(AN) College, life, listening to music and lack of inspiration were the reasons why this chapter came up a bit late. Some chapters would be easy while the rest would be hard. This episode landed on the hard category. Sometimes, I would write out scenes and know exactly what happened in it, but I'd be unable to write it. I KNOW I have improved since the start of this story and hopefully, this series will become as great as Dark Amphithere's. If you haven't read his stories yet, I seriously recommend you to check it out! I took a few breaks to get my mind working. It had worked sometimes.
On the side note; I noticed my poll on my profile and apparently, Jolteon was winning with seven votes. Furret placed second with five and Azumarill, Espeon and Marowak were tied for third. With nothing else to say, I hope you'll enjoy part two of episode five!
(Disclaimers) I do not own Total Drama Series or Pokémon. Also, the alphabet theme is NOT my idea. It's originally created by Frank15, so give him credit for that.
STARRING:
Azumarill - 30 - The Slave Wife (Female)
Chandelure - 22 - The Gentleman Reader (Male)
Druddigon - 35 - The Redneck Survivalist (Male)
Espeon - 26 - The Christian Fundamentalist (Female)
Furret - 21 - The FanFic Writer (Female)
Gothitelle - 20 - The Smart Transsexual (Female)
Infernape - 58 - The War Veteran (Male)
Jolteon - 18 - The Normal Guy with a Big Secret
Klinklang - 18 - The Control Robot (Male)
Leavanny - 47 - The Strict Teacher (Female)
Marowak - 28 - The Zombie Fanatic (Male)
Ninjask - 19 - The Ninja Wannabe (Male)
Octillery - 18 - The Lazy Party Girl (Female)
Purugly - 37 - The Ex-Porn Star (Female)
Qwilfish - 31 - The Underwater Cop (Female)
Rapidash - 23 - The Fast-able Horse (Female)
Sableye - 21 - The Secrets Spiller (Female)
Tangrowth - 29 - The Passionate Hairdresser (Male)
Ursaring - 31 - The Abusive Husband (Male)
Whimsicott - 18 - The Tomboyish Prankster (Female)
Xatu - 53 - The Foreseeable Psychic (Female)
Yanmega - 30 - The Enthusiast Pilot (Male)
Zebstrika - 45 - The Sexist Coach (Male)
The sun glared into the camp-ground as the temperature continued to rise. Besides Octillery, the Mysterious Mesprit was taking out three wheelbarrows, two medium-sized buckets, and five shovels from a medium-sized shed. Once they had got it all out, Infernape spoke to his team.
"If we all get into the right position, we can get the sculpture done and win the challenge before the heat becomes unbearable." Infernape turned his neck at Yanmega. "You take two buckets you've got with ya and scoop up the sand. Afterward, you dump it at the platform and do it all over again."
Yanmega nodded, gripping the buckets. "Got it."
The war veteran turned back to the rest and said their names as he pointed his index finger at whoever's name he mentioned. "Furret, Jolteon and Sableye; we're gonna be shovelling up sand from the beach and dump them into the wheelbarrows. Whichever is full will be pushed over to the platform. Dump the sand and repeat the process."
Sableye stared up at Infernape. "I think age is getting to you." She walked over to one of the wheelbarrows. "How do you expect me to push this piece of wagon three times the size of me?" She said as she gestured herself and the wheelbarrow.
Infernape leaned his face toward Sableye's, glaring at her. "We'll help you push it." He stood straight and turned to Gothitelle and Whimsicott. "You two will build our sand sculpture and make sure Octillery doesn't-" He pointed to Octillery by the platform, only to discover she wasn't there. He swore under his breath. "Where the fuck did she go?"
"I'll find her." Yanmega put down his buckets and flew off to search for his lazy teammate. He didn't have to search long as he saw Octillery exited the Middle Cabin, sporting sunglasses and holding several magazines under her tentacles. Frowning, he lowered himself until hovering in front of Octillery, who stopped. "You should've let us know where you're going."
"I was gettin' my 'zines and shades." Octillery replied, gesturing her magazines and sunglasses. "I ain't spendin' the whole challenge doing nothing but watering the sand!"
Yanmega rolled his eyes and flew back to the others, while Octillery squirmed back to her original position and opened one of her magazines. At the beach, Yanmega, Infernape, Sableye, Furret and Jolteon started digging up sand and filled them into the buckets and the wheelbarrows. Soon, Yanmega dug up enough sand to fill in both buckets. He lifted them up and flew over to Gothitelle, Whimsicott and Octillery, and poured it onto the wooden platform. He then flew back to repeat the process. Gothitelle and Whimsicott looked at the sand as they were thinking on how to create their sculpture.
"We need to create Azelf's pose good enough for us to win, but without the risk of being crumbled away." Gothitelle said to Whimsicott, who shook her head and grinned.
"Taking risks always pays off the best! Playing it safe can only take you as far as a garbage man. We need to make our sculpture scream to the world – Azelf is Awesome!" She said as she was extending her small hands to the sky.
"And how do you propose we make Azelf 'awesome'?" Gothitelle finger-quoted the word 'awesome'.
Whimsicott thought momentarily before fixing her eyes on Octillery. A smile showed on her face and she took her friend's sunglasses. Subsequently, Octillery yelled out "Hey!" The prankster wore the sunglasses and posed like a rock star ready to shred on its electric guitar. "Sporting his shades while rocking out on his guitar!" She strummed her invisible guitar twice before leaving her strumming hand in the air. Octillery subsequently grabbed back her sunglasses and placed them back onto her face. Whimsicott turned back to Gothitelle.
"Rock stars are always cool except when they're on drugs and fucked themselves." Hearing the word 'drugs' made Octillery's eyes slightly bigger as an impulse. The others didn't notice.
Whimsicott continued. "Before building him, we'll make the background to support him and sketch an audience cheering him on! If that doesn't sound awesome, I don't know what is."
Gothitelle looked deep in her thought as she rested her chin into her hand. Soon, a small smile appeared as she faced her funny, but creative teammate.
"It's a strenuous task, but your idea could work. I can picture it now."
Whimsicott grinned. "Great! Let's get started!" She and Gothitelle started constructing their twenty-foot background. Needing water to glue the sand, Gothitelle turned her neck at Octillery.
"Octillery, we need you to damp the sand."
"Kay." Octillery turned her neck toward the sculpture and fired dozens of bubbles. Unfortunately, with too much power, the sculpture dissipated. Octillery resumed reading her magazines as Gothitelle and Whimsicott stared at their pile of wet sand.
"Now… bucket's our top priority." Whimsicott drawled.
Confessional: Bucket? I thought male models were the top priority!
Gothitelle: The sculpture sounds like a great idea in theory. Pride seems to be Azelf's trait and sculpting him in a cool pose would boost his ego, yet granting us invincibility. Although, putting it into practice will be quite hard with positions Azelf need to be in, and at the right height and width. Practice and theory distanced themselves far more than many people suspected. But I have hope that my team shall succeed.
Whimsicott: (Smirk) The sun rays on our sculpture make it epic, but that's nothing epic as fire (She placed on the sunglasses as she smirked) fanning our hairs with glory. (Silence filled the room until she frowned) Damn. No epic scream. How did Qwilfish manage to do it?
Octillery: (She popped in and snagged back her sunglasses) Give me that!
The Awesome Azelf was walking through the forest to reach the mountain. The trees above them provided them much needed shade. However, there were several spots where heated light shone through the small gaps and into the ground below.
"Rapidash, you sure this is the right direction to the mountain?" Ursaring asked the horse, who was easily ahead of everyone due to her speed.
"I've-been-taking-my-morning-jog-since-we've-gotten-here! I-became-familiar-with-the-area-so-I-wouldn't-risk-tripping-over-any-unidentified-object."
"How can you tell the details if you're running through like a bullet?" Marowak asked.
"I-was-running-through-the-same-area-to-remember-it-more." Rapidash replied.
Marowak nodded in approval. "That sounds like a good idea. I definitely need to remember every detail on this island so I would know where to run if the zombies take over here."
Feeling the need to ask the zombie fanatic, Leavanny spoke to Marowak behind him. "Why would you go along with fictional zombies? Don't you have a realistic job?"
Marowak narrowed his eyes as he slowed down until he was walking beside the teacher. "Then how else would I be able to pay my bills? I'm a miner in Vermillion City and Lavender Town. I'm always good at digging and if we unearthed dead bodies, but they become reanimated to take a bite out of us, I'd be the first to crack their skulls."
Leavanny frowned but allowed Marowak to continue.
"Zombies became an obsession to me when I watched the original Night of the Living Dead in my teen years. The idea of the dead people eating the others, and turning them into dead people themselves fascinated me! I read a lot of articles about the possibilities that dead people could actually be reanimated through voodoo magic or biological weapons. Soon, I started collecting stuff about zombies as a hobby and bought weapons and ammo to protect myself from dead and living people."
"You'd be arrested for killing them."
"Not if the zombies started eating everybody." Marowak retorted.
"Found-them!"
Everyone looked ahead at Rapidash, who was standing at the edge of the forest. They stepped over to Rapidash and stared up at the mountain. Judging from standing at the base of the mountain, the elevation appeared to be over a hundred thousand feet. The sight of the enormous landscapes stood before them made Leavanny and Azumarill gulp. Druddigon stared at the mountain in silence before scoffing.
"I've climbed worse."
Confessional: Worse than Mt Everest?
Marowak: Leavanny and I have different views on zombies. Sure, we could possibly work together to fight off the zombies, but I don't think that would ever happen. If the zombies rise, she'll be one of the first to be eaten as she believes the zombies were just people trying to scare her for fun. As she'd get eaten, her last thought will be – "I should've believed Marowak with his zombie knowledge!"
Leavanny: (Rolling her eyes) Zombies. He might as well be a zombie for having obsession with zombies.
The Unique Uxie was walking through the different part of the forest. Like in Awesome Azelf's area, there were several spots where heated light shone through the small gaps and into the ground below. Ninjask and Tangrowth can be seen with several thick branches in their arms. Qwilfish was sitting on top of Tangrowth's head. Purugly stared at the branches before facing forward.
"It's cool we've found branches as Azelf's limbs, but why couldn't we carve them from the log? It was kinda pointless for branches." She mumbled.
"That's possible to achieve albeit it'd be quite tricky carving them into smaller details. One false move whilst carving Azelf's tails, it could crack and snap, and we lose yet another challenge." Chandelure said.
"It won't happen." Zebstrika said, feeling confident.
"Because there's five guys here?" Purugly hissed as Qwilfish and Espeon too glared at the sexist zebra.
Zebstrika returned his glare at the cat.
Confessional: Staring contest! Go! (Staring intensely at everything)
Zebstrika: When I was talking to Rapidash about what happened last night, I realized that the only person who could've known Vanilluxe would be out if they had a plan! Receiving an idol from Purugly and seeing Vanilluxe's gone were no coincidence. I need to speak to that cat soon, but not as long with that snitch still around.
"There's a log over there!" Tangrowth pointed to a large log ahead of his team.
Ninjask turned to his teammates. "You think that could be big enough?"
"Only one way to find out." Qwilfish said before her team moved over to the log. Chandelure floated over to one end of the log with a tape measure with him. He stared down at the log before gesturing Espeon to move over to him. He stuck out an end of the tape measure as Espeon walked over to him. Espeon gripped the tape measure and pulled over to the other side of the log. The team remained silent as Chandelure looked at the measure to see how many feet had Espeon pulled until reaching the other end of the log. He looked up at his team showing a small smile.
"It's thirty-one feet."
Espeon walked back to Chandelure while holding on to the tape measure to make sure she doesn't let go of it and possibly hurt her teammate. "That should be enough height as our sculpture."
Qwilfish stared at the huge log before facing her teammates. "Judging from amount of width, I don't think this log will make our host look fat."
"Then I should start lifting it." Tangrowth declared as he passed the branches to Espeon and Purugly while Qwilfish jumped off of him. He walked over to the log with Chandelure beside him. The log glowed purple as Tangrowth slipped his hands underneath it and lifted it up with ease. With the log above both men, the team started heading back to the campground where they can start carving their sculpture.
"How are we supposed to find stone… to be our sculpture on this mountain?" Ursaring gasped exhaustingly.
The Awesome Azelf had just started walking up the mountain. The majority of them weren't pleased having to do such a strenuous task, but even more so with sweltering heat. Sweat was already pouring from Ursaring and Marowak. Some looked to be emitting sweat soon, even Klinklang, who answered the bear's question.
"BZZT, WE NEED TO FIND THE CLIFFSIDE SO I CAN EXTRACT THE STONE WITH THE RIGHT HEIGHT AND WIDTH, BZZT."
Rapidash stared at the robot ahead looking away to see Druddigon was walking beside her without any sign of being uncomfortable with heat. Curious, she asked the dragon. "Druddigon-how-are-you-withstanding-the-heat-so-well?"
Understanding Rapidash's sentence completely for the first time, Druddigon answered her question. "I'm from Fallarbor Town. Everything there is hot with volcanic ashes fallen onto our town pretty much every week."
"Don't-you-get-ill-for-being-exposed-to-ashes?" Rapidash became concerned.
The redneck dragon shrugged. "That's the humans' and outsiders' problem. Ashes practically became our breath; kinda felt weird not breathing it here."
"I-didn't-expect-a-Unova-Pokémon-to-be-from-Fallarbor-Town."
Druddigon narrowed his eyes at the racehorse. "Ya got a problem with where I'm from?"
Rapidash quickly shook her head. "No-no! I-was-just-surprised! That's-all!"
Druddigon rolled his eyes and looked ahead at the mountain before hearing gasps from the zombie fanatic behind him.
"Hearing you guys talking about Fallarbor Town was making my tongue dry as sand!" Marowak gasped with a raspy tone in his voice.
"Aren't you a ground Pokemon?" Druddigon said, lifting up an eyebrow at Marowak.
"I am, but even dry Pokemon like me can get thirsty!"
"Thank you for sharing your pain of thirst because now I too am in a need for a quench." Leavanny drawled.
Noticing their two thirsty teammates, the married couple exchanged glances. Ursaring nodded at Azumarill before nodding his head to their teammates.
Confessional: Hot! Hot! Hot!
Ursaring: If I let Azumarill cool off Marowak and Leavanny, the rest of the team would acknowledge us as good, reliable Pokémon.
Azumarill walked over to Marowak and Leavanny. "E-erm… do you want me to cool you two with m-my Bubblebeam?" She asked her thirsty teammates who turned their neck at her with a pleading look in their eyes. Simultaneously, they said "Yes, please."
Inhaling her breath, Azumarill held it in until opening her mouth and shot out thousands of bubbles at her teammates. Overwhelmed by an army of bubbles, Marowak and Leavanny cried out and knocked to the ground. Azumarill stopped shooting BubbleBeam, terrified of what she'd done, she started apologising profusely.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to knock you two over! I-" She was interrupted by Marowak's laughing as he stood up while moving his hand across his face.
"It's cool, Azumarill! I may be a ground type, but I quenched for water like everyone else. I needed that! Thanks!" He patted a hand to Azumarill's back, making the latter jump a little from sudden contact. He then continued his trek up the mountain. Leavanny stood up with much less enthusiasm.
"It was an excessive amount of Bubblebeam, but thank you." Leavanny nodded at the slave wife before following her teammates.
Azumarill watched her teammates' trekking the mountain before looking at her husband, who didn't smile but gave her a nod.
Confessional: Water down, everybody!
Azumarill: (Wiping sweat off of her face) I'm grateful t-they aren't mad at me for blowing too much b-bubbles at them. One person a-angry at me was enough.
Azumarill stepped over to Ursaring and started walking with their teammates again. As they were walking, the bear leaned his face near Azumarill's. "I want you to rinse my face, but gently this time." He asked Azumarill nicely. However, his wife could hear a tone of anger in it. Azumarill blew out bubbles to Ursaring, but unlike what she did to Leavanny and Marowak, she did it gently. She stopped blowing bubbles as her husband rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. He showed a kind of smile to Azumarill, which gave her chills. "Thanks, honey." He gently pushed his wife ahead of him as they kept following their five teammates up the mountain.
"Wait… five?" Ursaring thought as he noticed that all but one teammate was ahead of him and his wife. Temporarily forgetting whose teammate he didn't see; he turned around to discover it was Xatu. However, there was something about the way she was walking which made him and his wife, who had too turned around, felt quite off. As she was slowly hiking up the mountain, her head leaned back and stared upward.
Not so she can see what was ahead of her, but rather staring at the sky – particularly the sun. Her pupils were glowing blindingly white. Wondering what the psychic was doing, Ursaring asked.
"Xatu? Are you-" He was interrupted by the sound of robotic beeps from Klinklang, who was floating beside the cliff-side with Rapidash and Druddigon just behind him.
"BZZT, THE SOURCE OF OUR SCULPTURE IS HERE, BZZT." Klinklang announced.
"Then start cutting them out." Druddigon said, impatiently.
Klinklang turned around to face the cliff-side and a couple of robotic beeps were heard again before speaking. "BZZT, ACTIVATE CHARGE BEAM, BZZT." He belted out an electrical beam at the cliff-side. Dust and pieces of rock emitted as the controlled robot cut deep into the cliff, causing Druddigon and Rapidash to step back.
"How long would it take for you to finish cutting off a piece of the cliff?" Marowak asked the robot.
"BZZT, THE PROGRESS WILL BE FINISHED IN TWENTY TWO SECONDS, BZZT." Klinklang replied as he was already cutting thirty feet onto the cliff and now moving the beam downward.
"That's-fast." Rapidash smiled.
The Awesome Azelf remained still with sweat oozing from their bodies as Klinklang's beam was reaching back to the starting position. The beam vanished as Klinklang floated back. As smoke appeared from the red lined rock, cracking noises can be heard. The team can hear more cracking noises as a part of cliff was starting to tip over until it hit the ground with a thump! The team looked pleased to have their stone which was soon to become their sculpture. The stone was still moving, particularly downward before anyone could step forward. At the part of the mountain they were standing on, the ground was still quite steep.
And the stone was moving toward some of the contestants.
"Oh, SHIT!" Ursaring exclaimed, grabbing his wife and running down the hill with Marowak and Leavanny by his side. They screamed as they were running down the hill while being chased by a fast moving stone, which knocked out any debris off its path. Even as Xatu was staring at the sun, she walked to the side, allowing her teammates and the stone to move past her.
Noticing what Xatu just did, Leavanny spoke to others. "Why are we still running straight?! We can just-"
"Message received!" Marowak interrupted, grabbing Leavanny's hand and pulling her to the side of the mountain. The married couple moved to the other side, scraping past the stone. The contestants stared idly at the stone, which kept moving downward.
CRASH!
A cloud of debris appeared at the mountain base. Soon, it faded away allowing the four contestants to see the stone that could've killed them had been smashed into hundreds of little stones. Slowly, they craned their neck to Klinklang, who was floating idly with Rapidash and Druddigon glaring at him.
"BZZT, PROCEEDING COMMUNICATION WITH MY TEAMMATES AFTER CHARGE BEAM ERROR, BZZT."
Confessional: Big oop oop for a robot!
Ursaring: (Glare) I may have to change my hit list…
Marowak: (Glare) What did Klinklang think we were going to do once that stone was off? Expecting us to grab it before it moved too fast? Yeah, I understand that part of the plan, if Klinklang even bothered to give us a heads up!
"BZZT, I SHALL REPEAT THE PROGRESS. EXPECT TO RECEIVE OUR SCULPTURE AFTERWARD, BZZT." Klinklang declared before floating over to the different part of the cliff-side and an electrical beam had hit the cliff-side, causing more debris of dust and rocks.
Noticing the robot had proceeded cutting into the cliff-side once more, Ursaring hoisted his wife onto his shoulders and stormed up the mountain. "I'm not gonna get chased down by the stone again!" He growled.
"I agreed." Marowak nodded in agreement before removing sweat from his face. He turned his neck at the teacher. "You too, Leavanny."
Leavanny looked up at her teammates and frowned deeply. "I'm not risking my life again for a stone."
"Neither does any of us, but we need it to secure our place in the game." Marowak said before stepping up the mountain again.
Grumbling under her breath, Leavanny started following the zombie fanatic.
The cooperation within the Mysterious Mesprit had been going well. They managed to gather much sand to the platform enough for no longer requiring anymore sand until further notice. They were currently building Azelf's lower body as they had finished constructing the background. Even though, half of the team can do nothing but stand still as having eight people constructing on one sand sculpture might be too much.
As heat was becoming unbearable, the team noticed Octillery was spraying bubbles onto Gothitelle, Furret and Jolteon, who were all sitting down. Gothitelle breathed relief as water poured down her face. Even his fur was soaking wet, rapidly shallow breathing can be heard from Jolteon. Furret, on the other hand, had the worst of the three – She was breathing rapidly like Jolteon, but occasional moaning can be heard. Her eyes were opening and closing. The layers of fur were making her feel like being cooked in an oven. Realizing the situation could get worse the more it prolonged, Infernape spoke to his team.
"Anyone succumbing to the heat; get to the water to cool off."
Like an alarm clock woke them up, Gothitelle and Jolteon let out a zombie moan before slowly standing up. However, Furret was still laid down, not hearing everything Infernape had just said. Fortunately, Yanmega stopped sculpting Azelf's abdomen and scooped her up in his arms. "C'mon, let's get you all to the beach." He said to the three.
He let Jolteon and Gothitelle lead ahead so Yanmega would know if either of them felt overwhelmed. Seeing an opportunity to skip labour work, Octillery pursued to follow them until Infernape called her out. "You're not moving your tentacles out of this, Octillery."
Octillery snapped her head at him. "Oh, come on! I helped them cool off and I did some work! I totally deserve a break!"
"You're not in critical condition and we still need you to refill the buckets once it's emptied."
Octillery narrowed her eyes behind her sunglasses. "You want a refill? Fine!"
Without warning, she grabbed a bucket and dumped the remaining water onto her before using Bubblebeam to refill a bucket. "Happy now?" She said to Infernape, angrily before resuming reading her magazine.
Infernape and Sableye glared at the lazy octopus. Whimsicott quirked a brow at her and opened her mouth when hearing someone hit the ground. She turned around to see and choked out a gasp. Standing before her and her teammates halfway to the beach, Gothitelle and Jolteon had fallen to the ground while Yanmega flew over to the sea to put Furret into the water.
"Shit!" Whimsicott ran over to her fallen teammates with Infernape and Sableye quickly following her. They made it over to them just as Yanmega flew back to them. They got a good look at the fallen pair. Like Furret, their glazed eyes were opening and closing, and breathing rapidly. Their heads were flopping in every direction. Infernape pulled Gothitelle up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Yanmega gripped on Jolteon's waist and lifted him over to Furret in the water. Infernape started following his friend with Gothitelle around him. Just as Whimsicott was about to follow them, Infernape craned his neck at the prankster.
"Whimsicott, you and Sableye get back to the sculpture. We need to finish it before the heat takes the toll on the rest of ya." He said to Whimsicott, sternly.
Whimsicott looked uncertain before looking at her friend, who was on the brink of fainting. For the sake of her friends, she nodded. "Okay."
She turned around to run back to her team's sculpture. When she went back, she noticed that someone who was supposed to be running back beside her wasn't here. She opened her mouth to ask Octillery when seeing Sableye, who was running across the campground. Annoyed, she cupped her mouth and called out to her.
"Sableye, get back here!"
Her shouting was out of Sableye's hearing range, thus her shouting had been futile. Whimsicott groaned and kicked the ground.
Confessional: She knows Sand Attack?
Whimsicott: (Annoy) Couldn't she just wait for the challenge to be over instead of ditching us in the middle of it?
Jolteon: (Slowly swaying his soaked body) Red… red is usually the color of heat, right? (Falling off his seat) Ow…
Sableye sprinted across the campground. "I've gotta find Unique Uxie to resume my investigating. If I find the Awesome Azelf, I'll just-"
She never finished her sentence as shallow gasps came out of her mouth. As a ghost Pokémon, she doesn't require breathing. But there was nothing keeping her safe from the unbearable heat. She was swaying back and forth and her gem eyes became fogged with steam. Letting out a low moan, she flopped forward into the dried grass. Her visions were fading into darkness…
Something cold and wet poured onto her head, snapping her eyes open. She lifted her head, only to see a floating cup moving toward the Mess Hall. Laid in before her, sitting in a porch chair with air conditioners beside him was Azelf, who was sporting his sunglasses. The cup levitated back into Azelf's hand before pouring a jug of water and then he drank it in one gulp.
"Ah…" Azelf sighed blissfully before looking at Sableye. "Running in this weather only gave you dizziness and light-headedness."
Sableye slowly stood up, inwardly pleased with cold liquid running down her face. Outwardly, frowns appeared across her team. "Shut up." She muttered.
A hand gripped around her waist and lifted her up, only to see Infernape glaring his fiery eyes at hers. No word exchanged between them, Infernape started heading back to his team. He stopped once hearing Azelf's speaking.
"Oh, look! The Unique Uxie had come back with their sculpture material!"
Infernape and Sableye craned their necks to see the Unique Uxie was arriving back with a huge log beside them. Infernape ingrained the newest information into his mind and then resumed his walk back to his team.
Confessional: Tree Huggers will be unleashing their army of flower power!
Infernape: (Smoking a cigar) Carving their sculpture from a tree log could take a long time to be made. The heat will cause the challenge to be over before they could even finish carving a fourth of their sculpture. Guess Gem Eyes gets to stay for another day.
Espeon was walking ahead of her team with Qwilfish hopping right behind her. Qwilfish could actually hear hissing when Espeon stepped onto the sunlight by the edge of the forest. The Christian yelped in pain and took a step backward. "The devil must've been here to cast his devastating heat on us for being unable to foresee the elimination last night."
She cast a glare to Zebstrika, who scoffed in annoyance.
Qwilfish took a hop forward near the edge and winced as the heat blasted to her face. She hopped back and put on her sunglasses. "Yep, I'm definitely feeling the fire in my face."
Silence filled the area until Ninjask, who was looking around to expect to hear the scream, broke it. "What, no epic scream?"
"Do I look like I have a boom-box in my ass activated whenever I'd do the shades and one-liners?" Qwilfish remarked.
Purugly stared up in thought before looking at Qwilfish. "Maybe it was Arceus who was doing the epic scream just for the hell for it."
Espeon craned her neck at Purugly. "The Lord wouldn't spend his time on screaming when there are millions praying for His help."
Tangrowth and Chandelure lowered the tree log onto the ground. Chandelure floated beside Espeon and Qwilfish to observe the events at the campground. His eyesight was never clear and he needed to wear his reading glasses to see small details. Unfortunately, he left it back in his luggage.
Seeing his teammate scrunching his eyes at the campground, Espeon explained. "I can see several members of Mysterious Mesprit building on what appear to be a sand sculpture." She too scrunched her eyes to see further details, but doing better than Chandelure's. "There are Octillery, Infernape, Yanmega, Sableye and Whimsicott, who seems to be walking back from the beach."
She was veering her head to the right as she was explaining to Chandelure. She stopped moving when she vaguely saw moving dots through the heat shimmering on the water. Though, she couldn't unfold details with the beach, she knew there were reasons they were in the water besides leisure activity. Her eyes grew and filled with concern. "The sun claimed its victims and not even the water can cleanse its wrath."
Chandelure stared at the blurry contestant, who he assumed was Furret, and concern was shown on his ghostly face.
Confessional: HOT YYYEEEEEAAAAHHHH! There's a YEAH here!
Chandelure: (Concern) With many layers of fur on her body, she would develop heat exhaustion rapidly than the rest. Her team was wise to allow her and her teammates to engulf themselves in cool liquids. I don't know how long they've been in the water, but they should feel better within an hour. I know I shouldn't be associating with members from opposing teams, but Furret's my friend. I'll go check on her welfare after the challenge.
Tangrowth walked over to the others and grimaced at the sight that beheld him. "Man, it's gotta be totally awful being under the sun that long."
Zebstrika glanced at the hairdresser and ask him out of curiosity. "How can you handle the heat well with all those tangled vines on you?"
Tangrowth smiled and brushed his tangled hairs, feeling the vines through his fingers. "I've got Leaf Guard; strong sunlight can't bring me down."
"So what are we gonna do?" Purugly asked before observing her plump body. "As much I'd like to get more tan, going overboard would make me unattractive to everyone."
Ninjask and Zebstrika gave her a look that screamed "Really?" in sarcasm. Purugly noticed their expression and frowned.
Chandelure turned away from the other team and faced his owns. "We can carve our sculpture here. There's nothing in the rules saying we're supposed to do it on our platform." Chandelure suggested.
Espeon looked at him uncertainly. "Do you think it's fair to have our sculpture to be carved in shade provided by Arceus while the other team does it in the devil's own job?" She nodded to Mysterious Mesprit in the campground.
"The other teams would've done the same. This team is at disadvantage with a member short." The ghost said coolly.
Zebstrika nodded. "Yeah, it's high time we'd remove their advantage before it's too late."
Ninjask looked at the tree log and placed a hand to feel the bark. "Where do we start then?"
"Have you done carving before?" Qwilfish asked.
"I had albeit I chipped the wood too much most of the time." Ninjask admitted, embarrassedly.
"Any hope for sleeping in that Winner Cabin is now gone." Purugly said in deadpan.
"Hey, I said most of the time!" Ninjask defended.
"I suggest you and Purugly use this time to start carving." Tangrowth stated.
"But what kind of position should Azelf be in?" Ninjask asked.
"I've got an idea." Purugly smirked lustily.
Espeon opened her mouth to interject but Chandelure beat her to it. "No inappropriate position, Purugly." He said, sternly.
Espeon smiled at Chandelure.
Confessional: Slutty Cat had been struck down again!
Espeon: (Smile) Chandelure is a good man. He knows what needs to be right and disregards all the wrongs off the face of the Earth. If we can dispose of Zebstrika, Tangrowth and Purugly, our team will be filled with nothing but goodness.
Purugly frowned again. "Fine. We'll do your boring idea."
"Which was what?" Qwilfish mused.
"Let the thinking commence!" Ninjask declared.
Silence had filled the area again as the team was thinking of an idea until Chandelure broke it with a smile. "Thinking…"
"Careful… careful…"
"You said careful too much now." Druddigon grunted in annoyance.
After Klinklang extracted a thirty-foot stone for the second time, his team was there to grab it as it fell. They all knew it was dangerous to carry a heavy stone whilst walking down a steep mountain. They formed into position with Klinklang in the back, as he was capable to carry withstanding heavy objects on his head. In front of him in order were Azumarill, Marowak, Leavanny, Druddigon, Rapidash and Ursaring in the front. The bear was walking forward so he wouldn't trip over anything if he walked backward.
"I was just being careful to make sure none of us get hurt." Ursaring gritted his teeth.
Rapidash closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she was feeling the weight on her head. She then opened her eyes again. "I-hope-we'd-be-at-the-bottom-soon." She muttered.
Leavanny shifted her position a bit to adjust handling the stone above her head. "We wouldn't be in this predicament if someone was willing to help us."
She glared above herself at Xatu, who was standing atop on the stone, stared into the sun. It was unknown if she felt the glares from her teammates.
Confessional: Still as a statue!
Druddigon: (Growl) That goddamn bird had done nothin' this challenge. If she keeps doin' nothin', the only thing she'll be doing by the time this challenge is over, is flying away from an angry mob.
"She hasn't said anything since the challenge started." Marowak said before looking at Azumarill behind him. "You sure you heard her last?"
Azumarill nodded slightly. "Y-yes, she said 'Yes, I am' after asking h-her if she was coming with us."
"That's-weird." Rapidash mumbled before hearing Ursaring chuckled happily.
"Guys, we've made the bottom!" Ursaring smiled.
His teammates tilted their heads a little to see that Ursaring had indeed landed his feet at the base. They let out a sigh of relief, except for Xatu and Klinklang.
"Finally!" Leavanny removed her hands from the stone, shaking off the ache she had from carrying it.
More team members departed from the stone including Xatu, who flew over to the edge of the forest. Ursaring, Druddigon and Klinklang shifted their position outwardly and gently put down their stone.
"Let's take a break, guys." Ursaring gasped, shaking off the ache from his arms like most of his teammates had.
Druddigon walked past the sun gazing at Xatu, glaring daggers at her before slumping next to a tree in the shade. Soon, all but Rapidash and Xatu trudged over to the peaceful cool shade in the forest; letting out collective sighs.
Azumarill blew out bubbles into her hands and then rubbed it to her face. She let out a sigh of relief before feeling a tap from her shoulder. She craned her neck to her husband beside her. He gestured at his tired face. Nodding, she blew out more bubbles to his face, allowing him to rub water all over his face.
When Ursaring removed his hands, an eyebrow raised when seeing his wife walking over to others and blowing bubbles at them. As if she had read his mind and told her to help the others. He smirked and closed his eyes as he rested against the tree.
As Azumarill walked over to Klinklang, she looked unsure since Klinklang's… condition. As she opened her mouth, Klinklang interrupted her. "BZZT, I DO NOT REQUIRE YOUR OFFER OF H2O. I HAVE BEEN INSTALLED WITH MY OWN COOLING SYSTEM FOR THIS PREDICAMENT, BZZT."
Several robotic beeps were heard from Klinklang and Azumarill could feel cool air near the robot. "Oh… okay." Azumarill mumbled before heading back to her husband and sat beside him.
After stretching her legs and craning her neck from carrying down such a heavy stone, Rapidash stomped over to Xatu. "Xatu-why-didn't-you-help-us? You-did-totally-nothing-to-help-us-with-the-challenge!"
She would've spoken for more but stopped at the sight of Xatu's eyes. The psychic bird's blindingly glowing white eyes were making Rapidash feel uncomfortable. Noticing Xatu was staring up the sky, the horse followed her gaze and the only thing she could see was the sun. As a fire Pokémon, she can stare up the sun for at least a minute, but like everyone else, she'd go blind if she stared at it for too long. She removed her gaze from the sun and stared at Xatu again.
"Xatu? Hello!" Rapidash called out before quickly waving a hoof in front of Xatu's face. Blinking, Rapidash craned her neck at the rest of her team. "She's-not-even-blinking!"
"Pardon?" Leavanny asked, not hearing Rapidash the first time since she was still worn out from her downhill trip.
Rapidash quickly stepped over to her teammates. "I-said-she's-not-blinking! All-she's-doing-is-staring-up-at-the-sun!"
"Xatu tends to stand still all day; her species are known to stand motionless so they can watch the sun's movement all day long." Leavanny stated.
Rapidash craned her neck at Xatu whilst still speaking to Leavanny. "Why-would-she-do-that? She'd-become-blind-if-she-keeps-watching-the-sun!" She turned back to Klinklang when hearing several robotic beeps from him.
"BZZT, XATU'S SPECIES HARNESS SOLAR ENERGY FROM THE STAR AT THE CENTER OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM BY DISPLAYING AN ANCIENT ART OF SUN GAZING; A FORM OF SPIRITUAL MEDITATION PRACTICED BY THE AZTECS AND THE MAYANS IN THE BELIEF IT WOULD GIVE THEM SUPERNATUAL POWER REFERENCED BY THE FACT THAT XATU IS PART PSYCHIC. ONCE ACQUIRING SUCH ENERGY, HER SPECIES DEVELOP VISIONS WITH THE FUTURE WITH ITS RIGHT EYE AND THE PAST WITH ITS LEFT. WHEN FORESEEING THE FUTURE, SHE DOES NOT MOVE DUE TO FEARS OF ITS VISIONS OF THE FUTURE COMING TRUE, BZZT."
"How come we've never seen Xatu like that before?" Ursaring inquired, looking between his teammates and Xatu.
"In two previous challenges, she participated in Virtual Reality - there was no sun she could harness energy from there." Leavanny explained before looking at her teammates. "Did any of you come upon her in the other two?"
"Before-I-crossed-the-finish-line-she-arrived-first-with-her-two-Pokéballs." Rapidash recalled.
Marowak scratched his skull head. "I hadn't seen her in Pokéballs nor Easter Eggs challenges."
"Other than Rapidash's short encounter with Xatu, no one had seen her at any point in those two challenges?" Leavanny asked.
A collective "no" can be heard from his teammates.
Ursaring wiped off sweats from his forehead. "Except for challenge introductions and results. What do you think she's thinking about?" Ursaring asked his teammates as he stared at his mysterious teammate.
"Who cares?" Druddigon growled. "That crazy son of a bitch didn't do anything and let us carry down that fuckin' stone down the fuckin' mountain!"
"Maybe-we-could-ask-her-after-she-snapped-out-of-her…" Rapidash turned her neck to Klinklang. "What-it-is-called-again?"
"BZZT, ANCIENT ART OF SUN GAZING, BZZT."
"We'll discuss about it after the challenge. Meanwhile, what are we planning to do with our sculpture?" Leavanny asked, looking at her teammates.
"BZZT, I ALREADY FORMED AN IDEAL POSTURE OF PRIDE HOST. IF YOU COULD LIFT THE STONE OVER HERE, I CAN START SHAPING OUR SCULPTURE WHILST YOU ALL REGAIN YOUR ENERGY, BZZT."
"Sure." Ursaring stretched his arms before standing up and stepped out of the shades. He held an arm over his head to avoid the harsh sunlight glaring to his face. He felt his body was being boiled by the sun.
Managing to regain his composure, Ursaring continued walking over to the stone. Druddigon followed him and didn't have the same reaction since he had adapted to the weather condition. The dragon glared sideways at Xatu as he walked past her.
The remaining members watched as their two teammates moved over to each end of the stone. Druddigon and Ursaring bended their knees and carefully slipped their fingers under the stone. Clenching on the edge of the stone, both men exchanged a nod.
"One, two, three!" Ursaring counted before him and Druddigon started lifting the stone. Both men grunted and gritted their teeth with their arms already becoming weary and sweat pouring down their faces. They began moving the stone over to the shaded area.
Feeling the harsh sun draining his energy, Ursaring's arms suddenly drooped, causing his end of the stone to land onto his feet. The sound of his shattered feet's bones was all too clear for him and his teammates. His face contorted with pain flooded throughout his body. Azumarill quickly covered her ears, knowing what's about to happen.
Despite Druddigon not liking Ursaring, he showed concern for him. "You're okay, man?"
Like a bomb exploding, Ursaring belted out an agonising roar.
"AAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!"
The pained bear's scream caused most of his teammates to block their ears; the trees blew back and wild Pokémon scrambled away.
"BZZT, THE VOLUME OF URSARING'S AGONISING SCREAM IS PENETRATING MY AUDITORY SYSTEM. ACTIVATE MUTE, BZZT." Through Ursaring's booming scream, a couple of robotic beeping can be heard. Klinklang became calm when he cannot hear Ursaring's scream.
Unable to put down the stone to cover his own ears, Druddigon cringed as he was unfortunate to hear a full blast of Ursaring's scream up close. "FUCK!"
Ursaring stopped screaming and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He flopped against the stone, causing Druddigon to drop his end of the stone. Unlike Ursaring, he managed to get his feet away before the stone could crush them. He snapped his head at his teammates. "Need some help here!"
The majority of Awesome Azelf bolted out of the shaded area and reached their teammates. Azumarill and Leavanny lifted Ursaring and wrapped his arms around the women's neck. Everyone else was tipping the stone so Azumarill and Leavanny can pull Ursaring from the stone.
Seeing the sight of Ursaring's feet, Azumarill gasped. Ursaring's feet may be small but the stone had shattered his claws. Feeling the heavy bear weighing the women down, Druddigon quickly moved over to them. Druddigon wrapped his arms around Ursaring's neck and started pulling him over to the shades. They adjusted the bear into sitting position by a tree.
"Make sure he's hydrated." Leavanny said to Azumarill, who nodded and blew bubbles all over her husband's body.
"Leavanny, we need your help lifting this stone." Marowak said as he bended his knees to lift the stone.
Not saying a word, Leavanny walked over to her teammates and bended her knees beside a large stone. She, Marowak and Druddigon were grunting and gritting their teeth as they started lifting the stone. They knew the heat was making the task difficult. However, they knew they had to carry the stone to the shaded area. Using all of their muscles, they quickly moved their stone. Once reaching the shades, they immediately dropped their stone. The three contestants flopped onto the grass as they felt the sun had drained their energy.
Rapidash looked at her three exhausted teammates. She then looked at Azumarill, who was currently blowing bubbles to cool off her fainted husband. Concerned for her teammates' well-being, she snapped her head at Klinklang. "Start-carving-our-sculpture!"
Having turned off his mute after Ursaring fainted, Klinklang floated over to the stone. Another round of robotic beeps can be heard from him while he appeared to be scanning the stone. "BZZT, I SHALL FINISH OUR TEAM'S SCULPTURE IN EIGHT MINUTES AND TWENTY-FOUR SECONDS, BZZT."
Initiating his task, he started using charge beam on the stone. Rapidash sat down beside her teammates as dust, smoke and pieces of rock emitted from the stone.
Confessional: Dust in the fire!
Leavanny: (Glare) The producers should be ashamed of themselves for letting several competitors succumb to heatstroke and heat exhaustion. I am ashamed to be part of this show, which was NOT capable of preparing for a worst case scenario.
Somewhere in a different area of the island was the production area. This was a place where the Total Pokémon production crew had eaten and slept after a long day of hard work. This was a place where they edited the episode to be shown on TV. There were tents and caravans scattered around the clearing. Near the center was a brown two-story building towering everything in the area. That was where some of the production crew and the hosts were staying.
The camera zoomed inside said building and showed Uxie and Mesprit in the editing room. While the editors were working on their editing, the two hosts stared at the screens with concern.
On different screens, the majority of Unique Uxie was sitting in the shade. Purugly and Ninjask were carving their team's sculpture albeit slowly for the latter. The Mysterious Mesprit had it worst. By being under the sun for so long, the majority of the team was in the water. Those who had succumbed to heatstroke earlier were getting better. However, it didn't stop the sun from glaring at them immensely. Only Infernape continued working on the sculpture. The majority of Awesome Azelf was watching Klinklang continue carving the sculpture. Ursaring had remained fainted as his wife continued blowing bubbles at him to keep him hydrated. As for Xatu, she remained staring directly at the sun. The last screen the hosts were watching was Azelf relaxing in his porch chair, drinking a glass of water.
Mesprit frowned a little at Azelf on the screen. "The one challenge he get to hosts, it had to be today." She muttered.
"Azelf always loves to test people's will." Uxie said.
Mesprit's expression changed to concern when seeing Ursaring and Azumarill again. "We have to do something, Uxie."
Uxie looked at her albeit can't open his eyes. "We cannot interfere with the challenge. We've signed the contracts before-"
"Azelf is letting contestants faint! We can't authorize the medical team because only he has the power." Mesprit shouted, pointing to Azelf on the screen. "He's sitting there while the others are dropping like corpses!"
"Mesprit, only the producers can step in. All we can do at the moment is wait."
Mesprit glared. "Watch me wait."
She suddenly vanished into thin air. Although surprised at first, he immediately knew where she went. He sighed.
"Oh, no." Uxie muttered before he teleported as well.
Azelf was sipping another glass of water when Mesprit teleported beside him. Her sudden appearance caused Azelf to gasp, which immediately changed to coughing as water spilled out of his mouth. When he finished coughing, he can see Mesprit was floating away from Uxie, yelling at him to wait.
"What are you guys doing here? You're forbidden to be involved today!" Azelf asked in annoyance.
Mesprit quickly floated over to Azelf. "You need to do something about the challenge."
Azelf raised a brow. "Like what?"
"End it now!" Mesprit shouted.
Uxie attempted to grip her hand to take her back to the production building. Mesprit moved her hand quicker and grasped on his neck. "I said, wait." She gritted her teeth while slowly tightening Uxie's throat.
Uxie nodded feebly. Mesprit slowly removed her hand from her friend's neck and faced Azelf, who frowned.
"And why the hell should I? I created this challenge to test their will to win in this boiling weather."
"This boiling weather had caused Ursaring to drop a stone onto his feet and then pass out!"
"Was that his scream which had caused the island to shake a little?" Azelf asked as he heard a loud scream a while ago.
"Yes. But more importantly, Ursaring fainted! He and everyone who was exposed to the heat for too long needs medical attention! We can't do it unless you make the call!"
"I'm not bringing them out to spoil my challenge! I mean, take a look at your teams over there! They're fine! They got themselves under control albeit I don't know what happen to my team…"
"I still don't understand why you didn't have any monitors with you."
"I want to be surprised when all three of my sculptures are unveiled." Azelf smiled, before leaning back against the porch chair. "If I were you two, I'd be back to the production area before the producers realize you're violating your contracts."
"I knew the risks, but the contestants' safety is our higher priority than ratings!"
"I'm not Mew, Mesprit. I know our fans would be pissed if their favourite contestants get seriously hurt and removed from the game."
"Then authorize the medical team!" Mesprit said, irritatingly.
Azelf frowned and pointed to himself. "Who's in charge today? Me, that's who! I'm sticking with my rules and neither of you can do anything to change my mind!"
Just as he said that, something was ringing. Azelf brought out his cellphone, pressed a button and then put it to his ear. "Hello?" His eyes grew quite big once realizing who was speaking to him.
"Oh, hey, Steel!" Azelf smiled with nervous tone in his voice. He was speaking to one of seventeen Arceus and all of them were the show's producers. "What brings y-" He stopped speaking as the person on the other line spoke to him. "Oh, you want me to put you on speakerphone? Sure, sir." He pressed a button and then held out his phone. "You're on speakerphone."
"Azelf, my reason to call you is to end the challenge." Steel explained.
Azelf's eyes increased for more before opening his mouth; but Steel had beaten him to it.
"I know the producers and I had agreed to provide you and your friends a sole-hosting episode." Steel explained with authority in his voice. "However, your challenge was exposing your contestants to heat. While this show can accept minor physical injuries, mental illnesses are a whole different story. Several contestants are showing symptoms of heat exhaustion, heatstroke and dehydration, which by the way, you should've provided them with water daily." He said the last word, sternly.
Mesprit and Uxie exchanged a small smile as Azelf stared down at his cellphone. The pride host knew that combining heatwave and his challenge was risky. But he took the risk like he often did in the past. Sometime it paid off and the rest of the time, it doesn't. Even as the contestants were developing symptoms, he was not sadistic. But with pride taking over the majority of his mind, he always hated it whenever someone tried to bring down his plan. However, he knew better than to disobey the man who given him and his friends the hosting job.
"So, Azelf, have we reached an understanding?" Steel asked.
Not looking at his friends, knowing they were smiling at him in victory. He then had spoken up. "I can end the challenge in ten minutes. The two sculptures I'm seeing are looking close to be finished. Don't know about my team on the other hand…"
"Your team had finished theirs and heading back now."
Azelf nodded. "Cool. Is that everything you need to talk to me about?"
"Yes. However, Uxie and Mesprit…"
Mesprit's eyes increased while Uxie leaned forward intently.
"I want you two back at the production area immediately. You already broke a few rules just by speaking to Azelf." Steel demanded.
"We apologise for our actions and we're heading back now!" Uxie apologised quickly before grabbing Mesprit's hand and vanishing together.
Confessional: Now let's see if the producers can bring DA's Series to life!
Uxie: Never been pleased whenever I've broken the rules. As a law-abiding citizen, I'd like to see everything in order. Regardless, I had no contempt for Mesprit for what happened- she did it for benevolent reasons.
Mesprit: (Scratching the back of her neck) I feel kinda bad for getting Uxie somewhat in trouble since he's a stickler for rules. But I couldn't just sit around while our contestants get fried! None of this would've happened had Azelf provided them with water. I love him, but sometimes he can be so thick-headed. With a similar personality, you guys may think he's another version of Mew, but there are major differences between them. Azelf's not sadistic and he's not afraid to face up against whoever's in his path, (Rolling her eyes) Can't say the same for Mew with Celebi…
"I have nothing more to discuss except looking forward to the challenge's result."
"As am I, sir!" Azelf said.
As he said that, his cellphone had ended. He put his cellphone away and brought out a microphone. It had a wireless connection to the loudspeakers. "Attention, campers!" His gleeful voice echoed across the campground. "I made an itchy bit of change in my challenge! Some of you are getting hot! Way too hot! You've now got ten minutes to finish building your sculpture! Afterwards, it's judging time!"
Half of Mysterious Mesprit was floating in the water. They were feeling better from heatstroke and heat exhaustion. They looked immensely pleased once hearing Azelf's announcement.
"Thank goodness!" Furret's voice was cracking from lack of water.
"Indeed. This challenge feels like slavery in Egypt and Azelf's our pharaoh." Gothitelle mused.
Jolteon dunked his head underwater and then lifted his head again. Despite water pouring down his face, there was no satisfaction from an electric Pokémon.
"I. NEED. WATER!" Jolteon rasped. "And the fucking irony that I'm swimming in one and I can't drink it!"
"Ditto." Sableye muttered as she trudged out of the water.
Furret raised a paw above her eyes as she was seeing the campground. "Guys, I may be hallucinating from heat and dehydration, but I'm seeing something moving in the forest."
"That's the Unique Uxie." Jolteon said.
Gothitelle shook her head. "They're near west. Furret was referring to the other team from the north." She pointed to Awesome Azelf who was walking out of the forest with their sculpture over their heads.
Yanmega was putting sand on Azelf's face when he saw the Awesome Azelf and their sculpture. His teammates stopped what they were doing as they too stared at the Awesome Azelf. The said team was sweating profusely from carrying a heavy sculpture under the sun.
"Almost-there-guys!" Rapidash encouraged.
Rapidash's encouragement gave them one final boost and they reached the platform. They moved their sculpture so it stood upright. The Mysterious Mesprit got a clear look at their opponent's sculpture. It was a giant trophy with a large number one engraved onto its front. Azelf was sitting in the trophy like he was sitting in a hot tub. He was wearing sunglasses while he was smirking. The details Klinklang had created were perfect. It was almost like Azelf was being frozen.
Yanmega whistled in approval. "That's impressive."
Whimsicott scoffed. "That's nothing when Azelf's gonna see this!"
The sculpture Whimsicott had visualized had become a 3D picture. There was a twenty-foot background with small audience engraved at the bottom. Azelf was holding an electric guitar in one hand, while sticking out a rock n' roll sign with the other. His backside and his tails were glued onto the background so the fragile part of the sculpture, like his tails wouldn't fall off. Unfortunately, none of them was a professional at sand sculpting. The details weren't at perfect as Awesome Azelf's. One of his tails was bigger than the other. His head and the guitar were shaped uneven.
Leavanny walked over to Mysterious Mesprit, looking up and down at their sculpture. She turned to them. "It's adequate, but not as detailed as my team's sculpture."
"It doesn't need to be adequate to win; we win by making Azelf look like a badass!" Whimsicott smirked.
Leavanny stared at Whimsicott with contempt. "Azelf isn't absent-minded enough to present your team invisi-"
CRASH!
Mysterious Mesprit and Leavanny snapped their neck, only to have Mysterious Mesprit's sand sculpture explode. They cried out as sand flew into their faces. Since Yanmega had big eyes and he was beside the sculpture when it happened, sand flew directly into his eyes.
"DAMN, MA EYES!" Yanmega cried, flying around like crazy while rubbing his eyes profusely.
Infernape unshielded his eyes, only to scream out in anger. "NO!"
Standing before was his team's sculpture. "Was" was the keyword as it had transformed into lumps of sand again.
Whimsicott, Octillery and Leavanny removed their hands/tentacles from their faces and then snapped their neck to the Awesome Azelf's sculpture. What they beheld astounded them. The sculpture Klinklang had removed from Cliffside, which nearly killed some of them and then carried down the mountain had been knocked down in half. There were many cracks on the sculpture and rubble scattered around them, but Azelf's head was smashed completely.
Both teams snapped their head to whoever destroyed both sculptures. Xatu just floated down to the ground. She stared at the teams before proceeding to stare at the sun like it never happened.
Feeling his blood was boiling, veins popping and teeth grinding, Infernape strode over to Xatu. Once realizing who destroyed the sculpture, Druddigon bellowed and sprinted toward the psychic bird with a glowing fist in the air.
"Druddigon, don't do it! Violence isn't the answer!" Marowak shouted at the angry Druddigon.
Confessional: No Pokémon War? Aw…
Marowak: But it is when it comes to zombies.
Infernape never took his eyes off of Xatu as his eyes were glowing red while hearing Druddigon's bellowing.
The war veteran then stopped.
Before he could apprehend what happened, he flew backward and knocked Druddigon and himself to the ground. Both men let out a groan just as Sableye ran up to them.
"What the hell is happening here?" Sableye inquired, snapping her head at the downed men, destroyed sculptures and Xatu.
"I agree, what just happened?" The frowning Azelf floated over to the scene, arms folded.
Druddigon pushed Infernape off of him, stood up and glared at Xatu. "That bitch botched up our sculpture!"
"And my team's sculpture." Infernape growled, rubbing his back.
"Really?" Sableye said, before stomping over to Xatu. "Xatu, why did you decide to destroy both sculptures?" She asked in authority.
Xatu answered nothing as she continued staring at the sun.
"I have my eyes on you even more now." Sableye motioned Xatu an 'I got my eyes on you' gesture.
Gothitelle, Jolteon and Furret were across the campground when Yanmega flew past them, cursing as sand was still in his eyes. Gothitelle extended her hands at Yanmega and caught him in her psychic grasp.
"What's going on?!" Yanmega shouted, not pleased with unknown forces stopping him.
"Calm down, Yanmega. What is the problem?" Gothitelle asked, calmly.
"I've got sand in my eyes and I can't see anything!"
"We'll take you over to Octillery so she can clean your eyes. You mustn't flail." Gothitelle stated.
Yanmega decelerated his body until he went to a stop; taking a deep breath.
"Good." Gothitelle nodded. She, Jolteon and Furret continued walking over to the commotion.
Azelf saw the rest of Mysterious Mesprit approaching. This reminded him of the third team, who was still by the forest. He turned around and waved them to come back to the platforms.
Seeing Azelf's staring and waving them, Zebstrika faced his team. "We need to head over to the others."
Ninjask stopped carving and arched a brow at Zebstrika. "Are you sure? We're not really finished yet."
"I'm just glad you didn't break anything for once." Purugly remarked, looking at her nails.
Qwilfish spoke up before Ninjask could. "The sculpture will suffice. We need to bring the sculpture to the platform now."
Ninjask and Purugly moved away so Chandelure and Tangrowth could lift it. They stepped out of the shade and most of them winced as their bodies heated from the heat. Everyone else turned to look at Unique Uxie who placed their sculpture onto the platform. Azelf floated over to them, looking up and down their sculpture. It was appeared to be a wooden Azelf sitting on top of the log, resting his chin on his hand. However, the sculpture didn't include his feet or his tails.
Azelf arched a brow at the sculpture and then looked at Unique Uxie with curiosity in his eyes. Chandelure floated forward, coughing to clear his throat and then started explaining.
"First and foremost, we want to apologise for not finishing our sculpture. What we were trying to construct was based on one of the most popular sculptures in the world – The Thinker. We thought by fusing you and The Thinker, we could cognizance your intelligence and popularity." Chandelure explained.
Azelf ingested what Chandelure had just said before staring at the sculpture again. Silence filled the area as the sun glared harshly on everyone. The pride host shrugged. "Eh, I'm convinced. You guys win."
"For real?" Purugly's eyes grew with a twinkle in her eyes.
"By technicality." Azelf reminded. "You guys won because your sculpture is the only one not destroyed by Miss Bullet." He turned around to face the other two teams. "I couldn't get a look on either sculpture, but I know which lost immediately."
He stopped talking as he felt a lump in his throat. He swallowed it and continued speaking in sad tone. "And it pains me to say it, especially on the day about me… Awesome Azelf, you're today's losers."
The majority of Awesome Azelf glared at Xatu, who remained motionless.
"Hey, wait a glopping second!" Octillery shouted, squirming over to Azelf. "After competing in this challenge under in this heat, we totally deserved to win! Our sculpture made look like a-" Azelf pressed his hand to Octillery's mouth.
"DON'T tell me! If I find out what sculpture you guys constructed, I'll be seriously depressed. So just to recap: your team is safe. Unique Uxie win and Awesome Azelf will vote off their first member." He removed his hand from Octillery, who let out a gruff mutter. He faced everyone and showed an apology smile. "Now, I realized this challenge had been a flaw-"
"Understatement of the week." Jolteon scoffed.
"My point is," Azelf continued, ignoring Jolteon. "In a hot day like this, I should've provided you all with daily water. And I didn't. So, in the risk of hurting my pride, I hereby say I'm sorry. For those who felt like passing out, there are medical teams inside the Mess Hall to help you. In the said room, there's also water avail-"
He couldn't finish his sentence as the contestants scrambled for the Mess Hall, including Xatu, who was flying over the thirsty cast and went inside the Mess Hall first. Azelf watched them as some of the contestants already went inside the Mess Hall. He had then teleported away.
Confessional: (Gasp) He's NOT another incarnation of Mew?
Azelf: (Leaning against his arms by the wall) Cruelty ain't my forte. Not like Mew from the other show. As a Being of Willpower, I love to challenge people and make them work for their reward. Determination can seriously go a long way.
Ninjask: I'm stoked my team had finally won the challenge. But honestly, it felt anti-climactic, you know? We only won because Xatu didn't destroy our sculpture. (Scratching his head) Wonder why she did it though.
Sableye: (Resting her chin to her hand) Meeting the medical team had gotten me thinking – where did they come from? And that question created another question – where did the hosts and the camera crew stay? If they aren't staying in a fancy hotel off the island… (Her gems eyes gleamed and her mouth slowly turned into toothy grin)
Klinklang: (Several robotic beeping can be heard from him before speaking) BZZT, AFTER SCANNING EVERYONE IN THIS SCORCHING CHALLENGE, I HAVE COME TO A CONCLUSION ON WHICH SUBJECT SHALL ASSIST ME TO OBTAIN WHAT MY MASTERS NEED INSIDE THE VIRTUAL REALITY BUILDING. I SHALL APPROACH HIM AFTER THE ELIMINATION, BZZT.
Chandelure was floating toward the Mess Hall slower than the rest. He looked ahead to see Furret had fallen to the ground. He quickly floated over to her. "Furret, are you okay?" He asked as he gently lifted her with his telekinesis. Furret rapidly shook her body.
"I'm fine, just LET GO OF ME!" Furret screamed as she felt pain pumping through her head.
Chandelure gently put her down in shock. He didn't expect an outburst from a friendly Pokémon.
Furret wiped away the sweat from her forehead and then noticed her friend's state of shock. Her anger was replaced by guilt. "Sorry, I… I really hate this heat." She rasped.
Chandelure shook off his shock and nodded. "It's understandable. Would you like me to float beside you until we've reached the Mess Hall?" He asked, politely.
Even on the brink of passing out again, she showed a small smile to the ghost. "That would be nice. Thanks."
Chandelure returned a smile and then headed toward the Mess Hall, while making sure Furret was by his side.
Confessional: Angry Ferret!
Furret: (Drinking a bottle of water and then put it next to her) I didn't mean to shout at Chandelure like that. The heat was making me frustrated during most of the challenge. Given my autism, I'd get mood swings. Usually, whenever I get emotional, it would last for two hours. After that, I'd be back to normal and continue my day like it never happened. (Showing a small smile) I'm still grateful Chandelure had helped me get to the Mess Hall safely.
Also walking toward the Mess Hall was the married couple. Azumarill stopped moving when her husband placed a hand on her shoulders. She turned around to look at him.
Ursaring moved his face to Azumarill's so no one could hear them. "We can't vote for Xatu." He whispered to his wife.
Azumarill looked at him in shock as she wasn't expecting to hear it from him. "W-why?"
"She had contributed in every challenge and always helped us. So why didn't she today? Why did she sabotage our immunities? The answers for my questions had struck me from the moment Xatu destroyed our sculpture. She wants our team to lose. She must've gotten her hands on an idol – an idol that could take out any one of us if we all vote for her. We are walking into her trap!" Ursaring explained.
Azumarill gulped at Ursaring's theory. Sure, Xatu was a strange contestant, but she had always helped the team and both challenges they won were partially because of her. Nonetheless, Xatu was often on her own and with her ability to fly around the island, she could gather the idols easier than the others. With her mysterious personality and idols, no one would be able to predict her forthcoming moves.
"S-so, should w-we warn the others?" Azumarill asked.
"No need. The two of us are enough." Ursaring said, menacingly.
Confessional: Who will be eliminated contestant number four?
Ursaring: (Glare) Xatu, I know what you're planning for tonight. I won't let you initiate your plan to gain power! I'm throwing off your plan by voting for Druddigon. Had that dragon kept his dirty mouth shut, it wouldn't have happened.
Druddigon: (Growl) Xatu… you're lucky I'm voting for ya rather than smashing ya.
Xatu: (Stared at the camera in silence)
Bonfire Ceremony
Azelf drummed his fingers on a plate filled with seven Poffins as he stared at the Awesome Azelf. Leavanny, Druddigon, Ursaring, Rapidash and Marowak glared at Xatu, who was sitting quietly as usual and staring at the fire pit. Azumarill wrung her hands nervously and Klinklang remained still in silence. Azelf clapped to get their attention.
"Okay, guys, let me just welcome you all to your very first, fabulous Elimination Ceremony!" Azelf grinned, gesturing the area. "This is the place where the majority of the team will be given a Poffin, and one loser would be given a humiliation exit off the island and never come back, EVER!"
Several members of Awesome Azelf jumped.
"But first, I must ask you guys several questions – specifically toward a certain bird…" Azelf narrowed his eyes at Xatu. "Xatu, why? WHY would you sabotage the Mysterious Mesprit and your own team's sculptures?" Judging from his tone, he was still displeased about the loss of two sculptures.
Everyone looked at her to see if she was responding to Azelf's question at all. Despite that, some of them snapped their eyes open when Xatu spoke.
"I shall explain for my actions after the eliminated contestant has been announced." Xatu replied vaguely.
Ursaring's frown became deeper. Azelf frowned at Xatu before shaking it off and turned to Druddigon. "So, I heard you guys were carrying a thirty-foot stone down the mountain. How does it feel when your sculpture was destroyed after using every inch of your muscle and mind, and it turned into dust?"
"It made me wanna grab ma crossbow, hunt her down and take a bite outta her wings." Druddigon growled, glaring intensely at Xatu, who continued staring at the fire.
"You-wanna-eat-a-living-being? That's-cannibalism!" Rapidash gasped.
"It's only cannibal if you're eating your own species!" Druddigon retorted.
"Moving on from the cannibal…" Azelf winced at the thought and turned to Klinklang. "Klinklang, after you carved out the stone off the cliff-side for the first time, why did you let your teammates get chased down by said stone?"
"BZZT, I HAD COMMUNICATION ERROR. I WAS SUPPOSED TO TELL THE TEAM TO GAIN HOLD OF THE STONE JUST AS IT CAME OFF. MY CONCENTRATION ON DISGARDING THE STONE FROM THE CLIFF-SIDE DISTRACTED ME FROM MY NEXT STAGE OF THE PLAN, BZZT." Klinklang replied.
Azelf nodded before looking at Azumarill, who jumped a little when he spoke to her. "Azumarill, do you feel exhausted after blowing bubbles at your teammates half of the time?"
"I-it can be e-exhausting if I d-do it repeatedly. The h-heat was just making m-me tired quicker." Azumarill stammered.
"Thanks for answering my questions, guys. There's one last thing I must ask you, which I will every time you're attending the elimination. If anyone wants to play an idol, now would be the time to do so." Azelf said.
Ursaring and Azumarill glanced at Xatu, who was no longer staring at the fire. Instead, she was staring at the Poffins. With the team remaining silent, Azelf spoke up.
"Very well then." Azelf was holding out a plate filled with Poffins.
The married couple exchanged surprising glances. What's going on…?
"Normally, I would give out a Poffin one by one until we're down to the last two. Unfortunately, the elimination was SO obvious, there's no point of doing the suspense." Azelf frowned before throwing each member a Poffin. "Rapidash, Leavanny, Marowak, Ursaring, Klinklang, Azumarill and Druddigon are all safe!"
Azumarill, Ursaring and Marowak caught it in their hands. A Poffin hit Leavanny in the face before landing in her hand. Rapidash caught it with her mouth and then swallowed it. A Poffin bounced off of Klinklang and landed on the ground. Druddigon smirked as he caught the Poffin and then tossed it into his mouth. Xatu remained silent.
Azelf folded his arms in a huff. "I'm annoyed, Xatu. You ruined my challenge. You ruined my first elimination. And strangely enough, which does seem to have suited you, you became the second camper in the row to cast a vote to themselves!"
The Awesome Azelf snapped their heads at Xatu in shock.
"You voted for yourself?" Ursaring gaped.
Xatu stood up and nodded at the bear. "Yes, I did."
"Why-did-you-eliminate-yourself? You've-just-lost-your-chance-of-winning-the-million!" Rapidash gasped.
"In one of my visions, I foresaw myself being eliminated fourth in this competition. I had to make that vision into reality." Xatu explained.
"Then what's the purpose of joining the show if you're only going to lose?" Leavanny asked in confusion.
"Whenever I'd get visions, they have repeatedly come true. I told you about why I entered this show yesterday because I foresaw myself here. When it had happened, I had to join the show so my visions come true."
"Is it necessary for your visions to have to happen?" Ursaring asked.
Xatu showed a small smile, which sends chills down Ursaring's spine. "You wouldn't understand of being the Psychic Foreteller like me, Ursaring. No matter where would I go or what choices I've made, my visions have eventually come to exist." She turned to face her confused team. "I apologise for not assisting you all when you seek for my help. I had to influence your votes one way or another in order for me to exit this game tonight."
"Xatu, it's time for you to leave, but you must leave with the Wailord!" Azelf gestured to the dock and Wailord.
"Just-hold-on! Xatu-when-you-were-staring-at-the-sun-what-did-you-see?" Rapidash asked.
Everyone else was leaning forward in curiosity. Xatu stared at them for a moment before explaining her answer.
"I saw the past and the future of each and every one of you. I shall not say anything to give your past privacy and prevent spoilers about your future." Xatu replied, mysteriously.
Her teammates and Azelf became uncomfortable. Having someone you don't know much to know a lot about your past and future can be disturbing… Xatu showed a small smile again.
"I bid each of you farewell and good luck."
Xatu turned around, spread out her wings and then flew over to Wailord. Once landed, the said Wailord started leaving the island. Xatu stared at the island as it was getting smaller. She then showed something that no one had seen her.
Her face changed into sorrow and condolence.
Back at the Bonfire Ceremony, Azelf faced the team. "Vanilluxe had cast a vote to himself and got out. It's the same case with Xatu. There's no rule against voting for yourself, but would you be willing to risk that? That's the end of tonight's elimination. You can head back to the campground."
Azelf left the scene with his plate and then the team began their trek back to the campground. Druddigon was smirking. Marowak, Leavanny and Rapidash were still confused. Klinklang still remained silent.
At the back of the group, Azumarill looked at her husband in concern. Even if no idol had been played, Ursaring stared at the ground with his mind filled with confusion.
Confessional: Anti-climax elimination FTW!
Rapidash: (Disturbed) Hearing-Xatu-knew-about-our-past-and-future-had-made-me-uncomfortable! Why-did-I-ask?
Ursaring: (Blinking) I was so sure… that Xatu would've played an idol…
Azumarill: (Nervous) Whenever he feels like he's in trouble, Ursaring can b-be paranoid to extension…
Azelf was floating by the middle of the dock like he did last night. He smiled as he was about to do the outro.
"What's a hot day for a hot guy like me! Hope you've enjoyed it because we'll be back as a trio. Let's face it, while it was awesome to host on my own, I don't think I would have that awesome feel if I'm hosting this season all by myself." He chuckled.
"So, here are the outro questions! Will anyone with heat exhaustion and heatstroke get better? Had the heat heated up the drama? Can Sableye find any secret? Will Ninjask gain any luck now that he has joined an alliance with Chandelure? And did Xatu freak me out when she said she knew about my past and future? The answer for that last one is a total yes! Join me next time on Total! Pokémon! Alphabet!"
Votes:
Azumarill: Druddigon
Druddigon: Xatu
Klinklang: Xatu
Leavanny: Xatu
Marowak: Xatu
Rapidash: Xatu
Ursaring: Druddigon
Xatu: Xatu
XXX
Xatu: 6
Druddigon: 2
Unique Uxie: Chandelure, Espeon, Ninjask, Purugly, Qwilfish, Tangrowth, Zebstrika
Mysterious Mesprit: Furret, Gothitelle, Infernape, Jolteon, Octillery, Sableye, Whimsicott, Yanmega
Awesome Azelf: Azumarill, Druddigon, Klinklang, Leavanny, Marowak, Rapidash, Ursaring
Voted Out: Hydreigon, Bastiodon, Vanilluxe, Xatu
Another episode had finally ended! This was a hard episode to write. I was trying to work on the sentence structures and the dialogue.
Xatu, the mysterious bird had become the fourth person to be eliminated. Her personality and the tendency to appear out of nowhere was fun to write. However, it was always intentional for her to be out here because I need to give everyone else their story. Speaking of mysterious, when she left the island, she looked upset! What could possibly make her upset?
I created sole-hosting episodes to give more screen-time to individual host. This episode was about Azelf. I wanted to show you all that my Azelf and DA's Mew were two different people. Mew's sadist, Azelf was not. Azelf was brave, Mew wasn't always the case. While Mew liked to torment his contestants through humiliation, Azelf liked to test the contestants' willpower. Dark Amphitere, if you were reading this and you weren't happy with my explanation about Mew, I hereby apologise.
Another thing about this episode was to show you all how dangerous the weather can be and affected the cast and the challenge. Average Total Drama stories take place in summer and I was quite surprised that only a few people had done it.
So another alliance composed of Chandelure and Ninjask was born. So does conflict like Qwilfish and Sableye, and many people had joined the Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World game for idols!
I would appreciate reviews, specifically if is constructional criticism. If there's anything I need improving on my writing, please let me know.
I need to tell you guys about the next chapter. It will NOT be a normal episode. Instead, I'll be uploading an aftermath show, which will premiere every five episodes. The aftermath doesn't count as episodes so you don't need to include it in your elimination table. The show will last one chapter.
YOU guys get a chance to ask questions for our first four losers; Hydreigon, Bastiodon, Vanilluxe and Xatu! Whether it'd be about their life, the game, anything! Except, however, advertising. If you don't want to submit questions, I'll create them myself.
I don't know when the next update is, but I promise you that the next episode will be finished quicker than this one!
Xatu: Review, fellow readers, if you want to see the rest of this show.