Hi!
First of all, if you're here, thank you so much for coming back here! I love you. And I hope you still love me (to an extent?) And for those who don't, don't worry! I wouldn't after my 4-and a half month absence either xD I know, it's unforgivable.
But somehow, by magical reason, people have managed to forgive me for being gone for so long. Even the players have (I think?) and I've left them hanging for so long! So thank you all deeply.
So Episode 6 ended, and I'm happy to reboot again at the beginning of a new episode, opposed to halfway into one. Because now, it's a freshly-new final four.
Recap of last episode…
Dashell died.
No, just kidding. That's not all that happened. But the most important thing is, the Mole is still alive among them.
Well, are you ready to see what continues on in this chockfull of adventure game?
Then read ahoy! Enjoy the beginning of Episode 7!
EPISODE 7
McHallyboo stared down at the players near the shore. The three of them were cleaning up pieces of rubble, rock, but mostly overall, the poignant memories that served as remnants from their last episode.
"Huh. It's as if they're cleaning the remains of the execution," McHallyboo said in a pensive manner, standing at the edge of the beach cliff and looking down.
"Hmm." The Mole was sitting on the ground in deep thought, then stood up.
"I must say, the execution was rather…uh, surprising," came the voice behind McHallyboo. McHallyboo, without turning himself around, nodded in reply to the line.
"It was a shock for everyone," the host whispered, then admittedly added, "Even for me." The two of them turned to look at the ground of the cliff top they were on, walking slightly together.
"I did realize, umm," the fake player said, coughing, "that one of the players perhaps got TOO close to…the executed one. What do you think?" McHallyboo stopped in his walking, pausing a bit before speaking.
"To trust others in this sort of game is almost like a death wish," McHallyboo stated with a shake of his head. "Any person should know that. It is not the wisest move in this game of the Mole, nor does it look good."
"You would think that if you were so highly ranked in life, you'd stop caring for other people besides yourself," muttered the secret player, confused. "Guess not for that player. I guess you can still fall head over heels, even when you're so stinking-"
"Well, never mind that person," McHallyboo said, almost angrily. "As long as you don't do that to any degree, it's fine."
"How can I even?" the double agent stated, but McHallyboo's mouth formed a little smile.
"I'd beg to differ. You've made a few solid connections in this game. All creatures need social interactions to survive. You're no exception." The person faced McHallyboo, silent. The host turned back to face the ocean.
"Maybe I am an exception," the person replied quietly. Then, they faced the sea to join McHallyboo in reflection.
"It's the final four…very soon, the game will be ending, and you will be revealing yourself," the host said with realization. "Do your best, and play the game. Play…the Mole."
"If you want me to…then of course, I will be your servant until the end of the game," the agent replied. Together, they continued to look out to ocean, and onwards into the rest of the game.
Who is…the Mole?
PLAYER: Eclair
Surname: Choux
Birthday: June 30
Occupation: Patron/Pastry Maker
PLAYER: Il
Surname: Piantissimo
Birthday: January 5
Occupation: Competitive Athlete
PLAYER: Snifit
Surname: Incognoto
Birthday: December 2
Occupation: Police Officer
PLAYER: Tiny
Surname: Kong
Birthday: October 20
Occupation: Retaill Manager
The four remaining players looked out the window of the van together. They had been brought away from the cliff, from last episode's final events, and into one of the last rounds of their dwindling game. Once a game of ten players was now shrunk to four. The road by the sea seemed to continue for hours.
Éclair was silently looking down at her journal, staring sadly at a single name she had written on her page: Dashell
"Hmm," Snifit said softly, who had come up beside her suddenly. Éclair jumped up.
"Oh! Snifit!" uttered Eclair, closing her journal right away. "I was just…reading past information-" But Snifit only smiled, putting a hand on her closed journal.
"It is okay," Snifit spoke in an understanding voice. "We all miss him in some way." With this statement, Snifit turned calmly back to look out the front window, and after a second, Éclair shamelessly opened her journal again.
"The final four…this is where things get interesting!" Piantissimo spoke on with loud enthusiasm, standing on the dirty floor within the large van. "On to the next episode, shall we go?" Tiny Kong rolled her eyes from across him.
Tiny: Some of the players here, I would have never guessed to have made it to this stage. Not at all one bit. If I were forced to guess from the beginning of this game who would make it...some certain people, not saying who...wouldn't have made the list at all.
"I can't wait to see what's going to try and stop me," Piantissimo continued to talk, still standing up from his seat.
"Well, if you don't sit down, you're not going to even be making it to the next episode," Tiny annoyingly said, but jokingly. She turned out the window with her sunglasses with a perplexed face. "I don't get why you're so excited, anyway, for this second-to-last episode."
"Why shouldn't we be?" Snifit spoke with a shrug, going back to his original seat. "We are…still alive. Even at this point." Snifit tried to smile, but Tiny just sighed.
"Well, honestly...what difference does it make?" Tiny Kong said testily, turning to face the others. "It's the final four, and one of us is still the Mole, and who knows what she or he will do this episode to make the rest of the players suffer, or what's going to happen to us, or where…" Exasperated, she finished her speech with a large breath, sitting back down in her own chair.
"Sorry, I'm just a little...apprehensive on how hard this game is going to get for me," Tiny sighed, looking out the open window and continuing to view the sun-lit ocean.
"A little bit?" Snifit asked with question, shuffling his feet.
"It's like we're slowly being tortured...every episode we make it," Éclair spoke. "I understand you pain." The others, surprised to her hear talk, turned to her.
"It is...true," Tiny agreed. Timidly, Eclair looked back down at her open journal, as Piantissimo turned his direction to the others.
"Well, thank goodness it wasn't any of us who was kicked off at the last ceremony," Piantissimo breathed out, stretching his legs a little bit. "Or what I'm saying it…thank goodness it was Dashell and not me."
"Shut up," Tiny scolded, finally giving Piantissimo a kick with her shoe as he let out a small yelp. Éclair, sitting in the back of the van alone, tried to ignore the others and continued to look down at her journal.. A few seconds passed by in silence.
"Hey…psst." Snifit looked up, seeing Piantissimo motioning him to come to his spot in the van.
"Huh?" Slowly, the red-suited player did, shuffling to the spot he was seated. "What? What is it?"
"It's been one day since Dashell left and she's already gone," Piantissimo whispered to him. "I don't thinks she can stand in this game. At least not anymore. It'll just be the two of us left. Then we'll get rid of Tiny Kong, and after that...one of us will win."
"Uh, excuse me?" Tiny Kong scoffed, overhearing the conversation directly besides her. "You mean, I will win, and I'll unmask one of you as the Mole. And also, if there's just the two of you left like you want, then who is the Mole anyway?"
"At this stage, I couldn't care less about who the Mole is and who the Mole isn't," Piantissimo whispered. "It's who makes it to the final three that I care about. At this point, I just know that one of the people here won't make it, because she's sobbing over her dead boyfriend, which means I'm guaranteed a spot in the final three. And that's all I care about at this point. To be sure I'm safe."
"You're so certain about everything...I can't wait to see you not making it to the final three, because of your confidence," pointed out Tiny Kong, glancing away from him with an annoyed face.
"That's rude," Piantissimo stated, frowning.
"Uh, though...Eclair does have a few objects though to her advantage that she won in those games…" Snifit began to say, pulling at his shirt collar a little nervously. "She has a free question, and those clues, which might help her."
"So what?" Piantissimo said, looking unworried. "That's not going to scare me. I'll still beat her. She won't make it to the end."
"It sounds like you're scared of her," Tiny said in a reflecting voice. Piantissimo stopped for a second, then shook his head.
"I'm more scared of you, Piantissimo, than anything else in this game," Tiny blurted out loud, but then turned her look suddenly away as the player turned to look at her.
"So?" Piantissimo stated in an uncaring voice. "Whatever." Tiny, acknowledging his obvious snubbing towards her, put her hands on her hips.
"I'm more important to this game than you think, if you want to win," she stated, her voice showing annoyance to him but confidence. "In fact, I think if Snifit here had to choose a partner for a game, he'd choose me over you."
"An audacious statement," Piantissimo muttered. Snifit covered his head.
Snifit: Oh dear.. This whole game, I…attempt very hard to stay out of the drama of this game. There's only four of us here. Which means that if you don't along with two or three of the other players, you are already basically shunning yourself from the whole group.
"So are we going somewhere or are we just…" Before another person could finish their sentence, the driver turned the van sharply. All four players found themselves swerving to the right vigorously, as the van continued to skid for a moment of dread.
"What!" Suddenly, the vehicle stopped moving, placing itself firm on the grass. When it was stationary, they found that they had stopped in front of a small hut. The startled players looked forwards out the van's windshield to see where they were.
"Ouch indeed," Snifit murmured, rubbing his shoulder. "Where is this?" They all looked at the hut in curiosity.
"In this hut...is where the elevator in this world is," McHallyboo told them from the front seat. "We ended up so far from the elevator since the beginning of last episode when we sailed off on that ship, we had to drive back here...miles away" He faced them with a gleam, and then opened his door to exit out of the van.
"Follow me." The players one by one got out as well, Tiny being the first person to step out and stare at the hut.
"Huh?" Tiny looked confused at the hut, then back at McHallyboo. The host almost smiled, as if he knew what the player was going to say.
"You might recognize this as the underwater hut at the bottom of the ocean during your game," the host explained, turning to it himself. "We've been having to re-use some of the coding data in this building to build these atmospheres, since so much watt power, horsepower, everything-power, is being used by the ton every second these worlds exist. The power in this building's floor is being…dangerously drained. And soon, we're going to be in darkness again."
"Dangerously drained?" Piantissimo repeated, looking at the host closely.
"Some things created within this building require a lot of data energy," the host said quietly, looking at the players. "And it's been draining most of our building data and power since the first episode. Don't question it." The four players looked at the host, not knowing what to say.
"Well….besides that…very soon, you will be encountering a very different world upstairs," the host continued. "Follow me into this hut…and into your next world."
And one by one, the players got into the small compartment that would elevate them into their next tribulations.
"Almost there…" McHallyboo said, looking at his watch. He and the other remaining four players just looked at the metal doors, their expectations nullified by the deficiency of knowledge of their next location.
"I wonder where we're going to end up," Snifit whispered, slowly counting the previous numbers with his beady eyes. "We've been to a good logical variety of places which have never been to similar to each other. It is an impressive calculation. Grasslands, deserts, the ocean, a haunted woods theme…and what else was there?"
"Snow," Éclair said, as everyone turned to her. "It was snow…and it was nice." On her face was affection.
"Yes it was…a wonderful time," Snifit recollected with memory. They all remembered the events that episode, events that made them both tired beyond their imagination, but happy.
"Uh, but I mean, who is making these worlds in the first place again?" Tiny asked the host, biting her lip with anticipation of the next world to come. "Like, is it you…" McHallyboo just shrugged, looking at the ceiling.
"Or…" Tiny tried to continue. But before she finished her sentence, McHallyboo just faced at her with a smile that made the others know what the true answer to that question was.
"Not me," he said with a smile.
BEEP!
6th Floor…The players heard a beep, and suddenly, the elevator jolted to a stop. All five characters in the elevator stopped with caution, as the large doors stood in front of them, rumbling and ready to open. The four players took a breath, not knowing of their next escapade.
Honk…HONK! And even from inside the elevator, they could hear strange noises and sounds. They all jumped, hearing the honk of a certain object from outside. Piantissimo's eyes were startled.
"Was that a…car?" he stammered. "A horn of a car?"
"Yes, and many more," McHallyboo said grandly, as the players took in the sight before them with incredible disbelief. "Welcome to…the city!" And then, the doors opened, and the players were blinded by the light.
"DISCOUNTED HOTDOGS! GET YOUR HOTDOGS!"
"FREE COUPONS!"
"WATCH YOUR STEP! I'M DRIVING HERE!"
They had arrived in the middle of a street. The illuminating lights that glowed out from every billboard hanging in the city blinded them, hitting their eyes with wave after wave of power and electricity. After collecting their sight and mind back as well, it was the multi-story tall buildings all around them that hit them with a feeling of shock and amazement as the stared at the magnificent city around their small bodies. The buildings structures and each of their thousands of windows towered over them like colossal giants, and the players were in awe staring at the born life around them.
"Get out!" McHallyboo shouted, scooting all four players to the side of the road as a double-decker bus ran right through their previously-located spot. The players and the host screamed for safety, all five of them settling on an empty spot on the sidewalk.
"Phew!" Piantissimo shouted, but everyone was still focused on the bright and lit wonders around them.
Snifit: Wow. Where WERE we?
"Look!" In the distance, the players could locate a blimp in the sky, a banner waving at them from miles above saying "Welcome Mole players!" as it flew elegantly in the dark sky. Projecting lights somewhere in the distance gleamed up as if shooting into the atmosphere, making the sky as lighted and lively as it could be.
NEON HEIGHTS! The sign in illuminating yellow light shown above them as they stared up at the night sky above them. The players gasped.
"This place is…wow," Tiny began, flabbergasted. "I would have never expected...this." Along with the towering city buildings, people were everywhere around them, either walking on the streets in well-designed clothing or driving their way around the busy streets. McHallyboo straightened his own bow tie and smile, being the only one in their group properly and fancily dressed for their new world.
"Welcome to the upper-scale existence of the city life, where the night lives on stronger than the day," McHallyboo said grandly. "Places like these is where the parties begin and the people live high. You all will be living high, too."
Snifit: Needless to say, it was indeed very lively. Maybe even too lively for me?
"And, there's free hot dogs on every corner, so it's definitely better here than any other world, I will say," McHallyboo began.
"Huh...and I don't care if they're fake," Piantissimo said with a nod.
"This is...spectacular," Eclair spoke.
"Indeed," McHallyboo admitted. The players took a second to admire the city even more. Colorful lights seemed to illuminate the sidewalk they were standing on, as they realized that parts of their ground were color-splashed with metal light projections that made the city even more alive in their eyes. The people around them were a sight as well and dressed in top-suited attire; tuxedos and dresses were the norm in the city, and half of the people on the street walked as if going to attend an elite meeting or see a movie premiere. As the players looked up, they saw that the blimp was directly above them, and they couldn't help but smile and wave at the majestic air vehicle.
"But before we get carried away in this city, I would like to introduce the next game."
Tiny: Of course. As soon as we get adjusted, a game.
"Yes." The players' attention immediately zoned away from the bustling city around them and zoned directly towards the host's next words. The next mission, in this new world, was to begin.
"Please split off into pairs," McHallyboo began. The eyes of the four players seemed to all meet simultaneously, as the permutations of pairings ran through their heads. Tiny opened her mouth, looking at the only other girl in their team.
Tiny: I did not trust any of the guys, especially since it seemed like in the van they might be having some sort of their own coalition.
"Éclair, would you like to be my partner?" Snifit asked. "Unless you do not want to be."
"Oh, I would be pleased...thank you," Éclair replied, as Snifit nodded. Tiny turned to Piantissimo, who was already folding his arms and looking at her, the look on his face ambiguous.
"I guess," Tiny shrugged, trying to hide her dissatisfaction. "It's me and Piantissimo, and I guess Snifit and Éclair.
"Very well," McHallyboo began, as the players arranged themselves.
"Now that we have that settled, let us begin." He turned to the rest of the loud and garish city behind him.
MISSION 17
CITY SCAVENGER HUNT
"Your mission for this episode called, City Scavenger Hunt, and it will require coordination, mental thinking, but most importantly of all, teamwork." The players turned to their respective partners, then back to the host to listen.
"Each team has two hours to collect three items each," McHallyboo explained. "The game rules are as simple as that. It will be a scavenger hunt for objects around this city. Six items in total; three items for each team. That is...the game."
"I've always been the best for these sorts of things at parties," Piantissimo snickered. But at this news, Snifit gasped with realization.
"This entire…city?" stammered Snifit. "But…there's no way we can find these items…at least with such small time." But never the less, all players looked determined.
"Will we have a map or any guidance to the items?" Éclair asked with thought, but McHallyboo shook his head.
"The items can be located anywhere," the host confirmed. "And you have to find them, not use your own items. That's why it's called a scavenger hunt. And this city is your hunting ground." The players nodded and looked around at the expanse of the nightlife around them.
"But bring an item before two hours to the final location, which is the Statue of Mario located in the middle of the city, and I will reward each correct item with 5,000 coins. With each one being worth 5,000 coins, I'm happy to say that you can win up to 30,000 coins for this mission." The players, holding a mixture of hopeful and anxious smiles, nodded in approval.
"If you are holding those items, however, and you do not reach me at the Statue of Mario in time before two hours…then those items will not count and they will be worth nothing." The players' hearts sank, their anxiety rising at the money rules of the game.
Tiny: So we had to MAKE it back in order for the items to count...that was the tricky part of the mission that I would see ourselves possibly screwing up.
"HOWEVER, your team can still make it to the base with less than three items, and I will still count 5,000 coins of award for every correct item that you give me before the time limit."
"Sounds good," Snifit said with relief.
"One last thing," McHallyboo said to them, holding up a finger. "There is no map to the items, but there single tour guide hidden in this entire city, but only one. And she may have some idea of where an item or two is. But she can only help you once." The players listened carefully at his last words.
"So there is a way to be guided to the items," Éclair whispered, taking the host's words with thought.
"And that's the rules," McHallyboo concluded. "Find me at the statue within two hours. I hope you all succeed. And make sure you follow the rules for every object on the papers I am now to give you. Good luck." McHallyboo pulled out two pieces of paper.
"Each team: please choose your list." Both teams eyed the two pieces of paper, as Piantissimo went ahead and snatched the first one out of McHallyboo's hands with small hesitation. Snifit went ahead and grabbed the other, then turned to see a smug glance from the face of Piantissimo.
"We would have been partners," Piantissimo said with a shrug.
Snifit: Uh oh. This wasn't a race or competition, but it already felt like it.
With essential lists in hand, both teams faced the city, ready to find their objects.
TIME START: TWO HOURS
"Are you ready?" McHallyboo asked the four players in announcement. "Are you ready to begin your city scavenger hunt?" All four players, with lists in hand, nodded strongly.
"Then let the search begin!"
And with that, the two unsuspecting teams darted into the animated and light-filled metropolitan, racing against the clock and determined to find their key items to victory.
Piantissimo and Tiny dashed through the street, the male player running significantly ahead of the female player as Tiny struggled to catch up.
"Wait…slow down! I'm so far behind!" Piantissimo, unable to hear her over the bustling sounds of cars and people, ran ahead.
Tiny: This was just like the underwater eel game, with Piantissimo swimming ahead of me. He was doing it all over again.
"Tiny, hurry!" shouted Piantissimo, facing backwards for a second but then running ahead further instead.
Tiny: I was just ready to reach Piantissimo...and then I must have stepped into the path of an oncoming, rushing person. And that's when tragedy struck.
"Slow down…AHHH!" It was her scream that made Piantissimo halt, as he turned around to help her.
"Huh? Tiny!" Having bumped into the path of a newsman holding a stack of fliers, Tiny had fell to the street floor among a plethora of scattered papers with a distressed shout.
"Tiny! What has happened?" By the time Piantissimo got to her, the commotion had settled. Tiny had already gotten up from the help of surrounding people. The newsman, looking discouraged from his lost papers, walked off on in the city.
"Are you all right?" Piantissimo asked. Tiny, looking distraught and eyes wide, nodded.
"I was trying to…catch up to you…but…obviously I'm not quick enough," Tiny said softly but with frustration, getting up from the paper-scattered ground. Piantissimo, looking slightly remorseful, shook his head.
"If we are racing against a clock, then you know we must run," Piantissimo rebutted. "We have money to win." Tiny attempted to straighten her clothes out, fixing the back pockets of her jeans as well.
"We still have to know what's on our list…wait….WHAT." Tiny said with a freeze, interrupting herself.
"What?" Pianissimo asked, but then he saw her face and stopped. She looked around at the ground in alarm, at the papers around her. Then, slowly, she looked up at Piantissimo in shock.
"The list!" she shouted with anxiety. "I…I…"
"Where is it?" Piantissimo stammered.
"I just had it!" Tiny stuttered with disbelief, panicked. "It must have been lost from that guy!"
"What?'" Pianissimo said with disbelief. Tiny immediately dropped to the ground and began searching among the fliers on the sidewalk.
"I'll find it!" Tiny said with determination, looking around the ground. "It's just…under one of these fliers…that man pushed me down, and the last thing I saw was that single paper, flying into the air and to the ground-"
"Do not tell me…that our list of items to get is among these papers," Piantissimo said with dread, as they looked around at the mess around them. "It can't be..." Then, to his horror, he looked to the rest of the sidewalk of the busy road.
"It can be anywhere..." As they looked down the street of the city, they saw that some of the gusts of wind had already blown a few of the papers out of their reach, towards parts of the street and into the upcoming cars of traffic.
Tiny: It was the worst situation that could have happened. But it happened.
"What else can we do?" Tiny said, her voice filling up with exhaustion and dismay. "We have to find it!" She was standing in a panicked state of alarm, her hands covering her face and eyes.
"We should have looked at the list on the paper instead of just running ahead," Piantissimo shouted. "Now what?!"
Piantissimo: If Tiny had not been holding the list, we wouldn't have had this dilemma. Or if we had looked at the items in the first place before going of. It was a nightmare.
"Wait, I know where we can go," Tiny realized, snapping up frantically. "There's no other place to go but...one place.
"Where?" asked Piantissimo hurriedly.
"The final location…to talk to McHallyboo. He must be able to give us another list!" Stopping the process of picking up each paper one by one, Tiny and Piantissimo immediately began to run in a certain direction, knowing that the clock was dangerously ticking. The two of them, already in just the first five minutes of their game, were running out of time.
"Okay, open it!" Snifit said, as he and Éclair stopped at a quiet street corner to read their list. One by one, they read out loud each object:
A Triangle of Love that in you will be inside of,
A Stuffed Pair of Shoes that'll take a shot to lose,
And a Glove that contains what it's meant to hold in game,
Bring all 3 objects to the Mario tower, before the two hours, and a scavenger victory I will shout with power!
"Clothes…shoes…gloves…shapes…what? These are really vague," Snifit noticed, reading the list again. "And I don't think we should take advantage of the liberty of choosing any object either, because these sound very specific too. What do you think?"
"Yes, I agree," Éclair agreed. Together, they looked at the first object on the list.
"A triangle of love...we must look for love, but we must also determine one thing as well: is it a symbolic love, or a literal love?" Snifit wondered.
"True; perhaps some of these are tangible thing, or maybe some of these have deeper symbolism," Eclair said, shaking her head. "But at this moment, we do not know." Snifit pointed to the first object on the list.
"A triangle of love: it might even be a shape of a heart. We should keep a lookout for heart-shaped objects. That might be the answer." Though confused, Éclair nodded.
"Okay," she began, then added something with a smile.
"Or, perhaps even so, if one of us were to fall greatly in deep love with a triangle in the next hour or two, then that is the answer for the item." The two of them chuckled lightly, laughing also at their misfortuned confusion.
Eclair: The mission seemed difficult, but I was determined to win. Not just for myelf, but for Snifit too...who has been so kind to me.
"So Eclair, we have two hours to not only solve the mystery behind these objects, but to OBTAIN them as well," Snifit reasoned. "So let's go!" The two players continued down the busy street with determination.
TIME REMAINING: 1:32 HOURS
The Statue of Mario, glistening green and serving as the landmark for the grand city, stood high above the two players as they reached its base. There, Tiny and Piantissimo stumbled upon the host, who was waiting for them at the location with a piece of paper in hand.
Piantissimo: Finally, we reached the statue where McHallyboo was, but the question was, would he really serve us any help?
"McHallyboo!" Tiny shouted, running up to the host first and huffing for breath. "I'm…really sorry, but we might need to have you tell us what the items are."
"Give us another list," Piantissimo demanded, holding his hand out. But McHallyboo shook his head.
"I can't," the host told them. "Nor can I tell you what was originally written on that list." Both of them, especially Tiny, had faces of distraughtness on them.
"What?!" Piantissimo exclaimed, angry and staring at the host. "But…"
"It was up to you to bring the items to me, not for me to give them to you," McHallyboo told them.
"No…" Tiny gave out sadly with a sigh of loss. She turned to the city sadly.
Tiny: In a way, it was almost like I ruined the game.
"The regret must be high," the host chuckled, leaning against the tower's door and holding out the paper to them. "The lesson is to be careful on the streets."
Piantissimo: We had lost the entire game, and I was, needless to say, livid. My dreams to earn more for this episode were starting to crumble before my eyes, because of this mishap.
"Wait…" Tiny suddenly stopped in place, her eyes confused as she turned her head behind her. Both McHallyboo and Piantissimo looked at her curiously, as she reached her hand into the back pockets of her pants, fumbling around with a mystified look on her face.
"Hold on…what is…no," Tiny whispered, still rummaging her back pocket and her eyes wide with shock. "It…can't be."
"What?" Piantissimo asked with bewilderment. Then, when Tiny withdrew her hand back, she was holding a single piece of paper, crumpled to pieces and with three important directions on it.
"It's here," she gasped in silence. In her hand, pulled out from her back pocket was the scavenger hunt list.
"NOW I REMEMBER!" Tiny exclaimed, her voice in disbelief and laughing as tears of relief filled her eyes. "I...put it in...oh my gosh." Her partner, and even McHallyboo, stood still with flabbergasted faces.
"The paper? The real paper?" Piantissimo stuttered, looking at it himself. After he read it over, he sighed and sank to his knees with incredulity.
"THIS WHOLE TIME…you had it?" Piantissimo began, at a loss of words.
"I remember now," recalled Tiny, her face both enlightened but ashamed. "I placed it in my back pocket in the beginning of the game, to make sure I didn't lose it. I guess it served food, because I didn't lose it during the encounter with the newsman. Those other papers in the air…none of them were it." She turned to Piantissimo.
"How do you forget that it's in your back pocket!" Piantissimo exclaimed with incredulity.
Piantissimo: We spent twenty minutes running to the statue, all in hopes of getting help from McHallyboo, and then it turns out in the end we didn't have to even COME here in the first place!
"It's one of those things where you just forget," Tiny stated with still-shocked eyes, her voice in reflection. "Even though it's so simple, it was right there. And I can't believe...something like this happened."
Tiny: At at the worst crucial time too.
"Well? What are you guys waiting for? The challenge awaits!" McHallyboo beamed a large smile, helping to settle the commotion among them all. "You have approximately an hour and thirty minutes left, and still, three items left to go."
"Don't remind us," Piantissimo, as the two of them nodded thankfully to the host. Then, they headed off, as far away from the tower as they could go to start their game.
"Now, before another newspaper man mysteriously hits us, let's read the paper," Piantissimo said quickly with aggravation. The paper was opened, and the two of them saw the mystery items they needed.
A Pair of Glasses that the moon never sees or passes
A Car That's Red and Bronze (a photo before it's gone)
And a Winning Lucky Ticket, one of real or tricked
Bring all 3 objects to the Mario tower, before the two hours, and a scavenger victory I will shout with power!
Piantissimo: So I thought finding the paper was the hard part…but now we had to find something even harder: the meanings of phrases on our paper.
TIME REMAINING: 1:24 HOURS
"Triangle of love, triangle of love…" Snifit kept on repeating the phrase over and over in head and out loud as well. They had just exited a store, the window having a ceramic heart on its outside. But for their hunt, it served them no purpose.
Snifit: I thought it would bring us closer to something, but it didn't, because the city was just full of red herrings. Perhaps it was more feeling than I thought.
The two of them were looking around the busy city, but to no avail.
"There aren't any more hearts here..." Snifit said out loud with disappointment and looking around.
Éclair: Our clue was simply the word "love"…but Snifit was looking for hearts instead. I did not think that was the answer, so I was looking for a triangle instead.
"McHallyboo said there is no map of the city," wondered Éclair, "but perhaps there really is one. It will help us immensely if we had one."
"In truth, we might not need one because the city isn't, well, too big," Snifit pointed out. "We might just be able to stumble upon these objects…" But they paused in place right in front of the billboard advertisement of a city bus stop. A map, with a directory to different stores within the area, was before them. They began to analyze it immediately.
"Okay, we must look for either a sign for triangle, or love!" Snifit repeated. "A triangle or the word triangle perhaps…or the word love…or a heart."
"There are triangle symbols for landmarks," Eclair realized, pointing to them. "But, there are so many. I do not believe those are our locations."
"Oh! I found something!" Snifit called out, spotting something and excitedly pointing his hand to it. In a block square, on the face of the map, was the label for a location: the Love café.
"It sounds alluring…I do hope it is the right place," wondered Éclair.
"It might not be apparent now, but it must be it. Let's run!" Glancing at a clock before running, the masked man pulled Éclair along with him, as they both ran through the store-filled city.
"A pair of glasses…I have a pair of reading glasses in my bag," Tiny suggested a little desperately, reaching her hand hesitantly into the front pocket of her backpack. "Do you think I should just give those?"
"I don't know…we have to find these objects, not just submit them ourselves, remember?" Piantissimo was looking at the line on their piece of paper again.
A Pair of Glasses that the moon never sees or passes
"Hmm, let's go for an item that is less ambiguous," Piantissimo said, looking at the next object on the list.
A Car That's Red and Bronze (a photo before it's gone)
"I think that is self-explanatory," Piantissimo told his partner. "We need to find a car." Tiny Kong read it over, then looked to the chaotic street to their side. The cars, speeding through each corner and bend of the city, were unstoppable in travel and at times appeared as blurs in the lights. She looked at Piantissimo with doubt.
"First, which car, and is it possible to find it with all this traffic?"," Tiny said while thinking.
"A red and bronze car…red and bronze car…" Piantissimo moved his eyes across the road. "Let us keep an eye out for this red and bronze vehicle as we venture on."
"Fine with me," Tiny said with a bit of uncertainty, putting the scavenger paper back into her jeans as the two of them ventured on into the city. Different stores, stands, and vendors hit their eyes as they continued to search for an indication of a clue to their hunt, and at different times, the two of them paused, only to find no success in view.
Tiny: We were looking for anything to do with glasses, or tickets, or cars…and then what do you know? That's almost every single object in the city!
"There is a glasses stand here!" Tiny called out, as she Piantissimo began to pick at the objects.
"They're s not prescription, or anything with sun or moon symbols, but whatever," Piantissimo realized. Taking out two coins from his pocket, he paid the vendor and grabbed three pairs arbitrarily. He shrugged.
"Oh, I see what you're doing…" Tiny realized with amusement. "Might as well grab as many objects as we can find, just HOPING at least three of them are the correct ones in the end," she said, laughing at the smartness. "Just be careful: you might lose all your money in the end.
"Yeah, staying safe." All of a sudden, Tiny and Piantissimo stopped walking. They had encountered a building at the end of the sidewalk, grand in size and glowing significantly more than the other buildings around it. The entrance doors were large, and a grand red carpet led from the edge of the sidewalk to the shining set of doors of the structure. The entrance to the building were rife with people in elegant clothing the, as they looked up to see what they had come across, and whether it would help them in finding their next object.
"You think we might find a winning ticket here?" Piantissimo said slowly, looking at the dazzling doors and the sign above it.
"Uh…just saying, I'm not at all good at gambling." The sign on the golden entrance read Casino.
TIME REMAINING: 1:09 HOURS
The aroma of coffee hit Snifit and Éclair multiple times as they wandered around the café. The menu, having been looked at countless times by both players, did not seem to offer a clue to either of them.
"I do not see anything on the menu, or in this café, that seems to be anything related to the word love or triangle," Éclair concluded, as if talking to herself. Then she jumped up.
"Oh, there is an item called, 'Heart Pudding'," Éclair pointed out, but then shook her head.
"But, I truly do not believe that it what we need, Snifit…Snifit?" She turned to his partner, who was showing the princess the dessert he had bought from the cashier. Éclair laughed with a bit of surprise, as Snifit spoke with a grin.
"I thought we should at least buy something, now that we're here," Snifit said with a shy smile. "This is just chocolate. It's tasty." He then turned towards the café counter, to the numerous cakes that proliferated the inside of the glass case.
"That item there is the closest item I could think of for our hunt…the ultimate Love Strawberry shortcake," Snifit said, pointing at it. "It is the only item on the menu with the word 'Love', ironically." They both turned to the beautiful cake in the glass display, the pink glazing glistening as if it was trying to speak out to them.
"But the love cake, despite almost being what we need, has nothing to signify a triangle of any sort," Snifit said with a low disheartened voice. He sighed.
"It's just a circle. A traditional circle cake. So this café probably isn't the right place at all."
"I still think it is a nice cake," Éclair said with a smile, then stopped, her smile vanishing as she realized something. Her eyes fixed onto the single slice of dessert that Snifit was holding in his hands, as Snifit's smile then vanished as well.
"What? I was going to share this cake with you, not just eat it alone," Snifit tried to explain, but Éclair only eyed the dessert with revelation.
"A single slice of cake…" Éclair whispered, looking at it.
"What about it?" Snifit said, looking at it.
"It is…in the shape of a triangle," she realized, her eyes sparkling. "That is the answer!" As Snifit stared at the plate in his hands as well, he made a sound of realization as well.
"A Triangle of Love that in you will be inside of," Snifit said, reciting the line as if it was a poem. "Eaten, inside of us! Eclair, you are a genius!" Immediately Éclair, raised her hand fretfully, to signal the attention of the cafe cashier.
"Excuse me," Eclair called out excitedly to the cashier. "Do you happen to take cake slice orders to go?"
Ching ching ching! The sounds of slot machines and bells players rang around the bewildered players, and shouts from dealers and patrons from every corner of the casino floor befuddled them all together. Tiny turned to Piantissimo, covering her ears at the same time trying to speak.
"It's WAY too loud and crowded here," Tiny Kong shouted with a bothered face. "I don't like it! And are we honestly going to find our object here?"
"If our object is here, then we have to stay here," Piantissimo replied loudly, looking around. "No giving up." A machine to the left took Piantissimo's notice.
"This way!" he called, as he and Tiny went over to it. On its front, the two players saw its name in yellow text, font cursive and texture as if it was plated with gold itself: Winner's Wheel.
"Okay, any machine with the word 'Winner' is going to catch out attention, and that doesn't mean it's our object," Tiny Kong reasoned with agony to her partner, almost in warning.
"Well, I'm going to give it a few spins, and then take one of its coins…for safety's sake," Piantissimo said with determination, as he put in a yellow coin into the machine's slot. The machine suddenly clicked, and then the lever went down, signifying its now-awakened functioning. The anticipating player pulled down the lever, and the slot wheels began to spin.
Tiny: He tried the machine probably around fifty times. It was not a process that was worth it for a time limit challenge like this.
"I'm going to try one by time," Piantissimo called out, his eyes looking at the wheels with intense stare. Tiny Kong, now at her wits, put her own fingers and hand on the level before he could pull it again.
"What!" he cried. "I need to win this! You're blocking me from getting the item!"
"Uh, I don't think-" Tiny began, but then they both jumped at the sound of shattering glass. Piantissimo and Tiny put themselves against the wall in alarm, as they witnessed before them a scuffle that had suddenly arisen in the large room. Near the bar area, a few Piantas had already attempted their tackling of another Pianta, who then proceeded to pick up another glass and throw it into the air. The screams began to fill the bulky casino room.
"What on Earth!" Piantissimo shouted, keeping his back against the wall and shuffling towards the exit. "This casino is breaking out into chaos!"
"And this is what we get for trying to come here in the first place!" Tiny called out in panic, ducking her head as she proceeded to make her way to the exit as well.
Tiny: For all we know, this fictional world was created to have its own ground of crooks and underground mafia. We were making all the wrong moves in this game.
"I'll say! Let's get out of here!" The two of them had reached the revolving doors exit, and within seconds, the two Mole players had made it out of the large building as well with other terrified patrons.
"Hey! Watch it!" As soon as Piantissimo exited the building, a figure in a large trench coat had bumped directly into him. The player turned to face the coat-wearing figure, angry in face, as Tiny noticed this with horror.
"We don't want trouble," Tiny spoke quickly, beginning to pull Piantissimo from the stranger. "Right? Let's go." The two of them proceeded to hurry off.
"Wait, no!" the person in the trench coat uttered. "Don't go. I'm sorry. I'm supposed to be disguising myself, but now…now I guess you have found me. I don't have to hide anymore. I can help you win." With confusion and astonishment at this statement, both Tiny and Piantissimo turned around.
"What do you mean-" began Piantissimo, but before he could finish his question, the ex-player dropped her trench coat to the ground, revealing that it was stuffed heavily in the inside to disguise the shape of her figure. She then faced the players fully.
"I'm here to guide you…to win the game. It's me, Vivian."
So what a beginning for Episode 7! The chaos just grows from here as the episode continues! I wanted to make sure to make the start-back of this story was an action one. Indeed, it was.
And now, that complete the circle of the previous Final 3 appearing in this season, eh? It was bound to happen sooner or later!
Anyways, thanks so much guys for not giving up on me : D Every week since the end of my last update, I would write a little bit of this chapter, and then wha-la! It completes. You readers are the BOMB! The true deal of me coming back. Thank you. With winter break here and all my classes, work, and tests over, be expecting a lot more updates in the soon future ; )
Anyways, the game goes! Just what do the meanings of the other objects in their list mean? Can the players complete their scavenger hunts completely, or will they run out of time? And what nail-biting things are in store for the rest of this episode?
The end is not far, but for now, it's just beginning : )
Stay tuned!