The next day came over the island, and the contestants thankfully had extra time to sleep in or at least rest for what was going to come later.
Actually… no, that wasn't what happened at all.
000
Tangela shook her head, appearing to be woozy. "So… I don't know how it happened, but I woke up in some weird place. Now, it wouldn't have been so bad… but given who I was with at the time?"
000
What actually happened was the contestants not even waking up in the cabins. No breakfast, no morning time to themselves… it was only the third day, and their routine had been broken.
Tangela groaned as she awoke, sitting up… and seeing that she was now in a dark cave. Not only that… but this cave was unique.
It was underground.
She was then plucked up from the ground by the teammate she was with. "Good, you're awake. Let's go."
Beedrill was carrying the small vine, and Tangela almost went to struggle… but she figured being carried wasn't so bad. "What… what happened? Why are we down here?"
"Not sure. All I know is, my head hurts and I'm pissed. The only thing I'm thinking of is that it's a challenge." The bee snarled, flying through the tunnel.
"How do you know that?"
"It was taped to your back."
The bee handed her the note for her to read while she navigated this tunnel, Tangela reading the note. She didn't need to read aloud, she figured Beedrill already read it after all.
Hello, contestants! Sorry for the way we got you down here, but Hypnosis doesn't work on everyone here! Had to go to the old reliable of a simple frying pan!
Anyway, welcome to your next challenge! All of your team is now underground, in a series of tunnels made by our lovely team of Diglett and Dugtrio! As you all are from Kanto, this is a cavern to help demonstrate the dark and difficult navigation of Diglett Cave back in Kanto!
No, it's not a 1:1 recreation, as we figured some of you might have memorized it. This is an original creation! And your challenge is to come above ground!
The first team to have all of their members come to the surface win the challenge! The losing team WILL send someone home today, no escaping that!
In the event that the challenge goes on for too long, the challenge has a four hour time limit. That should be enough for a full team to escape, or at the very least, not endanger the lot of you without food and water. You'll know when the challenge is over.
Safe travels!
-Mew
"Ugh, he sounds just as annoying on paper…" Tangela muttered, getting a rare chuckle out from the bee.
000
Mew grumbled. "Next time a similar challenge like this happens, someone's getting two smacks."
000
Tangela looked shocked. "I made her laugh?! That's… honestly, more unnerving than her normal self…"
000
One by one, the contestants started to wake up in the cave and read the notes that were given to them. Some were thankful to immediately get a challenge under way as to not worry about it beforehand, while others… really needed the breakfast.
Lickitung was sadly on the latter end of things. He groaned and moaned, holding his stomach as he walked. "They couldn't have at least fed us before they knocked us unconscious…?" he asked aloud, his travel partner giving him an eye.
"Is that a rhetorical question, or were you legitimately wanting to get knocked out at breakfast?" Dragonair asked him as she slithered beside him, a bit testy from the lack of sleep she got, as well as the back to back embarrassments she's experienced from Dewgong. She was really starting to dislike that Ice-type.
Thankfully, Lickitung didn't accidentally add to that fire. "Rhetorical. Just hoped there would have been food down here." he pat his tum before he slapped his face a couple times to hype himself up. "I can wait though, no worry! Let's get to the surface!"
"That's a good- hey, what are you doing?!"
He picked Dragonair up, wrapped her around his body, and charged off in a direction to speed the challenge up. Lickitung shouted as he charged the dark corridor, a shrieking Dragonair going with him.
000
"Hey, can we… talk?"
Koffing hadn't expected such a question already, floating alongside Bulbasaur as they had been partnered up. "I'm not gonna ignore you." Koffing replied. "You've been cool to me so far. What's up?"
Maybe it was the fact that Bulbasaur was also a Poison-type, he had honestly forgotten until waking up beside him earlier. "About the other night, with Magikarp…"
Koffing sighed, seemingly not really wanting to discuss the matter… but he wasn't going to be rude. "Hey, I'm gonna be honest… it wasn't really our idea."
"What?"
"Ekans was wanting to vote someone else, but he came back to me before the vote, and he saw some drawing in the dirt." Koffing explained, not catching Bulbasaur's shocked face. "Ekans told me he was going to do it just to save himself in the game."
"But… Magikarp did good in the challenge?" Bulbasaur added. "Why not vote for someone that didn't do good?"
"Honestly, you should get used to saying Gyarados, just to… be safe." Koffing added. Ever since the fish left their team to join the other's, there was a sense of tension that he could snap at any moment. Bulbasaur, of course, was on the bottom of that totem pole of people he might snap at, given Gyarados' statements after the ceremony. "And honestly… I can see your point, man. Paras and Poliwag didn't do too well, and neither did Ekans and I. But if we voted for someone else, the votes against Ekans would have stayed. Majority voting is crucial."
"Yeah, I get that…" Bulbasaur replied back, just feeling upset from it all. Last night, they went from pretty good teammates to snappish at an instant. "You're friends with him too. If it was Geodude, I'd probably do the same… I guess I just feel bad that it happened to him."
"Sadly, it's just a way the game's played. This game is meant for cutthroat people and cutthroat strategies. People who don't want to do that are usually the pawns." Koffing's take on the game was rather negative… but it was a fair point.
Bulbasaur didn't say much after that, and the two continued to walk in silence.
000
"And then, in the last challenge, I froze her… just because she had the chest, of course, but I didn't think it was her! A-and I froze her solid, I know Dragons hate ice, b-but I swear, I was only-"
"Dewgong, take a deep breath." Chansey asked her, the Ice-type taking a breather like she had been asked to. Once Dewgong took a calm break, Chansey continued. "It's rather unfortunate that you've had back to back experiences with her that ended like that. However, you shouldn't overthink about it. They were strictly challenges, if she gets worked up over that, then she needs to take a breather herself."
"I know… but I want to be friendly to Dragonair, and it's just been… hard, given the fact I embarrass her in the first challenge, and then freeze her in the second…"
"All you can do is keep trying, but I recommend focusing on other aspects of the game. If you get hung up over one person not liking you, it's not going to do you any good in the game or for your head." Chansey gave her an egg to hold onto, to help her calm down further.
"That's what Haunter recommended…" Dewgong mumbled, holding the egg close to her as she tried to think about how to go about things. Chansey gave her a pat on the back and got the two of them to continue navigating the cave.
000
"So, you've been around Meowth a bit~" Sandshrew smiled to Jigglypuff, where the balloon just chuckled.
"I think you're looking into things a bit too much." Jigglypuff giggled, but Sandshrew wasn't that convinced otherwise.
"What, a couple of us have seen it already. Me and Tangela saw a bit before the challenge the other day, you guys were chumming it up!"
"We had a simple conversation. He asked me about where I was from, and we got to talking about hometowns." she deflected. She didn't really like lying, she thought Sandshrew was a nice gal. She just didn't want any suspicion on them so far.
"You guys were together in the challenge, right? The last one with the treasure chests?" Farfetch'd suddenly asked. Due to their team now sporting the advantage, Team Blue had a three partner group. "Personally, I'm not gonna pry. You all should have fun, this game only happens once."
"Yeah! If you think Meowth's cute or something, you should ask him out!"
Jigglypuff laughed at how quick the conversation escalated, and put a hand on the shrew's shoulder. "Let's… get this challenge done first before we think of anything like that, okay? Thank you though for the idea." she smiled off, that answer being enough for the Ice-type shrew. Farfetch'd wasn't that invested in the story anyway, but he didn't mind how the girls conversed. It wasn't getting in the way of the challenge, really. He soon pointed at a sudden fork in the road.
"We have ourselves a situation."
"Oh man… I don't think we should split up, either." Sandshrew added.
"Mm… but… if one of these routes leads to the other, then the other group should know where the right path is?" Jigglypuff debated the idea.
"How would we remember where this spot is? I don't think most have been in Diglett Cave before, but it's rather easy to get lost. If Diglett and Dugtrio made this, then we're not going to remember every turn we've made." Farfetch'd added.
Jigglypuff made a thinking sound, before getting an idea. "We could use something as a trail? The only thing being… your leek."
Farfetch'd squawked at the idea. "Hands off the leek!"
"O-oh, I got it!" Sandshrew then found a rock, embedded into the ground and wall nearby. She tried to break the rock with her claw, but her claws showed a sign like last challenge. She cried out in discomfort and Farfetch'd ran over to assist her.
"Lass, we should probably avoid doing that. Don't dig unless you absolutely have to." the bird advised, before Jigglypuff shook her head.
"It's going to have to be a risk versus reward guess, then. Perhaps we draw marks on the walls, to help us determine if one of us has been there?" the balloon asked, heading toward the right path.
"That might be the best option. Initial your marks, to make sure we know who's is who's." Farfetch'd decided to take Sandshrew with him, and headed toward the left tunnel. "Good luck."
The two parties separated, and Jigglypuff was now alone as she navigated the tunnels.
As she drew her first sign in the wall, marking it with a J, she sighed. "I hate lying to them… but not everyone needs to know. Heh, she was funny though, asking out Meowth…"
"...I wonder who Meowth is with, anyway..."
000
"LET'S GO! THOSE ASSHOLES AREN'T WINNING RIGHT AFTER GETTING RID OF ME!" Gyarados shouted as he clutched his partner, and made short work of traversing the cavern.
Meowth, who was coiled up in the Water-type's body, just groaned as he was jostled around. His face bore a sickly green shade from the constant movement. "Kill me…"
000
Machoke and Geodude had hit it off surprisingly well enough. They were simply talking about the game so far while Machoke held him like a baseball during their walk, but didn't juggle him out of respect (and didn't want a sick rock in his hands). Geodude spoke first, with the rock looking behind them in case anyone had come up to meet them. "You know, you're surprisingly a breath of fresh air from the other Machoke I've met."
The Fighting-type got a laugh out of that. "Really? How's that? I figured I grew up the same as all of them."
"Well, I grew up around a lot of you guys, mostly Machop. And I'm gonna be honest… you're probably the only one of them I can tolerate so far. You've been hotheaded, sure… but you help out the entire team in challenges." Geodude said, with Machoke eyeing him awkwardly.
"Yeah..? Again, that sort of sounds like a lot of us." Machoke spoke, walking briskly to try and find a way out of the cavern.
"Not… not really. There's a lot of them out there that just focused solely about themselves, getting stronger than the other and making other Pokemon around them suffer." Geodude replied, a bit bitter about memories. "There wasn't one of them that ever gave me the time of day, they'd just laugh me off."
Machoke didn't appreciate such a statement. "Yeah? And I'm sure a lot of Geodude like you aren't such condescending pricks, are they? Maybe they had a reason!" he retorted right back, with the rock not backpedaling.
"When I'm used as a live soccer ball by them and kicked around, I think we're able to be pretty condescending!"
Machoke gave the rock a glare, before he saw a bit of light above. He looked up and grinned. "Well then, if you're used to such a thing… I'm sure I can be a team player one more time!" he looked up and started to aim.
"The hell are you doing, you prick?! Let me go!" Geodude tried to struggle in the Fighting-type's grasp, but it wasn't looking good for Geodude.
"Helping the team! Be grateful!" He shouted, before throwing the rock to the light… and seeing that it was the way out! Geodude landed with a thud, before Machoke grinned. He heard Mew's cocky voice.
"Oh! The first one out!" Mew was shocked that it was so soon!
Machoke then leapt up, avoiding using the subtle footholds the Diglett made in order to leap out of the hole and climb free by himself! Machoke stood and dusted his hands. "I'm fine with being second this time." he held back on kicking Geodude back down the hole, it wouldn't have felt good for that long.
"And two of Team Red have found an exit!" Mew announced to the cameras. "And with it only being a half hour so far, that means we have a lot of challenge left to go!"
000
Geodude spat out dirt and glared at the camera. "Scratch what I said down there. All of them are cocky pricks. Just pickin' on the ones that don't have the bodies like they do… damn sick of it. They're not the ones bullied every day, now are they?" He looked like he wanted to say more, but he bit his tongue.
000
Machoke didn't look happy. "Course I get paired with the whiny complainer. Gonna talk to me all high and mighty about how Machoke are just big dumb idiots. Like he knows everything I've been through. I feel sorry for the kid he's helping, he's probably feeding him some shit narrative."
"Whatever the reason he has for disliking me or us in general, doesn't matter. He's out next."
000
Magmar again, was a little upset with his partner that was chosen. Paras had been rattling on and on about the statistical likelihood of them finding a hole underground to head out of the surface, of course not accounting for the possibility of many entrances at once. Magmar mimed shooting his head with a finger gun as she wasn't facing him, speaking of possible ideas.
"Do you think we're in the lead so far?" She turned back around to face him, Magmar pretending he suddenly heard everything she said.
"Can't exactly guess, but I'm hoping so. After the other challenge, I'm not exactly wanting to lose again here." Magmar gave a noncommittal answer and continued to walk. Paras proved to match his speed and continued talking, much to his disappointment.
"You're right, a loss today would really throw us down in numbers. It would be as if we never won the first challenge to begin with. If we did lose though, who would-"
"Oh thank god…" Magmar muttered, loudly clearing his throat to say something else. "Branching path!"
Magmar was quick to run down the left tunnel. "You take the right one, that way one of us has a shot!" Paras wanted to protest but he had already left her sight and traveled down the tunnel.
Paras grumbled and took to the right path… and it wasn't long for her to find a way out either. She saw a glowing light from the top, and she'd be able to crawl out.
000
Paras made a shrugging gesture. "I would have tried to help him, but he ran off before I could tell him I found the way out. Wonder what the hurry was?"
000
Haunter and Electabuzz weren't exactly getting along swimmingly, but they had at least a common goal to help each other win. Electabuzz was by himself right now, impatiently tapping his foot and waiting for the ghost to return, presumably. Eventually, the Electric-type was caught off guard when the ghost phased through the wall and returned to him, Electabuzz shrieking somewhat.
Haunter snickered at the shriek, but his partner wasn't having it. "Shut it, and out with it. What did you find?"
"Yeah yeah." Haunter wiped his eye with a ghost hand and pointed to the west. "Two tunnels that way is where I found an exit. I'm not exactly sure if we're on a good path right now to get there. For all I know, we might have to backtrack."
"Then what the hell was the point of you coming back? You could have been looking for the path as well!"
"You told me, 'find the way out'. You never said about leading you there either." Haunter waggled his finger, before the Electric-type wanted to punch him.
"You KNOW what I mean!"
"Oh, calm the hell down, will ya? I'm gonna go back to look, I'd rather we win today." Haunter pat him on the shoulder and went to phase back through the wall. Electabuzz would pinch his wrist to calm himself down.
000
Electabuzz leaned forward with a hand on his leg. "I live by the Power Plant, alright? You wanna know where that is, viewers? Right next to the damn Lavender Town and all of it's spooky nonsense. Ghosts sometimes wanna come to our place and mess with us for their entertainment. My current tolerance for shenanigans is not that high to begin with… so he's lucky I need him to find me a way out." He muttered under his breath about "damn Ghosts and their tricks".
000
Ekans and Poliwag being teamed together wasn't exactly a mobile team to begin with, but they were making it work. Poliwag would take time in spraying a good line of the ground in water, for them to slide through much quicker rather than simply inching along. Sure, they both got muddy every now and then, but Ekans was fine with getting dirty to win.
He just didn't think it meant literally at times.
Eventually, they came to a three way intersection, with them having to make the choice to go further straight or hook a right. Ekans shook himself off and looked to the tadpole. "So, since it was you getting us this far already, I'll let you pick. Straight or right?"
Poliwag jumped up to her feet and shook herself off as well. "Hmm… part of me thinks we might need to turn eventually. The fact that we've been going in a straight line for a while feels… alarming."
"Right it is." Ekans prepped for the next slide. "So, you can-"
He was cut off when he heard a rampaging beast through the straight path they hadn't chose. The beast got visible to them, and… both Ekans and Poliwag paled. Of course it was him.
Gyarados saw that he was closing in on Ekans and Poliwag, former teammates of his, and decided that this was a perfect opportunity! "LOOK AT THE TRAITORS! COME ON, NEW TEAMMATE, LET'S GET THEM!"
Meowth, who was coiled up around his tail, looked like he was going to be physically sick at any minute now. "You could just… slow dowwwwwwwn!"
He cried out when Gyarados whipped his tail at Team Red, the both of them getting smacked super hard back the way they came. Gyarados took a bit of pleasure in getting an ounce of payback.
Oh, but this wasn't the end of it! He needed to do more than just sabotage them in a challenge. He needed to send those traitors home!
000
Meowth is now physically sick in the room, a small trash bin next to him. "I'm… gonna kill that pink cat… next time he sticks me with him…"
000
Ekans shared a similar sentiment, sporting a bruise on his head. "He knows people get voted off in the game, right? He didn't think it'd just be a walk to the million, right?! We voted him off fairly, and because he got butthurt, he's gonna go around and clock us left and right? Crybaby attitude."
000
Mew was sitting above, where he had the people who so far won the challenge sitting at a bleacher set with food provided by Mewtwo. Mewtwo figured if they got out early, there was no sense in making them wait. Machoke and Geodude sat far apart, grumpily eating and facing away while Paras was sitting in the middle of their bleachers confused as to what happened.
Mew looked at the empty set of blue bleachers. "So far… 3-0. You think with the extra member, they'd be killing it now." he mused to himself. "And now that we've passed an hour and a half, they're almost halfway done with the time. It's not like it's dark down there, what's taking so-"
Mew's soft complaints ended when one of the openings in the ground had someone crawling out. Farfetch'd had just managed to pull himself up with his leek, and then used that for Sandshrew to hold onto and pull herself out. The two of them, caked in dirt, would at least be above ground.
"Never mind! 3-2 now, still in favor of the Red Team!"
Sandshrew heard that announcement and shook her head. Seeing the empty bleachers worried her. "We're… the first ones out for our team?"
"I knew we shouldn't have let Jigglypuff break from us…" Farfetch'd muttered.
"Nevertheless, you two have proven yourselves to be good team players. If you're hungry, Mewtwo has made both breakfast and lunch in the event this goes to the time limit. Help yourselves to what you wish." Mew gestured to the table of food, Mewtwo currently grilling up lunch so he didn't have to make constant trips to the Mess Hall.
"An empty stomach shouldn't be ignored. Come on lass, we did what we could." Farfetch'd got up and pat her on the back with his wing before going to get his plate of food. Sandshrew nodded, hoping that Jigglypuff knew how to get back to where they had been.
000
The expansive cave network done by the Diglett group was rather impressive. If the contestants weren't using it for a challenge, many would probably find it to be an impressive bit of architecture.
Not many of them found it impressive in the moment though. One contestant currently annoyed by their surroundings was Beedrill, who had not been a happy camper throughout the challenge. Tangela sensed it and decided not to really test the bee by talking.
Eventually, Beedrill set the vine creature down and shouted. "DAMN THESE DIGLETT!"
Tangela winced from the shout but tried to get her to calm down. "I-if I may provide a possible solution?" Seeing the bee look down to her but not immediately speak allowed Tangela to talk further. "I think I might be able to tell how far underground we are? If we can't find a way out, we could always dig our own way out?"
The bee looked a bit critical of this, but she wasn't looking to argue right now. She'd rather get out of this cave system first, and then argue. "We can try that."
The bee picked Tangela up as they flew to the ceiling above, and Beedrill used her free drill arm to try and push into the dirt.
000
Beedrill had her arms crossed. "Way I see it, she either proves her usefulness to me in a challenge, or it's what makes her on the chopping block. It's better than just sulking for the next few hours."
000
"Will you stop?!"
Dragonair had finally gotten the Normal-type partner with her to slow down, as she wasn't exactly liking the feeling of being his scarf while he ran. Lickitung ground to a halt and looked confused. "Huh? Something wrong?"
Dragonair slithered off of him and tried to regain her equilibrium. "Yes, you blithering buffoon! I've been trying to get your attention since you started running! I'm not putting up with being your headdress for this challenge, what is wrong with you?"
Lickitung looked sheepish. "I… kinda thought I was doing a favor…"
"What?" Dragonair asked, narrowing her eyes. "And how in the world would that be a favor to me?!"
He rubbed his arm and looked to the side. "W-well, you… I wanted to… be a gentleman?"
Dragonair went to speak, before she was caught off hand from that. "...what?"
"Not like, anything… major, just… wanted to help a teammate. My mom told me before I left that if someone needs help, that I give it to them. A competition or not, I can't treat it like it's me against the world." He explained, looking up. "Between the two of us, I could travel larger distances better, and I figured I'd help you get to the end… faster?"
Dragonair took that explanation and tried to calm herself down. Honestly, she figured she might have been a bit rigid. While she had that difficulty with Dewgong and her constant mind games, she didn't see such behavior in Lickitung. Whether that be him being genuinely nice, or the fact that she can't see him under a strategic light, possibly playing a mind game like that to save his life… she believed it. She sighed and shook her head. "Your mother sounds like a charitable woman. I apologize for snapping, these challenges haven't exactly provided me the best results."
Lickitung also took her apology well, smiling and becoming less tense. "Oh, I'm sure it'll get better. Games like these, there's a lot of random variables flying around. You'll have a moment to show your stuff." he reassured.
Dragonair couldn't help but provide a weak laugh. "I'm not as optimistic as you, but for my sake, I suppose I'll hope for the best." She took her own deep breath and looked back up to him. "Now then, your strategy is rather sound now that you've explained it. If you're willing, I can return to my-"
She let out a yelp as the Normal-type picked her up and already sat her back down on his shoulders. "Way ahead of you."
She was about to say something, before she saw… sunlight? She looked to the left of them, and saw that there was a patch of sunlight down the hall. Could that be an opening? "Lickitung, on your 9 o'clock!"
Lickitung shot to the left and saw it too. "Good eye, Drago!" He sprinted off to it, wanting to both make a good example for his team, as well as get to eating soon… he was rather hungry still.
000
Dragonair looked awestruck. "Drago?" she repeated the nickname she was given by her teammate. "I swear, that guy is an enigma. I like to think I can see through people well, but there was nothing to suggest the sort with him. He's just… odd."
She chuckled then, after saying it. "I'll take odd over vindictive though."
000
"Dewgong, I believe I see an exit!" Chansey alerted her teammate, pointing to the closest piece of sunlight. The Ice-type followed suit and the two of them had indeed found an exit. It was just a matter of how they climbed up to it.
"I can float, I might be able to take the both of us…" Dewgong mused.
"If I can't be taken with, I'll be okay with letting you head out. I could try to find someone on our team who can lift me better, like Electabuzz." Chansey offered.
"N-no, I don't want to leave you down here, that puts you in danger if we lose tonight. I think we should-" she was cut off by the sound of sprinting.
The two of them turned to see Lickitung run in with… Dragonair around his shoulders. Dewgong felt nervous from the Dragon staring her down. "Yep, you were totally right, Drago, this is an exit! Good eye!" he failed to read the tense air in the room, and looked to his partner. "Drago?"
"Oh dear…" Chansey whispered to herself.
000
"We are now past the halfway mark… WHERE IS EVERYONE?!"
Mew was angry that the score was still 3-2. The other contestants that had already made it out were bored from waiting at the ground, and Mew was most annoyed of all. "I made sure to give them multiple exits! The food is getting cold! What are they doing down there?!"
"Some of them could be hurt, right?" Paras asked, a bit worried if the host was acting like this. Mewtwo shook his head.
"Camera crews below ground haven't mentioned any injuries yet. As of now, we're just waiting for their own competency." Mewtwo clarified, with that answer at least reassuring most of the campers that no one was hurt.
"What do I have to do to-" Mew would quickly shut up as he felt something rumble underneath him. Confused, he lurched up into the air with his powers at the last second before a drill came from underneath his chair!
The drill stopped, and out sprouted Tangela's face. "I was right! Beedrill, this is the surface!" She would excitedly bounce around, and was soon pushed out to allow Beedrill to fly up as well after some more drilling. The chair that was above the drill… wasn't making it out. It was torn to shreds as she made the hole big enough for her to fit through.
As Beedrill got out of the ground, Mew cried out in anguish. "My chair! What was the point in taking down my chair?!"
"It was in the way." The bee huffed, not really torn apart about it. "We're above ground now, that counts, right?"
"Does it count? DOES IT COUNT?!" Mew shouted, before Mewtwo floated over and sent his smaller co-host away.
"Yes. You guys made it above ground. The score is now 3-4." Mewtwo would announce, the girls thankful for that updated score. Tangela went to go get some food, while Farfetch'd and Sandshrew were thankful for the lead.
"If I knew digging was allowed, I would have done that ages ago." Geodude huffed.
"Careful, that sounds like you'd only be thinking for yourself." Machoke would sneer at the rock. "You know, like us Machoke always seem to do."
Geodude would respond with a face of his own, storming off to go get some food. Paras was rather confused from the matter.
000
"Something definitely happened between the two…" Paras muttered to herself. "I know I told Poliwag I don't really trust Machoke, but… I can't just write off either side of the story yet."
000
Jigglypuff was walking through the caverns by herself, having chosen to double back after a while to try and see if she could remember the path Farfetch'd and Sandshrew took earlier. She wanted to try her luck in that path, just to see if they got out.
She thought to herself a lot during this lonesome walk. "Doing good so far… have a nice teammate you want to go further into the game with, and nothing inherently bad has happened yet… but that's not exactly telling of our situation."
Having told Meowth of her goal to help him win, she knew it was odd. Going into a game, just to help someone else win from the get go? Not many would trust that right off the bat. But Meowth seemed to. Right after she had told him she wanted to help him win, he looked like he was trusting enough in her help.
The Beauty Contests gave her everything she needed, and she'd be forever thankful to them. Her family never had to worry about funds, she got to see other lands and travel, and she met amazing people she would have never met otherwise. The constant moving and traveling, as well as the work load… she wanted out. She was supposed to advertise her job as much as she could while on this show, it was the sole purpose as to why the Contests bought her a spot into the show.
It was just too much to handle now. She wanted that money to go to someone who needed it, like she once did. Meowth fit that criteria. It wasn't about pity or wanting to be a charity case for someone, she genuinely wished to help him. Part of her hoped that Meowth viewed it that way, rather than her taking pity on him.
That, and Meowth genuinely intrigued her. The Scratch Cat wasn't like the others on the island, he hadn't made many friends on the first few days… in fact, he made a couple enemies in the challenges prior. His game was risky right off the bat, and Jigglypuff found herself becoming a bit attracted to a riskier game.
She wasn't wanting to last until the end, so risks mattered not for her… but for her "ally". She wanted to get as far into the game as she could so he wasn't by himself for a stretch. Now… how to do that?
Before she got too involved in her thinking, she was knocked out of her thoughts the moment she saw Magmar sprint past her, almost having ran into her. "Whoa!"
Magmar slowed down and saw that he passed the puff. "Oh damn, my bad. Didn't even notice you." He came back over and took his rest for now. "Challenge kind of bites."
"Yeah, that's a word for it." Jigglypuff chuckled. "You got separated from your team as well?" She asked the Fire-type, noticing he was alone.
Not wanting to flat out admit he ditched Paras, he nodded. Why admit to something that would make him look bad? "Yeah. Separate paths and all that." he technically fibbed. "I don't really have a problem with your team, aside from the walking thunder. Mind tagging along?"
"Oh, that won't get you in trouble with your team, will it? Helping the enemy and all that?" She asked, a teasing smile on her face.
"They can bite me if they do, mentality like that ain't winning them any games." He got permission from the puff to pick her up. Without a word, he sprinted off again to find an exit. He already thought that Jigglypuff was a better conversation partner than Paras had been.
000
The score was soon 3-5 for Team Blue, given how Haunter also cheesed the rules into his favor by floating above ground. Mew never stated a rule otherwise, as pointed out by Mewtwo, so his point stuck.
The challenge sort of ticked by slowly for those above ground, having to wait for their teammates/opponents to reappear. As a result? Mew got tired, and cobbled together some montage material for the broadcast.
~ Montage ~
Koffing and Bulbasaur had been able to climb out of a hole via Koffing floating upwards, and Bulbasaur having his vines get pulled up by the toxic cloud. Once they landed, Koffing had been complimented on his surprisingly strong teeth by Bulbasaur and Mew, the latter genuinely surprised at the feat.
Magmar and Jigglypuff had made it out relatively close to the time limit, each bringing the team a point as a result. Magmar had to dig his way up after he watched Jigglypuff fly out, of course, but he would cast a wink to… well, he would have, if Electabuzz had even completed the challenge. Oh well, another thing to hold over him in front of the others.
Other contestants were still lost. Electabuzz was still searching for a way out by his lonesome, and the team of Poliwag and Ekans wasn't making too much ground after the altercation with Gyarados.
~ Montage Over ~
"With twenty minutes left in the contest, the score is currently 6-6… you've gotta be kidding me." Mew would announce as Magmar had shaken off the last of the dirt and went to enjoy his late breakfast. "We're hoping for-"
The Legendary would get almost smacked out of the way as the ground came up from underneath him, Mew thankfully getting out of the way in time as the blue serpent like Pokemon had come bursting out from the ground.
"YEAH! THAT'S HOW I DO IT! SUCK IT TEAM RED, YOU TRAITORS!" Gyarados would snap back, some of the former teammates jumping back out of worry like Koffing.
The raging one's tail uncurled, and out slumped a sickly Meowth, whose whole face was now a darker shade of green. Jigglypuff gasped and ran over from the stands while the rampaging one went to distract himself. "Meowth! Are you okay?"
The cat hesitated, before flipping off Mew, and going to push himself into a bush so he could get physically sick off camera. Mew wasn't too fazed, and spoke over the barfing contestant. "6-8! Please, let there be a clear winner here..."
000
Farfetch'd shook his head. "If we were to lose tonight, I don't think I'd be casting my vote for the cat. I don't like the guy myself, but I can't fault him for being paired with him."
000
Geodude shivered. "I know what that feels like, buddy…"
000
The tension underground between the two pairings was… palpable. Dragonair was staring at Dewgong, who was only looking back nervously as she didn't know what to expect. This was their third time meeting like this, and if the last two meetings were anything to go by, Dewgong knew something was going to happen to cause some miscommunication.
Neither of them wanted to make the first move or comment, either. It was as if Dragonair was daring her to, or Dewgong wanting to test the waters and see how she might be able to go about this. Thankfully, the air was cleared by Lickitung, the long tongued Pokemon just wanting to eat.
"Hey, if um… we could save this until we get topside? I'd appreciate that a lot, Drago." Lickitung asked his teammate, Dragonair giving him a look as he gave a rather pleading expression.
Sensing that she'd be better off not "entertaining" this issue, she relented. "…very well. I'd rather win as well. There's a chance that running into each other like this doesn't happen again when we do."
As Lickitung turned around with Dragonair still on top of him, Dewgong… actually felt shocked at such an answer. "You make it seem like I've been the problem!"
Lickitung would have kept going, but Dragonair tightening around his head and making the big lug turn around prevented that. Dragonair looked to poke fun at that notion. "I assure you, I haven't been the problem. Both times we've ran into each other, you've went immediately into using your type-effectiveness on me!"
"It was an accident, both times!" Dewgong shouted, pushing forward.
"Dewgong, please, let's try and settle down and-" Chansey would try to pull her back, but the Ice-type would shake her off gently.
"No, I'm wanting to settle this now! I can realize I've made mistakes, but why do you not like me?" Dewgong shouted at the dragon serpent, looking annoyed. "You haven't trusted me since we showed up on the island, and I didn't even do anything to you before the first challenge!"
"And do I honestly need a reason?" Dragonair fought back. The dragon herself had an icy glare, and the response was enough to make Dewgong do a double take.
"Y-you… huh? You don't…?"
"Newsflash, people don't need specific reasons to dislike certain people." She would have Lickitung spin right back around to face the way they had been exiting. "And if I did… I don't think I'd let you know right away. It's not as if it's pressing information to reveal."
As she made Lickitung walk away, Dewgong felt… a bit angry from this. The first time she's been angry all show, at least to another contestant. Most of the anger prior was directed at herself, along with guilt that she kept bringing about misfortune to Dragonair, but now? "So you're just… going to be a bitch about it?! Like we're back in school, gossiping to the other kids?!"
"What did you just call me?!" Dragonair spun the big lug back around, the man groaning from the constant denials of the challenge being over for… a squabble.
Dewgong didn't answer with her words anymore. Instead, she actually made the first move! She fired an Aurora Beam right at the dragon with an attitude problem, Dragonair narrowly avoiding it as it hit the wall. "Are you insane?! You're just a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum!"
"Says the child who just mindlessly hates someone without giving them a try?!" Dewgong went to fire another one, with Chansey getting in the way.
"Dewgong, calm down! This is not the place to-"
She cut off as she felt some rumblings within the cavern… turns out, when you fire an Aurora Beam right at a load bearing wall, bad things start to happen.
"GET DOWN!" Lickitung shouted, jumping at all of them as the pathway started to cave in.
000
"And in 5 minutes, we will… huh?" Mewtwo had been speaking to the ever growing crowd of contestants when he and the Pokemon who weren't floating felt a shift in the ground. Expecting the worst, the genetic clone would lift everyone with his powers in case the ground gave way and caused an accident.
Mew looked down to see a few tunnels getting made on the ground surface, and a Diglett popped out. "Sir! Reports of a cave in, 2 levels deep!"
"Cave in?!" Mew looked up to Mewtwo, who only gave him a motion of "it's your show, you do something". Mew would look to the crowd, and stammer out his response. "U-uh… challenge is paused! It'll resume once we excavate the others!"
He zipped away, disappearing and presumably going underground to find where they were and examine if this event would impact the show.
000
Electabuzz is covered in dirt. "So… I get lost down there for four hours, just for them to poof me away and tell me I have to wait and see who wins? …you gotta be kidding me…" He smacks the side of his head, a flow of dirt escaping his ear on the other side.
000
Ekans nursed his head with his tail. "So, me and Poliwag weren't the only ones roughed up in the challenge then… wonder who caused the cave in?"
000
Everyone had thankfully been pulled out of the dirt and brought back to the surface, the Diglett crew currently rearranging the dirt to have the ground supported once more. Electabuzz sneezed some dirt as an irate Mew flew back in front of everyone. Those who had been pulled out were utterly caked in the earthy mess, Lickitung trying to get dirt off of his rather massive tongue.
"Five minutes… you couldn't have waited five minutes?" Mew would huff to the four Pokemon that he figured caused the accident. It was easy to predict, with how Dewgong and Dragonair were staring at each other, while Chansey and Lickitung looked unfortunately caught up in the scuffle. "In five minutes, the game would have been decided! You guys would have been free to cave it in at any time!"
"It's not like we went to do it on purpose, but someone had to just go and cause a scene." Dragonair retorted toward the Ice-type, the target of the barb scoffing at how she painted the scene.
"Oh, that's rich! The one who's been nothing but mean spirited is going to say someone was mean to her!"
"I'm not a child who caused a temper tantrum and caused a cave in, now am I?"
"Always the victim, aren't you?"
"Oh, you little-"
"ENOUGH!" Mew shouted, grabbing the two of them within a psychic powered force-field and separating them. "Now, normally, I would love the drama here and let it play out… but since it came at the cost of a challenge, so close to the end, I'm deciding that both teams are losers tonight!"
Such a decree from the host prompted a bunch of boos and jeers from the cast, but Mew put a hush over the crowd with another psychic wave.
"Decision is final. Both teams will be at elimination tonight, and one person is going home."
With that, Mew would let everyone go, and float alongside Mewtwo as the cast had to process such a vote for tonight. While the Diglett crew worked tirelessly to fix the mess of the challenge site, the cast would have quite a mind boggling vote tonight.
000
"I did well in a challenge, for nothing?!" Gyarados shouted and almost went to thrash within the confessional… before he showed some restraint and calmed down. He just let out one more shout, before pushing the door open to get his anger out in the sea.
000
"Both teams up for vote tonight… things could be worse." Meowth mused, looking better than he did throughout the overall day with Gyarados. "I could be a target tonight, after all. I think I'm safe."
000
Magmar scratched his chin and looked like he was thinking of a plan. "Hmm… actually, this makes more sense now that I think about it. I think this play could work… just gotta let a few suckers in on it and see if it goes anywhere." He smirked toward the camera. "I'd be a fool to not at least take advantage of this situation."
000
Machoke was angrily throwing rocks into the ocean, non-sentient ones at that. He launched one with considerable power, and looked to even hit the coast of a smaller neighboring island. As he went to pick up another one, he heard someone walk on the sand behind him. The Fighting-type looked back and saw Magmar.
"The hell do you want?" Machoke turned back around and chucked the rock past the island he just hit.
"One, to compliment your fastball." The Fire-type stayed on the sand to avoid getting close to the water. He wasn't scared… just never really liked water to begin with. "Two, to check with you about your vote tonight. I had an idea that-"
"I'm voting for the stupid rock." Machoke would cut him off as he went to find another rock.
Magmar didn't really expect him to be voting for Geodude. "… not to sound like I'm making fun of your decision, but… why? You guys did well in the challenge from what I heard. Shouldn't you-"
"I can deal with a fair share of assholes, but the ones I refuse to work with are the holier-than-thou pricks who think they're better just cuz they got some smarts on ya." Machoke would huff as he found a rock… a heavy one embedded into the sand more than the average pebble was.
Machoke pinned together that this was a result from them getting paired together. Nevertheless, he tried to sway the guy. "I see where you're coming from. Back home, there's a lot of those types out there. I've dealt with my fair share of them myself… but there's a feeling that's better than just beating them."
Machoke paused on his plucking of the rock to look up at the Fire-type. "A feeling better than voting an asshole out? What would that be?"
Magmar smiled and inched a bit closer. "Being the sole reason their game ends. Best them in a challenge, or be the reason that they can't win. Make them really feel the dread of their defeat rather than blindside them with it. The look on their face at the end of it is the best reward you can think of."
Machoke seemed to think about it a bit… and he wasn't going to lie to himself, the thought of personally besting Geodude and being the sole reason he's out of the game appealed to him. "So, if I was to bite at this deal… who exactly do I vote for instead?"
Magmar hid his excitement well as he went to approach him closer, whispering the name of the target he had in mind.
000
"You got anyone for the vote yet?"
Meowth knew whose voice that was. He had been enjoying the cliff-side to himself when he heard Jigglypuff speak. The puff sat down when the cat made his answer. "Not exactly. Even with twice the voting pool, it's not like the choices are easier."
"Makes sense. Didn't know if you had another game plan or not." the celebrity would chuckle, which actually got a small grin out of the cat.
"I'm not planning out my every move here. That's too much for my mind, I'd much rather just adapt to how the game plays out and go from there." He checked his claws and sat up. "Speaking of that, part of that adaptability is me deciding if I want to vote for someone of the opposite team or my own."
Jigglypuff looked inquisitive at that comment, leaning in a bit. "Someone of our own team? Why, we'd lose our numbers advantage."
"Or, we get rid of some dead weight with the added votes of the other team's. Someone who might or might not be a liability to the team's success. I'm not saying I have anyone in mind… but to keep it as a possibility." He replied back. "Besides, that's even if I want to ignore the threats on the other team. Like I said, choices aren't easier here."
"I suppose that makes a bit of sense." Jigglypuff would think about it herself, wondering what benefits she could have for voting someone specific. "You don't give your plays enough credit, they have me thinking about things more than I would have."
"Eh…" Meowth didn't seem to stick to the compliment for long. "I just got a bunch of thoughts in my brain. I'm not one to call myself smart, I'd rather just not get called a fool."
Jigglypuff looked to the cat after he said that, just staring at him for a decent amount of time. She was intrigued by him even further… and she looked away right before he caught her looking at him.
000
Jigglypuff rolled around the confessional from side to side. "Meowth really makes me think as a competitor and as a Pokemon. I get the feeling that he's not wanting to put too much trust in me off the bat… and I can't exactly fault him for that. Trust is hard to come by… I feel like we both know that.
000
Haunter had his hands float around the confessional as he talked to the camera. "I don't think I wanna take this vote too seriously… looks like we're just going with a vote for Random tonight!" he grinned, putting a bunch of slips of paper into a magically appearing hat. He was literally going to pull a name out of a hat to vote.
000
Time went fast tonight, some contestants boiling it down to the added risk of the vote that made things go by faster. Both teams had arrived at the ceremony, Everyone seemed as if they were taking the news of both teams in the voting pool tonight a bit roughly.
After all, there was no telling how the vote was going to go. Would someone get ganged up on by votes from their own team and the opposite? Or would they fall victim to the opposite team banding together just to get rid of someone on the other team? Even the more confident contestants looked to be thoughtful of possibilities such as these.
The 21 contestants sat before Mew and Mewtwo, after all of the voting had taken place. Mew had an obscene amount of berries on his plate, with it floating before the cast.
"I'm a little upset about how today went. But, today's a learning experience for all of us. You guys learned not to lose your temper underground…" Mew started the ceremony off.
"And we learned to not have an underground challenge like this in the first place." Mewtwo butted in, Mew looking upset that he was cut off. Mewtwo seemed to have cut off a rant, which most of the cast was thankful for. "Drama should be above ground, from now on."
"...great way of putting that, Mewtwo." Mew would force a smile, before looking back to the cast. "Votes are tallied, and I'm going to go a bit fast for this one since I have more names to read off. So… the ones that had no amount of votes, and thus are staying:"
"Bulbasaur, Beedrill, Meowth, Jigglypuff, Farfetch'd, Haunter, Sandshrew, Paras, Tangela, Koffing, and Magmar."
Ten contestants were safe, and a wave of relief went over those who were safe. Bulbasaur caught his berry, but looked a bit worried that Geodude was possibly still up for elimination. That didn't make too much sense to him… he made it out of the challenge, after all.
Koffing looked over to Ekans, hoping the same was for his fellow Poison-type. He was floating off to the side to not affect anyone with his smog, but Ekans looking like he could be eliminated… that didn't sit right with him. Especially after the conversation he had with Bulbasaur in the challenge.
Meowth bumped berries with Jigglypuff, the scratch cat quickly eating his afterwards. The balloon Pokemon giggled from the act as she ate hers. Others like Sandshrew, Farfetch'd, and Tangela looked relieved just to be called first.
Others took this information subtly. Everyone else who wasn't called was voted for. To people like Geodude and Machoke, that made sense to them. Electabuzz could only anticipate he got votes from not finishing the challenge. Ekans tried not to look a bit worried that his challenge performance might have swayed a couple of votes… but the amount of which he's predicting was enough to worry him. Same with Poliwag, only to a much more noticeable extent.
"The rest of you have votes to your name. Some… more than others." Mew grinned, making sure the tension was palpable before he continued. "Those who only garnered a couple… Electabuzz, Gyarados, Geodude, Machoke, Poliwag, and Ekans."
Those who caught their berries looked around, mostly from relief… but others knew where their votes came from. Geodude and Machoke scared a scowl, although it led Machoke to wonder… something. Gyarados looked a bit offended that he even got voted. He did the challenge! And they're still looking for ways to get rid of him?
But the tension between the foursome that caused the challenge to go haywire? Mew let that stew for a moment longer. Chansey and Lickitung looked a bit worried that they caught a bunch of straggling votes, but Dewgong and Dragonair looked like they couldn't wait until the other one was the one without a berry.
"I wish I predicted this outcome." Mew would float closer to the group. "The fight that caused it all. I can't wait to see if there's more of this for the season." he chirped, before pulling two of the remaining three berries off of the plate.
"The next contestants safe…" Mew would toss the berries up into the air, the four looking up to try and follow their trajectory.
When the berries fell, one of the picks was a complete shock.
"Lickitung and Dragonair."
The remaining Team Red contestants looked at each other out of pure glee, with Dragonair letting out quite the confident laugh as she snaked up around her chummier teammate. "Oh, vindication feels so freeing~"
"What?!" Dewgong felt the sudden spike of worry creep into her. She thought it might have been a final two between her and Dragonair! Team Red was completely safe for the night!
"I wouldn't act so surprised." Mew scoffed. "You hit the support beam, and you sent the cave to crumble. You're lucky we can even use that footage still."
Dewgong sat back down on the stump, with her worrying more and more as Chansey tried to calm her down. It was between the two of them now… and Dewgong felt like she knew the answer as to who might have been the-
"You're even luckier that you're not voted out." Mew cut her crisis off before it could get going, sending the final berry to the Ice-type. It shut Dragonair's premature celebration off right before it could get started though.
"What?!" Dragonair and Dewgong cried out at the same time.
"Chansey, I'm sorry." Mew floated over to the Normal-type and would set the plate down. "You've been eliminated from the game."
Chansey looked a bit bummed, but was able to stand up with a smile. "I'm sorry that's the case. You're all lovely people." She would then turn around to head back to camp. "I'll grab my things and be out on my way, then."
As she walked by, she gently brushed her hand across Electabuzz's shoulders as she passed. The Electric-type was the only one to notice this, with him wondering what the hell she did it for. He didn't feel too upset she was leaving now.
000
Machoke looked like he was deep in thought, the feeling uncommon to him. "I know I'm not the smartest guy around… but there's something bothering me. I knew the dumb rock was gonna vote for me, I'm not upset about that. But how did he get a vote…?"
He looked to the camera. "… yeah, I listened to the guy earlier. It's gonna be a lot better to crush his chances personally. A stupid vote like this isn't gonna do anyone any good. But… who voted for him?"
000
The ceremony ended with the contestants seeing off Chansey, the second Normal-type to leave the island and in succession. They all split up for the night, with many reeling from the events of the game starting to pick up from here.
Mew and Mewtwo relaxed back at the campfire, with Mewtwo roasting some berries over the fire. "What a day… challenges are going to be better than this from here on out, I'm needing contingency plans for every one of them going forth." Mew declared, going to sit on another tree stump with a huff.
"Got it."
"And on top of that, backup challenges in case the first challenge is completely a goner."
"Understood."
"And a third, in case of the second."
"I hear you."
Mew crossed his arms, before looking to the bigger Legendary. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Oh, 100%."
Mew sighed, before kicking his feet in front of the fire. "… never mind for now, then. We can talk more about it in the morning. I'd rather just let this day end on some good news."
"Oh, the birds want to talk to us tomorrow."
Mew's quick use of profanity was enough to be heard on any part on the island.
000
One contestant got into bed during the night. The contestant in question would grunt upon laying down in bed, sitting up to check something. That something was an egg inside of their sheets!
The contestant figured it was something like Chansey leaving it behind. Why it was here in a completely separate bed was anyone's guess. The contestant here decided to crack the egg open as delicately as they could, not wanting to wake those around them.
Inside the egg was a shallow area, save for a written message on a piece of paper. The contestant picked it up… and felt their heart plummet into their chest. They dropped it and quickly made their way out of the cabin, the paper getting left inside of the egg as it drifted back inside.
The message was a simple one:
I know your secret. Vote who I say, or your game is over.
000
Author Note: This… took forever. I really didn't like the time slipping away from this update. Things got crazy in life to say the least. Six months pass, and suddenly the issues I had in January don't exist anymore or got substituted for new ones.
Car troubles, work schedules and overhauls, and free time getting taken up were the key factors. Although I will be honest, around halfway in through the challenge was where my motivation took a nosedive. I'm chalking it up to the setup where pairings were the key interactions for this chapter, so there wasn't a lot of variety in scenes due to the nature of the challenge either.
Future challenges will try to absolve this issue, hopefully. As for you guys, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! It's the longest one so far, and I see myself getting much more in depth with some of these characters soon. I'm eager to start dropping bread crumbs for backstories. I hope that this update comes better later than never and a lot of you are still around!
000
Now, before I go, time for review responses!
Dark Arcanine 33: I read your stories when I first started getting into this niche universe of fanfiction years ago, and it was certainly a surprise to see your name pop up! I'm a great fan of your Ultimate T.P series! I thank you for the kind words, and I'm happy you like Mew!
CDW/Starmate3: Yes, if you are still wanting to give me the link to that doc, that would be great! And you're not the only one who likes Meowth and Jigglypuff so far, I'm thankful I have a few characters that everyone likes right now!
Tricky Magic: I totally understand why the theme might not be the most investing, I'm not really a Genwunner either, however I felt that it would have been the most appropriate starting place for what I'm going. It was either that, or start at Paldea (and which admittedly, I'm still learning all of the new guys there despite having 100% of the Pokedex.). My favorite cast of Pokemon probably comes from Hoenn or Unova honestly. And yes, I'm going literal with Geodude :). He's gotta drag himself around a lot (or accept Bulbasaur for transportation).
TPReboot: Initially, I was going to have someone voted out… but I had trouble deciding who, in all honesty. I couldn't think of any good reason for anyone due to story-line potential, and that's what created the Magikarp idea. Although non-elimination episodes are going to be used sparingly, so that there's no constant lucky breaks!
It means a lot that you went into depth with your review, you liking Ekans reassures me a lot that I'm not ignoring most of the cast. Hopefully the ones under the radar like Tangela and Chansey interest you just as much! And you're right, it's hard for me to even think of some early boots off the top of my head (if I did though, they'd be secret).
InfernoMaster64: The overall praise and interest coming from these reviews really does motivate me to make more, I'm happy Magikarp was able to hook everyone in like that! Around this time, this is where favorite characters are going to be decided for the viewers, and I'm happy you enjoy a bulk of the cast this far!
000
TEAMS
Team Red:
Bulbasaur, Dragonair, Ekans, Geodude, Koffing, Lickitung, Machoke, Magmar, Paras, Poliwag
Team Blue:
Beedrill, Dewgong, Electabuzz, Farfetch'd, Gyarados, Haunter, Jigglypuff, Meowth, Sandshrew, Tangela
Elimination Order: Snorlax, Magikarp (unrecognized), Chansey,
000
Thanks for reading!
