"And we're on in three… two… one…" the director Waddle Dee counted down.

The film crew was currently sanctioned at the very top of the tall cliff on the east side of the island. The cameras started rolling just as the campers got to the top. Some were dressed in swim attire, while others either came as they were or just brought swim goggles.

"Huff… honestly, would it kill you to install some chair lifts or something?" Daroach, currently dressed in a red rash guard and matching swim trunks, asked breathlessly.

"Poyo," Kirby said in agreement. He was wearing blue goggles.

"Eh, not in the budget," Chris McDee said halfheartedly.

Adeleine, who was wearing a teal, one-piece bathing suit with colored splotches resembling paint splatters on it, spoke up. "Why'd you make us put on swimsuits anyway? There's no water up here."

"Not here," said Chris. "Down there." He pointed down at the bottom of the cliff.

Cautiously, the campers peered over the edge. Below them was a lake. A circular section of the lake was roped off with a white barrier. At the center of this circle was a buoyant, red and white ring, presumably a target of some kind.

"…You've gotta be kiddin' me," said Dedede, who was wearing yellow and red zigzag trunks.

"Today's challenge is three-fold," Chris explained. "Your first task is to jump off this 1000 foot high cliff into the lake."

"Hmm. Shouldn't be too difficult," Meta Knight said. He, Dark Meta Knight, and Galacta Knight were dressed in their armor as usual, though Meta Knight and Dark Meta Knight weren't wearing their capes.

"If you look down, you will see two target areas. The wider area represents the part of the lake that we have stocked with psychotic, man-eating sharks," Chris said with a laugh.

"Oh, sure, THAT'S in the budget," Daroach remarked.

"Inside that area is a safe zone," Chris continued. "That's your target area, which we're pretty sure is shark-free."

"W-well, that's reassuring," Elfilin stuttered. He had on green goggles.

"For each member of your team that jumps and actually, you know, survives, there will be a crate of supplies waiting below. Inside each crate are the supplies you'll need for the second part of the challenge: building a hot tub! The team with the best one will get to have a wicked hot tub party tonight! The losers… will be sending someone home." After the explanation was over, Chris turned to address The Dark Matters. "Let's see… Dark Matters, you're up first! Oh, one more thing: those of you who can fly… don't."

"Okay, friends, who wants to go first?" Marx, wearing red and blue goggles and brown flippers, along with his signature jester hat, hopped up and asked.

Nobody answered.

"Oh, come now, guys!" Magolor, dressed in a blue and white full-body swimsuit, said encouragingly. "Surely they won't make us do anything unless they know it's safe. It'll be fiiiiine!"

"Alright then, you go first," said Dark Meta Knight. He pushed Magolor forward toward the cliff.

"…V-very well." Magolor inched his way to the edge. He took a deep breath… then jumped.

Down the egg-shaped wizard went, doing his best to center himself on the target. After a few seconds, he plunged into the water.

*SPLASH*

He landed in the target. "Woo hoo!" he cheered.

As a boat driven by Kawasaki drove in close to pick Magolor up, Susie looked into the water below. She wore a light blue bikini with little white gears on it. "Hmm. No worries," she said calmly. "If anything happens to me, my insurance will cover it."

The secretary put her hands above her head and did a pencil dive into the lake.

*SPLASH*

Like Magolor, Susie landed right in the middle of the target area.

After Susie came Daroach… then Marx… then Galacta Knight, who was completely stoic the entire time he went down.

Next was Hyness. He was, oddly enough, wearing his usual religious robes. He dove off the cliff. "Dark Lord, protect meeeeee!" he shouted as he fell.

*SPLAT*

The priest landed in a painful belly-flop. What's worse, he landed outside of the target. Once Hyness got his bearings, he found himself face-to-face with a shark. "Yipe!" he yelped as he swam away. He paddled to the boat, the shark on his tail the whole way.

*CONFESSIONAL*

Hyness: …One may wonder why the Dark Lord didn't prevent that from happening… Well, the answer, I think, is quite obvious… he was busy smiting someone.

*END OF CONFESSIONAL*

"Well, girls, we'd best go after him," Zan Partizanne said, diving into the water as well. She and the other Mage Sisters were all wearing matching black tankinis. Zan's had lightning bolts on it, Flamberge's had flames, and Francisca's had snow flakes.

Francisca was about to jump in as well, but then she looked behind her and saw that Flamberge looked a little scared.

"N-n-no," the fire mage said. "I'm not doing it."

"Scared of heights?" Chris asked.

"Of course not!" Flamberge snapped. "But I'm a fire mage. Water and I don't mix."

"That's okay, Flam." For a moment, Chris almost looked sympathetic. "Unfortunately, that also makes you a chicken!"

Flamberge scowled at Chris. "The hell did you just call me!?"

"It also means you'll have to wear this for the rest of the day!" Chris pulled out a chicken hat and put it on Flamberge head.

Flamberge's face turned red. "Why you little-"

"Bawk bawk bawk!" Chris clucked and flapped his arms like wings. "That means the chicken path down is that-a-way!"

"Excuse me," Coo piped up. "I'm fluent in Chicken, and what you just said happens to be highly offensive."

Nobody paid any attention to the owl. Flamberge was angry enough that her ears were practically steaming.

Francisca put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it, Flam," she said. "Here, I'll walk down with you."

"If you're not gonna jump, then you're a chicken too." Chris got another chicken hat and put it on Francisca's head.

"That's quite okay with me," the ice mage said. She took Flamberge's hand, and the two of them walked down the mountain together, the fire mage having calmed down a bit.

"Okay, next!" Chris called.

Next was Taranza, dressed in green, spider web print trunks. He jumped down and plunged into the lake.

*SPLASH*

Right in the target. But he seemed to have forgotten something…

"One, two, three, four, five… Hey, I think I left one of my hands up there!" he called up. "Can someone toss it down?!"

Shortly after, Taranza's missing hand fell down and landed on his head.

"Thanks!" he yelled.

Last was Dark Meta Knight. He didn't so much jump as he did just step off the cliff nonchalantly.

*SPLASH*

Unfortunately, he missed the target. Two sharks silently swam up behind him. But just as they were about to attack, he quickly spun around and punched one in the nose, knocking it out. The other watched as it sank into the water, then looked up at Dark Meta Knight.

"If you know what's good for you…" he said, curling his hand into a fist. "You'll back off."

The shark seemed to have gotten the message, as it turned and swam away from the Mirror World warrior.

*CONFESSIONAL*

Dark Meta Knight: Animals know better than to mess with me.

*END OF CONFESSIONAL*

"Okay," said Chris. "So that's nine jumpers and two chickens. Star Allies, if you can beat that, we'll throw in some pull carts to put your crates on."

"Cool!" said Adeleine. "Come on, Ribbon, let's jump down together!"

"Ooh, okay!" said Ribbon. Ribbon was wearing a red, frilly, one-piece swimsuit with a skirt.

The two girls took each other's hands and jumped in at the same time.

*SPLASH*

Once again, right in the center of the target. They high-fived each other when they surfaced.

After them came Elfilin…

"Yaaaaaaaaaaah!"

…then Kirby…

"Poyooooooooooo!"

…then Meta Knight…

"…"

Then it was Gooey's turn. Wearing a pair of white and red goggles, he hopped down.

"Wheeeeeeeee- ouch!" He hit the edge of the cliff as he plummeted, and that left him spinning in midair.

*THUNK*

Gooey ended up landing on one of the buoys that surrounded the targeted area. The other campers winced sympathetically, and the blob of Dark Matter groaned as he slipped into the water.

Then Kine flopped over to the edge of the cliff. He shuddered as he looked down at the water. He, Rick, and Coo, due to being animals, were all wearing nothing.

"What's ailing him?" Chris asked Rick. "He's a fish. He should be right in his element."

"Nah, mate," Rick shook his head. "Poor Kine's terribly afraid of sharks."

Kine turned away from the cliff and flopped away.

"Not gonna do it?" said Chris. "Too bad. You know what that means…"

Kine looked down in shame as Chris put a chicken hat on his head. Due to Kine being a fish, the hat didn't fit quite right, so Chris had to tie it on with a piece of string. Then Kine hopped down the mountain.

"See you at the bottom, buddy," Coo called to his friend.

After that, Rick and Coo both jumped into the water, both of them landing in the target.

Bandana Dee, wearing blue goggles and a blue swim cap, looked at the lake. The height of the cliff was starting to make him feel dizzy.

"I-I-I can't do it," he stuttered.

"Oh, yes you can!" Dedede appeared behind the Dee. "I ain't givin' up those push carts."

"But Sire, I'm scared of heights! You know that!"

"Tough luck!" Dedede grabbed Bandana Dee and jumped into the water with him in his arms. "Cannonball!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGH!" Bandana Dee screamed.

*SPLASH*

They both landed in the target.

"Woo!" Dedede cheered.

Bandana Dee, meanwhile, was shivering like crazy.

*CONFESSIONAL*

Bandana Dee: Am I mad that King Dedede forced me to fall 1000 feet into a pool of deadly sharks? No. Doesn't bother me a bit… On an unrelated note, people have been telling me that I'm a bit too forgiving.

*END OF CONFESSIONAL*

Still at the top of the cliff, Chris pulled out a megaphone and started yelling through it. "The winners are… the Star Allies!"

The Star Allies cheered.

"As promised, you guys will get some push carts to help you carry the crates back to the cabins. That means the Dark Matters are the losers. You will have to push the crates back."

"Great. Thanks a lot, you two," Dark Meta Knight said to Francisca and Flamberge.

After the campers that were wearing swimwear changed back into their regular clothes, they all went back to bring their crates back to camp.

The Star Allies had four crates and four carts. Each cart had two people pulling them along. Ribbon and Adeleine pulled one behind them, Kirby and Bandana Dee pulled another, Rick and Coo pulled the third, and Gooey and Meta Knight pulled the fourth. Dedede, Elfilin, and Kine walked, flew, and flopped alongside their team.

Meanwhile, the Dark Matters had to push their four crates back to camp. The Mage Sisters all worked together to carry one, Hyness walking behind them. Susie and Taranza pushed another along, Marx sitting on top of their crate, making their job harder. Dark Meta Knight was pulling one behind him with a rope, insisting that he could pull it by himself. Galacta Knight was leading the team, holding his crate above his head with little effort. Magolor and Daroach walked alongside the others.

"Whew," Ribbon said, pausing to catch her breath. "I'm getting tired."

"Oh! Here, Ribbon, I'll take over," Elfilin offered.

"Oh, thank you, Elfilin!" said Ribbon. "That's very sweet of you."

Adeleine was a little disappointed that she wasn't pulling alongside Ribbon anymore, but she didn't comment on it.

The Darks were pretty far behind the Allies.

"Hey Marx, can you maybe get off the crate?" Taranza asked the jester.

"I would, but I actually hurt my foot really bad on a rock when I dove into the water," said Marx. "I don't think I can walk on my own."

"O-oh… okay," said Taranza

Susie stopped pushing and glared at Marx. "No… no, that's not okay." She shoved him off of the box and continued pushing.

Magolor floated up to Dark Meta Knight. "Hey buddy, you want some help with that?"

"Hmph. I'm fine. Leave me alone," the dark swordsman replied.

"Alright then." Magolor floated up to Galacta Knight next. "Galacta, what about-"

Galacta Knight just glared at him.

"Gotcha. Carry on." Magolor slowly backed away.

Back at the cabins, the Star Allies had arrived back, and were currently working on opening their boxes.

"Remember," said Chris. "You guys can only use your mouths to open the crates. And if you don't have a mouth, you can use your feet." Then he turned to the camera and added "I came up with that one."

"Done!" shouted Rick. He had used his sharp teeth to chew open the box.

"Oh, great!" said Gooey. "Can you maybe help me open this one too? I think I'm getting splinters on my tongue."

It wasn't long before all four boxes were opened, revealing the supplies to build their hot tub. Tools, wood, pool liner, everything they needed.

By the time they started putting everything together, the Dark Matters finally caught up.

"Oh, there you guys are!" said Adeleine.

"Yeah, I get it, we're slow," said Dark Meta Knight. "It was Marx's fault. He was being difficult."

"Hey, I told ya my foot hurt!" Marx retorted.

"Oh really? Well you certainly seem just fine to me."

"Well, what about you? You were the one lagging behind! You were the one who said ya didn't need help with your crate!"

"Listen, you over-ripened grape, I came here to show the world my true power, and I am not going down in round one just because my team is made up of a bunch of weaklings!"

"Weaklings?!" Flamberge cut in. "You look me right in the eye and say that, punk!"

"I don't know if the one wearing the chicken hat can really talk here," Daroach quipped.

Flamberge curled her hands into fists. "Watch it, mousey!"

"Watch what? I'm just saying."

The team continued arguing for a minute, until Galacta Knight punched one of the crates to get everyone's attention. Once all eyes were on him, he pointed at the opposing team, who had already gotten pretty far in the building process.

"He's right, guys," said Zan Partizanne. "Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. We need to step up our game."

And so the Dark Matters started to put their hot tub together too.

Unfortunately, while the Allies were all well coordinated and cooperative, the Darks were having a hard time agreeing on anything. Constantly arguing over who did what, what went where, and whether or not things were being done right.

Finally, it was time for Chris to judge the hot tubs.

The host looked the Star Allies' tub up and down a minute. The boards were straight, it was neatly put together, and there were no leaks or cracks to be seen.

"…This is an awesome hot tub!" Chris excitedly declared.

The Star Allies all cheered, high-fiving each other and praising one another's work.

Then, Chris went to look at the Dark Matters' tub. It was shoddily duct taped together, it was leaking water everywhere, and it was overall very wonky and ugly.

"Well, I think we have a winner here…" Chris paused for dramatic effect. "…The Star Allies!"

As the winning team cheered again, Galacta Knight clenched his fists and shook with boiling rage. He turned to his team's tub and kicked it, causing it to instantly collapse. The rest of his team all backed away as he took his anger out on the remains of the hot tub. When there was pretty much nothing left of the tub to destroy, he went to try to take down the Star Allies' tub.

Chris hopped up and got in front of the angry warrior. "Ooookay, that's enough, dude. Go any further and you may need to go back into the crystal."

Slowly but surely, Galacta Knight calmed down.

"Aaaaanyway," said Chris. "Congratulations, Allies! You're safe from elimination, AND you get to rock this awesome hot tub for the rest of the summer! Bonus!"

"Woo!"

"Yay!"

"Mmm. Excellent work, comrades."

"Poyo!"

Chris then turned to the other team. "Dark Matters, what can I say? Sucks to be you right now. I'll see your sorry butts at the bonfire tonight."

Later, both teams were at the mess hall, eating their dinner of Kawasaki's mystery meat.

"I'm… I'm pretty sure my meat just moved," Taranza said, poking at his dinner.

"That's not important now," said Zan Partizanne. "We need to figure out who we're voting off."

"Well, it's obvious, don't you think?" said Daroach. "It should be one of the two chickens."

Flamberge's face started to turn red with anger.

"Easy there, Flam." Francisca patted the fire mage's hand, trying to calm her down.

"If I may…" Hyness stood up. "…I believe Marx is the one who held us up while we were taking the crates back…"

"Yeah? Well, Dark Meta Knight's the one who started the fight before we started building," Marx said defensively.

"Oh, come on now," Susie spoke up. "I'm sure Dark Mety was just a little tired from pulling that crate all by himself."

"If you call me 'Dark Mety' again, I'll cut off your hands," Dark Meta Knight grumbled.

"Sorry, sweetie," Susie said in a flirtatious manner. "They're already detached~"

"Guys," Magolor said loudly, drawing his team's eyes to him. "Don't you think we should maybe vote off… Alacta-Gay Ight-Knay?" He whispered the last part, and jabbed his thumb toward Galacta Knight, who wasn't paying attention.

The rest of the team looked amongst each other, then back at Magolor. Everyone nodded in agreement. They knew who they were voting off.

It was just after sundown; time for the Campfire Ceremony. The Dark Matters were all seated on the logs in front of the campfire, Chris McDee standing beside the fire with a plate of marshmallows.

"Dark Matters…" McDee said dramatically. "At camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire… At this camp, marshmallows represent life. You've all cast your votes and made your decision." Chris gestured to his plate of marshmallows. "There are only ten marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow tonight must immediately turn to the Dock of Shame to catch the Boat of Losers. That means you're out of the contest… and you can't come back… ever." Chris held up one of the marshmallows. "The first marshmallow goes to… Magolor."

"Yay!" Magolor cheered. He floated over to Chris and got his marshmallow.

Chris held up another marshmallow. "…Susie."

Susie floated up to get her marshmallow.

Chris continued to call names. "Zan Partizanne… Taranza… Hyness… Daroach… Francisca… Marx… Dark Meta Knight…"

The campers all went up to get their marshmallows when their names were called.

"Campers…" said Chris. "This is the final marshmallow of the evening."

Flamberge and Galacta Knight sat there, both waiting for Chris to call the final name.

Chris didn't call the name right away. He stood there, pointed his hand at both remaining campers, making exaggerated thinking faces, silently shifting his gaze between the two of them…

"The final marshmallow goes to… Flamberge."

Flamberge sighed with relief as she went up to get her marshmallow.

Once again, Galacta Knight clenched his fists, eyes burning bright with fury.

"Can't say I'm surprised after your little tantrum, man," Chris said with a shrug.

Galacta Knight grabbed Chris by the throat, choking him.

"Ack! C-c'mon dude, not cool!" Chris barely managed to get out. "S-someone *cough* help!"

Just then, Chef Kawasaki came out from behind a nearby bush with a taser. He went up behind Galacta Knight and tased him. It took three tases to get to him, but the chef managed to knock the knight out.

"Yeesh," Chris said, rubbing his throat where Galacta Knight grabbed him. "Can someone get him in a crystal before he gets on the Loser Boat?"

"Sure thing, Chris!" Kawasaki said cheerfully as he picked up the unconscious warrior and carried him away.

*CONFESSIONAL*

Zan Partizanne: Looking back, it probably would have been a better idea to keep him on the team for a while. His strength would have surely given us an advantage. But his short temper was just too much to handle.

*END OF CONFESSIONAL*

"Heh. And I thought your anger issues were bad, Flam," Francisca teased Flamberge, giving her a playful smack on the shoulder.

Flamberge's face started to turn red again, though the way she rubbed the back of her head indicated that this redness was caused by sheepishness rather than anger.

While that was going on, the Star Allies were enjoying their hot tub party at the cabins.

"To the Star Allies!" Bandana Dee said happily, holding up an apple juice box. "May this be the beginning of a long winning streak!"

"To the Star Allies!" the rest of the team cheered.

And so, the day of the first challenge ended on a high note for the Allies. They spent the evening relaxing in their tub, chatting, drinking juice, and having fun, all the while wondering what else this game had in store for them.

REMAINING CAMPERS

STAR ALLIES

Kirby

Dedede

Meta Knight

Bandana Dee

Gooey

Rick

Kine

Coo

Ribbon

Adeleine

Elfilin

DARK MATTERS

Marx

Magolor

Susie

Taranza

Daroach

Dark Meta Knight

Francisca

Flamberge

Zan Partizanne

Hyness