...
It is...
THE FINALE
Seven months ago, a group of players embarked on an epic journey. Their unfathomable goal? To discover the deceitful agent among them. Through valleys, deserts, snow, fires, and treacherous lands of every sort, the game dwindled down until the final elevation. And now, after so many months of waiting, we've finally reached this very moment. Tonight, we will find out the answer to one question. One very important question that we've all been waiting to uncover for the greatest time.
Are you ready to discover?
Who…
Is…
The Mole?
Is it Eclair, the twenty-six year old princess and pastry-maker from the Waffle Kingdom?
Tiny, the twenty-four year old retail manager from Donkey Kong Island?
or Piantissimo, the twenty-three year old competitive athlete from Isle Delfino?
The Finale (PART 1)
The building, to most people, was expired. For seven months, nobody had stepped into its interior, and nobody had found any purpose in it. What was once a building of action and adventure was now just another edifice sitting in an abandoned city. It was desolate, uneventful...and empty.
But not for ten people. For ten people, it was a momentous structure full of memories.
The door of the building opened...and Flurrie stepped in.
"My, my! Hello!" Flurrie spoke in a grand voice, expecting everyone else to be inside the lobby already. "I do apologize for being quite late, but it is the greatest of pleasures to see you all…again?" She stopped, looking in surprise at the empty room.
Nobody was present. But there was a sight before her that mesmerized her.
The first floor of the building was redone the day before, with elaborate carpets laid out, decorative, elegant wallpaper shining and pasted upon the walls, and most shockingly of all, portraits on the walls displaying the previous familiar Moles and players of the game. In addition, blue banners were strewn everywhere, done by none other than the host. In the center of the room, ten armchairs were present, and in front of the ten chairs, a television, sparkling and well, existed with strength.
But the thing that mystified and stunned Flurrie the most was that the lobby did not seem like a projection: it was real.
"Flurrie!" came an excited voice from the door. "Hey, Flurrie!" She turned around with surprise at the voice.
"Why, if it isn't the little devil himself: hello!" Flurrie voiced with happiness. Bowser Jr. grinned widely.
"We've been setting up this room for the past three days," Bowser Jr. explained, looking around him. Flurrie could only look at the cozy space around her with disbelief.
"We built this fictional lobby so that we'd be somewhere more comfortable for our finale celebration, instead of a barren, empty first floor." Flurrie's eyes widened.
"And the walls themselves! You built...the walls too?" she gasped.
"You see, the entire floor of this first floor was like a thousand feet long! But we built fake walls...so now we have this very nice room...that looks eerily similar to the lobby we first stepped into on the first day of our game." He pointed to the walls.
"Vivian Shadens from Season 2 spent the last three weeks making these paintings…" Bowser Jr. spoke with awe himself, pointing to the majestic portraits on the walls. One painting was of Toadette, displaying nothing but a sweet smile, and across from her was Yoshi, folding his arms and smiling slightly. Another had Luigi, looking as unsure as he had during his entire gameplay, and Vivian herself was on the wall opposite of him, humbly drawn. And on the far end of the wall, in precious watercolor, was an image of the smiling host himself with his signature hat. Two paintings, however...were concealed.
"Heavens! I cannot believe you had done all this, all on your own," Flurrie commented, looking at him with amazement.
"Well, with the help of some producers," Bowser Jr. laughed, "...and…" All of a sudden, they were interrupted by a shout from behind them. A figure popped out from a separate door located in the back of the lobby.
"Me, of course!" Mimi seemed to prance into the room, but she was holding a chocolate-covered strawberry in one of her hands and a sparkling drink in her other. When she saw Flurrie, her mouth dropped open and she immediately ran up to her in excitement.
"Oh my gosh, Flurrie!" Mimi cried, and ran up to her to give her a hug.
"Hey, uhh...did you also get ketchup?" came the voice of another person who was exiting from the food room. He was holding a plate full of more food than he could handle.
"Dry Bones, you're here!" shouted Bowser Jr, going up to the player. Dry Bones, plate full of burgers, sauerkraut, and fries, also had his mouth full of burgers, sauerkraut, and fries.
"I….COUGH!" Dry Bones stuttered, trying to swallow his food first. "I got so hungry waiting for you to come back and get ice! I finished all the chips! I knew we should've gotten more!"
"Well, as if you'd want to see more ice after the last time you had played in this game," Bowser Jr. laughed.
"And IIII, got all of the food and wallpapers and new, beautiful carpeting because I had quite a lot of unneeded money from my bribe in Episode 3," Mimi said almost proudly. "I wanted to use it all on you!" Before she could speak another word, the front door of the building opened. Everyone looked at the front of the lobby together and saw someone new at the door.
"Well, I'll be! If the party hasn't started already without me!" Zess bellowed.
"ZESS!" Mimi shrieked, and she immediately dropped everything in her hands and ran over to her. She ran over to the elderly cook and gave her an emotional hug.
"Umm...I just vacuumed the floor?" Dry Bones sighed, as everyone else went to greet the elderly chef as well. After Mimi's hug, Zess faced the other players happily. They made their way closer to the back of the room.
"Preparing all this food without me?" she demanded, but her voice was light-hearted as she grinned.
"We didn't want you to leave from Rogueport at three in the morning to get here," Bowser Jr. explained to her. "We're just glad you're here and okay!"
"Oh pfft! I do my morning jogs at that morning hour!" Zess cried, and they all laughed.
Creak...
All of a sudden, the door opened even further, but not because of the wind from the outside city. It was another person who had stepped into the lobby of the building, and as they all faced him, the lost player faced back at all of them with a stunned face.
Dashell Knot stood at the doorway.
"Oh.." he responded, his eyes wide. "I think I'm late. I was-"
"DASHELL!" they shouted in unison, and the other players greeted him happier than ever. The sixth executed player was back in the grand building. He had made it past and farther than the others...but he had also fallen. Nevertheless, he was happy to be back.
"I missed you!" Dry Bones shouted, grabbing the Pixl into a happy hug.
"I missed you too, man," Dashell said, chuckling. They all settled down, smiling.
They all stood together, but then sensed something was missing. Someone else...besides just the three final players.
"Snifit," was all Mimi said, a little sadly. The executed players couldn't help but feel that Snifit deserved to be one of them. He was a player who had made it farther than them all.
But before the sentiment could build from their combined thoughts, they heard the voice of someone else that they were short of as a group. Their memories all flooded back as they heard the voice of yet another person, entering the building not from the front but from a concealed compartment on the side which he had built himself. He was waiting for everyone to enter the building before setting the stage for the audience. He had been in their game the longest...longer than any player had ever been in it before.
"And now that everyone is here..." McHallyboo said, smiling widely, as the players looked startled and took a step back from his sudden appearance, "It is time to begin!" He pointed to one producer in the corner, who also seemed to have magically made his way to existence. The players were stunned.
"Lights!" He then pointed his right hand at a Lakitu holding a camera, who was ready to start filming.
"Cameras!" He then snapped his fingers towards the camera in the center of the room...pointing his direction this time right into the audience.
"Action!"
And the finale...for the third, memorable time, commenced.
"Welcome to the finale of The Mole: Agent's Elevation! It has been seven months since the game ended on top of the rooftop of the enigmatic, epic building of adventure. In the three elevators of the building, Eclair, Tiny, and Piantissimo had taken their final quizzes of the game. And on that fateful night as well, seven months ago...it was each revealed to them who they were. Now, it is time, for us, to discover what happened that night. Today, we are gathered in a place that couldn't be more appropriate: right in the lobby of the building, back again with everyone reunited. Here with me are the six executed players of the game, together and back since the very first episode." McHallyboo grinned.
"Hello! they all shouted out in unison. Already having accustomed back to each others' presences over the past hour, they couldn't be happier to be together again as a group.
"Can you believe that seven months ago, you guys were all strangers to each other the first time you met in this lobby?" McHallyboo said in wonder. And at this line, the players could only face each other with amazement.
"Well, I'd say!" Zess spoke. "We barely could even talk to or trust each other!" They all nodded, smiling.
"I can't even imagine how boring my life would have been...without meeting you guys!" Mimi said out loud, looking at her friends with appreciative eyes.
"I remember being awkward and...I really didn't say a word to anyone else when we first met," Dry Bones said sheepishly with a smile. "But wow. Now you guys are my friends."
"After playing a game full of secrets...I still barely know you guys," Dashell commented, and the other players in their chairs laughed.
"Well, you might soon be saying the same thing about...just another set of people," McHallyboo said slowly, "Because there are three of you...three mysterious ones of you who are not here. Not yet. And as much as you may think you know each one of them...it is the inescapable truth that one of them is the Mole." The players fell into a hushed silence. It was the finale, and it was time.
"So I want to ask you each a very important question," McHallyboo said, his voice being more declarative. "You've seen all the episodes, and you've seen every action. Out of the final three, I want to know…" Then, the host turned to Flurrie, who looked at him in surprise.
"Who do you think is the Mole?" he asked her.
"Hmm!" the cloud spirit said, slightly in an exaggerated exclamation. The other players laughed, because it was indeed a tough question to be answering about their last, remaining teammates.
"Who is the Mole, you ask...a tough question, indeed," Flurie began. She closed her eyes, pondering.
"I believe Eclair is the Mole," she said after thought. "I believe that she may be the Mole because she has a very calm demeanor, and the Mole, of course, would be very calm in the game." Everyone nodded in respect to the first executed player's guess.
"Thank you," the host replied, and then he faced the second executed player: Bowser Jr.
"All cheating asides," McHallyboo said, as all the players laughed. Bowser Jr. shook his head, laughing as well.
"Who do you think the Mole is?" the host asked him, as Bowser Jr. folded his arms for a second.
"I really think Tiny is it," he replied. "I mean, she'd done a lot of things in this game that I found really weird. Especially after watching the past episodes, and seeing everything she did towards the end. Mostly for her sabotage. It just adds up. So I'm going with her as my Mole guess."
"I don't think so," Mimi said, rolling her eyes.
"Thank you," McHallyboo nodded, and Mimi was next.
"Well," Mimi said, tossing her hair, "After a lot of thinking...I think that the Mole is Piantissimo."
"Of course you would think it's Piantissimo!" Bowser Jr. said, looking bothered at her statement.
"You might be thinking I'm choosing him, just because we were enemies," Mimi continued, looking at the others. "And I know he was your best friend, Junior. But I actually think it's him."
"Why?" Bowser Jr. laughed.
"Because before some of us got executed, we never thought Piantissimo could be the Mole," she explained. "For example, Dry Bones and Zess. Neither of you stated that Piantissimo was your suspect before your executions. And then you guys got executed right after! So I think he could be the-"
"It can't be Piantissimo," Bowser Jr. continued, shaking his head. "No way." The host faced Dry Bones.
"Dry Bones?" McHallyboo asked. The player looked a little timid, because he was now being the center of attention for accusing their teammates.
"Well, uh...okay, hmm," he began. "I really feel bad saying that ANY of them is the Mole! But I'll say Tiny in my case. She just seems...likely. She was always being...super dramatic on things. The executions. The end of missions. But maybe in truth, it could have just been the stress from being a Mole."
"Or the stress from thinking that Snifit was continuously the Mole, like some people," Dashell joked, and everyone laughed. Dry Bones laughed the most.
"Okay...let's just say that Snifit did a good job pretending he was the Mole," Dry Bones ended, shaking his head. "But yes, my guess is Tiny." McHallyboo turned to Zess.
"Well," Zess began, looking amused, "Any ONE of the three could be the Mole! I'd be gosh-darn surprised if not all three of them were!" The other players chuckled, nodding at her sentence in agreement.
"But Eclair is my guess for this little Mole," Zess told the host. "And let me tell you why! She's a smart cookie. And strong-willed. Never gave up." Everyone nodded at her statement, whether they believed Eclair was the Mole or not.
"But I think she could be more capable of things than she put on when I spent time with her. At least that's what I saw while I played! Nothing personal against her, because we were great friends, of course. But I think Ms. Princess Eclair is it." And then last but not least, McHallyboo turned to Dashell.
"It's really still a guess," Dashell said, looking down and thinking hard. Everyone looked at him, as he went silent.
"But for some reason...I think I'm going to have to agree with Mimi on this final guess. Something tells me that in the end of things, it's actually Piantissimo who's the saboteur. Who knows."
"And why so?" the host inquired. Dashell just shrugged.
"I don't know," Dashell repeated, looking at the ground. "But I think that's what she thought...before I got executed. So that's my determined, final guess."
"Huh? What I thought before I was executed?" Mimi asked, flabbergasted, but the others knew in silence that he was talking about someone else. Another she.
"Well, if you would look at the six of us!" Flurrie spoke, amusingly looking at the others. "My, my, my. Once again, we are just butting heads and not communicative with each other. We are just all over the place! With our suspects, that it." The group couldn't help but agree.
"I think we all might as well give up: we're as conflicted as we were in Exemption and Bust," Zess chortled. "And look how that turned out!"
"Well, we now know all the executed players' thoughts on who the Mole could be," the host said, "but we don't know the choices of the readers!"
"Read...readers?" repeated Dry Bones, raising an eyebrow.
"Well...why not rest that unknowingness." He faced the audience.
"Let's take a look, shall we?"
Here are the official results of the poll! The poll asking: Who is the Mole?
Tiny: 7 votes (43 percent)
Eclair: 4 votes (25 percent)
Piantissimo: 5 votes (32 percent)
McHallyboo cleared his throat.
"And of course...we are missing one vote" the host said, his voice solemn. "By someone who had played with us with life, and lived...if only for a short while." Everyone in the room went silent. They knew that there was one person who was missing. Someone that they all knew they wouldn't be reunited with at the finale of the game. Someone special.
Snifit's existence, despite not being among them, could still be felt in the room.
"Yes…" Flurrie said sadly. The players looked at each other, and the mood was sad.
"Snifit...he was no different than the rest of us," Zess said strongly. "He was as strong as any human, person, or toad you could have!" The others nodded strongly.
"And real, too," Bowser Jr. added, grinning sadly. "He was...real. It didn't matter where he had come from, or how he had come to be. He was...real."
"Without him...it's like we'll never be the whole group of ten...ever again," Mimi sniffed, looking with sad eyes at everyone. The six executed players all shared emotional looks and nods with each other. They were happy that they were together...but sad that one of them...one from their group of ten...would never return to the world again. Dashell nodded, a little down-heartedly.
"I just wish...I had the chance to say goodbye to him...," the pixl said. "Before he...left."
"Well...you could try again," came a voice from behind him. But it wasn't McHallyboo who had spoken.
With confusion, the players turned around.
"What...wait….what…?" Dry Bones sputtered. And standing behind them, almost in the same place that they had all first seen him in the very beginning of the game, was a person wearing a red suit, a mask, and a humble, happy face. And all of a sudden, the six players couldn't believe anything anymore.
"SNIFIT!"It was the collective gasp from everyone. All rules were broken as the players, all together, ran to reunite with a person that they thought was gone forever. The seventh executed player was alive again. It was a moment of pure happiness.
"Snifit!" Mimi squealed, giving the player a hug. And the players at that moment knew that he was real and back.
"Oh, umm...hi," he spoke, almost meekly.
"Well, I'll be!" Zess shouted, giving him a pat on the back. "We all missed you! We never knew if we'd see you again."
"I didn't know if I'd see any of you guys either," Snifit admitted, "but, well...I guess I'm here!" The group was happy. Snifit looked at them, almost in surprise.
"You're all actually here though, together...wow," Snifit added, looking a bit taken back. The group laughed.
"Well, duh! It's the finale!" Bowser Jr. said with a smile. "But we're happy you're here. ECSTATIC, even!"
"I can't...believe it." Dashell went up to the seventh player, and Snifit just looked back at him with amusement. The pixl was in shock.
"How?" Dashell asked, facing McHallyboo. The host, who was standing in the back, only smiled knowingly.
"Well...let's just say, that after seven months of charging this building...we had just enough energy to bring one person back for the finale," McHallyboo winked. Snifit faced the host, pleased. The players were in awe.
"He'll be here for the entire duration of our reunion," McHallyboo said, as Snifit nodded. The rest of the players were happy as well. Even though they all knew that he couldn't stay forever, they were happy that he was with them for the most important, revealing, but joyful time of their lives.
McHallyboo turned over to a grand television besides him, facing the camera.
"Before we see the finale and discover who the Mole is...let us refresh our memory a little bit, shall we?" The television flicked on, as the seven players turned to it.
Three players left in the game. All had their share of suspicious moments. But just one of them is the Mole. Who is it?
Eclair
Purchase of the Desert
In the game's second mission, Eclair made the mistake of choosing a waffle iron to represent Zess. However, the waffle iron could have been mistakened to represent other people, such as Bowser Jr. or herself, and it overall caused confusion.
Flashback Piantissimo: "Who chose to select the waffle iron in the first place? Show yourself! Mole!"
Flashback Eclair: (bowing her head)"It was I who had selected the waffle iron. It is my fault, and for that, I am sorry." (the players look shocked)
Minigame Madness
While the players were playing Dungeon Duos, Eclair struggled to turn her dial for some odd reason. Due to this, the team lost their bets.
(trying to turn the dial) Flashback Eclair:"It is...strangely heavy to turn. I am struggling!
Flashback Mimi: "No, it's really easy! You have to spin it clock-wise like ten time! You can do it! (Eclair continues, struggling)
Destination Sail
When threatened with Dashell's hungriness for an exemption, Eclair panicked and took the emergency-exit way out of blowing up the ship, losing the team the game.
Flashback Eclair: "I will make it very easy for me to go down...and you will go down, too." (lights fuse)
Flashback Dashell: "No...Eclair...don't!"
BOOOOOM!
Piantissimo
City Scavenger Hunt
The players were told that one of their objects was guaranteed to be in the casino, but for some reason, Piantissimo persuaded Tiny and him to go after another item instead. When they returned back to the casino ten minutes later, the casino had already closed and the object was unattainable. But did he know that it would shut down?
Flashback Piantissimo: (in the city) "We need a picture of the car first! Let's go get it!"
Flashback Tiny: "But the winning ticket! We have to get that! We're guaranteed to KNOW an object is in there!" (Piantissimo shakes his head)
Who Said That?
And in Who Said That?, Piantissimo lost money by incorrectly identifying a quote spoken by Bowser Jr, almost costing the team their game.
Dashell: The strangest thing was? Bowser Jr. was his best friend in the game...and had only been in the game for two episodes long. He didn't have many quotes. Something didn't add up.
Home Burn Home
In the final episode of the game, Piantissimo had willingly sacrificed himself to receive a -1 on the final quiz, in order to save the virtual families of his teammates from a fake fire. But would a genuine player have actually done that, sacrificing an entire point for themself on the final quiz? Or was it all an act?
Flashback McHallyboo: "And Piantissimo...you will NOT be awarded a Minus 1 on the final quiz." (Piantissimo gasps)
Flashback Piantissimo: "I...I cannot express my happiness enough!
(As he smiles, Eclair and Tiny share suspicious glances with each other)
Tiny
Saboteur Island Sabotage
When the players had to show their camera photos at the end of the mission, Tiny's photo was mysteriously missing. Did it really go missing, or had Tiny been the one who actually deleted it?
Flashback Zess:"Do you know who could have deleted it?"
Flashback Tiny: (looking sad) "I...really don't know."
Escape the Apocalypse
Towards the end of Escape the Apocalypse, Tiny decided that she didn't want to continue playing the game anymore. However, without all four players succeeding, the game would have failed. Tiny's quitting almost made the team lose the mission.
Flashback Adventure
In the game's final mission, Tiny had almost cost the entire team half of their pot. But did she really want the dossier in the first place, or did she just want the team to lose the largest value to record?
Flashback Tiny: (in the final mission)"I shouldn't have done that. It was so wrong...so, so wrong. I did it out of panic!"
Flashback Piantissimo: "Out of panic? No...you did it out of greed...or..." (Tiny covers her face)
All of them suspicious. But just one of them is truly the saboteur. Who is the Mole?
The players all nodded in speculation and wonder. It had been more than half a year since any of them had seen any of the final players. And now, it all seemed fresh again. One of the three sets of actions they had just witnessed on the TV...among with many others that weren't counted...was genuine and pure sabotage.
"Gee...it's almost as if all of that had happened yesterday," Snifit voiced with wonder. Everyone laughed
"It's because you just came back a few minutes ago!" Mimi told him, teasingly. "We had to wait like...a million months!" The players were focusing on the footage they just witnessed.
"It's too late to change my guess now, huh?" Zess laughed. "You know what, never mind: they're all it! Final answer."
"I'm sticking with my Mole guess!" Dry Bones announced. "Despite convincing evidence shown of the other players being the Mole."
"Oh man...things are getting intense!" Bowser Jr. said anxiously, yet excitedly.
"Shh! This moment...is to be momentous…" Flurrie whispered.
McHallyboo cleared his throat, as everyone looked at him with eager eyes.
"And now...it is time." The players all turned to him, hushed.
"It is time for us to finally see…what happened on the roof of the building that fateful night."
And then, the television flashed on.
7 Months Ago…
The air was calm on the roof of the grand building
The night sky was brighter than usual. The moon glistened above the emissary's construction, existing almost like a protector for the large structure. The moonlight glazed the surface of the roof, shining, as if giving the entire surface of the roof new life. As one of the elevators rose slowly and made its way towards the roof of the building, the building shook just ever so slightly. Someone...was making their way up.
Rumble...
The first elevator to make it to the roof of the building slowly rose through an opening in the ceiling. It was an unnatural elevation, as an additional, extra platform brought the heavy structure higher and higher. Almost perfectly, it elevated through a hole in the roof, right next to two similar-shaped openings as well. As the elevator finally positioned itself on top of the building's roof surface like a permanent, metal structure, the air seemed more still than ever.
Ding! Then, the doors opened.
And the first player stepped out.
The roof was vast and spacious. It was long enough for a competitive athlete with a mask to appreciate it, because he would be able to achieve enough exercise running from one edge of the roof to the other end. It was expanded enough for a princess of a sweet kingdom to appreciate, because she could host a party for many guests upon it. And it was empty enough for a person who was native to a tropical island to appreciate, because there was nothing unfamiliar upon it and they could relax on it without fear.
The island native, athlete, or princess walked across the roof of the grand building.
"What...is this...?" Before them, they saw a long, green carpet. It was a thin line that stretched in front of them, towards the center of the building's roof. When the player turned to their side, they saw two similar lines, leading to the center of the building's roof as well.
Three glimmering, green paths. One for the winner. One for the loser. And one...for the Mole.
"My line…" they gasped. The player walked down the green carpet, a little cautiously. Slowly, they were brought to the center of the building. With every step they took, the anxiousness grew for everything they had done in the past few weeks. Their feelings were conflicted. But they continued on, strongly.
The player walked further and further to the roof's middle and saw that right in the center of the building, designed and imprinted on the floor of the roof, was a circle of green. And a figure was standing right in its center.
Waiting in the center of the roof was none other than McHallyboo.
"Hello... and welcome to the end of the game," the host called out, as the player continued walking their way to him. "You have made it." The player, walking just a bit further more, had reached the building's center as well.
"Please enter the circle of truth," he instructed, and the player cautiously stepped in. Now, they were face to face with each other.
"Hello, McHallyboo..." the player replied, but their voice showed unconcealed nervousness as the moon shined high above them. The host looked up at the night sky for a second.
"Isn't it a gift...to see the sky for the first time?" the host asked, "since you had entered the building so long ago?"
"It's almost..." the player replied, and for a second, was at a loss of words at their surroundings. In the distance, they saw mountains, buildings, and the dark horizon. All real.
"All of this, it's...almost not real," they finished. "But I know that it is." The host smiled.
"You had traveled...through an eventful, momentous game," McHallyboo began. "And through difficulties and trials, I had watched your progress, episode by episode. Never had I seen such a difficult, dramatic, and heartfelt gameplay from one person." The player listened to the host, nodding and taking in the past month of the intense game themself.
"And I am proud of you...because you are one of the strongest players to have ever made it to the final three," the host told the person before him. The player, with an appreciative smile, nodded at the host.
"Thank you..." was the player's reply to him. The host paused. He looked straight at the player in front of him, but something was different.
"But...I have to report...inexorable news." And at this, the player looked confused.
Taking in a deep breath, the host then spoke the next line...to her.
"And I am sorry to say...that you are the Mole's final victim. You are the final victim of The Mole: Agent's Elevation."
And at that moment, the air upon the roof seemed more still than ever.
The executed players in the lobby gasped.
"No...it can't be," Flurrie spoke, shocked.
The final victim had just been revealed.
...
...
...
The player, full of sudden disappointment, looked to the ground. Then, letting out a deep sigh, she accepted her fate.
Tiny Kong was the final victim of the game.
...
...
...
The next chapter and the revealing of the Mole will be next Saturday, 10PM EST.