Before the race resumed, Edward Nemo was seen strolling outside a greenhouse.
"This is Wild City, a city built by the animals and for the animals. Cars have been banned from the streets, allowing the animals to walk freely. And here is the Wild City greenhouse, where the majority of the animals' food is grown. This hothouse of botanical activity was the second Pit Stop in the Amazing Race.
"Teams checked in here at the end of the last leg, for a mandatory rest period. The teams have no idea what's in store for them. They receive their instructions by a series of clues that they must follow. Will Violet and Klaus be able to ride this wave of good luck and stay in the lead? Will Hal and Malcolm make a rally and pull out of last place? And who will be eliminated next?
"Violet & Klaus, who were first to arrive at 2:02 PM, will depart at 2:02 AM."
It was very dark outside, but rather light for the hour. Violet and Klaus looked almost sleep deprived, while they waited for the moment to open their clue. Then the moment came, and they ripped it open.
"Take a marked car to the Big Big Mall…" Klaus read.
If you'll recall, vehicles are prohibited inside the Wild City limit, so teams must travel to the outskirts of town to find the marked cars. Then, they must drive themselves 356 miles to the Big Big Mall. This shopping center is so massive, that it's been declared a city. Like any other city, it has residential areas, a public park, a city government, a church, and even an airport! Once teams arrive, they must locate this fountain, where they will find the next clue.
"What the…?" Violet asked. "Six miles long, four and a half miles wide, seven floors, is that right?"
"I don't know, maybe. Let's just go!"
The Baudelaire orphans hustled out of the greenhouse, and hailed a cab. The horse asked where they were headed.
"To the outskirts of town," Klaus told him.
"What? There's nothing there but desolate waste and parked cars!"
"Yeah, we're kinda counting on the latter."
(ANTHONY & MERCEDES are second to depart.)
"Caution: Yield ahead," Anthony read. "We'd better hurry, or another team will get ahead of us and Yield us."
"Why?" Mercedes asked, "what have we done to upset anyone?"
"I don't know, but better safe than sorry. TAXI!"
(ORSON & ROY are third to depart.)
"Drive yourselves to the Big Big Mall," Roy read. "Hey, Ors, do you know how to drive an automobile?"
"Not officially," he said, "but I've seen it done on TV a few times, so how hard could it be?"
"Okay, let's motor!"
(VIOLET & MICHAEL are fourth to depart.)
"Caution: Yield ahead. Hmm, hey, Vi, you still have that Yield sticker we were given?"
"Yeah, it's right…uh, oh."
"What 'uh, oh'? I don't like 'uh, oh'!"
"Um, Mike, I think I might have left our Yield sticker back in Cluedoville." Violet bared her teeth nervously.
"Great! Without that sticker, we don't have our power to Yield!"
"I'm sorry!"
"Oh, well, we don't really need it to win the race. Let's just get a taxi out of town."
(MAKO & REI are fifth to depart.)
"You will have 117 dollars for this leg of the race," Mako read.
"Wow," Rei said, "a gigantic mall! I know somebody who would get a kick out of this!"
"C'mon, Rei," Mako scolded, "focus. Get your head in the race!"
"Right, let's go!"
As soon as Mako and Rei left the greenhouse, first place team VIOLET & KLAUS made it to the marked cars.
"Okay, which one do we take?" Klaus asked.
"They're all the same, so it doesn't really matter," Violet told him. "Let's just take this one."
They got inside, Violet behind the wheel and Klaus in the backseat.
"Do you even know how to drive?" Klaus asked.
"I think so!" With that noncommittal response, the Baudelaires were off.
(MARTY & JENNIFER are sixth to depart.)
"Caution: Yield ahead." Jennifer read. "Hey, Marty, if we hurry, we could pass the supers and force them to Yield!"
"Sounds like a plan!" Marty said.
Next to arrive at the marked cars was the hitchhikers team.
"I may be named for a car," Mercedes said, "but I have no idea how to operate one. Do you, Anthony?"
"Not really, but they do have something sort of like this back on Lamuella. I think I can manage it."
Anthony slid in behind the wheel while Mercedes got into the back seat. He started the car, and the roar of the engine startled them both. After the initial shock, Anthony found the purr of the engine quite pleasurable. He took to driving like a fish to water.
(PAUL & MEIST are seventh to depart.)
"Once you arrive, locate the fountain to find your next clue." Paul read.
"Come on, dear!" Meist said. "We came to win, right?"
"Yes!" Paul shouted.
Outside town, the barnyard animals arrived at the marked cars.
"Ooh, let's take the red one!" Roy insisted.
"Okay," Orson said. He got behind the wheel while Roy got in the backseat. The two were off.
Further down the road, Anthony Dent came upon a surprise. He had not expected to catch up to Violet Baudelaire and her brother, but he did. Rather than floor it and take first place, like a jerk, he wanted to find out what was up. He honked the horn at Violet to get her attention. Once he had it, he motioned for her to roll her window down, which she did.
"Hey!" he shouted above the din of the open road. "How come you're driving so slow?"
"I can't make it go any faster!" Violet told him.
"Didn't you try to shift into second gear?"
"Second gear?" Violet asked.
"You mean to tell me you've been driving in first this whole time?"
"I guess so." Violet shifted the car into second. "Thanks!"
"No problem!" Anthony, whose car was already in second gear, shifted into third, punched the accelerator, and passed the Baudelaire orphans.
(ANTHONY & MERCEDES are currently in first place.)
(VIOLET & KLAUS are currently in second place.)
"Strange," Mercedes noted. "Even after you helped them out, they're still behind us."
While this was going on, the supers arrived where the marked cars were parked.
"Hey Mike, do you think you can drive a stick?"
"Let's try to find one with automatic," he said.
"I tried, there's none."
"Yeah, I can't handle standard transmission. Can you?"
"Looks like I'll have to," Violet said. She got behind the wheel, while Michael slid into the backseat. Off they went.
(MIKE & SULLEY are eighth to depart.)
"Caution: Yield ahead," Sulley read. "Hey Mike, do you think we've done anything to offend anyone?"
"Not that I can remember," Mike said, counting the money. "Let's just go!"
(HAL & MALCOLM are last to depart.)
"Caution: Yield ahead." Hal read. "I'll tell you right now, if we're lucky enough to move ahead of another team, we are going to Yield them, no question!"
"Then let's move, quickly!" Malcolm told him.
At the lot of marked cars, Mako and Rei were looking for a car to drive.
"Ooh, look, there's a pink one!" Mako pointed out.
"We're not taking that one," Rei said, pointing to a black vehicle. "This one will do just fine!"
"What? No way, the black paint will absorb all the sunlight, it will be like an oven in there!"
"So what? It's dark out; there's no sun! It doesn't matter!"
"It matters to me!"
This argument went on for some time. And it still wasn't resolved by the time MARTY & JENNIFER arrived. The McFlys noticed them arguing, and decided to choose their vehicle quietly. The anime girls were still bickering when they heard an engine start up. They turned just in time to see the black car pull away.
"Oh, great, are you happy now?" Mako asked. "Because you wouldn't drop it, we're now behind 80 years worth of old person!"
"I guess the pink car will do just fine," Rei said, trying to salvage some pride. They clambered in, Mako driving, and off they went.
Later, PAUL & MEIST arrived at the marked cars. They took one of the cars and drove off. MIKE & SULLEY got there later, followed by HAL & MALCOLM. By the time all nine teams were on the road, ANTHONY & MERCEDES…still hadn't gotten to the Big Big Mall.
"We're lost, aren't we?" Mercedes asked.
"We are not lost!" Anthony assured her. "I may not know where we are, but I know where were going, and I know how to get there!"
"Why can't we just stop and ask for directions?"
"Two reasons. One: there's nobody to ask; and two: these road signs tell us everything we need to know." Just then, they passed one such sign. "See? What does that sign say?"
"Big Big Mall, 292 miles!" Mercedes read. "At this rate, we'll see the sunrise while driving!"
While the galactic hitchhikers were having their conversation, Marty McFly noticed something on the road ahead.
"Hey, isn't that Violet & Michael?"
"Yeah, I think it is," Jennifer said. "Can we pass them?"
"Only one way to find out," Marty told her. "Let's see if these bastards can do ninety!"
He floored it, picking up speed. He watched as the car on front of them got closer, and closer. Marty saw the speedometer hit 79. He changed lanes, so as not to crash into the other car. The speedometer climbed to 80, 85, 87. When it reached 88, Marty cringed, totally expecting the car to temporally displace.
"Honey, watch the road!" Jennifer scolded.
Marty opened his eyes and saw they hadn't traveled through time. "Sorry, dear. Old habits die hard."
"That doesn't matter now! Look!"
Marty glanced in hie rear-view mirror. The car that was in front of them was now behind them.
(MARTY & JENNIFER are currently in fourth place.)
(VIOLET & MICHAEL are currently in fifth place.)
"Whoo-hoo!" Marty cheered.
But, as you can imagine, Violet & Michael weren't too pleased with this.
"It's all right," Violet assured Michael. "We can still win!"
Closer to Wild City, HAL & MALCOLM had a little mishap. It was Malcolm who first smelled burning rubber.
"Dad, I think we have a flat tire," he said. "How perfect. We're in last place, and we're about to drop even further. We'll be eliminated for sure!"
"Now, son, there's no reason to fret about a flat tire!" Hal said. "Besides, we've got a spare in the trunk." Hal got out of the car and went to the trunk, where he was sure to find the spare tire. But when he got there, he found nothing. "Okay, we don't have a spare, but don't panic. We're not out of the race until Ed says we're out. We'll just call for a replacement vehicle."
If a team's vehicle breaks down, a replacement will be provided for them, but no time credit will be given during their unfortunate wait.
Hal and Malcolm got into their replacement car and drove away.
Then, for the next four hours, nothing of interest happened. Nobody changed positions, nobody had any bad luck, nothing like that. The only thing worth noting was the sunrise. It was light when the first team arrived at the Big Big Mall.
Anthony and Mercedes marveled at the sight before them. Just like the clue said, it was six miles long, four and a half miles wide, and seven floors up.
"I wonder if there are people who live here?" Anthony wondered. "People who had never seen the sun in their entire lives?"
"Maybe," Mercedes said. "If there were, they would have be very pale, probably albino even!"
Anthony drove the car right into the mall; the parking lot was inside. Quickly, he found a place to park, and the two dashed out and started to look for the fountain.
"The clue said it would be on the ground floor, next to a stairwell."
"It that it?" Anthony asked pointing.
Mercedes looked over. She saw the fountain he was pointing at, along with a clue box, and a Yield sign.
"That has to be it, the Yield is there!" The hitchhikers ran and stood on the Yield mat.
Next, we see Ed standing by the Yield sign.
"This is the first of only three Yields on the race. The first team to arrive here can force any team behind them to stop racing for a pre-determined amount of time. Any team that has been forced to Yield must stand on this mat, turn over this hourglass, and wait for all the sand to run out before continuing. Each team can only use their Yield power once, so they need to decide for themselves the best time to use it."
Anthony went through the box with all the teams' pictures, to fish out his own team's picture, so that no team would Yield them by accident. While he did that, Mercedes looked right into the camera.
"We choose not to exercise our Yield power at this time," she said. She turned and ripped the number "1" off the Yield stand. Then she and Anthony rushed over to the clue box and got a clue.
(ANTHONY & MERCEDES are still in first place.)
"Climb the stairwell all the way to the seventh floor…" Mercedes read.
The Big Big Mall is seven stories high, and teams are going to find out just what seven floors feels like, as they climb these stairs all the way to the top. They'll find their next clue at the top of the stairs.
Anthony wheezed when he saw how high up the stairs were. "I'm not going to make it," he said just above a whisper.
"Come on," Mercedes said. "If you pace yourself, you can make it."
"You really believe that?"
"I have to. Otherwise, I'd be in the same boat as you."
"Gee, thanks," Anthony said, sarcastically. Together, the two hitchhikers made their way up the stairs.
They hadn't gone up more than seven steps before the next team pulled into the parking lot. As soon as Violet found a place to park, she and her brother Klaus ran to the fountain. (Klaus had spotted it from the parking lot.)
"Oh, jeez, I hope those aliens didn't Yield us," Violet said. When she got there, she saw the sign was empty. "Oh, thank heaven!" She ruffled through the picture box for her team's picture.
"We choose not to Yield," Klaus told the camera. He turned and took the "2" from the stand. Then he followed Violet to the clue box.
(VIOLET & KLAUS are currently in second place.)
"All those stairs?" Violet asked nobody in particular.
"The sooner we start climbing, the sooner we don't have to climb anymore," Klaus said.
"Well, that's one of the more intelligent things you've said today!"
"Oh, shut up!" They started up the stairs.
Still, nobody made it to the top before the next team, ORSON & ROY, showed up. Orson parked the car, and the animals raced out.
"Okay, fountain, fountain, where is the fountain?" Roy said. Suddenly, he saw a flowing fountain next to a Yield stand. "There it is!" Roy and Orson rushed the Yield stand.
"Okay, which of these teams do I hate the most?" Roy asked as he rifled through the box.
"Roy, we don't have any vendettas out against anyone. We need to conserve our Yield for a more important moment!"
"How right you are, oh, wise swine!" Roy dug his own team's picture out of the box. "We choose not to Yield," he told the camera. Once Orson took the "3", the animals ran over to the clue box.
(ORSON & ROY are currently in third place.)
"Okay, let's not think about how daunting the task is," Orson said when he saw what the clue said. "Let's just take it one step at a time, and we'll be done before we break a sweat!"
"Yeah, that's what they said when they started to build the Tower of Babel!" Roy said.
While Orson and Roy were just starting to climb, Violet and Klaus were halfway there. Anthony and Mercedes, meanwhile, were almost to the top.
"C'mon, Anthony," Mercedes said. "Just a few more steps!" Mercedes was breathing fairly heavily, but nobody heard it, because Anthony's wheezing drowned it out.
Eventually, he did make it to the top. Weak, he pointed to the clue box. "Next clue," he said, just above a whisper.
"Good eye, Anthony." Mercedes walked over slowly. She was still a little exhausted, but she just climbed six flights of stairs, for crying out loud!
(ANTHONY & MERCEDES are still in first place.)
"Detour," she said with a heavy sigh. "Words or Pictures?"
Ed was then seen on the top floor, not out of breath at all. Obviously, he took the elevator.
"A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. In this Detour, teams have to choose between Words and Pictures.
"In Words, teams must walk a long distance to this information kiosk. Once there, the clerk will hand them a riddle, the answer to which is a product sold at the mall. Teams must then locate that item, and not too far away, they'll find the next clue. The riddles are cryptic, but teams with sufficient brainpower can finish it quickly.
"In Pictures, teams will walk a shorter distance to this photo development booth, where the clerk will hand them a digital camera and a photo taken somewhere inside the mall. Then teams must locate where the picture was taken, and take an identical picture. Once they've done that, they must rush the camera back to the same guy, and if the photos match, he'll hand them the next clue. This task involves much less thinking, but the photo was taken far away from the booth, and running the distance both ways could take a long time."
"I think we can handle Words, right, Anthony?"
Anthony was too weak to argue. Not that he wanted to, but if he did, he was too weak for it anyway. He just nodded. He followed the red-haired woman, who was following a sign that said "Words".
Before they got to the information kiosk, however, MARTY & JENNIFER pulled into the mall's parking lot.
"Hey, honey, look!" Jennifer said. "Isn't that the fountain we're looking for?"
Marty parked the car and they raced to the fountain.
"Hon, you got our Yield sticker ready?" asked Marty.
"Right here, but, why are we Yielding Violet and Michael again?"
"In Wild City, they called us old! Now, I'll admit that I'm old, but nobody calls my wife old and gets away with it!"
"Okay, if you say so." Jennifer stuck their team's Yield sticker under the "Courtesy of:" section of the sign, while Marty slapped a larger picture of the supers on the sign itself.
"We are choosing to Yield Violet and Michael," Marty told the camera. He took the "4" from the stand and followed his wife to the clue box.
(MARTY & JENNIFER are currently in fourth place.)
"What the…?" Jennifer said when she saw the task ahead of her. "I don't know if these old bones can handle those stairs!"
"C'mon, honey. One Million Dollars!"
On hearing the top prize, Jennifer stepped as lively as a spring calf!
About this time, the hitchhikers arrived at the information kiosk.
"Welcome. Are you racers doing the Words Detour?"
"Yes, we are," said Anthony, who was just starting to recover from the climb.
"Great. You'll find the next clue behind a product in the mall, which is the answer to this here riddle." He handed them a piece of paper. Mercedes read it.
"Like an island, I'm in the middle of water," she read, "I come in a variety of colors, and I sometimes bear a message. You'll find me at Banana Republic. Huh?"
"I think I know this one!" Anthony said. "Now, all we have to do is find this Banana Republic, whatever that is." They started for the elevator.
While this was happening, VIOLET & KLAUS had finally made it to the top of the stairs.
"We did it!" Klaus breathed. "Amazing!"
"Look, the clue box!" Violet said pointing.
(VIOLET & KLAUS are still in second place.)
"We can handle a crummy old riddle, right sister?" said Klaus.
"Yes, no problem!"
While one girl named Violet ran to an information kiosk on the top floor, another girl named Violet pulled her car into the parking lot on the first floor. When she and her partner Michael got to the fountain, they had a most unpleasant surprise waiting for them at the Yield.
"Oh, that's perfect!" Michael fumed. "Who in the world would be so hateful as to Yield us?" But while Michael ranted and raved, Violet started the hourglass. She wanted to be on and off that mat as soon as allowable.
When Michael saw which team had Yielded them, he was even more confused.
"Why? Why would the McFlys do this to us? What did we ever do to them?"
"Um, I think it might have something to do with you calling them old," Violet mentioned.
"Oh, that's mature! And we can't even retaliate, because we lost our Yield sticker."
"Mike, don't dwell on it. Let's just ride this Yield out, and get back to the race. If we step off the instant the sand runs out, maybe we can avoid elimination."
While this was going on, MAKO & REI had arrived at the mall. They reached the Yield stand rather quickly. They saw the unhappy supers waiting there, with sour expressions.
"Aw, man," Rei said, trying to be compassionate. "Sucks to be you!"
"Marty and Jennifer did this?" Mako asked, as if she didn't know. "I promise you, we'll get them back! You two and us, we superheroes have to stick together, right?"
"Thanks, guys," Violet said, watching the hourglass like a mother hen waiting for her baby to hatch.
However, the anime girls still wanted to win, so they snatched the "5" from the stand and went to the next clue.
(MAKO & REI are currently in fifth place.)
"Oh, my gawd!" Mako said. "SIX flights of stairs? That's more stairs than I've ever climbed in my lifetime!"
"We'd better get climbing. After all, we haven't been Yielded!"
As they started the harrowing climb, ORSON & ROY just finished it.
"Whew!" Roy exhaled like a horse. "I haven't done that much walking since I went to the end of the rainbow!"
"Look!" Orson said, pointing to the clue box. They raced over and extracted a clue.
(ORSON & ROY are still in third place.)
"Detour," Orson read. "You know, I have never been good at riddles."
"Me either. Let's do the Pictures!"
As they dashed to the photo booth, the Baudelaires had arrived at the information kiosk.
"Do you have a riddle for us?" Violet asked.
The clerk handed them a piece of paper, which Klaus read.
"I may have been an accident," he read, "but I'm one of the sweetest accidents of history. You'll find me at Steve's Sugar Shack."
"Wow," said Violet. "When they said the riddles were cryptic, they weren't joking!"
"Let's find Steve's Sugar Shack and go from there," Klaus suggested. Violet nodded in agreement.
While they took off for the elevator, Orson & Roy arrived at the photo booth. (I told you it was a shorter distance!)
"Good morning," said the guy working the booth, "are you two doing the Pictures Detour?"
"Yes, we are," Orson told him.
"All right, what you want to do is find the spot where this picture was taken, and take an identical picture with this camera. Then you bring the camera back here, and if it matches, I'll give you the next clue."
The clerk handed them a digital camera and a photograph of a large plastic hamburger.
"Okay, now how are we going to find this?" Roy asked.
"Roy, it's a giant hamburger! We should be able to find it easily!" And the barnyard animals dashed away.
Back on the ground floor, PAUL & MEIST were pulling into the parking lot. They spotted the fountain, and saw Violet and Michael waiting at the Yield.
"Hey, guys, waiting long?" Paul asked, trying to be compassionate.
"Quite," Michael said, not interested in conversation.
Taking the hint, Meist simply grabbed the "6" and dragged her husband to the clue box.
(PAUL & MEIST are currently in sixth place.)
"Whoa!" Paul said. "Well, we'd better get to it."
Back on the Yield, spiders could have spun webs on Violet, she hadn't moved from her spot in so long.
"How much time do we have left?" Michael asked.
"I'd say about ten minutes," Violet answered.
Up at the top of the stairs, the team who Yielded the supers got to the clue box.
(MARTY & JENNIFER are currently in fourth place.)
"Detour," Jennifer read. "You think we can handle a riddle, honey?"
"I don't think so!" Marty said. "Let's do Pictures!"
While they rushed to the photo booth, ORSON & ROY…were hopelessly lost.
"Okay, so it's not on the fifth floor," Roy said to nobody.
"Roy, maybe we should stop and ask someone."
Orson spotted a young girl, about twelve years old, with chalky white skin, and even whiter hair. She looked like she had lived in the mall her entire life, never seen the sun. But, of course, Orson didn't notice any of this. He was more concerned with the task at hand. He tapped her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, but could you help me find this place?" he asked. He showed her the picture.
"Sure, I know where that is," she said. "Would you like me to take you?"
"Yes, that would be great! I'm Orson, by the way, and this is Roy."
"Nice to meet you. My name's Adrian. Come on, follow me!" Adrian took off running, and Orson and Roy followed close behind.
While the barnyard animals were chasing an albino girl, MARTY & JENNIFER got their camera and a picture of that same giant burger. Meanwhile, another team pulled into the parking lot. MIKE & SULLEY hustled out of the car and onto the Yield mat.
"Oh, wow," Mike said when he saw Violet and Michael still not racing. "How much longer?"
"Just a few more seconds," Violet said excitedly.
"Oh, then we'd better move!" Sulley tore the "7" off the stand and followed Mike to the clue box.
(MIKE & SULLEY are currently in seventh place.)
"Great!" Sulley said when he saw the task. "I need the exercise!"
Just when the monsters started on the stairs, the last of the sand ran out of the hourglass. Violet noticed this right away. She ripped the "8" from the stand and dragged her partner by the hand to the clue box.
(VIOLET & MICHAEL are currently in eighth place.)
She didn't even bother to rip open the clue. She had seen enough other teams to know that they had to climb all six flights of stairs.
Elsewhere in the mall, ANTHONY & MERCEDES were looking for the next clue.
"Now, you said you knew the answer to this riddle, Anthony," Mercedes said. "So, spill it!"
"Well, to me it sounded like an old joke I heard once. It went, 'How is the letter "t" like an island? They're both in the middle of water!'"
"What a lousy joke!"
"I know, but I think that's what the riddle was aiming at."
"The letter 't'? How does that help us?"
"I think the next clue is hidden somewhere around the T-shirts."
"Huh? Wait a minute, 'I come in a variety of colors, and sometimes I bear a message!' That's it! Anthony, you're a genius!"
"Thanks, now we just have to find the clue!" Together, the two of them started to search frantically through the various displays of T-shirts. It wasn't long before…
"I've got it!"
"Great, open it!"
(ANTHONY & MERCEDES are still in first place.)
"Make your way to the next Pit Stop…" they read together.
Teams must now locate this place, called the Interior Hotel. The entrance is on the fifth floor, and it takes up some space on the sixth floor as well. This bizarre "building-within-a-building" is the Pit Stop for this leg of the race. The last team to check in here may be eliminated.
"Come on, let's go!"
Around this time, MAKO & REI finally made it to the top of the stairs. Weakly, the trudged over to the clue box.
(MAKO & REI are still in fifth place.)
"Hmm," Rei said, seeing the Detour choices. "I'm sure we could handle Words, right Mako?"
"Worth a shot," she answered.
Soon after they dashed off, PAUL & MEIST reached the top. Meist found the clue.
(PAUL & MEIST are still in sixth place.)
"Let's do Words," Paul suggested, "it's faster." Meist agreed.
They rushed to the information kiosk, and got their riddles.
Rei read her team's riddle: "You humans use a notepad to remember important things. Computers can't use a notepad, so they use me instead. You'll find me at Circuit City."
"Sounds like a diskette to me," Mako said.
Paul read his team's riddle: "You throw away my outside and cook my inside. Then you eat my outside and throw away my inside. You'll find me at the Big Big Supermarket."
"No fair! We got a brain-buster!" Meist complained.
"Maybe we should go to the place and just look," Paul said. "Maybe it will come to us there."
Elsewhere in the mall, Adrian had led the barnyard animals to the food court on the third floor.
"There it is, I see it!" Roy said pointing. Verily and forsooth, the giant burger was in his sights. Orson readied the camera, matched the viewfinder to the picture, and snapped it.
"Now, all we have to do is take this camera back to the photo booth on the seventh floor to get our next clue."
"Hey, I know a shortcut there!" Adrian piped up. "C'mon, follow me!"
"Hey, thanks for your help!" Orson said.
"No problem!"
Over at Steve's Sugar Shack, two very intelligent orphans were…absolutely lost!
"Okay, what in the world could be described as a sweet accident?" Violet wondered.
"Maybe something that was invented by accident?" Klaus suggested.
"Maybe, but what here was invented by accident?"
"Chocolate chip cookies! Those were invented by accident!"
"They were?"
"Yeah! Quick, help me look through them!"
They couldn't have ripped through that cookie display any faster than they did, not even if they had a sugar craving! Amid the crumbly mess, they did find a clue.
(VIOLET & KLAUS are still in second place.)
"Make your way to the next Pit Stop, the Interior Hotel," Klaus read.
"Hurry, let's go!"
While they were hustling, the unfortunate last team, HAL & MALCOLM finally pulled into the Big Big Mall. They spotted the fountain right away, and Malcolm wasn't pleased with what he saw at the Yield.
"Oh, great!" he said. "Another team was Yielded, and we're still behind them! We're so going to be eliminated."
"SHUT UP!" Hal said a bit louder than he should have. "All you've done this entire time is complain about how the city smells, how we're in last place, how this seat is uncomfortable, blah blah blah! Seriously, all you've done is bitch! Now, we're going to run the rest of the race without complaints! Yes, we may get eliminated, but you're not going to raise a stink about it! Understand?"
Hal's outburst frightened Malcolm all the way down to his core. He simply nodded weakly. Hal took the "9" from the Yield stand and led his son to the clue box.
(HAL & MALCOLM are currently in last place.)
"Now, let's get up these stairs!" Hal said, in a softer tone.
On a happier note, ANTHONY & MERCEDES had located the Interior Hotel. They rushed inside and found a woman standing next to Ed. This woman looked a lot like Adrian, only older.
"Welcome to the Big Big Mall," she said as the hitchhikers stepped on the mat.
"Thank you," was all Anthony could think of to say.
"Anthony and Mercedes…you are team number one!"
(ANTHONY & MERCEDES 1ST PLACE!)
Mercedes' jaw dropped when she heard the news. "First place! Yes! Whoo-hoo!"
"And I have more good news!" Ed told them. "As the winners of this leg of the race, you guys will share a 30,000 dollar shopping spree here at the Big Big Mall. Everything you buy will be held in the Race Vault, were nobody can touch it, and you can enjoy the stuff after the race."
"Hmm. Interesting prize, but we'll take it."
About this time, Adrian had led ORSON & ROY back to the photo booth on the seventh floor.
"Howdy, Bill!" Adrian said when she saw the man working it.
"Hey, Adrian. Enjoying your weekend?"
"Couldn't be better!"
"You're helping these guys, eh?" Bill was referring to the animals. Adrian nodded.
Bill took the camera from Orson. He ran the memory stick through his computer to bring up the image.
"I'm sorry, but the image doesn't match. We asked you to take a picture of a giant hamburger, and this is a picture of an albino man in a pink tutu."
Adrian took a good look at the image on the screen. "Isn't that you, Bill?"
Bill looked again. Quickly, she…um, I mean he…got that image off the screen.
"How in the hell did that get there?" he asked nobody. Then he brought up the picture that Orson actually took. "Well, it looks like your picture does match after all. Here's your next clue."
"Um, thank you, um, sir." It was all Roy could do to keep from laughing.
(ORSON & ROY are still in third place.)
"Make your way to the next Pit Stop, the Interior Hotel," read Orson.
"Yo, Adrian," Roy said, doing his Sylvester Stallone impression, "can you lead us to the Interior Hotel?"
"Of course, that's where I live!"
"You live in a hotel?" Orson asked.
"My mother's the manager there. Come on, let's go!"
As Orson and Roy followed Adrian down the steps, they bumped into MIKE & SULLEY.
"Whoa, watch yourself!" Adrian shouted. "Hot doughnuts, coming through!"
While those three descended the stairs, the monsters just made it to the top.
"Whew!" Sulley breathed. "I think I lost two pounds on those things!"
"Quick, quick, the clue box!" Mike shouted.
(MIKE & SULLEY are still in seventh place.)
"We can handle a riddle, right?" Mike asked. They rushed the information kiosk and got their riddle.
Sulley read it: "We serve thousands of thousands of thousands daily. You'll find us in the Food Court."
"Thousands of thousands of thousands?" Mike thought outloud. "That's 1000 times 1000 times 1000, or 1,000,000,000!"
"Billions served daily?" Sulley added. And then it hit.
"McDonald's!" they said at the same time.
The monsters dashed off to the food court, and speaking of the food court, MARTY & JENNIFER were already there. They had found the giant hamburger, and snapped a picture of it.
Elsewhere, two young children were running to the Interior Hotel. Violet and Klaus jumped onto the mat.
"Violet & Klaus, you're team number two!"
(VIOLET & KLAUS 2ND PLACE.)
"Great!" Violet said. "We might have been in first, if I knew how to drive a stick!"
Over at the Circuit City, two girls of anime fame searched for diskettes, only to find that there were none.
"Those three and a half inch fossils?" asked a clerk. "We don't sell 'em here no more. If you're interested in memory, you might want to try them Zip stick things over yonder."
Rei turned and saw what he was pointing at, and something else too!
"Mako, the clue!"
The two of them raced over and ripped it open.
(MAKO & REI are currently in fourth place.)
"…Warning, the last team to check in may be eliminated," Mako read. "Come on, Princess Mars, let's motor!"
Back at the stairwell, VIOLET & MICHAEL finally made it to the top. They didn't pace themselves, like the monsters did, which is why they got there so far behind them.
(VIOLET & MICHAEL are still in eighth place.)
"Detour," Michael read, out of breath. "Vi, you're good with riddles, right?"
"I hope so," she answered.
They raced to the information kiosk and got their riddle.
Michael read it: "Set me, serve me, smash me, spike me, just don't let me touch the ground. You can find me at J & B's Sports of All Sorts."
"Sounds like a volleyball to me," Violet said.
"Let's go, then!" But as they raced for the elevator, they passed by the elderly couple who Yielded them earlier. They were turning in their camera to get their next clue. Michael didn't hesitate to say "Jackass!" as they passed.
Jennifer turned to her husband. "Did you say something, dear?"
"No," Marty answered. He hadn't heard them at all. He gladly took the clue from Bill.
(MARTY & JENNIFER are currently in fifth place.)
"PIT STOP! YAY!" Jennifer said excitedly. "We did everything!" She jumped up once, and hurt her back again. "Ow!"
Meanwhile, at the Big Big Supermarket…
"You throw away the outside," Paul repeated to himself, "and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside, and throw away the inside." He examined every vegetable in the produce section, weighing it against the riddle in his mind.
"Bell pepper? No. Carrot? No. Cucumber? No. Ear of Corn? No. Rutabaga? No. Wait a minute, did I say ear of corn?" He stepped back to where the corn was. "Hmm, you throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside! That's it!" He pulled away two or three ears of corn, and there was the clue. "Honey! Meist! I've got it!"
(PAUL & MEIST are still in sixth place.)
"…Warning: the last team to check in may be eliminated." Paul read. "Come on, honey, let's jet!"
About this time, ORSON & ROY, along with their albino guide Adrian arrived at the lobby of the Interior Hotel.
"Orson and Roy, team number three!"
(ORSON & ROY 3RD PLACE.)
"Oh, no, not again!" Roy said. "It's like we're stuck in third!"
The woman standing by Ed noticed something. "Adrian, is that you?"
"Hi, Mom," Adrian said sheepishly.
"Young lady, I've been worried sick about you! Where have you been?"
"I was just helping these guys out."
"Did you forget you have a book report due on Monday?"
"No, Mother, I didn't forget."
"You get your white butt in your room and you finish that report, right this instant!"
"Yes, ma'am." Adrian walked past her mother and into her room.
Back at the stairs, HAL & MALCOLM made it to the top.
"See?" Hal told his son. "All we had to do was take it one step at a time, and look where we are now!"
Malcolm wanted to say something, but he remembered his father's ultimatum, and kept quiet.
(HAL & MALCOLM are still in last place.)
"Detour," Malcolm read. "I guess we do Words."
At the Pit Stop, Mako and Rei stepped on the mat.
"Mako and Rei, team number four."
(MAKO & REI 4TH PLACE.)
"Yes!" Rei said, pumping her arm. "Step by step, we're climbing the ladder!"
Seconds later, Hal and Malcolm got their riddle from the information kiosk.
Hal read it: "If you give thirteen cents to one friend, and twelve cents to…" He didn't finish. They both had heard this one before.
"How are we supposed to find 'a quarter to two' in the mall?" Malcolm asked.
"It says, 'You'll find the answer at Damn, That's a Bunch of Clocks!'"
"O-Kay." The Wilkerson boys departed.
Over at the food court, Mike & Sulley were looking for a McDonald's. They found one fairly quickly.
"Okay, you know what we want, so go ahead and give it to us!" Mike said.
He opened the register, stuck his hands in the air, and backed away.
"No, you idiot, we're not here to rob you! We're with the Amazing Race, and we want the next clue."
"I knew that!" the zit-faced clerk said. He handed the monsters the clue.
(MIKE & SULLEY are still in seventh place.)
"Quickly, the Pit Stop!" Mike said. "Hurry!"
Ironically, when the monsters left the food court, a guy in a ski mask robbed the very same clerk.
At J & B's Sports of All Sorts, the supers sifted through the volleyball display until they located their clue.
(VIOLET & MICHAEL are still in eighth place.)
"…Warning: the last team to check in may be eliminated," Violet read. They departed.
Back at the Interior Hotel, two married couples checked in at about the same time.
"Marty and Jennifer, Paul and Meist, you're teams number five and six!"
(MARTY & JENNIFER 5TH PLACE; PAUL & MEIST 6TH PLACE.)
The four of them exchanged high-fives.
At Damn, That's a Bunch of Clocks, Hal and Malcolm were looking around.
"There has to be a clock here set at a quarter to two!" Hal said.
"Dad, I found the clue!" Malcolm shouted.
(HAL & MALCOLM are still in last place.)
"…Warning: the last team to check in may be eliminated," Malcolm read.
"Come on, son, we may stay in this race yet!"
No sooner did he say that than two monsters waltzed into the Interior Hotel.
"Mike and Sulley, you're team number seven!"
(MIKE & SULLEY 7TH PLACE.)
"Yes!" For the third leg in a row, Mike did his victory dance.
"Okay, Mike, that's getting old," Ed commented.
Somewhere in the mall, VIOLET & MICHAEL were running quite fast.
"Come on, Mike," Violet said. "The stairs are this way!"
Meanwhile, HAL & MALCOLM were riding the elevator.
"Why can't this stupid…" Malcolm didn't finish his sentence, because he saw his father staring him down.
Back at the hotel, Adrian was now standing next to her mother, waiting for the next team to arrive. We see Violet running ten feet ahead of Michael, down a fifth floor hallway. Then we see Hal and Malcolm closing in on the hotel. Then a first-person shot of the next team to arrive.
The very next scene was the door to the hotel opening, and Violet and Michael stepping through it. They stepped onto the mat with purpose and pride, and awaited the news.
"Violet and Michael, you are team number eight!"
(VIOLET & MICHAEL 8TH PLACE.)
"Eight?" asked Violet.
"And you're still in the Amazing Race!"
"Yes!" Michael cheered. He was more than just happy; he was plotting revenge against the McFlys.
Once more, a sad interlude played when Hal and Malcolm checked into the Pit Stop.
"Welcome to the Big Big Mall," said both Adrian and her mother.
"Gee, thanks," said Malcolm.
"Hal and Malcolm, you're the last team to arrive."
(HAL & MALCOLM LAST PLACE.)
"I'm sorry to tell you that you've been eliminated from the race."
"I knew it," Malcolm said. "We've finished ninth on all three of the legs we were in."
Hal tried very hard not to cry.
"It was fun while it lasted," Hal told the camera. "Maybe we could have placed a little higher if Malcolm hadn't been so negative! But, I say, let bygones be bygones. This is water under the bridge now. At least we'll get some money out of it."
"Maybe Dad is right," Malcolm confessed. "Maybe I was being too negative. Maybe I did cost our family a shot at a fictional million dollars. But if I did, that would mean that Dad was right. Therefore, this wasn't my fault, and I have nothing to feel bad about. Unless I'm mistaken…"
ON THE NEXT AMAZING RACE: DREAMLAND…
You better have your sea legs ready, because teams will travel to the Eastern Sea, a world that is ninety-two percent water. There's little dry land, and even less diplomacy, as the sea is dotted with pirates!
Plus, a new surprise waits for one team to claim it. The power of one full hour is up for grabs, on the next Amazing Race: Dreamland!