*spits out water* Oh shnikes, it's been THAT long?
Sorry folks, I've been really busy lately, and I hope you can understand. Perhaps it'll be easier if you alert to this story, sorry! But I'll never forget about this story, and I'll try to start updating more frequently if I can (or at least non once every two months o.0) Hehehe.
The first episode finally comes to its end. Enjoy!
Episode 1 (Final Part)
"Err, why is Luvbi going into the water?" Yoshi asked out loud, scratching his head. The players turned to Luvbi and Blooper and noticed that their conversation had already ended. Luvbi held a sharp object in her hand, walking towards the water with determination.
"Well, she's officially a swimmer!" Diddy declared, then turning to Wendy added, "and also a replacement." Wendy shot back an angry glare.
"Yeah, more money!" Wario growled excitedly, seeing Bobbery reach the shore with two bags in his possession. One of them had Wario's name printed on it, and the other had a money symbol.
"You picked the money instead of one of our bags?" Diddy said to him with disbelief. "My bag is still there!"
"Frankly, I couldn't give a single soul for our bags," Bobbery replied, looking at the six bags brought to shore. " Why, I'll even bring mine back last to prove I mean it." He then spotted his name printed across one of the duffel bags, brought to shore by Goombella.
"Oh, thank Goombella," he said with relief, heading back to the ocean. Diddy groaned.
"If my bag sinks, I'm going to be fuming!" Diddy told the others, pacing around the terrain of the sand. "My bag is going to sink, and it's all your darn fault-"
"Our fault?" Vivian spoke up. "It's nobody's fault. You can't even blame Bobbery or Goombella if it ends up sinking to the bottom of the ocean."
"It's kind of odd how you're all relaxed with your bag is at stake," Diddy replied.
"My bag is actually right here," Vivian told him, pointing at it fortunately. Wendy had opened up her own bag and was going through her belongings, folding each article of clothing within it delicately and placing it back inside. Boo turned to the ocean, apprehensive as Goombella came back with two more bags in her possession: Luvbi and Rosalina's.
"What don't you understand about bring one bag back at a time?" Boo told her, shaking his head. "We have to listen to the rules of the mission."
"Oh, I'm so glad," Rosalina said thankfully, grabbing her bag and immediately opening it to see if her belongings were damaged. Her clothes were soaked, much to her dismay.
"Well, it won a thousand coins," Rosalina said in an optimistic manner.
"Technically it's worth nothing," Boo informed her, then pointed at Luvbi's bag. "Her bag is worth a thousand coins." Rosalina looked puzzled.
"These swimmers are only allowed to bring one bag at a time," Boo continued. "We're being penalized every time they bring back two bags."
"I think Boo might be correct," Yoshi admitted. Rosalina frowned.
"I'd rather have my bag than lose a little money," Rosalina said reasonably. Yoshi looked at her, then at Blooper, then at Luvbi swimming towards their floating luggage.
"Well, my bag has a chance of being saved after all!" Yoshi said hopefully, peering into the sea at Luvbi and Bobbery. Though not as optimistic as the dinosaur, both Boo and Diddy couldn't help but feel a small sense of false optimism as Luvbi swam towards her secret assignment. Goombella let go of Luvbi's bag and turned back to the ocean.
"Hold it right there!" McHallyboo called out, walking towards the assortment of players. Goombella looked at him with confusion.
"There will be one bag left to save by the time Bobbery arrives back here," the host told her. "Of course, we have to leave it to drama for this final round. You can only depart to the ocean once Bobbery reaches back to shore." The players turned to the host, flabbergasted.
"My bag is still there!" Diddy repeated for the third time. He kicked a pile of sand, sending it flying into the exposed belongings of Wendy's baggage. Wendy looked at her sand-covered clothing, her mouth agape.
"Oh no, you did not just do that!" Wendy shrieked. Boo ducked away at the deadly scene to follow, as the Koopa child took a glowering step towards the monkey. Yoshi laughed, easily amused at the scene of a slow Koopa descendent chasing a skilled, athletic monkey.
"Hey, what's Luvbi doing anyway?" Wario said with confusion. He turned to Blooper, who remained motion-less with his tentacles folded, situated a fair number of feet away from them.
"Hey, squid!" Wario yelled. Blooper remained fixed in his spot, facing the sea.
Bobbery turned around at the sound of someone swimming towards him. He looked at Luvbi in a dumbfounded manner as she reached the row of bags, gasping for breath. Time was running out.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her. "You have no right to swim!" Luvbi turned to him, keeping the cutting object concealed from him below the water.
"Uhh, Blooper said that...since he was freed, he was able to tell me that I'm a swimmer too," Luvbi said quickly, feeling the sandbag under Diddy's duffel bag.
Bobbery grabbed hold of Boo's sinking bag and cut it free from the sandbag below it, preventing it from a watery grave. He proceeded back with it to the beach, as Luvbi was left alone, gently floating up and down as the waves became increasingly strongly. With the number of remaining bags dwindling, there were only two left in the line.
"An exemption," she repeated, making her way to one of the bags and feeling for the sandbag under it. She grabbed the sharp object tightly.
Luvbi: I remembered one of the players stating that there was little left in his bag. So I made my decision, quite easily.
She plunged the knife into the sandbag and sliced sideways, ripping a broad hole into it and causing the water to rush into it at hasty speed. As the sandbag got heavier, the bag it was tied to began to lose its buoyancy.
Luvbi swam back as quickly as she had come, reaching the shore of the beach before Diddy's bag had touched the floor of the ocean.
"My bag," Boo said in a triumphant tone, taking his belongings from Bobbery. Questions began flying from everywhere to Bobbery, the main one being, 'What in heavens is Luvbi doing in the middle of the ocean?'
"All I know is that that fellow Blooper sent her as a swimmer," he replied. "And Goombella, what are you doing here?" Goombella only tilted her head to McHallyboo.
"Oh what?" Wendy exclaimed, pointing at Luvbi as she made her way back to shore.
"Huh, what happened?" asked Goombella, bewildered.
"She has no bag with her!" The players all turned and saw that Wendy was saying the truth: Luvbi was not a swimmer sent to retrieve the sinking luggage. And as Boo looked out at the ocean and saw only one baggage remaining, his mind worked out the only explanation for what Luvbi had done.
"She sank one of the bags, didn't she?" Boo said. Almost immediately, the players were sent into a silent state of shock.
"She wouldn't do that…would she?" Vivian said out loud. Wendy let out a loud groan, glowering towards the direction of Luvbi. Rosalina shook her head.
"Well, I knew a betrayal was coming anyway," she stated. "After all, this game will be full of it."
"Hah, no duh," Wario muttered.
"If she got an exemption…grrr!" Wendy said, folding her arms.
"Oh, and look at that," Bobbery said with concern, peering into the distance." The final bag is sinking."
"Yeah, this is great," Diddy said sarcastically. "So very great." Irate and in disbelief, he sat down on the terrain of the sand. Yoshi simply stared out at the ocean as the final bag sank to the bottom of the ocean, lost at sea and forgotten.
The mission was over.
"I'm not going to explain my actions," Luvbi said to them, as the remainder of the players met up with her and McHallyboo. With the mission over, the players had nothing left to do but to hear the results of their costly game.
"You don't need to say anything," Boo told her. "We all saw actually" Luvbi looked at the glaring players in front of her uncomfortably.
"You sank my bag!" Diddy exclaimed, livid.
"Well, it was going to sink anyway!" Luvbi told him, rolling her eyes. McHallyboo cleared his throat.
"As you all probably know by now, Luvbi was secretly offered an exemption by our friend Blooper here," McHallyboo informed them. "He was the runner-up of the first season of The Mole." Blooper nodded slightly.
"She was given the option to sink one of the luggage bags by cutting a hole in the sandbag beneath it," he continued. "By doing so, it would cause the luggage to sink immediately to the bottom of the ocean, but in return, would give her the first exemption of this game. Luvbi, would you care to explain what your decision was?"
"I sank a bag," she replied. "You all saw it, didn't you?"
"Well, congratulations to you, Luvbi, because you've officially won the first exemption of this game!" McHallyboo declared, handing her a green-colored card. "You will be excused from the upcoming execution, and therefore cannot be eliminated tonight and will automatically proceed o the next episode. Well done!" Nobody clapped, as Blooper held in his laughter.
"Now, let's see the results of this mission," McHallyboo continued. "Only seven of the ten bags were rescued from sea, so that is 7,000 coins to the pot. However, I'll be penalizing each double-bag retrieval, so that moves it down to only 4,000 coins. All swimmers were freed, which adds 15,000 coins, and the bonus money bag that was floating among your luggage was retrieved as well, adding an additional 5,000 coins. That brings your team pot up an additional 24,000 coins, so well done!" This time, the players clapped, feeling slightly inspired from their first step towards success.
TEAM POT VALUE
30,000 COINS
"Goombella, Diddy, and Yoshi, I'm very sorry to say this, but your bags were not retrieved in time," concluded McHallyboo. "We're sorry for the loss of your belongings, but for the time being you are free to use the clothing and necessities of your roommate's." The three of them shifted uncomfortably, a feeling of gloom sweeping over them.
"Yikes indeed," Blooper couldn't help saying.
Diddy: I cannot believe Luvbi decided to do that. My mind is spinning with a million thoughts, and it just sucks. All my belongings I brought with me at the beginning of the trip are gone, and the only thing I have remaining in my possession is the journal I left in my room that I've hardly used at all. This S-U-C-K-S.
Rosalina: I might have also taken the exemption if I was offered the opportunity. I think it was just unlucky how Luvbi ended up being the one to make the decision. But then again, she put herself in that spot by choosing Journal #3.
Luvbi: If I'm safe, then I'm concerned about none else. I do take heavy regret in sinking a bag, but it was going to sink regardless. Diddy said himself that he didn't leave too much in there. He was visibly asking for it.
Wendy: Ugh, Luvbi, I can't believe it…and you call be bad for not deciding to swim? Look at yourself! This game is a hypocrite.
Goombella: My luggage is gone. Yes, it's gonna be horrible without my clothing, bathroom supplies, souvenirs, what-not. If only I was a fast swimmer, then maybe my bag would have still been here. Or Diddy or Yoshi's bags.
Bobbery: What strikes me terribly is the possibility that I was the cause of Luvbi's exemption. Had I not brought Blooper back to shore, the exemption wouldn't have been offered. I take partial blame.
Yoshi: It's going to be hard replacing my belongings, like the pair of boots I had since my 6th birthday. Perhaps I'll just buy enough clothing to survive for three days, and I'll do laundry every three days, which might work out for me! But it's going to be so hard…
Wario: The Mole is doing a terrible job! Only six thousand coins were lost from that mission, so I say that he or she is not doing their best. So mister or misses Mole, step up your game or else! Hehehe. I think it's just me who looks at six thousand coins as a puny amount.
Vivian: The most suspicious action I saw in the last mission we played was Wendy refusing to swim. Did she really hate the water that much? I hope it's not too hard pin-pointing the saboteur of this game.
Boo: I'm clearly at an advantage over the other players, having watched this game played out before. Some people call it cheating, but it's actually not at all. It'll just lead me closer to the end…
Dinner back at the Durian Café that night went less awkwardly compared to the first time the players had eaten there. Not only were they more accustomed to the nature of the game from an overnight stay and an intense mission, but they also became more familiar with the people surrounding them. And while some of the players found them as friends, others couldn't help but view the players around them as threats to their survival.
"Yeah, I know you're trying to get information out of me," Boo finally spoke out, "but don't think that I can't see you writing in your journal." Diddy looked up, caught off guard.
"Darn, you're good," Diddy told him, putting his pen down. "The thing is, I can't write without looking at my paper."
"Can you guys stop writing in your journals and eat?" Wendy asked out loud with disbelief. "You guys are obsessed! Like, really obsessed. It kinda bothers me."
"Ouch!" said Goombella, as Wario sat back down after retrieving his third round of food, bumping into Goombella while doing so.
"The game's going on right this second," Boo reminded her. "Why shouldn't we be taking notes?" McHallyboo, who was located at the end of the table as he would always be for the remainder of the game at every dinner meal, ate and listened intently to the talking around him.
"Well, not saying that I never keep this game in mind," Rosalina told the others, "but right now there's really nothing to do or write about. So while I'm here eating I think I'm going to just enjoy myself." She straightened out her chair and filled up her plate again from the food on the table.
"Some strategy," Bobbery said, stuffing a spoon of seafood pasta into his mouth.
"Bobbery, what's your strategy?" Yoshi asked curiously.
"Why, silly lad," Bobbery replied. "I wouldn't tell you if victory depended on it." Yoshi's smile dropped, then Bobbery added, "At least with not all these people around."
"But I set up the plates and everything," Yoshi protested uselessly. Being a waiter, he indeed was forced to set up the table prior to their arrival. The group of players continued to eat.
"So Luvbi, how do you feel being safe from the first execution?" the host asked her.
"Very lightened," she answered, eating her food. "I'm out of the running for elimination, so I'm completely relaxed." McHallyboo nodded, then faced the others.
"Tonight, you will be facing your first execution," he told them. "You'll all take a quiz consisting of ten questions, asking who you think the Mole is. I know you've been asked yourselves this important question for the many past hours, and now it's time to put your answer to the test. The player who scores the lowest on the quiz, as you all may know, will be eliminated." The players nodded, some of them feeling a wave of uncertainty travel over them.
"Why, perfect; two days is just enough for us to identify the Mole," Bobbery joked, sipping his water.
"Yeah, I'd rather eat than worry about this Mole," Wario said, nearly shoving his glass into the waiters outstretched arms for a refill. Goombella shook her head at Wario's forceful action, then turned to Vivian besides her. Vivian just stared at her plate, a stunned look displayed on her face.
"What's wrong?" Goombella asked her, befuddled. Vivian pointed at the object protruding from under her section of the tablecloth: the crumpled corner of a note. She immediately lifted the fabric in front of her and carefully pulled out the hidden piece of paper. McHallyboo seemed to lean forwards to the opposite side of the table, right towards Vivian's direction.
"Guys, look what I found!" she said, still dazed and holding up the note for the rest of the players to see. Almost immediately, Boo, Diddy, and Wario fought up to grab it from across the table.
"My evidence!" Diddy protested, only to be brought back down by Wendy. Goombella gave Wario a shove so hard that he no longer bothered to continue fidgeting in his chair.
"In where was that located?" Luvbi asked her curiously.
"I found it sticking right out from this table cloth!" Vivian informed them, straightening the crumpled edges of the note out, "But I think it's from…the Mole."
"Read it," said Boo, coming to his senses. Vivian looked over the nearly-illegible words on the piece of paper, then began reading the Mole's first message to the players:
A setting here is rather nice
It's absolutely paradise
But don't be fooled, cause when it's dawn
It's ten no more; one will be gone
The players laughed uneasily, as McHallyboo reached over the table to retrieve the Mole's note.
"Well, I guess the Mole wants us gone," Wendy said, rolling her eyes. "But too bad for him or her."
"Hey look," Diddy spoke up, pointing at the ceiling. "No durians. I wonder what that could mean. Luvbi?" The players laughed, as Luvbi looked up from her plate, smiled, and shook her head.
Vivian: I'm not too comfortable going into this first execution. I have no idea who to vote for, and there's always that chance I might be going home.
Boo: There are some players in this game who are confident, and some who aren't. But just one of them is going to leave.
"To our first and last day as friends," Diddy spoke out. The others lifted their drinks in unison, bracing themselves for the disappearance of one of their friends.
And so began the game's first step towards the process of elimination. The Mole's first victim would soon be claimed.
Back at the hotel, the players were sequestered into separate rooms to take the first quiz: ten questions about the Mole. The player who scored the lowest on the quiz would be executed, and would be forced to leave the game immediately.
Boo sat down at the computer and seated himself comfortably. He clicked on the mouse and activated his quiz.
Question 1: Is the Mole male or female?
-Male
-Female
Boo: This game is all about chances and who you think the Mole is. You never know what you're going to get. At this point I'm staying solid with my coalition with Wario, and we'll see how that plays out.
Question 2: When did the Mole skydive from the plane during Air Combination?
-First
-Second
-Third
-Fourth
-Fifth
-Sixth
-The Mole did not jump from the plane
Rosalina: My suspicions are definitely on the people who stopped jumping from the plane, because since the combination was wrong anyway, it was impossible to have won the ten thousand coins. From what I know, Diddy suggested the idea first, then Luvbi agreed, and then finally Bobbery.
Flashback Tandem Instructor: "Is that a game end?" (Goombella nods)
Question 3: When the players were first dropped off at the island in the beginning of the game, was the Mole one of the first or second half of the players to step off from the boat?
-First Half
-Second Half
Yoshi: I think Wendy might be the Mole, because in the beginning she was acting too friendly and trying to make us all comfortable. I think she was trying to make us believe she wasn't the Mole by acting nice. I don't know. It seemed very out of character for her.
Question 4: Which of these hotel rooms was the Mole assigned to?
-Room 101
-Room 102
-Room 103
-Room 104
-Room 105
Vivian: Wario is a bit suspicious in my mind, for a number of reasons. I think he would be chosen as the Mole just on the fact that not many people would suspect him as being the saboteur. Maybe he's trying to cover the whole truth up by acting tough and "brainless". On top of that, he was the main mess-up for the wrong combination in our first mission.
Question 5: Which role did the Mole have in Bag Savers?
-A Swimmer
-The Number Messenger
-Durian Combination Retriever
-Lobster Combination Retriever
-Hotel Combination Retriever
Luvbi: It could be Bobbery, because he's an admiral, respected, and of course he's an exceptional swimmer. But he lost money by bringing back two bags at a time, and so did Goombella. I'm keeping a tight eye on the two of them from now on.
Wario: Diddy has been very fishy, even from the start. When I was searching for lobsters in the deeper water, I turned to Diddy and he was practically doing nothing. It was something I found suspicious because he was obviously letting me do all the work.
Question 6: When did the Mole's team arrive at the beach during the course of Bag Savers?
-The Mole was always at the beach
-First
-Second
-Third
Bobbery: Yoshi told me about how when Vivian was trying to remove the durian juice from the blender, she managed to spill some onto the table, nearly forcing the two of them to blend another round of juice. Ever since she was the first to hear that beeping noise on the island, I've been suspicious of her.
Question 7: Was the Mole's baggage salvaged from sinking?
-Yes
-No
Wendy: Luvbi is clearly one of my top enemies and suspects. She purposely chose me to be a swimmer even though I didn't want to swim, so if anybody says it's my fault for not trying to save any bags, you're completely wrong. And Luvbi taking the exemption made her even more suspicious in my mind.
Diddy: One of the players that everyone is disregarding is Rosalina. She guessed a wrong combination more than once during Bag Savers, which wasted a lot of time. She could have gotten the correct combination much sooner than she had done so.
Question 8: The Mole's birthday falls into which of the months?
-January to March
-April to June
-July to September
-October to December
Goombella: Just the fact that Boo has seen the show before is very fishy. He obviously knows a lot of stuff about this game than we know. Would the producers really choose him to play as a regular contestant? It would make perfect sense if he was the Mole.
Question 9: At dinner before the players took the quiz, how many seats away was the Mole from McHallyboo?
-One
-Two
-Three
-Four
-Five
And the final question that summed up the entire game:
Question 10: Who is the Mole?
-Luvbi
-Boo
-Wendy
-Diddy
-Goombella
-Rosalina
-Wario
-Yoshi
-Bobbery
-Vivian
Having finished their quizzes, all ten players were instantly sent to the lobby of the hotel for their first execution ceremony. Stepping over a row of their luggage, they were directed to two rows of seats situated directly in front of a large screen. The players saw that directly adjacent to the giant screen was their host, tapping his fingers and waiting for all ten of them to take their seats. Positioned in front of him was a pedestal with a keyboard placed on top of it, and as the players took their seats in puzzlement and apprehension, he finally spoke.
"Welcome to your very first execution," McHallyboo said, his tone being significantly softer than usual. "You've all just finished taking your first quiz about the Mole. Whichever player had scored the lowest on that quiz will be executed." The players nodded silently, their minds in a mixture of focus and uneasiness.
"In a moment, I will begin entering your names into this computer," he explained. "If a green screen appears after your name is typed in, you are safe. However, if a red screen appears, that means that you are the Mole's first victim, and you must leave this game immediately." In response to this, the players sat rigid in their chairs. In seconds to come, one of them would be the first to leave the adventure of their game.
"Luvbi, you are exempt from this execution, so you will be safe," the host added. Luvbi nodded in confirmation.
"Is everyone else ready?" the host asked. As the players nodded, McHallyboo eyed each one of them briefly before looking down at his keyboard, his fingers ready to type.
"Let us begin the first execution." He looked at the player seated in the center of the first row: Wendy.
"Wendy," the host said out loud. Wendy looked forwards at the screen and stared at it, watching her name being typed in letter by letter. Once the screen displayed her first name, the host then pressed 'Enter', and the screen displayed nothing but a thumbprint on a dark background. The next color would determine her fate.
W-E-N-D-Y
...
...
...
...
GREEN
Wendy let out her breath, satisfied. One green thumbprint had been declared. Only a maximum of eight remained.
"Rosalina," said McHallyboo. Rosalina watched her name slowly appear on the screen as the host typed it in.
R-O-S-A-L-I-N-A
...
...
...
...
GREEN
She closed her eyes momentarily and then opened them, relaxed. McHallyboo looked at Diddy next.
"Diddy," said the host, as Diddy looked at the screen, his face in a half-smile of uneasiness.
D-I-D-D-Y
...
...
...
...
GREEN
The other's saw Diddy's face break into a grin, as he shook his head. Wendy shook her head as well. McHallyboo looked at the remaining players, then pointed at Vivian.
"Vivian," he said out loud, his voice in a different tone. Vivian's mouth opened, her eyes dilating with fear as the host typed her name into the screen.
V-I-V-I-A- N
...
...
...
...
GREEN
Her eyes widened, feeling more surprised than ever. Then the host turned to look at the player situated on the far left.
"Yoshi," the host said, typing in his name. Yoshi sat up straight and gulped, facing the screen with uncertainty.
Y-O-S-H-I
...
...
...
...
GREEN
He let out a sigh of relief and sank back into his chair. Five players had been declared safe. Only the other half left remaining.
"Boo," said the host. Boo stared at the screen monitor closely as the host typed in his name.
B-O-O
...
...
...
...
RED
Goombella gasped. The players stared in disbelief at the shade of red that reflected off from the screen, as Boo looked down at the floor, defeated.
"Boo, you have been executed," the host stated. "Please grab your bag and follow me."
After a few seconds, Boo got up from his seat and walked to the row of bags, grabbing his own baggage from among the rest. Then, he followed McHallyboo out through the front door of the lobby. The players simply sat where they were, in silence.
"I…don't know what to say," Diddy said with bewilderment.
"But how?" Wendy exclaimed. "He knew everything about this game! He was supposed to win!" The other players could only agree with her statement, still dazed at the outcome of their first execution. Boo, the expert of their game, was gone.
"How do you feel being the first player executed?" McHallyboo asked Boo, as he and the Mole's first victim stepped out into the open, tropical air.
"It was just so sudden," Boo replied. "I had the whole game set in my mind, but I knew one of us was leaving. My execution was all due to chance, and I was duped."
"Boo was one of the most intelligent players in this game," Rosalina said, feeling downhearted by his disappearance. "I'm just in disbelief that he was the first to go."
(flashback Boo: "We're being penalized every time we bring two bags back." The players turn to him in realization)
"I thought it would be me," Vivian said truthfully. "I was clueless on that quiz."
"He was a great player," Wario couldn't help adding. "I can't believe I'm here and he's not, not to mention how much better he was in smarts compared to me." The other laughed lightly in comprehension.
(flashback of Boo skydiving in the air, grinning with exhilaration from their first mission)
"I think his execution taught us all a lesson," Goombella said, "that no matter how much you know about this game, the only thing that'll keep you alive is if you know who the Mole is."
"It's been so great to be part of this, be it just the first episode," Boo told the host, as he stepped onto the scheduled ferry for the Mushroom Kingdom. "Thanks for having me, and good luck to the others."
"My pleasure, and thank you for being a player!" McHallboo said back. He gave a signal to the driver of the ferry to go ahead.
Boo looked at Delfino Plaza one last time before entering into the passenger compartment of the miniature boat. And as the boat drifted away from the resort, it left one player less from the tropical paradise, from the others, from the game. One was gone.
Just as the Mole predicted.
On the next episode of The Mole: Saboteur's Island:
The players are forced to host the most exotic party conceivable.
Bobbery: This is something I've done countless times when I was young. No big problem.
Wario: Yeah, sheesh. Like people would want to party on an island in the middle of nowhere.
Then a race at night puts the players at risk of being left behind. And at the end, who will be claimed as the Mole's second victim?
And most importantly, who is the Mole?
The Mole's first victim! And it's a shock to the players, as well as the Mole. But who is the saboteur of this "vacation"?
Updates: I opened a poll on my front page, giving you the chance to answer that very question for yourselves (and up to two guesses). Also, "The Pictures" for this story starts off with a logo for the new season, which can be found on my profile so be sure to check that out as well.
Thanks to all, and stay tuned for the next episode!