RANDOM UPDATE: I will be going to AnimeNext in Central NJ this weekend! If you are a reader of my Mole series and want to say hi, yay! :D You're awesome. I'll even give you a printed copy of the first chapter of Agents Elevation : ) Hah, I go big when it comes to the nerdiness of conventions and Mario.
Hey guys! Sorry for the semi-long time of no update!
Funny story with it: my laptop died due to having no charger. So while this half-finished chapter was still on this computer, I couldn't access it. I tried days trying to find a new charger, but to no avail. Until suddenly….I DID. And it took a good 2 weeks. I am just thankful it didn't take longer : )
Anyways, here it is! And Episode 6 continues. Things get surprisingin the game of the Mole.
Episode 6 (Part 4)
Dashell's face was in utter shock. He turned to McHallyboo in disbelief, from the fateful sentence that situated itself behind the glass within the tank's water.
"Well! Isn't that a reward." McHallyboo stood, folding his arms. His face was blank, but Dashell knew that he was trying to hide a smile. Immediately, Dashell broke the silence with disagreeing fury.
"You can't do that to the pot!" Dashell shouted, looking at the ominous piece of paper floating in the tank, then turning back to the host. "You can't! That's more than the entire third of the pot! That's..." McHallyboo looked at the shocked player.
"I must say that I myself did not take the money from the pot, Dashell," McHallyboo said slowly, and he went up to the tank and put his hand on it, rested on the edge. His other hand rested on the shoulder of the distraught-looking player.
"You did." Dashell stood still. For a second, he refused to take the piece of paper from the tank until he finally did, his fingers feeling a damp, sickly wet feeling of lost money as he dipped it into the water.
"Umm…so where is he?" Snifit asked, looking at the clock in the aquarium dining room. "It's been twenty minutes. The average time for the rest of our travels was sixteen and a half minutes."
"He has taken quite a while," Éclair realized with worry. The players noticed that Dashell's final round it was the longest of all five travels to the hallway, as they sat with impatience.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he went through all ten tanks, just to get an exemption," Piantissimo told them all, holding his fork in one hand and a little impatient himself. Tiny faced him with objecting eyes, opening her mouth to speak.
"What if there wasn't even an exemption?" Tiny said suspiciously, facing the others. "And Dashell just went to the end thinking there was one?"
Tiny: An exemption? I mean, it wasn't even hinted or said that an exemption existed in this game. Why does everyone want an exemption so bad anyway? It's the final five. You're supposed to know who the Mole is already.
"It just beats me on why he always wants it so bad," Tiny said in an unknowing, confused voice. "Maybe it's a decoy."
"For what?" Eclair asked.
"For being the Mole," Piantissimo finished. "But whatever. There probably isn't a prize at the end anyway."
"Then if it's so..." Snifit began, looking at the others with a nervous glance. "If there is no prize at the ending tank...then I guess he made the worst choice of all." And at that second, McHallyboo walked into the room. The players turned, and saw besides the host the fifth and final player, who still maintained a look of stunned feelings from his own revelation earlier. And as the players all looked with expectancy and mixed feelings at the two arrived people, it was the soaked paper in Dashell's hand that made most of them feel a terrible dampness in the inside.
"Hmm, I guess he got something," Piantissimo murmured, looking a bit relieved. But Snifit saw the unfortunate look on Dashell's face, and in turn, his own face fell dramatically as well.
Snifit: And I think I was the first one to see the paper. And you couldn't help but become disappointed again. Not just about the game overall, but...but...especially in Dashell.
"Shoot..." Snifit whispered, as he saw a corner of the paper unveil to show the words, "50,000 Reduced".
"Dashell...no..." Eclair covered her mouth, as she saw it. Everyone saw the phrase in full, in the hands of the player who had cost them greatly. It was a silent displeasure in the room that swallowed up the sound of the humming ocean around them.
And for some reason, they all felt the sea around them get darker. Darker with the loss of their team pot.
Team Pot
MINUS 50,000 COINS
= 85,000 COINS
"I'm not sharing any bathroom equipment with him until he gets our money back," Piantissimo said bitterly, unpacking his own bag and placing his necessities on the bathroom counter. They were put into a three-room suite for their stay in the ocean palace, and as the sea and the fish could be seen around them swimming in the blue walls and ceiling of their mini-apartment, so could the heated animosity within the room.
"Why not?" Snifit asked, puzzled. "You have two towels." Piantissimo simply inhaled and looked away.
Snifit looked troubled. "Then I will…." He walked into the second bathroom located in the luxurious living quarters, where Dashell was looking into the mirror with a blank face.
"I'll share my toothbrush," Snifit said, holding an extra one up for Dashell. Snifit held an unambiguous look on his face, and Dashell turned to him.
Dashell: At least one person didn't hate me? Even if at this moment, I hated myself.
"Thanks, bud," Dashell told him.
"That's a fifty thousand coin toothbrush, so don't lose it," Piantissimo snickered, his voice heard from the other bathroom. Dashell shot a heated gaze at Piantissimo, as if he wanted to say something. But then he stopped himself, and with a smile, calmed down for a second before speaking.
"Huh…you know…this episode makes me feel REALLY great," Dashell replied in a sarcastic voice. "Extraordinary…actually. Getting blamed for everything? It's an awesome feeling in this game. I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Because you know, I must be the only person who's ever cost money in this game. You wouldn't happen to know anything about a pirate ship attacking us, would you Piantissimo?" Piantissimo turned around with his own look, as Snifit stood in the background, nervously watching the two players.
"What are youuuuu so angry about, human?" Piantissimo said in a ridiculing voice. "I'm the one who will be angry when I win, when I know I was lowered by 50,000 coins due to the choices that you foolishly took out for your own interest."
"You say that so surely," Dashell told him in a low voice, unpacking his belongings on his bed. "That you'll win. You really think that's going to happen? After what you did in the aquarium game we just played?" Piantissimo faced him.
"What do you mean?" Piantissimo asked him, sour. "What are you so confident about? The fact that your hair bangs always cover your eyes?" Snifit stifled a chortle, but Dashell seemed unphased.
"You just stopped at the fifth tank and didn't even bother to go more than a +1," Dashell explained, his reasoning causing him to smile to himself. "You just...gave up. You have no motivation to win, it seems."
"A Plus 1 is good," Piantissimo countered, looking angry.
"No, it's not. You actually got the worst prize out of everyone else. You didn't go on and just stopped halfway down the tanks. I think you were just...what's that word again?" Dashell saw a fish swim past their window, and right after it, a small shark whizzed pass the window of their underwater apartment. Dashell looked at Piantissimo.
"Scared. Saying you aren't the agent, of course."
"Calling me the agent when your occupation is right in the title of this game," Piantissimo said under his breath, and Snifit's mouth dropped.
Snifit: That was like...an unspoken thing. There was this unwritten list of things that we weren't supposed to say in this game. I felt like...that was one of them?
Dashell stood still, confused. Snifit coughed loudly, turning to both players.
Snifit: So I know now that fighting gets us nowhere. I learned that on a ship earlier that day. It just caused us to sink into water. And lose an expensive boat and 30,000 coins.
"Let's just call this a night, guys?" Snifit said in a half-persuasive voice. The two players turned to him, as he shied back a little bit. But he spoke strongly.
"I'm actually tired. And a little sleepy from all the food we ate," Snifit said a little timidly to the two players. "Just...you know...let's take a rest and fight in the morning. Or maybe not fight at all. I dunno. Let's just...rest in peace under this sea." Hearing the player's words and his eyes of sleepiness, both Dashell and Piantissimo nodded.
"All right, whatever you propose," Piantissimo voiced, turning to Dashell with a glare at his statement. "As long as no one subtracts any more money from the pot under mindless, irrational motives, then I am fine." Dashell chuckled in counter.
"It was all from motivation...motivation to win," Dashell voiced from his side of the suite's living room. He was entering into his own room, the largest room of all three. Snifit and Piantissimo both saw him before he disappeared.
"Motivation to win. Which…I'm seeing lack among a lot of other players here besides me, if I had to be honest." He shrugged.
"I'm just being honest. You're all just too Moley to me. None of you seem like you actually want to win. Maybe besides one of you." He gave them all a sharp look, just before he closed the door.
"Huh?" Éclair woke up, putting her hand up to her head. It wasn't the aqua surroundings that caused her disoriented state, but something else. With puzzled eyes, she immediately began to write in her journal. The ocean was silent.
Éclair: It took me a second to realize where I was. I was scared...and confused. And I did not feel safe in this game anymore.
"Wow...it's early..." It was the voice of Tiny, who began running her eyes vigorously and she opened them, a little mystified. A few seconds later, she got up, then turned to her side suddenly.
"Huh? Éclair, you're awake?" Tiny turned on the lampshade besides her rubbing her eyes and seeing fish swim above her. Tiny looked at Eclair with a confused and curious look.
"You're awake early," Tiny said, and then continued her sentence with a chuckle. "Are you like...doing early-hours quiz brainstorming? Cause I should do that too, since our quiz is tomorrow at night."
"Oh, no," Éclair said. "I just...had a..." Éclair didn't continue. Tiny looked at her intently.
"Wait," the female primate began slowly. "Did you have…a dream?" At that sentence, Tiny turned to her fully, curious and raising her eyebrow. Éclair didn't say anything for a second, and then nodded.
Tiny: Another one? Wait, why was Éclair getting these dreams? And Bowser Jr? I don't think they're significant, but it's just curious.
"Tell me," Tiny asked her, almost compellingly. "Like, what was it? I mean, only if you want to share it with me. I don't want to force you?" Éclair only sat still, then began.
"It was odd," Éclair said, trying to remember. "I was watching something. It was just an image of...a past player. She was in a large room. She looked strangely…happy? I do not know. And...dancing." Eclair stopped. Tiny seemed interested, as she spoke instead.
"And the player was...?" Tiny asked with mixed feelings, wanting to know more. Eclair's face turned to one of baffled looks, as she said the name.
"It was Mimi," Éclair said, her face confused as well as she said it. Tiny's face immediately turned to one of strange emotions.
"Mimi?" Tiny asked. "Why on earth...Mimi?"
"I do not know," Eclair said, "but she was happy, and dancing. And I remember coins falling from the ceiling in my dream. There were so many, and I remember someone counting off the money as it got higher. She was...surrounded by many coins." Before Tiny could say something, Éclair added something else.
"And it seemed like I was right there...in person. Like I was not dreaming." Tiny gave Éclair a stunned, strange look, but mostly at words she had said. She thought for a second in her own bed, before replying.
"Well…" Tiny stopped, as if she wanted to say something else. Éclair looked at her curiously. Tiny then gave a little shake of her head, smiling to herself.
"Well...huh! It isn't the first time Mimi's been in a place full of buckets of coins," Tiny spoke, sounding reassuring as she talked about the 3rd executed player of the game. "After all, Mimi IS the semi-rich girl who lives in a 5-star mansion. She can probably afford an ocean hotel like this if she wanted to. I think your dream is just that you're missing the players who got executed in this game."
"But do you think the dream means anything?" Éclair asked her. With a little chuckle, Tiny shook her head.
"A dream is a dream...don't worry about it," Tiny spoke, her voice reflecting a tone of authority. "I mean, it's reasonable to have dreams consisting of past players I feel. There's an emotional connection with them leaving, right? Dreams tend to do that. It's logical. So...I don't think you should think about it too much." Tiny nodded at the end of her sentence, then gave out another smile.
"Okay..." Éclair said, hesitantly. Then she nodded as well.
"Thank you, Tiny. I feel better. I will not worry about the dream anymore." Tiny nodded slowly to her.
"Good, well, I hope you don't get TOO bothered by these dreams," Tiny said with a resolute tone of voice. "Just try to go to sleep. We should have a big day tomorrow." Already lying down, Tiny turned around in her bed and stretched her arms. Within minutes, she was back in her own sleep.
"It is just a dream…" Éclair lied down too, but she stood awake, looking above at the ceiling. But as she lied down, she thought. The sea was transparent and blue, and the water existed above them like a painting. But it was real, as she saw the fish swim by. Éclair sighed, and she thought.
Éclair: And I did not want to be bothered by what happened. But I look back at it, and I can't help but thing: perhaps while I was sleeping in the sea…I had received something more than just a dream in that night. And the game for me had become more mysterious.
"Morning…everyone." The players met the host in the middle of a glass hallway, leading out from the palace's door entrance. A crystal-like path of stained glass lead to a separate building that extended away from the beauty of the underwater hotel, and the players saw that it was the same hallway in where they had entered the underwater mansion. The glass pathway itself was located in such a place that the players could see the bottom of the ocean floor clearly and all of its sea creations that were created for the world.
"Wow." The players pressed their faces against the glass of the colorful wall, and a great white shark swam by. Snifit jumped back with fear, as the others laughed.
"Welcome to the final mission of Episode 6," McHallyboo announced to them. The final five looked at him with a nod.
"In this episode, you can make up to the same amount you had lost in the previous game," McHallyboo told the others, as some of the players seemed to roll their eyes. Dashell stood, rigid and holding in his feelings from showing to the host.
Dashell: I cost the team 50,000 coins. But meh. I've decided to forget that's happened. And just make as much as I can from now on in this game. There's no reason looking back at the past. I'm just going to do my best from this point on.
"So let's win it back," Dashell said, his voice unaltered. Tiny, looking next to her, was looking not at the dangerous beauties of the sea. She was looking at her four opponents lined up against the glass of the hallway aquarium with a nervous eye.
Tiny: Dangers…all around. Temptations. Chances to lose money. These players…have become dangerous. But then...is that me too? I hate to think that.
"You five players have made it here to the bottom of the ocean," the host began to them all, "but this is just the beginning of exploring what this ocean has in store. What dangers…it has in store." The players could only listen to his words with an unsteady nod. Tiny Kong couldn't help but gulp just a little bit.
Tiny: I mean, just what did the Mole have in store now? We were literally trapped…thousands of feet below water. They had us in their grasp for whatever they wanted to subject us too.
"What is the mission, if it's so scary?" Piantissimo asked, looking at the host and trying not to look as apprehensive as the others. The host smiled a bit.
"It's a fun mission," McHallyboo said, lessening the tension in the room with his eased voice. "Don't worry."
"Don't worry? Really?" Dashell still looked skeptical. He was frowning at the host, a stare saying that he was still slightly annoyed with him from the past game they had all played. McHallyboo cleared his throat.
"We'll be travelling back a bit in the history of the games," the host elaborated, looking almost excited to introduce the next mission. "Because we are thousands of feet underwater, we are in a new world. Air and water. Think of it. Land and water are two different world. So let's make use of it." The players thought for a second, and their own memories flooded the fact that their regular, commonplace life on land was nothing compared to their current state: in the midst of the cryptic sea.
"And people in the past have explored these supposedly unreached depths," McHallyboo told them. "Heroes like Mario have encountered such incredible obstacles and challenges in the sea. So you guys will be faced these challenges as well, in a series of games." McHallyboo grinned.
"Let's go back...to the past," he said, almost sounding happy. "This last game of the episode will be called, "Retro Ocean". The others seemed confused at the title.
MISSION: Retro Ocean
Total Prize: 50,000 Coins.
"Some of these games that I will describe to you...might sound familiar to you," McHallyboo told them. "The first of three games is called Grab the Star. Two of you will be subjected to a twenty-foot long creature that travels somewhere in an underwater trench within this water. An eel." He paused.
"And at the end of that eel, a star is located." The players looked with interest at McHallyboo, a little scared but surprised of the similarity of it all.
"Just like…" Éclair gasped. Some of the others slowly matched faces of realization as well.
"If you two can bring the star back to me, then 15,000 coins is awarded," McHallyboo.
"A teamwork game," Piantissimo noticed, shaking his head a little bit with displeasure of its nature.
Piantissimo: You can't help but thing that we're at that stage of the game where teamwork is almost, and quite frankly, non-existent.
"Is that even safe?" Tiny asked. "I remember hearing Mario having trouble with that game before…"
Tiny: We were being given games that not even HEROES could beat. This was already just a little bit scary.
"The next game is called Emergency Dentistry," McHallyboo continued. "This time, a creature lurks in the darkest depths, hidden even further below the normal bottom floor of the ocean. The job of two of you will be to clean…its teeth." Some of the players looked amused, except for Piantissimo.
Piantissimo: Oi very. Did I hear of this creature from the land of Isle Delfino? I certainly did.
"Brushing teeth?" Éclair covered her mouth with a small chuckle at the thought.
"You'll see how fun it is if you do it," Piantissimo huffed to her.
"The last game is called Negative Travel," McHallyboo introduced to them, as the players looked at him in the announcement of the strange title. "And it's a paradox world underwater. You'll come across many enemies. Bloopers, in fact. That's your main goal. Survive to the end, and you get money. Get hurt…and hurt your pot as well."
"I'm assuming that's a solo game," Dashell thought to himself out loud, as Snifit turned to him with worry.
"That doesn't mean there's an exemption…" Snifit tried to say, but his words were ignored by his teammate.
"Well, that's that," McHallyboo finished. "Each game can be worth 15,000 coins. But the last game will be worth…20,000 coins. And will have an exemption offer."
"Oh!" Dashell's feet leaped up from the glass flooring.
"Who wants to do it?" McHallyboo asked.
"Wait, so anyone-" But before any human could reply in a complete sentence, it was another voice besides Dashell's that spoke in a quiet but confident whisper, spoken faster than anyone could grasp McHallyboo's question of fate.
"Me." Snifit's fast voice beat everyone else, as he stepped forwards. Everyone stood in their place with wide eyes, as still as the ocean around them at the volunteer.
"I need to take this one," Snifit said. "To stop you from getting it. It's not healthy…Dashell." He looked at Dashell's frozen and dumbstruck face. Snifit turned to the others.
"And I won't take the exemption. Nope. I just have to stop anyone else from taking it." All four other players looked at him with amazement and doubt, until Piantissimo made a sound of disagreement.
"Says the player who took the three past exemptions?" Piantissimo huffed, not believing him. Snifit looked at him honestly.
"I won't," Snifit told him. "I'll actually earn the money. I've already had enough exemptions." The player averted his eyes from the increased attention.
"He did refuse the last offer," Éclair voiced softly, smiling at Snifit. Snifit nodded, as Dashell looked down with a shrug and disappointment.
"Well, then do we decide which of the two other games we want to play in?" Tiny asked, turning swiftly to the host. "Because if I had to choose between the remaining two….the second one sounds actually much more terrifying than the first one. So I'd probably…not go for the second one."
"So you'll be playing Grab the Star?" McHallyboo confirmed. A little hesitantly, Tiny nodded.
"I'll go for the second one because I'm ready for the challenge," Dashell stated, raising his hand and almost turning slightly to Piantissimo. "And I know some others can't do it." Piantissimo raised a strange eyebrow at him for his statement.
"I actually value my life, so I'm going with the Grab the Star game," Piantissimo voiced with certainty. "I am not brushing the eely mouth of an ocean demon. No thank you." As Piantissimo made his way over to the side with Tiny Kong, Dashell turned to Éclair with realization.
"Then I will brush the teeth, as silly as it is," Éclair said, and she moved next to Dashell. McHallyboo looked at the formed players, and nodded.
"You'll be each brought to your respective locations in the ocean, to begin your games," the host confirmed with them. "And you have just thirty minutes for each game. Successful, and you win the money for each underwater exploration." All five players nodded, as they heard the growing and gentle roar of submarine motors float their way from the distance. The players turned to the sound with surprise, taking deep breaths.
Snifit: Uh-oh. Just what were we getting ourselves into? What did I get myself into?
BEEP….BEEP…BEEP… The submarines now rested on the ocean floor, they were large mechanical blocks of yellow in the endless blue sea. The players looked out into the ocean.
"Remember: these challenges will test you both physically and mentally…so do well," McHallyboo told them, as a door at the end of the underwater hallway opened for them. "Play well...and don't let that Mole take over you."
Tiny: Mentally…of course. Hasn't this whole game challenged us mentally enough?
And one by one, they each entered into one of the three vehicles to begin their games, destined to shoot them into a world of endless aqua.
The first submarine floated through the blue water, and the two players aboard it felt for a momentary feeling like they were floating through the air. As it approached a handful of rocky cliffs, the submarine carefully maneuvered its way around the sharp rocks as it made its way to its location. Tiny Kong and Piantissimo were quickly reading a guidebook about their next game.
"There will be a long, red eel waiting for you at your location," Tiny Kong read, flipping the book sideways with confusion to get a clearer look of the hefty-lengthed eel. "It wiggles robustly and forcefully. Touching it will result in a….mild shock. Yikes. No way." At the last sentence, Tiny's eyes widened with alarm. She flipped the page, hastily, to avoid reading about the later dangers of the ocean.
"There is an underwater hut near the bottom of the trench with scuba diving fins," Tiny continued, her eyes struck with confusion. "And it says that at any time, we can go down and get them? Huh?" As she tried to continue, Piantissimo grabbed the book from her.
"Shh...stop reading. We're almost there," he said with caution. Tiny looked at him, nodding.
All of a sudden, the submarine shook, and the two of them suddenly felt an influx of water hit their feet, then their faces. It was at such a rapid speed and a shock to the two players that they could shout in terror at the sudden opening of the submarine. But before the two of them could realize it, the metal of the submarine around them began to split apart to different pieces. It was as if the submarine quickly disintegrated, and both Piantissimo and Tiny were left in the center of the ocean blue.
They were stranded in water, five-hundred feet below the surface of the ocean.
Tiny: We were…literally kicked out of the submarine. It disappeared. Thousands of feet below the surface. And I was thinking, "Wow…I'm not a fish. We're not going to last 20 seconds from this point. Bye, cruel game. It was fun".
But after a few seconds, they realized they could breathe.
"What?!" Piantissimo shouted, bubbles appearing from his mouth as he looked confused. He could hear his own voice in the water.
"We're…alive?! But that's impossible!" He looked at his own floating hands and feet. Tiny, stunned, blinked a few times underwater and looked at her surroundings. Suddenly, Tiny smiled a bit.
"Wow, I just….this is awesome." Tiny moved her arms a bit, and she saw herself swim a few feet upwards in the deep water at her own will. With her pigtails floating in the air, she laughed, the sound of her own voice echoing within the sea.
"Where are we?" Piantissimo wondered. The two players saw rocky cliffs to their sides, as they looked at their surroundings in silence. Piantissimo folded his arms, looking around. Tiny, who took the book into possession in her back pocket, opened it and began reading the page they were on.
"The trench…where our game begins," Tiny said quietly and cautiously, looking around, not knowing where the mission would start.
"Now all we have to do is find that-"
"Shh…" The two players suddenly stopped as they heard a sound from below them. At first, they heard an initial strange sound, equivalent to that of an electric shock. Then it was a heavy rustle, as something slipped out from a hole in the rocky cliff a hundred feet below them.
Grrrrrrrowwwll...
"That's it…" Tiny gasped, and held her breath in fear. A creature, slimy and twisting and turning with every move, finally made it way into existence. Like an underwater snake, it swam left and right and darted upwards, its face now apparent to the two of them as it slithered closer to them in the water. Both Piantissimo and Tiny held their breaths.
"The star." It's skin was a bright red that contrasted the dark blue water that surrounded and encompassed them all, the crimson reflecting off to them like a warning. And at the end, the yellow star, their money, shined.
The second submarine entered into the ocean floor, as if its chasm was caused by an underwater quake that had existed millions of years ago. As it made its way into the darkness of the deep opening, the submarine had to flash its lights on, its front lights illuminating the pitch black of the cave. The walls were cracked, stained with algae, and not touched for centuries.
"I am a bit…." Éclair said, and Dashell reached out to grab her hand.
"It's okay...I'm scared too," Dashell reassured, looking into the dark distance. The submarine sunk deeper into the abyss.
Dashell: This was my time to redeem myself. After that loss. Look good in all of the other players' eyes. Look good...in Éclair' eyes.
"What are these anyway?" Dashell wondered, and the two of them began to examine the attached metal devices strapped to their back from the beginning of the journey. They had two nozzle-like attachments protruding out from the bottom side of the box-shaped machines, and the players were not told of their devices' exact functioning. Existing to their biggest interest, however, was the long cord that connected the two machines together: they were inseparable for their next game.
"We'll be together for this mission," Éclair realized. She looked down, slowly smiling. Then, the two of them looked at a soggy paper, given to them by the host.
Mission: Clean the teeth of the beast.
Only one person can clean a tooth at a time with their spray gun. The other person can maintain their partner's safety by hovering with their jetpack. Only one jetpack will be activated each time.
Failure: If you run out of time or if you are sucked into the mouth of the beast.
"Only one jetpack can work at a time," Dashell confirmed, reading a piece of paper. "While one person cleans a tooth of the creature…the other must use their underwater jetpack to save them from getting sucked in by pulling them up. Does that make sense?" The two of them seemed tense at the last sentence on the paper.
"Don't worry. I won't let you get taken by the creature," Dashell said, looking at Eclair firmly. Though nervous, the princess nodded. Dashell opened the book and flipped through its pages frantically, trying to find more information on the beast they were to soon face. He flipped to the back of the book, and using his fingers to bookmark the pages identified with the word teeth, finally found a page dedicated to explaining the underwater cave that they were currently entering into.
"This is it." The two of them read carefully, and as they slowly read the two pages, they displayed faces of anxiety.
Éclair: There was no picture of the creature…only words. And it recounted legends of divers never returning back once encountering the dark creature and never returning back. It was…not restful to read.
Dashell: If I knew what we were going to get ourselves into this, I would not have let either of us go through this game. It didn't sound safe. Or worth 15,000 coins. But at least for me, every coin counted...to redeem myself.
"We have to do it," Éclair said softly, looking at Dashell. "It is our job. We cannot let people down." Dashell looked certain as well, his face toughened and his eyes ready.
"Yep…" Dashell voiced in a low voice, nodding. "They're counting on us. Or..." He chuckled.
"At least most of them are at least." And all of a sudden, their submarine opened up, and the two of them were exposed to the water that rushed into the tank. As soon as they were, they both grabbed for the metal helmets that were wrapped around their head, clasping them as the chaos spun around then. For a second, they were pulled away from each other, but then the elastic cord between them pulled them together as they realized that they were floating alone in the water.
Dashell: Dark. Darkness. Just surrounded by water, and no light.
All of a sudden, they heard a roar from below them. The two of them froze in their place in the vacuous space of watery air.
"What was that?…" An immense sound grew, as they saw a dark shape emerge from below them. It sent a shudder through them that echoed the surrounding rocky walls of the underground hole as well, as Dashell and Éclair only looked below them in fear. After a few seconds, four shiny lights began to glow below them, illuminating the entire grotto almost in its full.
From the bottom of the pit, two glowing orbs shined up to them.
"Lights?" Éclair gasped. She stared down, and so did Dashell.
"No…" Dashell shook his head with a determined face. "No….those are its eyes. And it's looking right towards us."
Snifit and the host rode silently in their own small submarine of yellow. Not talking much, the sound of bubbles coming from the vehicle's back was the loudest protruding noise for the thirty minute travel through the sea's bottom. Snifit sat still, a little awkwardly and looking out the window every so often, as McHallyboo stood still, looking at his own working wristwatch.
Snifit: I was ready for my solo game. I had no choice.
"Hmm…." McHallyboo looked at his watch for the third time. "My time stopped. Would you happen to have the time, Snifit?" Snifit looked up from his submarine seat, then looked at his own watch on his arm.
"Again? Umm….it's 11AM…wait, a little before it," Snifit replied quickly.
"Thank you…." McHallyboo then immediately let out a chortle. He laughed out loud, surprising Snifit. His laughter continuing, Snifit was prompted to ask the host a question of curiosity.
"Err…what is it. this time? Did I…do something?" Snifit asked. McHallyboo smiled a bit before continuing.
"I asked you that question a few minutes ago, right? And you gave a different answer." Snifit's eyes shot open with realization. Snifit immediately looked back at his watch.
"It was 11…..11:05 when you asked me before." McHallyboo nodded, as Snifit looked at the watch on his wrist intently and a little nervously.
"Don't worry," the host continued with a wave of his hand. "Your watch isn't broken. We're just in…a very special place in the sea. Things are a little reverse around here." Suddenly, the submarine seemed to stop, and Snifit looked above and out the window with surprise and awe. The sea was not as dark as it was at its bottom, and after a few seconds, Snifit realized that his submarine had traveled thousands of feet closer to the surface of the ocean. Still far beneath it though, he smiled to take in the first bit of visible sunlight above him.
"Well, this is your game," the host began, and he turned to Snifit. "You will be let out of this submarine shortly-"
"With no suit?" Snifit asked, more in alarm than confusion.
"You can breathe," McHallyboo mentioned, then he laughed. "That shouldn't surprise you."
"Well…" As McHallyboo continued, Snifit listened on, looking out the window as the host spoke.
"You have thirty minutes to make it to the end of this path. This part of the ocean is special. It's...well, lack of better words, a glitch. And never supposed to have ever existed. You might get…a negative aura swimming through it." Snifit slowly nodded, his eyes darting across the expanse of blue water that awaited his travel.
"And there is a danger…that will hurt the pot," the host delivered to him with a solemn look. At this, Snifit looked at the host closely.
"What is that danger?" Snifit asked, trying to sound brave.
"If your heart rate races above 120 beats per minute…at any point….then the total winnings of 20,000 coins will be cut in half. Any subsequent heart rise to that level will cut the winnings yet again." At hearing the instructions, Snifit gulped just a little bit. But his eyes looked baffled.
"Heart rate?" he asked the host, looking at him questionably. The host coughed.
"Yes...and don't question it," McHallyboo said, almost in a stern voice. "You have a heart rate. Just like everyone else." Then, Snifit slowly nodded.
"Yes, I understand," Snifit confirmed, looking straight at the host's eyes at the rules that were given to him.
Snifit: All I could think about was: just how difficult was this game going to be?"
"You must make it to the pipe at the end of the path before thirty minutes to bank any money at all for the team," the host explained in detail. "And that is all."
Snifit: Nope. I wasn't going to lose any money. I was going to get it all…well, at least I aimed to. Ten thousand I felt wasn't enough. Twenty would be it.
"I got it," Snifit said, voice and composure confident. "Just tell me when I can begin." McHallyboo looked out the window, at the sea-filled path. In the distance, a small Blooper swam its way closer and closer to their current spot. Its white speck in the distance made Snifit look at it with a little bit of worry. McHallyboo then turned back to Snifit to give him a grinning look.
"You can begin…right…about…."
"NOW!" The voice was heard all throughout the entire sea, as if the voice itself was the voice of the ruler of the ocean. All three games began simultaneously.
-30 MINUTES REMAINING-
"Go!" Piantissimo swam downwards after the eel, as he pushed his arms down in a swim-like motion and chased after it. After a few short minutes, he was on the same parallel level as the red creature that twisted through the ocean. At the end of the creature, his goal was in sight: the yellow star bounced after the eel's tail like a taunting, glowing bait.
Piantissimo: Thirty minutes to grab the star and bring it back to McHallyboo. No biggy. This just wasn't much of the hard challenge that I thought it would be.
"Hold on!" Tiny, struggling with the swimming more than he was, was still taking her time to reach the bottom of the trench. "Wait for me!" She pushed with her arms forward, trying to catch up to the sea's bottom. The eel darted upwards, as Piantissimo moved to the side.
Tiny: Before we set off, we agreed that the plan was for one of us to block off a path of the eel by scaring it, and sending it off right into the path of the other person so it'd be easier for them.
"Wait for me first," Tiny voiced, struggling to reach the bottom of the sea. Not any more looking at Tiny's slow swimming, Piantissimo turned back to the eel.
"I can grab the star so easily!" Piantissimo shouted back. "Just watch!" He floated closer to the eel, and as its head and pointy teeth swam past him, the rest of the eel's body began to glide across Piantissimo's point of view. He began to count the seconds that it took for the eel's length to cross him, as he looked at his right. The star was coming closer and closer with each counted second as well.
"It's travelling so fast!" Tiny yelled, her face looking unsure as she looked below. "You have to be more careful than that!"
Tiny: Maybe I should have spent more time planning, instead of running right into the game. Perhaps we would have had a better outcome...and at that second, I knew we were not using teamwork.
"I just have to time the grab…" Piantissimo said out loud, as he floated in place. The body of the eel swam past him with each stroke the eel took, and finally the star was almost in reach as it sparkled brightly to the player, moving at a rapid pace closer and closer each foot.
"Three….two…" Piantissimo drew both his hands back, waiting as the star came right directly in front of his eyes.
"One…" Finally, his view reached the end of the eel, and the yellow shined directly in front of him for a split second.
"Mine!" He then shot out both his arms, and his right hand grabbed right onto a shiny point of the star. But his left hand did not touch the star as well. It grabbed right onto the tip of the eel's tail.
ZSSTS! 600 volts of electricity shot straight through the body of the impatient player. As Tiny watched in shocked dread, Piantissimo's body fell slowly to the bottom of the ocean.
"Oh…my god." Éclair gasped as the two of them got closer and closer to the eel's gigantic mouth. As large as the length of two school buses, the creature below them shifted slightly, its daunting appearance making both of them feel a wave of terror. Dashell and Éclair felt dread as they approached its open mouth, and in it, a set of teeth of immense size was visible to them. The eel roared out loud.
Dashell: Our game had begun.
"I'll go first!" Dashell shouted, and he sank a few feet below Éclair. "You use your hover first when I tell you too! Every three minutes, he is going to suck us in with its force! I'll tell you when he's about to do that!"
"Is it a he or a she?" Éclair shouted back, looking at its two sets of ambiguous eyes.
"Beats me, but it thinks we're fish bait!" Positioning himself above the mouth of the eel and taking a deep breath, Dashell lowered himself, as Éclair remained above him, the cord between them being up to twenty feet long. After a few seconds, Dashell rested right on the edge of the large eel's mouth as he stood upon its tooth. He chose the one that was evidently unclean: dirty, purple, and stained from lack of mouth hygiene.
Eclair: For the pungent odor was atrocious high above it…I can only imagine what it was like for my brave partner.
"Take this!" Dashell got out his water gun from his pocket, and pressed down on its trigger. The plethora of bubbles began to hit the surface of the tooth, as Dashell found himself wildly trying to control the water gun in his hands.
"Whoa!" With the lack of disadvantage from not using his functioning hands for years, the force of the gun caused it to slip out of his hands.
Plop! With a small sound, the gun slipped into the black abyss, far below any dark crater or hole that could ever be explored.
Snifit swam forwards, the purple coral stalks that protruded from the ground making him apprehensive in his first strokes. He swam his arms and legs forwards, and after a few minutes, found his pace. But as he continued onwards, he started to struggle in the blue sea's path from one overwhelming feeling: fear.
Snifit: I was beginning my travel. And I think that was the most difficult part. The first five minutes.
"Oh dear." A medium-sized fish swam its way on his side, as he put his hand against his heart. The hand was his way of self-measuring his success and status in the game. He looked behind him, and saw how far he was from the submarine he had already left.
"I don't know what exists forwards," Snifit said with a wince. "I can't. He looked around, and saw endless ocean around him.
"I…can't." Snifit closed his eyes, as he felt his heartbeat getting faster. "I…"
"Quitting already?" Snifit opened his eyes, surprised at hearing the voice of anyone. As he turned around, all he made was the shape of white, with two large black set of eyes looking at him in almost a ridiculing but humored look. The person floated behind him, in place, as if he was used to the sea and an expert at everything the ocean had to offer to him.
But the thing that first caught the attention of Snifit were the arms of the past player, floating gently in the water. Ten arms.
"You better follow me if you want to win a game. Unlike I did."
Bam. 3 cliffhangers in a row. THREE.
I needed to do it for the semi-lack of updating, hehe. Which one was your favorite?
Anyways, I just want to say, it's been the 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY since the beginning of this story's publication. Time FLIES. It feels so weird! I can't believe it's going back all the way to last summer.
And I plan to finish this soon : ) I am so embarrassed that some of you remembered in the reviews, and I didn't. Like. Ah, in celebration, I just want to give you guys all Mole cookies and hugs. Confetti party!
Haha anyways, time to reply to your reviews! (these might be a bit brief, sorry! But Ill make sure to get to everyone :)
sixthsense6: Haha, it's not the first time someone has called out a player for doing something awful! It's an on-going thing with a lot of players in the Mole series…which contributes to the theory that everyone may in fact just be the Mole, lol. And ah, sorry! I studied for my finals haha.
FredtheMontyMole: LOL. I swear, I read the beginning of your review and was like, "Oh….okay " but then you totally one-upped me and I was like, "You son of a-" Hehe. Also, I was in Deep Blooper Sea the other day. You wouldn't be surprised if I told you I still had my N64, no?
NintendoMLP: Oh gosh, my favorite parts of your review: "Dashell stop flipping your hair just because you can!" I DIED. I legit died. That comment had me rolling.
The trope continues: yes! All fail for the first mission of each Final 5. Anyways, lol, about Maio Kart 8: it looks beautifull! But it seems to be lacking a lot of favorite playable characters, according to fans. If someone like Pink Gold Peach can be in the game…so can Dashell definitely one day ;p
Guest: Your comment about Éclair singing made me picture her singing elegantly in the sea, like during a mission….oh gosh, it's pretty. Now I want to put a karaoke mission somewhere in the game xD there was a deleted scene in Saboteur's Island of the players singing karaoke on the island, and having certain players such as Wario singing awful, but Luvbi singing like "angels from the tropical heavens" (exact quote). Random thought that made me remember a past deleted scene. Consider is trivia!
Fanfict1315125: A lot of things McHallyboo says holds a butt-load of importance. The problem is, he usually says it so nonchalantly and briefly that it usually always whizzes past the players' heads, haha. They should know by now the blue-hatted host's tricks xD
book-reader233 : You're welcome! Anytime! I know, the "clue", right? I have been so slow on it! I might reveal it sometime in the final four, hehe. My bads!
Moley Koopa: Wowza! Your video theories are hecka interesting and win the originality award! They make me think myself soo much, haha. On top of all your video theories oh snap, I was supposed to make and upload for "Dry Bones' Execution" with this update! Sadly, I have no time….but I will prob. Upload it sometime in the next or next-next chapter ; )
Perianth: Haha, I think it's safe that you skipped the April Fools day chapter xD. And if you look closer again, there's a subtle part that explains where Snifit actually hands the lighter to Éclair! "Éclair grabbed his hand, as the three players…" It's one of those cool hidden things that some people might catch if they read the chapter over again : ) lol, I like to call it by little easter eggs, scattered about. Keep out for more!
Perianth: You deserve a second review shout-out: WOW. WOW WOW WOWW. Just. WOW...wow. Wow. That…how can I even take this list and not be impressed? Just reading it over is pretty miraculous and fun itself. I love it. Thanks for it! So much :D it's so magical and summary-ry! Arigatou!
fiction idea: Hey! It's good, Im glad to see ya! : ) Yeah, hmm…greed really does change a person. It's just…you'll see in the final part of this chapter whether people stay the same in greedy character or not. Players such as Dashell really have been dynamic, and it makes me sad sometimes to see them struggle in their own conflicted worlds : ( Ah besides that, yay nice and totally awesome to see ya again!
Fawful Has Chortles: THANKS! Im so happy you remembered :D Australia? You're from the land? Dang, that's awesome! And you just gave me awesome memories of the 6th Australian Mole season which ran last summer. My, what a year it has been! And I love your little dialogues for each player, hehe.
PuzzlingGamer: Thanks aww! That one-sentence just means a lot It really does and Im actually kinda proud I've lasted this long. Thanks for it!
FireKai: Quick forgiving! It's like a dilemma that attacks a lot in psychology and interpersonal relationships. It's funny how it could apply to this story, heh. But true, some people change after just one chapter. And you raise a good question: just which tank would I MYSELF stop at? I would like to say I'd be the smart, safe one and choose Tank #1…but I never know. I might just fall to that temptation in a Mole game, heh.
Guest: LOL. I will forgive you for that post, since I hadn't updated in a while.
wooddavers: A FIRST-TIME REVIEWER! –puts on bow tie- Haha, anyways so glad to see ya! You know, your binge reading inspired me to do a little bit of my own binge-reading from the start. Wow, it's so new just seeing everything fall into place again, after a while. Ah, so glad you became more of a Mole fan of the TV series! Im guilty and haven't watched much of the Dutch series, haha, but man, do I have so many re-run overs of the US, UK, and Australia Moles. Thank you!
Anyways, two things.
New Poll on my profile! and….
The Mole bites a player in the next chapter! A PERMANENT VICTIM. Which player will meet his or her unfortunate end and will not continue in the game? It just may well be anyone.
Stay tuned for the finale of the sea : )