The Mole: Agent's Elevation

by krisetchers

The chaos, deceits, and twists have escalated. 10 players are thrust into this new arena and are forced to play and survive. But one of them, like always, is out to eliminate them all. Someone has constructed this entire labyrinth of treachery and mistrust. Entailing countless lies, an individual ruins: the Mole.

30. Happy End

Eyy! BEEN A WHILE, EHHH?!

So while krisetchers had been procrastinating and busy with working this summer (I know, right? Bleh, real life!), you great readers had been in a mixture of posting amazing humbling reviews, sending me heartwarming, "Krisetchers please update!" emails, and making me…fanart of my fanfic?! : O (will mention later below).

Anyways, the delay of this final part of the episode was due to 2 reasons: just natural busy-ness since my summer is so hectic! but also because this final part was just very long in general! I was thinking of splitting this final chapter into 2 parts, because of its length, but I thought that unnecessarily cruel to make you guys wait like that. Also, it throws off each episode being 5 parts long.

So read the entire final full part at your ease below : ) This is the episode's last part. It comes down to the final part of this splash-filled ourney. Enjoy! : D

---

Episode 6 (FINAL PART)

"The gun!" The device, which slipped right out of Dashell's hands in an instant, fell to the darkness below them. It made a small bump as it hit the side of the gargantuan eel's skin, before it sank completely out of sight. Dashell, underwater, groaned loudly.

"Éclair…I dropped my gun!" he yelled above to the princess. "I'm sorry. It slipped." Éclair's looked at her own gun, still safe in her hands.

"I still have mine!" Éclair called down to him. "Do you want me to give mine to you? I can do it!"

"Yes! Just drop it safely!" Dashell called back after a small while of thinking and looking high above him. "I can use it to finish these last few drops of goo on the eel's tooth! Just drop it!"

"Okay," Eclair replied, a face with lessened worry at his words. She took a few seconds to position the gun above Dashell's place, now fifty feet below her. Then, with full focused eyes, she dropped the gun as it fell rapidly down the watery air. Being made of metal, the gun descended quickly down to Dashell.

Dashell: Without a water gun, we were doomed for the game. But that couldn't happen to us. We couldn't lose. We had to win.

As it floated down, Dashell reached out with right timing. As he let out a grunt, his right hand grasped onto the metal body of the gun. He had grabbed it.

"I caught it!" Dashell shouted up to her. Eclair smiled.

"You can finish this," Éclair called down to him. "But please: be careful Dashell."

"I will!" Dashell used his arms to float right down to the creature's opening. After a few seconds, he was standing on the edge of the eel's mouth again, aimed the gun at the tooth just inches away from him. Dashell aimed his weapon.

"Time to clean you up…serpent!" Vigorously, Dashell pressed the button, and the gun shot out once again at full force. The bubbles sprayed everywhere, blinding Dashell temporarily with its flurry through the air. But he maintained his grip, his fingers burning as he tried to keep hold of the spraying gun. The tooth, just seconds ago a moldy black, was now turning to an original flashing white color as Dashell sprayed it further and further with full force.

After a minute, the tooth began to surprisingly sparkle, as Dashell floated back a few feet to look at it.

"I'm done! I did it!" Dashell looked back up at Éclair, his grin wide. "Just one more tooth to go!"

"Okay! Now it is my...oh." Suddenly noticing something, Éclair's face suddenly changed to dread. From below her, even farther below where Dashell floated in the water, she saw the black creature shift oddly. The changed, as all of a sudden, bubbles from her own mouth seemed to be sucked down below. She gasped in realization.

Éclair: And then I saw that the eel was retaliating.

"The creature….it is inhaling!" Éclair shouted down below her. "Like it had spoken in the book! Swim, Dashell!"

"What?" Dashell replied, looking up. "I can't hear you!" All of a sudden, a sturdy growl grew from below the two players, and suddenly Dashell knew that the creature below him was making its deathly move. As his body began to get sucked into the colossal opening of the eel, he tried to swim up.

"Ah!" The force began light at first, then grew stronger. Dashell found himself breathing with panic, moving his arms up as fast as he could to no avail. He was slipping away.

"It's okay...I have you!" Éclair called out loudly. As soon as Dashell found himself inching closer to the belly of the beast, his cord was pulled up by the saving princess above him. Éclair activated her water jetpack, and within seconds, pulled him out of harm's way of the eel. As small fish were sucked into the mouth of the eel, flying past the two of them, neither of them were made victim in the eel's first attack.

---

"Piantissimo! Wake...wake up?" Tiny called out to below her.

It took several minutes for Tiny to finally float down fully to the bottom of the rocky trench the two players were partaking their game in. The eel continued to swim above them, casting a large shadow on both Tiny and Piantissimo. As Tiny finally saw the figure of Piantissimo on the floor, motionless, she shook him lightly with panic.

Tiny: For all I knew, he was either passed out…or possibly dead and out of the game.

"Oh…phew…I guess he's still living." Little bubbles began to protrude from Piantissimo's mouth, as Tiny sighed with relief in knowing that he was taking the action of breathing.

"Why did you touch the eel?" Tiny whispered, almost as if she was trying to talk to the unconscious athlete. "I mean, I know it's my fault for suggesting not to use the gloves, but…" Her voice stopped, noticing a large structure to her side that she didn't take into full attention before. Looking like a large rock at the bottom of the sea, a wooden door stood at its front. With heavy steps underwater, Tiny immediately began to walk towards the structure.

Tiny: All of a sudden, there was an underwater hut? And I knew that it was probably an important aspect of the game.

Tiny opened the door to the underwater shack.

"Hello!" Tiny had entered the underwater store, stunned at its interior. A Cheep-Cheep smiled at her, cheeks wide.

"Would you like to buy anything?" the fish continued. Tiny backed up a little bit, at first surprised, but then nodded.

"Umm…sorry, I don't have any money," Tiny began, looking at a pair of scuba diving fins on the shelf right behind the Cheep-Cheep , "but I read in a book somewhere that those fins might be...for me?" The Cheep-Cheep turned around, then with a pat of her fins, hit the scuba equipment off the shelf.

"5,000 coins," the Cheep-Cheep said gleefully, as the fins floated right to the front of her. "And yes, you do have money. From the team's pot, that is." Tiny's mouth dropped with realization.

"From the…team's pot," Tiny tried to confirm with her. The fish nodded in reply, as Tiny hesitated for a few seconds with a troubled face.

Tiny: I just couldn't imagine why these scuba fins were here if we weren't meant to use them. And with time ticking, I had to make a final choice: should I buy them, or were they useless?

"I guess I'll take the fins," Tiny nodded with confirmation, and the fish hit them towards her. Within seconds, and newly-placed fins right on her feet, Tiny left the hut with a resolute mind.

As she exited, the star continued to shine high above her.

---

"So you were the runner-up of The Mole: Traitor Aboard?" Snifit asked his question a little timidly, knowing that the person swimming in front of him was of higher perceived status than him. Floating through the sea, the squid didn't bother to turn around in reply, and Snifit realized that his guide was travelling through the water at a much faster speed than he himself could reach.

Snifit: If we weren't in water, I would probably have been sweating…definitely. Blooper was moving too fast for me. But he was the only way I could survive this game and make it through the water. What else could I do?

"Umm, I can't catch up-" Snifit huffed, kicking his feet faster.

"You have a time limit, so that's why I'm going so fast," Blooper replied nonchalantly. "I kind of need to force you to travel fast if you want to win." Blooper swam upwards, as they made their way onto a rocky green-shaded platform within the ocean. Blooper took a second to stop in his swimming, patting the top of the platform to make sure that it was safe.

"Oh…" Snifit stopped talking, and he and the runner-up paused for a bit, resting on the platform. As Snifit took the time to catch his breath, Blooper turned around to face him again fully.

"McHallyboo told me about you…" Blooper said, facing Snifit with a raise of his eyebrow. "You're…interesting."

"That's what some of the players think already," Snifit replied, scratching his head. The tired and confused player in the red suit looked around for a second, taking in his surroundings. Ahead of the two of them, endless blue seemed to stretch on in an infinite path.

"Where are we exactly?" Snifit said slowly. "I mean…this doesn't really feel like a normal, umm, water-filled area." Facing the seemingly-continuing path as well with knowledge, Blooper chuckled.

"That's because it isn't," the ex-player said in a low, mysterious voice himself. "It's a glitched world. People call this area…World Minus One. This is even how it is in the real Minus One, back in our real planet." Snifit's eyes widened at his statement, as he looked into the endless blue once again with understanding.

"The people around here…mostly Bloopers and Cheep-Cheeps…long and wish very much to be real. This is all a fictional, glitched world. The creatures here even know themselves that they are not real creatures. They aren't…supposed to even exist, honestly." Snifit faced Blooper, a little shocked at his sentence.

"And McHallyboo made me your guide cause there will be many Bloopers down this path…angry Bloopers bitter over the fact that they live their fictional, non-existent lives," the ex-player continued. "So I gotta keep you safe from them." Blooper shook his head.

"But who cares about them? They're just fake. Let's go." As Blooper got off from the platform, Snifit's face still showed a mix of confusion and uncertainty, and the player didn't seem to move. Blooper sighed.

"Don't worry: there's a pipe at the end of this creation, and you have to make it there before the end." Blooper rose and stretched out his tentacles, ready to move on with their journey, but Snifit coughed.

"I have, err, one more question…" Snifit interrupted quickly, as Blooper slightly floated back down. "Are you the real Blooper…or the fake Blooper?" In response, Blooper just laughed, his tentacles shaking as well.

"Shouldn't you be asking someone else that?" Blooper said, laughing and not bothering to wait for the confused and struggling Snifit who trailed in swimming motion behind him. They swam closer to the game's finish.

---

"Whu…huh? Where am I?"

Piantissimo woke up, shaking his head as he realized that he was at the bottom of sandy ground. He looked above him, a long, red line waggling above his eyes as if taunting him for the damage it had caused him. Piantissimo shook his head heavily, trying to regain his thoughts.

"What…happened!" His body floated back up to a regular position, as he looked at his hand. There was still a tingling feeling that laid within it, as he took off his own purple glove.

Piantissimo: Then the memories started flooding back. And all I could picture was that star right in front of me…and then myself being electrocuted by that slippery, sabotaging eel.

"Over here!" Tiny waved down to him from above. "I'm here! But I can't catch the star! You gotta get it!" She was high above him, using her new flippers to try and swim down to his position. But as Piantissimo and even Tiny noticed, her speed had not increased from her new purchase.

"Are those water slippers helpful?" Piantissimo questioned, talking while swimming his way up farther away from the ocean's ground. Tiny shook her head, looking a little annoyed.

"These are kinda useless," Tiny informed him, moving her feet to show him.

"They're just for show," Piantissimo snickered. "I remember glancing over them slightly in the textbook." But Tiny only faced above her in the sea with a look of apprehension, eyeing the eel above.

"You missed a lot, by the way. And our time left for this game is…" She gulped.

"Not that much." She looked at her watch, one she had found on the bottom of the submarine earlier before their game's beginning.

"How much time do we have?" Piantissimo looked down at his arm, at the watch he had positioned on himself from the start of the game as well. His mouth dropped, seeing the display that told him that only ten minutes remained for their game. Piantissimo turned to the eel angrily.

"You slippery snake! You can't keep that star from us forever! You'll pay for what you decided to do to me!" Strangely, the electric animal seemed to understand Piantissimo, and instead began to swim in a direction away from the players. Tiny turned to Piantissimo, a nervous but ready look in her eyes.

"We have just under ten minutes to get that star…or ten thousand coins will be kept from the pot." Both nodding, and glove-less, the players floated with anticipation and readiness. They needed a plan to grab the shining money at the end of the danger-filled tail, before the eel slipped away forever.

---

Snifit: It was weird. Halfway in, and all I could see was an endless array of Bloopers.

The blue sea was almost colored white. As more of the multi-armed creatures glided through the water with ease and into Snifit's view, it was as if the later part of the world was designed to increase more and more with the presence of the many squid. Snifit gulped, looking around and noticing that each Blooper's eyes, as he passed each one, seemed to turn to him with a look of animosity.

"There's one Cheep-Cheep," the main Blooper pointed out, pointing his tentacle at one of the familiar white-red fish that passed by. Snifit, unconsciously, grabbed onto one of Blooper's other tentacles.

"They're looking at me, like I'm a foreign object," Snifit uttered, trying not to be too loud as he looked at them with both fear and baffled emotion.

"That's because you are," Blooper said quietly. "And because you are not one of us, that's why I'm here with you. To protect you." Snifit stopped and stared at his travelling companion.

"What…what do you mean?" Snifit's face transformed to one of confusion.

Snifit: What was he trying to tell me in this strange sea?

"What I'm saying is, if I left you right now…you would probably and immediately be swarmed and attacked. You'd probably cease to exist," Blooper told him, sounding calm. But the sentence left a chill in Snifit as they swam for the next few thousand feet through the blue of the water.

---

While one player remained high up, another player lowered herself down to the large eel. As Dashell watched with nervousness, the princess was now at the entrance of the giant animal's mouth. She scrunched her face.

Éclair: The odor…was quite more awful than what I would have ever imagined.

"Okay, now spray it!" Dashell said, determination in his voice. "Spray it good!"

Dashell: It was frightening to see her alone right next to the eel's mouth. But she was brave. That's what I liked about her. I liked that quality of her, ever since we jumped together off that two-hundred foot cliff.

"There's just one more tooth to clean!" Dashell yelled down, putting his hands around the cord that attached between the two of them, just for safety. "We have over fifteen minutes left! If I see him inhaling, I'll pull you up!"

"Thankfully…only one left." Éclair, gun in her hands, got ready to fire. She was standing on one clean tooth of the eel monster, and her weapon was aimed at the tooth of black decay. She pressed down on the trigger of the gun.

"Fire!" Dashell shouted. The gun shot out, and Éclair grasped the metal of the gun tightly. Her palms aching and bubbles hitting her in the face vigorously, she winced as she aimed in almost perfect direction at the dirty tooth.

"Yes! It's working! Keep firing!" Dashell, at first worried, only grinned larger and larger, seeing after a minute the tooth shine a brilliant white. As another minute passed, the tooth was almost fully white.

"I am almost there!" Éclair shouted above her, over the loud sounds of the gun. That was when Dashell looked at his watch, and shouted back.

"I'm going to pull you up now!" Dashell yelled in reply. "It's mere seconds before he's going to inhale! I'll pull you up with the hover device!" Éclair looked up and nodded.

"Ready?" Dashell spoke. But as soon as Dashell was about to pull on the trigger of the hover, there was an unexpected and unheard sound, almost as if the eel made a quick, wheezing noise from deep within its body. The loud sound occurred a split-second after Dashell remembered the last line at the end of page 122: the mention that the eel was vulnerable to another unconscious act in replacement of the inhaling it did every three minutes.

Before Dashell could speak, the eel sneezed.

ACHOOOOOOOOOOO!

The sneeze was at such hard pressure that both players were sent flying through the air at lightning speed.

"Ahhh!" The force so strong, Éclair was sent flying up into the air in twisting spirals as she shrieked through the water. Dashell yelled as well, his body sailing over to the side direction at fast rapidity.

At enormous speed, his body hit the rocky walls of the cave, smashing the glass of his hovering device right against the surface rock and destroying it.

---

"Ready…grab!" Tiny reached out to grab the star, but she was too slow as the eel slipped just inches away from her grasp.

"Darn!" Tiny sank down a bit, groaning in frustration. Piantissimo, who was standing at the eel's front, dodged the dart of the eel's head as it moved left to swim on in the trench. Piantissimo had tried to distract the eel by letting it chase him, but the plan had only worked temporarily.

"I'm just so scared to touch the electricity instead of the star!" Tiny admitted. "I'm almost subconsciously not trying to grab the star, just to avoid being shocked!" Piantissimo looked up.

Piantissmo: We tried to use the solution of having one of us swim in a set-memorized pattern while the eel chased us, and the other player grabbing the star at the correct, precise time. We had it for three rounds. But Tiny Kong was too scared.

"I think you should be the one at the tail, grabbing for the star," Tiny voiced in a bit of complain. "With only five minutes left, I mean…" Piantissimo face dropped.

"But after that deadly shock I received?" Piantissimo argued with a small shudder. "You are joking! Not in the chance am I grabbing for it again! Goodbye." Tiny looked overwhelmed at the player's response.

"But come on," she replied. "This is it. We have to give it our best, otherwise we won't win this game." The two of them looked above them, the shadow of the long eel once again casting over them in almost a jeering manner. Piantissimo gulped, then glared heavily.

"Well, I'll give it ONE more attempt," Piantissimo decided with a sigh. "I believe those gloves might have been electricity-resistant, if we had taken them. Now that we don't have them…this game is a challenge for us." Tiny nodded in regretful agreement.

"Then I shall go off." Piantissimo pushed up, swimming through the water, leaving Tiny behind as she looked in surprise. In just a few seconds, Piantissimo was already at the tail of the eel. As the eel swam in its usual circles, Piantissimo suddenly began following right directly behind him, as if tracing exactly the very steps of the eel in swimming motion.

Tiny: Then I suddenly realized he wasn't going to our teamwork plan, and just improvising his own method of getting the star. Maybe it was better after all? But he was still being a bit questionable.

Piantissimo: I just simply wanted to get over this game. That was that. To just grab the star in all of this foul mission's straightforwardness.

As he continued swimming, just a mere few feet behind the shining star, only three minutes remained till the end of the game.

---

Blooper suddenly stopped in his tracks as the travelling duo came to a pause. The other creatures that looked similarly swam on, but the two players were still in place. As Snifit stopped too with misunderstanding confusion, the Mole veteran turned around to face Snifit in the middle of the endless sea.

"The end to the pipe is just five-hundred feet down," Blooper said in a strange tone, pointing down into the blue distance. Snifit gave a sigh of relief.

"That's good," Snifit said with a little laugh, giving off a smile of his own for the first time the entire journey. "I won't be doing this for long. It's a tiring swim. This mission seemed rather easy."

"Yep," Blooper said, as if trying to not divulge the entire situation to him.

"As long as I just follow you to the end, then I'm good," Snifit continued with the same relieved look. Blooper didn't say anything for a small while, and it was long enough of a while for Snifit to question.

"I…actually can't go on," Blooper finally announced. As Snifit looked at his sea guide of the challenge, his face became perplexed,

"What…do you mean?" Snifit asked slowly.

"It means that I will be leaving you," Blooper replied, in the same tone of relaxed feelings that he had maintained throughout the journey. "I'm not allowed to be here any longer. McHallyboo made it strict for my role in this game to be brief and not to make it to the end. It's always been this way." Snifit's eyes widened with shock.

"Wait…but…" Snifit realized, his voice turning to one of immediate worry. "But you said that if you leave me…then the others will…swarm to me?" The other Bloopers, swimming around him in hefty amount, were now more visible to the lone player. The runner-up of Season 1 just gave out a half smile.

"They won't just swarm you," Blooper told him. "I already told you before. They will attack you. And for that…sorry and good luck." And with his statement, he pushed his tentacles up into the air and left in such a swift speed, blending along all the other creatures of the ocean that surrounded Snifit. The player, left alone in the ocean, gasped.

"Blooper!" he yelled out in an almost-plead, but the ex-player was gone. And at the yell, the attention of all the other Bloopers surrounding the alone player went directly towards him.

---

It was a long recovery. Dashell shook his head for the fourth time, trying to regain his consciousness. Éclair tried desperately to get his focus back on the game.

Dashell: I had slammed into the rocks at full force. If it wasn't for the machine harnessed onto my back…it would have been a fatal blow to me, no doubt.

"Dashell!" She saw the bubbles from his hover machine, and touched it. She gasped, realizing that it was hot as she pulled her hand back.

"Oh no...…" Éclair realized, touching its back and seeing gas rise from Dashell's back. Éclair closed her eyes with dread.

"It is…broken, Dashell. The hover machine is broken." At this news, Dashell suddenly jumped up with alertness and worry.

"Wait what! No!" Dashell touched the hover device on his back, and drew his hand back with a shout. It was burning, as he turned to his watch immediately.

"Two minutes left…oh no…" Dashell's eyes were full of panic.

"It has to work!" Dashell said, as they looked down at the eel below them. "We…we need it to win the game!" Dashell looked around wildly, then at his own watch.

"We need it to work!" he shouted, loud enough for the eel below to hear. "We need the hover machine to work to go down there and clean that last tooth!"

"No, we don't," Eclair said. Dashell turned to the princess at her words.

"What do you mean?" he replied frantically. "Of course we do! There's no way to pull you back from the eel if it makes its suction!"

"But…I will still be able to clean it," Éclair replied. Dashell, finally realizing what the princess was saying, was speechless.

"No…" Dashell began, grabbing her hand. "You don't mean…you're not going to sacrifice yourself…"

"I have to," Éclair began, smiling a bit sadly. But then, her sad emotion began to show in her voice as she turned away.

"It was my fault, Dashell. I had made the ship explode and sink in the previous game. And while everyone blamed you…no one saw the real person to blame. This…this is my way of saying sorry. I need to do this...and re-do my wronging." She closed her eyes.

"But if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have destroyed the ship," Dashell fought back with sorrow. "You had to because of me. We both are at fault. So it isn't just you who caused the game to fail!"

"But you were the one who took the blame," Éclair told him. Dashell was silent, as he looked with stunned emotion towards Éclair. But he shook his head.

"I won't let you do this," Dashell declared. "I…I can't…" To his horror, Éclair untied the cord between them, then gave her end of the heavy string softly to Dashell.

"It is just…a fictional eel," Éclair realized, almost as if she suddenly realized that the ocean and its surroundings were not in fact existent. "It's all fake. Whatever you see…is not true." But Dashell grabbed her hands with his own, to her surprise.

"But just seeing you disappear from this world with my own eyes, real or fake…will be too much for me." Éclair looked at Dashell, but this time, with a new look. As they faced each other, a tear fell from Éclair's eye in the mystic ocean. It didn't settle in with the rest of their water, but went down her face instead. After a few seconds, Dashell closed his eyes.

Dashell: I didn't want to see her go.

"Goodbye, Dashell. Please rise to safety and tell the others we have won the money." With a smile, she let go off his hand, and within seconds, her entire body dropped down rapidly into the sea.

"Éclair!" His shout was too far away by the time that Éclair was at the bottom of the underwater cave, at where the eel was sitting. Pushing away the bubbles that flew into her eyes from the eel's mouth, she fought to focus on the mission that was in front of her. She held the gun in her hand, then faced the tooth determinately.

"The final tooth…to win this game," she spoke strongly but quietly, and sprayed the gun with all her might. At that second, the eel made a loud noise, and it would only be seconds before the eel began inhaling again with full force. But it only took a few sprays for the last remaining bits of decay from the tooth to disappear, and almost like magic, the tooth was white. Éclair smiled, as the eel took its final moment before inhaling her in.

"I have done it…the final tooth is clean. Thank you, game. My conscience is clear."

She closed her eyes, and standing on the edge of the tooth, she let herself go into the mouth of the eel.

WHOOSH!

Éclair felt something grab her shoulder from behind. The familiar hand then moved down to swoop her body up, as if the other person was using all his force to bring her to safety. Éclair turned around with sudden surprise.

"D…Dashell?"

"I will not let anything….be it a large eel…take you away from me!" Dashell grinned. The male human, both smiling but with a bit of worry, looked down at the princess as he carried her up. But mostly, Dashell's face was full of determination to save her. Éclair smiled, wiping her tear away.

"But! How will we get out-"

"I attached one end of this cord to the rock of the trench!" Dashell explained with loud confidence, looking at her strongly. "Just….grab onto me!" All of a sudden, the roar was loud from below them, and the intense suction of the creature's force and power began.

"Grab on!"

As Éclair grabbed onto Dashell with all her might, the ex-Pixl himself shielded his eyes, grabbing onto the princess as well as the two of them were being pulled down with extreme wind. Dashell's other hand grabbed onto the cord, and the two players, who had blossomed into a special pair unseen in any Mole season before, fought to survive together. The tooth was clean, and they had won the game.

---

Thirty….-twenty-nine….twenty-eight…

"Grab it, Piantissimo!" Tiny shouted, struggling behind the eel as she let the tail of the animal go past her. She drifted in the ocean, looking keenly at Piantissimo try to catch up to the eel's end.

"I'm…oomph!" Piantissimo's glove was just inches off, swiping through the air instead as the star bounced along behind the eel. In his fumble, he lost focus, and the eel began heading another direction.

Piantissimo: It was suddenly beginning to look like we wouldn't win…but then it darted to one important direction.

Tiny, with wide eyes, saw the eel swim right to her.

"Tiny!" Piantissimo yelled, seeing the eel change its direction towards her. "The star! Right there! You must grab it to win this game!" Tiny got her hands out, face focused.

"Oh…okay!" she yelled, seeing its body almost warp around her. The eel twisted, turned, as if forming the shape of an underwater vortex below her. Tiny Kong closed her eyes, seeing a little spark of light appear in front of her.

"Ah!" She thrust her hands out, almost blindly, and then drew them back in. After a few seconds and after the underwater bubbles cleared, it was an object in her hands that made Piantissimo gasp with shock. The eel seemed to swim off into another direction, as if sensing the end of the game and that its mission was done in protecting the gold that would grant the players victory if they had gotten it.

Tiny opened her arms, feeling the glowing object in her hand. They had gotten the eel's star.

"You…got the star!" Piantissimo shouted. "You got it!" His face was ecstatic.

"I…." Tiny Kong was smiling from disbelief, from ear to ear.

Tiny: I couldn't believe it was in my hands.

"I did the task!" Tiny shouted with a laugh, not believing her eyes. "The star is ours!"

"I can't believe we actually pulled off a frustrating game like this," Piantissimo said with a pleased shake of his head. He swam over to Tiny, and looked at the star himself. The two players were victorious in their action.

All of a sudden, a voice appeared, as they realized that the host himself was unnaturally communicating with the two of them through the ocean's water. It was as if they were wearing headphones that they heard the voice of McHallyboo, speaking to them through the ocean.

"McHallyboo?" Tiny realized, her face perplexed.

"Please bring the start to me safely to exchange it for money," came McHallyboo's voice to their ears, and Tiny Kong turned to Piantissimo. The two players turned to each other.

"Well…" Piantissimo said, grinning. "We won the game. I guess McHallyboo wants the star that we got. I'll give it to him with the smuggest grin ever, if I may do the honor."

"Oh my gosh…that was crazy," Tiny laughed, shaking her arms from overtiredness. "I'm so tired. I…phew." Tiny Kong began, and she turned with the star to Piantissimo with a little smile on her face.

"Well, you wanted it! Here, you hold it!" She threw the star, with exhaustion from the entire game they had just endured in the past hour. But as Piantissimo turned, he only had a second to react at the star being thrown at him.

"Wait what?" The player's attention darted to the star, and he reached out to grab it, but his fingers merely touched it. His left hand grabbed it for a second, but then it slipped from the top yellow point of the star. For half a second, the star was in his hands, but it was only an instant later that the grip was fully lost and the star was out of the safety of his possession. It fell.

"The star!" Tiny screamed. "NO!"

As the star dropped, the two players watched it fall further and further below them, into the slightly-murky water of the gigantic trench.

Piantissimo: And that's when we realized: oops.

The star shattered at the bottom of the trench into five pieces.

---

"YOU WILL REMAIN HERE FOREVER!"

It was the chant coming from all the Bloopers that chased the poor, alone player. The final player, yet to complete his own game of the entire last mission, was in a predicament of danger: the storm of white chased after him in little strokes. With each one they took as a whole, they dangerously approached Snifit's floating body.

"No…no…" Snifit's heart raced dangerously with every stroke he took, his body futilely trying to get past the rows of seaweed and purple blocks that got in his way. He tried to yell through the water.

"Get…just let me get to the end, please!" Snifit pleaded, using his arms as both a swimming tool and a protector from the Bloopes that managed to block his view. "I just need to…win for the team!" In front of him, Snifit gasped. The shine of something green ahead of him caught his eye, as he realized just how close he was to the end of the game. A green pipe, as inviting to him as anything his entire mission, laid in front of him.

"You can never escape World Minus One!" came a Blooper, who out of nowhere, latched his tentacle onto Snifit's left leg.

"AHH!" Snifit let out a yell, the first loud one of the game. And then a split second later, he was silent and frozen.

Snifit: That yell…had it made my heart rate gone past 120 beats? From that scream? That would have meant the game was over.

"Okay…okay!" Snifit shouted, as the Blooper let go off from him. "I get it! Just…let me go. Please." At his words, the Bloopers seemed to slow down, then stop in their floating tracks. They all seemed to listen to Snifit, to his own shock.

They were all floating silently together. Surprised, Snifit took a breath, and continued to talk underwater.

"I understand this is a paradox world, and no one is supposed to escape," Snifit began, feeling a bit foolish that he was talking to a fictional squad of multiple-legged sea creatures. "But believe me, I understand that it must be hard for you guys. You guys live in a place that was never supposed to exist. You almost feel like…you aren't supposed to exist." Some of the eyes of the Bloopers before him seemed to drop, as if understanding Snifit's words completely. Snifit, with surprise, smiled a bit, but he continued his talking upright posture to them.

"But it's okay. You guys don't have to hate others just because they're different from you guys. You guys are special. You guys are a whole different world! And as a whole...you are already special."The Blooper, silent, kept on looking at him.

"You are all unique...are you should be happy for who you are."

After this sentence, there was a moment of paused silence in the sea. The Bloopers, apparent to Snifit after a few seconds, could not talk, but only stared back at Snifit with their wide eyes. The red-suited player couldn't help but gulp a little bit.

Whoosh….

All of a sudden, a first Blooper made his swim backwards. Then one by one, the Bloopers seemed to follow suit, swimming back from the way they had come from. Snifit watched in stunned awe as groups began to swim back together, their arms swinging back and gliding in the water as they changed their direction right towards the beginning of the mission's start. After a few moments, Snifit turned around, back to his own game's end. The green, glistening underwater pipe protruded sideways out from a cliff's wall.

"Wow…" With memory, Snifit looked at a watch on his wrist, given to him by the host of the game. A number displayed on it was his highest heartbeat since the very start of his journey, and he looked at the number with stunned eyes of victory.

118 Beats

"118…just two under the maximum that would have cost the team money," Snifit stated to himself with a large sense of relief, then he smiled widely. "118! I…did it! Wheee!" He swam forwards, gleefully and closing his eyes with a grin as he swam towards the green pipe.

Snifit: I didn't go over the heartbeat level. I stayed steady. And I was at the end.

"Yes!" He shouted, almost as loud as his soft voice could bring him. "I did it! And not even with the exemption-"

CRASH! In his blind swimming, Snifit missed the hole of the large pipe and crashed his head right into the hard exterior of the pipe's surrounding edge. Startled from the injury, his physiological arousal brought him to a level that shot well over 130 beats per minute.

---

It was the end of the game.

The location that the players were brought to allowed all of the five players to breathe a sigh of relief together, and shockingly, a sigh of air. As their felt their bodies become drier, they stared at where they were brought, feeling emotions of ease and relief.

"We are…no longer in the water." Five players stood at the edge of a cliff, looking out at the sea that held them captive.

"Finally…" whispered Eclair. Where the five remaining players found themselves was at the very edge of the rocky mountain, looking over the ocean which had held them for the past few days. What was only two days under the ocean seemed to some of them a huge part of their game's time, illusioned with the fact they had been trapped underwater with no escape to their home of the land. But despite all the troubles, they all believed that for a moment, the sea was a beautiful residential.

Eclair: When we were brought up from the ocean…I could not help but compare it to almost a baptism of rebirth. When we looked at the reflection below, it was us reflecting on ourselves.

McHallyboo stood at the end of the ocean cliff with them, looking out momentarily towards the water too.

"Now you know just how different of a place this…tower….was able to bring you," McHallyboo said, his voice insightful to the five player. Then, away from the ocean, he focused his attention to them.

"I would like to share the results of this final game," McHallyboo started, as some of them ahead of him scoughed uncomfortably.

Piantissimo: Oy boy. How would this turn out?

"I'm interested to see what you say about how our game ended," Piantissimo grunted, looking hard at McHallyboo. The host shot him a challenging smile.

"Sure. We'll start with the star game then." McHallyboo looked at the two players, who both had different looks on their faces. "Your mission: to grab the impossibly-placed star at the end of an eel that Mario himself once face. Indeed, you WERE able to grab the star. That star was worth 15,000 coins….but…"

"Yay!" Snifit looked at his two teammates with glee, but it was Piantissimo's remorseful look that immediately made him realize otherwise.

"However, there seemed to be a bit of a mishap that occurred in the last moments of the game," the host continued. "And…apparently…the star fell."

"Huh? What?" Snifit immediately said with a change of his face.

'From whose hands?" Dashell immediately asked, listening intently to the results of the game with a focused face. Tiny, hand still covering a part of her face, only nudged a little bit to Pianissimo. Piantissimo only shrugged, pretending to not care as much.

"It fell out of my hands…" Piantissimo began, looking at his hands as if the shiny star itself was still there. "But-" Before he could continue, Tiny jumped up.

"Okay, so I passed it to Piantissimo because I knew we had to bring it back to base," Tiny began, looking at the other players and butting it, "and I'd probably lose it on the way because I'm just terrible at swimming. So I just instinctively decided to pass it." She faced Piantissimo.

Dashell: The simple action of dropping a star: a perfect action for a good Mole, committed by Piantissimo. Maybe the answer was right there.

Piantissimo: I'm blaming Tiny on why she even had to pass the star to me in the first place. She had no purpose to. I wasn't going to let that go.

"Did you have to pass the star?" Éclair asked curiously, looking at Tiny.

"Well…no," Tiny started, then looked discontentedly. "It was one of those things that you just instinctively do, and realize afterwards….it was just a stupid move." Éclair put a hand on Tiny's shoulder.

"I understand that the game seemed fast-paced," Éclair said understandingly. "It is okay. Ours was as well." Tiny, though still looking glum, smiled.

"The bottom line is, I had 15,000 coins to exchange for that star," McHallyboo began, tucking in the money in the back of his pants pocket. "And so because the star is now in deplorable condition at the bottom of the trench, you win zero money." The players looked disappointed, some of them nodding with understanding.

"There also one more thing…" McHallyboo wanted to add, putting a finger up. "You were given a textbook in the submarine…" Tiny and Piantissimo's eyes perked

"Yes…?" Piantissimo voiced. "And?"

"If you flipped to one of the text side-notes on your section of the game, you would have seen something crucial," McHallyboo explained to them. "A section telling you that objects sold at the hut at the bottom of the trench did NOT help with swimming, but were mostly for decoration show." Piantissimo gasped, as he turned to Tiny.

"Oops…" she began, looking down with disbelief. "I guess that one was on my blame. That makes us even." She added the last part with a light-hearted laugh.

Tiny: Given only five minutes to look into the text of the textbook, I didn't even have enough time to read that crucial part. It was basically a useless factor.

"I had a feeling those flippers were useless…" Piantissimo realized with a hiss.

"So that's 5,000 coins taken away extra, because you decided to purchase the flippers," the host added, as Piantissimo and Tiny looked even more misfortuned at the results of their just-played game. Never the less, the host turned to the side to move on.

"Dashell…and Éclair…" McHallyboo began, looking at them. "You had the Eely-Mouth game, and your mission was to clean the four teeth of the giant creature itself. And what were the results?" Dashell looked at Eclair, then at the host with a grin.

"Well…besides almost losing our lives," Dashell began, smiling at Éclair and deciding to add, "and almost losing someone important to me…we won." The team of five clapped, as Éclair only blushed with surprise at Dashell's second part. Dashell just faced forwards at McHallyboo, a smile on his face.

"Thank you…" The two victorious players looked at each other, with a small moment of thankfulness.

"That's 15,000 coins to the pot. Congratulations."

Piantissimo: With one game ending in a loss, but another in riches, it was up to the third game to give its final say to the team.

"Now we come to the final player….Snifit…. and his final game," McHallyboo began. But before the host could divulge its results, surprisingly, Snifit stepped forwards.

"Oh. Can I explain what happened? Since…it was foolish." Everyone looked at lone player, almost in a curious wonder. Snifit himself was holding an ice pack, being the only person who still maintained water somewhere, even it if was in a tiny, plastic sack.

"I hit my head on the edge of the pipe I was supposed to exit the game from," Snifit began, with a little bit of unwillingness to continue into the game from embarrassment. "And…"

"Yeah, and?" Piantissimo pushed, looking at him strangely. "What does that have to do with the game?" Snifit paused.

"It rose my heart beat to 130 beats per minute," he revealed to them. "And if my heart rate went over 120 at all, the game value would have decreased." As some of the other four players sighed a bit with disappointment, Tiny looked confused.

"Wait…how did you hit the edge of the pipe with your head?" Tiny voiced. '"The exit was right there!"

"I don't know," Snifit explained, "but for all I know, I wasn't looking. It was completely my fault." Tiny gave Snifit a suspicious look.

Tiny: You hit your head on the edge of the pipe…and everyone knows that a sudden hit like that might spark your heart rate up.

"Because of your small mishap in the end, Snifit, the team wins 10,000 coins instead of 20,000 coins for your game," McHallyboo concluded. "But not bad." The host nodded, and so did the players.

"In total, out of a possible 50,000 coins of all these games combined, you had won yourselves 20,000 coins. It is still a victory, because you had all tried very hard this game. Please congratulate yourselves well-done."

Team Pot

105,000 COINS

The host took a step back, closer to the edge of the cliff himself. He looked at the five players before him.

"I would like to warn you all that the sixth quiz will be happening tonight. Just like that, one of you will be gone. One of you will be Victim Number 6." Everyone, though luckily remaining in the game, turned to each other with a hint of worry.

Tiny: And, then McHallyboo mentions the execution, and all of a sudden, I'm scared again.

"We'll be fine," Dashell voiced, and he looked at Éclair and smiled.

"It's good I have those…items," Snifit whispered, but McHallyboo heard him.

"You also were able to have another item, Snifit" McHallyboo began, taking a green ticket out of his pocket side. Everyone present knew exactly what it was, and Snifit stared at it.

"I didn't take it, I promise" Snifit said, and he took a breath before explaining. "Blooper offered me an exemption halfway through the game. It would have cost my entire mission." He stopped.

"But, well…I didn't take it." The others around him looked at him sharply with shock. Even though the tempted player had stated earlier that he wouldn't take it, they each couldn't help but feel a little bit surprised at his refusal.

Piantissimo: It was like the first time Snifit DIDN'T have an exemption.

"For that action…ten thousand coins will be added to the pot," McHallyboo announced, as the players' eyes all lit up. They were in surprise, but happy and content at the announcement.

Team Pot

115,000 COINS

"Wow…thank you," Dashell said, kicking his feet at the ground humbly. "Thanks, Snifit." Snifit, himself looking surprised, took in the news with a smile of his own.

Dashell: You can't help but think: maybe he did that noble act of refusing an exemption, just to overshadow his mistake in the underwater mission he did. Who knows?

"And I shall award you all your prizes from the Fish Tank game," McHallyboo began, and he walked up to Snifit and gave him three coins. The coins fell into his outstretched hand, as he looked at it with surprise.

"Tiny…a Plus 2." The host went up to the tall player and gave her the two coins into her hands.

"Yes…thanks, McHallyboo, so much," Tiny spoke with a sigh of relief. "I guess I won't be too worried on this next quiz…since I'm still a bit wary on my suspect." After saying that line, she seemed to immediately regret it as her hand covered her own mouth.

Tiny: I can't believe I admitted that out loud to the others…that I might have second thoughts on who the saboteur might be.

"Piantissimo…a Plus 1, plus the opportunity to give a Minus 1 to another player." McHallyboo gave a coin to Piantissimo, along with a red coin. The others could only stare at it with a hint of discomfort.

"Éclair…this is your object." McHallyboo went up to the player and put a green piece of paper into her hand. When the princess opened it, it was blank to her surprise.

"When you desire…any time before you take a quiz…you may ask to receive a question," the host told the princess.

"Thank you…I will try to find purpose in this," Éclair spoke.

"To get a question beforehand may be more valuable than you think," McHallyboo explained, and Éclair took the piece of paper with thankfulness.

Dashell: I don't think Éclair realizes how crucial her item is. Not only will you save so much time on a quiz when you get an answer beforehand...but you can guarantee that you won't screw that question up when you take it. If someone uses an object like that on the final quiz…that might just be his or her path to victory in this game.

"Well, phew…" Piantissimo said, juggling his coins a bit. "These will be good. I need a secure boost like this, especially at the Final 5" He laughed a bit with relief.

"Yeah, at least I have something," Snifit whispered to Piantissimo, and glanced at Dashell and Éclair. The male and female player were both looking at each other, knowing that neither of them truly had any items to immediately help them on the next quiz. In their eyes, there was worry.

All the players could only wait for the fate-changing execution to happen later that night.

---

After drying off from her shower, Tiny put the two valuable coins into her pockets. Peering out of her doorway, she precariously made her way down to the lobby of the small seaside building.

Tiny: The comforting thing about these coins is that they guarantee me two points higher on the quiz tonight….but do I really have an upper advantage?

"Hi…Piantissimo and Snifit," Tiny spoke with a little bit of hesitancy, sitting down on the couch across from the two of them in inn's main room.

"Greetings," greeted Piantissimo, his voice different. Their staying quarters for the night were almost like a large cottage. The three players sat in silence for a second.

"You wanted me?" Tiny asked, her eyes glancing between both players. "Or…was that a miscommunication?" Piantissimo nodded.

"Good…you got the message that I slipped under your door," Piantissimo began, and as he said this, the other two players saw him spin the red coin in his hand that he had received just a few hours before in the game.

"And he wants to negotiate with us," Snifit blurted, as Piantissimo turned to him with a snap. Tiny's eyes turned to him, dumbfounded.

"Ne…go…tiate? What? What are you trying to do, Piantissimo?" Tiny asked slowly, her voice rising with a bit of caution. "I don't get it."

Tiny: Sometimes, I could never trust this guy.

"It's simple," Piantissimo said, being straight-forward. "I have a Minus 1 to distribute to one of you lovely four players. What do you have that will make me not give this red coin to you?" With his statement, Piantissimo looked at both Tiny and Snifit with a little smile. Tiny's mouth dropped.

"You're…you're crazy," Tiny uttered with disbelief. "Are you just going to blackmail us for items, by threatening to give one of us a Minus 1? Who do you think you are? The mighty Goomba King?"

"I do have the power, so I might as well use it like a king," Piantissimo replied. Tiny looked down for a second, thinking.

"I mean…what if none of us give you anything?" Tiny began, giving out a small smile with a new thought. "Then I guess you won't be getting anything out of this." Piantissimo gave out an exaggerated sigh.

"Then, I suppose I will just simply give the Minus 1 to YOU, Tiny Kong," the player said with a countering grin, as Tiny's face dropped suddenly.

Tiny: I wasn't even confident with a Plus 2 and was already fearing death from this game…how could I even afford a Minus 1 on the next quiz?

"Hi, I want to be part of this conversation," Snifit spoke suddenly, as Tiny and Piantissimo both turned to the silent player.

"How about this," Snifit spoke, his eyes gleaming. "If you don't give me the Minus 1, Piantissimo, I'll bet one of my Plus 1's on a fifty-fifty coin flip with you." Piantissimo stopped for a second, thinking of the multi-layered deal over in his head.

"Okay…hmm…okay…I get it," Piantissimo said with a nod. "So then I'll have a 50-50 chance to get a Plus 1 if I don't give you this red coin. Fair enough." Snifit nodded unaffectedly, and the two of them reached out to shake hands. Tiny sighed in disbelief.

"Snifit, no," she uttered, shaking her head. "Don't jeopardize your place in this game to this…game scam." Piantissimo frowned.

"It was Snifit's decision to make that," Piantissimo pointed out, sounding confident. He grinned at Tiny.

"What will it be?" he whispered.

"Okay," Tiny spoke with determination, and she put out her precious green coin on the table. "I'll offer the same thing as Snifit. You get a chance at one of my Plus 1's….in exchange for me not getting the Minus 1." Before Piantissimo could open his mouth to accept, Tiny added another line on her own whim.

"BUT….you'll have to call three coin flips instead of just one, to get my Plus 1," Tiny added with a smile. Piantissimo's frowned, counting in his head.

"That is a 1/8 chance for me to get your Plus 1!" Piantissimo argued. "It is so minimal."

"It's either that, or a zero percent chance," Tiny said with a curl of her mouth. "It's your pick. A 1/8 chance, or a 0 percent chance for my Plus 1. It's your call. Or, you can just give me the Minus 1….but that gives you a ZERO chance to get that green coin from me." She folded her arms, looking a bit triumphant and calm.

"Your choice." Piantissimo thought for a second.

Tiny: I was not going to risk my +1 so easily, so I wanted to play a game with Piantissimo.

Piantissimo: Tiny was a very tricky person. She never showed this side of intelligence and deception before.

"Okay. You two are covered. I will not be giving either of you the Minus 1," Piantissimo concluded, nodding his head to his opponents almost in an act of truce. "But in return…I want those coin deals. And I want them well before the quiz."

"But…does that mean…" Snifit's voice trailed off, as he looked at the window. At a cliff outside the cottage, two other players from their game were sharing their time alone. Snifit looked down at his three coins, then out the window, at Dashell and Eclair. For a second, Snifit's face almost looked troubled.

"You know what?" Snifit said suddenly, standing up from his couch seat. Piantissimo and Tiny looked at him at his sudden standing.

"Give me the Minus 1," Snifit declared, as Piantissimo's eyes widened. "I have too much of an advantage on this quiz. It's not a fun game if you're just…guaranteed all the way to the next episode. I need to gamble it up a bit. I like...adventure." Piantissimo and Tiny both raised their eyebrows at his strange sentence.

"Huh? And what makes you decide this all of a sudden?" Piantissimo questioned, holding his red coin tightly. Snifit looked at him hard, thinking.

"It's just…you shouldn't give it to either Dashell or Éclair," Snifit replied. For a second, Piantissimo didn't say anything, a little dumbstruck. Snifit just looked back at him quizzically, and for a moment, no one said anything. Piantissimo was the one to speak after the silence in the little cottage.

"Okay…okay, you have got me," the player with the red coin confessed. "I was already set from the beginning on who to give my red coin to. I was going to give it to either…Éclair or Dashell." The other two gasped.

"So you just wanted to take advantage of us to give you things..." Tiny exclaimed, flabbergasted, "even though you weren't going to select either of us to get the minus one in the first place?" As Piantissimo only nodded, she sat back in her chair, eyes wide.

"Well, Piantissimo…I thought I was a bad player in this game," Tiny murmured. "Good playing. You're just…" She sighed, but also with relief at the green coin in her hand.

"I guess we're keeping our green coins then," she said, a little happily to Snifit. Snifit turned to Piantissimo, concerned.

"But then why are you deciding to give the red coin to…someone else?" Snifit asked him. Piantissimo turned out to the window as well, to look at the future victim of his coin.

"Because if one of them leaves….then the other won't be able to stand at all. And all I'll have to face are you two." Snifit, with worry at Piantissimo's line, turned to Tiny, who shook her head with heavy disagreement at Piantissimo's line.

"We'll be worthy opponents…whether you believe it or not" Tiny voiced with confidence, her mouth smiling a bit. "So just don't count your winnings just yet."

"Yep. I second that." Snifit looked at his watch with a nod. Piantissimo looked at his two opponents, and for a split second, he wasn't so sure in his confidence.

And then it was one hour until the next execution.

---

Two players sat in silence above the ocean. The water hitting the rocks below them could only remind them of the episode they had both endured together. Now, with the episode almost over, Dashell and Éclair sat on the edge of the cliff together and watched the sunset in silence. It was the end to their episode.

"Éclair…do you remember the first time we were at the edge of a cliff together?" Dashell spoke. The thought made him and Éclair both smile with realization.

"It seems…so long ago." Eclair looked up.

"But back then…I was afraid," the princess replied. "Now…at this moment...I am not so afraid anymore." The two of them were holding each other's' hands, as more silence passed by. Dashell looked down.

"I…I have to apologize to everyone for not being myself in this game," Dashell said, scratching his head. Éclair looked at him questionably.

"What do you mean?" Dashell looked down.

"Something changed in me. In the inside."

"I had noticed," Éclair said, looking down as well. They didn't say anything for a second.

"I don't know what it was…but now I know," Dashell said, looking out at the ocean from the cliff they sat at. "It's me. Being human. It's made me feel so much more of a grand person than I had ever felt in years. I felt like I could do anything. Be anything. But…but…" Dashell looked out into the sea further, at the setting sun.

"But all it's made me feel was better than everyone else...and that ruined me," Dashell said, his blue eyes showing more realization. "And I felt invincible…but now I know: that just because my outside appearance changed, doesn't mean I should change too. I am still the same person." Éclair looked at her own clothes, which was meant for athletic swimming. But she reached into her elastic pockets to pull something out for Dashell.

"Here." Éclair got something from her track-pants pocket, and gave it to Dashell, who looked at it in curiosity. It was a white ball of stone, as Dashell smiled a bit.

"What is it?" Dashell asked, curious and looking at it.

"It is an oyster pearl," Éclair said. "I had found it under the ocean. It reminds me of you. Outside…the shell was rough. Like your human self. Your human self made you feel like you were invincible and better than everyone else…just like you said. But in the inside, you are rich. Rich of heart. And still a good person." Dashell looked at it.

"Thank you…Éclair," Dashell said, looking at her gratefully. "I will keep this with me wherever I go." He looked around the cliff top, as if trying to find something.

"If there were a beautiful flower on this ledge, I'd probably give it to you and say that you match its outside, rather than inside," Dashell said with a grin to the princess. Éclair blushed. Once again, they continued to stare into the sea. The sun was now at its final moment of existence in the sky.

"May I say something?" Éclair asked.

"Anything," Dashell replied, looking straight forward.

"As great and handsome as you are as a human…and as great as you run or smile," the princess began, then she turned away shyly.

"I had always liked you better as a Pixl." Dashell turned to her, wide eyes. Then, he got up from his place on the cliff, his back up straight.

"I actually…have something to give you as well, Éclair," Dashell spoke, turning his face straight to hers.

"What is it?" she asked, but before she could speak, Dashell leaned forwards suddenly.

"This…" And with no warning, he gave her a kiss. His lips touched Éclair's, and the two of them shared a kiss of affection together. It lasted for a few seconds, almost as if each second of their kiss was for every episode they had endured together on their journey up to that point.

After those few seconds, Dashell drew his lips back, and looked at Éclair with a nervous smile.

"Sorry…I couldn't help…it…." Dashell began, stuttering. But both of them realized that they were smiling.

"It is okay," the princess replied. The two of them looked at each other, still smiling shyly with appreciativeness.

The two of them sat silently together on the cliff for several minutes, holding hands and leaning on one another until the night of the game was to approach.

---

"We're not even eating dinner before the quiz," McHallyboo informed the person beside him, wiping his chin from the tuna sandwich he had just eaten. "We're going straight to it."

"That is…quite rough," replied the false player. "I don't think…we have ever gone so soon into the next quiz before dinner." The host shrugged, considering it for a bit.

"At the final five, however…I feel like most of the players know who they are going to vote for…they don't need the time to think during dinner." Still hesitant, the Mole looked down with a thinking mind.

"Some people just need the comfort of a final meal," the Mole replied, looking at the rest of the players resting in the inn from outside. "They need that time to have their final moments before leaving the game. To say their goodbyes to others. To acknowledge that maybe it will be them who is leaving." The Mole looked out the window beside them.

"This game seems much more stressful than the previous seasons at this point…at the final five," the Mole thought. McHallyboo shook his head.

"No…it's always been this hard at the final five," McHallyboo corrected the player beside him. "It's where after this, less than half the players remain. The four who have endured it farther than any of the others had. The four who went through the most struggles and endured the most difficult hardships and conflicts of mind to get to one of the final and hardest points in the game. Four people will remain, drained out of psychical and mental energy, but forced to survive on." McHallyboo faced away from the glass window to the Mole.

"You'll be one of them," McHallyboo added. The Mole nodded.

And then, as the quiz's time approached, the Mole stepped down cautiously to exit the building.

---

The tip of the cliff now had a wooden chair. Each player was brought across their little house, across the now-dark grass of the land to a desk and electronic machine that would determine their stay. As the sky got darker, along with the surface of the ocean that splashed hundreds of feet below them, each player took their sixth quiz of the game on the precarious ledge.

Piantissimo, in his seat, answered the Mole's first question.

1. In the year, when is the Mole's birthday?

-January-April

-May-August

-September-December

Piantissimo: This game…is all about finding the Mole. How far will I go to get the answer to that question? For me...miles.

Dashell, the cliff now serving a different, stressful feeling to him than it did just moments before, sat down in his chair. He then took the answer to the second question, thinking hard.

2. What was the Mole's role on the S.S. Reward?

-The Captain

-The Quarter-Master

-The Navigator

-The Ship Carpenter

-The Cabin Boy

Dashell: You have no idea what this game can hold for you. It can hold terrible realizations. It can hold life for you, to continue in the game. It can give you a special person that you will hold forever in your heart. I never would have known that this game had all these things.

Tiny's mouse hovered over Question 3. While she was sure of the answer, she had to second guess herself before answering on the computer.

Tiny: I'm still struggling on putting pieces of the puzzle together. And it's scary because there's only four people left.

3. How many tanks did the Mole pass within Aquarium Tanks before settling for their final selection?

-None

-One Tank

-Two Tanks

-Three Tanks

-Four Tanks

-Five Tanks

-Six Tanks

-Seven Tanks

-Eight Tanks

-Nine Tanks

Tiny: Snifit has a high chance of being the Mole...you have players who do suspicious actions in this game that make you think, "Hmm, all right, definitely suspicious". So refusing an exemption this episode? That's the act I caught on.

Éclair closed her eyes, seeing the question to Number 4 with a heavy heart.

4. Did the Mole get pushed off the boat in the first mission by the ship's perpetrator?

-Yes

-No

Éclair: We all make mistakes in this game. But we choose to forgive each other for our mistakes as well.

One of the last players to take the quiz, Snifit sat down at the desk and went through each answer, clicking each answer that stuck out to his large eyes. On Question 6, he stopped, looking at the coins on his own table.

5. When did the Mole leave to achieve their tank's prize from the dinner?

-First

-Second

-Third

-Fourth

-Fifth

Snifit: Eclair...she's a possibility. In the first mission, Eclar exploded the boat. And then Dashell instigated her. They are almost like a Bonnie and Clyde couple. Maybe they are both the Mole.

6. How many Plus 1's has the Mole obtained up this point?

-None

-One

-Two

-Three or more

Dashell scrunched his eyes at the next question of the quiz. He clicked his answers as fast as he could.

Dashell: You wouldn't think Tiny was the Mole, but looking at her...she has been a suspicious player ever since Episode 1. The broken star in the eel game...it was Piantissimo's fault for dropping it, obviously...but it was Tiny's fault for throwing it at him without warning. And that makes me suspect her.

7. The Mole's second game this episode involved which of the following objects?

-Guns and an eel

-Flippers and an eel

-No eel

Piantissimo stopped at the eighth question. He thought quickly, but carefully, before selecting his answer.

Piantissimo: Dashell has cost the most this entire episode…perhaps maybe even in this entire game. But the 50,000 coins he cost this episode that was taken away from the final point makes me point a finger of suspicion at him.

8. At the beginning of Episode 6, when was the Mole suspected by McHallyboo during his introduction?

-First

-Second

-Third

-Fourth

-Fifth

Éclair hurried to finish her quiz, fearing for her time.

Éclair: Piantissimo…there is something suspicious about his boastful image. He pretends to have gotten to this point by strength and smartness, but I believe he may be hiding something more. I will put some questions towards him on this quiz, and hope it is right.

Snifit, with slow fingers, saw the ninth question of the game.

9. Was the Mole offered an exemption at any time throughout this episode?

-Yes

-No

Snifit: I know I'm a suspicious character…I know. So if the others suspect me as the Mole…it might just be right for them to do so and I don't blame them at all.

Dashell: I'm torn between two people...maybe even three. Let's just get these odds over with.

The last question of the quiz daunted them all. For one of them, it was an easy finger click. For the others, the question remained unknown. But each one of them chose the answer that they believed was correct in their own mind. It was the final question.

Tiny: Well…here goes. Whether I make it to the next episode or not, based on these answers...and Plus 1's which may have been useless.

Dashell: Sometimes when you think you may be right…you may be wrong.

Piantissimo: This is the final moment for one of us. Hoping I'm not speaking for myself, that is.

Eclair: Now that I trust him, I just want us to go further. Together.

Snifit: Five…four…three…two…one…Mole.

The Mole, without a second of hesitation, selected the answer to the final question correctly.

10. Who is the Mole?

-Dashell

-Éclair

-Piantissimo

-Snifit

-Tiny

---

All the players were brought down from the top of the mountainside, away from the small villa that existed above them. Within an hour, they found themselves down below, all the way at the cliff's bottom. There, a small beach existed, holding in life the ocean that gave so many of them memories of their episode that was soon to end. The location, though well above land, did not make them forget the world that they had endured for the past few days.

Two rows of chairs formed at the edge of the sea. As each player walked to their spots, their feet were hit with the wet sand, darkened by the night sky. The wood of their chair legs were damp, along with the atmosphere surrounding them as they all sat down in their chairs. The sixth execution was about to begin.

"Welcome players…to Execution 6," McHallyboo began, facing the five players and back to the ocean. "Let me begin by saying that it is a relief to know we are finally out of the water." He motioned his hand to the sea ahead of them, but all the remaining five players saw was the darkness of the thumbprint on the screen standing in front of them.

"Isn't the ocean calming though?" McHallyboo said quietly, the night wind of the darkened sea hitting them all.

"With the screen right there...it is calming no more" Eclair voiced truthfully, looking at the monitor's screen. The others nodded, as they all took in a breeze from the sea.

"Very soon, one of you will be removed…not just from the water earlier today, but straight out of this game as well," the host continued. McHallyboo looked at each of the players as a group.

"So some of you have Plus 1's…but will it really save you if you didn't know who the Mole was on the quiz?" McHallyboo told them all. Snifit shuffled nervously, glancing over at Piantissimo.

"Humph…and some of us have Minus 1's," Piantissimo told him back, looking confident though still appearing shaky as well.

"And some of you have nothing at all to help you…except for your own minds," the host added, as Tiny sighed.

"I'm just hoping my mind, exhausted from today's events, didn't fail me on the quiz tonight," Tiny stated with a shake of uncertainty. McHallyboo nodded.

"To those who don't have any Plus 1's…it will be hard," McHallyboo told the group as a whole.

"I know…but we can make it," Dashell said softly with a nod. Dashell turned to Éclair, giving her a hopeful smile from his face.

"We both will," Dashell said with a strong whisper. McHallyboo clicked his mouse, and sat back down in his chair. He peered at them.

"You have all made it far into this game…" the host told them all with announcement as soft as the sea behind him. Everyone nodded in reply.

"And now…for one of you…your game ends here." He sat down, and then faced each of them together at once.

"Well…here goes nothing," Snifit whispered. "If it's me...goodbye guys." The host cracked his fingers.

"Let us begin." McHallyboo looked at the players.

"Piantissimo," McHallyboo began, as the player stood up more straight in his seat. The host began typing in the letters of his surname, click by click, until it was fully entered into the screen monitor.

"Sure…" Piantissimo said, a little hesitantly as the host hovered his finger over the 'Enter' button. His fate would be determined in the next second.

P-I-A-N-T-I-S-S-I-M-O

…

…

…

…

…

…

GREEN

"Still going in this game…." Piantissimo nodded his head, then looked at his opponents. His face showed a look of determination and relief.

"Hmm…" Dashell cleared his throat, turning around to face Éclair again with another hopeful smile. Snifit noticed it, and looked down.

"Tiny," McHallyboo announced, as the Mole player turned her direction to the daunting screen in front of her. "Do you want to do the honor of being next?"

"Well, whether I go later…doesn't make a difference if I'm gone," Tiny said tensely.

"Then Tiny...you will go next." McHallyboo then began entering her name, letter by letter. With her first name in the machine, McHallyboo pressed down on the Enter button. Tiny took a breath.

T-I-N-Y

…

…

…

…

…

…

GREEN

"Whew…what…no way," Tiny Kong uttered, laughing. "I didn't think…I mean, I was ready to leave this game." She looked to the ground next to her, still in disbelief.

"I'm just...glad," she finished, still looking shocked. McHallyboo turned to the rest of the players.

"Three players left…" McHallyboo went on. Éclair shook her head, eyes worried. Dashell's eyes narrowed down, looking at the screen heavily.

"Snifit," McHallyboo called. The player sat up straight, ready to face his fate in the ceremony of the game.

"I'm ready…" Snifit voiced in a voice that was both light but strong in willingness. McHallyboo began entering the player's name into the computer, as all eyes were on Snifit and the screen. His name was entered.

S-N-I-F-I-T

The remaining three players yet to be entered all held their breaths, as the host pressed the 'Enter' button.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

GREEN

Almost everyone gasped. Immediately, Dashell and Eclair faced each other, eyes in disbelief.

Oh my gosh..." Tiny whispered, covering her eyes.

Dashell: No…it couldn't come down to this. Why did it come down to this?

"What…no." Dashell said, his voice in a half-choke.

"Dashell…" Eclair whispered, her face alarmed and looking at him with eyes of terror.

"I'm…sorry," Snifit said, taking his own breath of relief from his safe results. Éclair sighed and looked down. Her eyes began to water.

"It is just us two…" Dashell whispered, still in shock. "This…can't be…" But the moment was hurried, and there was no time for either player to think and reflect on what was going to happen as McHallyboo quickly called the next name.

"Éclair," McHallyboo announced, as the princess looked up. By the time she was able to focus on the screen, her name was already typed fully into the monitor before her. She ducked her head down.

"Éclair…!" Dashell cried, but the 'Enter button was already pressed, revealing the episode's victim for the night.

E-C-L-A-I-R

…

…

…

…

…

…

GREEN

The glow of green gave everyone shock. Eclair, looking up and seeing it, only gasped with devastation.

"No..." she whispered, tears filling her eyes as she saw the green screen.

"Dashell...you are next." The others looked on in disbelief as well, turning to the human player. The executed player just at in his chair, looking at the screen as well. Dashell's eyes focused on the green glow in front of him, and at that moment, he was hit with a feeling of numbness.

"I will enter your name in…" McHallyboo said slowly, and as everyone looked at Dashell, the executed victim continued looking at the screen with a face of no emotion. His name, in bold letters, was entered. A few seconds later, his fate shined with red.

D-A-S-H-E-L-L

…

…

…

…

…

RED

He was the executed player.

"Dashell…please follow me immediately out of his game. You are the sixth victim of the Mole." The host said the final sentence slowly, and the cogs of the execution ceremony came to a stop. Dashell stood up, and the corner of his mouth was in a small smile as he stood up and walked away from his chair, grabbing his bag in the way across the sand. He turned around, to face the other players.

His small smile was still visible on his face as he turned to walk away, and his eyes glanced to Éclair's for a second. Then, he followed the host away from the shore of the cliff's beach.

The beach was quiet, except for the soft sobs that could be quietly heard from one of the players.

---

"You never know how the end of this game can hit you," Dashell told the host, his feet trudging across the sand. "It…it hit me hard. So hard." Dashell shook his head, trying to keep his head up from his own sadness. But he managed to smile.

"But I'm still okay," Dashell said, turning to the host. Even though the tide hit his feet and soaked his shoes and socks, it was the least of things that was on his mind at that moment.

"I made it far. And I'm happy. I'm happy I met everyone. I wish them all luck….I wish...her luck."

---

All four players were hit with a feeling of sadness. It was several minutes after the end of the execution, but even still, they all felt a dazed emotion of numb and shocked feelings as the night went on slowly. They looked at the disappearing player and host in the distance.

"That…I can't believe it," Tiny spoke, her eyes both sad and bewildered. "I didn't think Dashell would be the victim tonight." Snifit sighed, his eyes turning sad.

"Me neither," Snifit butted in softly, turning to see the executed player escape into the horizon. "I thought he was safe and going to continue in this game with us…but he's gone…" Snifit frowned, his voice trailing into a glum mood as well.

Snifit: Probably my best friend made in this game. I now have people with me I don't trust. He was my only trust-worthy teammate here.

"And to know that he didn't reach the finish is…shocking to be, honestly," Piantissimo said, confused as well. "I thought he had it in him. Oh well."

"I guess not…" Tiny voiced in a melancholy tone. "It's a shame that…" But Tiny stopped, seeing Eclair next to her. The princess was looking out into the ocean, her lips slightly trembling and eyes resembling that of the water in the ocean. Against her will, another tear fell from her eye, once again like the very one that had fallen when Dashell's red screen had been shown. Tiny stopped, putting her hand on her shoulder.

Tiny: Some people are hit harder than others at executions. But when you think about it...we are all honestly heart-broken. Sad together.

"We are all sad that he's gone too," Tiny said, her voice sympathetic and caring as she put her hand on her shoulder. After a few moments, the air on the shore was silent again.

---

As Dashell used his arms to carry his bag, he was also listing all of his favorite memories from the game to the host.

"I'll never forget Dungeon Duos…and how close I came to getting buried alive in a lot of sand," Dashell said, sighing with optimistic memory. "Even though I didn't even do a good job...that will always be one of the most fun memories of mine." His face changed.

"Changing human in that tent…I don't know if that was a favorite memory or not," Dashell thought reflectively. "At first I was happy. But then now…" He looked down at his hands.

"I'm not sure if it was the best thing that had happened to me in this game," Dashell reflected with heavier thought. But then he smiled.

"From the very beginning…even from that first cliff jump of the game," Dashell sighed again with slight upbeat mood. "I mean…I remember just doing that mission, and seeing everyone for the first time. That's when I saw…her for the first time…" As his sentence faded, McHallyboo looked at him with a confused face. Dashell waved his hand.

"Heh…nothing," the executed player said, shaking his head. But as he walked on, Dashell held his own little smile. It was one of not disappointment, but happy memory.

---

"I think his best shining moment was in the Ice Cave game," Snifit recollected with a nod. "Didn't you guys think so? His recent money-costings kinda overshadowed his previous successes." Everyone left on the beach nodded.

(facing Dashell) Dry Bones: "Did you take the exemption?"

Dashell: "No." (The others jump with exuberance, surrounding him and cheering at the game's win)

"And the Snowball Shootout game…he was SO close to getting to the finish," Tiny remembered out loud. "I thought he tripped on purpose…but now I know that he really tried his best to the end of that game! Wow." She smiled, laughing a bit in remembering her own actions of failure.

(flashback Dashell) "GO! Everyone, go go now!"

(pushes Zess and Piantissimo forwards, as he stays behind to shoot the snowball shooters)

"He did an awesome job. I shouldn't have shot him…even though it was my job," Snifit realized, shaking his head a bit. But then he jumped up.

"Remember when he voted himself during the Who Said That? game, when Dry Bones actually said it?" Snifit suddenly remembered with a little smile.

"We can all agree he was a bit of an air head, right?" Piantissimo muttered with a snicker. As everyone laughed, Snifit looked over at Éclair, and to his surprise and happiness, he saw that her mouth had formed into a little smile as well. The memory of Dashell had all made them happy.

"You're right," Tiny Kong uttered in a realizing voice. "You only remember all the bad things and sabotage people do in this game. But looking back and realizing people were innocent…now you just see all the good stuff they did. Wouldn't you know?"

"So up until one of us gets executed, we'll be looking at each other in a negative and undesirable way, yes?" Piantissimo pointed out, who was facing the ocean instead of the others.

"Uh, if you want to look at it that way," Tiny replied, looking a little irritated at Piantissimo changing the mood. "But I'm just saying. When someone gets executed…I look at them in a whole different way."

"Yes…me too." Éclair voiced, and everyone turned to the princess with surprise. She lifted her head.

"Dashell…I know he is no longer the Mole," she said, as the others turned to her with stares of surprise. "And I am no longer guilty of that thought." As she turned silent again, the others took in her words and reflected on their own lives quietly and with new feelings as well.

Snifit: One player leaves...just one...and the whole game is changed forever.

---

"I have a question for you," McHallyboo told Dashell, as they saw themselves at the top of the cliff. The rocky cliff top seemed to tremble.

"What's that?" Dashell turned to McHallyboo, face confused and not knowing what the host's next words would be.

"Are you happy with the way you played this game?" asked McHallyboo. The question made the ex-player think hard, as he put a finger up this chin.

"I think…that the answer to that question changed throughout my game," Dashell began, looking out at the blue sea.

"In the beginning of this game, among the first 2-3 episode, I was playing the game happy. I felt myself playing the game great, and I was happy with what I was doing, and who I was." He paused a bit.

"And then when these past two episodes came, I found myself playing a game that I never thought I'd ever play. A ruthless one. And at points…I didn't care about any of the others. I didn't care about anyone else but myself." His eyes changed.

"I didn't know why I was playing that way, but I continued to do it. If you were to ask me that question since yesterday…I think I would have said no." He looked at McHallyboo.

"But standing here now…and taking in these last hours of this game to realize my flaws these past few days…I feel like everything good I did can overshadow the bad. And I know I did some great stuff." He turned fully to the host.

"Yep. That's my final answer: I'm content the way I played this game. Because if I didn't have those faults, I never would have reached the new level of understanding that I have now of myself." Dashell smiled.

"In the end, I guess I'm happy the way I played it."

And it was almost at that spoken sentence that suddenly, the cliff dropped from beneath him. The rocks below him began to tumble, as Dashell stepped back with caution at the open air that opened beneath him. From below, a white vortex had appeared, as his eyes widened with a feeling of shock and helplessness. Before he could fall down below, he grabbed onto the edge of the remaining cliff, his arms clinging for dear life from the edge.

"Ah!" He shouted out loud, noticing that McHallyboo himself had made sure beforehand to step back clear of the broken ground. But he made no effort to help Dashell.

"When you drop…Dashell…" the host called out to him over the whirring, white background behind him of sudden light. "Just remember…that something will be different." Dashell, only hanging with his clinging fingers on the edge of the cliff, only looked down at his body with a small smile.

"I know…I won't be human anymore." He grinned, his hair blowing even more in the strong wind that signified the end of his game.

"But you know what? Some people like me better as a Pixl anyway."

And with that, he threw himself backwards, over the edge of the crumbled cliff. Pieces of rock and debris flew through the air, as if a white vortex had opened within the sky and grown larger below him. McHallyboo stepped further back at the spectacle, as he made out the body of Dashell, flying farther and farther as well as higher into the sky.

Dashell found himself exiting the world, and he felt his face with his hands one last time.

"Goodbye…world. Thanks for giving me all this."

And with that, the whirling stopped.

---

The other four players had ran away from the cliff to escape from the terror and wonder that had become of the destroyed mountainside. After a few minutes, the wind above them was gone, almost as if the hurricane in their world had never existed. They had found their chairs, the television monitor, and the sand all around them scattered, as if a tornado had hit their spot. But with all the commotion settled down, the four players turned to one another.

It was the next morning. Éclair was looking up at the destroyed cliff.

"He ended his game happy," Éclair said, her face down and almost speaking to herself. "He…is happy now." She wiped a tear from her face and sat down on the sand. The other three players were gathering their own belongings, thrown amuck by the mini-storm which had taken some of their possessions.

"Great...where's my other headband?" Tiny groaned, letting out a sigh. Snifit was sitting one of the rocks, a rock which had fallen earlier from the very cliff Dashell was standing on.

"Even as a Pixl," Snifit added, nodding and shuffling his feet through the sand. "He was great. Maybe…he is better off as his actual self." Snifit's eyes shined dark with a look of certainty, as he spoke his last sentence. After a small second, the four remaining players turned to each other.

"So this is it?" Piantissimo asked, looking at the others. "This is the final four?" Tiny, Éclair, and Snifit all looked at him among the strewn debris on the beach.

"I didn't think I'd be here with…a princess, a quiet guy, and…and…you." Piantissimo was looking strangely at Tiny, who only looked back at him with a startled laugh.

"I'm surprised," Piantissimo added.

"What do you mean, 'I'm surprised'"? Tiny questioned, going up to him with an amused look on her face. "You thought you'd have tougher-looking opponents? Like Dashell? Or Bowser Jr? Well...I guess that's not how this story ends." Piantissimo didn't know what to say.

"I think all of four of us should be thrilled," Tiny announced, facing the other three. "I mean, I didn't even think I'd be here." She looked at the remains of the broken TV screen, that was buried halfway into the sand.

"I confess too...I really didn't think I'd make it here...but, here I am," Snifit told the others. "One of the last ones...and I'm stunned." Piantissimo grunted.

Piantissimo: I survived past all the others. This...was where the game would get scary. The final four.

"We are…and we should be thankful, right?" Snifit said, agreeing and nodding his head. Everyone turned to him, as he stood on his rock. "Even if we're struggling. We need to keep a smiling face."

"And though it will be different without Dashell…" Eclair said, looking at the water as everyone turned to her, "I am happy to still be here." Snifit smiled faintly, and he saw the sun in the distance.

"All right…let's just be happy we're here," Tiny said, with a little sigh and looking at everyone else.

"Yep," Snifit added with a little cough. "Well, at least...for now...here."

"Me too…even if it's with the Mole," Piantissimo said, wrinkling his nose. "Let's just hope they don't ruin the game too much for us next round." Everyone nodded.

The four final players looked out at the rising sun. And so began the beginning of Episode 7.

---

And there you have it! The player…the Pixl….the human….the sports AGENT….has left us.

Kudos to everyone who predicted his shortcomings! He will be missed. Greatly. Dashell has been one of the most complex characters I've written. And I'm happy the way he turned out.

I have some small little announcements for everyone!

---

Sorry that I won't be replying to your reviews this chapter! Just to finish this chapter in time, I could not reply to the greatness of your contributions! But I'll make it up to you all next time.

Every review that was written for the past 2 months…pushed me further and further to finally update this chapter. You guys are amazing and I seriously check my story page every day, just hoping that I'd have the time to finish this! And you guys inspire me so much. So as the story goes into its finally 2 episodes, thank you all…so…so much.

---

So Im checking my mail, and I get something from author/artist j-cag...BOOM!

A WONDERFUL cover photo fanart of all the characters of Agent's Elevation! WOW! I can't….gah, it's amazing! : D Thank you for the effort you put into it! I do NOT deserve this but thank you for the awesomeness! It's a beauty! : )

It's seriously amazing and thanks so much for this awesome drawing! Every character looks so sharp, suspicious, and ready to play. You can check out the awesome art on my profile! : ) Thanks much again, j-cag!

---

The next Mole's journal entry will probably be uploaded some time this weekend! Check my profile for it in the next 2-3 days!

---

And lastly, the POLL! (which had been rotting away and building up on my profile for a while, so haha I got a hefty number of votes!)

These were the result of the poll:

---

The Final Five: Who is the Mole?

IL PIANTISSIMO = 7 VOTES (25 PERCENT)

DASHELL KNOT = 7 VOTES (25 PERCENT) -EXECUTED-

TINY KONG = 6 VOTES (21 PERCENT)

ÉCLAIR CHOUX = 4 VOTES (14 PERCENT)

SNIFIT INCOGNOTO = 4 VOTES (14 PERCENT)

---

And just anyone can be the Mole! Just who is it? Who could it be?

With only four players left...just one of them has been the traitor from the very beginning.

It is up to you to decide who it is.

Thank you all so much! Stay tuned for the beginning of the next part of this game! I will see you all in….Episode 7.