Down in the kitchen, everyone was gathered around the table trying to think of some way that they could find something to eat. The forest outside was completely decimated when Crono and Magus's spells didn't exactly agree with each other during the battle yesterday. Their source of food was now nonexistent. Ayla, however, stepped forward with an innovative idea.
"That animal good food," said Ayla, pointing at Alfador. Ozzie, after making sure Magus wasn't watching him, nodded in agreement. Magus, however, prepared to launch an assault of forbidden dark magic on Ayla as he stepped toward her.
"No," said Magus. "We will not eat Alfador," he said flatly, his eyes starting to flash.
"Cool down, Janus," said Schala slowly. "And Ayla, you had better not say anything about eating Alfador again in front of Janus if you value your life."
"Excuse me," Robo piped in, "but my sensors show the remains of the humanoid cacti we battled yesterday have not decayed. It appears that the cacti are edible to humans, so it would be possible to use the cacti as a food source."
"Ugh... gross!" groaned Marle.
"That's a good idea, Robo," said Lucca. "Frog, Crono, and I will go gather as much of the cactus as we can. We're gonna be eating cactus for a long while now, so we best get used to it."
"If I'm a vegetarian, can I still eat them?" wondered Schala out loud.
A few hours later, Crono, Lucca, and Frog returned carrying piles of singed, cut up, dried out, and otherwise mangled cactus. It certainly wouldn't have looked appetizing had not one had an empty stomach.
As soon as they had the piles of cactuis moved into the kitchen, Jimmy's face appeared on the TV screen once again.
"Howdy! Tonight, one more loser bites the dust. But right now, we have the immunity challenge, and I'm sure you're going to enjoy it. Poyozo, bring in the stuff."
A Poyozo appeared on the kitchen table, bringing with it thirty cardboard containers.
"We're having a drinking contest! I brought a bunch of soda pop for everyone to drink. Drink all you can, and the last person standing wins! Good luck!"
Everyone opened a can of soda pop and drank it. That is, except for Alfador, who immediately forfeited by leaving the room and going to drink out of a puddle of water. Unfortunately for Robo, who had no mouth, all he accomplished was pouring the soda pop all over himself and getting sticky. The Poyozo immediately declared in a high-pitched voice that Robo was disqualified.
Marle took another drink of soda, then started twitching.
"Already on a sugar rush?" asked Lucca almost mockingly. "Can't hold your caffeine?"
"I most certainly can!" said Marle angrily as she downed another soda pop, then started bouncing up and down (much to Crono's delight) before she passed out on the floor.
"Poor Marle," said Lucca. "Crono, why don't you go take her up to her bedroom?" Crono smiled, then Lucca quickly said, "Bad idea. Just leave her there for now. She's okay as long as you don't spill anything on her."
The contest was going quite well. Schala passed out next after her fourth soda. It appears royalty wasn't doing too well. After everyone finished their sixth can, Frog looked around at his competition. Lucca and Crono were already kind of giggly. Ayla, Magus, Ozzie, Melchior, and Nu looked unfazed by all the sugar.
After two more sodas, Crono passed out on top of Schala before Magus kicked him off her. Lucca, feeling sick to her stomach from all the bubbling liquid inside her, said "Let's take a break from all the drinking! My tummy hurts. I feel like bouncing on my bed. Does anyone else? This soda sure is good..."
Ayla stood up and asked, "Lucca, you like Crono?"
"Him? That jerk? He's all over the princess."
"Yeah, he was all over Princess Schala just then..." said Ozzie before Magus cast an evil glance at him.
"Let us proceedth with the challenge," interrupted Frog.
After eight more sodas, Frog and Magus were the only ones left. Frog himself was twitching and his thoughts were getting fuzzy, despite the fact he had a high tolerance to sugar. Magus was obviously not himself. He was actually almost smiling.
"Magus," asked Frog, "what lass here doth appear the loveliest in thine eyes?"
"I'll have to say Lucca," Magus said as one of his hands almost twitched.
"Lucca?" said Frog, surprised. "What qualities doth she have?"
"Purple hair," said Magus. "What does it matter, anyway? Let's finish this game."
After another soda, Frog passed out of the floor, making Magus the victor. Jimmy's face appeared on the TV again congratulating Magus on his victory. He was safe for three more days.
After everyone woke up from their little naps around five in the afternoon, Lucca grilled some cactus for everyone to eat for supper. It actually tasted pretty good to everyone, mainly because they hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours. After supper was finished, everyone started toward the leftover soda, only to find Melchior emptying soda cans out the window. "This liquid Lavos has us under its control," said Melchior as he poured the bubbling liquid out the window. "I must dispose of it."
"As your queen, I order you to stop," said Schala, with a hint of anger in her voice.
"My queen, you have obviously lost control to caffeine. As the Guru of Life, I must destroy this for our your good," Melchior said in a self-righteous tone as poured the last can out the window.
That night, when Jimmy announced the voting was to begin, everyone was pretty quick to write down who they wanted off. The Poyozo read off the votes after it collected them.
"Melchior. Melchior. Melchior. Ozzie. Ayla. Ozzie. Ayla. Ozzie. Melchior. Alfador. Alfador."
Jimmy reappeared on the TV. "Goodbye, Guru. Any last words?"
"Be strong, Schala and Janus. I'll be watching you from the other side."
"That's enough. Black Hole, now."
Magus forced himself to cast Black Hole on Melchior, and watched him disappear just as Tata had. Why didn't those idiots vote off that psychotic girl Ayla, or even Ozzie? Melchior's move with the soda was stupid, but not unforgiveable. Why did the old man have to pull that idiotic stunt with the soda? Now, the Guru was gone and Ozzie was still alive and well...
Jimmy started rattling off again. "Bedrooms will now be reassigned. Room 1 is Crono and Schala. Room 2 will be Ayla and Ozzie. Room 3 is Magus and Lucca. Room 4 is Frog and Marle. Room 5 will be Robo and Alfador. The Nu gets his own room. Goodnight!"
After everyone moved their things around and got settled in their new rooms, Jimmy watched with interest. Surely he couldn't have struck out twice in a row. Crono and Schala didn't seem to be very interested in each other (maybe his first instinct about Schala was right) and both went right to sleep. Ayla and Ozzie really do seem to be a long shot, but Ozzie seemed to be looking at Ayla's tail an awful lot, so there might be hope there.
Lucca couldn't help but look at the wizard that lay in bed across the room from her. She did succeed in convincing the Entity she liked him, but now that she thought about, he wasn't so bad. Now that she got to looking at him, she saw he actually did look pretty good, even with that creepy blue hair, Then again, who was she to complain about weird hair?. If the stupid camera wasn't in the room... Wait, what was she thinking? He had to be at least ten years older than her! She couldn't let herself think like that! Lucca closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on Crono, Fritz, anybody to get her mind off Magus, but it wasn't quite working.
Ozzie couldn't help but stare at Ayla. For some reason he couldn't get to sleep. It wasn't that he found her attractive, but something about her seemed creepy. The way she moved around on all fours, that tail... That's it, she reminded him of that cursed cat. "What did I ever do to your species for you to pick on me?" Ozzie wondered out loud.
Marle and Frog, unlike the other roomates who were lost in their own thoughts, stayed up and talked, both of them trying to figure out a way to break his curse. Neither Marle nor Frog was an expert on ancient curses, but they borrowed a book that Magus owned about breaking curses. The classic cure for the transforamtion curse was for a princess to kiss the victim, which didn't work. Another recommended method was killing the wizard who cast the curse. Other, less violent, ways included being cursed into a human by a wizard more powerful than the one who cast the spell (fat chance of that), chanting long passages of unpronounceable symbols, donating large sums of gold to the author of the book, and other unlikely cures. Marle, yawning, shut the ancient book went to bed. Frog went to sleep as well, too tired to continue researching on his own.
Nu crossed Melchior off his mental list, then laughed silently to himself. The Guru was gone now, so there was no one left to keep his brilliant plan from becoming reality. The wheels were already in motion, he just needed to get Alfador out of the way before it was too late. From there on, everything would be downhill...
"That animal good food," said Ayla, pointing at Alfador. Ozzie, after making sure Magus wasn't watching him, nodded in agreement. Magus, however, prepared to launch an assault of forbidden dark magic on Ayla as he stepped toward her.
"No," said Magus. "We will not eat Alfador," he said flatly, his eyes starting to flash.
"Cool down, Janus," said Schala slowly. "And Ayla, you had better not say anything about eating Alfador again in front of Janus if you value your life."
"Excuse me," Robo piped in, "but my sensors show the remains of the humanoid cacti we battled yesterday have not decayed. It appears that the cacti are edible to humans, so it would be possible to use the cacti as a food source."
"Ugh... gross!" groaned Marle.
"That's a good idea, Robo," said Lucca. "Frog, Crono, and I will go gather as much of the cactus as we can. We're gonna be eating cactus for a long while now, so we best get used to it."
"If I'm a vegetarian, can I still eat them?" wondered Schala out loud.
A few hours later, Crono, Lucca, and Frog returned carrying piles of singed, cut up, dried out, and otherwise mangled cactus. It certainly wouldn't have looked appetizing had not one had an empty stomach.
As soon as they had the piles of cactuis moved into the kitchen, Jimmy's face appeared on the TV screen once again.
"Howdy! Tonight, one more loser bites the dust. But right now, we have the immunity challenge, and I'm sure you're going to enjoy it. Poyozo, bring in the stuff."
A Poyozo appeared on the kitchen table, bringing with it thirty cardboard containers.
"We're having a drinking contest! I brought a bunch of soda pop for everyone to drink. Drink all you can, and the last person standing wins! Good luck!"
Everyone opened a can of soda pop and drank it. That is, except for Alfador, who immediately forfeited by leaving the room and going to drink out of a puddle of water. Unfortunately for Robo, who had no mouth, all he accomplished was pouring the soda pop all over himself and getting sticky. The Poyozo immediately declared in a high-pitched voice that Robo was disqualified.
Marle took another drink of soda, then started twitching.
"Already on a sugar rush?" asked Lucca almost mockingly. "Can't hold your caffeine?"
"I most certainly can!" said Marle angrily as she downed another soda pop, then started bouncing up and down (much to Crono's delight) before she passed out on the floor.
"Poor Marle," said Lucca. "Crono, why don't you go take her up to her bedroom?" Crono smiled, then Lucca quickly said, "Bad idea. Just leave her there for now. She's okay as long as you don't spill anything on her."
The contest was going quite well. Schala passed out next after her fourth soda. It appears royalty wasn't doing too well. After everyone finished their sixth can, Frog looked around at his competition. Lucca and Crono were already kind of giggly. Ayla, Magus, Ozzie, Melchior, and Nu looked unfazed by all the sugar.
After two more sodas, Crono passed out on top of Schala before Magus kicked him off her. Lucca, feeling sick to her stomach from all the bubbling liquid inside her, said "Let's take a break from all the drinking! My tummy hurts. I feel like bouncing on my bed. Does anyone else? This soda sure is good..."
Ayla stood up and asked, "Lucca, you like Crono?"
"Him? That jerk? He's all over the princess."
"Yeah, he was all over Princess Schala just then..." said Ozzie before Magus cast an evil glance at him.
"Let us proceedth with the challenge," interrupted Frog.
After eight more sodas, Frog and Magus were the only ones left. Frog himself was twitching and his thoughts were getting fuzzy, despite the fact he had a high tolerance to sugar. Magus was obviously not himself. He was actually almost smiling.
"Magus," asked Frog, "what lass here doth appear the loveliest in thine eyes?"
"I'll have to say Lucca," Magus said as one of his hands almost twitched.
"Lucca?" said Frog, surprised. "What qualities doth she have?"
"Purple hair," said Magus. "What does it matter, anyway? Let's finish this game."
After another soda, Frog passed out of the floor, making Magus the victor. Jimmy's face appeared on the TV again congratulating Magus on his victory. He was safe for three more days.
After everyone woke up from their little naps around five in the afternoon, Lucca grilled some cactus for everyone to eat for supper. It actually tasted pretty good to everyone, mainly because they hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours. After supper was finished, everyone started toward the leftover soda, only to find Melchior emptying soda cans out the window. "This liquid Lavos has us under its control," said Melchior as he poured the bubbling liquid out the window. "I must dispose of it."
"As your queen, I order you to stop," said Schala, with a hint of anger in her voice.
"My queen, you have obviously lost control to caffeine. As the Guru of Life, I must destroy this for our your good," Melchior said in a self-righteous tone as poured the last can out the window.
That night, when Jimmy announced the voting was to begin, everyone was pretty quick to write down who they wanted off. The Poyozo read off the votes after it collected them.
"Melchior. Melchior. Melchior. Ozzie. Ayla. Ozzie. Ayla. Ozzie. Melchior. Alfador. Alfador."
Jimmy reappeared on the TV. "Goodbye, Guru. Any last words?"
"Be strong, Schala and Janus. I'll be watching you from the other side."
"That's enough. Black Hole, now."
Magus forced himself to cast Black Hole on Melchior, and watched him disappear just as Tata had. Why didn't those idiots vote off that psychotic girl Ayla, or even Ozzie? Melchior's move with the soda was stupid, but not unforgiveable. Why did the old man have to pull that idiotic stunt with the soda? Now, the Guru was gone and Ozzie was still alive and well...
Jimmy started rattling off again. "Bedrooms will now be reassigned. Room 1 is Crono and Schala. Room 2 will be Ayla and Ozzie. Room 3 is Magus and Lucca. Room 4 is Frog and Marle. Room 5 will be Robo and Alfador. The Nu gets his own room. Goodnight!"
After everyone moved their things around and got settled in their new rooms, Jimmy watched with interest. Surely he couldn't have struck out twice in a row. Crono and Schala didn't seem to be very interested in each other (maybe his first instinct about Schala was right) and both went right to sleep. Ayla and Ozzie really do seem to be a long shot, but Ozzie seemed to be looking at Ayla's tail an awful lot, so there might be hope there.
Lucca couldn't help but look at the wizard that lay in bed across the room from her. She did succeed in convincing the Entity she liked him, but now that she thought about, he wasn't so bad. Now that she got to looking at him, she saw he actually did look pretty good, even with that creepy blue hair, Then again, who was she to complain about weird hair?. If the stupid camera wasn't in the room... Wait, what was she thinking? He had to be at least ten years older than her! She couldn't let herself think like that! Lucca closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on Crono, Fritz, anybody to get her mind off Magus, but it wasn't quite working.
Ozzie couldn't help but stare at Ayla. For some reason he couldn't get to sleep. It wasn't that he found her attractive, but something about her seemed creepy. The way she moved around on all fours, that tail... That's it, she reminded him of that cursed cat. "What did I ever do to your species for you to pick on me?" Ozzie wondered out loud.
Marle and Frog, unlike the other roomates who were lost in their own thoughts, stayed up and talked, both of them trying to figure out a way to break his curse. Neither Marle nor Frog was an expert on ancient curses, but they borrowed a book that Magus owned about breaking curses. The classic cure for the transforamtion curse was for a princess to kiss the victim, which didn't work. Another recommended method was killing the wizard who cast the curse. Other, less violent, ways included being cursed into a human by a wizard more powerful than the one who cast the spell (fat chance of that), chanting long passages of unpronounceable symbols, donating large sums of gold to the author of the book, and other unlikely cures. Marle, yawning, shut the ancient book went to bed. Frog went to sleep as well, too tired to continue researching on his own.
Nu crossed Melchior off his mental list, then laughed silently to himself. The Guru was gone now, so there was no one left to keep his brilliant plan from becoming reality. The wheels were already in motion, he just needed to get Alfador out of the way before it was too late. From there on, everything would be downhill...
