The Mole: Pokemon/Digimon Edition
By: Gomamon
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
Episode 8 – Guess Who
Inoue, Yolei/Miyako (Digimon 02) --- EXECUTED THIRD
Ishida, Matt/Yamato (Digimon 01) --- EXECUTED SIXTH
Jessie/Musashi (Pokemon) --- EXECUTED SEVENTH
Katou, Jeri/Juri (Digimon 03) --- STILL STANDING
Ketchum, Ash/Satoshi (Pokemon) --- EXECUTED FIRST
Kitagawa, Kenta/Kenta (Digimon 03) --- EXECUTED FIFTH
Oak, Gary/Shigeru (Pokemon) --- STILL STANDING
Sketchit, Tracey/Kenji (Pokemon) --- EXECUTED FOURTH
Takenouchi, Sora/Sora (Digimon 01) --- EXECUTED SECOND
Waterflower, Misty/Kasumi (Pokemon) --- STILL STANDING
Was it a noise that woke her up in the middle of the night? Jeri didn't know the answer, but after staring blankly at the ceiling for three hours, she knew she wasn't going to fall asleep again. So in a spur-of-the-moment thing, she decided to take an early morning stroll outside. After slipping on her jacket and grabbing a bottle of water, she headed out the door.
Jeri Katou had never been a very spontaneous person, but the game did shape her in a way. May be the game taught her to be less restraint and more outgoing, perhaps she learned to be less reliant and more independent. After getting into a heated confrontation with Jessie on the fifth day, Jeri learned a lot of things about herself – and other people.
"I honestly don't know who the Mole is. For a while, I thought it was Gary for a while…but looking back, Misty did a lot of suspicious things in the past too. I don't know." Jeri shook her head to the cameraman walking beside her. "I split my answers between Misty and Gary last quiz, and it worked."
Stopping to tie her loose shoelaces, Jeri suddenly spotted a small brown puppy running across the street. The golden retriever seemed to be fond of her, and jumped comfortably into her arms for a warm embrace. Although a little taken back, Jeri smiled a little and carefully placed the dog down.
"Aww, what a cute dog," said Jeri with a tender smile on her face. She gently fondled with the puppy's ears and giggled. The dog owner quickly rushed over and apologized profoundly before disappearing from the cameras.
Continuing her aimless walk to nowhere, the little girl shoved her tiny hands into her pockets. Never a fan of the cameramen, Jeri's gaze had diverted away from the cameras.
"Only three of us are left," said Jeri. "You'd think that the suspicion would die down, but it doesn't. It only grows more intense. There are going to be more accusations and distrust amongst the three of us. Gary is definitely a competitor. Misty could sometimes get very ruthless too."
She turned her head back to the camera, carrying a confused look on her face.
"But I don't know if I have the fire in me. I'm just not ready to play this type of game with lying and backstabbing and all that dirty stuff. Honestly, I just want to take the final quiz and go home. I'm exhausted and homesick. I'm done with this game."
Some might call her a sensitive girl, a sweet girl or even a naïve girl, but Jeri Katou simply did not take pleasure in deceiving or competing with other people. She accepted that it was part of the game, but it didn't mean she have to like it. Jeri simply hated the drama.
But Gary, who strived for drama, had little patience for the young and timid girl. In an earlier confessional, he expressed:
"Jeri should grow more of a backbone. She is a nice girl and I know she means well, but she lets too many people push her around. When I see everybody bully Jeri, I just want to go up and shake her – stop acting like a meek pushover and start standing up for yourself!"
As for Misty, she was much more gracious in her opinion about Jeri.
"I admit that she could be a little more aggressive, but that's just her style. Hey, you can't make me say something mean about Jeri! The girl is sweet like sugar pie."
But no matter what they say – or don't say – about Jeri, she simply didn't care any more. After the harsh confrontations from Jessie, nothing surprised her anymore. The most important thing was that she was at the final stretch. All she wanted to do was finish this game without collapsing from mental stress.
Flashbacks of the past few days quickly played over her head like a slideshow. She could remember seeing her name on the cue card in the silent auction, and not to mention the amount of tears she cried on the following night. She also remembered watching her friends Takato and Kazu come and go in a blink of an eye, quickly followed by Kenta's execution. There were also the numerous glaring contests with Jessie, and all the times the Team Rocket diva would successfully intimidate her to look away.
Jeri was slowly shaking her head in an apologetic manner. She suddenly stopped walking and shot an evasive glance at the cameras before looking away indecisively.
In a soft voice, she muttered,
"I don't want to play anymore…"
When Jeri entered the house again, both Gary and Misty were already awake and preparing breakfast. As always, the friendly Cerulean gym leader politely greeted the little girl as she made her entrance into the dining room. Gary, on the other hand, only made a husky grunt when he saw the girl. His alert eyes followed Jeri's every movement as she took a seat between him and Misty.
"Gary is acting really weird lately, because most of the time I find him staring at me," said Jeri in a confessional. "He is watching me all the time. It's actually kind of creepy."
With his chin rested on his hands, Gary continued to watch both Misty and Jeri very closely under his careful eye. Misty coughed softly, as his constant staring made her feel very uncomfortable. She finally got up and headed toward the refrigerator to grab a pop – and to escape from Gary's wrath.
"I feel like I'm under a magnifying glass," confessed Misty. "But I got to tell you, Gary is stepping his game up a notch. He is a kick-ass competitor."
After breakfast finished, Yamaki and Riley entered the dining room, carrying two gigantic cardboard boxes in their hands. The players curiously got out of their seats in preparation for their challenge.
"Good morning, players." Yamaki greeted them with the usual ominous smirk. He and Riley gently placed the boxes on the dining table. The word "mouse" is written in big capital letters on both boxes with a blue marker. Jeri and Misty both exchanged worried glances as they saw the title, fearing what the boxes may contain.
"There aren't any mice inside there by any chance, right?" Jeri nervously asked.
"No, there aren't any mice inside these boxes…" The blonde host grinned mischievously. "Or are there?" Jeri whimpered.
"Oh, shut up! He's teasing you guys. There aren't any mice," laughed Riley, giving a thumbs-up to the rest of the players. Misty leered inside one of the boxes, and she was relieved to find that it only contained two regular dice and four children's building blocks.
In the other cardboard box, there was a bottle of whipped cream, a hockey puck and a grey teapot…but the thing that captivated the most attention was a puzzling purple item. As Yamaki picked the tiny object up, all the players were fascinated by the uniqueness of it. Shaped like a cube, there was a mini door handle on one of its six sides. A numerical keypad beside the handle, and there was a small key hole below it.
"It looks like a Gamecube," remarked Gary.
"It's actually a portable safe box. People put their valuables in there so things don't get stolen," Yamaki explained. "For today's challenge, you will be trying to open this safe box. If you can open it in half an hour, you will add $70,000 into the pot."
Yamaki put the safe box on the dining table, and Gary immediately picked it up to study it. It was concrete solid and probably couldn't be opened from brute physical force. Perhaps it could be destroyed with the use of a drill or some similar power tool… Gary thought, his mind already buzzing with ideas and thoughts of solving this challenge.
"The only catch is that you can not break the safe box. It must stay in the mint condition that it is in right now," said Yamaki, interrupting Gary's thoughts. "So no throwing it at the wall and trying to break it open. It doesn't work that way."
"Oh shoot," chuckled Misty, snapping her fingers. "That was my first plan."
"You need to use the objects in these two boxes and try to figure out a method to open the box," continued the host. "I know some of these objects may look like they have nothing in common, but there is a connection if you look really closely."
"All we need to do is open the safe box and we'll win $70,000?" Gary asked.
"That's the challenge for today," replied Yamaki. "If there are no more questions…the challenge starts now!"
As the clock started ticking, Gary wasted no time by removing all the items out of the two boxes and placing them on the table for a closer examination. He put the boxes under the table aside after he was done.
There was a bottle of whipped cream, sealed and still with a small price tag label on it; four children's building blocks, each with a different capital letter on it; a round black hockey puck; two regular dice with six sides, and a small grey teapot.
"We are supposed to use these items to open the safe box?" Jeri looked at these items with a raised eyebrow. "That's impossible…"
"Well, there must be a connection between these five items." Gary rubbed his chin as he examined the texture of the hockey puck. "If we can identify the theme, we will know the solution."
"Easier said than done," argued Misty. She wasn't annoyed, but she just didn't like wasting time. As far as she was concerned, they were making little progress.
"Is there any tea in the teapot?" Jeri asked. She took the glass-made teapot and shook it gently, placing the teapot close by her ear. "Yeah, there's some tea inside."
"How do you know it's tea and not just water?" Gary questioned suspiciously. "Don't jump to conclusions like that."
"Oh gee, sorry." Jeri meekly replied back, putting the teapot down.
Gary narrowed his eyes at the little brown haired girl. He was watching her movements with even more consciousness and suspicion than before.
She's up to something. He thought.
In fact, he was following Jeri's movements so closely and carefully that he didn't realize he was pushing the teapot to the edge of the table with his hand. When he finally regained awareness, he stumbled around with his fingers and the teapot dropped to the ground, shattering into pieces.
"Shit!" He exclaimed. "Watch out, don't step on any glass on the floor!"
"Are you okay, Gary?" Misty shot a quick sympathetic glance at the professor. As much as she was worried about the challenge, her priorities never changed.
"Yeah," Gary grunted. He quickly grabbed a broom from the closet and swept the pieces aside. Misty assisted him, and they managed to remove all the glass pieces from the floor. They weren't certain they found all of the pieces, but they had no time to spare.
Gary grumbled something angry under his breath. He was extremely critical about this accident of course, since the young professor was normally a very careful person. He prided himself in being always careful with everything. Mistakes, especially stupid mistakes, bothered him the most.
To redeem from his mistake, Gary suggested putting the teapot together again, but Misty argued that they could not waste their time in an unproductive project.
"There are other things to focus on. We've to look at the bigger picture," said the gym leader.
Misty was playing around with the four building blocks, moving them around the table as she tried to build a four lettered word. She figured that the clue might be hidden in the blocks. She moved the red block, which contained the letter "C", to the right of the green block, which contained the letter "I".
"Cine?" Misty asked herself as she read the assembled word. "Uh…what's that?"
"I think the word is supposed to be 'nice'," said Jeri, as she shifted the "N" block and the "C" block around.
"Oh yeah! I see it now." Misty grinned. "Thanks Jeri, you're a doll."
"What does it mean though?" Gary asked, "If that's supposed to spell out a clue, it's not a very explicit one."
"I don't know, I don't know…" Misty put both of her hands on the table. She closed her eyes and tried to think. "There must be a connection of nice with the other items."
"You know, nice…dice…they both end with the suffix –ice," said Jeri. "I don't know if it means anything though."
Gary's eyes shot up in alert. For a moment, it seemed like her suggestion sparkled up a twinkle of idea or thought, but whatever the thought was, he lost it after a second.
"No, it can't be," replied Gary. "None of the other items end with it."
"Come on, smart guy." Misty slapped a hand on Gary's back and teased playfully. "This puzzle thing is your specialty here! You should've solved it in a jiff!"
"I know. I'm not meeting to my own expectations," Gary let out a small sigh and shook his head. "I can't concentrate today."
"Come on, Gary…you can do it." Jeri smiled optimistically, clapping her hands together.
"Yeah, Gary. You can do it…" Misty added, slowly raising her voice. She also started to clap, in a more rhythmic manner. "Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no one can!"
A sheepish smile appeared on Gary's face, but Misty only got louder in her cheering and clapping. Jeri soon joined in.
"Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no one can!"
"Oh spare me please," chuckled Gary.
"Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no one can!"
"Ha! I can't believe you still remember that stupid cheer," Gary shook his head, wearing a big wide grin on his face. He laughed, "What is this, my own cheerleading squad?"
"We'll be your cheerleaders if you can solve this challenge," Misty winked.
"You can do it, Gary!" Jeri squealed.
"Alright, let's see what we can do here…" Gary picked up the bottle of whipped cream in one hand, and the hockey puck in the other.
Misty sneaked a glance at the professor as he continued to study the objects. She remembered a confessional she recorded this morning about the soon-to-be professor.
"You know…Gary is not that bad, most of the time. I've been pretty mean about him in my confessionals before, but…I've misjudged him, I think."
Misty flashed a friendly and genuine smile at the cameras, and although she could get quite competitive and fierce at times, the Cerulean gym leader also had a softer side to her as well.
"All he needs is a little encouragement and somebody to stroke his ego. He does have his moments, but he's usually an okay guy. He's a good guy."
Misty paused for a second, with her index finger pressing on her chin. Finally, she couldn't resist adding one more sentence.
"Too bad he's the Mole."
Twenty five minutes passed in the challenge. And the players still had no idea what they were doing.
"May be there's another way of opening it. There is a trapdoor something in this safe box." suggested Misty. She slid her finger along all the edges of the tiny purple safe box. Convinced that the answer was somewhere in the safe box, she had been spending the last ten minutes examining it and typing in random passwords in the numerical keypad.
"Why don't we look at the shape of these items?" Jeri suggested, bringing up the cubic shape of the dice and the building blocks. "They are both cubes."
"Yeah, but none of the other items are cubes," Gary reasoned. He picked up the whipped cream bottle. "This and the puck are both cylinders, not cubes."
"Yeah, that can't be the connection…" said Jeri dejectedly. She put the dice down on the table again and moved on to another object.
"What if this isn't a hockey puck? What if this is a disc?" Gary suggested, as he waved around the black puck with his hand.
"Which brings us to…?" Misty looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"…I don't know." Gary sighed and dropped his head. This challenge was a lot tougher than he imagined.
"Hey guys," said Jeri. "I'm still wondering why the word "mouse" is written on the cardboard boxes…remember?"
"I've been wondering about that too," Gary nodded. "I haven't come to a conclusion yet, but my theory is that they just couldn't find any boxes to put stuff in."
"No, everything is there for a reason," said Jeri. She grabbed one of the boxes from the table. "Why is the word 'mouse' written on it?"
"Does it have something do with the colour?" Misty asked, circling the blue ink with her finger.
"It looks like a woman's writing. May be Riley wrote it," Gary continued the thought. "May be we have to get a message from Riley?"
"I bet that's it!" Jeri nodded her head excitedly. "I think we can get the password from Riley."
"What are we waiting for then? Let's find her!" Gary hopped out of his seat and ran to the door, soon followed by the ladies. Riley, their purple-haired bus driver, was usually found relaxing in the bus during their off-time.
They raced outside and located the bus, which was parked by the driveway of the house. Indeed, Riley was sitting in the bus, reading a magazine with a picture of Beethoven on the cover. Sitting beside her was Yamaki, whispering something into Riley's ear.
"There she is! We can ask her." Misty pointed her finger at her silhouette through the window.
The three players soon climbed onto the bus and surprised the host and the bus driver with their presence. Yamaki jerked up and immediately stiffened as he saw the players arrived.
"Hey kids, what's up?" Riley waved casually.
"Riley, we think you have the key or the password to the safe box or whatever it is," Misty explained. "And we'd like to have it."
Riley gave the players a strange look and then glanced at the host, who was smirking. Finally, she turned back to look at the players, with a sad smile on her face.
"I'm sorry; I don't know what you are talking about."
"Damn it. We were following in the wrong lead," muttered Gary.
"Just as well," Yamaki spoke up. "Time is up. The challenge is over, and you haven't managed to open the safe box in the allotted time. You failed the challenge and $70,000 will not be added to the pot."
POT: $408,000/$900,000
Yamaki led the way back to the house, carrying the permanent smirk on his face. The disappointed group of players followed behind him, feeling quite bad about their loss. But the truth was that they haven't got a clue what to do in this challenge. They didn't even come close.
"I'm going to feel so stupid when I find out how to do it," joked Misty. "I'll be like the biggest idiot in the world."
The four of them marched toward the dining table, where the items, plus the broken teapot, were located.
"At the beginning of the challenge," said Yamaki, "I said there was a connection between these items. I wasn't lying. But obviously you haven't been paying enough attention."
Gary crossed his arms, quietly watching Yamaki's demonstration as he leant back on a wall.
"I delivered these items to you through two different cardboard boxes when I could have put it into one. There were several reasons for that. The main reason was that these items were in two different groups. If you look at all of the items together, you'll never find a connection. But if you look at it separately, you might just find the answer."
Yamaki took his hand and moved the items to the left and the right of the table. He moved the bottle of whipped cream, the hockey puck and the remaining pieces of the teapot to the right, while moving the building blocks and the dice to the left.
"When you look at this," Yamaki held up the hockey puck, "What do you first think of?"
"Puck," replied Gary.
"Nope, try again."
"Hockey?" Jeri guessed.
"Good. Now what do you first think of when you look at whipped cream?"
"Cream."
"And the teapot?"
"Tea."
"That's right. And what does hockey, cream and tea all have in common?" Yamaki asked.
Misty scratched her head as she pondered over it. She still had no idea. Gary and Jeri both looked equally confused.
"Okay, we'll get back to that. If you look at the other items then," Yamaki continued as he pointed at the objects to the left side of the table. "You have two dice, four building blocks that spell out nice, and two cardboard boxes with the word "mouse" written on it…do you see a connection?"
"Mice," Gary immediately called out. "I get it now. Ugh, I can't believe I didn't see this earlier!"
"Huh?" The two girls responded together.
"Since there is more than one cardboard box," Gary explained, "There must be more than one mouse. And what's the plural form for mouse?"
"Oh my gosh," Jeri gasped, dropping her jaw in surprise. "Mice. It's mice!"
"Dice, mice, nice…" Misty repeated, finally catching on. "They all end in the suffix –ice."
"And not only that…" Gary snapped his fingers. He was speaking as if he could visualize everything together in his head. Everything was chaining up already. "The word "ice" can also be used as a prefix as well! Ice cream, ice hockey, ice tea…"
"Cream – ice cream. Hockey – ice hockey. Tea – ice tea," Misty explained. "Oh, I feel so stupid now."
"The key word is ice," mumbled Jeri. Her head is trying to process all this information. "It's ice…"
"One more thing that you haven't truly noticed is the shape of these items," said Yamaki. "What shape are the dice? The blocks? The cardboard boxes?"
"They're all cubes," answered Gary. He knew it now. He knew everything now.
"Exactly, and if you put the two words together – ice and cubes. You'll get ice cubes. And where can you find ice cubes in this house?"
Misty didn't even wait for an answer. She marched toward the fridge and opened the door. Resting peacefully, there it was – an ice cube. The gym leader slowly took the ice cube out of the fridge.
"Take a look at it, everyone…" Misty gestured her fellow players to come over for a closer examination at the ice cube.
Inside that ice cube was a tiny golden key frozen inside. It was the key that would have unlocked the safe box. It was the key.
The players all stared at the ice cube for a moment together, sharing a thrilled silence between them. Exposed to the heat for only several seconds, the ice cube already melted in Misty's hand, and all that was left was a golden key.
"This is brilliant, Yamaki. Bravo," chuckled Gary, breaking the ice.
"We might as well open the safe box," said Misty.
She used the key to unlock the safe box, and the players were all surprised to find what's inside the tiny intriguing box. May be they were expecting a sum of money, or may be they were even expecting a check with $70,000. But instead, they found a note with two ominous words written on it:
Love, Mole.
Gary Oak was certain he knew who the Mole was. He watched her shady movements for the entire game. He watched her sabotage challenges after challenges. And after today's loss, he was one hundred percent positive that he knew.
He glanced at Jeri Katou, staring out the window again as she reflected about their loss in today's challenge. Like always, she was pondering over the events of the challenge, wondering where they went wrong and lost the challenge. He then turned to eye Misty, who was scribbling something in her journal, already putting the loss aside for the better sake of the game. In a way, the feisty gym leader was very different from the meek little girl.
"Misty doesn't sulk over her losses. That girl was born to move on." commented Gary in a confessional.
Gary had kept a very close eye at the water trainer throughout the entire game. There was an intriguing aura about her that captivated his attention since the very beginning.
"I can't figure out what Misty is thinking. She wore her game face since the first day of this game…it's unreadable. And if you ask me, she's doing a very good job at concealing herself. I find myself always asking, just who is Misty Waterflower?"
A simple answer would have been that Misty just didn't have a very exciting personality. That, to a degree, was true. But Gary knew that there was something deeper to the gym leader. If he could look past her constant mood swings, her constant friendliness, her constant competitiveness…he could sense a very conflicted girl inside Misty Waterflower.
"Misty kept a very strong barrier around herself. She didn't let anybody get close to her at all. I know that Yolei tried to befriend her, but it was useless. Misty doesn't trust anyone because she has a big secret to hide."
The young professor sat back in her armchair, quietly staring at the gym leader with fascination. To him, Misty was a mystery.
And Gary Oak loved mysteries.
"She isn't the feisty tomboy. She isn't the compassionate girl-next-door. She isn't the aggressive competitor. She isn't the optimistic big sister. Misty's role in this game is only one-of-a-kind."
Gary smirked impishly at the cameras, rubbing his chin.
"Simply put, Misty is the Mole."
That was a fact, as far as Gary was concerned. Misty was the Mole, one hundred percent. But knowing who the Mole was only half of his plan, because there was still one more problem he had to take care of before he could claim his victory.
He shot a quick shifty glance at Jeri Katou, still sitting by the window, staring out at the clouds and the sky with a dreamy and somewhat oblivious gaze.
It was only a matter of making sure his competitor didn't know.
Misty decided that she wanted to celebrate the last day of the game with Jeri Katou. So this afternoon, she invited Jeri for a lunch in a posh restaurant. It was just a casual friendly lunch between two friends. Misty had intended to ask Gary to come along, but Jeri strongly opposed the idea.
"I don't like him staring at me all the time, it's creepy," she explained.
"I know! I thought only I noticed it!" Misty laughed, nodding her head in agreement.
"Misty is someone I look up to all the time," Jeri beamed at the cameras in a confessional. "She is confident, friendly and most importantly, a very loving person with an open heart. When I grow up, I want to be just like her."
Misty studied the menu, running her finger down the list of choices. Jeri sat across from her, reading a poster on the wall that featured a Dracula theatre show in the community.
"Hey, feel free to order whatever you want. Lunch is on me," Misty winked at Jeri.
"I don't know. Just make an order for me. I trust your tastes," Jeri smiled.
"Okay, but don't blame me if I ordered you some snail brains," giggled Misty.
"Oh my gosh. They serve snail brains here?"
"No, silly! I'm just kidding!"
"Don't do that!" Jeri made a mock angry face as Misty laughed. "I was about to dash out of the restaurant when I heard that!"
As their meal progressed, their conversations grew more and more casual. It was in both of their intentions that they wouldn't talk about strategy or anything game related. This lunch, as Misty put it, was a break from the tension of the game.
"You know…sometimes, I think everyone in the world is insane except for me. Then I'm like, 'who cares?' And then later, I go...'hmm, what's for dinner?'"
Misty tried her best to maintain a serious face, but eventually both girls started to erupt in giggles.
"Misty, this is going to sound mushy and stuff, but…" Jeri finally regained her composure, "I'm really glad you are in the finals with me."
"Ditto that," echoed Misty.
"If I couldn't win the money, I'd really like you to win it," Jeri continued. "You deserve it. You really do."
"Aww, Jeri. You're a sweetheart." Misty got off her seat and went to gave Jeri a huge bug. "Thank you. That means a lot to me. But remember, Jeri…that doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you either. Just because I like you, this is still a competition."
Misty and Jeri exchanged shifty glances at each other. An awkward silence suddenly passed by.
The game was on again.
The moment Gary stepped into the SkyDome; he knew it was an impressive piece of architecture. Placed beside the CN Tower, it was hard for any building nearby not to meet a certain standard.
"This is Rogers Centre, formerly known as SkyDome," said Yamaki. "Regularly this is a stadium used to play many memorable baseball and football games. But for this afternoon, this place will be where your final challenge is held."
"We don't get the house often for challenges. But when we do, it's usually something very big," Gary grinned. The little boy in him made it hard for him not to be excited.
"It has a retractable roof too," Yamaki pointed up. The two girls stared up in awe.
"Now if only I had some tickets to a game with the Blue Jays or the Argonauts, this trip would be complete." The young professor chuckled.
"You are standing in front of a gigantic triangular maze, full of many twists and dead ends," said Yamaki. "Each of you will be at a different entrance of the maze, the objective is to go in, retrieve an item and leave the maze before time runs out."
Yamaki then handed each player a key. Gary received a gold key, Misty received a silver key and Jeri received a bronze key. They were instructed to place the keys in a safe spot.
"In the centre of the maze, there will be a briefcase. In order to unlock the briefcase, you must use all three keys. So this means everybody has to arrive at the centre before you can unlock the briefcase. The briefcase will contain the instructions to the second half of the challenge."
Misty nodded and decided to keep her key around her neck as a necklace. She certainly didn't want to lose such a valuable key.
"If you can complete this challenge in less than an hour, you will add $100,000 into the pot."
"Whoa." Jeri's jaw dropped. "That's the biggest sum of money we've ever played for."
"That's right. The stakes are being raised. It's not called the final challenge for nothing, you know."
"Higher stakes…I love it!" Misty rubbed her hands together in anticipation.
"The last touch before I send you to your corners of the maze…pick one person to 'see no evil', one person to 'hear no evil' and one person to 'speak no evil'."
"I'll speak no evil," Misty raised her hand to volunteer.
"Gary should definitely see no evil. It suits him," suggested Jeri. Both she and Misty giggled. Gary only gave them a funny confused face.
"Sure, I'll see no evil." Gary shrugged. He really didn't mind either way.
"And I'll hear no evil," confirmed Jeri, still giggling.
"Okay, great. That was easy." Yamaki slyly smirked. "Because before going into the maze, you will lose one of your five senses. For Juri, you will hear no evil…"
Yamaki pulled out a MP3 player from his suit pocket and handed it over to Jeri and also gave Gary a red blindfold.
"You know what to do with it," said Yamaki. "As for you, Miss Waterflower…"
Yamaki pulled out a roll of masking tape. Misty dropped her head and laughed nervously.
"You aren't really going to tape..."
"Sorry, Kasumi. It's just part of the game," said Yamaki, with a smirk. He gently placed a thick layer of masking tape over Jeri's mouth. Jeri muffled something unintelligible as a response.
"How many fingers am I holding, Shigeru?"
Gary shrugged. Yamaki walked over to make sure the red blindfold around his eyes was properly put on. He then walked over to Jeri, who was listening to some catchy music on her MP3 player.
"Juri, can you hear me?"
Jeri turned her head to Yamaki, but scrunched up her eyebrows.
"What?"
"Can you hear me?"
"What? I can't hear you! The music is too loud!"
"Good," Yamaki smiled. "We can start this challenge. One of you lost your vision, one of you lost your hearing and one of you lost your ability to communicate with the other players."
"Going into this maze suddenly got a lot harder," said Gary. Misty muffled something in agreement.
Soon, Yamaki led the players to their starting points at the maze. At a gun signal, the players disappeared inside the maze. Or in Jeri's case, it was a friendly tap on the shoulder from Yamaki.
For Gary, who lost his vision throughout this challenge, navigating the maze was the most difficult part. He had to move his hands to feel the walls in order to walk, taking very tiny tiptoe steps along the way. A minute into the challenge, and he realized that this wasn't going to work. His lack of progress was very discouraging.
"I can't see anything, and I need one of you to come help me! Can either of you hear me?" He yelled. Luckily, the walls weren't soundproof, so they should be able to hear his request for help.
If they could hear.
He sighed. Misty could probably recognize his voice, but there was no way for her to respond back.
"I'm right here! I can't see anything! Can either of you hear me?" He yelled and then sighed. It was no use. Misty couldn't respond back. Jeri couldn't even hear her. He had to rely on his own senses and feel his way around the maze, however impossible it might be.
Gary took one confident step forward.
And he walked right into a wall.
Misty heard Gary's calls for help, even though she could not have responded back. She figured that a detour to search for the blind Gary would be better for the long run. And then afterwards, both of them could run and find the briefcase.
But before that plan could be executed, she had to locate Gary. And she didn't have the foggiest clue of where to find it. She came across her first crossroads. Should she run to the left route or the right route?
Ah, what the heck. Misty ran to the left and hoped for the best.
At another end of the maze, Jeri Katou was facing similar obstacles. The walls of the maze were too high for her to peek or even climb over. So she will just have to navigate through this maze the old fashioned way.
"This maze is huuuuuge! But that's pretty obvious, since they play baseball and football in here and stuff," giggled Jeri.
She turned to the right of the maze and encountered a dead end. Groaning a bit, she turned back and ran the other way. She was hardly an athlete and all this running would quickly tire her out very soon.
Meanwhile Gary is still feeling his way around the maze, as he got his fair share of bumps and accidents as well. He tried his best to visualize the maze and where he was going, but it was no luck.
"I'd be furious if I happened to be at a dead end," he joked to the cameramen.
Every now and then, Gary would yell for help. He was yelling to Misty, but he never truly knew if she heard his messages or not. But it didn't matter, finding Misty was the only way he could make it out of this maze.
"I mean, this challenge is very easy for the Mole to sabotage it," he told the cameras. "Or anyone else for that matter. If one person doesn't show up with the key, then none of us can win the challenge."
He shook his head, sighing.
"And the worst part is, I couldn't even keep my eye on those two sneaky girls. Who knows what they are up to?"
He continued to slide his fingers across the wall and walked slowly and aimlessly in the maze. He had no idea if he was heading in the wrong direction or if he was making any progress at all. Losing his vision made a devastating impact in the challenge. All he could hope now was that either Misty or Jeri would locate him before the challenge ended.
But Jeri Katou wasn't having much luck in the maze either. Even though she could see where she was going, she was getting slightly frustrated with all the dead ends she encountered.
Jeri walked slowly in the field, trying to find her way around this maze. She was wincing at every step she took because of her aching ankle. The little girl made a left turn and almost fell on the floor in exhaustion when she saw that it was yet another dead end.
"I think I've came here before," Jeri muttered when she recognized a marking on the wall. "I've been walking around in circles."
Jeri sank down onto the floor and sat down. She needed to take a break before continuing this challenge. Her heart wanted to finish this maze, but her feet were singing with a different tune. Jeri leaned against the wall, took off her shoes and gently massaged her ankle with her fingers.
"Getting lost is the worst feeling ever…" Jeri told the cameras. "You have no aim, no direction and basically nothing. All you could rely on is your gut instinct."
As if the physical aspects of this game weren't enough, the mental stress was also sinking into her body. Her head was pounding like crazy; she was too dizzy to concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds. Her lack of sleep from last night was also starting to kick in. She wore her whole body out and it was collapsing right in front of her.
Jeri closed her eyes. And very quickly, she drifted off into sleep…
Misty did not stop running in the maze. She ran left, right, and who knows how many dead ends she encountered. But the many failures in the challenge did not discourage the athletic gym leader from trying. She continued to keep up with her usual pace, knowing that she will eventually find the briefcase.
If there was one thing you could say about the perky water trainer, she was definitely not a quitter.
She wondered if Gary or Jeri had already found the briefcase. She figured that Gary probably wouldn't be able to make it around the maze that quickly. But it was a likely possibility that Jeri had already arrived and located the briefcase.
No, Jeri wouldn't let us down. Misty beamed as she thought to herself. She started to pick up her pace around the maze.
Misty continued to run straight in this narrowly straight alley. She almost ran by an opening to the left, but she ran back to take a look at it. And if her eyes weren't deceiving her, then she thought she could see a black briefcase resting on a table from a distance.
That must be it! Misty silently raised celebrated in triumph. She turned left and ran all the way to the briefcase, embracing it with open arms.
She looked around, expecting to see at least one of her teammates. But there was nobody around. Misty picked up the briefcase and inserted her key and managed to open the first vault. But in order for the briefcase to open, she needed two more keys from her team members.
Misty tapped her fingers on the briefcase, unsure of what to do in this situation. She could wait here and hope for the best that both Gary and Jeri stumble their ways here, or she could take initiative and go out in the maze and find them. Misty was not a patient person, but she also understood that if she wandered off in the maze again, she might get lost and not find her way back here.
But it was a risk Misty was willing to take. She wasn't about to just stand here and let the others decide her fate. She started to jog away, hoping to find where Gary or Jeri was and lead them back here.
Meanwhile, Gary Oak was still lost in the maze, but one could hardly blame him for his lack of direction. He was getting better at not walking into walls or hitting into an edge or anything, but he kept thinking that he was walking around in circles throughout.
"If only I could see, I would probably do a lot better in this challenge," he had told the cameras. "I don't know if I would be able to find it, but I'd probably make lot more progress than if I was blindfolded."
Gary took another step forward, cautiously extending his hands forward into midair to see if there were any walls ahead. When he realized there were none, he walked another giant step.
"Misty and Jeri have no excuse of not finding the briefcase by now. They could see and they could walk. In fact, they should probably start looking for me too!"
After making sure the path ahead was free of walls, Gary took another step forward. He tripped however and collapsed onto the ground. The young professor groaned as he tried to stand up from his painful fall.
"Gary?"
Jeri immediately woke up from her slumber. When she realized that Gary had tripped over her feet on the floor, she helped him get up from the ground.
"Are you alright?" She asked with genuine concern in her voice.
"Yeah. Jeri, what are you doing here?" Gary asked. He brushed some sand off his pants.
"What? I can't hear you. The music is really loud," replied Jeri.
"Oh yeah, now I remember." Gary nodded his head.
"Anyway, we need to find the briefcase. I'm lost in the maze," said Jeri. Gary nodded his head and mouthed the words "Me too" to her.
Jeri took Gary by the hand and led him around the maze. She felt a little better and restored after resting for a few minutes in the challenge. Gary felt much better now that he found someone to guide him through the maze, confident that they would be able to locate the briefcase. Jeri was less than confident, unsure that she would be able to find her way around the maze.
The pair walked around the maze. Jeri turned her head to look at any hidden passages, but could find nothing. Even with the addition of blind Gary, she still didn't have much luck getting around in this maze.
But she was fortunate enough that a savior came to her rescue. Misty Waterflower lit up her face when she saw her two teammates. She gave Jeri a huge hug.
"Do you know where the briefcase is?" Jeri asked Misty.
The Cerulean gym leader nodded her head and gestured the two teammates to follow her. She knew the passage back to the briefcase by heart. Inside, Misty was ecstatic to finally reunite with Jeri and Gary.
I never thought I would be this happy to see Gary. She joked to herself inside her head.
In minutes, Misty led them to where the briefcase was. It was a longer walk than both Jeri and Gary anticipated as they made many turns and shifts. There was a moment when Gary doubted Misty's ability to lead them at the right direction, but eventually the Cerulean gym leader finally found them.
Both Gary and Jeri inserted their keys into the briefcase, unlocking the second and third vaults. With all three of the vaults undone, they were able to unlock the briefcase and retrieve instructions to the second part of the challenge.
Inside the briefcase, there was a small digital alarm clock with "5:50" on it. There was also an orange sheet of paper, which Jeri picked up and read out loud:
"You've added $50,000 into the pot, congratulations. In order to add the second half of the money, one of you must take the alarm clock and make it outside of the maze before the time on the clock runs out. When it reaches to 0:00, the challenge will stop. Make sure you get one player out of this maze with this alarm clock before time runs out!"
"Who wants to do it?" Gary asked.
Misty raised her hand, eager to continue with the rest of the challenge.
"Yeah, Misty should do it," said Jeri.
"Couldn't Jeri do it instead?" Gary asked, with suspicion in her voice. He didn't trust Misty to win this challenge for them at all.
But his concerns weren't addressed to, because Jeri handed the alarm clock to Misty. The gym leader nodded her head and dashed off into the distance. There were three exits to this triangular maze. All she needed to do was to retrace her steps from where she started the challenge.
But could she remember?
Misty took a short and quick glance at the alarm clock she was holding. She only had five minutes to get out of the maze. It was solely a challenge between Misty Waterflower and the time.
Gary Oak had a bad feeling letting Misty take control of the second part of the challenge. True, she might be more athletic and yes, she did find the maze before either of them…but there was still some doubtfulness in his mind. Misty could easily pretend to get lost and sabotage the challenge. She could pretty much turn the corner and stand there until the time runs out, and they could do nothing about it.
"We are at the mercy of the Mole now," mumbled Gary.
Misty Waterflower ran and ran, turning between corners and making swift movements everywhere around the maze. She had the alarm clock tightly wrapped in her hand, with only three minutes left in the clock.
Left…then another left. And a right. Misty thought over the directions she took coming into the maze, except that she had to reverse all of the directions going back.
Misty dashed straight forward after making a quick left turn. She didn't pause for a catch of breath or anything. She was just running frantically, trying to find her way out of this maze before time. Soon she hit into another crossroads.
Wait, was I supposed to turn left or right?
She stalled for a few seconds here, debating whether or not she should turn right or left. At this moment, her memory was failing her. And it couldn't happen at a worse time than this.
Left. Misty decided in her head and ran in the path to her left. It has to be left. It has to be.
Misty made a sharp left turn and ran forward with an outstanding speed. She took a quick glance at the alarm clock that she was holding.
There were two minutes left in the challenge.
Misty nervously looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Have she made the wrong move? If she turned back now, she might be able to find the other exit…but not giving up on her initial instinct, Misty continued to run straight ahead…
She saw a light from a faraway distance, and Misty started to smile, because she knew she found the exit. The wide opening was only steps in front of her, waiting for Misty to cross over the finish line. As the Cerulean gym leader ran with all her might to exit the maze, she lost her footing in a small hole on the ground. She stumbled around a bit, but eventually tripped and fell to the ground. The alarm clock flew a few feet away from her, out of her arm's reach.
Misty groaned as she hastily got up. She took a quick look at her scraped knees and felt nauseous when she saw that blood was coming out. Nevertheless, she stumbled slowly toward the exit and picked up the alarm clock. There was one minute left.
Aching in every step she took, Misty saw that the exit was only five or six steps away. But with her injured leg, her pace slowed down significantly and the fate of this challenge was now put into question. It was up to Misty now to determine whether they will have a victory or a loss.
She dragged her left foot forward, and although the blood was slowly and painfully trickling from her knee to her ankle, Misty Waterflower was not about to forfeit this challenge. Not when the exit was only mere steps ahead! It would have broken her soul, her heart, her competitiveness to not win this challenge. It would have been impossible for her to give up now; she simply wasn't that type of person.
Misty took another hasty look at the clock, which indicated that she had only forty-five seconds left to get out of this maze. The feisty Cerulean gym leader decided that she could not stretch this challenge any longer. Despite the overbearing pain across her entire body, she made a quick sprint to the exit.
It must have taken her at least four or five aching steps to make it out of the maze. But at last she had done it. Underneath the thick layers of tape, Misty wore a wide and bright grin on her face. If her legs hadn't been so badly wounded, she would have run up to Yamaki and gave him an enormous hug. Doctors immediately approached Misty to give her the necessary treatment on her knee, but all this passed by without Misty noticing it much. At the corner of her eye, Misty could see Yamaki slowly nodding his head at her, while giving her a small smile of approval. Soon, Gary and Jeri were also escorted out of the maze, both celebrating and cheering happily for her victory.
She had done it. Misty Waterflower had won the final challenge.
Yamaki was standing inside the rotating restaurant in the CN Tower. The three finalists were all enjoying their last execution dinner together before the final quiz held tonight.
"The place where we held our first execution quiz will also be the place where we will hold our last execution quiz," said Yamaki darkly. The three players all looked at him seriously, but none of them said anything.
Despite Misty's triumphant victory, the atmosphere was not pleasant. Gary often made shifty glances to both Jeri and Misty, as if there was something on his mind that he couldn't say out loud. Misty had her head down to her plate at all times, not daring to look up to either of the players. Jeri was gazing dreamily out of the windows again, staring as the evening sun set down.
"Congratulations in succeeding the final challenge. You've added a whooping $100,000 to the pot, making the final standings $508,000 out of a possible one million dollars."
POT: $508,000/$1,000,000
"Awesome," grinned Misty. She weakly gave a high-five to Jeri.
"After tonight, one of you will walk out of this game with $508,000 richer," said Yamaki.
"Wow." Gary mumbled mechanically, putting a spoon of mashed potatoes in his mouth.
"The final quiz, consisting twenty questions about the entire course of the game, will be held after dinner. For the last time, good luck to all of you."
Yamaki left the three finalists to complete their dinner. All was silent for several minutes as the players pondered over their thoughts.
The atmosphere between the players loosened up a bit as they held several light and casual conversations. Gary was particularly interested with what everyone was going to do with their winnings.
"One of us is going to win over half a million dollars. That's a lot of money," said Gary. "I'd like to know that at least one of us will put it into good use."
"I'd definitely use the money to renovate the Cerulean gym. Stop all the pool leaks, inspect all the water Pokemon…it will be a total makeover of the gym." replied Misty. "Plus, it would definitely make ends meet easier for my sister and me if I had the money. No more mermaid shows!"
"Tracey told me about those mermaid shows, I've heard they are quite popular!" Jeri giggled.
"Yeah, popular with the male demographic," Misty laughed. "I'm just kidding. So what are you going to use the money for, Jeri?"
"If I win, I'll use the money to help out my family," said Jeri in a vague but sweet voice. "My parents wouldn't need to worry about my tuitions or my brother's either. It breaks my heart to see them work so hard every single day for us, so I really think this money may help them retire a little earlier and not work as much. But I dunno…" She grinned, "Dad might not like it because he is a workaholic."
"I respect you for putting your family first," said Gary quietly. "That's very gracious of you."
"Thanks Gary," smiled Jeri, although a little taken back at the sincerity of the young professor's remark.
"I'm going to use money is going to aid me in my studies," said Gary. "As you know, I want to be a future Pokemon professor just like my gramps. The winnings could pretty much cover all my tuition fees when I go to one of the most protégé universities in the Pokemon world. My gramps was going to support me financially, but he's an old man, and I really don't want him to fuss over stuff like this."
"Oh!" Misty gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "You certainly don't mean the university! I read it before in a magazine and it's absolutely magnificent."
"It's the one," Gary nodded his head, leaning back in his chair and feeling quite proud as he talked about himself. "The competition is tough, but I'm willing to put all the work into earning a degree."
"Hey, you never know." Jeri smiled. "You might even be more famous than Professor Oak someday."
When desert was served, the three of them also received a packet of photos, each containing a picture of the most memorable scenes in the game, as well as each of the executed players.
Misty held up Ash's photo first. The ambitious trainer from Pallet Town was grinning enthusiastically as he posed behind the CN Tower.
"I can't believe Ash was executed so early in the game. He was one of my closest friends and losing him on the very first night really hurts," said Misty.
"Ash and I didn't talk much, but from what I saw of him, he seems like a really great guy," said Jeri.
"He is." Misty smiled, putting an arm around Jeri's shoulders. "Ash has a heart of gold."
"I'm glad the dolt is gone. Somebody had to go first and I'm glad all the deserving people go to stay in at least for one round," Gary smirked. Misty shot him a dirty look, but figuring that they weren't going to meet in opinion, they moved on to the next photo.
Jeri was holding a photo of Sora and Yolei together behind the Niagara Falls. Sora wore a modest smile on her face, while Yolei was grinning from ear to ear.
"Sora was like a big sister to me…to all of us," said Jeri. "Something left in the group when she was executed."
"Sora looked like she could have lasted long in the game, if she wasn't held back by a huge and handsome distraction," smirked Gary. Jeri and Misty both know he was talking about Sora's reliance and close attachment to Matt.
"Oh Yolei!" Misty grinned at the photo. "What a great gal. She's always so upbeat and cheerful."
"It's hard not to be smiling when you're around Yolei," added Jeri.
"She was really into you, you know." Misty nudged Gary with her arm. "But you never gave her a second look."
"She was definitely a very fascinating…character." Gary said, and refused to comment on the bubbly purple-haired girl any further.
Gary smirked and rolled his eyes at a photo with Tracey sitting under a tree and sketching the fictional character Sirius Black in his sketchpad.
"I didn't like Tracey very much. He wasn't very nice," said Jeri, frowning slightly.
"An enemy of Tracey is a friend of mine," grinned Gary. This brought a small smile on Jeri's face.
"Tracey isn't like that in real life. He definitely let the game got into his head." said Misty, trying to be a supportive voice for her friend. "He didn't get off into a good start, that's all. He was misunderstood."
"He set himself up after winning all those exemptions. Greed reveals a very nasty side to a person." Gary shook his head mockingly.
"Yeah, but still…he is a nice guy. He is normally very polite and courteous. I just wished you gave him all a chance," argued Misty.
Jeri decided to stop the exchange before it got too out of hand, so she moved on to the next picture in the group. It was a picture of Kenta, Takato and Kazu posing together outside in the snow, beside a snowman they built.
"We got along great inside this game; even though we weren't really that close to begin with. I'm definitely glad we have this chance to bond together," said Jeri.
"Kenta is cool, but I just wished he would have more self confidence. He was always so shy and meek." Misty smiled sheepishly.
"He surprised all of us when he won that Pokemon battle," said Gary.
"That was his defining moment in the game. You should've seen the look in his face when he was there. It was like a new side of Kenta emerged that I've never seen before." Jeri beamed.
Misty held up the final picture, which had Matt and Jessie standing together, both being awfully intimate with each other at the skating rink.
"Matt was very charming," said Misty, carefully phrasing her words.
"I can't believe he fooled all of us by making coalitions with everyone. Did he think he wouldn't get caught?" Gary sneered, waving the photo in the air as a sign of dismissal.
"But overall, I really liked Matt. He let me down at the end, but I enjoyed his jokes and him being such a great friend all the time," said Jeri.
"Not to mention that he's pretty damn hot, wouldn't you agree, Jeri?" Misty giggled. Jeri gave one fast nod and blushed.
"And then there's Jessie. What can we say about our resident diva?" Gary asked.
"I never liked her and I don't think I ever will," said Misty, shrugging. "It's just the way it goes."
Gary and Misty both looked at Jeri for her response, but the little girl refused to comment on the sassy Team Rocket diva who gave her so much pressure and hell throughout the entire game.
"Some things are better left unspoken," Jeri weakly replied.
After dinner, Gary was first to leave the table to prepare for the quiz. He wore an expression that one would find on a crooked witch's face. With his head held up high and bloated with confidence, the young professor left his final thoughts to the camera before the final quiz.
"If there was a deserving winner in this game, it would be me. It might sound arrogant to most of you, but you can't deny that I played the hardest and most fierce game out of everyone. I started playing the game as soon as I got on the bus. Don't hate me because I am an acute observer who caught all the details others might have missed. Don't hate me because I am a sharp analyzer who knows how to take intense notes in my journal. Most of all, don't hate me because I am the winner of this game. Just hate me because none of you done anything about it to stop me."
Gary smirked and looked away from the cameras. In a soft voice, he muttered,
"Besides, nobody ever said that a nice guy was going to win this thing…"
Misty was the next to excuse herself from the table, always wanting a steady period of time to study over her notes before a quiz. One could not miss the intense look in her eyes, burning with a competitive fire so brightly yet so dangerously at the same time. Her fists were clenched and her smile was confidently poised, but yet when she spoke, Misty still carried a friendly and warm tune to her voice. She left one final remark before taking the quiz.
"I had my eyes set on the win for a very long time and I never lost focus on that. I didn't make it into the finals by coincidence. I worked really hard to reach this stage of the game, and I don't want to blow it all away at the end. I am a competitor and I want to win. Nobody wants to get the second-place consolation prize. But I'm humble about my chances, seeing as I have two strong competitors facing against me. So I'm just going to try my best and whatever goes will happen.
She shrugged, flashing a cheerful smile at the cameras.
"If I lose, I lose. And if I win, oh boy, I can't start to express how happy I'd be."
Jeri was the only person remaining at the table. She stared dreamily through the windows at the night skies. The stars were twinkling and the moon was clear. Jeri Katou smiled softly, brushing strands of hair away from her eyes. Her face had a stint of all things resembling innocence, purity and sincerity. But there was a defiant sparkle in her eyes that nobody noticed before. It was a side of her that they never saw coming. The little girl shared some final words to the cameras before leaving for the quiz.
"Winning this game would be great. I don't have high hope about my chances nor do I think I'll be the winner of this game. But I want to prove to everyone who doubted me, everyone who snubbed me and everyone who underestimated me. I am not just a naive little girl who stumbled her way into the finals. Don't discredit me from what I have accomplished in this game! Just because I am not as aggressive or as vocal as the other players, this doesn't mean I didn't play the game. I'm very proud that I didn't hurt anybody's feelings and I didn't need to compromise my morals. To me, those are the things that already make you a winner in life."
Jeri stood up from her chair and began to walk away. She smiled, almost defiantly, at the cameras.
"Still, it will be really nice to win this game…"
The three finalists were taking their quiz in the lobby of the CN Tower, sitting across in each other with a reasonable distance between them. There were twenty questions about the identity of the Mole throughout the entire game.
Misty clicked Zero to the second question: How many exemptions did the Mole receive?
"I think that Gary could likely be the Mole. Looking back, he made plenty of mistakes in the challenges, but nobody blamed him because they are seemingly trivial. But the reason we lose those challenges is because of his small mistakes. I think Gary is a very subtle Mole. He doesn't make direct sabotages. He just sets up a trap for players to fall in and then indirectly remove money from the pot. It's a very shady business, but I definitely expect it from someone like Gary."
Gary was reading the sixth question: What was the Mole's bid during the silent auction?
"It's very unlikely that Jeri is the Mole, but she did do things that are suspicious enough to consider. Would the Mole really bring so much attention to herself by bidding in the silent auction and solely receiving the blame for the auction? But then again, may be it's reverse psychology. She did put up a very nice performance of crying and weeping in front of everybody, so that may have turned some hearts away. And if that's the case, then I'd have to applaud Jeri Katou at the finale, because I never saw it coming."
Jeri scanned her mouse browser through the list of answers for the eighth question.
"As much as I like her, Misty might be the Mole. I noticed how every time she befriends someone, they immediately get executed afterward. Some examples are: Ash, Yolei, Tracey and even Matt. It's suspicious that every time a player gets close to Misty, they get executed. I don't think it's a coincidence at all. It hits a little too close to home for comfort. It makes me think that all of her friends were not only victims of the Mole…they were also the victims of Misty."
Gary rubbed his chin with deep thought as he read the eleventh question on the laptop. After a few seconds of thinking, he clicked Yes.
"Misty is the Mole because she made many suspicious sabotages that you can't overlook. She is a self-claimed water trainer, but yet she gets eliminated first in a swimming challenge. She sees Team Rocket on an almost daily basis, yet she fails to tag them as the kidnappers. Just when you expect Misty to excel in a challenge, she would surprisingly give an underwhelming performance. All of these things add up at the end. It all makes sense if Misty is the Mole."
Jeri was tapping her finger on her mouse as she read the fifteenth question: How many digivices did the Mole collect?
"Gary could be the Mole. He is all over the place in challenges. Sometimes he is the hero of the day, racking up huge points in the challenges. Sometimes he can't add a single penny to the pot, not even coming closely to a win. His inconsistency in challenges really has me wondering what his intentions are. He could very well be the Mole and is picking certain challenges to sabotage, and other challenges to deflect suspicion off himself."
Misty answered Matt and Jessie for the seventeenth question of the quiz after reading the question twice in her head.
"Jeri is a sweetheart, a real living example of the girl-next-door. Everything she does is so pure and so genuine that it makes me wonder…she would be the perfect cover-up for the Mole. When I think of the Mole, I expect someone who ruthlessly sabotages challenges while manipulating everybody's minds along the way. Nobody would expect the passive and friendly Jeri who means well to everyone to be the Mole. For all I know, it could be a brilliant act. She did her fair share of sabotaging in challenges. But only Jeri just does it with a smile on her face."
Yamaki was also browsing through the quiz in his own laptop. He was on the final question of the quiz: Who is the Mole? He shifted his mouse browser between the three answers, consisting of three very familiar names: Gary O., Jeri K. and Misty W.
One of those players will be the winner, taking home a well-earned grand prize of $508,000 as well as the satisfactory of defeating the Mole.
One of those players will be the loser, dejected for coming so close to winning, but yet not close enough.
And lastly, one of those players will be the Mole, the clever traitor who successfully sabotaged many challenges and prevented a huge sum of money added into the pot. After hiding behind a false persona for the entire game, the identity of the Mole was about to be revealed.
The little microphone in Yamaki's ear was with the results of the quiz. Yamaki smiled faintly and glanced up at each of the three players, with the knowledge of who the winner was. All he needed to do now was to make the announcement to everyone.
But until the time comes, he could only wait.
TO BE CONTINUED
Next Episode: Finale
All ten players are reunited as a winner is declared, and most importantly, the revealing of the Mole's identity.
Author's Notes
So, it's the second-to-last chapter. I've decided to combine the finale and the reunion to one lengthy chapter, and hopefully it'll be out very soon since the format would be easier to write.
There you have it, folks. This is the last time to make your predictions of who the winner and the Mole are! Is it Gary, Jeri or Misty? The answer to this mystery is about to be revealed, but first I'd like to hear your thoughts. Drop down a review and vote in the Mole Poll one last time.
Here are the results to the last poll: Who do you want to see win the game?
42 percent – Jeri
31 percent – Misty
29 percent - Gary
Thanks for waiting all this time! The final chapter will be out soon (finally)!