of footprints that didn't take so long. I bet you they're around here somewhere and just don't want us to know where!"

Mallow quickly looked back and forth between each side of the street. "Looks like there's maybe six shops they could be in. Do you wanna split up?"

"As much as I wanna hunt them down, I think one of us needs to stay out here in case they bolt," said Mona. "And since I'm the faster one, it should probably be me."

Mallow nodded. "Gotcha. I won't let you down, Mona!"

"Good." Mona's look suddenly shifted to a suspicious glare. "Letting someone go off on their own this late in the game is risky. Don't make me look dumb."

Mallow narrowed his eyes. "Likewise, Mona."

Mona suddenly broke out laughing. "I'm sorry Mallow, I just can't find that fluffy face intimidating." After a moment she stopped her giggling. "Right, anyways. Let's both try not to be mole-y, alright?"

Mallow chuckled lightly. "Got it!" he said before running off towards one of the stores.

Toadiko stood in the back of a small clothes shop. Pretending to browse for dresses, she was safely hidden behind the clothes rack.

Toadiko: I heard Mona shouting in the street. How long ago was that? A minute? Two minutes? It's felt like an eternity back here. The worst part is that I can't even see the door through all of these clothes.

She peaked around the edge of the rack to look at her options. There were maybe a dozen racks of clothes throughout the store arranged in several different orientations. If one of her fellow players came barging in, she'd have a way to hide or run. It would be tricky but –

Ting-a-ling! The bells on the door chimed as someone flung open the door. Toadiko immediately ducked back behind the clothes rack. She tried her best to keep her breathing calm and quiet as she waited for the newcomer to speak.

"Good afternoon!" It was Mallow. Toadiko heard the cashier mumble something back. "Have you by any chance seen an art thief around here? They might be leaving footprints." The cashier mumbled something again. "That's okay, no problem! In fact, it looks like one of them might have been in here at some point. I think. The footprints are a bit faded. Do you mind if I take a look around?"

Toadiko's blood ran cold, but she slowly forced herself to move. Trying her best to look natural, she walked over to another rack. She spotted Mallow out of the corner of her eye. He'd made his way over to a different clothes rack. Now was her chance. She darted over to a different clothes rack, this one right by the door. She looked over at the cashier, but he was busy looking down at his phone.

Toadiko: I was so close to escaping, but there was no way I could get out without alerting Mallow with the bells. But if I waited any longer, he'd eventually see me. Ahhhh what do I do?

And as if answering her plea, a group of three people walked into the store, flinging open the door. Toadiko laid in wait for a moment, as Mallow would undoubtedly be looking at them.

Toadiko: Gosh I was so lucky. Not only did they open the door for me, but it was a group of three! Mallow's on the hunt for two thieves, so this group shouldn't draw his attention for long!

Right before the door finished swinging shut, Toadiko stuck her foot in the doorway. She inched forward, opening the door as carefully as she could. She was fully out in the open now.

Toadiko: At this point, I assumed that if Mallow was looking at the doorway, I would have already hear him, so my focus was on getting that door open quietly.

After a few painstaking moments, Toadiko got the door wide open without rattling the bells. She darted out of the shop and prepared to run, but quickly shifted to a casual stroll as she saw Mona standing in the middle of the road.

Toadiko: This was too much. I needed to find Shy Guy and get out of there. Just needed to blend into the crowd and cross the street.

She wove through the crowd, trying to keep her distance from Mona without looking like she was deliberately avoiding her. There was one moment where Mona's gaze passed directly over Toadiko, and it took every fiber of her being not to freeze or take off running. However, Mona kept her gaze moving, and Toadiko was successfully able to cross the street.

The building she entered was a pub styled after an old cowboy saloon, not unlike the saloon Mona and Daisy had dueled in front of back in Orangarst. This was larger, to the extent that it had a staircase leading up to a second floor that looked over the first.

Toadiko quickly spotted Shy Guy, who was glancing at her over a newspaper, near the back of the first floor. She casually walked up to his table and took a seat. "You need to be a bit more subtle. I saw you immediately," she said.

Shy Guy didn't look at her. "What are you doing here?" His tone was still a bit over the top, but it was much quieter now than in the street.

"Mallow came into the shop. I barely snuck past him," said Toadiko. "Mona's keeping watch in the street."

"And you got past both of them? Not bad."

"We're not safe here," Toadiko said frustratedly. "Mallow took a little while to spot my footprints in the shop, so we might be able to completely lose them if we're clever."

Shy Guy furrowed his brow. "It's risky, but it might be- Toadiko look at your menu." His tone suddenly went back to his normal self, but now filled with panic.

Toadiko picked up her menu as casually as she could manage and held it in a way that obscured her face. "Is Mallow here?" she hissed.

"Yeah. We need to go."

"Where?" replied Toadiko, trying her best to keep calm. "This place is too open to just sneak out!"

"There's some rooftop seating that he might not find. We'll go up there as casually as possible."

"But!"

"It's the only way, Toadiko."

Toadiko nodded and the slowly set down their things. Mallow was busy questioning the bartender, so they had a chance to slip over to the staircase. They kept their eyes on the prize, trying not to draw Mallow's eye by staring at him. Shy Guy was hesitant to mount the first step, afraid it would creak, but fortunately for him it stayed silent. They climbed step by step. Their refuge was in sight!

"Toadiko? And… Shy Guy? What are you guys doing here?"

The two sides stared at each other. Realization slowly set in as Shy Guy and Toadiko understood that they were caught, and Mallow put together why exactly his fellow players were there.

They tense silence was cut by Mallow's sudden screech. "Monaaaaa!"

Shy Guy grabbed Toadiko's hand and started pulling her the rest of the way upstairs and out to the rooftop seating. "We gotta go!"

Moments after Shy Guy and Toadiko exited onto the roof, Mona burst in through the saloon doors. "You found them?"

"It's..! It's!" Mallow sputtered, waving his arms wildly.

"Get a grip kid! It's what?"

"It's Toadiko and Shy Guy!" Mallow finally blurted.

Mona's face immediately snapped to a look of righteous fury. "Oh those rats! I know exactly what this is about!"

Mallow raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"They're in it for the final exemption!" shouted Mona. What few bar patrons weren't already looking at the commotion turned her way. She began stomping towards the stairs. "You two think you can just get a free pass to the finale? Over my dead body!"

Mallow's eyes widened. "So you mean we don't get it?"

Mallow: I could've cried right then and there. That exemption was the one thing that could've saved me from the overwhelming stress of the upcoming execution, and there it was, gone. If there weren't coins on the line, I'd have to take a moment to think over my vulnerability in this game.

Meanwhile, Toadiko had quickly come to a frightening realization. "We're trapped!" Indeed, there was only one way back into the building, and no fire escape went that high.

Shy Guy shook his head. "We've got our escape route right here!" he said, motioning to the rooftops. He'd already shifted back to playing that villainous character.

Toadiko immediately took a step back. "You mean we have to jump? Shy Guy, you know how I feel about heights!"

Shy Guy shrugged. "These buildings are so close together though. You can handle a two-foot gap, right?"

Toadiko: I'm really not liking this smug persona right now.

"I… I don't know."

"Fine by me," Shy Guy replied, an evil grin creeping across his face. "You can stay here and let me win the exemption.

Toadiko stiffened at that comment. "You… you did this on purpose!" Her gaze suddenly shifted to an enraged glare. "I can't believe you!"

It was then that they heard Mona's furious shouts heading towards the stairs. "It's now or never, Toadiko!" Shy Guy called, leaping to the next building.

Toadiko: Every fiber of my being was screaming 'no!' but I had to. This exemption was too valuable to miss. Plus, it's not like I haven't done worse on this show.

Toadiko let out a petrified shriek as she leapt to the next building. She paused only to let out a panicked sigh before continuing on.

Shy Guy looked back over his shoulder to see Toadiko not far behind him. "Atta girl!"

"Can it."

"Yup." Shy Guy had switched back to his usual tone and turned to focus on the next jump.

Mona finally careened out onto the pub's roof and immediately caught sight of the two players fleeing. "It's time for you two to face justice!" she called, tearing after them.

Mallow was hot on her heels, huffing and puffing heavily as he struggled to keep up. With each roof he fell farther and farther behind as he struggled to make the jumps. "Mona! I don't think I can catch them like this!"

"Isn't your grandpa a frog?" Mona barked back.

"I was adopted!" replied Mallow. After a few more seconds of running he shouted to her "I got an idea! I'll take the next fire escape down to ground level and run along the block. That way if they try to escape to the street, I can catch them!"

Mona smirked wickedly as she imagined a potential pincer maneuver. "I like it! I'll shout at ya if we change directions!"

"Got it!" After a few more buildings, Mallow found a fire escape and made his way to the street.

Up ahead, Toadiko was shaky from the many jumps, but had managed to catch up with Shy Guy. "Do we have a plan for when we run out of roof?" she asked through breaths. "Eventually this pedestrian zone is going to end, and a road will run right through our path."

"Working on it," huffed Shy Guy. He narrowed his eyes as he spotted something a few buildings away. "Speaking of: we have an alley coming up. It's gonna be a bigger jump. Nothing we can't handle though."

"Yeah," Toadiko said shakily. "We can do this." She checked over her shoulder and saw that Mona was only a couple of buildings behind them. There would be no time to stop and prepare herself.

"Hup!" Shy Guy flung himself across the narrow alleyway, managing to land on the next building with a couple feet to spare.

Toadiko prepared to jump, but made the mistake of looking down right before hand. "No!" she managed to gasp before stumbling and making an awkward jump off the edge. She flew towards the next building, her limbs flailing wildly in the air in her panic.

Thud! She collided with the edge of the building, landing just high enough to grab onto the edge, but not quite high enough to properly land. She wheezed as the wind was knocked out of her from the impact, but she managed to hold on. She looked up, spotting Shy Guy, who'd stopped to watch her jump. "Shy Guy," she barely managed to say. "Help me. Please."

Shy Guy looked from Toadiko to Mona, who was fast approaching, and back to Toadiko. "Toadiko, I…" he began. "I'm sorry, but I'm sure you saw this part coming." And with that, he bolted, leaving Toadiko to her fate.

In a matter of moments, Mona had leapt over the alley and landed right in front of Toadiko. She leaned down and held out a hand. "So he just left you? What a jerk."

Toadiko sighed as Mona pulled her to safety. "No, I understand why he did it. Like he said, I saw it coming."

"Hey uh, I'd love to stay and comfort you," Mona said, getting back to her feet. "But I gotta stop Shy Guy at all costs."

"I understand," Toadiko said with a nod.

"But hey!" Mona called as she began to run towards the next building. "You were real brave today!"

Toadiko smiled slightly. "Thanks," she whispered.

Toadiko: I may not have gotten the exemption, but Mona's right. The Toadiko who started this game wouldn't have gotten as far as I just did."

"Mallow!" called Mona. "Toadiko's out! We got this!"

"Nice job!" Mallow shouted back. With no jumps to manage, he'd covered good ground at street level and was about halfway between Shy Guy and Mona.

Up ahead, Shy Guy's gaze desperately darted between buildings as he charged on.

Shy Guy: Now that Toadiko was out of the way, I just had to worry about beating Mona and Mallow. But Toadiko raised a good point: I can only use the rooftops for so long. Not to mention Mona's speed.

Shy Guy was about to jump onto a fire escape when he saw Mallow now keeping pace with him below.

Shy Guy: There goes that strategy. I guess desperate times call for desperate gambits.

Without warning, Shy Guy darted into a doorway leading down into the building he was on.

"Mallow! He's going into the blue building!" Mona called.

"Roger!" Mallow immediately ran to the building's doorway and charged in.

Shy Guy barely managed to hear Mona's shout as he entered the second floor of the building: the storage room for a fabric store. "Trapped, trapped, I'm so trapped!" he muttered panickedly. After a moment, his eyes settled on a nearby window and an idea popped into his head.

Shy Guy: This just might be what I need. But if it doesn't work or I'm not quick, then it's game over.

After a few moments, Mona emerged onto the second floor. Seeing no one there, she called down the stairs. "Yo Mallow! Do you see him?"

Mallow climbed the stairs and shrugged. "I got a thorough look at the whole place. He's not there."

Mona stamped her foot in frustration. "Then where in the heck did he go?"

After a minute of frantic searching, Mallow finally noticed the breeze passing through the room. "Uh, Mona," he said, dread mounting in his tone. "You don't think he used the window, did he?" They turned, first to each other to exchange wary looks, then to the window. Indeed, it was open. And much to their horror, they saw that, across the narrow gap, another window sat wide open.

"You've gotta be kidding!" groaned Mona. "He's probably made it to the street by now!"

Mallow checked his watch and whimpered. "We only have ten minutes left."

Mona frantically dashed towards the stairs. "We still have a chance! Maybe!"

But by that point, Shy Guy was already long gone. Having escaped out of the neighboring building, he ran past a few more houses before finding an alleyway to run down, taking him completely out of the area and towards a busy roadway. Try as they might, Mona and Mallow's pursuit ended with their alarm going off and one art thief still gone.

An hour or so later, the players regrouped at the university's art gallery. Toadiko was the first brought in there, soon followed by Mona and Mallow, and finally, Shy Guy. As soon as he entered, the rest of the group could see guilt on his face.

"Toadiko," he said immediately. "I'm- ."

Toadiko cut him off. "It's totally fine," she said warmly. "If I'm being honest, I probably would've done the same to you."

Shy Guy chuckled. "And it would've been a smart move."

Mona rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, very sweet, Mr. Exemption."

"Hey, don't be mean!" said Mallow. "He beat us, fair and square!"

Mona sighed. "Yeah, you're right." She pouted for a quick moment before her usual pep returned to her face. "That was a pretty neat trick you pulled at the end there!"

Shy Guy grinned sheepishly. "It was a gamble. But hey, I'm glad it worked."

"I'm sure you are!" The group jumped as Anderson made his usual surprise entrance. "You've won quite the prize with your escape artistry! But we'll save that bit for last. Are you all ready to hear the results of the challenge?"

"That's right, I got so caught up in our escape that I completely forgot that you never told us if we chose the right painting or not!" said Toadiko.

"Hold on, what?" said Mona. "Nobody actually told us what you guys were doing."

Anderson clapped two tentacles together. "Allow me to explain! Our two thoughtful players were brought to this very room where they were tasked with deciding which of these nine works of art was worth the most. If they chose to steal any of the four most valuable pieces, they would earn that piece's value for the team pot, with the most expensive one being worth 15,000 coins."

"Did we pick right?" asked Shy Guy.

"You two picked Young Mushroom Princess," said Anderson, motioning to the portrait in question. "It is quite the beauty, but as for its value, it is worth…"

He let the pause drag on for a few moments. All the players, especially Shy Guy and Toadiko, shifted nervously as they waited."

"10,000 coins."

"What?" gasped Toadiko.

"Not bad," said Shy Guy with a shrug.

Toadiko shook her head. "We debated for ages and the best we could do was 'not bad?'"

"You know, I found your reasoning very interesting," said Anderson. "it was certainly more well thought out than I expected."

"Aha! So that 'intellectuals' comment was an insult!" said Toadiko.

Anderson shook his head. "No, no, not at all! But I meant it in terms of the game. You all have lasted over six episodes, so clearly you must be quite smart when it comes to my tricks."

Shy Guy raise an eyebrow. "There was a trick then?"

"But of course! Any competent player of The Mole knows that they have to look for clues anywhere, so I gave you all quite the telling clue at breakfast this morning."

Flashback: Anderson motioned to the delicious breakfast at the table. "Worthy of the great van Gore!"

Toadiko immediately slapped a face to her forehead. "Oh my gosh, I'm an idiot! You already told us which artist was most important!" She motioned to Painted Swampland by Vincent van Gore. "And we wrote it off so easily!"

Mona shrugged. "I'm gonna be real with you here: I don't remember him saying that at all. I believe you, but breakfast feels like it was ages ago, and that wasn't something I bothered to write down in my journal."

Mallow nodded. "I don't remember that either."

Anderson shook his head, making a tsk tsk noise. "Players, you all must be getting sloppy. How do you expect to beat the Mole with attitudes like that?"

"Well we've made it this far," replied Shy Guy.

Anderson shrugged. "Touché. Anywho, let's get on to the results of the second part of the mission! As we discussed earlier, Shy Guy was able to escape the clutches of justice due to some quick thinking. Unfortunately, Toadiko was not so lucky. With one thief still at large, no coins are added to the pot for this half of the challenge."

Team Pot

164,000 coins

plus

10,000 coins

Result: 174,000 coins

Possible: 380,000 coins

"And of course, there was some extra incentive for our successful bandit." Anderson reached into his pocket and pulled out the exemption. "With this, Shy Guy is guaranteed a spot in the final three. Of course, if he's the Mole, he was already going to be there."

Shy Guy grinned. "Either way, you all are in trouble," he said, snagging the card and tucking it safely within his cloak.

"That exemption will come in very hand at our next execution, which is…"

Toadiko, Mallow, and Mona held their breaths as Anderson made them suffer through another dramatic pause.

"Not tonight." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. "All four of you will still be in the game tomorrow morning. As for the morning after that, who can say? Well, I could say, but I won't." He winked at them before walking towards the exit. "Why don't you all head back to the hotel and get some rest? It's hard to say if you'll ever be prepared for the rest of the game, but you should take any advantage you can get."

Author's Note: So the final four live on for at least one more night! And of course one player will sleep extra well with the knowledge that he'll safely make it to the end. That is, if he didn't know that already~

Krisetchers: I appreciate your kind words! Also, I wouldn't be back if it weren't for your encouragement, so I want to thank you again for that! Glad you appreciated the characterization/moments – this is definitely the most fun I've had writing these characters, and the most I've felt like I had a strong grasp on who they are. As for your suspicions? Well, I'm afraid I can't say too much about them for obvious reasons lol. I'm so glad someone caught the Desperation reference though! US Season 1 was the first season I watched (though admittedly that wasn't until after reading Traitor Aboard), so it holds a special place in my heart, and when I decided on an art challenge, I knew I'd have to reference one of my favorite challenges from that season. As for the rest of the mission, hopefully it turned out exciting! I sure enjoyed writing the twists and turns.

Princess Toady: Ohhhhhhhh my gosh! What is that, like 11 reviews?! Thank you so much! I can't respond to everything you've said, especially since so much of it has to do with suspicions that I can neither confirm more deny at this point. All I'll say is that, knowing how everything plays out, it's been very fun to read your analysis of the game's events! I've always been impressed with how many fine details/actions you're able to pick out as potential clues. Like I said in a DM, I always felt kinda bad leaving this incomplete when you'd put that much effort into building your suspicions, so needless to say I'm excited to eventually roll out the finale. I wanted to address a couple more general comments. First, your point about the humor focus of my story versus your drama and Kris's mystery. Honestly, I'd never thought of it that way, but I totally see it! And it's nice to know I'm filling a niche! Though we'll see how that balance changes going into Episode 8 (oOoOoOh foreshadowing!). And in regards to the changing dynamics each episode – that's definitely one of the things I've liked about the back half of the story. The cast wasn't exactly well planned out when I first started writing, but I definitely feel like it's gotten to a point where each player's absence can be felt. And this is a trend that definitely continues through episodes 7 and 8. Once again, thanks so much for all the reviews!