The mission concludes! And the episode goes on.
Episode 6 (Part 3)
The path before them displaying nothing from the ordinary, the two remaining players could only stare at what was ahead of them. The door at the hallway's end was open a crack, mounting their confusion even more.
"What does ZB June mean?" Yoshi said, reading the label on the first machine's side.
"I don't know," Goombella replied, "but I'm looking at the right wall." Looking closely, they saw that their entire wall on their right was covered in a separate layer of translucent material, resembling plastic that finished and led all the way to the room's end. Protruding from underneath the wall and from underneath the plastic covering were various wires, thin but all leading towards the end of the hallway.
"The wires lead to the end," Goombella said, pointing to a metal box at the end of the room that was located right besides the door. "I'm assuming the wall is part of our game, since they lead wires right towards our exit."
"Then why are the machines here?" Yoshi asked, walking up to the first one. "They almost resemble..." Yoshi stopped suddenly and stepped back, then faced Goombella, who looked back at him with realization. With each machine holding a protruding tip that faced the other side of the room, they suddenly figured out a possibility for the peculiar machines' function.
"They almost resemble guns," Goombella finished, her voice low. "But these machines...I'm pretty sure they're tranquilizers." She looked at Yoshi.
"Wait, I think I got it," Yoshi spoke up. "We have to activate each tranquilizer and make it hit the right wall, thus probably unlocking the door. We activate all ten machines, and we got it!" Yoshi faced her with triumph, but Goombella just shook her head.
"If the tranquilizers are supposed to hit the wall to unlock the door, then why is the door already open?" A shimmer of light protruded from the door's opening, shining bright enough for both players to see.
"I don't think the right wall will help us at all," said Goombella. "It'll probably lock the door instead if a tranquilizer hits it. We have to prevent it from getting hit."
"So in order to do that," Yoshi began, "we have to stop them somehow." The two of them faced each other slowly with dread, realizing what they were fated to do for their final game.
"Wait, nothing's certain yet," Goombella confirmed, shaking her head. "We need our rules for this game. We have to close that door first." Both she and Yoshi turned around to shove their door closed, pushing against the debris of rocks that littered the floor as they finally managed to shut the metal door completely. The television implanted into the wall on their left side flashed on, and the lights in the hallway dimmed until all they could see was the television's image and themselves. McHallyboo began to speak for the final time.
"Hello, and welcome to your final game," said the television. "Hopefully you've discovered the true meaning and purpose of these games, and depending on how you've played so far, this final game could either consist of one of two things: simplicity, or heavy complication." The two players narrowed their eyes at the screen with confusion.
"For this final game, the door at the end of this path has been unlocked," continued the tape. "Make it out of the door, and you will succeed. However, the machines on your left will hinder your process, and will fire immediately when you come into its line of view. The drug in each tranquilizer dart is so strong that you can feel drowsy and become sedated with just three hits." Goombella and Yoshi both froze with terror at the spoken words.
"Be warned though, because if any tranquilizers hit the opposite wall, the exit will be locked forever," finished the video. "And all ten machines must be activated before you make it to the end, or else the door will be closed as well. And if the timer expires for this room, then you will fail. You must take your ten steps to end this game. How will you play? Make your choice."
The screen shut off, and the lights turned back on. The path before them was once again exposed, but at the end of the room, a timer was uncovered to the two of them: 5 minutes.
"Oh no," Goombella sighed, looking away from the timer.
"I knew it," Yoshi said, looking at the machines before them and frowning. "We have to get hit by the needles. This stinks!"
"I guess we both know what we have to do," Goombella said nervously.
"It's fight to the death, right?" Yoshi realized. "One of us will push the other into the machine's way, and use their body as a shield to take all the tranquilizers on the way down. Isn't that it?" Goombella looked hopeless, staring down at the path's end.
"I…guess so?" she said uncertainly.
"I can't do that," Yoshi admitted, and he sat down on the floor, defeated. "I'm not gonna play evil."
"And neither will I," Goombella said confidently. "I'm not going to play so mercenary and push you right into a needle's path. I guess we can both call this game quits." She sat on the ground as well in front of Yoshi, as the two of them looked at the ground in silence. Goombella suddenly looked up.
"But what did that first part mean?" she said suddenly.
"Which?" Yoshi asked.
"The tape said that this last game could either be of simplicity or complication," she remembered. "Maybe there's an easier way to play this game somehow."
"Did we do anything in this game to make it easier?" Yoshi wondered. "I don't think I did."
"But I did," Goombella said, and she stood up, reaching into her back pants pocket as Yoshi looked at her curiously. At last, she pulled out the object she had retained from the very first room: the card key.
"You kept it?" Yoshi said with incredulity.
"I thought it'd come in handy," Goombella said, helping him up. "Yoshi, stand right next to that machine. I'm going to hold this card out and see if I can get a tranquilizer to hit it instead." Yoshi hurried to the left side of the wall, as Goombella slowly held the card out, inch by inch moving it carefully towards the machine's line of fire.
"Am I in it?" Goombella asked. Yoshi squinted, lining his eye up with the machine's shooter.
"Pretty much," Yoshi said. The machine didn't fire.
"It's probably heat-censored," Goombella said in a voice that seemed to give up in total. She dropped the card onto the ground and stepped back, as Yoshi joined her as well.
"At least we tried," Yoshi said, smiling. Goombella nodded, as the two of them caught something above the door's exit at the end of the path that they didn't see before: the game's final message.
Because it's five become one, not 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...0.
"Five become...one?" As soon as Goombella read the line, she bent down to pick up the card key from the floor.
"Where have we seen these card keys before?" Goombella asked suddenly.
"Our first game?" Yoshi asked. "Why?"
"No, before that," she said, and then turned to look backwards at the locked door which held all of their previous games.
"Cards...rooms...unnecessary stuff," she said softly. Goombella faced back at Yoshi.
"Yoshi...I don't think we were supposed to eliminate a person in each room," she stated.
"What are you talking about?" Yoshi asked, perplexed. "We had to knock off a person in each game. Wasn't that the whole point?"
"No," she said, staring at the card key in her hand. "We weren't completely separated in the first room. We could have been able to pass things between each other through the bars. If they didn't want us to interact, they could have just used walls instead. We could have passed those cards to each other."
"Wait," said Yoshi slowly. "Are you saying that if Wario just passed his card down to everyone else, we all could have escaped?"
"Vivian would have gotten out," said Goombella, and then continued. "The second room, there was only three shelters. But they were large enough to fit at least two people each. We all could have been protected." Yoshi's face dropped in realization.
"But didn't the tape say, 'Who will be the odd man out?'" he remembered. "That means McHallyboo meant someone to be left out anyway!"
"No, look," Goombella counted. "Two in one shelter, two in another...one would have been left by him or herself." She turned around and looked at the remaining rubble that littered at the foot of their third game's door.
"In the Pit of Sacrifice, we didn't need a sacrifice at all," Goombella said, shaking her head. "Our weight added together was well over five-hundred pounds. All the five of us had to do was climb down and apply the weight to the pit's bottom, unlock the door, and climb out. There wouldn't have been a timer for the pit's lid because we wouldn't have even needed to lift a rock from the table. Those rocks were a red herring." Yoshi scratched his head.
"So wait…we've been playing these games wrong the whole time?" Yoshi said, looking at the metal door behind the two of them in disbelief.
"We were supposed to work together so we all survived the rooms," Goombella concluded, facing him. "That was the game!"
"Why didn't we notice that before?" Yoshi wondered. "It was so simple."
"Because we were greedy players," Goombella told him. "And now...instead of taking two tranquilizers each for this game...we need to take five." The two of them looked once again at the path that lay ahead of them, at all ten machines. Their timer was ticking down: 1:13 minutes.
"We need to start…now," Goombella confirmed, as Yoshi nodded.
"I'll take the first needle," he said slowly, "and you take the second. And from there…we'll alternate." Goombella nodded.
"Yes," she said softly, and took a breath. Yoshi faced forwards, his face showing fear but eyes showing determination.
"Are you ready?" said Goombella, having the same expression as well.
"Let's go!"
At once, both Yoshi and Goombella players ran up to the first machine, entering into its line of fire completely exposed. Immediately, a tranquilizer needle was fired, and Yoshi let out a cry as the first tranquilizer hit him.
"Oww!" Yoshi shouted, as Goombella pulled him back. Switching positions, it was Goombella who was to be hit next, and the second machine fired. Goombella let out a gasp as her first needle hit her, but the two moved on.
"Third one!" The third machine was activated, and Yoshi was hit again as he let out another cry. Goombella winced as she went into view of the fourth tranquilizer machine, sending the needle to fire as it hit her.
"Halfway there," she said, her voice becoming weak. As they both stepped their ways into the next two machines, it was their third dart each, and already they began to feel drowsy. Yoshi stepped up again, closing his eyes as the fourth needle hit him right in the side of the leg. Opening his eyes, he saw Goombella, getting hit by her fourth needle and slowly losing her focus. He staggered over to her.
"Come on, Goombella!" Yoshi shouted, pulling her up. "We have to make it!"
"I...I can't go on," she said, her voice drained. "You have to go. But I can't."
"Yes, you can!" Yoshi said confidently, and he and Goombella were just feet away from the open exit in front of them. Two machines lay ahead of them, as well as their door to success, as Yoshi took a step in front of the ninth machine. As it hit his arm, he fell to his knees, five tranquilizers having hit him in total as he struggled to keep his consciousness.
21 seconds
"I...won't be able to go any more after this one," Goombella said, and with a delayed step, made her way into the final machine's line of fire. But just before it could hit her, Yoshi threw his body forwards, towards the direction of Goombella as the final tranquilizer needle hit him in the back. Goombella gasped as she was pushed back to the ground, while Yoshi fell to the floor, unmoving.
"Yoshi!" Goombella cried, stepping her way slowly to him and kneeling to the ground. Yoshi turned his head.
"Go on," he said with a weak smile, and fell limp. Goombella shook her head with despair, but faced the exit behind her.
With only seconds remaining, Goombella used all her might and remaining energy to bring herself the few remaining feet towards and out of the door, out of the final game, and out of the mission that had caused so much revelation and uncovering.
"That was...brutal," Luvbi said, using an ice pack to rub her shoulder. "I woke up with rubble in my hair." Next to her was Wario, looking grumpier than he usually was.
"That was pretty much rigged in all places," Wario said, shaking his head. "The second game especially."
"I didn't even know the drop was that high," Vivian said, shuddering slightly. "I hit the trampoline before I could even see it."
"Well, McHallyboo did inform us that each game was meant for all five of us," began Luvbi, but they all stopped as they turned to see someone enter the room. Yoshi made his way towards the couch and sat down, as the others looked at him with both confusion and relief.
"It took you six hours to recover?" Wario ridiculed.
"Of course it did," came another voice, and Goombella entered the room as well. They were in the hotel, but in a sequestered room that was mostly empty. The only person left remaining to enter the room was the host, who did seconds later as he stood in front of all of them.
"Well players, I watched you all perform this exciting mission," he said, and pointed to the TV in the corner of the desolate room they were located in.
"This isn't another one of those game rooms, is it?" Goombella joked.
"Heh, do you want one more?" McHallyboo threatened. He flashed on the television, displaying a TV monitor that was separated into four sections. In each one, an aerial view of each room they had played in was displayed.
"I've explained to you all that these games were meant for a full survival, not to kick each other off in each game," the host started off. "I'll start with the first room." He looked at Vivian.
"In the Cells, Vivian found herself as the first victim," McHallyboo recounted. "The game only offered four cards, but they were all the same. One card could have been passed between the cells to open each door." Everyone besides Goombella and Yoshi looked at each other with disbelief.
"In the Storm Shelters, Wario found himself sucked into the second trap," McHallyboo continued. "But each shelter could have held more than one person. It had just enough room to fit two players each."
"So all that fighting was really unnecessary," Luvbi commented.
"If you remembered this morning, I gave you all indirect hints to the solutions for these two games," McHallyboo revealed. "I gave you a smaller amount of needed cards, and rooms as well. You were able to share then, so I was surprised you didn't succeed in these games."
"Holy snap," Yoshi realized, as the others looked at McHallyboo as well.
"The third game, Luvbi was made into a sacrifice," McHallyboo said. "She and the weighted rocks made you reach five-hundred pounds, opening the door. However, if all five of you were present, all you had to do then was apply your weight as a whole to the pit's bottom, unlock the door, and all escape." McHallyboo then pulled out a single red coin from his pocket, the red shininess sticking out and glowing out to all of them.
"Remember the money on the table from the dinner?" he said to them, reminding them of last night's odd occurrence. "You didn't use any. Instead, you all used what you already had."
"Like us already holding weight in our bodies," Vivian realized. McHallyboo nodded.
"And in the final room, you could have distributed the tranquilizers between the five of you," said the host finally, "to just two tranquilizers each. None of you would have felt the bit of disoriented." He turned off the television.
"Had the five of you worked together, you could have completed this game completely and with ease. Ten thousand coins would have been awarded for each player that made it to the end, minus one, but there was none. You win no money for this mission, and you have failed entirely." The five players looked in appearance from a range of irate to embarrassed. Their complex and most difficult game was over, and none of them had played the right way. Their pot stood still. The host wasn't of any help either.
"So…I'm afraid the breakfast room is closed."
Yoshi: We were all focused on being the last survivor. There were clues showing us that we could have worked together but we didn't. Goombella was the only one really who thought about working together the entire time. None of us did.
Wario: From what I know, Goombella didn't even solve anything until it was too late. I don't see how she gets credit for something like that. And Yoshi even says that she hit a brain rush at the end of the game, I mean, come on! Just at the last second she "realizes" all these certain secrets. Didn't seem plausible to me at all.
Goombella: It was kind of suspicious how certain people played. Wario took full force in both of the first games, taking control of everything that was happening. If it wasn't for Luvbi's intervention in the second game, Wario might have made it to the very end. His role in the mission almost seemed planned.
Vivian: The game was difficult. I heard that Luvbi took a big step in the third one. She tried to knock down Yoshi, but Goombella knocked her instead. In the end, Goombella and Yoshi worked together...or did they turn against each other? I wish I wasn't sent down in the first test.
Luvbi: I'm a bit aggravated on how the third game turned out. Of course, it was impossible for us to have worked together at that point, but it made me think: Why did Goombella take such a striking action? Why did Yoshi sacrifice? How did Wario fail as the strongest? Is Vivian really the weakest? I think that game might have changed me a bit too. I know how far I might just go.
Their wounds mostly healed, the five players took a rest for the remainder of the afternoon. Each of them were given their own hotel rooms, blocking even more unfavorable memories from the series of games that had just taken place earlier that day. But each player reflected upon that mission in their own way, taking each action that had occurred within the game as a vital clue to just who the Mole might be.
"Oh, I'm just glad you like this meal!" said the boathouse owner, his voice sounding jubilant. They were in the boathouse, located just diagonal from the town's main dock. Just a little less than two weeks ago, the very same building they were in had served as one of their execution spots. A table was set before them however, and they ate carelessly.
"Rosalina took a downfall in this very spot," McHallyboo reminded them, taking an acorn custard dessert from the center of the table.
"I hope your mentioning of that is no way related to a foreshadowing," Luvbi said, a little annoyance yet alarm hinted in her voice.
"Oh, just pointing a little fact out," said McHallyboo as he straightened out his bow.
"Yeah, right," Wario said, talking amidst his bite of a dessert.
"Well, everything you say apparently is important," Goombella said, laughing. "We've known that since like, Day 1."
"Especially after this morning," Yoshi pointed out, causing Wario to groan out loud. "The truth is, we really never learn from the things you say."
"And it's been like, five episodes," Vivian said, feeling less smart than usual.
"Well, you can be the dumbest player here," McHallyboo told them all, looking up to face all of them, "yet still manage to win the game. It just takes...luck."
"And fortune," came the voice of the boathouse owner. As he pulled out a piece of paper, all eyes immediately turned to him.
"What is that?" Vivian asked him.
"It's a map of the stars," he answered, his voice sounding excited. "This particular one shows the location of the first sun sign of Isle Delfino's night sky. It's a beauty, and a rare one. I'm afraid it's not out tonight though."
"That's too bad," Goombella said with disappointment. "I'm not must of an astrologist, but the area of science does interest me."
"So what does having this map have to do with anything now?" Wario questioned.
"Some say that on nights like this where the sea is more still than usual, someone can encounter individual luck under the location of where the constellation should be," said the boatman. "And here...is where it is located." He turned the map around, and the players got a full look at it. Though mostly displaying a scattered arrangement of white dots, the map also had a faded outline of the town of Delfino Plaza, acting as the land beneath it. Yoshi pointed to where the constellation was, located in the sky.
"That's like right behind the lighthouse!" he noticed.
"Your next task involves this spot," McHallyboo said to them. "A bottle is hidden, and this game will be a search for it. But it's your choice on whether you will retrieve it or not. And if so, who retrieves it is the most important part." The boatman sat back in his chair, leaving the map for the crucial bottle out in the open
"All right," Wario said, putting down his fork. "I'm getting it!"
Goombella: Apparently Wario does not learn from anything. We just learned how important it is to think before acting from our first mission, and now...I couldn't believe it.
"I'm actually going to hesitate," Goombella said, shaking her head completely at the player next to her. "I'm not just going to…run ahead."
"Well, this is probably a chance at something," Luvbi spoke.
Luvbi: If I was wrong about an exemption being in the first game, then there was no doubt telling that something more important lied within this one.
"So is this like a race?" Yoshi asked. "To whoever finds the bottle first?"
"It's however you choose to play this game," the host, and immediately, Wario got up from his seat and ran for the door.
"What!" Luvbi said, confounded and surprised at his fast action. "Nonsense!"
"I don't even know if I'm going to play," Vivian said as Luvbi immediately got up from her seat as well and exited the boathouse. It wasn't until seconds later the boatman began laughing, as the three remaining players faced him.
"What is it?" Goombella asked.
"They both didn't even bother bringing the map," he said, pointing to the table. Yoshi lightened up.
"You're not going too, are you?" Goombella asked Yoshi, as he grabbed the map into his hand and rolled it up.
"Might as well give it a try," he replied, and with that, only two players remained in the house.
"I learned way too much from the first game to not just do stuff," Goombella said, leaning forwards in her chair. "So I'm not gonna search for this bottle out of the blue."
"I just don't do stuff like that," Vivian said truthfully, and they both chuckled. "I mean, I don't care if the bottle has something good. I would have lost anyway to it."
"Haha!" It was less than five minutes before the room was filled again. Yoshi came back first, panting, the map not even in his hand. Next came Luvbi, who had the map in her hand but nothing else in her possession. The last player to arrive had a victorious face, and they all saw that it was Wario who finally got the bottle.
"That's...my map!" Yoshi said, running to pick it up from the sand, but Luvbi got it with one swift hand movement.
"You think you can find it now?" Luvbi said, turning to Wario with a small smirk. "You're just digging in the ocean and...oh." Wario turned around to face her, previously wading in the waters but now facing her and holding a bottle in the air triumphantly.
"I guess I have luck on my side," he told her, his smile greater.
"Where else could it have been than on the shore floating?" Wario said, jeering. The boatman applauded, feeling happy that his guided game had been completed.
"That was quick," Goombella commented, surprised.
"Open it," Luvbi said reluctantly.
"Did you read the contents yet?" McHallyboo asked him. Within the bottle, a single slip of paper could be seen, concealed by the cork. But Wario pulled it out with ease and slipped out the rolled piece of paper, as his award was revealed to everyone present.
Hah! I was considering giving this chapter a non-cliffhangerish ending, but then this perfect opportunity came up and…hehe, sorry.
For those who didn't know, the 5 Become 1 games were inspired from the focus plot of Saw 5. I even considered doing an "M" rated version of the mission, but…figured it just wouldn't really work out, haha. But if I had done so, these would have been the changed terrifying elements:
-The first room wouldn't have had the floors open up. At the end of the timer, the metal bar-walls on each player would slam shut with force…with them still between them x.x
-The second room was going to be called the Propeller room, because the pipe would have had a spinning fan at the entrance, much like a propeller. Or might as well say, a blender. Whoever got sucked into the pipe would..yah D:
-The third room would have had spikes at the bottom of the pit. That being, if someone was forcefully pushed down, they wouldn't have exactly landed peacefully at the bottom x)
-The last room didn't have tranquilizer machines. They had...guns o.o
So with that, you can probably see why I had to modify the games a tiny bit xD But nonetheless hope you enjoyed them! That was a little trivia for you all.
And stay tuned! What does the discovered bottle say, and what game will be played next that'll cause just more heated debate? Stay tuned as we enter the second half of Episode 6.