Whoot! A quick update, so the game continues!
Will the players be shot? Just what other aspects does this game contain? Enjoy-o!
Episode 5 (Part 2)
With Wario's eyes blocked with its layer of darkness, Yoshi immediately ran off, hopping down the layers of land and reaching to the ground floor. He ran over to his right and saw the array of tall plants.
"Vivian!" he called out.
"Yoshi?" she called back, peeking out the tiniest bit. Yoshi ran up to her and grabbed her hand, then forcefully brought her to her feet.
"Bobbery's gone," he said hurriedly. "We need to hide! Now!"
"Let's just stay here!" Vivian thought.
"No, we can't," Yoshi pointed out. "If we stay here, we won't be able to take the pictures we need. We need to keep on maneuvering."
"But that's too risky!" she said, trying to sit back down, "cause Wario will find us!" Yoshi grabbed her up.
"What else can we do?" he told her. "Goombella, keep a watch on us! We'll follow your directions!"
"Okay," Goombella said weakly, then sighed. "I should have warned you about Wario coming. He darted so fast, and I couldn't even react." She looked at her walkie talkie by her feet.
"Maybe if I were just a few seconds faster in my job."
"It's okay," said Yoshi, as Goombella sighed again. "But just keep on telling us where Wario is. We'll follow you." Both Yoshi and Vivian ran from the field of leaves, just as Wario regained his vision. With Bobbery gone, Yoshi had taken place as leader, or at least the guider of the pair as Vivian followed behind him.
In the fungi jungle below the village, Luvbi had hopped from the pink mushroom she was standing on to the one of brown color, and at the moment was attempting to lift the glass stand before her.
"Luvbi, you got the next Picture Objective?" Goombella asked her, contacting in.
"Well, I'm trying to pry this red handle open," Luvbi reported to her. "Heavens, this is not easy."
With a final tug, the lid finally opened, as Luvbi looked at the glass cover than had fallen to the surface of the mushroom. Right as she moved her hand over it to feel a string, there was a sudden snapping sound as her harness suddenly hoisted up rapidly, causing her to scream and ascend so high that she and her harness hit the bottom of the village's enormous platform. She was left in the air helplessly, her cable completely sucked up above her. She let out a sound of despair.
"Luvbi!" Goombella called into her walkie-talkie. "What just happened to you?"
"I'm...stuck!" she cried back. "The lid was a trigger. The cord to my harness just disappeared upwards. Now...oh, don't even look. I'm powerless." She moved her body around with futility, and then looked above her to see the coiled-up cord. Goombella just looked at her walkie talkie with confusion.
"Okay well," she said. "Maybe it'll lower down in a few minutes?"
"I wish I was that optimistic," Luvbi replied, looking down at the brown-colored mushroom below her with unfavorable attitude.
"I'll help Yoshi and Luvbi dodge Wario for the time being," Goombella said, as she went to look at her two teammates. As Wario had regained his vision and the black of his goggles disappeared, Goombella saw his eyes give out a slight glare, one that was clearly visible even fifty feet away.
"Unbelievable! A fallen soldier already?" McHallyboo said with a half-grin, as Bobbery trudged to the host's place near the entrance of the village.
"Unfortunately, yes," Bobbery said, standing up tall and showing the honor that was still lingering inside him. He let out a laugh.
"Whose fault was it, would you say?" the host asked him curiously.
"It was a bit of my fault, and in more honesty, also a bit of my teammates'," Bobbery said frankly, choosing his answer carefully. "I could just say it was Wario's fault though. That's the simple answer."
Bobbery: It was definitely Wario's fault. But I can't keep out of mind the actions of the very players on my teams, because they were very fishy as well with no doubt. Yoshi could have hurried up. Vivian was just hiding. Goombella could have warned me, at least twenty seconds ahead of time that Wario was coming our way.
McHallyboo raised his arm, showing the remote in his hand that was in wireless connection every moving player within the village. Turning it over, he showed Bobbery a piece of plastic that stuck out from it from underneath, resembling that of a light switch.
"Does that switch..." guessed Bobbery.
"This controls Wario's eye lights," the host explained. "I can give you a chance to shut them off for five whole minutes, and Wario won't even have to snap a picture for it to happen. Even though you're dead, you can still help the team."
"How do I do that?" Bobbery said, his voice showing increasing interest.
"Take a neutralizer," McHallyboo told him. "A neutralizer erases all chances of winning an exemption this episode. It's up to you." Bobbery faced the switch, his eyes looking indecisive, and then looked up at the familiar smiling face of McHallyboo. It was a face that was usually displayed when a player had to make a painstaking decision, either for the team or for the benefit for themselves.
"Give me a minute, will you?" Bobbery said with mental irritation.
Hanging in the air and a harness still attached around her body, Luvbi waited with no further knowledge of what was left of her. She was only able to look down at the brown-shaded mushroom that she had just been upon two minutes ago, and as she looked down even more, she noticed that the piece of paper within the glass held no writing on it at all, seeing it picked up by a gust of wind, flipped over, and littered into the black abyss.
Luvbi: I've always had the personal phrase stuck in my head which speaks, "Look before you leap". As I suspended helplessly, I just repeated the phrase over and over again, feeling even more and more like a dangling idiot.
"A trick!"" Luvbi muttered to herself, and then shouted, "Goombella!"
Looking peculiarly below her, her eyes zoomed at the surface of the mushroom. In thick blobs and in a brownish color that was just a tint off from the regular color of the mushroom were large letters, printed on the fungi head and clearly visible to her, now that she was hovering above from an aerial view. Her eyes opened up with discovery, reading the words which were spelled out:
Remember what I said
"Who said...?" Luvbi said slowly to herself. She then snapped with realization, along with a slight, "oh".
"Shh!" Yoshi hissed, backing both Vivian and him against a wall. Slowly, they crawled in the opposite direction of where they had been heading, careful not to make any signs of noise. They had nearly stumbled into Wario's path of sight.
"That was close!" whispered Yoshi. "Why didn't Goombella warn us?"
"I don't know, maybe she's busy?" Vivian guessed. Static appeared, and Goombella was audible in their ear pieces.
"Luvbi was having some harness trouble," Goombella replied to them. "I just saw that! It's good you turned away from Wario before he could even see you. Now he has no idea where you guys are."
"Try helping us, will ya?" Yoshi said with panic, seeing Wario finally turn the corner.
"I'm literally doing like, two jobs at once," Goombella said apologetically. "So give me some time. But right now, turn right and run as far away as you can!" The two players on ground followed Goombella's instructions without hesitation. Luvbi buzzed in.
"Hey, can you get down---?"
"I've been released, thankfully," Luvbi replied, her cord having dropped as she took her stance on the mushroom floor carefully. Now used to the motion, she leaped onto the brown mushroom in front of her and looked at the glass container that stood before her, and with a smile, shook her head.
"There's a twist in this game that McHallyboo told us, but didn't tell us," Luvbi replied to her. "I remembered it in the back of my head, the very phrase he said. Why, he's always doing this. But luckily my intelligence can already decipher the meaning of it, and I got it before I could be mislead all one hundred percent of the way." Goombella pictured Luvbi besides her and gave her a heavy look of mystification.
"I have to guide the other two," Goombella said hurriedly, picking up the other walkie-talkie. "Just, when you get the Picture Objective, relay it to me."
"The Mole in Season 1 wasn't truthful," Luvbi recited, "but she's the only truth in this second season. That was McHallyboo's phrase." With a satisfied humph, she went forth with her actions, skipping the brown mushroom's glass pedestal and making her way to the next one: a mushroom of pink color. Grabbing the glass container, she took off the lid and read the paper.
"This is it," she said, as Goombella quickly put her walkie-talkie against the other one she was holding.
Yellow fungi sit on the east side. Imagine a roast, but you don't have the---I can't pronounce this word."
"What?" Goombella spoke. Luvbi looked at her sheet, appearing baffled at its description.
"It's a single word. It's like...con--fla--gration?" Luvbi repeated. "I'm very unfamiliar with this word."
"A conflagration," Goombella repeated. "Oh, that means 'fire'".
"Yellow mushrooms!" Vivian realized. "We just passed those!"
As they both halted to a stop and turned around, they saw a figure emerge from behind one of the towering red mushrooms in the distance. Running in the direction of west, they continued their hidden state away from Wario, who was slowly approaching them by the following of their tail.
"Well, this game is about teamwork," Bobbery declared to McHallyboo, who nodded at the spoken player's true statement. Still making his decision, Bobbery eyebrows were heavily furrowed, as he gave another shrug, this one however suggestive of a certain answer.
"Time changes a lot of things," Bobbery stated, "and if I were to do a noble action like this in the beginning of the game, it would have been greatly appreciated. But as you see, the other five probably couldn't give a hen's feather if I sacrificed myself for their benefit."
"So…" McHallyboo began.
"So no, I will not take the neutralizer." McHallyboo face looked a bit understanding, as he moved the switch in his hands away from Bobbery and out of his grasp.
"A choice made," the host commented. "A lost opportunity, but a self-save. The game has sixteen minutes remaining."
Bobbery: I was hoping that this little deal with McHallyboo went unmentioned to the players. Hopefully my nobility still stands in this game. Or at least I can hope it does.
The pair had managed to make a full rotation around the village, walking on the outside path and dodging any signs of Wario, aided along with the directions and warnings of Goombella through ear piece connection, guiding them like a map around the area.
Goombella: I was like a GPS. That was my job, and guiding the others from like, a yellow dot travelling around the entire place. It was hard, but I was glad I had gotten this job over the others.
At the moment, Yoshi had removed an entire yellow mushroom stalk from its roots and thrown it into the fireplace nearby, which was an indentation in the ground, but at the moment, absent of a conflagration. Vivian aimed carefully and took her picture for the team.
Snapshots: 3/6
"Gah!" Yoshi yelled, pulling Vivian to the side. At the east path in the back of the village was Wario, and he had caught them in sight. Unfortunately for the team and fortunately for him, he now had a target.
"You get back here!" Wario bellowed, holding the killer camera in both his hands as Yoshi and Vivian dashed down the path, panting with alarm as they ran even further down the east side of the village
Vivian: I was just running down the path and I knew Wario was right behind me. Yoshi was ahead so he was safe, but I was lagging behind and just scared out of my wits.
Wario: I had one shot. If I missed, there went three minutes from my time. I couldn't just go crazy, so I had to be smart.
"A picture objective!" Luvbi shouted, who was able to hear the frenzy going on, due to Goombella's connecting of their walkie talkies. "Listen! It steams so hot, but what burns even more are the stings from the nest nearby.
"Oh!" Goombella shouted. "Stings...you need the bee nest! It's near McHallyboo...the entrance!" Yoshi turned to Vivian hurriedly.
"Okay, you get the bee nest, I'll distract him!"
With no other choice, Vivian nodded, as Yoshi stayed still for two seconds, pretending to catch his breath. Vivian ran off to the entrance of the village, passing over a green patch of land and going in the direction of the one of the humongous trees. Wario was now headed towards Yoshi, who jumped below into the water-less creek.
"Hey, you sly dino!" Wario snapped. As Yoshi ran off from under the bridge suddenly, Wario took his picture. Goombella gasped, the light from Wario's camera being so bright that she could see it from her spot in the distance. McHallyboo's voice interrupted their ear pieces a few seconds later, as he coughed.
"I saw your picture, Wario," the host stated. "You missed his head."
"Yes!" Goombella shouted joyously, giving Yoshi a smile of triumph. Yoshi just danced down the creek happily, smile big and feet prancing. Wario let out a groan of frustration for the second time.
"Wario's down," the host said to Vivian, who walked towards his position. As Vivian aimed her camera up to the sky, focusing it solely on the hanging bee nest, McHallyboo gave her an odd look.
"You're certain that that's the next picture objective?" Bobbery asked with a raised eyebrow. Vivian nodded, and then took her snapshot.
Snapshots: 3/6
"Huh? Three?" Vivian said, confused and turning to the host right besides her.
"I'm afraid you're a bit off," McHallyboo spoke, as Goombella listened. "Try the Picture Objective again."
"That was totally it," Goombella said with disbelief, confused as well in her own mind. "Vivian, maybe you need something else with the bee hive? Try taking another snap shot. Or possibly add something to it?"
"Like, take a picture again?" Vivian guessed. "Please help me!" She froze, seeing Wario stand up from near the empty creek, and make slow steps towards her direction.
"Oh no," Goombella said with panic. "Luvbi, repeat that Picture Objective again for us to hear."
"What!" Luvbi had already hopped to her next mushroom, and had pried the lid off to achieve the next and fifth Picture Objective. "I left the paper on the other fungi."
"Well, come on! We need it! Jump backwards and get it!" Goombella said, her eyes becoming more alarmed as Wario faced even more at Vivian's direction. But his eyes seemed fixed at not Vivian, but McHallyboo instead, as Vivian hid low behind the bamboo-like stalks which held up the hive above her. Wario turned away with a look of disinterest.
"Oh, if only you could remember," Luvbi said dramatically, then took her stance and hopped, this time backwards in the opposite direction. But as she did so, she was halted immediately by her cable, as if she had jumped into an invisible wall. She fell back below to the fungi she was standing on when her jump ended, her mouth open with confusion and suspiciousness.
"I...can't go backwards," she realized. "The cable doesn't let me!" Goombella's face became twisted in defeat.
"Steams so hot," remembered Yoshi, having heard Luvbi's description. "I think this is it." In front of him was the village's bath: it was circular, and behind it, a giant statue of a Pianta's head made from stone emerged from the ground, acting as the underground supplier of steaming water to the pool. At the moment, two Piantas relaxed in the hot springs, not noticing the existence of the curious player.
"A nest!" Yoshi shouted, waking the two Piantas up as he walked over to the giant tree, branching out from the north-west area of the village. He carefully made his way to the edge of the hot springs platform and knelt down, eyeing the bees that swarmed around the nest. As one of the travelled a few feet towards him, Yoshi fell back, startled. He looked at the nest again anxiously.
"Wow, it's closer to the edge of the village then I thought," he said, seeing how close the nest was from entering the crater abyss below.
"What was that, Yoshi?" Goombella called into his ear piece.
"I'm getting the fourth picture objective, sorry," Yoshi replied.
"No, Vivian's trying to get it right now!" Goombella corrected. "I'm instructing her to figure out all the requirements to take the bee nest photograph, at the entrance of the level. We can't seem to get it."
"No, there's another bee's nest over here!" Yoshi explained. "The Picture Objective said something about hot steam. Look at me."Goombella turned around on her yellow mushroom and saw Yoshi, all the way at the end of the village. She opened her mouth in realization.
"Vivian, that's the wrong bee's nest!" And at the same time, Luvbi's voice came in.
"Our fifth objective: A lone Pianta is insignificant, but four more make a photo." Luvbi looked at it.
"It's undoubtedly asking for a picture of four Piantas. Hurry!" Getting both messages at the same time, Vivian just looked at McHallyboo besides her with confusion. The host shrugged, and then looked at his clock.
"Eight minutes remaining!" shouted McHallyboo. "Only eight minutes!"
"Vivian, get a picture with four Piantas, quickly," Goombella ordered. "Yoshi, Wario's going down the path that joins with the hot springs entrance!" At her words, Vivian ran to the center of the village, exposing herself to everyone and making her the easiest of targets. But luckily, Wario's was heading elsewhere, following the eyes of Goombella who inadvertently gave out Yoshi's current location.
"Hey, you!" Yoshi said, tapping one of the Piantas hurriedly. The Pianta was submerged in the hot water of the bath and looked at him with heavy irritation.
"You look like you need to use the bathroom," the Pianta noticed, seeing Yoshi's nervous steps and appearance. "There's a tree---"
"No no, please do me a favor," Yoshi said, keeping his voice at a calm level. "See those bees over there? I need a good picture of that nest, but it's not exactly easy and it's near a cliff that goes down a thousand feet."
"I keep those bees as pets!" the Pianta scoffed, as Yoshi handed him the camera. As the Pianta got out of the bath and took his steps towards the back of the village, Wario's hat became visible, peeking out from behind the land mass holding the fruitful tree, as Yoshi knew that he was approaching closer.
"Please hurry," Yoshi said, his eyes wide with fear. "Any good shot would be perfect."
"Just a better angle," the Pianta said, leaning on a leg to one side." At this rate, Yoshi was able to hear Wario's footsteps, thudding closer, and at a much faster rate than before.
"Please hurry," Yoshi whispered.
The Pianta gave a disgruntled look at him, and then aimed. As he bent close to the ground, he proceeded to click down on the camera's trigger.
"There you are!" Wario roared. Yoshi grabbed the camera from the Pianta's hand, nearly knocking him to the ground as Yoshi sped off. To Wario's shock, he jumped over a curve of the water pool and dashed away from the marble area of the hot springs, nearly tripping in the process, as Wario chased after him at full speed, the killer camera situated in his hands with a perfect view.
"Umm, excuse me," Vivian said, tapping the shoulder of a Pianta. He turned around and looked at her, his height being towering over hers.
"Yes, umm, shadow girl?" he asked, looking at her curiously.
"As you might have noticed, I've been running around this village trying to take snapshots," she said, holding up her camera. "I need a picture of four Piantas, quickly. Can you be one of them?" The Pianta looked at her even more curiously.
"If you think we're creatures to be photographed, you're entirely wrong," he stated in an offensive voice. "Though we're different species, we still hold native to this island!" Goombella heard the Pianta's rant through Vivian's earpiece and rolled her eyes.
"Pianta's aren't exactly the most humble creatures, huh?" Goombella said into Luvbi's microphone. Luvbi paused, just before she was about to make her final mushroom hop.
"You're telling me this of what significance?" Luvbi asked Goombella with perplexity.
"You can't trick me this time!" Wario shouted, showing no loss of energy in his running. He chased him down the east path of the village, and as Yoshi approached the piece of land over the empty creek, he looked around with alarm: he had already used this trick on Wario.
Yoshi: It was déjà vu all over again. Wario knew about my bridge-dashing trick. I had no idea where to go.
"Vivian!" Yoshi shouted, seeing her within the center of the village. She had already gathered two Piantas and was now going for her third. She gave a worried look at Yoshi, who jumped into the empty creek and headed to the West side of the village.
"No, get your picture and hide!" Yoshi gasped, as Wario jumped into the creek as well. Having less superior jumping abilities than Yoshi, Wario fell to his side for a split second upon impact. Getting up to his feet, he ran after the player immediately with recovery.
"I'm right behind you!" Wario yelled. Vivian turned back to her small crowd.
"Okay, I need two more!" Vivian said out loud. To her relief, a mother and daughter Pianta began walking up to her position, looking positive in offering their help.
"This ends," Wario said in a half-snarl, as Yoshi found himself on the ground, towards the front of the village. Trying to cut corners, he had tripped on one of the bamboo fences that surrounded one of the red mushroom towers, stepping on it but losing his balance. Wario raised his camera up, his hand on the trigger and lens aimed directly at the fallen player before him.
"You'll never get all three of us!" Yoshi exclaimed, looking up at the light. With ease, Wario took his snapshot.
"Perfect!" Vivian said out loud, taking a picture of all four Piantas lines next to each other, each of them more than willing to help her achieve the fifth snapshot of the game.
"One more picture objective needed, and four minutes remaining in the game," shouted McHallyboo, as Vivian smiled.
"Yoshi is down," added the host, as Vivian's face dropped into sheer terror. Goombella looked painfully at the fallen figure, who made his way slowly to the entrance of the level. A full minute had passed since Wario had taken his snapshot, and Vivian was the only one left.
"The final Picture objective!" Luvbi called out, flipping the paper over that she had achieved in her hands from the last mushroom in the row. Luvbi looked at it, her face twisted into a slight look of worry.
"What is it?" Goombella asked her. Repeating it again to herself, she talked into her ear piece.
"Snap the camera hunter, and make this game over."
"I have to...snap Wario?" Vivian said incredulously. "What does that mean?"
"It's a shoot down, I'm…guessing?" Goombella said, looking down at Vivian while at the same time speaking to her. "Between you and him. Whoever shoots the other one first is victorious. This is what it looks like." Vivian shook her head strongly with objection.
"No, I can't do that," Vivian said, her eyes filled with fear. "He'll get me first!"
"You can either hide for the final three minutes of this game and save Wario from getting this exemption, but cost the money," Goombella thought, running the possibilities through her head, "or you can try and attempt this final snapshot."
"What would you do?" Vivian asked, still hesitant. Goombella gave her a smile from above, facing down from the yellow mushroom.
"I think you can do it," Goombella told her, as Wario suddenly got up from his spot. Vivian saw him head immediately towards the East side of the village as she followed right after him, but taking the smallest of approach steps a good distance the hunter. Wario passed the entrance of the hot springs and travelled around the corner.
"One minute left!" McHallyboo called out, notifying all the players in the village that their mission was about to end. Bobbery looked with tenseness, noticing the decreased amount of frenzy within the village that lay before him. Goombella gritted her teeth.
"I'm approaching him," Vivian said, gulping and seeing Wario disappear around the land mass' corner.
"He's completely faced backwards from you!" Goombella said with excitement. Going down the same path Wario had just gone, Vivian passed the entrance of the hot springs and went to peek around the corner, exposing all of the West side of the village in view to her. Wario was in plain view as well, facing backwards and headed towards the garden of tall plants. The time left for their mission was unknown, but it was drawing near to its end.
"Come out, Vivian!" Wario said, almost in a threatening voice. Realizing that Wario was looking for Vivian among the array of tall plants, Goombella motion for Vivian to step closer, towards Wario, as Vivian held her camera up.
"This is a perfect shot," Goombella said quietly. "Do it! A snapshot before--" Wario abruptly turned around, at first caught by surprise by the player standing before him, but then scowled with anger. Vivian ran towards Wario out of fear suddenly, screaming helplessly, as Wario positioned the camera directly in front of his chest.
Two snapshots were fired, being just milliseconds apart from each other. The two players created a flash of light so strong that from anyone else's view besides Vivian and Wario, thinking that there had been a mini combustion between the two of them was an understandable thought.
*munches on fried shroom fries* Cliff hanger indeed! Yikes! But just who shot who first when the game reached its end? The next part tells all.
I'd just like to give out a thanks to those who reviewed in my last chapter. Even after a near two-month absense, you guys still show your support through words. I just appreciate it so much, so thank you all for the inspiration =) If you have been a continuous reviewer before, my greatest thanks to you too!
If you're just been reading this story as it goes, that's great! But it would mean a bucketful to me if you dropped in a review =)
Hope you all enjoy an early New Years! *pops English cracker with fake confetti* (heh, the Mole made that cracker. I swearrrr).