What's up bros and sis...es, we're here with Part 2 of Episode 3! Though I'll admit that this episode should have been up a few days earlier, there were some changes that I needed to make to this chapter. I took away some scenes because the big thing in this episode is going to be... VERY crucial for the future episodes.

I'm also having face to face classes now so I'm kind of slowing down on writing for a bit. Lots of stuff happened as well last week too so it wasn't really a good week. Plus I just got my ankle injured due to a boy scout activity mishap lmao. Discord gang, don't laugh at the reasoning. XDDDDD It's not that bad though, really. XD

Anyway, kind of glad I managed to make another update this February lol. Good thing I split this ep too because combining it together would have been around 30k which would kind of give me a hard time to transfer documents. XD

Enough talking now, let's get onto it. Thanks to everyone who gave feedback in the last chapter! Especially to those who have been reviewing every time. Seriously, y'all are way more better at reviewing than I am at times lol.


Episode 3: Wang Raanee (Part 2)


"No one has reached the throne room yet, button-eyed one." Dimetrius informed Chris as they were back at the lobby. Though by the hint of Dimetrius' voice… he sounded… angry. This startled Dustin a bit as well.

"Uh, you okay Dimetrius?"

"Yes. Never better."

"Okay…"

"This is taking longer than I thought." Chris slumped in an armchair that was somehow there. "Is there any way to make this easier for them? Because I really don't want ro wait that long. The sun is about to set as well."

"Let me handle that." Dimetrius ominously spoke. This was followed by his loud, ominous, mad laughter that could scare everyone in the palace. All of the lights in the palace shut off, only the windows giving the sources of light. The grounds began to shake and grumble, as if an earthquake was about to commence. This spells trouble among the cast.


Evening was starting to rise upon the gloomy palace as the cast still tried to find the throne room. No one even knows if the king and queen of the palace are still alive. If they weren't then the challenge was a hoax.

The camera goes to Lytsari who were still on the second floor. Unfortunately, none of them have come across Summer or Wyonette which raised concern from the team.

"Hey, Sheldon?" Pierre asked from behind. "Are you sure that your theory will work? Because we've been walking for hours and still nothing."

"Patience. We will eventually arrive at our destination soon." Sheldon answered confidently, the nerd having his chin up along the way.


Pierre (Lytsari): "GPS…" he muttered.


Later on, they were back at the balcony again. This gave Sheldon the opportunity to look at the painting that was on the wall.

"Roses." Sheldon gasped in realization.

Pierre saw his reaction and smacked his forehead, leaning on the railing. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me. So you're telling me that we've been walking for more than two hours in a fucking circle?"

"Pierre, it's not what it seems. There could be more than one rose painting." Maelle retorted, trying to make a point.

"Yeah man, what if it's just an identical painting?" Rory chimed in.

"You know what, I don't care! I am fucking tired right now. We should be done ages ago. Who knows, one of the teams already found the throne room, finished the challenge, and left the palace without us. I'm out of here." Pierre rolled his eyes and left.

"Wait, Pierre!" Jace called out as he rushed up to him.

Suddenly, all the lights shut off. Everything was pitch black. The sounds of grumbling can also be heard as the grounds below them began to vigorously shake.

"Guys, it's an earthquake!" Jace loudly shouted.

"Ah!" Pierre yelped out, falling out of the railing and into the ground floor below. A loud thump could be heard, but due to the sounds of the floor grumbling and some objects moving and falling, it overpowered it.

"Everyone, find something sturdy to hold on to, now!" Maelle commanded. This however, was a terrible plan. Since it was so dark to see, everyone split up.

The shaking slowed down for a bit, and it continued to do so for a few minutes until it soon came into a halt. The lights flickered back on again. However, only Rory, Maelle, and Sheldon were in the scene.

"What the-" Rory exclaimed, getting up from the ground after the earthquake. "Where… where is everyone else? They… must have run away during the earthquake… Maelle, you shouldn't have told us to take cover, now the others are missing!"

"Well what do you expect yourself to do when you're in the middle of an earthquake? Stick together in a dangerous situation?" The maid countered.

As the two began to argue, Sheldon noticed something. The rose painting fell flat on the ground. Its picture frame was damaged. Yet there was something odd…

The nerd walked closer and closer to the fallen painting. The back part was facing towards him, but there was some sort of peeling behind the picture, and right behind the peeling was… another painting?

"Team, come see this!" Sheldon shouted towards Maelle and Rory. The two stopped arguing almost instantly and rushed over to their teammate.

"What is it?" asked the drummer.

"Look at this." Sheldon began, before dropping his shield to the ground and tear off the peeling of the rose painting revealing…

...another painting?

"It's… flowers." Rory commented, not even sure on what kind of flowers were in the painting.

"Dianthuses." Sheldon answered. "If this was the same exact painting from earlier, then we were near the throne room all along."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's find that sunflower painting or whatever and get this over with." Rory declared and turned to leave.

"Not so fast, Rory." Maelle quickly said as she grabbed his arm. "We need to find the others first."

"We have to do it quickly." Sheldon added. "Who knows who else could be near."

"No." The maid shook her head. "I'll go look for them. It's my fault that Jace and Pierre went missing, so it is only right if I find them. You two can try and find Summer and Wyonetta. We can meet right here."

"Nonono. I'll go find Summer and Wyo. Sheldon can go for the throne room." Rory suggested.

"How will we meet back here then?" asked Maelle, starting to not like the fact that all three of them will have to split up.

"You will know if you're near the throne room because of the painting." Sheldon pointed at the fallen back-to-back rose and carnation painting. "If I find the helianthus painting, I will put it on the hallways to let you guys know because for sure it will be hidden. If you guys see it, then you will be at least a block from the throne room."

"I do not know if this will work." The maid couldn't help but sigh. "But if that is the only way, then let's do it."

The three gave each other nods of approval before going their separate ways.


Maelle (Lytsari): "I do not think that we will win. Splitting up was always a terrible idea."


Rory (Lytsari): "Man, I hope I can find Summer and Wyo before I end up encountering anyone else." He fumbled his fingers. "...because I think I may have lost my shield during the earthquake."


Jessica was getting tired. Terribly tired. Carrying Aditi, keeping her focus on the way ahead, not to mention, her arm was still injured from the last challenge. Though it was just a minor injury, it was still a hindrance to her.

"Aditi, please wake up…" she groaned, before slowly dropping the smaller girl to the ground. The wrangler was on her knees, tired as all hell. She couldn't find her team, not even her way back. She was lost, and she didn't like that… not even a little.

"Jessica?"

The girl turned around. She could've sworn she heard someone, a female, called her name. But for some reason, she also thought that she was just hearing things. Maybe because she was tired?

"Jessica!"

Another voice rang. This voice was from a male this time.

"Jessica! There you are!" The female voice shouted.

She looked around. Everywhere. She couldn't figure out who was calling her. She thought she was going crazy.

"Huh?" she let out a gasp before collapsing on the ground, dropping Aditi to the floor as well.

When Jessica fell unconscious, that was when the wanderer woke up. She fell flat on her back which disabled her to move a bit. She saw her charm bracelet and grabbed it. Must've fell out of her wrist while Jessica carried her. She could hear footsteps and… wheels rushing their direction. Were those her teammates? Or some people they would have to encounter?

"Jessica! Aditi! Thank gosh we've found you guys." Laverne panted. She stopped pushing Hector's wheelchair and rushed up to the two. Laverne went over to Aditi and helped her up on her feet before helping Hector wake up Jessica.

"Ugh, what happened…" Jessica groaned.

"You looked as if you passed out for a minute." Hector answered. "Laverne and I pretty much saw you fall to the ground."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you even kinda dropped Aditi." the model sadly hung her head. "It's fair though, you looked really tired."

"Where are the others?" Aditi quietly asked.

"They're still where we left them. Come on. Let's get back." Hector told the other three girls.

"How?" Aditi asked again.

"Let's follow the breadcrumb trail." Hector said, turning back to where they came from.

...However, there were no breadcrumbs present on the floor.

"Laverne? I thought you had the breadcrumbs on the floors?" the engineer asked in worry.

The model had her eyes wide opened in realization. She fumbled her right pocket and picked up the bag of breadcrumbs Eli had given her. Only, they were left untouched ever since the moment the couch potato handed them to the model.

"I forgot to use them." Laverne still had her eyes widened. "I'm… I'm sorry guys."

Jessica and Aditi looked at each other in concern. Hector looked… extremely disappointed. He turned his wheelchair near the wall and punched the wall so hard out of frustration that it created small wounds on his hand.

"GODDAMN IIIIIIIIIT!"

He kept on punching and punching the wall all over again. And that was when Jessica pulled his wheelchair far from the wall.

"Please, stop it!"

Aditi rushed over to them. "Guys… we just need to find them. Try and see if you can go back the way you came."

Everything stopped for a bit. None of them moved an inch as they all just looked at each other.

"Let's just find our way back… maybe we'll be able to find them." Aditi said, trying to at least have a tiny bit of optimism in returning back to the rest of the Ritters.


...Speaking of the rest of the Ritters, they were seemingly getting away from something… or someone.

"Did we lost them?" Laila asked. "I mean, they weren't even chasing us because they were too busy having their, you know, moment. Psh." She added with an eye roll towards the end. "Right big hunk?"

She turned towards Fridge, who appears to be looking for someone in the halls.

"Heeeey! Fridge! Refrigerator! I'm right over here, you know!" The snob called to get his attention.

"We lost Friendeli." Fridge said. He was already losing hope but he still kept his eyes on the hallways in case Eli was there.

"Oh, you mean that slob? Who cares about them all, at least we don't have to worry about stupid conflict." Laila crossed her arms, the snob adding another eye roll towards the end of her speech.

Fridge heard something. Or someone. It sounded like weapons clashing with each other. It had been a quick while since they ran out of the Chevalier scene so he honestly wouldn't be too surprised if Eli was clashing with them.

Laila however, heard something else. She could hear a person breathing heavily as if they were tired. Yet she didn't move away from her spot.

Just by the hallway next to them was the answer to what one of them was hearing.

Whack! The clanking of Eli's gun rang throughout the hall as the tip of it landed on Tyler's head.

It seemed as though the Chevaliers decided to split the team up; one part will take care of Pandora and the other part will take care of the Ritters.

Ritters, meaning just Eli.

"Ow… you'll pay for that!" Tyler grumbled a little before hitting Eli with his bow and arrow.

With only little time to spare, Eli managed to duck just in time and sneak up just behind Tyler. He saw Jeremy rushing up to him and aimed the prop gun towards Jeremy, who raised his arms up defensively. "What's even the ammo in here, I really doubt that these are real."

"Maybe we should find out." Tyler muttered, tossing the gun out of Eli's hands, immediately commencing another brawl between the two.

"No!" Eli attempted to crouch down to reach for his gun under the seat in front of him but Tyler pulling him (and... maybe Eli's weight) kept him from doing so. "Ugh, why'd you do that!" Eli shouted in frustration, attempting to land a hit with his fist towards Tyler, but the hunter immediately blocked the hit with his sword.

"Jeremy! Shoot him with the sleep arrow, quick!" Tyler called out to the other Chevalier member. "We have to win this duel or else we're not going anywhere!"

Jeremy held the bow that Paige lost with shaky hands. "I'm trying!" he yelled frustratingly.

"Hurry up!"

"Stop putting me under pressure!" Jeremy shouted and unconsciously unleashed an arrow, landing it on someone's back.

Eli felt something on his back. It didn't hurt, but it made him feel sleepy, thanks to the sleeping powder. And so, his body slumped onto the floor, ending his brawl with Tyler.

"Thank goodness, Jeremy. Glad you ca-" Tyler's words of gratitude were stopped when he saw Jeremy fall forward in front of him, with a sleep arrow on his back. He took a quick glance to ask who shot him before he inevitably fell asleep. "Whoa what?! Who- what-"

His frenzied eyes looked everywhere around the several pathways around him, but his eyes landed on one certain archer girl.


Jeremy (Chevaliers): "That ONE TIME where I thought I was holding Paige's arrow. I swear, I found her dead asleep on the floor on our way here so I grabbed her bow in case she wakes up so she goes defenseless. Then here she is with the exact same weapon. I don't even know how long she has been up and running." He looked at the bow he was holding. "So what is this?"


"Teehee!" Paige giggled with a smirk and dashed out of sight.

"Argh, get back here, you!" Tyler grunted and ran to chase after her.

"Teeheehee!"

"Can you say anything else but, you know, 'teehee!'?!" Tyler mockingly asked her in a frustrating way, doing an incredibly failed attempt to imitate Paige's catchphrase, which definitely wasn't his kind of thing as it obviously didn't work.

"Well teehee, you can't make me then! It's just a matter of time till I put you to sleep anyway!" Paige smirked cheekily, aiming her bow once again towards him.

Tyler groaned, tired of chasing her through the hall and just leaned himself on the wall with a completely expressionless face. "Now look who's talking. Come on, shoot me."

Paige stopped and ran in front of the hunting enthusiast. She aimed right at Tyler's face for a few seconds, before being swooped butt-first onto the floor thanks to the hunter's foot tripping her backwards.

"Wah!" Paige cried out as she landed on her butt, letting go of her bow and arrows. Tyler skillfully caught them both with one hand, and aimed directly at Paige who was rubbing her bottom from the pain.

"You know, I don't really kind of threaten people so this feels kinda weird, but see ya." Tyler dismissed before aiming the arrow right towards Paige and shoot. The arrow hit the girl right on her forehead. It didn't really hurt but it instantly sent her to sleep like a baby in a crib, marking the second time Paige has fallen asleep.

Fridge turned to the hallway where he assumed he had heard the noise. He pretty much left Laila all alone in that hallway yet he didn't really mind about the snob.

"Whoa!"

His exclamation was fixated towards two guys who were asleep on the ground. One was Jeremy… and the other was Eli.

Of course he rushed up to Eli since he was his teammate. Though he may not seem smart, his assumption was correct. Eli did clash with a Chevalier. Or maybe Paige or Minghao.

With all his might, he scooped up the couch potato and did his best to carry him back to where he left Laila.

Laila started to anxiously wait for Fridge. All alone in the hallways. She jerked her head towards another path as she heard footsteps and panting approaching her direction.

Clink!

She got her trigger ready. When she could finally get a glimpse of who it was, she froze.

Minghao was in front of her, looking terribly tired and beaten up mostly due to his brawl with Wyonetta earlier. Though his cautious eyes were filled with concern as Laila had him held at gunpoint. Not really gunpoint as there were only sleep bullets, but still.

The snob has her finger on the trigger until…

...clank!

Nothing came out.

"What?" Laila gasped as soon as she noticed the predicament. However, she wasted no time and began manually hitting Minghao with her gun.

The intern had a hard time fighting back as he was too tired to do so. Throwing surprisingly weak attacks here and there, their battle continued, though it was significantly less action-packed than his brawl with Wyonetta. Sure he had his sword in hand, let alone a fake one, but he didn't really use it until much much later.

After about several minutes, Laila had enough. She was having a hard time landing hits onto Minghao with her gun. It was out of ammo thanks to all her commotion with Laverne earlier. This was basically her first battle but god, was she already tired as hell.

Minghao now almost got carried away with his sword right when he was about to use it as he accidentally cut off a part of her blouse sleeve, which of course made her angry.

"Uh-oh-"

"Ugh, you- this- this blouse was worth a fortune, you know! Look what you've done to it!" Laila raged, attempting to hit the intern in the head several times with her empty gun but all attempts just dipped down hard.

Minghao stopped in his tracks all of a sudden and wore a bemused smirk on his face, staring at his sword, then at Laila's angered face. "You know jiějiě," he panted, his sword's tip now dragging across the tiled floor, echoing a slightly shrill noise from it. "The money in your wallet is like urine in the body, either hold it all until you can't take it anymore or let it all out."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" the snob crossed her arms.

"It means you chose the latter!" he called out, bringing his sword up, commencing another possible fight.

Laila had no more ideas left in her head, though she noticed her gun was practically spilling of sleeping powder. She tilted her gun in a vertical position and sprinkled some into her hand before throwing some on his face.

"Jiějiě… what… ugh, why is my face always the one getting hit..." Minghao groaned woozily before slumping forward into another round of slumber.

When the job was done, Laila leaned on the wall for a bit to regain her breath. Not wasting any more moments, she left the area to go and find Fridge.


The camera pans to Tyler rushing back to the other Chevaliers, minus Naka and Jeremy.

"We gotta go. Come on. I don't think Paige will sleep for long." Tyler told everyone as he helped Pandora up with some of the others.

Tala looked at the photographer with concern. "You okay? Can you walk?"

"Yeah, it's just a scratch Tala, don't worry." Pandora flashed a quick reassuring smile to the mathematician.

"Where's Jeremy?" asked Foster, the survivalist already looking around for the musical nerd.

Tyler hissed under his breath as soon as he forgot about him. "Crap. We're gonna have to return for him. Let's hurry up."

"Allan asks what about Naka?" Gerald asked the others, stopping everyone from their tracks.

No one had a response to Gerald's question until a full minute passed.

"We'll find her later." Tala finally answered.

The gang rushed to the halls. But they stopped as they saw Paige sleeping on the floor.

"I am tired of dealing with her already." He groaned. He looked to his right. There was a guest room.

"Let's go in." Foster commanded. The Chevaliers did as he was told and entered the guest room, locking the door behind them without making a sound.

Little they knew that in the other hall, Jeremy was now up and running.


Jeremy (Chevaliers): "I'm going to try and find Naka whether they like it or not. Possible drama, sure. But I don't really want to leave anyone behind since this challenge is kinda dangerous."


Aditi, Jessica, Hector, and Laverne have been walking for a while until they see someone carrying someone.

"Hey!" Aditi called out. "Heeeeeey!" She yelled again before breaking out into a sprint.

"Wait up!" Hector hollered from behind as Jessica began to push his wheelchair even more. Laverne followed them from behind.

As the view was more clear, they could see Fridge trying to carry Eli.

"Fridge, over here!" Jessica yelled.

After a few seconds, Fridge turned to them, a smile forming his face as soon as he saw the majority of his team again, he rushed up to the Ritters before pulling them in for a big ol' hug. "Friends! You're all okay!"

"Help-" Hector wheezed as he was inches away from falling off from his wheelchair.

While Fridge and the rest of the other Ritters were busy on their reunion, Eli had woken up from his quick slumber. He could hear footsteps coming his way.

He looked up and could already see who it was. Though he didn't talk to her that much since she was on a different team, he could see that it was Wyonetta. This causes him to flash a weak smirk.

"Heyyyy," he greeted dizzily as he got up.

Wyonetta looked equally tired, having been looking for her teammates quite a while on both the second and first floors. The hockey player got into a stance and held up her shield.

"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm not here to fight you." Eli raised his arms defensively.

"What about them?" Wyonetta looked over to the rest of the Ritters who were devising a way to get to the throne room and maybe find Laila, which they were too distracted to notice that she was there.

"Nah relax, we just had a mini reunion. Impossible that they will fight you right now." Eli answered dismissively.

Wyonetta looked at him for a moment before settling down her shield, letting herself sit by the wall. "I am tired."

"Well guess what, so am I." Eli laughed and sat next to her.

"Don't sit next to me."

"Why not?"

"We're not even close."

"So?"

"So? Don't sit next to me."

Hearing the two bicker even louder, the other Ritters couldn't help but look towards their direction.

"Eli, what are you doing?" Hector asked his teammate, having his gun ready. The others minus Laverne (since she thought another incident was bound to happen again) had their guns on their hands preparing for a potential battle.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa." Eli quickly got up and in front of Wyonetta. "Don't fight her."

"Why not?" asked Jessica. "We're supposed to be fighting anyone who's not part of our team. Well, it's the challenge."

"But do we seriously have to fight everyone who is not on our team? Chris never said that we could skip a battle." Eli defended his side.

"Why on earth are you defending me?" asked Wyonetta as she stood up and grabbed her shield.

"Why didn't you fight me earlier? Admit that you are not gonna fight everyone here." Eli countered her.

"Friendeli-" Fridge spoke towards the couch potato, earning his attention. "Please move-"

"No siree. I am not moving anywhere." Eli shook his head. "Wyo, run."

"I am not running."

"Run!"

Wyonetta looked at Eli then back at the Ritter team, before rushing to the nearest staircase to the second floor. The Ritters all settled their guns down.

"Well, I think we should just leave her be." Hector shrugged. "Eli does have a point about not hitting everyone."

Aditi had her hands on her ears the whole time the moment happened. "Thank gosh…" she sighed in relief as everyone settled down. When she heard footsteps from behind her, she looked back. Though no one got into a fighting stance as it was Laila, who looked tired. Her blouse was also ruined.

"What happened to you?" asked Jessica as she ran up to the snob.

"...Minghao happened…" she panted. "Let's just go."

Knowing that everyone is now back together, they continued to venture forth in the palace and up the staircase.


Eli (Ritter): "Do I like Wyonetta?" he asked, before his lips parted into a smile. "Maybe."


Wyonetta walked around the second floor, having mixed feelings about herself. Why did Eli defend her? They never even talk to each other that much. Maybe he liked her? Nah, impossible.

She continued to walk for what seemed like ages… until she found a painting in the middle of the corridor. "What the hell…"

Picking up the painting, she looked at it closely. There were sunflowers in the painting. Did she know what those meant? Or did it just fall considering the earthquakes earlier?

She looked around the area, before yelping out loud as she felt someone pull her to a corridor from behind.

"Let go!"

"Shhhh!"

She turned around, only to see Sheldon shushing her. She grabbed her shield and zonked him in the head again.

"Oh ztars…" Sheldon muttered dizzily before vigorously shaking his head to come back into his senses. "We're near the throne room." He said, pointing towards a big door just in front of him. "Since the doors to throne rooms are usually grand, I have come to a definite conclusion that the throne room is just on the other side of this hall. That's why the helianthus painting is on the floor over there so the others could see it."

Wyonetta was lost. Did they have a plan before she and Summer lost them? Speaking of Summer, where is she? And where are the rest of the Lytsaris?

"Okay…"

"Shh…" Sheldon shushed the hockey player as he had his ear by the throne room door. "I can hear things…"

"Nonsense." Wyonetta marched over to him and pushed him over and listened to the door herself. She widened her eyes and stepped back. "Why is there someone chanting in there?"

"Sounds like Dimetrius." Sheldon theorized. "Though I could be wrong because he was always with Chris McLean."

"He's a freaking spirit you apeshit, of course he can go anywhere." Wyonetta countered.

Sheldon thought about what she said… before looking at the ground in horror. He saw some small debris falling from the grand hall's pillars. Another earthquake. With the throne room being some sort of epicentre. "Earthquake!" He shouted as he and Wyonetta retreated out of the grand hall.


The camera cuts to Rory and Summer hiding under a table. The earthquake was still ongoing so they still held onto the table's legs as sounds of things falling can be heard. When a full minute had passed, the earthquake finally stopped.

"Let's go Summer," Rory extended a hand to the 80s girl for her to take it to stand up. "We can't stay here longer."

Summer sighed, not taking the drummer's hand just yet. "I don't know. Earthquakes keep happening. And… I don't want to be in a dangerous place if another one happens."

"Still Summer, we have to find our group." Rory told her. "I don't think Sua would want us not cooperating with the others…"

Remembering the idol as the drummer said her name, the blonde nodded. "Yeah… you're right." She took the dummer's hand and stood up. "Let's go."

"Awesome." Rory grinned. "Pretty girls like you should always keep going, you know?"

"What?" Summer asked.

"Uh, I said witty girls like you should always keep going, you know?" Rory repeated, trying to come up with a different way around on the spot.

"Yeah… I see." Summer nodded in response, the two beginning their walk on the second floor halls.


Rory (Lytsari): "Hey, Summer is pretty. Don't get me wrong. What, you think I like her? Psh... plus I did said witty and not pretty."


"Oh shit, a painting." Rory ran up to the painting on the floor. It was the exact same sunflower painting that Wyonetta dropped, so it's possible that any of the other Lytsaris could be nearby. "Sheldon must have found the throne room." He looked at the grand hall, but there were a few pillars that had fallen. "Crap."

"What is it?"

"I think the throne room is over there." the drummer pointed towards the grand hall. "We just need to find our team."

"Let's try and walk around the second floor." Summer suggested and the two ran out of the scene.


Jace was on the ground, blinking a few times as everything came into his focus. He was in some sort of weapons room. He got up from the ground and dusted himself. Looking up to the ceiling, he saw a hole. Maybe he fell? It was too dark to see after all. And gosh it was getting harder to breathe.

There was a paper in front of him. And it had a riddle. Reading it once, it gave him a headache. He couldn't think. Why think when you think you're done for?

He was trapped. He didn't know what was going on or where he was. All he knew is that he was stuck in some sort of freaking castle with endless hallways and corridors here and there and that there was no way out. He had no idea how to answer the question in front of him. Air and oxygen were quickly depleting in the room and the harder it was to breathe, the harder it was to think.

He gripped his shield in his hand. The shield had a four-leaf clover symbol on it. He wanted luck, that is, if it does come out. No, he needed luck.

He looked at the paper in front of him again. God, the question is so hard to answer. The writer took a couple of breaths in and out. No helping either.

Fuck it, just read it again.

"If actions are stronger than words, then why is the pen mightier than the sword?"

"Come on Jace, you're a writer. You should be able to answer this." he scolded himself. Then suddenly, he just gave up and sighs. "Wyonetta was right the other day. Maybe I write for nothing."

Why must the door unlock only by an answer to a freaking riddle?

An earthquake happened yet again, though it was noticeably much weaker than the earthquakes from earlier. It caught him by surprise though as he dropped his paper. Once the aftershock was done, he picked up the paper again, and read it.


Jace (Lytsari): "Next time, I'll try not to fall on booby traps."


Naka was walking in the hallways alone. She felt lonely. Ever since that accident happened, she couldn't stop blaming herself.

"Ugh stupid. Why am I so stupid…" she slapped herself. Over and over again.

"Naka?"

She froze. That voice was familiar. Looking back, she turned to see a familiar face.

"Pierre?"

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked the blond boy as he went closer to her. He saw the tear stained face the shaman girl had and gave her a clean handkerchief that he never used anyway. "Here."

The girl gladly took it and wiped her eyes.

"Everything okay?"

"My team is mad at me. I don't know, it seemed like it." Naka sighed.

"How?"

"Well…"

•• Flashback ••

"Maybe it's this box?" Dustin said as he pointed a box of swords just by the door. "I hope this one doesn't have drugs on them."

"Wait, about this one?" Naka asked the assistant and tried to lift the box. "This is lighter."

"Fake weapons might be heavier." Dustin told her. "They have more swords in them. The real ones only ever have like seven of them. The fake ones have a lot. But then again I'm not exactly too sure either."

"Let's just go with the one you have." Naka said as she pointed to Dustin's box.

"Alright let's bring this over to the others."

•• End flashback ••

"They were real…" Naka whispered.

"What were real?" asked Pierre.

"The swords… they were real."

Naka sighed again as tears streamed down her face. She grabbed three lucky charms from her pocket; a dreamcatcher charm, a clover charm, and a horseshoe charm, and threw them on the floor as she let frustration take over her.

"Hey hey hey…" Pierre pulled her in for a hug. "Let's go. I won't fight you. Let me help you calm down first."

Naka nodded, which urged the taller boy to lead them into a room to talk things in private.


Pierre (Lytsari): "Naka… could be a potential ally down the line." he jutted his head in thought. "Maybe in the merge. I just have to stick close to her and be on her good side."


The Ritters were now on the second floor, looking for the throne room. They were the only team that were now actually together which gave them an advantage.

"Glad you two have learned your lesson." Jessica commented on the side, glancing towards Laila and Laverne who were not even making eye contact with each other. "And you…" she looked towards Eli. "Do you have any allies outside this team?"

Eli thought about it for a while. Wyonetta… wasn't an ally, right? Maybe a potential one?

"No."

"Then why did you protect her from us?"

"Jessica, it's just a challenge. No need to take that too seriously." Hector stopped her. "We may or may not have friends outside our team. How would you feel if you had a friend on the other teams and your teammates were hurting them? Maybe give them a chance."

The midwestern wrangler hung her head down in shame. She thought about Gerald and Rory back at the other challenge. Though Gerald was quite a nuisance due to his Allan fiasco, he was alright. Rory was pretty chill too. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."

"All good." Eli simply nodded.

"Hooray for friends!" Fridge cheered, but his cheering stopped as he accidentally hit a plant. "Ow!"

"Are you okay, Fridge?"

"Yeah Frienditi. It's just a cactus." Fridge said, gesturing to the potted cactus now on the ground.

"Oh okay…" Aditi nodded.

"Why on earth is there a cactus in the middle of the hall? That sounds filthy." Laila rolled her eyes.

"Hey, cacti aren't filthy!" Laverne glared at her. The rest of the Ritters flashed both girls some angry looks before shutting up.

"Let's just move on." Jessica ordered.


Jessica (Ritter): "Voting either of them if we lost. I am getting so tired from them. We wouldn't have split up in the first place if it wasn't for those two.


About half an hour had passed and Maelle was still walking around, looking for her teammates.

"Ugh where are you, Pierre?" Maelle groaned in visible frustration as she tried to search for one of the missing Lytsari members. She was already tired of looking everywhere. Not to mention, she also felt lost.

Suddenly, she heard giggling.

Giggling?

This… she wanted to find out who. Knowing how Pierre might act, he could possibly spell trouble for them. But why giggling?

As she got closer and closer to the sounds of giggling she heard, she could process what words she was hearing from far away, until a door was the only thing that separated her from the sounds.

"You know, you look pretty hot."

"Well you look beautiful yourself, you know?"

"Heehee, I've never really gotten those kinds of compliments before."

"That's a huge shame, people are kinda missing out on your beauty."

"Y-you think so?"

"Of course."

Then came the following sounds that she rarely ever heard in her life, sounds that only two people can make when they are extremely close to each other…

The sounds of kissing.

This weirded her out. No, it wasn't a bad thing to her. Romance or love or anything like that isn't a bad thing. It was never a bad thing to her. Just weird. Love was weird. The more times she hears the sounds, the weirder it gets. Didn't help either when a few… associating sounds like whimpers and yelps echoed. Her hand fumbled on the doorknob, her thoughts frenzying her mind. She was so tempted… so fucking tempted to open that goddamnned motherfucking door and catch whoever is in there red-handed-

She stopped...


Maelle (Lytsari): "Screw this."


...before opening the door, catching the two people in it red-handed.

The two were in the middle of a makeout session but visibly stopped as soon as they saw the maid in purple.

They almost seemed… embarrassed?

"What the absolute heck?" Maelle exclaimed. "Pierre and Naka? We are in the middle of a challenge here! And to think it be you two out of all people,"

Naka gulped, knowing about her former teammate's attitude. And since Maelle was Pierre's current teammate, this was extremely weird for him too.

"...and hello! You two aren't even teammates. Weren't you two supposed to fight each other?" Maelle continued on with her sermon even further.

"But-"

"No buts." Maelle interrupted Pierre. "You're going home tonight."

Suddenly footsteps came rushing in. It was Jeremy, looking as if he was looking for Naka. He saw Maelle just by the doorway and went to check. But, once he saw what Maelle was looking: Pierre and Naka having their arms around each other in an embrace on the corner of the room, both of their lips strawberry-red from their rather desperately much-wanted contact, and a few weird marks on their necks to top everything off, he visibly grimaced and couldn't hide it.

"...Oh… uh, there you are, Naka. Uh… bingo... hi, Maelle." He awkwardly greeted, stepped back, and lousily held his sword before dropping it to the floor by accident. This caused himself to flinch from the noise. "Are we uh, supposed to fight now? Or...?" He asked, before walking backwards due to the awkward atmosphere. Unfortunately, he tripped over the bottom part of the doorway that was somehow elevated and landed on his back with a thump. "I'm okay!"


Jeremy (Chevaliers): "Okay, I lied. I am not okay." he attempted to straighten up his back. "God my back hurts,"


"Never mind. Just save it. You all just go back to your teams now if you don't want to go home." Maelle dismissed the conversation between her current teammate and former teammates and left the scene, with Pierre rushing behind her. While they did so, Jeremy got up and sent a disapproving look towards the shaman, who hung her head low.

"Wait, Jeremy!" Naka rushed up to him. "Were the others looking for me?"

The musical nerd stopped in his tracks. Should he lie and tell her that they were looking for her? Or should he tell the truth? The fact that only he and himself alone separate from the group just to look for her?

"No, they weren't." He responded. "Let's deal with that later. We have to find them first."

The two marched onwards to the hall. Though it was pretty dark, there were a few lights that managed to light up the path.

Jeremy widened his eyes as soon as he saw Paige the archer falling asleep. Assuming that Tyler probably hit him, there could also be chances that he was close by.

Naka's gaze turned to a door just right across from Paige. There was a small window in the door giving them a tiny view of the inside.

"It's them." Naka silently cheered that the Chevaliers were in the room. Realizing her mistake earlier, her smile went to a frown.

Jeremy carefully and slowly knocked on the door to not wake Paige up. That was when Foster opened the door and let them in.


Jace sighed as he was still trapped. He looked at the weapon rack which had a small pen on the floor, a sword, and several shields in it. He grabbed three shields: one that had a four leaf clover like his own, one that had a horseshoe on it, and one that had a dreamcatcher. Additional weapons, maybe. Maybe he could just break the lock open and not answer some stupid riddle? Gosh, and why did he have to solve a riddle out of everybody?

An idea hit his head like thunder clashing with lightning. He looked at the padlock. There was a keyhole, but it did not look like a hole that would fit for a key. Maybe he didn't have to answer the riddle after all.

He went back to the weapons rack and grabbed the pen. Walking towards the padlock, he used the tip of the pen as a key, and twisted…

Click!

Door opened.

"Wow." Jace exclaimed. "Wow." He exclaimed again. "That was a terrible riddle." He chuckled before grabbing the shields and marched outside of the room until he met Pierre and Maelle.

"Jace!" Pierre shouted as he gave Jace a brotherly hug. "Nice to see you again."

"How on earth did you get trapped in there?" Maelle asked. "It does not make any sense."

"I pretty much stepped on some sort of booby trap during the earthquake." The writer explained his side. "Then it led me down here."

"That explains it." Pierre shrugged.

"Let's save the rambling later. We have to find the others before another earthquake happens." Maelle ordered. The three then head up the staircase outside and onto the second floor as they presumed the rest of their team is up there.


Grumbling can be heard from the ground as an earthquake starts to occur. The Chevaliers were somehow still stuck in the first floor. At least they were all together.

"Everyone, hold on!" Foster commanded the Chevaliers. The team all held on and ducked under different furniture such as tables, beds, and chairs, all hoping that Dimetrius' madness to the palace would stop.

Once the earthquake stopped, they all went back to their places.

"We have to get out of here." Foster declared firmly as he looked towards the window of the guest room, seeing Paige still dead asleep on the floor because of Tyler's hit from earlier. "We can't stay here forever and wait for her to wake up and walk away. I don't think those sleep effects will last long on her."

"How are we gonna get past her?" asked Pandora.

"Keep quiet and stay low while walking on the side via single file. That's probably the only way." Tala answered as she placed a hand on the photographer's shoulder.

Jeremy managed to find a flashlight that was kept under the bed. He tried turning it on. The lights flickered for a bit before going steady. "I'll go first for the light source. I'm not sure how often we can rely on just the windows.

"Me and Tyler will go last in case Paige wakes up." Foster declared as he cracked his knuckles preparing himself for another round.


Tyler (Chevaliers): "Now that I think about it, I made a big mistake leaving my bow and arrows back at Manoria. Jeremy lost that bow Paige gave him- or rather, the bow he stole from her earlier and now she just so happens to have a spare one… unless it was the same one and she found it and used it again." He ended his speech with an annoyed look.


Tala looked at Pandora and held her hand tightly. "Don't let go, okay?"

"Okay." Pandora firmly held her hand with a determined smile.


Tala (Chevaliers): "Gosh she's so pretty when she smiles, it's really just enough to brighten my day-" she slaps herself, leaving a slap mark right on her left cheek thanks to her own hand. She realized everything she said every single time she goes on to the confessional. Did she have some feelings for the photographer? "Goddammit Tala Solis, you are straight! Straight! You've been doing this for two days now, stop thinking like that around Pandora or people will judge you!"


"Quiet, guys." Naka held a finger up to her lips in a shushing gesture.

This was when Jeremy opened the door and began leading the way. He was walking low, keeping an eye on the sleeping archer, then at the hall ahead. He held the flashlight with two hands because he was shaking and he didn't want to drop the flashlight and wake Paige up.

Naka went out next, following Jeremy's lead, her hand just on his back. I know this is just a challenge, but gosh this challenge is scary, she thought.

"Don't touch my back." Jeremy whispered uncomfortably.

"Sorry."

"Shh!" Tala glared at the two as she had her hand in a shushing motion, looking at Paige every now and then. She walked out, holding Pandora's hand tight in her grip, urging the photographer to walk right behind her.

Pandora's camera dangled in front of her. The lanyard that held her camera close to her was about to snap soon due to how old it was, which could possibly spite the team to doom. One of her hands held Tala's while the other hovered on her mouth to keep herself from freaking out.

Gerald went after her, looking back every now and then. Maybe he was checking to see if Allan is behind him? Well, no one else can see him except for Gerald himself and possibly Foster, but nevertheless, he still kept quiet.

Next was Tyler, whose face was staring deadly towards Paige. The girl had her bow and arrow close to her… and he was assuming that this was the exact same weapon that Jeremy lost when the musical nerd saved him from Eli earlier.

Finally, Foster emerged out of the room, his eyes completely focused on the group instead before turning to the sleeping archer about five seconds later. Though he didn't have insane martial arts skills, his level would fit for a survivalist like him.

...Then suddenly, something fell.

CLANK!

Everyone widened their eyes in horror as they turned their heads to the source of the noise. Pandora's camera had fallen to the ground, many thanks to her lanyard that apparently did snap out of her neck. Due to the impact of the fall, the lens had several dangerous cracks on it, and the camera itself had scratches.

They quickly turned to Paige, and much to their unfortunate horror, she was sitting up, watching their shocked expressions with an extremely mischievous smile. Her hand quickly trailed for her weapons next to her.

There was only one more option… and Foster knew what it was.

"RUN!"

The Chevaliers broke out into a full sprint, with Tyler scooping up Pandora's camera onto his hands so he could give it back to her later.

Paige started running herself, professionally aiming her arrows towards the team and letting them hit.

"Ahh!" someone yelped out in pain.

Jeremy, who was in the front of the whole team, took a quick second to look back and saw that Naka had fallen to the ground fast asleep.

Thud.

"Wait, Naka!"

"We'll get her later!"

The team continued to scurry off and saw a staircase just on the right.

"Up?" Jeremy asked.

"YES! UP! GO! HURRY!" Foster called out from the back. The musical nerd did as he was told and quickly led the Chevaliers up the staircase.

After another long run in a new set of halls, the team was slowing down for a bit.

"Is she still after us?" Pandora breathed out her words as looked back for a bit to see if Paige was still chasing the group. Though she was no longer there, the team kept on running.

The team passed a supply room filled with even more boxes.

"Wait!" Tala called out to the team. "In here!"

The Chevaliers quickly went inside the room and locked the door shut, just in time before a bunch of arrows began shooting towards them.

"That… was…" Jeremy panted heavily to regain his breathing. "...close."

Tyler couldn't help but laugh a bit. "I'm sorry, I literally thought you were going to say 'that was amazing.'"

Jeremy shared a chuckle with him which was followed by a few laughs from the team despite how tired they were. Gerald however, was by the door, looking for something… or someone.


Gerald (Chevaliers): The boy sighed. "Allan gets lost real easily when it comes to these kinds of chases. I hope he's okay.


Foster (Chevaliers): "I should've held Paige back." He scolded himself. "That way Naka would still be in the challenge."


Once the laughter died down, Tala looked at the boxes in the room. There were ropes, nets, levers here and there, and strings. "I have an idea."

"Why can't we just fight her again?" Tyler asked. "Wait a minute… I forgot my sword in the guest room."

"Oh shit, I forgot mine too. Ugh," Tala groaned in frustration. Everyone else also forgot about their weapons in the guest room due to all the thinking they had to do. "She's gonna keep on chasing us so we have to capture her. Especially since we don't have our weapons and there aren't any more choices left."

"Capturing her is gonna be pretty hard." Gerald commented as he was still looking for something… maybe Allan? "Paige is literally three times faster than Minghao and one wrong mistake will mess everything up so I think we really have to try to think of something good."

"And how are we gonna do that?" Foster asked. "There's barely anything in here."

Tala urged the team to form into a circle and she began whispering to them her plan while pointing at the boxes every now and then. The camera however, wasn't able to pick up what they were all saying due to how far the shot was.

And the ground started shaking.

"Not again…" Foster groaned as the cast was about to experience another earthquake.


Maelle, Pierre, and Jace were just by the balcony running. They had just seen the Ritter team looking for their way to the throne room, so this could spell them getting the win.

"Where the heck is everyone else?" Jace panted. "I am so tired right now."

"Guys!" A familiar voice shouted towards their way. It was Rory and he was with Summer.

"Where were you guys?" Pierre asked the two.

"Uh… hiding under a table?" Summer answered, receiving odd looks from Maelle and Jace. "What, there were earthquakes literally happening every second!"

"Fuck, and there's another one happening right now." Rory flinched as the balcony started to shake. Team Ritter were also just by the area and were already ducking behind tables.

"Friends, duck!" Fridge shouted towards the Ritters.

"Over there!" Maelle pointed to a wooden long table, enough to hold her, Pierre, Jace, Summer, and Rory under it.

Since the balcony was fairly close to the throne room, the earthquake was pretty strong. In fact, it was so strong that a chandelier fell down, which caused several of the contestants to scream in fear. The lights of the chandelier flickered for a bit as the earthquake ceased to a stop.


Back to the Chevaliers, Foster, Tyler, Gerald, Jeremy, Tala, and Pandora were all in their positions. There was a huge net in the center of the room while Foster and Tyler surrounded it. Gerald and Jeremy were standing by a bunch of ropes that the net was tied into, and they were there in case the knots go out of place. And lastly, Tala and Pandora were by the levers to commence the magic once their target entered the room.

"Unlock the door." Tala whispered to Foster as he was the nearest to the door. The survivalist nodded and approached said door carefully, had both of his hands by the doorknobs, and slowly turned it in a clockwise manner.

Click!

The survivalist quickly got back into his position as soon as he heard arrows flying into the room.


Pandora (Chevaliers): "Wait so she was right there the whole time?"


"Guess I have to take you all out one by one then!" Paige mused as her fingers quickly began to work its way on the bow and shot three arrows at once.

"Duck!" Jeremy yelled out as one of the arrows went straight for him and Gerald. They did so just in time as the arrow landed right on top of them.

Tyler and Foster grabbed Paige to try and keep her on the net. "Tala, Pandora, now!" Foster shouted.

"One two three!" Tala counted as fast as she could and the two pushed down the lever with all their might. Ropes started making all sorts of whirring sounds while Tyler and Foster held Paige in place. Jeremy kicked Paige's weapons out of her hands to help.

"The rope!" Gerald exclaimed as the ropes began to tie an unwanted knot. The boy tried to counter this by tugging the rope.

"What's taking so long?! Why isn't the net pulling her up!?" Foster grunted as he desperately tried to keep her in place. It was hard for both him and Tyler as Paige kept on kicking their legs to loosen their grip. Tala and Pandora both left the lever and came over to Tyler and Foster's aid.

"Guys, keep her in place, we'll try and get the rope untied since it's stuck!" Gerald exclaimed. "Jeremy, help!"

The musical nerd grabbed the rope above Gerald and tugged it as hard as he could until the rope's whirring sound resumed. "Come on you stupid excuse of a net, do your thing already!"

"Hurry up!" Tala yelled.

"We're trying!"' Jeremy panicky shouted.


Jeremy (Chevaliers): "How many times have I been put into pressure like this? God fuck me gently with a-" the confessional cuts before he finished his confessional.


The ropes stopped whirring again, but this time, there was smoke coming out of it.

"What the-" Gerald couldn't think of any words to say as he and Jeremy stepped back.

Suddenly, the rope sped up its process with a piercing ascending-like sound echoing throughout the room.

"Ahhhh!" Everyone shrieked as the noise echoed in their ears. The net that was on the floor then scooped them all up by surprise and pulled them up onto the ceiling.

"Shit, we're trapped!" Foster swore under his breath as the Chevaliers plus Paige struggled to break free from the large net. They were all inside and captured and the ropes were pulling them up around at least five feet off the ground.

Soon, the ropes stopped doing their things as they were now hanging on the ceiling.

"Well, it looks like we're stuck and cramped in here. That was dumb." Tala sighed. "Ow, who's stepping on my back?"

"Sorry, I can't move." Tyler apologized. "How are we gonna get down now?"

"Someone needs to reverse the lever." Pandora pointed to the lever that she and Tala activated earlier. "But we're too far up. Oh, I wish Naka was awake now so that she could find us here. I guess we can only hope."

"This is stupid." Paige sighed, being trapped with the Chevalier team.


Gerald (Chevaliers): "Allan went lost earlier so if Naka doesn't wake up and get over here, I wish Allan would find us. That way, I could also prove to them that he is real."


Tala (Chevaliers): "I wish I never yelled at Naka earlier. What if she wakes up and decides to not come back to us?"


Minghao was walking in the halls. He honestly had enough. He never liked fighting anyway and thought it was just for fun but with earthquakes happening every now and then, that is not fun.

And you guessed it, another earthquake was about to happen.

"Curses…" Minghao cursed under his breath. There was some debris on the ceiling which was bound to fall off anytime soon. That's when he noticed Naka trying to get up.

"Jiějiě, get up!" The intern yelled, dropping his fake sword, rushing towards the shaman and helped her up. As the debris was about to fall on them, Minghao managed to help Naka make it out on time. Moments later, the earthquake has stopped.

"Ugh, why are there always earthquakes!?" Naka cried out frustratingly.

"It's Dimetrius. He's becoming mad though I do not know why. I'm presuming you're trying to find your team?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, I know my way around this palace now so I might as well try and see if I can take you to them. Paige was chasing them earlier so they should be nearby." Minghao explained.

"Okay." Naka nodded and the two ran.

As they eventually reached the room where the Chevaliers were on the second floor, both Minghao and Naka opened the door with great force and found the team plus Paige up in the net.

"Naka!" exclaimed the other Chevaliers.

"Allan!" exclaimed Gerald.

"Allan?" Foster groaned.

Minghao looked at the lever. "Jiějiě, the lever."

The shaman ran to the lever and reversed it, sending the Chevaliers and Paige down with a thump. Minghao took the time to untangle them from the net.

"Great, now let's fight!" Paige giddily exclaimed and got on a fighting stance.

"No, Paige!" Minghao swatted Paige's bow away. "We're taking them to the throne room. The other teams are already close by at this time maybe and Dimetrius is probably bound to break this palace down any second."

"Wait, tell me you're joking." Pandora pleaded.

"I'm not joking, jiějiě. I just saved your friend from getting hit by debris earlier. So this challenge is not going well as planned."

"Well, what on earth are we just standing around here for!? Let's go!" Foster said frantically, clearly in a state of panic just like the rest of them inside the room. They all rushed out of the room in a huge hurry with Minghao and Paige leading the team to the throne room.


Wyonetta and Sheldon have entered a door in which they assumed was another guest room, but no.

They were in the throne room.

There was a man in a Victorian outfit. He had silver white hair, pale skin, and dark black eyes. He was looking at two coffins that were placed in front of him.

"Mother… father… rest in peace. May everyone who opposed you perish in damnation…" he chanted to himself.

"What in the fuck…" Wyonetta exclaimed quietly as her eyes were widening at what she saw.

"I… did not expect this." Sheldon commented. He urged him and the hockey player to go hide by a nearby plant.

"This… this was my home…" the human form of Dimetrius began his monologue. "Though not anymore. This was where everything happened. This was where I was assassinated. This was where my father had an accident. This was where my mother gave everything up. All because of you."

"All because of who exactly!?" Wyonetta whispered-screamed, completely confused on what was going on.

Several footsteps came rushing in the room. It was the Ritter team.

"What on earth-"

"Shh!" Wyonetta shushed Eli. The Ritter team all gathered up with Wyonetta and Sheldon just by the back door. Later on, they were joined by the rest of the Lytsari team who appeared to have followed the Ritters from behind.

Not too far from them was Dustin and Chris (who were apparently there to properly end the challenge [assuming the queen and king were still alive but that is no longer the case]) who looked extremely surprised by what was happening. There were a few members of the camera crew present as well during the phenomena, though they were trying their best to hide from Dimetrius where he couldn't see them.

Dimetrius had his hands on both coffins."My kind will soon rule this world. One way or another. Spirits and imagination, overpowering humankind… more than how anyone would ever imagine. In every single day or night. Second or minute. Hour or day. Week or month. Year or even decades or centuries. I will take over. I will seek revenge." He spoke with such confidence in his voice that it was enough to send shivers to everyone. "My fellow spirit will also join me by my side, and together we will rule."

The left side of the back door was getting even more crowded as the Chevaliers plus Minghao and Paige joined.

"What's happening?" Tyler asked. "Whoa-"

"That." Summer pointed towards Dimetrius in horror.


Summer (Lytsari): "I really don't like where all of this was going. And I thought last night with Sua was already enough."


Another human figure joined Dimetrius during his ritual. This human was a young boy with blonde hair and pink streaks. He wore a pokeball shirt, which immediately confirmed the several suspicions from the cast.

He was very much real now.

"ALLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" Gerald cried out, seeing his best friend… or imaginary friend… if he wasn't that imaginary… in the graces of Dimetrius. He tried to run, but Foster immediately held him back.

"Gerald, NO!" he told him as he held his arm tightly.

"But Allan! Please, let me go!"

"Gerald, stop!" Pandora pleaded. "Everything will just get worse!"

"Uh guys? I don't think this is a really good time to argue about Allan now…" Jeremy gulped.

Much to the cast's horror, Dimetrius turned his head and attention menacingly to the source of the noise. With the power he had on his hands, he levitated the coffins and aimed for Gerald, even the cast as a whole as they were just near him.

"Duuuuuck!" Jace shouted from behind and grabbed the shields he had earlier and formed a barricade. This was followed with the other Lytsari teammates since they had shields as weapons.

"Guys, get behind us right now!" Rory added as he, Jace, Pierre, Wyonetta, Summer, and Sheldon lined up their shields together.

The coffins had hit the shields so hard that the Lytsari team lost their grip. The bones of the skeletons that were staying inside of the coffin for who knows how long hits the cast, to which they unfortunately did not have anything to defend themselves against it.

"The barricade!" Maelle gasped as the shields were now scattered all over the place. At least they had blocked the incoming coffins bound to hit them.

"Ewww! Guys, shoot him!" Laila frustratingly panicked (and grimaced so loud due to some bones crashing on her) to the Ritters as they had their guns compared to the Chevaliers who are pretty powerless right now. "Now is a good time to use those sleep bullets!"

Laverne froze in fear but had her gun ready. She began to shoot a bullet, aiming specifically for Dimetrius.

"Now?" asked the model.

"Just freaking do it!" Laila hollered.

She was still hesitating.

"Laverne, we trust you. Do it." Hector urged from the back.

Jessica ran up to Laverne and held the gun with the model who was apparently shaking.

"Now!" shouted the wrangler.

Laverne pulled the trigger.

BANG!

"Ah!" Aditi yelped and covered her ears.

"Frienditi!" Fridge ran and had Aditi in for a hug as if she was the one getting hit.

However the bullet just went through Dimetrius. And now it was heading right towards Chris, who was still shocked by everything.

"What the-"

"Chris!" Dustin yelled and pushed the host to the side and ducked, causing the bullet to hit a glass window instead, shattering it open.

"We're gonna have to get out of here." Chris frantically said as he ot up, looking at the glass window that had just shattered. Though he was normally not a panicky person and would probably like to have this for the extreme ratings, he is probably gonna have a lot of lawsuits against him when this is over. He then gestured to the camera man. "Get everyone over here. We're going to jump out of this place."

"Sir-"

"NOW!"

The camera man nodded and the rest of the crew rushed to the cast.

"Oh my gosh-" Paige panicked out of her mind as she saw what was Dimetrius about to do.


Minghao (Intern): "I want to be fired next episode."


"Everyone, they're calling us! Make haste!" Maelle pointed to where the cameramen, Chris, and Dustin were and the group rushed to them.

"We're freaking jumping!? No way! I'm not going to." Pierre exclaimed, already freaking out about the fact that they were going to jump from the second floor.

"Hey, it's okay-" Naka attempted to reassure him by grabbing his hand but was cut off by a cameraman.

"We have the medical team with a cushion down below. We'll be fine!"

Tala looked at Dimetrius and Allan. Dimetrius had hid hands on the floor but Allan was just… standing next to him.


Tala (Chevaliers): "What if Allan was just being forced to be with Dimetrius? Because Gerald said he got lost earlier..."


"Tala, come on!" Pandora called her.

Some of the cast began jumping out of the window as there was already the medical team down to where they were about to jump off. A huge cushion was quickly prepped so that everyone could get out to safety. As for Hector's case, they had some medical team members climb up and helped him down as quickly as possible.

"Ceasing this palace." Dimetrius ominously growled.

When everyone was safely out of the palace, they all boarded the bus and sped off.


Chris (Host): "I am going to have lots of words about this. We are leaving Manoria later. This season is practically ruined now."


As the bus drove out of sight, that was when the palace fell. Lots of its structures were now ruined. Though Dimetrius and Allan were no longer to be seen anymore.


Elimination Ceremony #2

The scene changes to the foyer back in Manoria where the everyone was in the foyer.

"Everyone, once this elimination ceremony is over, I want you all to pack up. Immediately. We are leaving Manoria and never coming back. The owner of this house is a complete whack and I should've believed Sua when she said he was crazy." Chris quickly explained. Was the season going to keep moving? There was an elimination ceremony after all. "Since we were in the throne room, the Lytsaris won the challenge because Sheldon and Wyonetta went in first."

Said team didn't cheer. They were still scared for their life back in the palace.

"Lyts, you and Ritter can pack up. Chevaliers, you are up for elimination." said a panicking Chris. "Maybe just hurry up on the voting booth.


Chevalier Voting Confessional

Foster: "Naka. Easy. But I'll still regret this vote, there's just no one else to vote for right now."

Gerald: "Allan is real. Allan is real. Allan is real." He said in a very alarming tone, still freaked out of what had just happened to Allan.

Jeremy: "I guess I will just hop aboard on the train of Naka votes. Still think Dustin was behind it, but we can't vote for him. You know what, just fuck me with a chainsaw. Gently of course. ...Actually forget what I said, that sounded so wrong on a bunch of levels now, I mean look what the hell did just happened back there."

Naka: "I know, I'm probably going home now, huh. Well I guess my luck ran out… that is, if I actually did have any luck… But hey, at least I can be safe from this game… literally."

Pandora: Pandora wasn't talking in the confessional as she had mixed feelings of what was going on.

Tala: "I'm sorry, Naka. I don't know who to vote for."

Tyler: "Why are we even still voting? I don't think any of us can think straight because of what just happened back there!"


"Naka, you're gone." Chris immediately announced. "I could tell because there were only four pieces of paper in here. The other three did not vote. Make the goodbyes quick, we're leaving in an hour."

"Expected." Naka stood up and faced her team. "I'm sorry guys. Especially you, Pandora. Hope it heals quick."

"I'm sorry for yelling at you." Tala said as she and Pandora briefly pulled the shaman for a hug. The boys of the team also said their goodbyes to Naka before the shaman was escorted out of the mansion by a few staff members.


Nake (Eliminated): "The staff will get my things, right?"


"Chevaliers, pack up now. Dustin, tell Paige and Minghao to pack up to. We're all leaving at 11:00 pm sharp. We need to be out of here before Dimetrius comes back with Gerald's friend." Chris ordered as soon as Naka left. His command then prompted everyone else to leave and pack up as well.

"Sir, what about the outro?" asked the camera man.

"Do you think I have time to do an outro when there's a literal ghost coming home to get us? Hell no!" Chris loudly shouted.

"Oh okay." The camera man gulped before shutting the camera off, abruptly ending the episode.


Blue Chevaliers: Foster, Tyler, Gerald, Jeremy, Tala, Pandora

Red Ritter: Eli, Fridge, Hector, Aditi, Laila, Laverne, Jessica

Yellow Lytsari: Pierre, Jace, Rory, Sheldon, Maelle, Summer, Wyonetta


Votes: Blue Chevaliers

Naka (4) - Foster, Jeremy, Tala, Naka

*Pandora, Tyler, and Gerald did not vote

Eliminated: Naka (4 votes)


Author's note: Wow cow, what an episode lmao. Apologies if some of the scenes seemed rushed because I was writing some of this in school lol. I'm slightly satisfied how this turned out compared to the previous part but the writing towards the throne room scene and onwards to the end could have been written better tbh. I did sort of rushed that a bit on purpose since I wanted to capture the feel of being in a big hurry but I don't think I did that well lol, welp. But I'd like to hear your thoughts on this! I also hope I gave the other characters more time to shine in this one lol. For sure the screentime isn't equal but I feel they all at least brought something to the table even though some (majority of the Lytsari team) did not fight. The Ritter scenes were a bit underwhelming again but that kinda explains how solid their team is than let's say the Lytsaris or the Chevs lol.

It was actually hard to plan out who will be eliminated. I literally had a hard time drafting the elimination order and my final draft leads towards Naka getting the short stick today. First of all, big thanks to meepster202 for sending her in, I had a lot of fun writing our shaman even if it was for a short time. We will be seeing her in the future episodes and the aftermath so don't fret! Now why did Naka go out, story-wise? Her talking a lot to Pierre caused her downfall in the first place. With all the interaction they had, it was often seen by some (especially Maelle [and to an extent, Jeremy]) that they were bound to become lovey-dovey later on, which of course, happened anyway. Not to mention Dustin basically also led her to her doom in the first place with the swords lmao.

Also apologies if some scenes this whole episode were pretty filler (had to rewrite them a lot but I guess it is what it is lol) but hopefully the challenge portion and the ending made up for it since I had fun writing it even though it didn't turned out as good lol. The Chevaliers vs. Paige chasing scene was the most fun part to write in my opinion besides the ending in the throne room but I honestly loved the challenge as a whole. It's actually a similar challenge to the previous ones earlier, but next episode we're going to be following a completely different formula considering how this one ended. We are going back to the normal sway of TD challenges though lol.


Elimination Table:

22nd - Sua

21st - Naka


Meaning behind the episode title: Wang Raanee. This episode title was so hard to come up with lol. Out of all the current titles I have planned, I had the most trouble coming up with this one because this one gave only like, one or two hints to Naka's elimination unlike last episode with Sua which had hints all over the place lol. Since this challenge was a lot less puzzle-y, having hints was hard lol.

The title at first was supposed to be Wang and Raanee but it made no sense to have an English word in the beginning when the gig here is to have the titles in a different language lmao. Anyway moving on, the title mostly had to do with the challenge, saving the 'King' and 'Queen'. Both Minghao and Paige actually added into the fun but they were only actually trying to mess with them. (Ie. Like knights or rooks I suppose lol). Everyone else was basically trying to find/save the royal couple (even though they're actually dead) as just normal people. Think of it like a bit of a chess game, perhaps, except the contestants are more like pawns. It's just that there's no black or white side to deal with.

Dustin and Naka's flashback scene with the swords might've played a huge part in this episode. He basically led her to her doom in accident by having them grab real weapons instead of fake (Why was there also methamphetamine in one of the other boxes? Hint: the throne room scene, though it will be further explained next episode), which also led to other stuff like Pandora's injury, arguments with Tala, Pierre and Naka, yada yada... let's just say Dustin made the doom move in the 'chess' game right from the start lol domino effect. XD And I'm pretty sure you guys (especially those who've seen Dustin in other SYOCs) know that he's a chess player so this fail may lead to an eventual *cough* mishap *cough* towards the next episodes lol. Oh no. XD

Now what does all this have to do with Naka? This is the only episode title so far that is made up of not one, but two words from two different languages. Based on my research (Please correct me if I'm wrong lol) Wang is a Korean word meaning 'King'. Raanee on the other hand, I am not sure if it's Gujarati but it means 'Queen'. Note that Naka is half-Korean half-Indian (Gujarati is an Indian province so either way, the hint leads to both lol) as stated from EP1: Neue Geusicher. Also note that a king and a queen are usually a couple and the fact that another possible reason why Naka got out was because she and Pierre did some… extremely sus couple-y things (and the other fact that Naka wore a shirt that said 'Shaman Queen' on it… ye XD) that literally spells like Naka's doom lmao rip.

If anyone also paid attention to the scene where Jace grabbed three shields from the weapons rack, there's also a slight hint there. It was mentioned that the shields all have different logos on them; a four-leaf clover, a dreamcatcher, and a horseshoe. These three items as logos all symbolise good luck one way or another. Guess who's the only one who has good luck charms with these mentioned symbols? Yup, that's Naka.

**But doesn't Aditi also wear a bracelet with good luck charms? Keen eye, but those aren't good luck charms though, those were charms of different animals. :)

As usual, below is the next episode title for Episode 4! The Lytsari ode/mini episode will be up sometime next week (*tries nt to procrastinate*) then we'll be full speed ahead to ep4 which I'll try to get it up some time in March still if school isn't gonna be a hassle. This author's note is so long, lol. Thanks for reading!

-L'amour Sur La Quai-