The New Betrayal
Daniel Ocean
WARNING WARNING WARNING: I don't own Gundam Wing or The Mole, though I do admire both quality television shows. Also, I borrow some games from both seasons of The Mole and I do not attend to take credit for either of them. I don't want to have to say whether the game is original or not before each one so presume it is not. Enjoy!
//host Anderson Cooper appears on the TV screen of hundreds of thousands of homes across the world and in the colonies.//
"Welcome to the Mole. Thirteen players try to complete missions across Europe to gain money toward the pot. Money is gained as games are won, however, one amongst them is the Mole, a secret agent planted by the producers to foil the players. Up to one million dollars hinges on the question: Who is the Mole?
//eleven images pop up, one by one, one for each contestant//
Heero, 19, Army soldier, Sapporo, Japan
Hilde, 18, Auto dealer, Munich, Germany
Trowa, 19, Circus performer, St. Petersburg, FL
Wufei, 19, Museum curator, Chongqing, China
Lucretzia, 24, Test driver, Tucson, AZ
Zechs, 25, Air Force Lieutenant, Pueblo, CO
Sally, 22, Police officer, Preventers colony
Quatre, 19, Musician/Art dealer, Alexandria, Egypt
Duo, 19, Junk yard owner, L2 colony
Relena, 20, Doctor, Birmingham, England
Traize, 26, Appraiser, New York City, NY
//the scene cuts to a map, showing the players in their newest location: Bordeaux, France. It is the morning after the second execution, Day Seven. It is after breakfast and most of the male players are wandering about, in no clear pattern. The four remaining players, however, are inside, planing to consolidate.//
//personal interviews//
Relena: "If Cathy can go so quickly, any of us can go just as fast. We have to pull together to make sure we don't get into a six-against-two situation. It's already down to just four women-against seven guys."
Hilde: "The plan now is to have all four of us in a large, loose coalition. Relena and myself will be in a full alliance, as will Lucretzia and Sally. We're going to try to even the numbers to four on four or three on three."
//the scene switches to Sally and Lucretzia's room, with the caption "Coalition 2-Lucretzia and Sally//
"We got to knock off someone first. Knowing who the Mole is at this point isn't top priority." Sally was in the top bunk, looking down at her new partner.
"Agreed. Duo and I, though, determined that the Mole is probably either Trowa-kinda maybe-or in the other group, especially Relena. Hilde has been hanging in the shadows for a while now and maybe trying to blend into the surroundings."
"No, I've already ruled out Trowa. From the start I decided not to vote for him, Heero, Dorothy, and Cathy. I don't want to be spread out too thin and not be able to eliminate anyone. And Dorothy and Cathy-"
"Right. I see your reasoning. So, we have the others?"
"I guess so."
//interview with Sally.//
"Not only do we have to work with Relena and Hilde, but he have to be weary of the fact that the two of them are main suspects. We can't let them be partner in a game unsupervised. The coalitions will make sure we can keep a close eye on them."
//switch to the lobby, with the caption "Coalition 3-Relena and Hilde.//
"Zechs has had some suspicious behavior, don't you think? Messing up the Running With the Cars and almost flubbing the Market Search." Hilde was lying on the couch, and Relena was sitting in a nearby chair, giving the feeling of patient and psychiatrist. Hilde looked over to Relena. "He started awful that game and then recovered too well."
"Right. Right. Duo and Lucretzia did badly in that easy grape game, also, so don't count them out."
"And Lucretzia got in the right order for the first game."
//interview with Relena//
"I guess Lucretzia and Zechs are our top two suspects right about now. It's tricky to have a coalition and not trust other members, but as long as its pairs stay together, I think we'll be okay."
//the eleven players get together with Cooper for their next game(s)//
"Okay." It was early October, but the sun was pouring down, and everyone, including the host, were dressed for the middle of summer. "For you today, we have a pair of missions, five in one mission and six for the other." He had with him the laptop used for execution; he opened a program and an image of a tall hill, with five bicycles at the bottom, popped up on the screen. "This is one mission. Right now, I want you to figure out who wants to do this mission, and who wants to take a chance with the other game, which will not be revealed until the ones playing that arrive to where they got to be. You got fifteen seconds. Hurry, hurry, as fast as you can, you can't catch me-ah, forget it."
//shot of the players scrambling into two groups. Hilde pulls Quatre and Relena to the bike mission and Traize and Zechs pull Heero to the mystery mission. VO of Quatre//
"I don't want to anything that is unknown. I mean, as hard as uphill cycling is, I don't want to be caught getting chased by wild boars or any other hell like that."
"All right," said the host finally. "It's Relena, Duo, Quatre, Hilde, and Sally cycling, and I suppose the rest of you will go on our mystery mission. Those six, hop in the van, the producer will tell you where to go. The rest of you, come with me."
//interview with Sally//
"Being in the cycling group will let me watch many suspects at once, including Relena at number one, and it'll increase the odds of winning because other than Duo, the other four aren't the strongest people here."
//Cooper and the other players are at the foot of a San-Francisco-style hill. Each player has a bike.//
"Each of you will ride up this hill for five blocks. It is level in some places, and near the halfway point it goes downhill just a little, but most of the way it's going up." Cooper handed out keys. "There will be a locked blue cooler in the middle of the downhill section, containing wine, cheese, jam, scones, and napkins. Each of you must decide what to take, and continue to ride up to a house at the top with flags. There, you will call back down and the next person will go up.
"Do all that in an hour and you get $40,000. If all but one of you make it, it's $20,000, and if three out of five make it, it's $5,000. Oh, and you'll have to tell me what you're taking up the hill, and you must take that to the house, or else your ride will be in vain. So, who's going first and who's doing what?"
Hilde offered to be last and bring the jam. Relena said she'd be next to last and get the cheese. Sally said she would go "in the top two" and take the wine, and Duo said he'd take the other top two spot and take the scones ("Man, I fell weird saying that." "Why? It's a perfectly good word."). Quatre was left with third and the napkins.
"Who's first-Duo or Sally?" asked Cooper.
"Ladies first, I guess." Duo hopped on his bike anyway, so he could sit as he waited.
"All right, Sally, your time starts now."
Sally started up the hill, drifting from side to side as she pumped the pedals to keep her speed up on the hard slope. She dodged a tourist and two local Frenchman, and soon was out of site, somewhere deep in the crowd.
//VO of Cooper: "Meanwhile, a few miles away...//
The van pulls up to a secluded field outside of Bordeaux. Waving to the players are Goku, Gohan, Eighteen and Krillan from Dragonball Z. Someone in the van says, "Holy sh*t, we have to go up against all of them?"
Everyone gets out and the four are there to greet them. "Welcome to the Fencing Challenge," says Goku. He points over to a wooden structure, with posts and horizontal wooden bars going across. "The six of you will try to put up as much as that fence, starting at one end, as we here will try to build it from the other end. There's thirty-eight spots, and to win, you must fill twenty with your fence, without any gaps. Doing that adds thirty grand to the pot."
Krillan nudged Eighteen. "I'm amazed he could remember all of that so clearly."
"You've got five minutes to plan out strategy, and then we begin."
The players huddled up.
"We better get into some sort of a rotation. That way, we don't get into each other's way," suggested Lucretzia.
"Right," said Zechs. "The fastest should be near the top so they do more. I guess me, Traize, Heero, Noin, uh, Wufei, and Trowa, don't you think?"
"Sounds good enough."
"All right, let's rock."
//VO of Cooper: "Meanwhile, in town..."//
Sally hurriedly opened up the cooler, and pulled off the top. There was everything the host described, and a cell phone and a message in an envelope. Sally opened it and read:
"Hello, player, if you do not wish to continue, just take your item and call 555-4321. You will be driven the rest of the way up the hill, and you will not be included in the count afterward. You will receive one exemption."
Sally took the wine and closed the cooler, leaving the phone and the message inside.
//interview with Sally//
"I was pretty confident I could move up to the next round, exemption or not. I wanted to let someone else sabotage the game, anyway."
//various shots of Sally going up, and then arriving at the house, in a total, bottom to top, of eleven minutes. She walks into the house, wine in hand.//
Sally peered around corners, eventually making it into the dining room. "Why, hello, you two," she said to two familiar faces.
Howard and Une stood to greet her. "You know," said Howard, the elderly mechanic, "not everyone was invited o play this game." He quickly got a cell phone and typed in a number. "She's here and she's got the wine."
//switch of scene, to Cooper answering the hone//
"All right." He hung up. "Time for you to go, Duo."
"'Kay." The Gundam tore up the hill, speeding to the cooler in just four minutes. His ride was not as well-documented as Sally's, but he was shown grabbing the scones and leaving, not paying any heed to the phone or message.
He pedaled to the house. As soon as he got in, Howard was waiting. "Wow! Nine minutes! Great time! I'll call for Quatre."
//scene switches to the Fencing Challenge, which has already begun. The two teams look about even. There is a close up of Wufei hammering home a board, and another shot to the right shows Goku hammering a board in, after clearing his stepping spot of debris. Interview with Heero.//
"Their smaller numbers gave them less of a chance of bumping into each other, but they had to work with unleveled, pebbly ground. We had a little bit of an easier way with it.
//the scene is sped up to a point so that each team has about half of its half finished. The score is tied, 10-10, then the players go up one, however, just a few seconds later, Eighteen hammers in the eleventh DBZ board and the score is again tied.//
Trowa looked in both directions. "Uhh, who's turn is it?"
"Yours!" screams Lucretzia.
"Oops!" Trowa took up his hammer and got to work, but wasted a few precious seconds. The green board slipped out of his fingers, and he had fallen behind, even though he hammered the board in quickly as soon as he got it back together. He finished a split-second before Gohan for the twelfth board, leaving the players at a disadvantage. In the event of a tie they would walk away penniless.
//back to the cycling game//
Quatre, in six and a half minutes, had reached the cooler halfway up the hill. He reached for the napkins, then saw the exemption offer and its envelope. He put it down, and then grabbed what he thought was the message and headed off to the house at the top of the hill.
//he makes it to the top of the hill. A caption at the bottom of the screen reads, "33.5/60 minutes elapsed."//
He ran into the house. "Guys! Guys! I'm here!" He saw Une and ran over to her, napkins held high. She ushered him in and the third of the group had made it in.
"All right, Qu-man, you're here." Duo took the napkins and tossed them to the middle of the dining room table.
"Got the exemption notice, too."
"What exemption notice?"
"Oh, really?" Sally knew what he meant. "Keep it out; let the Mole sabotage the game with it."
"Still-forty grand might have been saved." Quatre grabbed the piece of paper he had swiped. "Here you are." He looked at it as he handed it to sally, and he paused at it halfway to her. Sally as well looked at what Quatre had.
"Quatre, that's the envelope," said Une finally.
//back at the Fencing Challenge, with a VO of Lucretzia//
"We really picked up the pace after Trowa flubbed up the board he had to bring in. Zechs, Heero and Traize made up a lot of time with fast work."
//The score is shown as Players 17, DBZ 15. The game is sped up to get to the conclusion to a game that is rather monotonous to viewers. Gohan knocked a board in to cut the lead to one, but Trowa hammered quickly to bring the Players back to two up. Goku got DBZ within one as Zechs is halfway done with his board. Zechs finishes as Krillan is half done with his. When Krillan is done, Eighteen hurriedly works to try to get the last board in, but Heero beats him to the last spot.//
"Okay, all thirty-eight are in. You guys needed twenty or more boards to win, and you got exactly twenty. Congratulations, you have won thirty thousand dollars for the pot."
//the six players celebrate, throwing their hammers in the air, narrowly missing their own boards. Gohan picks up a hammer, board, and nails to tie the score and deny the players money if one of their own is knocked off, but all of the thrown objects miss.//
//the scene switches to Relena, on the way up the hill. She is almost halfway there; forty minutes have elapsed since the beginning of the game.//
Relena pulled to a stop as well as she could next to the cooler; she tapped the brake a little too hard and almost went flying over the handlebars. She got out her key, opened the cooler, and dug in, scooping up a wheel of cheddar. She noticed the exemption notice, after leafing through, she put it back inside and closed the cooler.
//interview with Relena//
"I thought that I had a good read on the Mole, so I didn't need the exemption. Only one out of eleven was going to go at the end of the round. And forty thousand dollars are a lot better than twenty thousand."
//shots of her making up the hill. As she tires, she leans over the handlebars and tries to pump the pedals harder.//
She makes it up the hill in seven more minutes. As she reached the top, she kept going, almost pedaling into the house. She stumbled in to the house. "Hi there-oh, you don't look so good." Duo was there in the kitchen, at the front, snacking on a scone. He helped her to the living room, and she half-laid and half-collapsed onto the sofa. "She's here!"
"We know, we know," said Une, the phone at her ear. "We got it taken care of."
Hilde was off. "Come on there," said Cooper. "Make the most of your time. You aren't left with a lot of it. Go quickly."
"Right, I know." She spun once around Cooper to build up speed, and headed up to the hill. She kept her speed up for about a half of a block, then started to slow down. She was off, albeit slowly.
//shots of Hilde making it up the hill, as far as the cooler//
Hilde reached for the key in her pocket, then dropped it on the pavement. After having a bit of trouble trying to pick it up, she was able to get up and stick the key into the lock. The first thing she saw when the cooler popped open was the exemption offer. She looked at it, then her watch, then got out the cell phone.
//interview with Hilde//
"There was no way that I would have been able to make it up the hill in time to get all of the money. It took me seven minutes to get to the cooler, and I would have been stuck on the way up to the end. Might as well take the exemption, and get something instead of nothing."
//the caption reads "59 minutes elapsed" as the car to carry her the rest of the way up the hill pulls in. As soon as she climbs in and slams the door, the caption becomes "Mission failed."
A few minutes later, Cooper is with all of the players, including Hilde.//
"Well," said Cooper, "almost all of you made it up the hill. The last member in the relay, Hilde, felt that there was not enough time to make it u the hill to complete the mission, so she took an exemption and saved herself part of a bike ride. You guys earned $20,000 for this mission. Additionally, the team on the mystery mission has been playing, trying to build a fence faster than four characters from "Dragonball Z." //shot of a grimace from Relena.// "Fortunately, they succeeded, and they won an additional $30,000 for the pot. You'll go back to the hotel now and you guys have the rest of the day off."
//shots of the two groups reuniting at the hotel. The Fencing team, having had much of the afternoon to rest, look okay, but all of the Cycle team members are sweaty and tired. Relena immediately goes to bed. Hilde goes to her bed and stares at the ceiling, even though she had just half a ride.
//personal interviews//
Duo: "I'm getting more suspicious of Quatre after the envelope incident. I mean, how can you get the envelope and not get the message? Did he think he had both? Very weird."
Sally: "Hilde get the exemption instead of going on up the mountain. She still might of had a shot. She had a chance, if she had a car-lifting adrenaline thing."
Zechs: "It's hard to see any Mole activity in the fencing game. Trowa slipped up, though possibly out of being rushed. But the others failed, and we didn't get to see how."
Trowa: "I know the fence thing incriminates me. Hopefully, someone will think I am the Mole and reduce the competition a bit, so I can take a look at everything so far and start to narrow my list."
Relena: "Trowa is a new candidate, as is Hilde. But Zechs and Quatre are on the top of my list. I'll have to hover over all of them and try to keep the coalition with Hilde alive, so I can keep an eye on them all at once. I'm going to look for a second coalition to make this easier."
//the next day. Cooper has rounded up all the players, and all of them are being driven to a small soccer (football for Europeans) field in town. All are in identical jerseys, except for Relena, who has been marooned in goal. When they arrive, Cooper brings out a soccer ball and tells everyone to get out of the van.
"All right, players, welcome to your tenth game as a group, and the last of the third round. This game is just a simple game of soccer with a team that is very good. Most of the rules are suspended or replaced with simpler rules. There has to be four defenders, who say on their half of the field, three forwards, who stay on the other side, and three midfielders who can go anywhere. And then the goalie, who can wander wherever she wants to go. There's soccer balls here, and you have two hours to prepare for the 20-minute game. This mission is worth $35,000 for a win, or $10,000 for a draw. Good luck."
//shots of players kicking balls around. Quatre is ten yards from the goal, and tries to hit it into the empty net, but misses. Wufei calls him an onna and tries from the same spot. It sails over the goal and into a parking lot. Many other players have similar troubles.
//interview with Lucretzia.//
"Well, it's official-we suck. Quatre can't get it through, Wufei can't get it through, Hilde can't get it through, I can't get it through...about as doomed as we can be."
//Cooper is shouting through a loudspeaker//
"Okay, team, your two hours are up. Go to your positions, the team is here."
//interviews//
Relena: "We look over to a road, and a van pulls up, and out comes eleven ten-year-olds, all in uniform, all ready to go." (laughs) "They were all so cuts, then the game started-ooh, they weren't so cute when the kicks of fury come out."
Heero: "We found out later that they were the all-star ten-year-old team. And the French won the World Cup in...'97? '98? Sometime recent. And they were good." //shot of Hilde getting the ball stolen by her by a kid who goes all the way to score a goal.// "They were so small it was hard to catch them. We could have tackled them, but they were pretty fast, and I couldn't take care of all of them."
//circus music plays as the game begins//
//shot of Relena having ball after ball blow on by her.//
//shot of Zechs getting burned on defense.//
//shot of Quatre accidentally knocking the ball into his own goal.//
//shot of the score at half-time: The Mole 5, All-Stars 0//
//shot of Cooper cheering his contestants on//
//shot of Traize doing a wicked move to get a clear shot at the goal...and losing his balance and falling down, right in front of the goal, with the goalie snapping the ball up and tossing it upfield.//
//shot of an All-Star taking a shot from mid-field...and getting a goal.//
//Cooper blowing the ending whistle, the game over. Final score: All-Stars 8, The Mole 3//
//the execution dinner, that night. All, as usual, are dressed their best. As they discuss the game so far, there is a VO of Traize.//
"Soccer, to Americans, is a thoroughly foreign sport. I like to use my hands instead of just kicking the ball around. Back and forth and back and forth and I takes forever for there to be a goal." (Pause.) "Or once team just demolishes the other and it looks really really bad."
//from their dinner, the contestants are driven to a cemetery outside the city. Everyone looks ghoulishly at row upon row of graves on all sides.//
"You think Anderson and the others are trying to send a message?" asked Duo. He shifted uneasily.
Lucretzia welcomed the chance to look away from the graves. "No doubt. There must be thousands and thousands of bodies here."
//the drive through the cemetery to a clearing just outside of it, for the first outdoor quiz and execution.//
//Relena is taking the test, on the question, "Which game did the Mole play on Day Seven-the Fencing Challenge or the Cycle Relay?"//
Relena: "There was a lot of suspicious behavior during the relay, almost by everyone. It's almost certain that the Mole played in that game."
//Quatre is on, "How old is the Mole?//
Quatre: "Traize has done little to catch my attention as the Mole, so the Mole probably isn't in the top end of the age bracket. I'm going to guess that it is someone younger-Relena and Hilde, and to some extent, Trowa, have all been acting up."
//Trowa is on, "Where did the Mole play during the Soccer game?//
Trowa: "Traize's tumble is what I saw as possible Mole activity. It's the one thing that sticks out in my mind."
//execution time!//
"Here we are again," said Cooper. "There is fifty thousand more dollars in the pot from the missions this round, for a total of $149,000. However, tonight, one more of you must leave the show.
"I will type each player's name into the computer; if the screen flashes green, you are safe, however, if it flashes red, then you have become the Mole's third victim.
"Let's start with Duo."
His name was typed into the computer, and it was cleared. He smiled weakly.
"Sally." The officer's name went in, and when it came back out green, she gave a rather large reaction in relief.
"Wufei." This former Gundam's name went in, but unlike his former ally, he got the red screen. He winced momentarily, but resumed his neutral look on his face and quietly got up to take the walk to the waiting limo.
//interviews.//
Heero: "Well, back during the war, I saw no one who could match the will to win I had other than Wufei. He has a fierce competitor who would have done anything for the jackpot. He was a noble opponent, even if he stayed a short while."
Wufei: "I must say that I was disappointed. I was sure that I could go farther, I thought that I could have won the pot at the end. But I suppose not. Hopefully, a noble player will win the pot now. If Duo wins, then the onna is going to be chased all the way back to Missouri."
//Wufei rides off//
You too can take the ten-question quiz. Do you have what it takes to spot the Mole?
Is the Mole in an coalition? (No/Yes, one coalition/Yes, multiple coalitions)
What did the mole play on Day Seven? (Fencing/Cycle Relay)
In what order did the Mole cycle? (First/Second/Third/Fourth/Fifth/The Mole was in the fencing game)
What did the Mole bring to the house on the hill? (Cheese/Wine/Scones/Jam/Napkins/Did Not Play)
How many posts did the Mole hammer into the fence during the Fencing game? (None or one/Two or Three/Four or five/At least six)
Did the Mole complete their mission? (Y/N)
How old is the Mole? (19 or under/20 or 21/22 or 23/24 or older)
What did the Mole play during the Soccer game? (Goalie/Defense/Midfielder/Offense) (Hilde, Quatre, Trowa, and Duo were on defense, Heero, Zechs and Lucretzia were midfielders, and Wufei, Traize and Sally were on offense)
Did the Mole score a goal? (Y/N) (Only Traize and Wufei did, the third goal was an own-goal by an All-Star.)
Who is the Mole? (Heero/Hilde/Trowa/Wufei/Lucretzia/Zechs/Sally/Quatre/Duo/Relena/Traize)
Daniel Ocean
WARNING WARNING WARNING: I don't own Gundam Wing or The Mole, though I do admire both quality television shows. Also, I borrow some games from both seasons of The Mole and I do not attend to take credit for either of them. I don't want to have to say whether the game is original or not before each one so presume it is not. Enjoy!
//host Anderson Cooper appears on the TV screen of hundreds of thousands of homes across the world and in the colonies.//
"Welcome to the Mole. Thirteen players try to complete missions across Europe to gain money toward the pot. Money is gained as games are won, however, one amongst them is the Mole, a secret agent planted by the producers to foil the players. Up to one million dollars hinges on the question: Who is the Mole?
//eleven images pop up, one by one, one for each contestant//
Heero, 19, Army soldier, Sapporo, Japan
Hilde, 18, Auto dealer, Munich, Germany
Trowa, 19, Circus performer, St. Petersburg, FL
Wufei, 19, Museum curator, Chongqing, China
Lucretzia, 24, Test driver, Tucson, AZ
Zechs, 25, Air Force Lieutenant, Pueblo, CO
Sally, 22, Police officer, Preventers colony
Quatre, 19, Musician/Art dealer, Alexandria, Egypt
Duo, 19, Junk yard owner, L2 colony
Relena, 20, Doctor, Birmingham, England
Traize, 26, Appraiser, New York City, NY
//the scene cuts to a map, showing the players in their newest location: Bordeaux, France. It is the morning after the second execution, Day Seven. It is after breakfast and most of the male players are wandering about, in no clear pattern. The four remaining players, however, are inside, planing to consolidate.//
//personal interviews//
Relena: "If Cathy can go so quickly, any of us can go just as fast. We have to pull together to make sure we don't get into a six-against-two situation. It's already down to just four women-against seven guys."
Hilde: "The plan now is to have all four of us in a large, loose coalition. Relena and myself will be in a full alliance, as will Lucretzia and Sally. We're going to try to even the numbers to four on four or three on three."
//the scene switches to Sally and Lucretzia's room, with the caption "Coalition 2-Lucretzia and Sally//
"We got to knock off someone first. Knowing who the Mole is at this point isn't top priority." Sally was in the top bunk, looking down at her new partner.
"Agreed. Duo and I, though, determined that the Mole is probably either Trowa-kinda maybe-or in the other group, especially Relena. Hilde has been hanging in the shadows for a while now and maybe trying to blend into the surroundings."
"No, I've already ruled out Trowa. From the start I decided not to vote for him, Heero, Dorothy, and Cathy. I don't want to be spread out too thin and not be able to eliminate anyone. And Dorothy and Cathy-"
"Right. I see your reasoning. So, we have the others?"
"I guess so."
//interview with Sally.//
"Not only do we have to work with Relena and Hilde, but he have to be weary of the fact that the two of them are main suspects. We can't let them be partner in a game unsupervised. The coalitions will make sure we can keep a close eye on them."
//switch to the lobby, with the caption "Coalition 3-Relena and Hilde.//
"Zechs has had some suspicious behavior, don't you think? Messing up the Running With the Cars and almost flubbing the Market Search." Hilde was lying on the couch, and Relena was sitting in a nearby chair, giving the feeling of patient and psychiatrist. Hilde looked over to Relena. "He started awful that game and then recovered too well."
"Right. Right. Duo and Lucretzia did badly in that easy grape game, also, so don't count them out."
"And Lucretzia got in the right order for the first game."
//interview with Relena//
"I guess Lucretzia and Zechs are our top two suspects right about now. It's tricky to have a coalition and not trust other members, but as long as its pairs stay together, I think we'll be okay."
//the eleven players get together with Cooper for their next game(s)//
"Okay." It was early October, but the sun was pouring down, and everyone, including the host, were dressed for the middle of summer. "For you today, we have a pair of missions, five in one mission and six for the other." He had with him the laptop used for execution; he opened a program and an image of a tall hill, with five bicycles at the bottom, popped up on the screen. "This is one mission. Right now, I want you to figure out who wants to do this mission, and who wants to take a chance with the other game, which will not be revealed until the ones playing that arrive to where they got to be. You got fifteen seconds. Hurry, hurry, as fast as you can, you can't catch me-ah, forget it."
//shot of the players scrambling into two groups. Hilde pulls Quatre and Relena to the bike mission and Traize and Zechs pull Heero to the mystery mission. VO of Quatre//
"I don't want to anything that is unknown. I mean, as hard as uphill cycling is, I don't want to be caught getting chased by wild boars or any other hell like that."
"All right," said the host finally. "It's Relena, Duo, Quatre, Hilde, and Sally cycling, and I suppose the rest of you will go on our mystery mission. Those six, hop in the van, the producer will tell you where to go. The rest of you, come with me."
//interview with Sally//
"Being in the cycling group will let me watch many suspects at once, including Relena at number one, and it'll increase the odds of winning because other than Duo, the other four aren't the strongest people here."
//Cooper and the other players are at the foot of a San-Francisco-style hill. Each player has a bike.//
"Each of you will ride up this hill for five blocks. It is level in some places, and near the halfway point it goes downhill just a little, but most of the way it's going up." Cooper handed out keys. "There will be a locked blue cooler in the middle of the downhill section, containing wine, cheese, jam, scones, and napkins. Each of you must decide what to take, and continue to ride up to a house at the top with flags. There, you will call back down and the next person will go up.
"Do all that in an hour and you get $40,000. If all but one of you make it, it's $20,000, and if three out of five make it, it's $5,000. Oh, and you'll have to tell me what you're taking up the hill, and you must take that to the house, or else your ride will be in vain. So, who's going first and who's doing what?"
Hilde offered to be last and bring the jam. Relena said she'd be next to last and get the cheese. Sally said she would go "in the top two" and take the wine, and Duo said he'd take the other top two spot and take the scones ("Man, I fell weird saying that." "Why? It's a perfectly good word."). Quatre was left with third and the napkins.
"Who's first-Duo or Sally?" asked Cooper.
"Ladies first, I guess." Duo hopped on his bike anyway, so he could sit as he waited.
"All right, Sally, your time starts now."
Sally started up the hill, drifting from side to side as she pumped the pedals to keep her speed up on the hard slope. She dodged a tourist and two local Frenchman, and soon was out of site, somewhere deep in the crowd.
//VO of Cooper: "Meanwhile, a few miles away...//
The van pulls up to a secluded field outside of Bordeaux. Waving to the players are Goku, Gohan, Eighteen and Krillan from Dragonball Z. Someone in the van says, "Holy sh*t, we have to go up against all of them?"
Everyone gets out and the four are there to greet them. "Welcome to the Fencing Challenge," says Goku. He points over to a wooden structure, with posts and horizontal wooden bars going across. "The six of you will try to put up as much as that fence, starting at one end, as we here will try to build it from the other end. There's thirty-eight spots, and to win, you must fill twenty with your fence, without any gaps. Doing that adds thirty grand to the pot."
Krillan nudged Eighteen. "I'm amazed he could remember all of that so clearly."
"You've got five minutes to plan out strategy, and then we begin."
The players huddled up.
"We better get into some sort of a rotation. That way, we don't get into each other's way," suggested Lucretzia.
"Right," said Zechs. "The fastest should be near the top so they do more. I guess me, Traize, Heero, Noin, uh, Wufei, and Trowa, don't you think?"
"Sounds good enough."
"All right, let's rock."
//VO of Cooper: "Meanwhile, in town..."//
Sally hurriedly opened up the cooler, and pulled off the top. There was everything the host described, and a cell phone and a message in an envelope. Sally opened it and read:
"Hello, player, if you do not wish to continue, just take your item and call 555-4321. You will be driven the rest of the way up the hill, and you will not be included in the count afterward. You will receive one exemption."
Sally took the wine and closed the cooler, leaving the phone and the message inside.
//interview with Sally//
"I was pretty confident I could move up to the next round, exemption or not. I wanted to let someone else sabotage the game, anyway."
//various shots of Sally going up, and then arriving at the house, in a total, bottom to top, of eleven minutes. She walks into the house, wine in hand.//
Sally peered around corners, eventually making it into the dining room. "Why, hello, you two," she said to two familiar faces.
Howard and Une stood to greet her. "You know," said Howard, the elderly mechanic, "not everyone was invited o play this game." He quickly got a cell phone and typed in a number. "She's here and she's got the wine."
//switch of scene, to Cooper answering the hone//
"All right." He hung up. "Time for you to go, Duo."
"'Kay." The Gundam tore up the hill, speeding to the cooler in just four minutes. His ride was not as well-documented as Sally's, but he was shown grabbing the scones and leaving, not paying any heed to the phone or message.
He pedaled to the house. As soon as he got in, Howard was waiting. "Wow! Nine minutes! Great time! I'll call for Quatre."
//scene switches to the Fencing Challenge, which has already begun. The two teams look about even. There is a close up of Wufei hammering home a board, and another shot to the right shows Goku hammering a board in, after clearing his stepping spot of debris. Interview with Heero.//
"Their smaller numbers gave them less of a chance of bumping into each other, but they had to work with unleveled, pebbly ground. We had a little bit of an easier way with it.
//the scene is sped up to a point so that each team has about half of its half finished. The score is tied, 10-10, then the players go up one, however, just a few seconds later, Eighteen hammers in the eleventh DBZ board and the score is again tied.//
Trowa looked in both directions. "Uhh, who's turn is it?"
"Yours!" screams Lucretzia.
"Oops!" Trowa took up his hammer and got to work, but wasted a few precious seconds. The green board slipped out of his fingers, and he had fallen behind, even though he hammered the board in quickly as soon as he got it back together. He finished a split-second before Gohan for the twelfth board, leaving the players at a disadvantage. In the event of a tie they would walk away penniless.
//back to the cycling game//
Quatre, in six and a half minutes, had reached the cooler halfway up the hill. He reached for the napkins, then saw the exemption offer and its envelope. He put it down, and then grabbed what he thought was the message and headed off to the house at the top of the hill.
//he makes it to the top of the hill. A caption at the bottom of the screen reads, "33.5/60 minutes elapsed."//
He ran into the house. "Guys! Guys! I'm here!" He saw Une and ran over to her, napkins held high. She ushered him in and the third of the group had made it in.
"All right, Qu-man, you're here." Duo took the napkins and tossed them to the middle of the dining room table.
"Got the exemption notice, too."
"What exemption notice?"
"Oh, really?" Sally knew what he meant. "Keep it out; let the Mole sabotage the game with it."
"Still-forty grand might have been saved." Quatre grabbed the piece of paper he had swiped. "Here you are." He looked at it as he handed it to sally, and he paused at it halfway to her. Sally as well looked at what Quatre had.
"Quatre, that's the envelope," said Une finally.
//back at the Fencing Challenge, with a VO of Lucretzia//
"We really picked up the pace after Trowa flubbed up the board he had to bring in. Zechs, Heero and Traize made up a lot of time with fast work."
//The score is shown as Players 17, DBZ 15. The game is sped up to get to the conclusion to a game that is rather monotonous to viewers. Gohan knocked a board in to cut the lead to one, but Trowa hammered quickly to bring the Players back to two up. Goku got DBZ within one as Zechs is halfway done with his board. Zechs finishes as Krillan is half done with his. When Krillan is done, Eighteen hurriedly works to try to get the last board in, but Heero beats him to the last spot.//
"Okay, all thirty-eight are in. You guys needed twenty or more boards to win, and you got exactly twenty. Congratulations, you have won thirty thousand dollars for the pot."
//the six players celebrate, throwing their hammers in the air, narrowly missing their own boards. Gohan picks up a hammer, board, and nails to tie the score and deny the players money if one of their own is knocked off, but all of the thrown objects miss.//
//the scene switches to Relena, on the way up the hill. She is almost halfway there; forty minutes have elapsed since the beginning of the game.//
Relena pulled to a stop as well as she could next to the cooler; she tapped the brake a little too hard and almost went flying over the handlebars. She got out her key, opened the cooler, and dug in, scooping up a wheel of cheddar. She noticed the exemption notice, after leafing through, she put it back inside and closed the cooler.
//interview with Relena//
"I thought that I had a good read on the Mole, so I didn't need the exemption. Only one out of eleven was going to go at the end of the round. And forty thousand dollars are a lot better than twenty thousand."
//shots of her making up the hill. As she tires, she leans over the handlebars and tries to pump the pedals harder.//
She makes it up the hill in seven more minutes. As she reached the top, she kept going, almost pedaling into the house. She stumbled in to the house. "Hi there-oh, you don't look so good." Duo was there in the kitchen, at the front, snacking on a scone. He helped her to the living room, and she half-laid and half-collapsed onto the sofa. "She's here!"
"We know, we know," said Une, the phone at her ear. "We got it taken care of."
Hilde was off. "Come on there," said Cooper. "Make the most of your time. You aren't left with a lot of it. Go quickly."
"Right, I know." She spun once around Cooper to build up speed, and headed up to the hill. She kept her speed up for about a half of a block, then started to slow down. She was off, albeit slowly.
//shots of Hilde making it up the hill, as far as the cooler//
Hilde reached for the key in her pocket, then dropped it on the pavement. After having a bit of trouble trying to pick it up, she was able to get up and stick the key into the lock. The first thing she saw when the cooler popped open was the exemption offer. She looked at it, then her watch, then got out the cell phone.
//interview with Hilde//
"There was no way that I would have been able to make it up the hill in time to get all of the money. It took me seven minutes to get to the cooler, and I would have been stuck on the way up to the end. Might as well take the exemption, and get something instead of nothing."
//the caption reads "59 minutes elapsed" as the car to carry her the rest of the way up the hill pulls in. As soon as she climbs in and slams the door, the caption becomes "Mission failed."
A few minutes later, Cooper is with all of the players, including Hilde.//
"Well," said Cooper, "almost all of you made it up the hill. The last member in the relay, Hilde, felt that there was not enough time to make it u the hill to complete the mission, so she took an exemption and saved herself part of a bike ride. You guys earned $20,000 for this mission. Additionally, the team on the mystery mission has been playing, trying to build a fence faster than four characters from "Dragonball Z." //shot of a grimace from Relena.// "Fortunately, they succeeded, and they won an additional $30,000 for the pot. You'll go back to the hotel now and you guys have the rest of the day off."
//shots of the two groups reuniting at the hotel. The Fencing team, having had much of the afternoon to rest, look okay, but all of the Cycle team members are sweaty and tired. Relena immediately goes to bed. Hilde goes to her bed and stares at the ceiling, even though she had just half a ride.
//personal interviews//
Duo: "I'm getting more suspicious of Quatre after the envelope incident. I mean, how can you get the envelope and not get the message? Did he think he had both? Very weird."
Sally: "Hilde get the exemption instead of going on up the mountain. She still might of had a shot. She had a chance, if she had a car-lifting adrenaline thing."
Zechs: "It's hard to see any Mole activity in the fencing game. Trowa slipped up, though possibly out of being rushed. But the others failed, and we didn't get to see how."
Trowa: "I know the fence thing incriminates me. Hopefully, someone will think I am the Mole and reduce the competition a bit, so I can take a look at everything so far and start to narrow my list."
Relena: "Trowa is a new candidate, as is Hilde. But Zechs and Quatre are on the top of my list. I'll have to hover over all of them and try to keep the coalition with Hilde alive, so I can keep an eye on them all at once. I'm going to look for a second coalition to make this easier."
//the next day. Cooper has rounded up all the players, and all of them are being driven to a small soccer (football for Europeans) field in town. All are in identical jerseys, except for Relena, who has been marooned in goal. When they arrive, Cooper brings out a soccer ball and tells everyone to get out of the van.
"All right, players, welcome to your tenth game as a group, and the last of the third round. This game is just a simple game of soccer with a team that is very good. Most of the rules are suspended or replaced with simpler rules. There has to be four defenders, who say on their half of the field, three forwards, who stay on the other side, and three midfielders who can go anywhere. And then the goalie, who can wander wherever she wants to go. There's soccer balls here, and you have two hours to prepare for the 20-minute game. This mission is worth $35,000 for a win, or $10,000 for a draw. Good luck."
//shots of players kicking balls around. Quatre is ten yards from the goal, and tries to hit it into the empty net, but misses. Wufei calls him an onna and tries from the same spot. It sails over the goal and into a parking lot. Many other players have similar troubles.
//interview with Lucretzia.//
"Well, it's official-we suck. Quatre can't get it through, Wufei can't get it through, Hilde can't get it through, I can't get it through...about as doomed as we can be."
//Cooper is shouting through a loudspeaker//
"Okay, team, your two hours are up. Go to your positions, the team is here."
//interviews//
Relena: "We look over to a road, and a van pulls up, and out comes eleven ten-year-olds, all in uniform, all ready to go." (laughs) "They were all so cuts, then the game started-ooh, they weren't so cute when the kicks of fury come out."
Heero: "We found out later that they were the all-star ten-year-old team. And the French won the World Cup in...'97? '98? Sometime recent. And they were good." //shot of Hilde getting the ball stolen by her by a kid who goes all the way to score a goal.// "They were so small it was hard to catch them. We could have tackled them, but they were pretty fast, and I couldn't take care of all of them."
//circus music plays as the game begins//
//shot of Relena having ball after ball blow on by her.//
//shot of Zechs getting burned on defense.//
//shot of Quatre accidentally knocking the ball into his own goal.//
//shot of the score at half-time: The Mole 5, All-Stars 0//
//shot of Cooper cheering his contestants on//
//shot of Traize doing a wicked move to get a clear shot at the goal...and losing his balance and falling down, right in front of the goal, with the goalie snapping the ball up and tossing it upfield.//
//shot of an All-Star taking a shot from mid-field...and getting a goal.//
//Cooper blowing the ending whistle, the game over. Final score: All-Stars 8, The Mole 3//
//the execution dinner, that night. All, as usual, are dressed their best. As they discuss the game so far, there is a VO of Traize.//
"Soccer, to Americans, is a thoroughly foreign sport. I like to use my hands instead of just kicking the ball around. Back and forth and back and forth and I takes forever for there to be a goal." (Pause.) "Or once team just demolishes the other and it looks really really bad."
//from their dinner, the contestants are driven to a cemetery outside the city. Everyone looks ghoulishly at row upon row of graves on all sides.//
"You think Anderson and the others are trying to send a message?" asked Duo. He shifted uneasily.
Lucretzia welcomed the chance to look away from the graves. "No doubt. There must be thousands and thousands of bodies here."
//the drive through the cemetery to a clearing just outside of it, for the first outdoor quiz and execution.//
//Relena is taking the test, on the question, "Which game did the Mole play on Day Seven-the Fencing Challenge or the Cycle Relay?"//
Relena: "There was a lot of suspicious behavior during the relay, almost by everyone. It's almost certain that the Mole played in that game."
//Quatre is on, "How old is the Mole?//
Quatre: "Traize has done little to catch my attention as the Mole, so the Mole probably isn't in the top end of the age bracket. I'm going to guess that it is someone younger-Relena and Hilde, and to some extent, Trowa, have all been acting up."
//Trowa is on, "Where did the Mole play during the Soccer game?//
Trowa: "Traize's tumble is what I saw as possible Mole activity. It's the one thing that sticks out in my mind."
//execution time!//
"Here we are again," said Cooper. "There is fifty thousand more dollars in the pot from the missions this round, for a total of $149,000. However, tonight, one more of you must leave the show.
"I will type each player's name into the computer; if the screen flashes green, you are safe, however, if it flashes red, then you have become the Mole's third victim.
"Let's start with Duo."
His name was typed into the computer, and it was cleared. He smiled weakly.
"Sally." The officer's name went in, and when it came back out green, she gave a rather large reaction in relief.
"Wufei." This former Gundam's name went in, but unlike his former ally, he got the red screen. He winced momentarily, but resumed his neutral look on his face and quietly got up to take the walk to the waiting limo.
//interviews.//
Heero: "Well, back during the war, I saw no one who could match the will to win I had other than Wufei. He has a fierce competitor who would have done anything for the jackpot. He was a noble opponent, even if he stayed a short while."
Wufei: "I must say that I was disappointed. I was sure that I could go farther, I thought that I could have won the pot at the end. But I suppose not. Hopefully, a noble player will win the pot now. If Duo wins, then the onna is going to be chased all the way back to Missouri."
//Wufei rides off//
You too can take the ten-question quiz. Do you have what it takes to spot the Mole?
Is the Mole in an coalition? (No/Yes, one coalition/Yes, multiple coalitions)
What did the mole play on Day Seven? (Fencing/Cycle Relay)
In what order did the Mole cycle? (First/Second/Third/Fourth/Fifth/The Mole was in the fencing game)
What did the Mole bring to the house on the hill? (Cheese/Wine/Scones/Jam/Napkins/Did Not Play)
How many posts did the Mole hammer into the fence during the Fencing game? (None or one/Two or Three/Four or five/At least six)
Did the Mole complete their mission? (Y/N)
How old is the Mole? (19 or under/20 or 21/22 or 23/24 or older)
What did the Mole play during the Soccer game? (Goalie/Defense/Midfielder/Offense) (Hilde, Quatre, Trowa, and Duo were on defense, Heero, Zechs and Lucretzia were midfielders, and Wufei, Traize and Sally were on offense)
Did the Mole score a goal? (Y/N) (Only Traize and Wufei did, the third goal was an own-goal by an All-Star.)
Who is the Mole? (Heero/Hilde/Trowa/Wufei/Lucretzia/Zechs/Sally/Quatre/Duo/Relena/Traize)