"Last time on Total Pokémon: Rebooted!" cried Zeraora, a little while after the camera started recording. It was still dark outside, and he was holding one of those lamps people hold while working in tunnels. "The campers took part in their second challenge, a singing competition!"

"Which, as Devin found out, was with an audience of picky Jigglypuffs," added Diancie. "A long day of songs which could be anything from songs in the public domain to national anthems followed."

"We didn't have any national anthems, but we did have some anthems," said Zeraora. "One of these was Jasmine's, however the Jigglypuffs didn't like it and Jasmine was sung to sleep. Both Shawna and Phoebus noted that they all seemed to like certain songs."

"That was purely a coincidence! We definitely didn't get biased ones, just because they're cheaper. No one liked Evan's song, however," noted Diancie. "Sadly, this was one of the things that led to the Poipoles losing, and his elimination." From how her voice sounded, she didn't actually care and was definitely not sad.

"However, everyone seemed to like Torracat's song, much to Litten's dismay," Zeraora exclaimed. "But, anyway, who's going to leave the island today? Why are we starting this challenge at five thirty in the morning? And are the campers going to be mad at us for waking them up really early? Find out right now, here on…"

"Total Pokémon: Rebooted!" the two cried.

"Get up, campers!" shouted Zeraora through a megaphone, appearing between the two cabins. He had a sports headband on his forehead and was jogging on the sport. After hearing the wake-up call, Gwen woke up immediately and banged her head on the roof of the cabin, took off her eye mask then checked her phone for a second.

"Zeraora, it's, like, five in the morning!" she cried, rubbing her forehead.

"Five thirty, actually," Diancie smirked.

"Whatever!" the Lopunny frowned. "Why are you waking us up this early? I need my beau—"

"Cool, I don't care," said Diancie. After saying this, she clamped her hand to her mouth to stop her laughter coming out. "Anyway, it's a race! That's why Zeraora woke you up."

"Erm… you told me to do it, and—"

"You'll need to work in teams!" she began, before hearing a few snores. She grabbed the megaphone and shouted as loud as she could, "Get up!"

All snoring ceased and a few groans and yawns could be heard. The first voice was Gregory's, and the first words that came out of his mouth was, "What's for breakfast?"

"Gregory, you're not having breakfast. You have a race to run!" informed Zeraora.

"How are we going to get our energy?" asked Dallas, raising an eyebrow.

"All will be explained." replied Diancie. "Just get down here!" Twenty-seven of the twenty-eight contestants reluctantly shuffled down to the area.

"Where's Gregory?" questioned Zeraora. The ding of a microwave could be heard from the Krazy Kartanas' cabin, followed by Gregory running out of it holding two slices of pizza.

"I have two questions," said Doriann. "One, why and how do you have pizza? And two, where did you get that microwave?"

"I have pizza because I like pizza and I got it from yesterday's dinner, and since no one was using the microwave in the food hall I decided to take it."

How did you even carry that microwave? thought Diancie. She sighed. "I'll get Litten to take it back when he gets up, but not now. Anyway—"

"Why do you wake us up and not Litten?" asked Torracat, appalled.

"Because, as you should know, Torracat, Litten doesn't like to be woken up," responded Zeraora, "if we woke him up, he'd never forgive us."

"We won't forgive you eith—"

"Can I explain the challenge now?" humphed Diancie, interrupting Torracat. No one said a word. "Thank you. So, the challenge is a race! You'll need to work with your team to get to the finish line, which is at the food hall."

"Why do people keep interrupting me?" Torracat sighed. "I need to say stuff."

"Is that why you woke us up at Arceus knows what time in the morning?" shouted Gloria.

"Yes. Also, I don't think Arceus is even awake," Diancie deadpanned.

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny," yawned Orville. "Why now, though?"

"Because you'll need to run around all of the island," informed Diancie. "Or to be more precise, everywhere where there is marking tape."

"Oh."

"That'll take about six hours, minimum," said Zeraora. "Of course, not all of it will be shown on camera, otherwise this episode would be the longest episode of any show ever. You'll start right here, then race around the beach. After that, you'll need to get over the lake and through all sorts of obstacles."

"Doesn't that mean that we're going to finish at, like, noon?" asked Gloria. "What would we do for nine hours after that?"

"Use your powers, like speed, agility, typing, et cetera, to get to the finish line," Diancie stated, ignoring Gloria. "Stay with your team and help those who are lagging behind. The challenge will only finish once every camper has finished, and your team will only win if every member finishes before those on the other team."

"And finally," finished Zeraora, taking out the same starting gun he had used during the swimming challenge. "There'll be cooling-slash-energy stations dotted around the route. Get out of your pyjamas and into your clothes, and meet me at the starting line, so I can start the race."

The contestants changed into their clothes and walked to the starting line at around 5:57. They weren't with their teams, however. Some had done a much better job at dressing than others, this early in the morning and all—for example, while, say, Gwen put on her top almost perfectly, Logan looked like he'd been told to put them on while they were drying in the tumble dryer.

"On your marks… set…" began Zeraora, pointing the gun in the air. Many of the runners looked at each other, and Diancie looked at Litten's log cabin, worried that he would wake up and start moaning at her. After a few seconds, Zeraora shouted out, "Go!" and shot a blank into the air. Thankfully, the gun shot didn't wake Litten up, but the sound of around sixty feet quickly moving on the ground may have.

"So, the race begins!" cried Diancie. "I'll be commentating this race until Litten wakes up."

Some of the contestants had clearly ignored what Diancie had said, as they were racing as fast as they could. Aero was lagging behind, however, so Alice picked him up like she had the night before. "Thanks," he blushed.

"You're welcome," said the Minccino. "Now, let's catch up to the team."

"Okay," Aero smiled. "I-I like your top."

"Alice has picked up Aero!" commentated Diancie. "There's nothing wrong with that. However, further up the race there seems to be an argument between Orville and Remington!"

"Aero may be small and feeble, but he's cool," said Alice. "I'm not in love with him, though!" she added, blushing.

"Could you please get out of my way?" asked Orville, annoyed.

"No!" replied Remington. "You do know how races work, right?"

"Pah!" chuckled Orville. "The only reason you're saying that is because you're still salty that a landslide destroyed your home."

"How did you know that?" the Pawniard coughed.

"I did my research," Orville explained. "You used to live on Unova Route 10 until you joined the army."

"Beef is brewing between Orville and Remington. Guys, you're supposed to be running with your teams!" shouted Diancie.

"We know!" Orville shouted back. He then turned back to Remington and grinned. "And then, right before you went home that landslide happened, and both Victory Road and Route 10 were destroyed. That was all over the news!"

"They're rebuilding stuff," said Remington. "Anyway, aren't you supposed to be with your team?" Orville frowned at him and ran away.

"I hate that posh guy!" screamed Remington, rubbing his temples slightly. "If we were on the same team, I'd've voted him off the first chance I got."

Both teams arrived at the beach at different times, with the first of the Poipoles arriving at 6:17 and the Kartanas about ninety seconds later. "Xayah is the first Poipole to arrive, followed by Devin," said Diancie. "Why aren't you with your team?"

"That's for us to know and for you not to know," scowled Devin, elbowing Xayah out of the way.

"I believe the saying is 'that's for us to know and for you to find out'," grinned Diancie. "Also, you're supposed to be cooperating, not fighting."

"Why do you care?" cried Ishtar.

"Do you want your team to lose?" asked Zeraora, who was holding a camera that projected the race onto some big screens. The three scowled at him and ran away.

Meanwhile, roughly halfway through the racers, Gwen was talking to a few of the Kartanas. "I wonder if that Jonesy guy could have found a way to mess this challenge up," she said.

Catrina, who was flying slightly in front of her, looked at her, somewhat sternly. "As I said yesterday, it's not his fault he's Fire type," she frowned. "Besides, how does that have anything to do with racing?"

"It doesn't, but his excessive amount of dancing could've hindered his racing capabilities."

"Eh?" said Torracat, zooming past the two.

Diancie snorted with laughter after hearing this unnaturally smart comment and looked at her watch. 6:20. It would be about three hours and forty minutes until Litten would wake up and take over commentating. Of course, he'd be tired and annoyed, and unwilling to do any talking at all, let alone about other people, but Diancie could finally join Zeraora in looking at them directly. She'd still give comments—that was the point of being a host—yet Litten's remarks would probably be golden.

Alice and Aero hadn't caught up to anyone else. "I-I think I can r-run n-now," said Aero.

"You don't have to!" cried Alice. "The whole point of this race is teamwork."

"Well, c-can I at least h-help you?" asked the Starly.

"Okay," replied Alice.

"Greggy's still behind!" cried Diancie. "Dude, hurry up with the pizza!"

"Well, sorry!" jeered Gregory. "I'm hungry, and you won't give us food!"

"Is it illegal to eat?" questioned Gregory, sarcastically.

Dallas' small, stumpy legs may have been a disadvantage, but not at this moment. Somehow, he zoomed past many of the people, most notably Gwen, whose species was known for its athleticism (at least in Mega form), until eventually the only person in front of him was Jasmine—and Devin, but he was ages away.

"Hello, fellow Kartana," she said, quite calmly.

"I have a name, but hello to you too," Dallas smiled slightly. "I thought Xayah and Devin were in front. Diancie said so."

"Yeah, they were. You see that purple dot over there," she explained, pointing, "that's Devin. Xayah got a stitch, she stopped."

"Oh, okay. You're calm today."

"So are you. Well, us winning yesterday gave me hope. I thought we were going to lose," she smiled.

"So did I," said Dallas. "I liked your song. It's a shame the Jigglypuffs didn't like it. You'd think being the youngest person on this show—"

"Out of my way!" cried Remington.

"But we're on your team!" the two shouted at the same time.

"Yes, I know that," the Pawniard grinned, "But there's no harm in trying to win before the rest of the team. It does give us an advantage."

"True, true," nodded Jasmine, thinking. "You can go past. Dallas, you wanna stay with me?"

"Sure," he replied.

Remington ran past them and Dallas looked at Jasmine. "Does it really?"

"Nope," Jasmine whispered.

"Did you watch last night's 'Fashion Famous'?" Daisy asked Katie.

"Yeah, I can't believe Jayden got voted off…" Katie replied.

"Which Jayden, again?"

"The Dartrix, I think. Could've been the Gengar."

"Oh, it was the Gengar," Daisy realised. "He wasn't very nice, and his fashion sense was just 'yuck'!"

"I disagr—"

"Are you going to talk about reality TV like best friends or are you going to compete to win the race like enemies?" asked Diancie. "You're on two different teams!"

"It's important!" shouted Katie.

"Well, no one cares! The other Jayden gets voted off in tonight's episode, anyway."

"Wha—how did you know that?" questioned Daisy, appalled.

"The network!"

Katie frowned. "Diancie has no right to spoil something that—"

"The season was won by Furfrou!" Zeraora snarled.

"For Arceus' sake!"

"It's 6:45 for us here, so here is the current standings!" cried Diancie. "Far out in first is Devin of the Pushy Poipoles, who is currently traversing on the first of four unstable bridges over the river."

"Thank you for rubbing it in," frowned Devin.

"Next is Remington, then Dallas and Jasmine, all of them Krazy Kartanas, followed by Hunter and Marissa, Poipoles. A while behind them are Gwen, Lyko and Shawn, all Kartanas, Dennis, another Poipole, Catrina, Gregory and Gloria, more Kartanas. Xayah and Torracat are close behind, both Pushy Poipoles."

"I can see Shawna, who you know is a Poipole," added Zeraora, "plus the hyper Mecca of the Kartanas who just overtook Shawna, Katie and Daisy, the girls on two different teams yet seem to be best friends—"

"Shut up!"

"—Clacie the Kartana, Doriann and Orville the Poipoles, Leaf, the Kartana—"

"We know who the team members are! Just tell us the rest of the positions!" Leaf cried.

"Logan, Ishtar, then finally the two lovebirds Aero and Alice," quickfired Diancie.

"F-for your information, o-only one of us is a b-bird," stuttered Aero.

"Am I forgetting someone?" Diancie asked, ignoring Aero.

"P—"

"Don't know, don't care," she said.

Litten woke up at seven. Diancie believed that he would wake up at ten. He said hello to what he thought was Diancie but was actually a pile of gems Clacie had left on the table the night before, and put some frosted flakes that were in the cupboard in a bowl sloppily, using his mouth to carry the spoon and his tiny paws to pick up the box with the famous tiger on the front. Unaware to him, this was being recorded as well, likely as filler. Had he noticed, he would likely have said it was boring filler that no one would like.

The long t-shirt he was wearing as pyjamas sagged a little as he walked around. No challenge today, then, Litten thought, slowly eating his cereal and looking through messages he had received on his Holo Caster. And then he saw it.

Dated today at 5:21, it was a message from Diancie. In it, she said, "Hello, Litten. If you're seeing this, you've woken up. Zeraora and I have predicted that you woke up at ten."

"They got that wrong," Litten murmured, taking another spoonful of his cereal.

"The food hall's empty because the contestants have started today's challenge," continued Diancie, "and no. They haven't eaten."

"Typical Diancie."

"You need to come down to the commentating area by the pool, because you're commentating on the challenge. No excuses." The message finished and Litten almost choked on his cereal.

"Crap!" he cried, dropping the spoon on the floor.

"Hey, A-Alice, do you know w-where Phoebus is?" Aero asked her as they finally reached the bridge.

"No," Alice replied. "It's strange. You'd think the hosts would know, with cameras everywhere."

"Everywhere?"

"Yeah. Last night after the campfire I went to take a shower, and I found a camera poking out of the bathtub," explained Alice, as she slowly walked onto the bridge. "Luckily they'd finished recording the episode, or at least I think they did."

"W-was that what that scream was?" questioned Aero.

The Minccino turned a shade of pink. "P-probably. But someone from the Kartanas—I think it was Clacie—told me that one of the boys was chasing people around the cabins with a baby Spinarak. That could've been the source of the scream."

"Really?" gaped Aero. Silence followed, so Aero said, "I really wish I could fly so we could do this quicker."

"Hang on, you can't fly?"

"No… not very well," blushed Aero. "It's the r-reason I'm r-researching it."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"It's okay," smiled Aero. "You k-know what? I'm g-going to try."

He climbed onto Alice's head, stuffed his glasses into their case, and jumped. However, instead of flying, he fell, bounced on the wood and started to fall into the flowing river.

"Crap," said Alice. "I need to get him. He can't swim well."

She dived from the bridge, into the fast-flowing water.

"How perfect!" cried Diancie. "Has the unconfident birdie finally developed an ego? Are we going to make Litten do the commentating?"

"Yep," uttered Zeraora.

"And will the curry I ordered get here on time for brunch? Find out when we return on the new version of what was the second most illegally downloaded reality show on the air, Total Pokémon: Rebooted!"

Jasmine and Dallas were jogging as they continued their conversation. "So, do you like liquorice?" Dallas asked.

"Yeah. It's not the best candy, but I like it," replied Jasmine. "It has a bad reputation. Well, the bad reputation is more about black liquorice, but still."

"I wish more peop—"

"Quit chit-chatting and run!" cried Hunter, still behind them.

Devin was still in first. He was running past the stage and glanced at it. Just the day before he was up there. He remembered the argument he had had with Alice, the song that the Jigglypuffs didn't like and… well, falling asleep. Devin frowned before running faster. It was starting to get hot as the sun rose in the sky.

Next, he saw the river, which was flowing very fast today. Vapour rose from it slowly and he squinted his eyes, as he had just seen something that looked like a grey splodge. It must've been a rock that had been carried by the current. He shrugged and continued the run, going over the second bridge now.

"Are you kidding me?" said Torracat.

"What?" asked Doriann.

"My foot's stuck!"

"Oh, that's just brilliant!" she cried. "I'm gonna have to get your foot out, won't I?"

"Yeah," said Torracat, "from under these rocks."

"Sucks to be you!" smiled Gwen, running past them but slightly limping in the process.

"Hang on, weren't you in front of us?" asked Torracat, struggling to get his foot out of the rocks.

"I was, but a few mishaps, a trip and a lot of blood and I'm right behind everyone, even Aero and Alice," Gwen replied. Well, I never saw them, but I was there for, like, twenty minutes and they didn't turn up. They must've gone in front."

"Did anyone come to help you?" Doriann asked.

"Nope. I had to find something to dress the wound before I could run. It still stings."

"Ouch," said Torracat. "I hope you'll be alright."

"She's on the opposite team, and I said that I hope she's alright?" sighed Torracat. "I think I'm not alright. I mean, she is pre—"

"Pretty?" asked Litten, from outside the confessional.

"No, pretty cool. Hang on, you're awake?"

"No, I'm not," said Litten.

"Okay."

"Did I just say that I'm not awake?" uttered Litten, smacking his forehead. "And he believed me?"

"You are limping," said Leaf. "I'd suggest using something other than a stinging nettle to dress a wound."

"This is a stinging nettle?" Gwen glanced at the leaf she had put on the wound, which was located on her left leg. It had little hairs and was of a light green colour—it was a stinging nettle! Pulling off the nettle as quickly as possible, Gwen noticed that there was irritation around the blood, which had clotted a little.

"You're serious?!" laughed Diancie. "You put a stinging nettle on your leg? You can't plan this stuff!"

"Diancie, aren't you the host, or the person supposed to ensure our safety?" frowned Leaf.

"I'm the host, but your safety is your responsibility."

"That sounds like something my mum would say," said Torracat.

"No one cares what your mum says!" cried Gwen. "I need something better than a damn stinging nettle to treat my wound!"

"I have a box of plasters," said Leaf.

"And I've just got my foot unstuck!" shouted Torracat. "Smell you later!" He ran off.

"That's the Torracat I know," smiled Zeraora.

"Douche," said Gwen, holding on to her leg. "That applies to both Torracat and Diancie."

"S-sorry, Alice!" cried Aero, as they continued to be carried along the current. "I d-didn't kn—"

"It's okay, we just need to get out of this river," said Alice.

"O-okay. Do you h-h-have a p-painkiller?"

"Why?"

"Because I just hit m-my head."

"Great!" Alice shouted.

"Aero needs help," sighed Alice. "But he can't just ask me, because he does have other teammates. And yes, I do have painkillers. I have lots of medication, just in case I needed it. My mum packed them on the last day. She said that I needed them just in case something happens. I mean, she's a doctor. But I think Aero's got something worse than a simple bump on the head. He must have—"

Dennis jogged slowly. Everyone had passed him. He was going to lose the race for his team, and he knew it. "The winner takes it all," he sang quietly, "the loser standing small, beside the victory, that's her destiny."

Like Alice and Aero, he had noticed that Phoebus hadn't been named in the update at 6:45. The last time he had seen him was in the morning, and then he just vanished, without a trace. But that was not important right now. He needed to up his pace.

"Hey, Dennis!" shouted Zeraora, through the microphone. "You might want to catch up!"

"I know!" cried Dennis. "Isn't it obvious that I'm behind?"

"Yeah," said Zeraora, "that's why I'm talking to you through this handy dandy megaphone."

"And I'm screaming through a microphone connected to a loudspeaker!" screamed Diancie.

"Did she have to do that?" Dennis frowned.

"Yes, she did," said Diancie from outside.

"That was a rhetorical question!"

"I know!"

Diancie was up in the commentator box, occasionally cleaning the gems on her body. It was a bit boring. Nothing exciting was happening. "C'mon, do something!" she said. "This is really boring!"

"Well, maybe if you went down and saw what was going on for yourself," said a voice, "then it wouldn't be so boring."

"Litten?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," he uttered. "Apparently, you didn't think I'd wake up until ten, and it's twenty-five past seven."

"Well, I kind of underestimated," shrugged Diancie. "You did have a late night last… night, didn't you?"

"Only because someone left pizza crumbs all over the floor of the food hall. Besides—"

"Anyway, are you going to take over commentating?" Diancie asked.

"Er, okay," replied Litten, "what do I have to do?"

"You see the campers on those screens?" said Diancie. "They're running around the island. If anything exciting happens, talk about it. Also, once every hour, check everyone's positions and say them."

"Ah, so theoretically, I could do this at one to an hour and one past?"

"You could," grinned Diancie, "but that doesn't sound like something you'd do."

"That's true."

"Where are the damn energy stations?" asked Gloria, annoyed.

"By 'energy stations dotted around the route', I meant four, all in the second half of the route," said Diancie.

"Of course you did," frowned the Gorebyss. "OF COURSE you did."

"My stepdad's like that at home. He has a tendency to exaggerate stuff so he can annoy me and Shawna," explained Shawn.

"I need to meet this man!" Diancie cried.

"Trust me, you don't want to."

"He's a Granbull, if you want to know. I don't know why Mum married him," said Shawn. "Our biological dad's nicer and much more handsome. I mean, no offence to Harry or anything, if he's watching this, I just think that he's more good-looking. And yes, the night I'm back, I'm going to Dad's."

"So, Gwen is limping, almost at the back," said Litten. "What happened?"

"I tripped," explained Gwen. "There was blood, a stinging nettle I used to dress the wound, Torracat—"

"Oh, what has he done now…"

Gwen continued, "Leaf, who pointed the nettle out, gave me a plaster and I put it on. Much better dressing than a damn stinging nettle."

"Oh," said Litten. "That's not very nice."

"Yeah, it's not been a good day, since Diancie woke us up at half past five in the morning."

"That's cruel."

"I know, right?" sighed Gwen. "She said that we would be doing this for six hours."

"So you'd finish the race at half eleven? Was there any point in waking you all up that early?"

"Other than to annoy us, no."

"When I signed up for this show, I was expecting one where the hosts, or in this case, host, because Zeraora is okay, treated us like Pokémon and not their own playthings," said Gwen. "Of course, this network isn't known for its reliability and humane treatment of cast members."

Gregory and Catrina. Except for Aero and Alice and Dallas and Jasmine, they were the only team members that seemed to be together, and, well, the only team members together that weren't riding down a river at one hundred and fifty kilometres an hour or had an age difference of something like seven years. They had both realised that they could fly to go both further and faster.

"This challenge doesn't make sense," said Gregory, stopping for a quick breather.

"What do you mean?" Catrina asked, stopping as well.

"They expect us to work in teams in a race. I don't think that we could all stay in a group and run at the same time," Gregory replied.

"That's true," said Catrina. "It's like a marathon in a multi-sport event. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"Yeah. Like, there's loads of athletes representing the same regions and you don't see them cooperating. Remember last year? The marathon that took place during the Poké Games. In Hoenn, I think it was. Loads of runners represented Kanto and I didn't see them running together."

"It's different, though. Only one needed to cross the finish line to win the gold medal then. Everyone in the team needs to cross before the other team otherwise we'll lose in this challenge."

"It's almost eight o'clock, so here's the standings," said Litten. "Devin is really far in front, just about halfway. He's reached the first cooling station, and is busy getting a drink. Marissa is next, who seems to be floating like a ghost, followed by Doriann and Lyko, who are running and arguing for no reas—"

"We have a very good reason actually," called Doriann, "and that is…"

"Unimportant," interrupted Diancie. "Litten, continue."

"Really?" frowned Doriann. "Diancie isn't very nice today. Well, to be honest, she's like this usually, but even more today. I'm convinced that—"

"Next is Leaf, who Gwen tells me dressed her wound."

"Just because she did that, it doesn't mean we're friends or in an alliance!" cried Gwen from further behind, still limping but not as much as before.

"As if those are interchangeable," chortled Litten.

"After her is Gloria, who is swimming!" shouted Litten. "Hey, I thought you couldn't swim well."

"That's my secret."

"Her 'secret'?" said Gwen. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Meanwhile, we have Torracat, my older brother," Litten continued. "He seems to be running pretty well, for someone I know wasn't very athletic in primary school."

"Oh, go stick your foot in a crevice," frowned Torracat.

"You don't need to know this, but after primary school my mum homeschooled Litten and me," said Torracat. "Said the education system was crap, and she was better. Of course Litten excelled. Well, we were both Littens then, bu—"

"That's a rare insult," Litten murmured, before continuing the commentary. "After him is Mecca, the most hyper Pokémon in the entire universe, and Remington following her. Dallas and Jasmine are chatting and running together, almost immediately followed by Clacie."

Gwen, who was noticeably in front of Clacie, intentionally cleared her throat.

"Oh, yeah, Gwen is in front of Clacie," said Litten, turning slightly red. "Shawn and Katie are next," he continued, "as well as Daisy, who's on a different team to them."

"I think we all know that," said Katie.

"Yes, okay, let's continue. After those three are Catrina and Gregory, followed very closely by Hunter. Two metres or so after them is Orville, as well as Xayah and Shawna."

"I wish I could run better…" Shawna sighed.

"Don't be so down," uttered Xayah. "As long as you finish and we win, it'll be fine."

"Wow," whispered Diancie.

"Logan, Ishtar and Dennis are the rest. That should be everyone," said Litten.

"You f—"

"So let's just get back to commentating on the race!" Litten cried. "Devin has finished his drink, and is on his way to the forest, where wild Pokémon reside."

"How do you know this?" asked Diancie through her megaphone.

"Research," replied Litten vaguely. "They're not harml—"

Devin screeched, cutting off Litten. As such, nesting Fletchlings and Pidoves flew off the trees and into the sky. "There's a massive Pangoro!"

"It has a leaf in its mouth that can sense things. If it does nothing, you're safe. If it attempts to attack, run!"

This was met by another scream. Devin ran as fast as he could. Luckily for him, the Pangoro was not chasing him, but he wasn't completely sure that that would be the case for long. He ran and ran, a stitch building up. Regardless, he continued running until it was so unbearable that he had to stop, abruptly at that. His stumpy legs tripped because of the speed, and he fell, skidding along the path.

"I don't know what's going on," said Litten, "but it doesn't sound nice."

"Yeah, but it does sound like something that would raise ratings," smiled Diancie.

"Ratings? RATINGS?!" cried Dallas. "You care more about ratings than the safety of your contestants?"

"You're ten! How do you know what ratings are?" asked Zeraora.

"I mean, you allowed a ten-year-old to participate in a prime-time reality show in which most of the participants are over sixteen, myself included," said Jasmine.

"Touché," Diancie coughed.

Xayah had started to lag behind, and almost everyone was in front of her. Had there been a map of the island, with everyone on it, there would be a group of Poipoles right at the back. Of course, there was a smaller group of Poipoles who were winning, but there were more at the back and it mattered more. She was anxious that her team would lose and only because of her, and her time was up on the island, forgetting that she was not the only one on her team who was behind. As the clock reached quarter past eight, a breeze started to develop—after only five minutes, this turned into a gale, pushing the way that everyone was running.

All of the runners was incapacitated one way or another, some much more than others. The smaller Pokémon were hit harder than the larger ones, one or two flying backwards from the force of the wind.

Aero and Alice continued to slide down the river, the Starly unconscious and the Minccino carrying him. Whitewater smashed into the two due to the wind and they flew. Alice looked up and saw something amazing.

"S…slow down," huffed Remington, who was running fast, trying to follow Mecca, who, as usual, was running extremely fast. "We don't need to go so fast. Plus, the wind."

"You wanna win, don't you?" said Mecca.

"We need to finish before the other team. We don't need to win."

"Yeah, but you can't slow me down!" Mecca cried.

As the wind pushed the Pawniard harder and harder, he stopped running and slowed to a simple jog. Mecca sped away and passed even more people, and, had she looked behind, Remington would have looked like a tiny dot.

"Sometimes I worry about Mecca," said Remington. "Like, how does she have all that energy that never runs out? Does she eat ten Rage Candy Bars a day?"

"This is like in My Nature Forces," said Catrina. "Only in the manga, not the anime. But it was hinted in the third movie about thirty-nine minutes in."

"What are you talking about?" Gregory asked.

"The main character, Ryuukaze, can control wind," explained Catrina, "and in the forty-second chapter she causes a massive gale."

"Ah, so you're a—"

"Weeaboo, yes," Catrina blushed.

"Okay."

"I love talking with you," said Katie to Daisy.

"So do I," the Plusle smiled. "I do wish we were on the same team…"

"Too bad, because you can't change team," grinned Diancie.

"But on the old—

"Shh! We don't talk about that hell-hole of a show."

"As if this show is any better," snorted Orville, appearing behind them.

"It is…" hissed Diancie.

"Besides, if there is one person you cannot convince, it is Diancie," the Octillery continued.

"Orville, any more and you'll be off the island before you can say 'Diancie is bad'," frowned Diancie.

"Weak, but okay," said Orville, pushing past Katie and Daisy. "And Daisy? Do something for your team and stop hanging out with someone who's not on your team."

"Who does he think he is? The team leader?!" shouted Daisy. "It's not like I'm telling her team secrets. Like, do you really think I'm gonna tell her that Dennis has a pair of underwear he hasn't taken out of the package for two years because they're his 'lucky pair'?" The Plusle then looked at the camera in horror. "Did I just say that out loud to thousands of people? Sorry, Dennis…"

Phoebus sped, teleporting as much as he could. He had taken the 'use your powers' sentence that Diancie had said to heart, and had teleported more times than should have been possible.

He was far in front of everyone–so far in front that he hadn't been named in either one of the standings.

There were Psychic-type Pokémon other than him, so why weren't they teleporting like he was? The Espeon found it strange.

At least he knew he would finish before everyone else.

Gwen's wound began to hurt again. She stopped to nurse it, but this caused three people—Hunter, Xayah and Logan—to overtake her. Logan and Xayah had ran into her, knocking her further behind.

"Douchebags!" she cried.

"What, so you?" Logan grinned.

"Go step on rocks without shoes," she frowned.

"Don't stop in the middle of a gale then!"

"Wait, wha—"

The gale had sped up, pushing the small Pokémon. The larger Pokémon were not moved by the gale, but the small Pokémon kept crashing into them.

Dallas tried to stay still, but to no avail. The wind pushed him into Leaf, who fell over. Dallas tried to stand up, but the weight of the Breloom stopped him from doing so. And she couldn't stand up, because the unsuspecting Shawn had fallen onto the pile as well.

"Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do, isn't it?" said Dallas.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shawn groaned.

"Get off, you're stopping me from getting off him," Leaf scowled at Shawn.

"We're on the same team, we should be working together," Dallas coughed.

"Nine AM in the morning, time for the current standings," Litten said through a mouthful of Frosties. "The twenty-eight participants are dotted around the island. Devin's in front by quite a bit, having recovered from that Pangoro incident."

"'Recovered'," the Grumpig scowled, putting air quotes around that word. He had a noticeable, large bruise on his left knee.

"We'll need to censor that before airing," said Diancie quietly.

"Behind Devin is Lyko, then it's Doriann and Torracorradorramorracat."

"Shut up!" Torracat bellowed.

Litten giggled. "Xayah is after them, next is Mecca and after her is Shawna. Gloria is in eighth, now ninth, and just before her by two steps is Marissa."

"Actually, you are wrong," said Marissa gallantly. I have overtaken both Shawna and Gloria, so I am, in fact, in seventh."

"No one cares," called Zeraora.

"Behind Gloria is Orville. I guess he improved because I believe this is your first time in the top ten."

"Yes," the Octillery nodded.

"Catrina, Gregory, Remington, Jasmine and Cali," said Litten, like he was checking them off a list.

"You… called me Cali!" cried Clacie. "Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it," Litten smiled. "Anyway, the next few peeps are Hunter, Logan and Ishtar, then there's a load of small ones."

"I'm sorry we're small and get pulled by the wind," said Gregory.

"And are stuck under a pile," added Dallas.

"Don't complain," hissed Diancie.

"And the rest are Katie, Daisy, Dallas, Leaf, Shawn, Dennis and Gwen. That's all of them."

"What about—"

"What an episode! And we're only halfway through," said Diancie. Stay tuned, we have to have an ad break to give the network revenue. Yeah, I said it."

"Anyway, will a winner be crowned within the next part of the episode? Will I get my microwave back?" asked Zeraora.

"And will the network get mad at me?"

"Find out when we return on a show that's a show and is a show, Total Pokémon: Rebooted!"

After ten minutes, the gale began to slow down. Shawn finally got off of Leaf and Dallas. The Wynaut ran, not bothering to fix his shirt.

He needed to make up time.

"Is it still windy?" Diancie asked Zeraora.

"Well, perhaps if you actually came outside you could check," said Zeraora, "but yes, a little."

"I'm not going outside, it's cold."

"No, it's not!"

Right in the middle of the line of people were Remington and Shawna.

"So what, you're an army veteran?" Shawna asked Remington.

"Yes," the Pawniard nodded, "and quite athletic."

"If you're an athlete," said Orville, "why aren't you in front?"

"I'm a Pawniard. I'm small, I got pushed by the wind."

"Sucks to be you, I guess," grinned Gwen.

"You put a stinging nettle on a wound," Orville snarled, "so you can't really talk."

Gwen gave him a death glare.

"Devin is at the second energy station, and he's getting himself an energy bar," announced Litten. "With that, he only has a quarter of the race left."

"But just because he wins doesn't mean his team will," Diancie sneered. "The rest of the Poipoles have to finish before the last Kartana or they'll lose the challenge for the second time in a row."

"And you'll be losing the entire show," Zeraora added. "Nobody wants that, really."

"So, hurry up, Dennis," said Diancie. "Magic isn't gonna get you to the finish line."

"Shut up!" the Alolan Persian shouted.

Dennis looked at the camera. "Sheesh."

"Get out of the way!" Gwen yelled. She elbowed her way through her teammates and passed Katie and Doriann, the Poipoles.

"Gwen is on the move!" cried Litten.

"Yeah, it's a race, you dimwit," the Lopunny said.

"I—I didn't mean it in that way…" Litten blushed.

Torracat continued to run. He was somehow in fourth, and the Poipoles were in the lead.

They would win, he hoped. They wouldn't have to go through the campfire ceremony again, he hoped.

But, just as he said that, Mecca passed him. The Minun blew a raspberry and sped off, passing Hunter and meeting with Lyko.

"C'mon, Lyko, speed up!" she jeered. "We gotta win this!"

"I know!" the Midnight Lycanroc shouted. "I was in front of you—"

"Until just now!" screamed Mecca.

Wonder if there's treasure, thought Mecca as she stumbled through the rocky path and through the overgrown grass.

"And Mecca makes it to the halfway point!" Litten called.

"Halfway point?" said Mecca, confused. "Where's the—"

She crashed into the table that the hosts had used as a station. The pitcher of water that had been placed on the table rather sloppily wobbled, and fell over. The water spilled all over the energy bars, soiling them. Finally, the pitcher fell off of the table, smashing on the ground into hundreds of glass shards.

Unfazed, Mecca stood up and ran off, unaware of what she was soon about to cause.

"I kinda wish we met before," Daisy said to Katie.

"I wish we were on the same team," Katie smiled. "We would've bonded a lot earlier."

"You already said that," groaned Torracat. "You're a Poipole, Daisy, so deal with it."

Daisy's eyebrows lowered.

"Now run. Talking to Katie isn't gonna win the race."

Lyko was starting to get bored. His legs began to hurt. And Lyko did not like being bored (or his legs hurting).

But he wasn't even halfway.

It had been over three hours. He hadn't eaten any food.

Why did Diancie decide to do the challenge at 5:30 in the morning? Who in their right mind would do that, full well knowing the challenge would end well before sunset?

Then it clicked.

"Diancie is evil," Lyko said. "Not Mew or Victini evil, no, and definitely not Chris McLean evil. I mean, those could be interchangeable, but that's beside the point. She's such a… well, I don't want to swear on prime-time TV, so I'll just say… jerk." He edged closer to the camera. "I was the one who asked her if it was the same as the other show."

"Ooh, there's a shortcut," Marissa noticed.

"Prickly thorns, no thanks," said Gloria.

"What, so you can't pass because of prickly thorns?" joked Orville. "Do y-you get it?" he laughed. "You-yo—"

"Yes," uttered Remington, "it's just not funny."

"Stand back!" the Decidueye declared. She pulled the same green sword she had shown Litten just a few days prior and sliced the thorns. As if she was an intrepid explorer slicing her way through the vines of a jungle, she destroyed the foliage in a heartbeat.

The contestants ran through the newly created path, none saying 'thank you' to the Pokémon who allowed them to take it.

"You know you just gave the other team an advantage?" was the only thing Orville said before he took the path as well.

Marissa went white.

"Is forging another path against the rules?" Litten asked Diancie back in the commentating area.

"No," replied Diancie. "Anyone can do anything to win. Except run in the middle. They can't do that."

"Oh."

"So, like, can someone take the river?" questioned Litten. "Y'know, like Aero and Alice did?"

"Yeah," Diancie nodded, "if you wanna get brain damage."

"Oh my… Who the he…" Ishtar had found the first cooling station. "Whoever did that is dead."

"So, you're gonna assault someone on the other team? Doesn't seem very sportsmanship-ish," Diancie chuckled.

"Explain?" the Kommo-o asked.

"It was Mecca," she explained. "She ran, destroyed the table, soiled the energy bars and smashed the pitcher."

"On purpose?"

Diancie shrugged.

"I know who I'm voting off today," Ishtar frowned. "Her name begins with 'Mecc' and ends with 'a'."

Xayah had also reached the first station, but unlike Hunter, her response was more sympathetic.

"Mecca did this? Can I clean this up?"

"Yes," said Zeraora, "if you want to lose for your team."

"Noted."

Xayah pulled the cloth off of the table, grabbed one of the plastic cups and wrung as much of the water as possible into it.

"Two drops aren't really enough, but it's fine, I guess," she frowned. "Diancie, you gonna replace the pitcher?"

"You wanna pay for one?" she frowned.

"Fair point." The Haxorus stepped over the glass shards carefully and continued her dash.

"So, how's your week been?" Zeraora casually asked Diancie.

"Excellent," she smiled. "I never thought running one of the most controversial shows on the air could be so much… fun."

"I mean, what do you expect? Sending thirty kids against themselves so they can win money is—"

"Common in reality shows," said Litten. "The only thing that makes this one distinctive is because of the controversy it caused."

"And the only reason that it didn't get cancelled was because of the income it generated," explained Diancie. "Ratings off the charts, I wish I could have that fame."

"You beat it with the first episode, doof," Litten revealed. "Soon as that episode aired, I checked the ratings. Course the second episode hasn't aired yet, but people on that forum you hate predicted you'll top the ratings for that too."

"So I'll pay for the roy—"

A blood-curdling, feminine scream cut off whatever she was about to say.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow!" cried Katie. "I have glass in my foot!"

"Where?" said Daisy.

"Here," she whined. The Spritzee pointed to a shard so small that it wasn't visible, even in her tiny feet.

"Ouch," Daisy winced. Whether she was being serious or not, no one knew.

Daisy pulled the shard out of her stubby foot. Katie shrieked. Her skin had not even been pierced by the glass.

"Drama queen," Torracat smiled.

"Shut up," said Daisy.

"Also, Laisy, you're once again bonding with the other team."

"Laisy? That's… pretty clever…" Daisy laughed, sheepishly.

"You're a meanie," said Katie.

"That's really weak," Torracat uttered. He walked over to the table and frowned. "Why's there no water?"

Then he looked at the floor. A glass crescent lay still on the ground between a few rocks.

The handle of the pitcher.

"Damn it."

Leaf had already passed the cooling station. She hadn't even noticed the table.

Her stomach was rumbling and she felt sick. Being crushed didn't particularly help with that.

It definitely wasn't the 'I'm going to throw up" kind of sick, more like the 'sinking feeling' kind of sick.

Was it being tired after being woken up after having only five hours of sleep? Was it not having food? Was it the inertia from the swim just a few days before? Was it the feeling that she'd eventually get voted off the show, unless of the unlikely event of her victory and win of the hundred million?

Whatever it was, she wanted it to stop.

Almost all of the contestants had taken the shortcut that Marissa had crafted. Some sceptics wondered why such a route existed and opted to take the route that was made for the challenge.

Most took Marissa's route. They couldn't care less about the scraps and bruises they got from the flora nor the possible wild Pokémon.

Sure, poffins were delicious, but they represented the failure of a challenge. And failing a challenge meant running the risk of elimination. And you can't win money if you're eliminated. At least not from this show.

The rest of the contestants had arrived at the first cooling station, but, to their dismay, there was no water. A few people didn't mind soggy energy bars, but the majority were infuriated, reluctantly running again, annoyed that they had not eaten in over twelve hours.

"Is it even legal to do this?" Catrina wondered. "Like, who would do this and call themselves a good person?"

"Who in the bloody world would send a load of tired people on a long-as-hell race and give them absolutely nothing as a reward?" asked Remington. "I mean, other than PE. Screw PE."

Gwen, slightly ticked off, dashed past the glass. She knew it was Mecca that caused that. She knew she'd have to vote off her.

But Katie was also a pain, and a candidate for elimination. She was essentially a traitor, since she was mingling with people from the other team.

She didn't know whether they'd win or not. Most of the people in her team weren't particularly talented in… anything.

Gloria was soft. The Gorebyss had copied her song in the previous challenge. She had failed to swim in the swimming challenge, despite being a Water type.

Gwen remembered when Gloria had looked disgusted after having to share a bunk with the Lopunny. Was she really like she appeared?

And Catrina and Gregory. Sure they were teammates, but they spent so much time together. Were they dating? Had they formed an alliance together? Gwen deduced that she would have to ask one of them. Of course, she'd have to do it without explicitly telling them that. However that would work.

Mecca had reached the second energy station, but she passed it. She had enough energy for the next ten months, probably.

That was lucky. Anyone who went through the gruelling two thirds of the course could now eat discount-store energy bars and water that, having been out for over four hours, was probably lukewarm. Any ice that the hosts may have put in the pitchers had long since melted. An Ice type Pokémon could have produced some ice cubes to possibly cool down the water, but there weren't any Ice types participating in this season. And Diancie didn't care enough to find an Ice type intern.

The distance between the first and second stations was much less than between the starting line and the first station. Was that done on purpose? It was likely.

Whatever it was, many were grateful that they could actually have something. Most were so deprived of food that they really didn't mind that the water was tepid and possibly dirty, or that the food wasn't particularly of good quality. There weren't twenty eight energy bars so it was inevitable that a few people wouldn't get any. And people could be greedy, and they couldn't have water.

It was what happened in reality shows. Essentially, every Pokémon for themselves. Next to no one cared that other people weren't going to get food.

"And now, it's half past ten. As almost everyone has got past the second station, I think it's a good time to report on the standings," announced Litten. "The standings are extremely different to the ones at nine. Devin remains in front, but Mecca isn't far behind. She's actually improved a lot. Not to say she was doing bad at first, but still.

"Meanwhile, quite further down, is Xayah. Then Lyko, Shawna, Doriann and Torracat," Litten continued. "Following them are Gwen, Catrina, Gregory and Remington. After these peeps are Shawn, Hunter, Orville, Marissa, Dallas, Ishtar, Jasmine, Gloria, Cali, Leaf, Logan, Dennis, Katie and Daisy."

"Oh great, the chat-heads are at the back," frowned Torracat. "You're gonna lose the challenge for your team!" he called. "If you lose for us, Daisy, I'm gonna vote for you!"

"Does he have friends?" Daisy frowned.

Gwen, as Litten had announced, was running with Catrina and Gregory.

"Catrina, can I talk to you for a few moments?" she asked. "No Greg, just you."

Catrina nodded, a little suspicious. "I'll be back in a little bit," he told Gregory.

"What, so you're gonna stop moving and lose for the team?"

"No, we're just gonna talk in another place."

"Okay…"

Catrina and Gwen ran over to an area closer to the middle on the course. "So, what d'ya need?" the Beautifly smiled.

"Are you in an alliance?" Gwen asked.

"With who?"

"You know who."

"Gregory? No, we're not in an alliance," said Catrina. "We just… bonded."

"Romantically? Are you dating?" asked Gwen.

"No."

"Well then."

The two ran back over to Gregory. "That was short," he said.

"Yeah, I only had to say something quick," Gwen smiled.

"Oh."

In fact, she wanted to say way more. But Catrina being really vague was quite… suspicious, to say the least. Gwen knew she would have to investigate.

"They're in love, I know it," said the Lopunny. "Course they probably don't know that, but I think I know what's gonna happen soon enough." She imitated them kissing before looking at the camera. "Probably not the best thing to do in a toilet."

"And now, this fearless explorer treks through the vast expanses of the dangerous, unexplored jungle," Mecca muttered to herself. "If she completes such a feat, she will be the youngest ever explorer to discover a new area and make it out alive."

"You're literally in a reality show. The island has definitely been explored," said Devin.

"Awww… you're no fun," frowned the Minun.

"What can I say?"

"'Damn', because I just passed you.

"Damn."

"Step it up!" Logan cried.

"You're literally going slower than all of us," said Dennis. "You're only in front of us because you're so defiant.

"Is Logan being a hypocrite again?" Leaf asked.

"What do you think?" the Alolan Persian replied.

"Well then."

"I'm not a hypocrite!" protested Logan.

"And now, Marissa shall smite those who get in her way!"

"I would never say that," the Decidueye told Remington. "I may have a sword, but I use it for the good of others rather than for their death."

"You must admit, that was a good impression of you."

"I guess that is true."

"Don't be mean," said Jasmine. "If you want people to like you you've got to be nice."

"Shut up, I didn't spend years in the army to be told what to do by a Mienfoo."

"How come you've been in the army for years and yet haven't evolved?" said Dallas.

Remington frowned. "Screw off."

"How much of the race do they have left?" Litten asked Diancie.

"Not actually too much."

"So what, getting them up at five thirty was done on purpose?"

"Uh… yes," she smirked.

"Oh, that's not kind," uttered Litten.

"You wanna get paid?"

"Touché."

"After that thing halfway through the course, there's one really quickly after," Diancie explained. Then after that there's one a quarter after that and finally one, right before the finish line."

"Right before? Is that a delay tactic?" asked Litten.

"Yeah."

"Damn."

"And Mecca is already halfway to the third energy station! Don't crash again," commentated Litten.

"Did I crash before?" she asked.

"Yes. You forgot?"

Mecca shrugged.

"You literally broke a pitcher," Litten explained. "You soiled the energy bars. You ruined it for basically everyone."

"Did I? I'm sorry. I'd love to help clean up!"

"It's fine," said Zeraora. "Try to be careful."

Mecca nodded twice. "Okay."

"You think there's any gems anywhere?" Clacie asked Gloria as they crossed a bridge.

"I dunno."

"I could dig and look for gems," said Clacie.

"Dig?" wondered Gloria. "You can dig?"

"Faster than I can run."

Gloria thought about it. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Probably."

"You can dig!" she realised. "And get to the finish line before everyone else."

"And I can pull you!" smiled Clacie.

"Yes!"

The two sort of high fived. Of course, since neither of them actually had hands—Gloria, fins in the shape of shells and Clacie, very long claws—it was more of a 'scoop' sort of thing.

Clacie pulled a rope off of a pole and tied Gloria to her with it. The sound of a crash was drowned out by the sound of digging as Gloria was pulled into the ground.

Cali hadn't noticed what she had pulled the rope from.

The bottom four ran through the forest, jumping over loose tree roots and dodging wild Pokémon.

After seven minutes, they finally left it. Now, an area full of streams and waterfalls greeted them.

The Pokémon hopped over streams and ran through puddles, trying not to get extremely wet. Then, they ran into a problem.

A broken bridge.

Dennis skidded to a halt at the river. "Leaf is over there."

"So what," said Logan, "she did that?"

"Possibly."

"Leaf!" Katie called.

The Breloom stopped and turned around. "Yeah?"

"Did you do this?" the Spritzee asked, pointing to the broken bridge.

"Oh, no, unless it collapsed under my weight. There's not a rope, that's probably why it collapsed."

"Someone took it!" cried Daisy. "But who?"

"What matters is how we're gonna get over," said Dennis. He ran over to a tree, and, after a loud crack, came back with a long, thin stick.

"A vaulting pole," noted Daisy.

"If this is shallow enough," Dennis stated. He stuck the stick in the water and pushed down. The stick lowered as if it was in quicksand. "Well then," sighed the Alolan Persian. He pulled the stick out of the water.

"There's a hole over there," Katie said, pointing to the whole that Clacie had created.

"I'm not a master pole vaulter," uttered Dennis," but I'll give it a go."

Aiming for the hole, Dennis ran and stuck the pole in the ground across from the river, and vaulted.

He was, in a way, victorious. However, he missed the hole by a small amount and the pole instead bounced on the ground. He slid about a foot and before standing up again.

"I'm okay," he said. He threw the pole over and the other three vaulted as well. Only Katie victoriously landed in the hole.

The four, except for Daisy and Katie, separated as they ran faster and tried to advance further than they were then.

Xayah was halfway between Devin and Lyko. She still wondered how Devin had got so far in front of everyone. He was small and his legs were too. A much more athletic-looking Pokémon like Gwen should have been much more suited for the challenge.

But did it really matter? Devin was in second. The Poipoles had a pretty good lead. Of course Mecca was very far out front but, considering the rest of her team was far behind, it didn't particularly matter.

Unbeknownst to her, however, as if Arceus had come down and performed a miracle, the Kartanas were starting to do… better.

Odd.

The wind finally came to a halt. Catrina and Gregory, who had been slightly incapacitated by the gale, could now go faster. Gwen didn't really care as they sped off. She was going to investigate them when the challenge would finally finish.

The challenge had taken ages—over five hours. Sure the previous challenge had taken a while, but this one was much longer. It was a sweaty day, and if anyone stopped to wring a sock it would undoubtedly be drenched in sweat. It was quite gross.

Cali dug through the dirt, narrowly avoiding large rocks and other debris that littered her route. Any gemstone that appeared in front of her was scooped and stuffed into a bag she had. Said bag had hit Gloria's face many times, the Gorebyss getting slightly more annoyed every time, especially as the bag got heavier the more gems were in it.

"Why do you need to take every single rock with a tiny bit of shine you see?" Gloria asked, trying not to get dirt in her mouth.

"Gems are cool," the Drilbur said.

"Why can't you do this after the race is finished?"

"I guess you're right," Clacie frowned, dejectedly pulling about half of the gems out of her bag and throwing them behind her. Many of them hit an already quite agitated Gloria. The Gorebyss grew redder and redder with anger, but she tried not to scream.

"Clacie is so… ugh!" cried Gloria. "She has, like, an addiction to gems. I mean, that's obvious, but still, it's really annoying. You get my point."

"Gloria's nice, but she's a bit of a… uh… I don't really know a word," said Clacie, sheepishly. "You know what I mean, right?"

Ishtar's scales shined in the eleven o'clock summer sun. Other than the standings, she had not really been talked about. Not that she really cared.

"Ishtar," smiled Leaf, "you mind going a little faster?"

"Yes," the Kommo-o growled, bitterly.

"O-okay," Leaf trembled. She quickly ran past Ishtar and sped off.

Ishtar sighed. She was behind almost everyone. In the constantly-changing standings, she was one of the few to consistently rank in the bottom ten.

Perhaps this wasn't her sort of thing.

"So, do you do kung fu?" Dallas asked Jasmine.

"I—" the Mienfoo replied. "Are you hitting on me?" I'm not interested,"

"N-no," Dallas blushed.

"Do all girls think that when boys try to engage in conversation, they're hitting on them? She's, just…" said Dallas, "ugh!"

"Dallas is a nice guy—well, most of the time—but I'm not interested in him," frowned Jasmine. "Didn't he have a crush on that Mecca girl?"

"It's standings time again!" cried Litten. "Eleven past eleven. This has been the longest challenge so far. Anyway, in order of front to back, the people are… Mecca, Xayah, Devin, Shawna, Lyko, Catrina, Gregory, Gwen, Torracat, Doriann, Remington, Shawn, Leaf, Hunter, Orville, Ishtar, Marissa, Dallas, Jasmine, Dennis, Logan, Katie and Daisy."

"Where are Clacie and Gloria?" Leaf asked.

"Dunno," said Diancie.

"Why do people keep going missing?" uttered the Breloom. "First Phoebus, then Aero and Alice and now those two. It's odd."

"So, Gloria's gone?" snarled Gwen. "Did she purposely go missing just to mess with me? Mecca's still getting my vote if we lose, though."

On the topic of Mecca, the Minun was almost finished. She had zoomed past everything that dotted the root, somehow missing stumps and roots with her lightning-fast legs.

She was closer to the final cooling station (and, therefore, the end of the race) than the third one.

In fact, there was only one stretch of the race between her and the finish line, with its checkered flag and a place to actually sit down, stretch and recover. Not that Mecca needed to do any of those.

Litten was busy reporting on another group of contestants, before he noticed Mecca. "Wow, so Mecca is miles ahead of anyone."

"That's not fair!" screamed Daisy.

"Life isn't fair, honey, now run," frowned Logan. "And stop talking to that Katie. She—"

"Isn't on my team, I know. But I don't care. She's nice, sweet and the best person I know around."

"Yeah, but she's holding you back from the hundred mill."

"So what?" the Plusle shrugged. "Friendship is more important than money."

"This is real life, not one of those cheesy rom-coms or whatever the hell you watch. Friendship can't buy a yacht."

"Is he alright?" said Daisy.

"Anyway, Mecca has less than five kilometres left. If my predictions are correct, she'll be done in less than… hmm… ten minutes," Litten announced.

"And, like all good commentators," said Diancie, "we'll put all our focus and attention on her, until either she crosses the line or something interesting happens further down in the race."

"Perhaps. Mecca is further from Xayah than she is to the finish line."

That was true. Almost nothing stood between the Minun and victory. Sort of. The rest of her team still had to pass the finish line so they could win.

"Mecca is speeding up, as if she wasn't already going really fast," said Litten. "I think she wants to cross the line even faster than she would've."

"You know you're way in front of everyone else, right?" called Zeraora.

"Yeah, but I wanna be there before everyone else. The other team's gonna be impressed," smiled Mecca.

"Well then," uttered Zeraora.

Mecca ran even faster. Any normal person would've developed a bad stitch, but Mecca wasn't a normal person. She had more energy than the energy drink section at a sports store specialising in energy recovering food. Her body seemingly never needed to slow down.

Litten's predictions were wrong. It took her a lot shorter of a time to get near the finish line—she was almost there in less than five minutes.

"Mecca has less than a kilometre to go!" cried Litten.

"Seven hundred metres actually," corrected Mecca.

"Six hundred and fifty, six hundred, five hundred and fifty, five hundred…" Litten counted down. "Four hundred and fifty, four hundred, three hundred and fifty, three hundred… and Mecca unsurprisingly skips the last cooling station… two hundred and fifty, two hundred, one hundred and fifty, one hundred.

"Mecca has one hundred metres, less tha—"

Mecca was almost at the line, before she skidded to a halt. Her stubby feet stood still, so close to the line that someone would have to use a microscope to determine the space between the two.

"Why are you stopping?" asked Diancie, bewildered. "You're literally there!"

"There's somebody already here…" the Minun replied. And she was right.

In front of her were two people. Alice and Aero. Aero lay on Alice, unconscious. The Minccino was cuddling him. The two were quite wet.

"Oh, hi," grinned Alice.

Mecca's mouth lay agape. "You—how—wha—"

"The river is very fast," said Alice.

"Well then."

"That's odd!" commentated Litten. "Alice and Aero were at the end the whole time! So, you skipped the entire course? When did you get here?"

"I don't know. The river flung us into this area Arceus knows how long ago."

Mecca looked dejected.

"I lost out of the chance to win the race to some cheater Poipoles!" she shouted.

"We already told you, you need the rest of your team if you wanna win," said Diancie from the outside.

"I don't care!"

The Minun slowly stepped over the line. A scoreboard, the same one used in the previous challenges, changed to 'Krazy Kartanas: 1, Pushy Poipoles: 2'.

Mecca groaned.

"So, with Mecca having crossed the line, we'll move on to the nearest person to the finish line, Xay—"

"It's not Xayah that's closest!" cried Clacie, emerging from the ground. Behind her was a dirty and cross-looking Gloria. Without untying the rope, Clacie ran as fast as she could. Gloria was pulled from behind her.

"You can untie me!" Gloria huffed.

"I will, just wait!" Clacie grabbed hold of the rope and continued running. The Drilbur crossed the line, Gloria following soon.

"Now the Kartanas are in the lead!" shouted Litten as the scoreboard changed to 'Krazy Kartanas: 3, Pushy Poipoles: 2.'

"Happy now, Mecca?" smirked Diancie.

"No…" she sulked.

"I heard a few people crossed the finish line," said Catrina.

"Who?" interjected Gwen.

"Aero, Alice, Mecca, Gloria and Clacie," Torracat listed.

"Well, it's good that we're winning," uttered Gregory.

"Not for me," frowned Torracat.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that," Gregory laughed, sheepishly.

Xayah was quite far away from the finish line, but to be (seemingly to her) in second place behind Mecca was a surprise, but, of course, a welcome one.

She glanced up, the sunlight striking her eyes. A few wild avian Pokémon were gliding slowly through the sky, going in front and behind the clouds. Between them was a lilac, quadruped figure.

"Is that…" Xayah said, "Phoebus?"

Sure enough, it was. The Espeon was using his psychic powers to glide through the air.

"That's why he wasn't in any of the standings!" realised Xayah. "That's why no one talked about him! He was using his—wait, we were allowed to use our powers, weren't we?"

The Haxorus facepalmed.

Phoebus glided through the sky, looking down, above the island. The finish line was in sight, and he flew down to the area.

"Xayah is—wait, is that… Phoebus?" Litten said.

"Is he actually using his powers?" uttered Diancie, as he watched him descend. "I didn't think these people would actually listen to me!"

Phoebus landed and walked behind Alice.

The Minccino turned around and noticed him. She screamed.

"Why would you do that?" Alice clutched her chest, where her heart was beating fast.

"Phoebus, has, I guess, crossed the finish line," said Diancie. The scoreboard changed to 'Krazy Kartanas: 3, Pushy Poipoles: 3.'

Six out of twenty-eight people had finished the race.

Remington and Leaf, two Kartanas with two entirely different personalities, found themselves together. The two tried to escape each other by running faster, but, since the other person had done the same thing, the two always found themselves together. It didn't particularly help that, at this moment, they were stuck in mud.

"Why is there mud?" Leaf frowned. "It hasn't rained in two weeks!"

"Prop department," smiled Diancie. "You know how much mud they have in there? It does wonders for your skin."

Leaf tried to pull her foot out of the mud, but to no avail. "Why do I have to be stuck with you?"

"Same question to you," Remington frowned, trying to get his foot out of the mud a different way, also to no avail.

Leaf once again pulled her foot. This attempt was more successful. Almost all of the Breloom's mud-covered foot was uncovered.

Remington was less successful. While Leaf had less than half a claw stuck in the mud, he had not even released one of his feet from the trap.

Once Leaf's foot was released from the grip of the mud, she, without hesitation, started to run again.

Remington did nothing but shake his head as he failed multiple times to get his foot out.

"And Leaf finally escapes Remington, shooting in front of Shawn, Doriann and Torracat. It seems like the Kartanas are doing better than they were before," said Litten.

"For the Kartanas, this is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one," smiled Zeraora.

Xayah's tusks sliced through trees as the Haxorus ran. She had passed the third cooling station, not even stopping to regain any energy she had lost.

She was fast, but not as fast as Mecca, so she knew it would take much longer to get to the finish.

Having noticed Phoebus, she herself was using many of her moves. A few Dragon Pulses destroyed rocks that were in her way, while Dual Chop cut strong logs straight in half.

Soon enough, she only had two kilometres left until she could relax, stretch her feet and possibly take a nap. Her legs were beginning to ache, too.

Xayah had noticed that, since she had overtaken Devin, the Grumpig was nowhere to be seen. From her observations, he had lagged behind Shawna, Lyko, Catrina, Gregory and Gwen.

Xayah was a curious Pokémon, and sometimes that got the better of her. Many a time, she had tripped over her own feet looking at clouds or whatever she liked to look at.

Whether this was another example or not, Xayah was nonetheless scared she would trip on something, fall and be unable to finish the challenge. And if you're unable to finish the challenge, your team would lose and probably vote you off. That thought was enough to make her focus on the challenge.

She was almost there. Finally finishing one of the most gruelling things the Haxorus had ever had to attempt was in sight.

Her feet began to ache more and more, but she persisted.

"Xayah is almost there! If she finishes, the Poipoles will be back in the lead!" cried Litten.

Xayah smiled as she sped faster, a stitch beginning to build up. And then she noticed it.

The final energy station was right in front of the finish line.

The Haxorus knew this was a delay tactic, but she was very hungry. Would the hunger get the best of her? Hopefully not. She ran and, despite pleas from her stomach, she passed the station, crossed the line and skidded to a halt. She had done it.

"Xayah has finished!" called Litten as the scoreboard changed to 'Krazy Kartanas: 3, Pushy Poipoles: 4.'

"How have we not finished this episode?" chuckled Diancie. "We've almost had as many ad breaks as a Unovan football game."

"And, we need to have another one," said Zeraora.

"So! Will the Poipoles or the Kartanas win? Will any more friendships be formed or destroyed? And can I make these gemstones shine even more?"

"Find out when we return on one of the strangest shows on TV, Total Pokémon: Rebooted!" shouted Zeraora.

During the break, Lyko and Shawna had crossed the line. The scoreboard changed once again, this time to 'Krazy Kartanas: 4, Pushy Poipoles: 5.'

Nine out of twenty-eight people, almost a third of them, had finished the race. All were very tired (except Mecca) and they were glad to have finished.

The nearest people to the finish line were Gregory, Catrina and Gwen. They had stopped at the third station—Catrina was getting a drink, while Gregory tried to bite an energy bar quite unsuccessfully. Gwen was thinking.

"So, Weeb and Not Weeb claim they're not a couple, but I'm suspicious," said Gwen. "I'm gonna try and form an alliance with them. They'll reveal anything if they can gain my trust."

Gwen looked around to see if anyone was around. No one was. "So, I have a proposition," she said to Catrina and Gregory.

"Is this an alliance? I'm not interested," Catrina uttered.

"Same," agreed Gregory.

"But, if you ally with me, you can get… benefits," Gwen smiled.

Catrina looked interested. "Like what?"

"As long as you don't vote for me, I won't vote for you," said Gwen. "Plus, I'll take you to the final three."

"Wait, so would we have to tell you who we vote for?" asked Gregory.

"Obviously," replied Gwen. "I'll tell you who to vote for, so you won't have to worry."

"Any other benefits?"

Gwen thought about it. "Extra food."

"I'm in!" cried Gregory.

"Shhhhh! You can't tell anyone you're in an alliance, okay?"

"Okay," he nodded.

"You're gonna have to do a lot more persuading than that if you want me to join," frowned Catrina.

"I'll give you all my My Nature Forces manga," said Gwen.

"All of them?"

"All of them."

"Well, okay."

"That was easy," grinned Gwen. "I don't even like My Nature Forces, so she can keep those. First thing I'll force them to do, I'll decide before the next challenge."

"Food, and someone who actually likes me!" cried Gregory. "I'll let her choose who I have to vote for if I can get food."

"I'm skeptical," said Catrina. "If it's anything like" —she shuddered— "the old show, alliances with people like Gwen never work out in anyone but their favour. But if I can get even a little further through the show than I would without her, I guess it's okay."

Daisy and Katie remained together, even as the other people ran away from them.

"If you get eliminated today, I don't think I could ever recover," Daisy told Katie.

"Same!" cried Katie. "We've only been here for a week but I know you're my favourite person here."

"Me too!" Daisy shouted. "I mean, like, you're my favourite person here. You're cute, I love your smell."

"It's my homemade perfume," smiled Katie. "My mum said my perfume is the bestest smelling one in the family since at least my mum's second cousin."

"You've got to introduce me to your family!"

Devin, Doriann and Torracat were the closest Poipoles to the finish line.

Torracat frowned. "Why am I slow? I used to do athletics when I was thirteen."

"As someone who was there most of the time," said Litten from his booth, "I can say he didn't particularly do well, and that's even on the quadruped team."

"Shut up! You didn't even do sports. Mum let you stay home like the perfect little loser you are."

"Fair point."

Gwen, Catrina and Gregory were close to finishing. If they finished before three or more Poipoles, they would once again be in the lead. And with the nearest Poipole quite far away, it was unlikely that the Poipoles would get there before they would.

In about fifteen minutes, these Kartanas found themselves in an area nine people had already been in—the final stretch before the finish line.

The Kartanas that had already finished (Mecca, Gloria, Lyko and Clacie) were cheering for them. Mecca was still sulking, but cheered regardless.

The two bug Pokémon flew, while the somewhat athletic Gwen easily caught up to them.

Soon enough, they crossed the line. 'Krazy Kartanas: 7, Pushy Poipoles: 5'.

The three sat down together, but remained mostly silent.

"Midday, sun's right at the top of the sky. So, I believe it's time for another standings report," Litten reported. "Twelve people have already finished the challenge—Aero, Alice, Cali, Catrina, Gloria, Gregory, Gwen, Lyko, Mecca, Phoebus, Shawna and Xayah. The people that haven't finished are Doriann, Torracat, Devin, Leaf, Shawn, Hunter, Orville, Ishtar, Remington, Marissa, Dennis, Dallas, Jasmine, Logan, Katie and Daisy."

"I knew we were far behind," said Dallas, "but I didn't think we were that far behind."

"So, guys," said Gwen to Catrina and Gregory. "Let's talk about the alliance."

Catrina gulped.

"I'll choose who we vote for. No arguments, or you'll be out before you can say 'that's not fair'," Gwen declared.

"But if we find someone that's not good, could we vote them off?" asked Gregory.

"As long as you tell me who they are, and I agree."

"Okay."

"I slightly regret joining this alliance," stated Catrina. "It's quite dangerous, and I know she'll take advantage of me. But if I leave, she'll vote me off. She'll get a load of people to vote for me, and I'll be kicked off. It's a dilemma. Stay in the alliance, lose friendships, leave it, lose the chance to win the money. To be fair, do I actually have any friends?"

"So, who are we voting off?" Catrina asked.

"Mecca, probably," declared Gwen. "She destroyed the jug and soiled the energy bars at the first energy station thing."

"But she was the first Kartana to finish. If not for—"

"That Starly and that Minccino," interrupted Gwen, "she would've been first, I know, but still. She destroyed many people's hopes of getting energy."

"But—okay," said Catrina. Truth be told, she was very slightly mad that Mecca had destroyed the energy bars and water. But that was ages ago, and it didn't particularly matter now.

"So, Devin, Torracat and Doriann are very close to finishing," stated Litten. "A few more turns and a quick run and they'll be there."

"My legs are killing me," moaned Torracat.

"Don't be a pussy, you're almost there," snarled Devin.

"Go eat toenail gunk."

"That's original," said Litten. "And really, really, really disgusting."

He gagged.

Torracat, with aching feet, persevered. He knocked Devin onto the floor, who landed right on his scab that had developed after the Pangoro incident. It flew right off and his knee began to bleed once again.

As scarlet blood poured out of it, Devin screamed.

"I hate you!" he roared at Torracat.

Torracat did not even turn around to look as he crossed the line. Doriann was the next to cross.

Orville and Remington ran past him without saying a thing, crossing the line. 'Krazy Kartanas: 8, Pushy Poipoles: 8'.

"This episode has been a rollercoaster of… everything," said Litten. "Now, less than half of the contestants need to finish."

As soon as he said that, Leaf, Hunter and Ishtar crossed the checkered line. 'Krazy Kartanas: 10, Pushy Poipoles: 9'. The Kartanas were barely in the lead, but it was there.

While everyone else was on the last stretch before the end, Katie and Daisy had only just left the last station. They were taking their sweet time and this irritated people on both teams. Not that they noticed.

"Are we behind?" asked Katie.

"I dunno," said Daisy. "I hope not."

"Devin has crossed the line!" Litten cried over the loudspeaker. A minute later, he said that Shawn, Marissa, Dallas and Jasmine had crossed, too.

'Krazy Kartanas: 13, Pushy Poipoles: 11.' Only four people needed to finish: Logan, Dennis, Daisy and Katie. The Kartanas needed Katie to finish if they wanted to win. That wasn't likely.

Logan was alone. Dennis was in front of him—not by a lot, but enough that Logan couldn't see him without squinting his eyes.

The two were on the last stretch before the finish line. A few people were on the sides of the track, and a few were in the little finishing area. Almost everyone was cheering, besides Alice. Not only was she occupied by Aero, but her team losing also didn't mean anything to her, as long as she wasn't eliminated.

"D'ya think he's gonna gloat about him finishing, then moan at the other team when they celebrate their win?" Logan heard Orville snarl.

"Shut up!" Logan screamed.

"And Dennis finishes the race!" cried Litten.

"Damn the—"

"Lo-gan! Lo-gan! Lo-gan!"

The Chespin looked surprised. Are you cheering me—"

"We're only cheering you on because we need you if we wanna win," called Torracat.

Shawna hit him on the back of his head.

"Ow…"

"I can make it!" shouted Logan.

"You will, and you'll beat Datie and Kaisy by a thousand years," said Torracat. This was met by another smack in the head from Shawna. "Stop doing that!"

"Stop being a douchebag, then."

Logan ran as fast as he could. His heart began to pulsate and his breathing grew faster and heavier as he attempted to recoup the oxygen his body was losing. Two hundred metres left. He felt lightheaded. It was painful. One hundred and fifty metres.

"C'mon!" cried Shawna.

One hundred metres. An unbearable stitch was coming.

Seventy. Sixty. Fifty. Forty. Thirty. Twenty. Ten.

Logan had finished. He was scarlet. Soon after stopping, he collapsed and fell unconscious. The redness faded as he slept.

With this, the scoreboard changed once more. 'Krazy Kartanas: 13, Pushy Poipoles: 13'.

"I don't think I should've ran so much," said Logan. "There wasn't gonna be anyone else for a mile."

There were now two people left. One Poipole and one Kartana.

"Daisy and Katie. Daisy and Katie. That twerp Daisy and that traitor Katie," scoffed Gwen. "If it wasn't for Mecca, she'd have my vote."

"You two are the last people," Zeraora told the two.

"We are?" said Katie.

"Yeah. In fact, it's up to one of you to determine the winner."

"Can we both be the winners?" asked Daisy.

Zeraora looked at her. "What do you think?"

"Uhhh…"

"How far are we from the finish line?" questioned Katie.

"You're almost at the last stretch," Diancie replied.

The two walked further. The sounds of possible cheering filled their ears as they trekked up to the last eight hundred metres.

"Run, you morons!" screamed Remington.

"Yeah, pick up the pace!" Dallas cried.

The two began to run—well, in a way. Neither wanted to overtake the other but both knew that their teams were counting on them.

They looked at each other worriedly. "My team will hate me," they both mumbled.

Over the next few minutes, they moved through the last few yards.

The sun beamed at the top of the sky. Stomachs were rumbling. A few people felt sick. Everyone was tired. All eyes were on the two.

One hundred and fifty metres.

Litten was bored. "I would say something, but there isn't anything to say," he yawned.

"Same," Diancie said.

Eventually, only ten metres remained.

"Katie! Run the thing! It's not hard!" shouted Gregory.

"Same to you, Dai—"

Someone's small, stubby foot had stepped over the line.

Daisy's.

A sigh of relief swept over the Poipoles. They were safe. It may not have been by a lot, but any victory was better than none.

The Kartanas, on the other hand, were mortified. Some ran over to Katie, who had stepped over the line, and yelled at her.

"Cut her some slack," Alice muttered.

"Your team won," said Shawn.

"I don't care," she frowned. "Stop being so mean. Katie is… how old are you?"

"T-twelve," snivelled the Spritzee.

"Katie is twelve. She's not fit for this kind of stuff. And Daisy is nice. I don't blame them for bonding with each other."

Daisy walked over to Katie. "I'm s-so sorry," she sulked. "Can we still b-be friends?"

"Sure," smiled Katie.

"It seems like the teams never win by a lot," said Alice. "And losing by a tiny margin is worse than losing by a mile to these people. They're brutal. They'll never let the loser hear the end of it."

"So with this, the Poipoles have won for the second time. Which means," Diancie smiled, "that Litten'll be meet the Kartanas at tonight's campfire ceremony."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Gwen grumbled.

The sun was gone. Only torches and the orange-yellow light of the cabins allowed people to see as the campfire ceremony began.

"Good evening, Kartanas," said Litten. "This is your second campfire ceremony. I've received the votes, so, let's get on with everything. The first person receiving a poffin tonight is… Gregory."

"Yess!"

"Leaf is next," he said, throwing the poffin at her. "Then Dallas, Lyko and Cali."

These people received their treats and cheered.

"Catrina…"

"Yay!"

"Gloria…"

"Woah."

"Shawn, Remington, Ishtar, Jasmine, and Gwen."

Litten threw poffins at them.

"Which means, we only have one poffin left. Either Mecca or Katie is going home tonight."

Katie shivered.

"Why me?" asked Mecca.

"Table, pitcher, spill, smash, hurt," said Gwen.

"What?"

"You ran into the first cooling station, knocking over the pitcher, which spilt water all over the energy bars, rendering them inedible. This meant that a lot of people missed out on their first meal of the day. Plus, the pitcher smashed on the ground. And that meant shards."

"Oh."

"Anyway," said Litten, "let's get on with this. The last poffin of tonight goes to…"

Katie and Mecca looked at each other in slight terror.

"Mecca."

"Nooooo!" screamed Katie. "No!"

"Yeah, we voted for you," said Shawn. "Losing the challenge by a millimetre. This could have been easily avoided if you weren't so caught up with developing a friendship with someone not even on your team."

"But—"

"No excuses," Dallas frowned.

"You people are horrible!" Katie yelled.

"Hang on," said Catrina. "I thought we all voted for Mecca. Didn't Gwen tell us to vote for her? I would assume if she knows who's getting off, she'd tell us to vote for them."

"So, Katie's off," smiled Gwen. "Mecca was a red herring to, you know, jazz up the voting a bit. Give it a bit of suspense. True, usually there's a really clear winner, but still."

Katie walked solemnly to the Dock of Shame. Not many people had come to watch her go. Alice and Aero had—someone had smashed a can of deodorant against the wall, which exploded. As would be assumed, many people started doing this. And since it smelt like the boy's changing rooms at her local pool, Alice didn't want to stay in there for longer than two seconds. Aero had followed.

"So, Katie," said Diancie. "Our third loser."

Katie sniffed.

"With you gone, your team's got a disadvantage."

"Obviously,"

"People were mad at you. Thi—"

"I know!" the Spritzee screamed. "Stop stating the obvious!"

"Okay, okay, keep your head on."

Katie stepped onto the Lapras of Losers and became the third person to sit on its grey shell.

The sound of running filled the air.

"No!" screamed Daisy, skidding to a halt at the dock. The splinter she had received didn't matter. "No! Katie! You can't be going! I can't believe it!"

"I can't believe it either," mumbled Diancie.

"We need to keep in touch," said Katie.

"We will!" Daisy collapsed onto the ground in tears, which dripped through the cracks in the wood and into the sea. "Please don't go!" she screamed, attempting to clutch onto the Lapras to pull it back. All this led to was her falling into the sea.

The Lapras sped off. "I'll never forget you!" Katie screamed at the top of her voice, crying as hard as she could.

"So, that was an episode. An exciting one at that," said Diancie. "And now it's over, we're gonna completely forget about it in a few days."

"Thank you all for watching," smiled Zeraora, "and we'll see you all next time, on a show known as…"

"Total Pokémon: Rebooted!"

So, this took… over a year. I started work on this after publishing Sing Your Heart Out, forgot it existed for a while, then realised I had it, continued work on it, forgot it again, and then I realised I had it again. This chapter is now the longest chapter yet.

If you'd like to make your characters more interesting, you can always Private Message me with backstories, non-contestant relatives and other things.

Don't expect another chapter for a while, knowing me.