Hey guys, I'm back! I cranked this chapter out in a day, which is pretty impressive in my book. You'll get your first elimination here. Please read & review to let me know how you liked it! Thanks!

...

"Welcome back to Total Pokemon Island!" announced Meloetta, standing atop a large cliff next to Victini and surrounded by the competitors. "Last time, we introduced you to the 32 Pokemon who would be participating in the show. This time, we're getting rid of one of those Pokemon after only a few hours. We're well on our way to finding our winner!"

"Why did you suddenly launch into a monologue?" asked Mightyena, looking very confused.

"That was the intro to this episode. We cut last episode as you guys were walking up the cliff," Meloetta explained.

"Oh," Mightyena responded. "I thought that was all going to be one episode."

"Well, it's not," said Meloetta, frowning. "Anyway, we're here at the top of the cliff. What are you guys feeling."

"Nauseous," admitted Phanpy.

"Terrified," added Pikachu.

"Hateful towards two hosts?" suggested Sneasel, smirking. Sharpedo, right next to him, grinned at the comment.

"Oh, come on!" said Victini, laughing. "You guys haven't seen anything yet!"

Whismur gulped.

"The plan is for you guys to jump off this cliff behind Victini and I," explained Meloetta. "There are two hoops down there. There's a tiny, inner hoop, and a larger outer hoop. If you land in the inner hoop, you gain your team two points. If you land in the larger outer hoop, you gain one point. If you land in the water outside of a hoop...or somehow screw up really badly and miss the water entirely...you gain your team zero points. And if you miss the water, you'll probably gain a trip to the ER."

"Is that legal?" asked Lilligant, frightened.

Meloetta considered. "I'm not sure. Okay, if you miss the water, Victini and I will slow your descent by using Psychic so you don't die."

Lilligant breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, yeah, and if you choose not to jump, you stay up here and we hand you this hat that says 'COWARD' on it in large letters!" Victini added. Victini held up a hat for all to see.

"I'm...pretty sure that hat says "HOWARD" on it," Nidorina said when no one spoke up.

Victini turned the hat toward him and read it. He sighed. "Okay, the interns must be deaf or just stupid or something. Pretend the 'H' is a 'C.' We're supposed to be punishing you, not renaming you Howard."

"Anyway!" Meloetta intervened. "We have to get you guys ready to jump. Any brave volunteers to go first?"

The campers gave each other uneasy glances.

…

"I'm from a poor family," Phanpy explained. "We live on a farm and don't have a lot of money. I've never even been on a vacation before we got on this show! I was really hoping to stay on and win the money...but if this is the kind of thing we have to do to stay on the show, I think it's going to be a lot harder than I thought."

…

"A cliff dive should be easy, since I'm a Flying-type!" Tranquill exclaimed. "I can just descend into the hoops...it'll be perfect! Those guys will never know what hit them!"

…

"This is a good way to test us," said Golett calmly. "We'll get to see who the strong team players are."

…

"Arceus, I hate water," complained Delphox.

…

"Yikes...even if we aren't going to die, jumping from heights is not my favorite thing," said Lilligant, seeming nervous. "I really don't know if I can do this."

…

"I'm an acrobat and a performer," Hawlucha said, smiling a bit. "This is nothing-I've done worse."

...

"Well, guys, who's up first?" asked Meloetta.

Hawlucha stepped forward. "I can go. This doesn't look that bad."

"Easy for you to say, you're a Flying-type," muttered Skrelp.

"Good luck," several of her allies said to Hawlucha as she passed them.

"Thanks, guys, but I got this," she said confidently. She jumped off the cliff and did some impressive moves before making almost a bulls-eye inside the center target.

…

"Hawlucha looks like she'll be some dangerous competition," said Sharpedo. "I'm glad she's on my team for now, but after the merge? She's got a huge target on her back. She'll be one of the first to go."

…

"Two points for the Swablus after Hawlucha's impressive dive!" announced Victini. "Swablus, do you want to continue your winning streak before the Doduos send someone?"

Galvantula was staring intently at the hoops. Vileplume turned to talk to him.

"What are you doing?" the flower asked.

"Trying to figure out the ideal trajectory to launch into the central hoop," Galvantula responded.

Vileplume smiled. "Let me know if you figure that out, man."

"Will do."

"I'm up!" Remoraid exclaimed, moving to the front of the pack. "WHOO!" she yelled, nailing another dive almost as perfect as Hawlucha's and netting the Swablus another two points.

…

"They don't call me 'the Sharpshooter' for nothing!" bragged Remoraid.

…

Magnemite sighed. "Might as well get it over with." She floated down lazily and earned a two.

"She can't do that!" Nidorina complained. "She can levitate, she has the advantage."

Meloetta shrugged. "No rule against it, so it's fair game."

"Oh. That's good," said Misdreavus, taking advantage of that rule to gain ANOTHER two points for the Swablus.

"This is getting ridiculous," Pikachu groaned, seeing that the Swablus had eight points and his team had none. "We need to get a Doduo who can go."

Vileplume stepped up. "Might as well get it over with, as Magnemite said. Good luck, guys. Let's see if we can win this challenge, okay?" A few other campers nodded. With that, Vileplume jumped. However, he had neither the accuracy of Hawlucha and Remoraid nor the floating abilities of Magnemite and Misdreavus on his side and earned only a score of one.

"I guess I can go," Shellder volunteered, looking uncomfortable when everyone looked at him. "I mean, it's no big deal. I can just...jump. Yeah. I mean...I'll just...go now then," he finished, bowing his head in shame when his voice began trailing off. He jumped and, impressively enough, managed to land in the two-point hoop.

…

"I didn't think Shellder had it in him to jump, much less get two points," Gligar admitted. "Good for him."

…

"I'm not afraid of jumping or anything," Shellder explained. "I'm just really, really, really, really, really, REALLY bad in social situations."

…

"I'll fly down!" volunteered Vivillon. Smiling, she fluttered off the cliff and into the two-point hoop, bringing the Doduos' score a little closer, but not yet equal to, the Swablus'.

"We gotta send someone else," said Mightyena to the other Swablus, looking a bit concerned. "They're catching up."

"This'll be easy," Sharpedo scoffed. He jumped off the cliff, but only managed to get a 1, unlike all his other teammates, though he landed very close to the inner ring. From the top of the cliff, his teammates could see the expression of annoyance on his face.

"I'll volunteer as well," Roserade offered. "It'll benefit our team. We need to win." She leaped off the cliff, but like Sharpedo, only managed to get a 1.

Meowstic looked to his left and saw Whismur trembling. He walked up to the smaller Pokemon, concerned.

"Hey, Whismur," he said, causing Whismur to jump. "What's wrong?"

"I...I'm afraid of jumping," Whismur admitted.

Meowstic thought for a second. "That's understandable. I think a lot of us are. We're winning right now, so try to relax a little bit. We only vote someone out if we lose. Right?" Whismur nodded. "Okay. Hopefully that helps."

"Are you jumping?" Whismur asked nervously.

"Probably," Meowstic admitted. "But I'm still working up the nerve."

Meanwhile, on the Doduos' side, Gligar and Charmeleon were also talking.

"I can't do the jump," Charmeleon muttered dejectedly.

"What?" asked Gligar, looking at him.

"I can't do it," Charmeleon repeated. "I'm a Fire-type. If the flame on my tail goes out, I'll be badly injured. I could even die."

"They can't hold that against you, though!" Gligar said. "Not if it would kill you!"

"But if we lose, who's going to get crap for it?" Charmeleon asked. "Dude, I try to help out. I'm always a team player. But nobody knows that, and this is the first episode, and I'm not going to be able to participate."

"It's okay, man," said Gligar. "I'll make sure they don't vote you out. That would be ridiculous, anyway."

Charmeleon gave a halfhearted smile. "Thanks, dude."

…

"I hope Gligar is right," said Charmeleon. "I wanted to come here to have some fun-I don't want to be leaving on the first day!"

…

While the two of them had been talking, Starmie and Mightyena had dived for the Swablus, with Starmie earning one point and Mightyena earning two. Ampharos and Gourgeist had also dived for the Doduos. Gourgeist had gotten both points, but Ampharos only got one.

"I've got this!" Dewott declared. He took a few steps backwards before charging forwards, making a daring leap. He ended up landing outside of both loops and scoring no points.

"Great, that's helpful," muttered Delphox, annoyed.

"We still have a lot more teammates who can go," said Nidorina hopefully.

"But can we beat their score?" Delphox challenged. Nidorina didn't respond.

Meanwhile, Glaceon dived for the Swablus. Her attempt seemed somewhat halfhearted, and she also scored no points. Galvantula followed and, impressively, scored the Doduos two points.

"His calculations must have paid off," Vileplume murmured to himself on the beach below the cliff where all the campers had swum to after their dives.

Meanwhile, up on the cliffs, Tranquill had decided to acquaint herself with some of her Doduo teammates.

"So, guys, I'm Tranquill," she explained to Charmeleon, Gligar, Delphox, and Pikachu, the closest four males. "How are you guys doing?"

A varying amount of comments such as "good" and "all right" came from the four males.

Tranquill took this as a sign of encouragement to continue. "So...are you all single or what?"

Charmeleon stared. "Yes…" he said reluctantly.

"Same," Pikachu added, equally apprehensive.

"Maybe," said Gligar evasively.

"Great!" said Tranquill. "I am too! We already have so much in common!"

"I'm going to jump now," said Pikachu decisively. He walked over to the cliff and jumped, netting his team one point.

"I'll come too!" offered Tranquill. She angled her body and made a quick dive, impressively earning two points.

"We're free," muttered Delphox. Gligar and Charmeleon grinned at him.

Happiny grinned as she peeked off the cliff. "Well, if I don't die, I guess I can put this on my future resume!" she stated optimistically. She ran towards the edge of the cliff and dived. However, she only got one point.

"Eh, what the hell. I'll go too," said Sneasel. He glanced down and squinted, trying to figure out the best angle. He jumped and earned his team two points.

Meanwhile, Meowstic walked over to Nosepass. "Whismur looks terrible. I don't know if he can jump."

The Compass Pokemon looked over at the shaking Whismur. "Well, that's his decision. It's a hard challenge."

"Are you going to jump?" asked Meowstic.

"I'll try," said Nosepass. He sounded uncertain, though.

Suddenly, Meowstic saw Gurdurr approaching the edge of the cliff. "This is stupid!" Gurdurr raged. "I hate this challenge!"

He took a few steps back. "I'm just gonna get this dumb challenge over with." He saw Whismur right in front of him. "What are you doing, runt?" he asked, annoyed.

"I don't know," Whismur squeaked.

"Are you jumping?" Gurdurr demanded.

"I don't know," Whismur repeated, even more terrified.

"Sure you do," said Gurdurr, rolling his eyes. Suddenly, he ran forward, punting Whismur off the cliff before also jumping off himself. Whismur's screams were heard by all as he plummeted off the cliff. Neither Whismur nor Gurdurr got any points from that fall.

Meowstic's eyes narrowed. "That was pointless. He kicked Whismur off the cliff and neither one even got any points. That was such a cruel thing to do."

Nosepass nodded. "I agree."

"What a jerk," muttered Skrelp critically from nearby, even though she was a Doduo. The Swablus at the bottom of the cliff also didn't look pleased at Gurdurr's actions.

Suddenly, a loud cry for help was heard from the lake below. It was from Whismur. "I'll go get him," Starmie volunteered, swimming out into the lake, picking up Whismur, and returning to shore.

…

"What the hell, Gurdurr?" asked Hawlucha, arms folded.

…

"That was….not cool," said Lilligant, giving a disapproving shake of her head. "I'm glad he's not on my team."

…

Whismur sat in the confessional, hyperventilating loudly.

…

Nidorina sighed. "I guess I should go," she told her Doduo teammates. She walked over to the edge of the cliff, closed her eyes, and jumped. She opened them as she was falling and screamed. Still, she somehow earned her team one point.

"I guess I'm up," Meowstic said to his only two remaining teammates, Nosepass and Golett. "You coming."

"Yeah, I think so," said Nosepass.

"Yes," Golett responded simply.

"Okay, see you soon," said Meowstic. He focused and leaped off the cliff, surprisingly getting his team two points.

"Are you going to go?" Charmeleon asked Delphox, the only other Fire-type on his team.

"Probably," Delphox admitted. "But I can't bring my wand."

"I'll hold onto it up here," Charmeleon said, sighing. "I can't go anyway."

"Thanks," said Delphox. Lilligant jumped as he was saying this, earning their team one point.

Nosepass looked at Golett. "Well, it's just you and me now."

"Do you need any help jumping?" asked Golett.

Nosepass shook his head. "I'll be fine." He readied himself and jumped. Golett followed him soon after. Unfortunately, Nosepass, as a Rock-type, was held back by his weight, so he got no points, though Golett did get one point.

"Okay, all the Swablus have jumped!" Meloetta announced. "Doduos, you still have five Pokemon who can decide to jump or not!" She directed this at Delphox, Charmeleon, Gligar, Skrelp, and Phanpy.

"I can't jump," said Charmeleon sadly. "I'll just accept my Howard hat."

"Coward," Meloetta reminded him. "It's coward."

"The hat begs to differ," Charmeleon told her, putting the hat on so "Howard" was very visible.

"Me too," Gligar decided after a pause. "I can't swim."

The two Howards stepped off to the side.

"I'm going," Delphox decided. He charged off the cliff and jumped. Amazingly, he landed in the center circle, getting two points. The Doduos cheered.

"I'll go too," Skrelp decided. She stared straight ahead and stretched her body, then charged. Skrelp also managed to impress her teammates by scoring a full two points.

"How many more do we need to win?" asked Phanpy, clearly debating what would be the best course of action.

"That's for us to know, and you to find out after the challenge!" Victini said, shrugging in a fake-sympathetic manner.

Phanpy paused and considered for about thirty seconds, not saying anything. Just as Meloetta was about to ask what her plans were, Phanpy said, "I'll do it."

"Good job!" Meloetta said. "I didn't think you were actually going to go through with it."

"Me neither," Victini admitted.

Phanpy got to the edge of the cliff and readied herself. She took a few deep breaths and charged. When she landed in the water, she saw that she had only earned one point.

"I hope that's enough," she said, worried. "I don't want them to vote me out for not coming through at the last second…"

As soon as Phanpy had paddled on to land, and the two hosts, Charmeleon, and Gligar had arrived at the beach from the top of the cliffs, Meloetta began making an announcement.

"Well, well, well, everyone!" announced Meloetta. "The results are in!" Both teams awaited her response eagerly.

"The Singing Swablus had everyone on their team jump. They earned a total of nineteen points." The Swablus cheered at the news, though no one was sure if they had won yet.

"Dancing Doduos…" Meloetta began. "This does look kind of bad for you, as you had two non-jumpers," she said, glancing at Charmeleon and Gligar. The whole team's faces fell as they waited for Meloetta to deliver the news. "The total sum of your points is…"

"Twenty!" Victini chimed in, holding up a sign. "Despite having less jumpers, you guys somehow managed to pull out a victory!"

"No freaking way!" said Gourgeist, looking ecstatic.

"We don't have to vote someone out? Yay!" exclaimed Tranquill.

"All right!" said Charmeleon, high-fiving Gligar. Even Skrelp was smiling a little bit.

Meanwhile, the Swablus were not nearly so thrilled.

"Of course I'm already on the loser team," Misdreavus sighed.

Mightyena looked disappointed too. "I thought we did pretty good…"

"You shouldn't have to worry at tonight's elimination, though," Meowstic, who was next to him, pointed out. "You got two points, and that's better than a lot of our team.

"That's true," said Mightyena, looking comforted.

"All right," said Meloetta when the voices had calmed down. "Doduos, you may return to your cabins or do whatever you want to celebrate your victory. Swablus, I'm going to ask you to follow me."

"We're voting somebody out now, correct?" asked Roserade.

"Yes, you are," explained Meloetta. "I'm taking you to the campfire."

"Are there marshmallows?" asked Remoraid, looking excited. "There's nothing I could go for right now like a toasted marshmallow."

"Yes, actually, but we won't be toasting them," Meloetta explained. The group arrived at a campfire with maybe twenty small logs seated around it just big enough for a team of Pokemon to be seated at. The hosts directed them to take seats.

"Marshmallows are a sign of invincibility," Victini explained. "After you vote, we'll toss everyone who is safe a marshmallow. The one Pokemon who doesn't receive a marshmallow tonight will be going home. Everyone understand?"

The competitors nodded.

"Where do we vote?" Glaceon asked, surprising everyone by speaking up.

"In the confessional," Victini explained. "You write your vote on a piece of paper while you're in there, and you can do a confessional about who you want to send home if you want, but that's not required. Make sense?"

"Sounds easy enough to me," said Gurdurr confidently.

"Great! Then get voting!" said Victini happily.

…

"G-G-Gurdurr!" Whismur exclaimed shakily.

…

"Whismur. We don't need a runt on our team," said Gurdurr, shaking his head. "We've got to be strong."

…

"Gurdurr," said Hawlucha, shaking her head. "If we're on a team, we have to work as a team."

…

"Gurdurr, I guess," said Mightyena. "I didn't like the way he treated Whismur."

…

"Gurdurr. He needs to be taught a lesson that you can't treat others like that," said Nosepass, shaking his head.

…

"Glaceon," Sharpedo said. "I was going to vote off Gurdurr, but he might be useful in later physical challenges. Glaceon didn't even really try in this challenge."

…

"Gurdurr seems to be the strategic move," admitted Roserade.

…

"Gurdurr. Guy's kind of a jerk. I don't really want him on my team," said Magnemite.

…

"Okay, the votes are in!" Meloetta announced. She stood at the front of the campfire, surrounded by the Swablus. Victini stood next to her, a bag of marshmallows in his hand. He had one in his palm, looking ready to toss it at the first safe Pokemon.

"The first marshmallow of the night is always reserved for someone who performed exceptionally in today's challenge and received no votes. And that person today is...Hawlucha." Hawlucha walked up to Victini, smiling, as he handed her her marshmallow.

"Also safe, Remoraid, Magnemite, Mightyena, and Misdreavus," said Meloetta. The next four also claimed their marshmallows.

"Sneasel, Meowstic, Starmie, and Sharpedo are also fine too," added Meloetta, inviting the next three up. They all happily accepted their marshmallows.

"Roserade, Golett, and Happiny," Meloetta continued, leaving Gurdurr, Whismur, Nosepass, and Glaceon without marshmallows. After a short pause, she said "Nosepass too," at which he looked very relieved.

"All right, the final three!" Victini said, taking over for Meloetta in his excitement. "Gurdurr, you pushed Whismur off the cliff, which was a mutually destructive move for both of you." Gurdurr frowned as Victini continued. "Whismur, you were a complete scaredy-cat and probably wouldn't have even jumped if not for Gurdurr." Whismur nodded and bowed his head in shame. "Finally, Glaceon, you did willingly jump, but your effort was decidedly lacking." Glaceon nodded and said nothing.

"The first one of you three safe tonight however, is…" Victini paused for suspense.

"Glaceon."

The ice fox nodded and walked up to accept her marshmallow before sitting back down. Only Gurdurr and Whismur were left.

"Gurdurr, Whismur, one of you is going home tonight," said Meloetta. Gurdurr growled. Whismur trembled.

"The final marshmallow…"

"Goes to…"

"Whismur," Meloetta finished. "I don't know why I drew that out for suspense, there was literally no contest in the voting. Gurdurr, you received a large majority of the votes on your team."

"WHAT?" Gurdurr bellowed in rage. "UNBELIEVABLE!"

"I know, right?" Meloetta responded snarkily. "Anyway, sucks for you, etcetera. You can make your last confessional here if you want, but you're going to have to leave either way."

Gurdurr growled and turned away, whipping his large log in a way that almost hit a very startled Sneasel as he walked by. He made his way to the confessional, enraged.

…

"HOW AM I THE FIRST ONE OUT?" Gurdurr roared. "Sure, I may have pushed Whismur off the cliff! And maybe I have anger problems! But who cares? I'm strong, and that's what it takes to win this game! These guys clearly have no idea what it takes to win this game. This is going to come back to bite them, I guarantee it!"

"If I had to pick somebody to win, I guess it would be Sharpedo. He's really tough and doesn't take nonsense from anybody, and I respect that. Other than that, I don't like any of them. They were all idiots to vote me out, anyway!"

"Whatever, I guess I'm done here," said Gurdurr. He paused, then slammed his metal beam into the confessional wall, denting it severely. He grinned. "At least I can say I made my mark on this place."

…

"Dude, not cool!" said Victini, inspecting the confessional as Gurdurr walked out.

"Whatever, I'm out of here anyway," Gurdurr said, smirking. "Later, losers!"

Gurdurr stepped onto the Wailord that was waiting at the dock. It slowly swam away, taking Gurdurr far off into the sea.

"I'm glad he's gone," said Hawlucha to Starmie.

"Same," agreed Starmie. "I voted for him too. It was too risky to keep him around."

"Well, we've both lasted through this elimination," said Hawlucha, stretching. "I'm tired. Want to turn in for the night?"

"Yeah, definitely," said Starmie. The two girls made their way to their cabin, following their other teammates. Soon, everyone was in their beds sleeping, and the lights died down after the competitors' first night on Total Pokemon Island.

…

Well, after today, we sent Gurdurr home! I don't know that anyone was particularly surprised by that, though. Honestly, Gurdurr was always planned as the first elimination; he was never intended as anything but. We need semi-throwaway characters for early eliminations so the stronger characters can be developed later. Hopefully nobody was too upset about this elimination, though.

I was pretty pleased with how Gurdurr turned out in this chapter though. To tell you the truth, I was having kind of a hard time writing him in chapter one. This chapter is more or less how I envisioned him at the beginning.

So, what happened this chapter...the first challenge was done, the standard cliff dive. We've got some early friendships going, such as Hawlucha and Starmie, Charmeleon and Gligar, and Meowstic and Nosepass, among others. Tranquill flirted with as many people as possible. Whismur had the usual amount of severe panic attacks. What else is new? Still...hopefully you guys feel THE SUSPENSE BUILDING!

Anyway, that's it for this chapter! Please send me a PM if you have any questions/comments/concerns/advice/other reasons to send me a PM. I don't bite, unless you're food. Until next time, guys!

Gurdurr: Apparently, asking for reviews at the end of the chapter was part of the contract Meloetta and Victini made us sign. So review. Not that I care, since I'm out already anyway.