The Mole: Deceiver's World

by krisetchers

Ten Smash fighters. Nine are completing a series of missions to win. But one of them is a saboteur set to destroy them. He or she is the chosen double agent, hidden and blending among them in this cryptic, incomprehensible game. Who is the ultimate deceiver of this new world? Who is...the Mole?

29. Three Races Against a God

WHHHAATTT THE HECK?! Krisetchers is back?!

Yeah, I really cannot say how unpredictable my life is. One second, I'm gone like a player sucked up in a snowy blizzard tornado, and the next second, I'm back with inspiration and able to type an entire half of a chapter in one day. Well, not this time xD I had to make a ton of edits on this one.

Anyways, heyyy! How is everyone? Please let me know what's new in reviews, how you've been doing these days, etc! :)! As for me, I'm doing okay and fine! But before…no! Ugh! The summer and spring were so rough on me…oh man, life…is tough! So tough. Blehhh! Horrible. But, …I'm okay and a lot better now than I was before! : ) Small doses of inspiration came in the past month or two. ;) And among different other positive things slowly appearing out of nowhere, something very MOLE-related and incredible was announced! That being….

THE MOLE IS BACK on TV! :D YAYYYYYYYYY! That's right! After 12 years, Netflix decided to buy the rights to and make an ACTUAL NEW U.S. SEASON OF The Mole! :O Releasing Oct. 7th! Netflix literally was like, "You know, that incredible show "The Mole" back in the early 2000's that was really incredible and had a good concept? A concept that krisetchers has been writing on about for ten years and never gave up on? Let's bring it back." I…could not believe it. I couldn't speak for like days when I found out two months ago. But seriously, the whole "Among Us" and "Whodunnit" concepts are making a rise again post-pandemic, which I think is both awesome and hilarious.

Anyways, I'm BEYOND ECSTATIC! :) I've written these stories because I never gave up on its amazing concept and how astounding and fun the principles and game elements of "The Mole" are! And I never wanted to give up sharing how awesome this game is, to others! :) The Mole is just an extraordinary game concept. And now, I'm happy that it's alive again in today's year 2022, against all beliefs and all odds, and people have once again acknowledged the awesomeness in its concept and format to bring it back alive! Also, I'm just so happy my Mole fanfiction series was able to extend so far, it literally reached an entire NEW generation of "The Mole" being revived into our world again :D

Whoohoo! But YEAH! Be sure to check it out October 7th on Netflix :D and can probably be found on streaming sites a day or two after haha, and the episodes are all being released in chunks over a span of 3 weeks. It'll probably be all over by the time of my next update xD.

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Anyways…the chapter! :D The final five! So where did the players end up in the morning after the horrible campsite aurora of crazy drama?! What was the reason of a certain crazy revival return of a memorable, Moley mushroom character?! Is Smash Host mentally okay? Are the final five even physically and mentally okay?! Yikes!

After so...so...so... many edits and rewrites of this chapter, I just want to say, I'm SOOO happy with this chapter's final results! It might be my favorite chapter so far! :D If a writer is allowed to brag…haha, sorry. This next chapter was re-written and reworked literally maybe like 9-10 times. I'm just...really happy with its final result. Just a lot of awesome dialogue and interactions and connections between players, a lot of CRAZY action and adventure, games, and growing each character individually was fun as well. And twists! I had to include twists :)

I hope you guys enjoy the continuation of Episode 6 below! :) Everything continues! Thanks for being back too :) The fourth out of five parts…of the fated final five...begins below.

And soon...there will only be four players left.

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Episode 6 (Part 4)

Four players face an ice pyramid...robotic seals…and snowy, whirling blizzards of horror, produced by their very fifth, last contestant…a contestant playing the terrible role of both God and saboteur.

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It was the morning after. An aurora was gone. The campfire had sizzled away. A person named Toadette and McHallyboo would never see each other again in their lifetimes.

And five final players had just finished a delicious breakfast of lox omelets from the ice hotel, unknowing of the true events within their mysterious game.

Less than a day and a half until Execution 6…

Every building around them was mysterious, shining like sapphires, looking like colossal ice sculptures of gleaming wonder. A hybrid of building and igloo each, the players looked at the buildings around them in admiration. Snow fell from the skies and landed on the glistening tops of the ice buildings around them. The strange yet prepossessing town itself was perched at the base of a large mountain, quiet but alluring. The ice-solid structures around them shined like almost blue diamonds under the sun.

In the beautiful, ice-formed village, Lucina looked up with quiet, surprised wonder.

"The snow…falling so gently…" Lucina whispered, the princess staring amidst the seemingly-magical town.

Lucina: It seemed as if the ice and snow around us was fictional. As if the world in itself was fictional. But…just what a funny, funny thought it all would be.

The Mole was still among them.

Joker smiled with a wistful sigh, looking at two passing kids in parkas passing by...laughing and realized that they appeared in the image as miniature Ice Climbers themselves. "Before the next mission begins, I have a splendid idea."

"Your ideas are always questionable," Dark Pit murmured, glancing at him.

"Why don't we all relinquish this game together…hop on a sleigh ride as a group of five…and quite simply… forget about this game of the Mole? We will never win against the Mole anyway. That is why. Let us leave." Joker stood proudly. Everyone looked either troubled or humored at Joker's statement.

Dark Pit: Argh. The more sharp and good-looking a guy is…the more obnoxious they are. I'm just convinced now!

"LEAVE THE GAME?! AHHHH! WE CAN'T JUST DO THAT! NOOOOO!" DK yelled in horror, clutching his face. The ape seemed charged up on coffee, banana crepes...and whatever energy that always seemed to power him to survive every episode...unlike the other tired, stress-ridden four each episode.

"I CAN'T LEAVE THIS GAME!"

"He's joking," Dark Pit sighed.

"You are only saying that, Joker…" Lucina whispered, smiling at him, "so that we are riled up. Silly…you often are." The princess in the white coat smiled to him.

"Am I?" Joker replied, winking at her. Dark Pit rolled his eyes. Isabelle looked lost, but smiled. DK slammed the ground...hard.

"Yeah! I'm with Lucina here! I'm not getting provoked here by YOU, Joker!" hollered DK happily, banging his chest loudly. "I'M THE KING, REMEMBER? AWHOOOOO!" Joker looked up at him with humor.

"Pssst, he's louder and more super active this morning," Dark Pit whispered to Lucina. "What happened?"

"Do not mind…perhaps he is just…DK," Lucina whispered back.

DK: At this point, I'm convinced….JOKER'S probably the Mole! He most definitely is! I don't care if he's "too obvious"...that's always a trick a traitor might do to get you to not suspect him. His actions at the aurora campsite…he threw water in my mouth that cost us 5,000 coins! It's him! I'm voting for him on Quiz Number 6! And definitely won't get executed!

"And I don't need any coalitions anymore! I can survive on my own," DK boasted proudly.

Joker: But, with someone with many past smart coalition partners…it does raise suspicion on why they're no longer in the game… and you are, DK. That is one reason to suspect him.

"As much as I wish," Lucina began, smiling again, "we cannot…simply jump on a sled and abscond away." But then…her face changed. The princess was thinking…her face different now…and she was no longer smiling.

Lucina: But, I really did not like to admit it… but it was in a sense true, was it not? If one really desired to…could they not simply leave the game on a single sled? At times, I truly felt such emotions. To leave on a carriage away in the land of Castle Siege. To take a bus from the Pokémon land of Lumiose City. But, I did not. I prevented myself.

"Umm…umm.." Isabelle looked at them all, curious. The little dog seemed lost in where to enter the conversation that was going on. But, she smiled regardless, happy. "I'm sure we're a bit agitated and worried for our last game of Episode 6, but let's try our best!"

Isabelle: Just to be honest…I think the Mole is having fun in this game! Because no one truly knows it's them! What a terrible thing…that we're all stressed, but the Mole just isn't! It was just unfair!

A large statue monument of a cannon was in the middle of the town, seemingly built recently and new with shining metal. The players stared at the structure, standing several feet away. Isabelle looked at it with wonder.

"Such a pretty town! With new décor!" Isabelle squealed. "As an assistant mayor, I feel like designing more iconic landmarks in my town!"

"Quite an ambitious statement, Ms. Leafe. If you even have a job to return to anymore, that is," Joker commented calmly with a subtle smile to her. Isabelle let out an immediate little squeal, staring back at the young man in shock.

"What are you even talking about?!" Isabelle gasped. Also at Joker's line, DK coughed loudly, his eyes shooting open.

"What…wait…" Dark Pit, raised his eyebrow, confused at first, but then…he grinned. "Ohhhhhhhhh." He smiled at a nervous-looking DK.

Dark Pit: Finally. Time to interrogate. And I found my target: DK.

"Ah. Yes. Finally. So, DK, we're talking about last night at the campfire now? Cool." Dark Pit said immediately with a smug smile, facing DK. "So…what exactly happened under the aurora skies last night, DK? Nobody mentioned it this morning in the ice hotel breakfast room. Now the topic is back. Awesome. So now...talk."

"Nothing!"

"…What do you mean, 'nothing'?!"

"Nothing happened, I swear! I really promise! I really really really promise promise!"

"I made you FOUR banana crepes and three coffees this morning! So you totally owe me!"

"Whaarghhh! I hate banana crepes, Dark Pit!"

"Your Smash logo is LITERALLY a BANANA!"

"IT'S A TIEEEEEE!"

The two female players rolled their eyes at their argument. Joker chuckled.

Joker: He failed. Hehe. I heard from a little birdie that Dark Pit also attempted to get information from DK and Kazooie the night they snuck out to sabotage my beautiful date, but he failed to. He tried to one-up me and everyone else. But the truth is, I admire his efforts. What makes me realize something though, is this: Dark Pit doesn't give up. One day, somewhere, he'll succeed.

DK: I HOPE it doesn't get revealed that Isabelle quit her job via phone, I said bad things about my family, and that Joker finally cracked and cried! Nope! Definitely not!

"It…does not matter," Lucina sighed softly, putting a hand on Dark Pit's shoulder. "They will not share with us, Dark Pit. Let us not ask them…anymore. I, personally? I do not desire such information." She faced forwards, ready for her next mission.

Dark Pit frowned at her. "Why don't you need vital info? Don't you want more information as a player?" His eyes were slightly suspicious, but then, they just looked lost and annoyed again. But then…his expression changed. As if he had a look of realization.

"Well," Dark Pit whispered, folding his arms, his face now content and, with realization, he smiled just a little. "Sometimes… ignorance is bliss, after all."

Dark Pit: It's true. Sometimes it's better not knowing things. Because all they do is make you over-worry and all stressed and sad. Sometimes…you wish you didn't learn some of the things that you knew. That's life. Some things might be better not knowing.

Isabelle smiled sweetly. "Well…I'll say one thing to help you out, Dark Pit…and that is….5,000 coins were lost! It was due to DK drinking water. Expensive water, if I may add!" Isabelle laughed lightly. DK faced her with a dropped mouth of disbelief.

"Hey… you're not supposed to reveal ANYTHING!" DK stammered, butting in with no choice. "We all promised! And wow…you go about accusing ME?!"

"The one to act with the most of an outburst is usually the guilty one…" Isabelle giggled a little, turning away from DK. "Moley Moley Mole…" DK glared at her.

Lucina stepped forwards, the princess in white looking at them all. "Let's…not try to bring up blame from our past…blame which will destroy our current unity," Lucina spoke up, her voice more soft and forgiving out to the others. "After all…perhaps we should not count the aurora mission. It was all out of our control. The aurora…it made us not us. We must be together…and remain together. Unlike the iceberg mission. How will we succeed in this cold if we do not?" Some of the others grunted begrudgingly, while some of them nodded.

Lucina: We must be unified…against the Mole.

And then…as if something had just activated….almost as if a cue was signaled and it was time to finally be released…they all heard a small shout.

"Hello! I'm here to announce the rules of the next game!"

And they all turned to see Smash Host. And for a while…for almost ten minutes…he had been leaning against the metal cannon statue in the middle of the town…watching them all. And the others couldn't help but believe that in a way…he had been observing and studying them for quite a while, unbeknownst to them…quietly…covertly…to see how the final five interacted together. How they talked. How the final group of five interconnected. Now, in his own thicker-than-usual coat, and a more-than-suspicious smile of softness, Smash Host finally approached them all.

The top-hatted man's eyes were wide with adventure.

"I am glad to see the final five players well and healthy...hopefully you still will all be after this next and final game of Episode 6," Smash Host began, as the players shuffled and eyed each other nervously. "You will have great futures ahead of you. Don't you?" The host turned with a smile, to the player standing all the way to the left...to Joker. "Joker Amamiya...student currently of great school Shujin Adademy...you bragged this morning at the ice hotel how you've been accepted to the prestigious, elite University of Tokyo. What an honor." Joker folded his arms immediately.

"Indeed," Joker nodded, managing a smile. "I suppose you're all playing with an intellectual mastermind now, I'm afraid".

"That is amazing!" Isabelle squealed. "Congrats!" The players clapped, and so did the host. But Joker eyed the host carefully...and his eyes became beady, and his face turned into a scowl. It was an odd clap that the host was doing...off-beat. As if it was forced.

"And Dark Pit...when you leave this game, you don't have to see anyone else here again...that's a good future for you, isn't it?" Smash Host continued. Everyone laughed around the dark angel with light-hearted humor. Dark Pit himself looked a bit flustered, if not embarrassed.

"No way!" DK hollered, laughing.

"It's not like you'd miss anyone...no...it's not like...you like anyone in this game, right?" Smash Host said, but there was a nuance in his tone of voice...a slight change that only Dark Pit picked up. And at this line...Dark Pit stopped. And stared at the host, mouth dropped, stunned.

"Nevertheless. Let's not talk about the future. Let's talk about now. Are you all ready for your next game?"

"Yes!"

"Well…here's your chance to make up that money…money lost on an iceberg mountain…and also money lost at an interesting campsite yesterday," the host began. And everyone turned to him. It was time for a new mission. And towards the final stages of their Episode 6. He looked a bit with seriousness to the players. "This…game is a scary game."

"Umm…scary...what...just…what are we playing?" Isabelle asked nervously to him, her face showing confusion.

"The game is called…Man vs. God!"

MISSION 13: MAN VS. GOD

He opened his arms to the icy, snowy town before them. The icy village of blinding blue was mysterious...beautiful…but despite that, too small to explore. But the players were confused. For there was nothing significant in their very town, and also behind the town itself, and nothing was anywhere in the distance to see.

Or at least, not yet.

Lucina: Then we saw…something unnerving. Terrifying in the distance. And...it truly did not seem real.

"What…LOOK...behind the town!" And suddenly, what truly caught their eyes amidst a snow-like expanse of land that existed beyond the ice buildings of the town…was something which had transpired in a quick, unnatural time span of just a few seconds upon the distant land. It was a hasty creation against nature that caused them to gasp as they looked out into their distance, onto the white expanse of land past their village. Because what seemed to have formed, and what was in the white land beyond the edge of the town…was the existence of something terrifying that seemed to be in an image of a tornado of whirling, mercilessly snow. The players stepped back in their spots with caution, seeing the large, terrifying creation. It was a cyclone.

Isabelle: I just…could not believe my eyes. Not even for just one single second. IT WAS A SNOW STORM?!

WHIRRRRRRRRRROOOOO!

"That…blizzard! It looks like a…twister!" And …at the command and words of the host…it seemed to grow stronger and larger.

WHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOO!

"What in the world!?" The players gasped again: the large, snowy blizzard seemed to have come alive in their distance all in the span of just the past thirty seconds, becoming a storm that could suck up either a large ice building with enough power if it were close by, or even the largest of players in their group. They saw whirlwinds carrying flurries of snow through the air in erratic movements, and they felt its wind...even from nearly half a mile away. No villagers were near its presence: with no doubt would unsuspecting small civilians be sucked into the snowy abyss if one were to have gotten too close. It was as if a mini-hurricane of whiteness itself existed in the distance, just only a little bit beyond the town, and they stared at the sight with wonder…and horror.

Joker shook his head, laughing in shock. He held onto his mask, his cape now billowing fully and grandly in the strong wind, as he stepped back. "Hmm. I must say…this is worse than anything we have seen before…is it not? So strong…let's not get sucked up, shall we?"

"Stop joking!" DK yelled. "It CAN'T suck us up…can it?!"

"We have to go through…THAT CYCLONE BLIZZARD OF SNOW?!" Isabelle squealed. "NOO! That's just too scary!" The players were stunned in disbelief.

"Yes…you must cross those blizzards…" Smash Host said, trying to be heard over increased volume in the town. "Possibly maybe three times, in fact!"

"Three times?!" Dark Pit groaned. "Argh!"

"Let me explain." Turning their attention away from the frightening, blistering blizzard, the players looked to the host. And suddenly…the wind in the air seemed to stop suddenly around them. As if there was a break in the laws of nature, the blizzard in the distance slowly began to disintegrate. It began to disappear…and the players were stunned in silence. There was no more cyclone.

"It…it disappeared," Lucina gasped, almost in as much fear of the sudden change of nature as she was of the now-gone blizzard. "Where did it go? I…don't understand. How did it form…and how did it go?"

"For this game… in order to win…four of you will have to travel from this very snowy town called Town 1…and onwards to Town 2, and then town 3…and then reach the final town, Town 4. If four of you reach the final Town 4 in ninety minutes…well done! I congratulate you. You win the grand total of this game…of 25,000 coins."

"Nice! Yes! Back to lots of money!" DK smashed his fists together and grinned to the others. "I want those twenty-five G'S! Let's make it! Deadly snow tornadoes won't stop us!"

"When do the blizzards come in?" Joker smirked, his eyes shining. "We had just seen a callous blizzard form before our eyes, no?"

Smash Host paused. "Between each town…we have manipulated fictional blizzards to hinder your progress. Winds of up to 110 miles per hour will be blowing about between each town. We know: we created them." The players' eyes were open with shock.

"You can just… CREATE blizzards?" Isabelle gasped. "That really is against the protocols for making towns! I am certain, Smash Host!"

"We know that you know," Smash Host winked.

"A hundred and ten miles per hour seems…inordinately intense," Joker chimed in, hand to his mouth. "I hope none of us sabotage via passing away in the cold winds."

"Hey, y'all! Stop complaining and sounding scared!" DK yelled to him, laughing, and looking like the only excited player out of the five. "This sounds super awesome! DANGERRRR AND SNOW! WHAHAY!" Nobody else seemed to share the large ape's sentiments.

DK: Come on! You don't live forever! Might as well pass away in a fun way! Hahaha…just kidding! I want to survive this game, of course!

"So after Town 1…and Town 2…and Town 3…we have to face a treacherous blizzard each?" Lucina wanted to confirm. "I…" She seemed stunned. "It does not seem safe. If the blizzards are as potent as the one we had just witnessed…" She closed her eyes, shuddering.

"And…I dare wonder… why you said 'four' players instead of five," Joker asked with a curved smile, raising his eyebrow with a smile to the host. "You don't suppose…" And Smash Host looked right back at him, right at the player who noticed right away. And he smiled, too.

'Because one of you…will be trying to stop the rest." And there was a gasp and chill among the players, amplified by the air.

"…..NOOOOOO! EXEMPTIOOOOON!" DK yelled loudly with exclamation and dread, hands and big palms on his face.

"Yes," Smash Host smiled. "Aren't you all glad to hear that someone will get an exemption this episode?"

"You've got to be freakin' kidding me," Dark Pit stuttered, moaning. "No! Why another one? Why every episode?!"

Dark Pit: How many damn! ….I mean, darn…exemptions are there gonna be? Okay, I'll try to stop cursing in my confessionals. Sheesh. BUT THERE'RE SO MANY!

"This game is called Man vs. God. For each town, there will be a race of four men against God…three races in total," the host explained. "Four players must finish a task and retrieve a certain item, then make their way across the snowy land that exists between each town. And let me tell you this…there will be no blizzard…as long as your group of four is fast enough in retrieving your object and can cross the snowy mile-long portions of land between the towns quickly enough…if so, the blizzard will not start, and you can run across the snowy land as it remains empty. You can avoid a snowstorm. Reprieve as a reward for speed." He paused. "Unless…unless the lone player beats you first in their own separate task. And once they finish their task…they can press a button…and start the storm." The players gasped in realization at the rules, but nodded.

"So we must complete our own tasks quickly…before the lone player begins the storm," Lucina whispered. "A storm to hinder…and destroy us."

"Man…so whoever is the lone player is LITERALLY mother nature," DK stammered, shaking his head. "Oh man! This is getting INTENSE! You're indeed making one of us God!"

DK: I like fun games! But…not if they're going to perish us like THIS! I wanna make it to the final round…and win, ya know?! Win 'The Mole'! For my friends and family! The ones I don't hate!

"So…like…haha…who's…going to be the lone player?" Dark Pit asked with an involuntary gulp.

"Oh my gosh…yes! Who is it?" Isabelle gasped with anticipation.

"You." And Smash Host pointed to one player within the group. Everyone took an involuntary step away from them…from their enemy of the game.

"…" The host was pointing at Lucina. And the warrior herself, who suddenly clutching her chest in surprise, was silent with widened eyes. Everyone now faced the princess.

"I..." She stopped, trying to collect her own words. "Smash Host…are you stating that it is me?" the princess gasped, turning to the others. She swallowed, trying to compose and hold back her look of surprise. "...please elaborate, Smash Host, your reasoning of choice. I don't understand, and I'm sure the others are perplexed as well." The others were silent for a second, staring at her.

"What?!" DK stammered.

"Hmm…" Joker put a hand to his chin. He smiled at Lucina, looking at her eyes. "I suppose you will be betraying us very well…princess."

"That is not even confirmed yet," Lucina began, shaking her head at him. As the others looked at her, they couldn't help but see the snow fell gently on her white, dress-like coat. But in the end, she was, for their game to come in the icy, snowy land, possibly be something else. A God…and potentially...a betrayer in white.

Lucina shook her head.

Dark Pit: I didn't get it. Why her?

Lucina: For why was I chosen as the betrayer? It did not make sense.

DK: If Lucina was the Mole…we were screwed! Sometimes I consider that she could really actually be the Mole, if she was it. It was possible!

"I was watching you all interact while standing by the new cannon statue," Smash Host explained, as the others listened with wide eyes. "And Lucina…when you interacted with those around you… you interacted the most in a…positive, cordial manner. Supporting and bringing harmony to the others, or at least I observed it to be. You had a sense of unity. Symbolic of being a peacemaker." Lucina opened her mouth, her eyes displaying an image of heavy shock, not knowing what to say in her reply.

"I…" Lucina began. "I really don't understand the reason of choosing…but I accept it…though I am quite…lost still. What time of selection method is that?" She shook her head in disbelief again, and she decided not to talk anymore.

"I see," Joker immediately began, looking first at Lucina, but now, his eyes becoming accusatory and having a realization towards the host of the game himself. "So you're choosing the most cultivated, unifying, teamwork-prone person to be separated from the others…and you give them the role to betray us?"

"I do not wish to betray in this mission," Lucina tried to counter. "It's not noble. And it is not honorable. And I stand for nobility and honor."

Smash Host smiled. "It's the game," he said.

Joker: Hmm. Not surprised.

Dark Pit: Wow, Smash Host , that's bull-

"We need to make things equal," Smash Host finished, shrugging. "But, I did not make these rules."

"Oh…yes, you did," Joker smirked. "It's always how this game has worked." He laughed. "To make cynics of us all. This has always been an evil game." Joker sighed, waving his hand. "It is not just the Mole against us in this game. It is the game producers too." He gave a smirk of trickery out to Smash Host. "And as we now know…the host of our game himself. How fascinating." Smash Host paused at his statement. But he just ignored it.

"Hmm..." Joker then turned to Lucina with a smirk. "Or maybe you tried to display a sense of unity...so you'd be chosen as the betrayer of our game." He folded his arms. "A clever move, princess. A very...clever move." The princess looked surprised at his sentence, displaying an expression of dissent with her concerned, disagreeing eyes.

"You speak...of ridiculous notions," Lucina stated with another shake of her head, looking away. "That I would plan this..."

"But it would be ridiculous to say that it wasn't possible," he replied nonchalantly. Lucina did not face back.

Dark Pit: Joker was right. Maybe she did somehow plan this...and was the mastermind of it all and was pretending. Lucina is smart enough, and if it was possible...it was actually perfect and subtle.

"The rules are simple," Smash Host finished. "Lucina…if you can stop all of the others from reaching the final town within ninety minutes…via blizzards, and possibly other surprise obstacles…then you keep 20,000 coins out of the pot…5,000 coins for each player you prevent from the end. The game is worth 25,000 coins, so fear not, as you get a guaranteed 5,000 no matter what."

"Lol. Cause we're that pathetic?" Dark Pit realized.

"But, lone player…you must stop all four to secure the win for yourself." He stopped. "And as declared, Lucina…if you succeed… you will receive an important exemption for yourself. A free pass…into the final four of the game." Lucina's eyes widened.

"The…final four…" she repeated. "No…"

"Everyone got the rules?" Smash Host spoke quickly, looking at everyone. "Good! Let us start, shall we?"

"But. I must speak up. Smash Host." Everyone turned to Lucina, and her eyes were now in a state showing heavy disagreement, confliction, as if having a magnitude of various thoughts flowing her mind. In her white coat…she was their enemy… but she still appeared, from her face, a sense of both indecisive…and guilty.

Lucina: For truly…I felt the presence of those who had fallen beforehand. Spirits. Lucario saying to not take the exemption. Peach showing disdain for such terrible acts. I could not just do actions on my own. I had others, haunting me, pulling me...

Lucina turned to Smash Host hesitantly, then to the players, then…she closed her eyes and spoke. "What what if I choose…not to betray? To not lose honor and nobility? To retain noble?" Everyone was silent at the young warrior's sentence. "Is that against the rules? Will a penalty be administered?" Smash Host's eyes looked differently, thinking. Everyone else looked at Lucina hard.

"...WHOA, WHAT?" DK shouted. "But...wait...you have to! You have to betray us! Don't you?!"

"A choice…not to betray us?" Joker repeated with disbelief and surprise, folding his arms. Everyone looked at the princess, who looked both sorry and conflicted. And they were all silent.

Joker: An expected statement by the princess…but at this stage of the game, it was quite unexpected to hear.

Dark Pit: I really didn't know what her decision would be. But damn, if I was in her situation…I'd think I'd just take the exemption.

And the silence continued.

"Uh…uh…" DK began, trying to break the awkwardness.

Until someone spoke up loudly.

Isabelle flashed a smile to her, and cheerfully began to peak. "Lucina…remember you told me before, very far back in Episode 2, when we were in the hotel by the Fountain of Dreams and the Galaxy…that you have to take on different roles in this game? I now realize…it's true!" she spoke happily, her eyes lit up and face showing the cheeriest of cheery. Lucina turned to her with surprised eyes. "And for this role…you just have to betray! But it doesn't take away at all from your true personality at all! Remember that? You're still going to be a good person. Because this…it's just a small role confined within a very small game! And we sometimes have roles! But in the end…they aren't us!" Everyone listened to her words.

"I…" Lucina's eyes were wider than ever. Her thoughts were deep, as she closed her eyes.

Lucina: I thought…so carefully…and then I decided that…

"I guess…you are right…you may actually be right and correct, Isabelle… in a way," Lucina considered, nodding very slowly in decision. And then her eyes changed. "Yes. I suppose I will take the temporary role then." She paused, to add one more sentence." One that does not reflect my true self."

"Go for it, Lucina!" Isabelle encouraged, smiling.

"Yeahhhh!" DK continued in support, his mind and face looking obviously changed. "I want a CHALLENGE! If you don't give us a challenge, then what's the FUUUUNN?!" The ape turned to his teammates with a face of inspiration and determination. "We can still BEAT this game, even with Lucina trying her hardest! Right?"

"I must concur," Joker nodded, smiling just the tiniest bit. "Betray us well, princess." He winked, folding his arms and smiling.

"Let's do this!" Isabelle cheered.

"…Are you guys all serious?" Dark Pit moaned. "You're all joking. Please tell me you're joking..."

"Don't be afraid if a few people succeed in stopping you, however," Joker said, and he turned to Lucina and winked. And Lucina looked with conflicted, heavy feelings at her four opponents.

And she then, just a little bit, she managed to smile herself.

"Okay…for this game…I will play a terrible role that we, unfortunately, are all familiar with. I will be playing the role of the saboteur."

And the slowly-reappearing blizzard in the distance, as if it had a life of its own, roared just gently.

---

Mission: Man vs. God

Goal: To beat and survive through three blizzards…or stop others with the forces of your power.

Rules: Four players must find an object within a town to move on. After each town, however… they will have to face a ferocious blizzard. But in twist, if the team can achieve an object in sufficient speed, they would be able to avoid a blizzard before it initiates. However, one lone player will be working to stop the others. If they are able to complete a special individual task, they would be able to initiate the deadly storm fast enough to potentially hinder the group. Each stopped player would cost 5,000 coins. If the lone player, however, could stop all four players from reaching the final goal in ninety minutes, then an exemption would be theirs to keep.

Game Start: In 5 Minutes

Current Status: Bathroom Break

"You all must stay together as a group." Dark Pit was reading off a piece of paper given to them from their very host. "If a person is considered at least fifty feet away from the majority of the others…they are considered lost and gone…whoa. Dark." He gulped.

"Then I suppose none of us should be going off on strange, odd missions," Joker began carefully, eyeing his opponents with a side glance and a smile. "Should we?

"Umm, no way!" Isabelle spoke. "That's just really ridiculous if any of us does!"

"Gee. Look who's finally here." Coming back from after using the unconventional ice restroom, DK was grinning at them. He stood before his three teammates. Like a king.

"I decided, as I was in the bathroom…that I am the LEADER!" he roared. The other three looked at him in confusion.

"Uhh…?" Dark Pit said. "Are we seriously going through this crap again?"

"Yes…'I am leader'…as said Julius Caesar before Brutus took the throne from him," Joker smiled, but his eyes showed subtle threat to the monkey.

"HUMPHHH." DK grumbled in exasperation so loudly that it was enough to scare anyone near their cannon statue starting point. "I wanna be the leader though!" DK kept on wailing, hitting the snow in front of him with his fists, one after another. I wanna be it! I wanna!" Dark Pit sighed.

"Um...have like...none of you noticed? Heh…" Dark Pit sighed with humor. Everyone turned to the player.

"Notice…umm…what?" DK asked, scratching his head.

"Everyone's who's literally ever been made leader or given an important role…has been executed. Fox…Peach…Lucario…" Everyone was silent, blank faces. The only sound was the snow falling around them. Fallen to the ground like their past teammates and friends.

"Holy crap…you're right," DK croaked, voice dropped.

"I relinquish this potential leader role…to someone else," Joker laughed. "Isabelle…may you lead this town instead? You'll need a new job, after all."

"Hmm!" She faced away from them all. "I am smarter than you'll ever be…whether it be at sorting files at an administration desk, taking notes…or leading and designing an entire village!"

"I think I'd be an excellent mayor, personally," Joker said with a smile and tip of his mask to her. "After I graduate from the University of Tokyo, I believe I'll have a hard time deciding which job offer of many to take. If I were to accept the job as mayor of an animal island, I wouldn't be sent off-balance by such odd things...such as a maniacal phone call at 2am from my secretary."

"As if I'd trust a human to lead a group of animals," Isabelle glared back.

"Jeez….you guys…" Dark Pit slammed his forehead. "You two have been fighting a lot more recently than ever before. What happened?"

"We're supposed to be a TEAM! We have to beat Lucina! We can't be falling apart already!" DK tried to tell them happily. "LET'S WIIIIIINNNNNNN!"

"Oh, humph! …you're right." Isabelle said, and she settled down a bit. Joker let out an amused breath, but nodded.

"RAWWR! I'm ready to kill Lucina! Maybe she's the Mole!" DK shouted, smiling, ready and teeth bared. "Or maybe it's one of you guys too! So let's play! LET'S DO THISSSSSSSSS! AWHOOOO AWHOOOOOO!" He began hitting and slapping the ground violently. Dark Pit and the others backed away from him.

Dark Pit: …has there ever been like five minutes where DK has not been overly-excited and agitated in this game?

DK: MY NAME IS DK THE CONQUEROR! DK THE INVINCIBLE IN THE SNOWY ICE! I AM LEADER! I AM WINNER!"

"Oi…vey," Dark Pit said, slapping his forehead.

Joker folded his arms, smiling. "As second-in-command leader then, DK…I command you to not cause a ruckus and cause destruction to anyone," Joker stated, and he stared off into the distance of the town. "Unless…they are to cause destruction to us first." The players were quiet.

Dark Pit: If the goddess Lucina is actually, truly the Mole of our game…then her being in the strongest spot of power for our game...we actually all were really doomed.

The others looked and saw the land that separated their town from the next town. It was white…nearly the length of a mile long…but most importantly…there was no blizzard yet. But the question they were all wondering was: where was the one player who they were to fight against. Where was their enemy for the game?

---

Lucina's blue eyes darted across the room with both curiosity and fear. It was a control room with flashing lights that emitted from a control panel of indistinguishable buttons…and also from shining screens on the wall ahead of her. On her left, Lucina saw three particular blue buttons, glowing faintly. She gasped...then shook her head with misery and misfortune.

"Blizzards...three beautiful, potential blizzards," she whispered, barely audibly, as if the princess was afraid someone would hear her. On her right, to the side of the control table, she spotted a mug upon the table, a single name imprinted across it: 'Toadette'. Lucina looked at it, and was still with curiosity.

"It is me…who must betray. But where is the honor in this? How can I be noble, taking this role this game?" Sitting in her chair, she waited, impossible-to-contain thoughts through the young woman's eyes. Screens were covering nearly every part of the large wall in front of her, above the control panel. A gallery of screens…almost like a museum of pleasure for someone like a voyeur…was at her disposal. She could see nearly one-hundred images before her…of snowy and icy lands, of towns, and people…and in the top left, she saw the four players, waiting for their game. Four people she would soon be sabotaging mercilessly…upon her will.

Smash Host wheeled over to her spot on his own rolling chair, grinning. He flashed a smile to the princess next to him. Lucina's eyes widened.

"Hello! How does it feel…being alone?" Smash Host asked her. Lucina seemed shocked in face at his question…but she smiled a bit and answered calmly.

"Just for this game only…I am alone," she replied calmly, trying not to look bothered in expression….but her eyes changed just slightly to one of troubled thoughts.

Lucina: But, was it true? The aspect that being alone was just only for this single game? It is the final five after all...things have assuredly, undoubtedly changed.

"These are the blizzards." Smash Host slightly smiled. And before her, on a control panel by her hands, among the thousands of buttons and switches that lit up in colorful patterns and colors…Smash Host motioned to just three blue switches towards the left side of the panel. "If you flick one…you begin a beautiful creation. A creation…to sabotage." Lucina gasped at the learning and confirmation.

"A…terrible blizzard. As said before, during the rules…I must complete a special task, before being allowed to press one?" Lucina confirmed with uncertainty in her voice. Smash Host nodded.

"A task, yes. Maybe physical, but more so…mental" he elaborated. "Thinking. Like…a game. A puzzle. A riddle."

"A riddle…" Lucina voiced, as the host just listened to her words. The young woman of royalty let out a sad smile that was with a bit of misfortune. "Smash Host…like this entire game has been to me with each game and step I take. I suppose I can easily do three more." Smash Host couldn't help but smile slightly back at the princess.

Lucina: It has been a riddle…my role in this game, my identity even, and even this entire game…even since the first day. How do you solve it? Well…some riddles and some questions cannot be solved and do not have answers, I believe.

Lucina looked at the plethora of screens before her.

"Your game begins in one minute," said the host. "There are water bottles under this cabinet if you get thirsty. There are ninety minutes on this clock until the game ends." He pointed to the upper-left screen…at the other players…who were ready to begin. "Prevent all four of them from reaching Town 4 in the time allotted of ninety minutes…and you win the exemption. An item that everyone desires…except for the Mole." Lucina listened with understanding, looking at the screens too.

The princess looked at him with concerned eyes. "I…I don't know if this game will be easy or difficult…" Lucina began hesitantly, guilt in her voice. Smash Host looked at her with interest.

"I see you're at a crossroad of conflicts," the host said, smiling. Lucina smiled back, sadly.

"I have reached the final five. I've felt such conflict many times before up to this point."

"And so you face yet another one. Lucina…are you ready to begin the game? A game where you openly deceive?" Smash Host said slowly. And his own gloved hand was above his very own red button on the control panel. The beginning of the mission.

Lucina took in a deep breath.

Lucina: So where do my morals stand? In how I should play the next ninety minutes? I trusted what the voice inside me was telling me. And it was telling me...to play my role.

"I am ready to play whatever my role requires me to bring." She paused. "Be it a conjurer of awful blizzards…be it…I daresay…the God of our games for the next ninety minutes." Smash Host nodded.

And his hand hovered over his own red button, ready to press it.

"We begin. Three…two…one…"

---

"GOOOO!"

At the blaring of a horn above the very cannon statue, the four players darted off into the icy town of glistening buildings, small villagers, and beautiful sculptures of snow and ice. Ninety minutes was on the clock…to prevent a very dreaded exemption that each four of them all secretly feared.

GAME START!

90 MINUTES

DK jumped into the center of the quaint, icy town.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE WE LOOKING FOR?!" DK yelled, jumping forwards and landing in the middle of the icy, brick path. "Someone help us! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" At his shout, everyone in the village, or rather, every short, miniature-sized ice climber-looking townsperson, turned to the group of four.

DK: Panic! Panic!

Dark Pit: Yes, DK…when we have to cleverly focus on a game and decide our next course of actions…let us just PANIC LOUDLY AND NOT THINK, SHALL WE NOT?!

"You gotta help us!" DK yelled, grabbing a little eskimo man by his shoulders and shaking him. "We gotta find an object! ARE YOU EVEN PART OF OUR GAME?!"

The little ice climber man fainted...nearly.

"Oh my gosh…over there! Heehee!" Isabelle squealed, looking to their right. She pointed excitedly to the edge of the town. Something existed….something shining…something unimaginably large..

"What the heck?! THAT'S SO FRICKEN' BEAUTIFUL!" At the edge of the town, a large pile of ice cubes exited, forming almost a certain, unbelievable shape: a crystal pyramid itself. It towered almost as tall as a building itself, and the players stared at the structure formation of ice in awe, wondering: was it their next location, special for their mission? A sign, sticking out from the snow, was beside it.

"Hmm…let us walk slowly to that…not-suspicious icicle pyramid and trustworthy sign," Joker ordered suspiciously. "Off. We only have ninety minutes, after all." The four unsuspecting players walked their way hastily towards the large ice formation, reaching it quickly, and though it obviously wasn't as colossal as the icy mountain they were forced to ride upon and hurtle towards the sea upon the day before, it was large enough to stun them at its size. They stared at the cubes before them: the pyramid was large, and sat right at the edge of the town, a few feet past the buildings.

"What does the sign say next to the pyramid?" DK asked, picking it out of the ground and waving it in the air. "Read it! READ IT TO ME!"

"Can't you read it yourself?" Dark Pit said, eyeing him weirdly.

"Ahem…" Joker began. "Your task begins here at this pyramid of ice. Search for the cannonball." Joker stopped. "Hmm…there is no riddle…or rhyming."

Joker: And that, to me, was immediately, above all things else…suspicious. I am a riddle master, after all.

"This is quite a simple sign…compared to the super scary one at that cave exit I saw on Day 1, written by the Mole," Isabelle giggled.

"But I must wonder and ask: where is the subtle riddle?" Joker repeated out loud. "Do you spot one?" Dark Pit turned to him, confused.

"What do you mean, Joker?" Dark Pit asked him, looking at him curiously.

"Well, WHAT are we waiting for?!" DK shouted, as if he didn't hear anything that was being discussed, his large arms looming over the base of the ice mountain, having been warming up his hands. "Let's START DIGGING!" He grinned, his teeth bared, like an animal ready to dig into his plate of delicious food. Dark Pit and Isabelle stepped back from him. Joker cleared his throat, trying to grin and take lead.

"Why don't we first—"

And at DK's hit…the players were sent back.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! Fist after fist, DK dug into the large body of ice, each throw of his arm displacing ice from the hill itself and throwing it into the air…mercilessly hitting into the faces of his teammates.

Dark Pit sputtered ice chunks out of his mouth and shook them from his hair. "Ugh…nice mission beginning…" Isabelle laughed.

"Well…I may be small, but I'm gonna help dig too!" Isabelle began happily, and, looking excited too, she began using her paws to dig away at the large mound of snow.

Joker smiled…and shrugged in defeat, putting on his gloves once again. "I am smart…and will help with a sense of doubt."

And soon, ice flying everywhere, all four players were searching for the cannonball within the pyramid of ice. A cannonball that didn't exist.

---

GAME START: 90 MINUTES

Smash Host laid a series of letters in front of Lucina below the panel's button. Her face immediately turned alarmed.

Lucina: My game to sabotage had begun.

"What is…this?" she asked immediately with surprise, carefully looking at the displayed items for her. But she immediately knew, and swallowed, nervous but ready to begin her game. As the host shuffled the letters more, Lucina felt as if she was to be patient, but after just few seconds, the host stepped back. And smiled.

L-R-Y-P-A-A-E

"Good luck." The first race had begun.

RACE ONE: BEGIN

Lucina looked at the letters. "So this is," she began, taking a breath, "my own, individual task. To begin a storm. To betray, perhaps." She said the last sentence with hesitancy in her voice and eyes.

Lucina: I knew in my heart that I had already decided to, unfortunately, do so. It just seemed difficult to say it out loud.

"Indeed. Begin now. The players will be succeeding soon." The host looked at the letters as well with a smile. "To be specific about this certain, first task…it is an anagram task."

"A word?" Lucina spoke with realization. She looked at the letters before her with concentrating eyes.

"A simple challenge," the host began. "Using these seven letters…you must spell out a player."

---

83 MINUTES LEFT

"Keep digging!"

"I'm digging!"

"No, you're not! You're definitely not!"

Smash after super strong smash, by all four players, ice flew everywhere. The pyramid of blue crystal was being destroyed minute after minute, sinking down and losing its stability. All four players did their best to chip at its outer layer of cubes, and now, they started to see the inside of it closer. The ice cubes had only been disguising what was under the initial surface: they faced glass.

"There's a glass wall under the ice layer?!" Dark Pit shouted. "What! Nooooooo!"

Dark Pit: It was an entire pyramid of glass. Ugh! The game became nearly impossible!

DK: Dark Pit didn't seem to be breaking the glass! He was clearly the Mole! He sabotages and pretends he just doesn't! Can't believe someone like him could be it! I'm watching him!

Joker: I don't think Dark Pit could be the Mole. But yes, he could be. He was me about one and a half years ago...but not as smart.

Dark Pit sighed. "Seriously, you're being ridiculous."

"I'll break the glass!" DK yelled happily, raising his fist in the air, above the exposed glass inner layer.

"And throw shards of glass into our precious faces?" Joker said with amused eyes, sighing. "Quite the beautiful result, DK. To prepare, first of all, where is the ice hospital? So they could assiduously remove the beautiful shards in our eyes to come?" DK glared to him.

"Then what do we DO?!"

"Oh my gosh…so there are more ice cubes inside," Isabelle whispered, pressing her face against the glass to look closer. "I think we have to break...those!" The players saw that within the blue pyramid, large ice cubes existed, each one as big as their heads, waiting to be broken.

Joker sighed, amused, but willing to play. "I do not sense a cannonball anywhere in there, but let us continue searching." Everyone nodded…but was silent. Dark Pit thought.

"Super, duper weird, I think. Why cannonball?" Dark Pit asked out loud, as everyone faced him. "Such a weird object. So random." He looked at the large cubes in the glass. Though very dark inside, he could see clearly that each one of them was transparent. See through. Empty.

Dark Pit: Then, it hit me.

"There has to be a catch," Dark Pit said suddenly.

Joker smiled, folding his arms and looking at him. "What makes you think such, Dark Pit?"

"Well," the angel said, looking at the inside of the glass pyramid, "first of all, we can clearly see that there are no cannonballs in any of those cubes."

"Umm! I think I see something!" DK cried, pointing.

"That's just your shadow," Joker pointed out.

"Are you saying that the cannonball is not even in this ice pyramid at all?" Isabelle gasped, cold hands on her head. "All that digging for nothing?!"

"That's what I was thinking," Joker nodded, and he jumped off his small ice ledge, back to the normal ground. Whoosh!

Joker: There was most certainly a riddle.

Then, he walked to the nearby, precious sign. He looked to the sign, reading it again and folding his arms. The other stared at its message again, getting down and joining him.

Your task begins here at this pyramid of ice. Search for the cannonball.

"I don't get it!" DK began. "Are we wasting time…or are we not?! I'm gonna break the glass!"

"Wait. I totally get it," Dark Pit began. "The message doesn't necessarily say that the cannonball is in this large ice pyramid." Dark Pit was explaining with realization, pointing at the sign's words. "It's just that we begin here. But…perhaps the truth is that the cannonball is actually just…elsewhere."

Isabelle gasped and covered her mouth. "So we jumped to conclusions!?"

Isabelle: Oh…this game is so evil! Always tricking us!

"Clever," Joker nodded, clapping his hands. "I suppose we are now on the right track now." He smiled at Dark Pit. "We credit you. Our hero." Dark Pit looked surprised, wide eyed, mouth curving into a small smile.

"Well…actually…you're the one who made me think outside the box…umm, pyramid," Dark Pit told him. "You mentioned that it was weird that there was no riddle."

"But the truth is…there's always a riddle for us somewhere," Joker replied, grinning, winking back. "Well done." Dark Pit nodded…smiling too.

Dark Pit: Are we finally solving this game out? Are we finally beating its riddles? Can we overturn and beat it all together? Sometimes...I think it's possible.

"So…cannonball?" DK asked, scratching his head.

"There's a metal cannon statue in the middle of the town," Isabelle giggled, pointing back at behind them and at the center of the snow village. "Maybe it's related? Maybe it's not!" Everyone was still for a second.

"…that CANNON STATUE! AHHH! YES! Why didn't we think of that before?!" DK shouted right away. "We must go to it! ONWARDS, MY SNOW DOGS!" He faced back, towards the town behind him with excitement, and so did everyone else.

"That's so offensive...we're both animals here," Isabelle sighed, but they all followed him. The shiny cannon…the one the host had been standing next to in the beginning…seemed to be like a revered statue in the middle of icy village. But it was more than that, they had discovered. It was their step to victory. And as all four players began running to the metal cannon, success became closer.

And so did success for Lucina.

---

79 Minutes Remaining

As Lucina looked to the screen and witnessed the events of the game, she covered her mouth in surprise. The four players were heading towards the cannon in the icy town's center.

"I believe they are succeeding," she surmised with a bit of caution, and tried to face Smash Host for confirmation. But the top-hatted man did not reply, and only smiled, sitting back in his chair.

"Hmm…" Lucina smiled softly herself, shaking her head. Seeing that the host was of no help to either her riddle, nor her own personal various questions or inquiries, the Ylisse princess faced back to the letters before her….ones that she had tried shuffling twenty times so far.

E-R-L-A-P-Y-A

"Spell a contestant's name," she whispered to herself, the task on her mind. "The meaning…what is it? Just what is the meaning?"

Lucina: I needed to block all else and all other thoughts around me. I needed to concentrate. For I was tasked to beat the others. But, embarrassingly… I could not even spell a contestant's name with seven little letters.

"These letters…I do not see an answer…." She looked at the stone letters again…and rearranged them once more.

A-R-Y-L-A-P-E

"Ape…could it be…DK?" she questioned out loud, thinking. "No…I don't suppose so…it is something else." She turned to the host. But the host remained silent, facing away and smiling.

Lucina: A smiling poker face. For he was trained well, no? Someone like him could be the Mole as well.

Lucina took a deep breath, trying to get his attention. "I do have one question, Smash Host… and that is…could you repeat your rules? The sentence you had stated earlier?" she asked, trying to break the silence of the closed-mouth, grinning host. The princess was still in heavy thinking of the game that was bestowed upon her, and she had a request. Smash Host didn't speak for a second…but then, he got up and nodded.

"That, I can do," the host spoke. "Using these letters…you must spell out a player." Lucina's eyes stared at the host, and then she nodded, then looked back at her table. The seven letters faced her...like enemies of her own.

"A single player…for it does not have to be a player in this game," she spoke silently, almost as if thinking her new thoughts out loud. "A player…from another game…or a past game…?" She looked at the mysterious name on the mug to her right, on the control panel surface, printed, bold letters: 'Toadette'.

And she thought heavily.

Lucina: What was the answer? Was it a player in a game that was not our current, diabolical one? And a curious question was born to me, suddenly: could it be that this game of the Mole, or a similar game, had happened before?

---

75 Minutes Remaining

"Oh my gosh…a cannonball!" Isabelle lifted something from the other side of the cannon statue, hidden under a blanket of snow. She had spotted it.

"Yes!" The other three ran to her. They studied the object itself: it was a stoney, dark, circular ball, large and intimating...and very, very heavy. Next to the cannon statue and with their first object, the players cheered. But Isabelle only frowned at them.

"Hmph! As you can see, I just can't carry this, obviously," she continued. "It's just too heavy for someone smaller like me! Someone else take it, please."

"ME!" DK shouted, jumping up in front of her and almost knocking her to the ground as he grabbed the heavy ball from her. "ME ME ME ME! I will bring you safely to your goal, little one!" He cradled it like a baby with no face. Joker nodded heavily with a shrug.

"I suppose I wouldn't exactly want to be the player designated to carry a twenty pound ball myself for the next seventy or so minutes," Joker spoke with a shrug, chuckling. Then, he faced elsewhere. To the snowy land that existed past the edge of town. "I suppose we go on."

"Where?!" DK asked, carrying his adopted child.

Dark Pit gulped, sighing, expecting a terrible sight as he faced the edge of town, to the empty land of white. "There…that scary land…wait….it's…it's clear? Huh?" Turning to the land that existed past Town 1, his eyes widened. The blizzard which he had seen earlier and was frightened of before…was no more. As the players walked to the edge of the town, and closer to where the blizzard had previously been seen, they were shocked to see that in the distance…almost a mile down from their spot, across the white land of snow…was another town. And it was visible.

"Town 2," DK whispered loudly. "We're free to run to it! Yay! YAYYYY! YAAYYYYYYY!"

"And there's no BLIZZARD?!" Isabelle said with a shout of relief. "Oh my gosh…yes! Didn't want to be sucked up anyway!"

"I suppose Lucina has not yet completed her game…" Joker began, triumphant and relieved, "and because of that…we can complete ours. Hmm." He jumped up upon a rock at the edge of the town. He faced the other three.

"Let's run. Before we realize that we took this peaceful game…for granted."

Isabelle: I don't think Lucina is the Mole! She couldn't be! But if she was...how deceitful, terrible Mole she would truly be indeed!

Dark Pit: I didn't care of Lucina was going to stop me, or if the blizzard was, or even God himself was going to. I was going to go. Go past that storm.

"Ready, guys? Let's GO then!" DK shouted. "Across the land to our destined VICTORY! Let's go to the end, my little cannon baby!" The group of four nodded, then began running across the white expanse before them. Fast step by step through the snow, they ran, their footprints in the ground being left behind them with every heavy step they took. The white openness before them seemed like a land of its own, and though their feet were cold, they were okay, and hopeful. The town in their distance seemed far, but at the same time, close.

Joker: We ran. For we knew we were at the mercy of a God.

For five more minutes, they ran in the snow expanse. All seemed well. And after a few minutes…the town was just one-thousand feet away. They were closer and closer.

Not knowing that a blizzard would be soon to come.

---

"What was your mission that night?"

"Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't sinister at all?"

"I…yes. I would."

"Interesting. So why do you say that?"

"Because I knew you were a good person."

"Hmm. An honor and quite a surprise to be called good."

"We were very different people…even confused each other at times. But despite that…we helped each other. I do not know how, but we were still able to find a bond. I knew we were just two people of our own very different gameplays and goals…trying our best in the game. But we did have something in common: compassion for others…and a desire for good and something better in this world. I am happy to have met you."

---

72 Minutes Remaining

Lucina stopped. She leaned back in her chair. And stifling a gasp...she smiled with an open mouth in quiet realization.

"Hmm?" Seeing the new, odd motion from the Ylisse princess, Smash Host raised his eyebrow. For the first time finally, he had broken his calm, smiling poker face at her.

Lucina: It was, needless to say, victory.

"So just what are you thinking of at the moment, Lucina?" Smash Host asked. And as the host leaned closer to look at her…she saw that the warrior princess was indeed smiling. She closed her eyes.

"Smash Host, I first thought that perhaps what was needed was a name of someone else…perhaps the name of another player in another game played…another game, other than our current, diabolical one," she began, opening her eyes and looking at the screens around her. She looked at the screen above her, at Joker, Dark Pit, Isabelle, and DK running across the snowy land.

"But then, I realized I didn't need a name at all."

"Hmm. Interesting words," Smash Host replied. Lucina closed her eyes, then repeated the instructions the host himself had uttered to her earlier.

"'Using these letters…you must spell out a player," Lucina spoke out loud and grandly. She looked down, knowing.

L-A-P-A-Y-E-R

And then, she leaned forwards again and placed her hands gently on the stone letters once again. And she began rearranging ever so carefully, but ever so confidently at the same time, the seven letters. And, finally, she spelled out the right answer.

A PLAYER

Lucina turned to the host. And now…it was the host's turn to grin.

"...Very well," he said, nodding. "Very well indeed. You completed your first task of three. As host, I can confirm you are indeed right. Now, Lucina…you have this. A new power." And there was a small sound, followed by an emanating light. Among the hundreds of buttons that existed on the control panel to Lucina's left, she saw three small ones on the bottom…and now, the first, left-most switch of the mysterious three was glowing a bright blue. The princess was stunned at first, but then silently, she understood with a heavy heart, looking at the blue, glowing switch of destruction.

Lucina took in a deep breath. "You said that these buttons…are the blizzards. The horrid, cold blizzards."

"Press one of them," Smash Host began with a bigger grin, "and you change the world. And bring yourself just one step closer to an exemption."

"I know." Lucina faced back at the screen above her. She saw four players running across the land of snow that separated the two towns from each other, desperately trying to make it across before anything was to happen to them or appear. The white, large land seemed calm, quiet, peaceful, and void of any danger. As the players ran…they were three-fourths across the halcyon land of quiet snow.

Lucina: I'm sorry.

And then, she pressed the blue switch.

---

68 Minutes Remaining

Dark Pit stopped running. For five minutes, they had all been hopeful, smiling eyes and content looks on their faces, dashing through the snow. But then, their faces changed.

Something felt different in their very air on the land

Joker stopped too…and he stopped midstep..his left foot not even touching the snowy ground in his next step. He took a step backwards instead, perked up….an odd, alert expression on his face. He frowned.

"What? You stopped?! What's wrong with you guys!" DK shouted from ahead of the two young male players, carrying the heavy cannonball above his head and waving it back at them wildly and happily. "Let's keep going! My cannonball baby needs warmth and food! Come on!"

"Yeah…come on, guys!" Isabelle shouted, looking back. "I'm even faster than both of you! Hee hee!"

"Yeah…sure, let's go," Dark Pit stammered, and then once again continued to start running ahead. He faced next to him at Joker…who had also stopped earlier as well. Joker looked at him…his eyes speculating and trying to conceal perplexed emotions as he ran…but it was evident in his eyes.

Dark Pit: I saw it in his face…and realized there was definitely something up with him too.

"So. Why did you stop running too?" Dark Pit asked him cautiously.

"I could ask you the same question," Joker replied silently with interest, as they continued to go through the snowy land. But the caped man just shook his head, and they ran for twenty seconds…but then stopped again. Even though the town was just six-hundred feet away from them, just close in the distance.

"No use in hiding…I felt it again," Joker stated out loud. "A sudden, manipulated wind clearly out of nowhere." Dark Pit looked at him, concerned.

"I can see the next town SO, SO big and clearly!" Isabelle gasped with delight, way ahead of them. "The next town! I can see the townsfolk!" She smiled back at them.

"WE'RE ALMOST THERE! WE'RE ALMOST—! Oh whoa, pheweeeie, snow is in my mouth…a lot of snow…whuh!" And then DK's eyes froze. He took a step back, almost as if a mysterious figure had suddenly appeared before him. He stumbled backwards, as if an invisible object had suddenly crashed into him and sent him backwards, and he let out a groan of confusion, turning back to the others. Isabelle shouted.

"Huh…what is it?" Isabelle asked him, confused and alarmed, seeing his odd expression. "Oh my gosh…are you okay? DK?" DK looked at them, his face in discombobulation. Then, he shrugged heavily and only chuckled.

"I have no idea!" he exclaimed to the other three around him, scratching his head. He laughed out loud and slapped snow off from his knee. "I think…I was dizzy for a second! The air suddenly changed temperature, and then a small sudden wind just shot from nowhere! Oh well."

Everything was silent. Dead silent.

Then, they all heard something behind them that sent them all shivers.

Whooooooooooo… A gentle wind sound echoed from behind them, and they all felt a slight gust of wind. At first, it was small, but within seconds, the wind slowly started to pick up in strong increments all around them. The players looked all around them with confusion, seeing the wind picking up snow around their bodies and spinning a multitude of snowflakes through the air, whirling about, picked up by the increasing wind.

whrooooooooOOOO... Then, they all turned and saw something approaching from behind them in the distance. It had manifested…in just fifteen seconds since its incipient stage of formation and existence.

"What…what…no…" Almost a mile away…near the icy town they had first left their journey from… it seemed as if a cyclone of snow had begun twisting into form, approaching them…and without warning, within seconds…became real and full. As the players gasped, they saw the full height and form of the white cyclone, now fully formed after just a few seconds, half a mile from their spot…and heading their way. Mouths open in shock, the players froze, their faces suddenly hit with a wave of realized horror.

Their storm of death was here.

WHRRRRRRRRRR000000OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Dark Pit: Oh no.

"RUN!" Joker shouted. "RUN NOW!" Isabelle screamed, darting off and trying to run as fast she could ahead of the others. Joker immediately ran ahead too, and Dark Pit also followed…and then stopped. He saw DK behind him, the ape frozen in fear, not moving.

"DK! COME!" The dark angel grabbed the ape's large arm and pulled him along. At last, the large monkey snapped to his senses and began running….and screaming

"AHHHHHHHHH! IT'S COMINGGGGGGG!" DK hollered, running at full speed across the snow and not stopping to face behind him at the approaching tornado behind them. The wind was howling louder than ever before, and the snow around them seemed to engulf them.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE! WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"Don't look at it!" Joker commanded him, trying to shield his eyes from the snow. He stumbled for a second, but then regained his footing. He looked to his left, and to his right. Then, realized something in utter horror and shock.

Joker: There was nothing I could see. I could not even see anyone beside me. Not even another very player just a mere five feet away.

WHRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The sound was haunting to their ears…as if the storm cyclone itself was roaring…alive….

"Run! Just keep, keep running!" Joker ordered. The four players ran towards the town, which was now closer, but now disappearing from view…covered by the thick, circling snow in the air. The tornado of snow roared behind them…overtaking the entire world behind them.

"I…I can't see ANYTHING!" Isabelle cried. "There's just too much snow and wind!" The little dog was slowing down in her speed, and the others had reached her.

"Just keep running!" Dark Pit cried, trying to duck as he ran. "Ahhhhh! Just keep— OOOOOMPHHH!" He crashed right into Isabelle, and they both fell.

The cyclone approached closer…and was less than a hundred feet from their very spot. Isabelle felt her body pick up from the ground, as she screamed, and so did Dark Pit. He grasped desperately for the ground below him…but he was already too far off the ground. For one of the first times ever in the game...he was flying through the air.

Dark Pit: I was lost. We were doomed.

"Hey, COME ON! Don't give up!" DK, approaching both of them from behind, along with his bowling ball child in his left palm, scooped them from the air with his two arms and then immediately began running through the snow. The strong king of the jungle was now saving them both as he trudged on in the ferocious blizzard and away from the cyclone. DK tried to look around…but couldn't see anything himself, as he screamed.

"JOKER, DUDE…WHERE ARE YOU?" DK bellowed, trying to take further steps. It was nothing but whirring wind and flying snow around them for a few seconds.

DK: We all thought for a moment…was he dead?!

And then, they heard a faint sound in the blizzard.

"DK!" Joker yelled out loud, his voice audible, trying to make himself as loud as he could in the deafening wind. "This way! The second town is this way! It is quite literally thirty feet away from you! The storm ends!"

"But are you SUREEEE?!" DK replied to him, roaring. Then, his eyes changed, and shot out big. "Wait…what if you're the MOLE? Trying to lead us all to disaster?!"

"In this dire situation? Outrageously preposterous!" Joker replied, still faint but still being well-heard.

"Not really!" DK yelled back, the cyclone almost to his back. "You could be leading us into another storm! To death!" The wind grew stronger.

"DK…dude…just trust him!" Dark Pit said loudly, from under his arms. "We have no choice. Especially if we're going to die!"

"Just…get us OUT of here!" Isabelle screamed.

"Okay! Okay! I get it!" And DK, in a rare moment of listening to his teammates, took a few running steps towards the voice he had heard before…heavy, thudding, fast trudges through the thick snow at his feet…against the strong winds that seemed impossible to fight against. The wind became stronger, starting to hit all of their faces more and making their faces blistering cold, the pain becoming evident.

"RAAAAAAAWGH!" DK let out a yell…and jumped forwards.

And suddenly…the wind had stopped around them. And ahead of them...the world was clear. As they faced behind them with shocked eyes, they saw the flurries of snow still strong, but they couldn't reach them…almost as if being held back from reaching them due to an invisible border. A border that separated one land from another. Danger…from safety.

"Hmm. Guess we all survived Blizzard 1, hmm? Two more to go." And before their very eyes…was Joker, standing next to a sign with crossed arms, looking content, but also holding a relieved smirk himself, pointing at the very words on the sign that made them all breathe sighs of relief from their survived experience: Town 2.

---

Lucina covered her mouth. She had a look of shock…sorrow…sadness…and overall, unspeakable guilt on her face. The screen shined in her eyes...as she had tears too.

Lucina: What…had I just seen?

The conflicted warrior herself had just witnessed the events on the screen for the past three minutes, but now, the ferocious blizzard was settling down…but she had still already seen its true power, and the way the other four players were attacked viciously by its whirling power of destruction.

Lucina: They were…attacked by me.

"I…I did not expect the storm to be so strong…so powerful…so treacherous…" She faced Smash Host with tearful eyes. The host was only still…smiling silently. Then, he spoke.

"It was your choice, no?" the host told her. And at his words, Lucina froze.

Lucina: The host was right. There was no one else to blame. But me. As the princess…a ruler of a kingdom...a decider of right and wrong...I had to take the blame.

"But…but…I did not know…how terrible it would be," Lucina whispered, continuing and shaking her head softly. "But…I did it to achieve an exemption. Is it justified? They are hurt…"

"They are completely fine, no?" Smash Host said, pointing to the middle column's left-most screen. Lucina could see that the players were brushing themselves off, and some of them were already smiling and chuckling with relief. She opened her mouth in surprise.

"Oh…" she whispered. "But…" She was still hesitant, looking to the host with some concern.

"Anyways, as the solo player, I am to inform you that you can now begin Task 2," the host continued, lifting a tiny, metal cube from the ground. "You now are in a race to complete your task before the others complete theirs and leave the second town. This small cube…is your game." Lucina stared at it in confusion. It was metal, with a symbol of a snowflake on it. As Lucina grabbed it carefully, she saw that it was cold. She instinctively almost let it go to hand it back to the host, but she kept her firm grip.

"It is…cold," she began, curiously. "But what is it?"

"It's an element cube," the host finished, winking. "Your second task, to start the next blizzard? Change this element cube three times."

RACE TWO: BEGIN

"Yes, Smash Host." Lucina nodded, but very slowly, for the warrior princess still seemed confused at her next game.

Lucina: I did not know what the next game was. Nor did I know if I deserved forgiveness from the other players for doing this…selfish act. Would I ask for forgiveness afterwards?

"That is…if you decide to start the blizzard," the host told her. And just after a few seconds, Lucina nodded. It was to acknowledge that she was determined to begin her game.

"I have a mission," she said firmly. And she faced the top screen, at the four players, making their way through the second town. "And because I have permission from the four others for this very mission I'm about to partake in…I must begin, with a heavy heart of despair and unwant, the second blizzard."

---

Time Remaining: 60 Minutes

"Fricken' hell," Dark Pit muttered, grabbing a brochure from a wooden stand. "That blizzard was crazy." The players were trudging their way through Town 2, as Dark Pit looked at the brochure.

"It was FUN!" DK yelled, looking reinvigorated and ready to roll into their second town of mystery.

"It was…interesting," Joker commented. But he was not referring to the blizzard itself.

Joker: And just ever so intrigued and unnerved, for I now knew where Lucina stood as a playing contestant…and just what sort of player she truly is and what she will do to stop us. Just slowly…I started to consider. What if she's not as innocent as her portrayals to us?

"Are you okay, little baby ball?!" DK said with alarm, cooing, rocking the cannonball in his arms back and forth and eyeing it closely. Isabelle giggled, laughing…and then she stopped.

"Oh no…eww…" she gasped, seeing what looked like a tray of meat pies being carried out of a small shop ahead of them. On the front of the shop, the players stepped back and looked at it in wonder…surprise…and heavy shock. It was a logo of a seal.

"Are those…are those…" Isabelle stuttered, her facing turning green.

Dark Pit: Hahahaha. Anyone in the mood for a delicious seal pie?

"I am afraid we are rather lost," Joker began, peering around and squinting around their new town. It was more traditional of a typical snowy village than their previous, quieter Town 1, with less ice-like structures and more wooden buildings, houses, and constructions. Many eskimos still walked their way around them, but in bigger crowds and bustling sounds and yells. They all seemed to be working.

"I don't think we're lost...because we have a marker," Dark Pit grinned, showing everyone else the front of the brochure he had found: right next to the title Synthesized Seal Town, there was a logo of a thumbprint stamped recently on it. Everyone nodded with confirmation.

"That brochure is for us!" DK exclaimed.

"Look at this." Dark Pit opened to the first page, and the others could see that it showed a large building...with a very particular logo.

"Hmm. Simple. Over there," Joker realized. He pointed to the village's largest building not too far from them with the same logo. A simple logo of a seal being bopped on the head with a wooden club. As Dark Pit laughed, Isabelle gasped…and covered her mouth.

"Don't tell me we have to…oh no..." she began, feeling nauseated. Then, they turned to the right, looking at a snow-covered brick pathway…that led to the very building.

"To that pathway! And that building!" Just a hundred feet away from them, the building existed: their first destination.

"LET'S GO, LET'S GO, LET'S GO!" DK shouted.

"Yes!" Joker ran towards it first, and then Dark Pit, and then Isabelle, and then DK right behind her, galloping directly towards the brick pathway…and he crashed right into a small parka-wearing villager.

Crash!

"OOOOOMPH!" Both parties fell backwards…the small villager exponentially by a longer distance as he fell backwards to the snowy ground. DK gasped in horror.

"Ah…OH MAN…sorry!" As DK got up quickly, his eyes were both shocked and immediately sorry with near-tears as he ran towards the fallen small human. Joker, Isabelle, and Dark Pit all stared at him in disbelief.

"Don't…KILL…the townspeople!" Dark Pit shouted with disbelief at him. "DK!"

Dark Pit: We couldn't even go five feet without him murdering somebody!

"I'm sorry, I'm SORRY!" DK began, helping the small man up. He shook his head a few times, looked at DK with a forgiving look, and hopped away. After several seconds, DK ran back to reach the others, scratching his head and laughing.

"HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE!" DK complained and moaned to them.

"Then I suppose than man and your stupidity both have a lot in common," Joker smiled. The players had now, after another minute, reached the large factory-like building.

"This is it…" Isabelle whispered nervously.

"Hey…at least you're in the mood for killing others, DK…because we may have to slaughter a few seals," Joker began with a flash of his eyes, and he pushed the doors open.

Isabelle: I was really, DEFINITELY going to faint.

"GET YOUR MEAT HERE!"

The building was deceptively small from the outside, as they were introduced into a humongous marketplace of bustling, crowded aisles and many excited shoppers and buyers. Piles upon piles of what looked like fresh, raw meat was being sold in the large floor on the left side in stacks that almost reached as tall as the grand ceiling, and multiple vendors were yelling and advertising all about. To their surprise and amusement, even a busy, loud auction was taking place on the main floor, accompanied by loud yells and excited meat buyers that made them cover their ears. A marketplace of groceries existed ahead of them, and the players felt like they had entered into a typical grocery store combined with a typical meat market…until they looked to their right and saw a series of wooden, cheap arcade games.

"Wow! I can't believe this pop-up arcade just opened this morning!" a kid nearby them chattered out loud.

"Hmm…" Joker begin, looking at the kid peculiarly, smiling and mind at maximum with interest.

"What is this place, even?" Dark Pit asked, confused and raising his eyebrow, looking around.

"Looks like a meat marketplace, grocery store hybrid!" DK yelled excitedly. "Which is good, cause I'm HUNGRY!"

"Does this brochure even tell us…anything?" Dark Pit looked at their brochure: it had a plethora of words, and a plethora of images. In the center of the page, one item could be seen that caught his eye: a club.

Dark Pit: What else could it be? Our next goal.

"Club…club…" His eyes were scanning all over the marketplace for their needed object. Object #2.

"Why club?" Isabelle asked. "Are you sure?!" Dark Pit opened to the second page of the brochure and showed her.

"Oh my gosh…no!" she squealed. "I don't want to club a seal!"

"Ahhh!" DK yelled, picking up every crate and box around him, throwing everything amuck. "Dark Pit…what does the club look like?! Is it blue? Yellow?" He threw another box…and it hit an innocent shopper.

"HEY!"

Joker: A ridiculous sight to see, DK throwing crates with aimless, desultory fashion. And…unlike me…catching the attention of the police. Hehe.

"Literally a fat, wooden stick," Dark Pit said, rolling his eyes, unheard by DK, who was currently being chastised by staff members of the grocery store several feet away from them. "The question is…where do we even get it?"

"And we have lost DK," Joker added with a sigh, seeing the monkey held up by the tiny marketplace personnel. "Let us hope he doesn't wander too far away. Lest we get penalized, for being more than fifty feet in distance."

"Umm…guys…" Isabelle began, looking around with discomfort and disgust to the left of the large room, towards the auction and selling of meat-focused products. "This is…a SEAL meat market."

Isabelle: I…I was going to hurl.

"So?" Dark Pit said, smiling. "What about it?

"I'm gonna be sick," Isabelle moaned queasily in reply.

"There has to be a clue…" Joker began, turning to Dark Pit. "We need leads. Any leads?"

Dark Pit smirked. "Luckily, I'm smart.." He turned to the third page of the brochure and held it up proudly for the others to see. "It says here on the page, 'Want answers? Talk to the market's leader.' And there's an emoji of a mustache. And lo and behold…" He pointed to the middle of the meat market, at the auctioneer, the one individual leading the bustling, loud auction that was taking place on the main floor of the meat market. He had a mustache…matching in image. "He has the same mustache."

"Looks like Mario," Isabelle giggled.

"That's him. This exact emoji looks like his mustache," Joker said. "Let's go!"

"See? I'm useful," Dark Pit said. "And hey, stop stealing my credit!" Joker winked back at him.

"I am a thief, after all," Joker replied, adjusting his mask and walking off.

They all turned to the mustached auctioneer, ready to get their second item to escape the town...and to escape a blizzard.

---

Time Remaining: 57 Minutes

"Change the element…change the element…" Lucina whispered the host's words over and over again as if it were an unknown, haunting spell, and she walked around the room slowly, the lights from the screens reflecting on her clothes off from the screens. Her face was full of curiosity…but determination. She held the cube tightly. She realized, above all...she was stressed and unhappy.

Lucina: These tasks and riddles…I could not believe a simple, tiny cube was giving me a plethora of mixed emotions. Stress, anxiousness, worry, and others. How do you combat it? Perhaps…something I have not done for a few days…you must laugh.

"I will try this round in more…lifted spirits," Lucina decided. She took a breath. She managed to smile. And then, she laughed out loud.

"Oh. Something tickle your bone?" Smash Host spoke up from his chair, surprised, hearing her sudden laugh. "What could it be?" Lucina stood up and smiled in embarrassment, turning to him.

"For if I told you," she said, suppressing her amusement, "you would not even respond. As much as you don't respond in assisting me in telling me whether I am closer to or further from the truth." The host only shrugged.

Lucina: I am truly alone in this game. It is a pity. But, I will simply go on.

"I am…looking around this room…this room of screens and technology….for shapes," Lucina began. "The instructions are to 'change its element'. I see that this item is a cube shape. For if I were to change it, it would become...perhaps something else. A different shape. A sphere. A cone. A cylinder." She paused…then looked back at the screens.

Lucina: Theories were all I had. Like theories on the identity of the Mole.

"There was an icicle pyramid in the first mission of the players," she remembered suddenly with wider eyes, as she went her way back to the wall of screens. Lucina stared at the center-top of the rows of screens, seeing the still-glistening glass pyramid within the first town. She made a cautious face, then turned to Smash Host.

"Am I…may I step upon this control panel?" Lucina asked. "Do I have permission?" The host only grinned.

"Pretend I am not here, princess," he replied. "Do whatever you can…to win your role..." And nodding in reply, Lucina, with a determined face, stepped one foot upon an empty area of the control panel, careful to avoid buttons, but now being able to hoist herself up. Now, she was standing on the table, fully tall, and able to see the bright screens much clearer and the images upon them. She saw the players in the marketplace among the seal meat, searching for their item. She saw the later land of Town 3 among several screens that were lit near to her feet. But she then faced up, to the top-middle screen, the one displaying the glass pyramid. The screen shone out to her.

With a small breath, she lifted up the small cube, and pressed it against the screen that displayed the ice pyramid. The screen was warm, hotter than she expected, to her own surprise. But she simply pressed the metal cube to the very-heated screen itself. Her eyes became wider, anticipating, ready.

"Change shape," she whispered, almost in excitement and determination. "Change shape…become something different…"

But, after seven seconds…nothing happened, and nothing changed.

---

Time Remaining: 55 Minutes

"Fifty-five coins, fifty-five coins!" the mustached auctioneer yelled.

"Oh my gosh…he probably has our needed club then!" DK yelled, joining them again, the big, boisterous, trouble-prone ape rustling out his jacket and clothes. He had just recently been apprehended…and let go, free. "After HIM!"

"Surprised they didn't arrest you," Joker smirked. "Perhaps…you need some tips and tricks from me on how to avoid the authorities in the future, my conspicuous friend."

"Hey! You're saying I'm a THIEF?!"

"That weird Mario-looking mustached auctioneer…must know something," Dark Pit concluded, eyeing him suspiciously. He began walking up to the meat market's leader, as the others followed. "Let's go! Everyone follow me." Joker seemed taken back.

"Trying to take the leader role from me," Joker mentioned with a little smirk. Dark Pit grinned to the thief himself.

"Just trying to prevent any potential Moles from leading us astray," Dark Pit winked back.

"Oh. I see. So both you and DK believe I am the Mole?" Joker began with amusement. "How funny." He hopped a step back, letting Dark Pit and DK both pass him. "Very well. No matter to me." Then, he faced the small dog to his back, who turned to the student with surprise. "Do you think I am the Mole as well, Isabelle Leafe?"

Isabelle was stunned for a second, but then frowned, sighing. "I don't think I'd ever discuss such topics like that with anyone in this game," she replied with surprise, firmly.

"SOLD!" A very happy man was tossed a large hunk of meat by the auctioneer, as soon as the players of the game reached him. As groans of disappointment were heard amidst the crowd they were in, the four players didn't know how to approach…until DK tapped the auctioneer with his large finger.

"Hello…!" The auctioneer began, turning around with surprise.

"YO! We're looking for a club!" DK announced to him happily. Joker smiled falsely.

"Let me do the greetings, DK…" Joker began, cracking his fingers. "Greetings, auctioneer. You have something we want? What a coincidence. There must be something in this world that you desire as well…something you must covet deeply that we have ourselves in our possession. I see you are an esteemed individual with great renown, ruler of this indispensable business which runs this town and rendering it to thrive immensely. So I ask you this: what task must we do to obtain one of your distinguished, unexampled clubs? To what lengths must we travel to earn your grandiose respect and recognition and deserve a club of such rarity? And what do you desire back? Please let us know."

The auctioneer blinked. "You can have one for free. I have hundreds in the back."

Joker blinked, taking off his mask slowly. "Really?"

"Yep. But you have to beat one of my favorite arcade games which I made this morning! It's called, 'Club'a'Seal'. If you win, you get a ticket, and you can use that ticket to get a club!"

"Hmm…so…that's it…really? " Joker replied, suspicious. The auctioneer nodded genuinely with a big smile.

"We don't have to eat a wad of raw seal meat to earn your respect for a club?" Dark Pit joked, laughing. Isabelle hit him.

"Oh, stop it!" Isabelle began, nearly hitting him and gagging. "That is disgusting!"

"Thank you for the information," Joker began, and the four of them began to step away from the meat marketplace. The unmasked man faced them, thinking. "Hmm. I suppose this is it. It is a simple arcade game. We got the information from the auctioneer. The riddle was already matching the mustache emoji to him. I am satisfied and no longer suspicious. So, onto our last step."

"You still sound suspicious," Dark Pit noticed.

"I am not."

"I WANNA PLAY THE ARCADE GAME!" DK shouted excitedly, banging the marketplace ground again.

"Fine, fine…you can play." Dark Pit sighed, eyeing the loud monkey carefully.

The player took a few steps…but one person didn't. Isabelle stopped in place.

Joker: But, alas. When all is going well…when we are so close to our next steps of success…disaster always often strikes in this game.

"Umm…guys…?" Everyone turned to Isabelle at her very extreme, different, altered change of tone…one that seemed weaker. But more to their surprise and alarm, they kept their stares due to one thing: her extreme change in facial expression. And slight, actual greenness in her face.

"If I stay one more second in this place…I'm going to absolutely…most definitely…hurl."

"Wait…what?"

"I must get out of here. Unfortunately. This instant."

DK: WHAT?! Was she actually serious?!

"What?!" DK looked around them, at the meat, then back at her with shocked eyes, his mouth blabbering with confusion. "What do you mean?! If you leave, then that puts you more than fifty feet from us, and that considers you lost from the game! Why do you even want to leave? Huh? Because of…of…the seal meat?!"

"There are piles and piles of dead seals around this area…and this is really not in my hemisphere of… 'Constituents of What I Find Morally Acceptable'," she replied a bit testily to them. "I really cannot stand any of this. Nor…" She sighed. "Nor can I even figure out how any of you can stand even being here in such an abhorrent place."

"I can," Dark Pit chuckled, much to her chagrin.

"I...simply cannot," she replied with a face of disbelief.

"Come on!" DK yelled. " I can't believe this! You can't just quit and leave us!"

Isabelle: Just…I was absolutely disgusted. Not just physically from the smell that was going to make me sick over everyone and everything in front of me…but for the lack of morals of the players around me. And to be honest…I didn't want to even PLAY in a village that supported such questionable ethics!

Joker: Isabelle was having an array of attacks of her conflicts and morals suddenly. And it was both aggravating and surprising.

"They are literally killing seals," Isabelle voiced with disgust.

"Hmm, if it is a conflict of morals…" Joker began, as Dark Pit and DK turned to look at him at his sentence, "then I suppose it is okay. You may leave." The other two stared at him.

"Don't convince her to go..." Dark Pit said with disbelief.

"And convince me to stay?" Isabelle responded to him testily.

"Leave the game?!" DK shouted with incredulity. "How can you quit because of…like…this?! SEAL MEAT? COME ON NOW!"

DK: And like…she's not even vegan! She eats other meat too!

"Also, it's not like I wanted to face this very beautiful blizzard we have to come across later…we all know how terrible it really was," Isabelle added, shuddering. She began walking towards the exit of the large building, and the others could see she was resolute in her mind. "But like…good luck!" She gave a little smile. "And if Lucina ends up winning…maybe it's not such a bad thing! She's a good person and deserves it! Unlike you guys for being in…a seal-killing convention. And thinking that it's worth winning." She beamed at them.

"There goes 5,000 coins and our stomach-weakest player," Dark Pit said, waving teasingly to the leaving player. "Buh-bye." Isabelle tossed her head and exited out the door, leaving the other three rather speechless in total.

"Uh…that was…really dumb…!?" DK began, stuttering. "We didn't even lose a player to Lucina…but to YUMMY, SEAL HAMBURGER MEAT!?"

"Maybe it's an animal religious thing?" Dark Pit shrugged. "Oh well. Her loss. I'm gonna eat my own seal meat pie after this to spite her. Hahaha."

DK: Isabelle just left?! What?! I couldn't believe it! Because our chances of winning became just that much lower!

Dark Pit: Joker was our "leader", and he could have done a better job of convincing her to stay, but he didn't. In fact…he basically convinced her to go.

Joker: With DK being the self-proclaimed leader, I'm surprised he did not more effort to prevent her from leaving.

"I suppose she's lost…for there really was nothing we could have done…so unyielding and obstinate, she can be," Joker sighed, as the student looked around, at the crowded marketplace still full of people. And their game was continuing.

Dark Pit: It really was sabotage. Isabelle leaving the meat market. That was surprising. She didn't really do big actions this game, but that was a big one.

DK: Definitely something to potentially maybe consider, Isabelle's departure! She made good excuses…and ended up sabotaging the game.

The marketplace bustled. The sounds continued. And in their heads… Lucina was closer to solving her own riddle.

"Nevertheless…our clock hasn't stopped ticking, has it?" Joker spoke, alerting them both. "We have a game to finish. And that game…right now…is to potentially club a little seal."

Joker: A fake one, that is. I'm not a criminal.

---

Time Remaining: 50 Minutes

"I cannot believe it…" Lucina gasped. She watched the screen, and saw the players amidst their bustling marketplace…and saw that the group of players had turned to three. Isabelle was walking away, towards the exit of the large building…and left.

"5,000 coins lost…and you're already one-fourth of the way to your exemption," Smash Host smiled to the player. Lucina's eyes widened.

"I…suppose my job is easier now," she began, not knowing what to say.

"Well, we all predicted Isabelle to be thrown away by a blizzard anyway, had we not?" Smash Host laughed. He chuckled, then faced back to Lucina. "If a blizzard is even to be produced."

"It…unfortunately…must be," she replied, looking back at him. But then her face changed, focusing back to her own game. Her eyes slowly smiled, as if she felt successful.

"What are you thinking?"

"I know, host…that your words…are always important," Lucina told him, looking at the host with a knowing look. She smiled at seeing his confusion. "Every word you say to us players…has a meaning. Every sentence is important. I've learned that over the past several days and weeks in this game. And now, I know how I can succeed. By remembering someone's words: yours." Smash Host stood still.

"So. Which words?" he wondered, folding his arms.

"That there are water bottles…in the cabinet under the control panel," she explained with determination, and she walked over to the control panel, and ducked down. Seeing a handle, she took a breath and opened it. To her relief, the water bottles were indeed still there.

"An element…" she spoke out loud, as she grabbed one of the bottles, written with the label, "Meld Water - Meld W". She stared at it, seeing that the water was indeed real, and that it was also cold. And with just a small moment of hesitation and thinking, she unscrewed the lid of the bottle. She looked to the host before continuing.

Lucina: But I didn't need anyone's permission. I then took out my own actions...on my own.

Sssssssss… She poured the entire bottle upon the metal cube, the water hitting it and splashing upon and around it, engulfing the metal square within the liquid. Slowly, she emptied the entire bottle, and the bottle seemed to make a small sound, as if something was changing.

And she gasped, realizing that this time…she was right. The symbol of the snowflake…turned to one of a water drop. A changed element.

"I may possibly be the Mole…but a Mole can feel surprised and successful at some certain times."

---

47 MINUTES LEFT

Passing many aisles, and passing many containers and rows of arctic-appropriate products, they reached the miniature arcade on the right side of the main floor. Indeed, it looked like a makeshift, thrown-together-in-an-hour arcade area, and the floor was only fifteen-by-fifteen square feet large, but they were determined and ready to play.

Then, they reached their intended arcade machine. And their mouths dropped. It was a Whack-a-Mole game…with mechanical, poorly-made robotic seals hopping in and out of their respective holes. The top of the arcade machine itself seemed to be made of cheap plastic, and its metal legs holding up the box looked wobbly themselves.

"Whack-a-Seal!" the game announced.

Dark Pit sighed at the pathetic sight.

"I see," Joker smirked in realization, looking at the clever display before him. "What other game would we play…but a game to literally 'whack our Mole'?" He paused. "I just hope we will win. We don't have a saboteur still in our group, do we?"

"TELL ME NOT!" DK moaned. But he still looked the most excited to play.

"Okay…let's see…" Dark Pit's eyes scanned the brochure. "Huh. Okay? It says, 'One Player at a Time'." Joker peered at the brochure, reading it too, then smiled.

"This game is simple. Do not worry. The instructions are not needed. It is a Whack-a-Mole game," Joker concluded with no worry in his voice. "We shall have no worry."

"You sure about that?" Dark Pit said doubtfully. "What if it's not like…easy? You tend to be overconfident sometimes."

"Well, surely when you have a human of swiftness and skilled dexterity playing—-"

"I'M THE STRONGEST! I'M DEFINITELY PLAYING!" DK shouted quickly and proudly, before the others could interject, getting in between them and going up to the wooden game. "Let me play!" Joker and Dark Pit stepped back to let him up to the game itself.

"Strong doesn't equal skilled…" Joker began, clearing his throat. "But…I shall not stop you, boisterous monkey."

"It says here, 'Get twenty seals in sixty seconds, to receive a ticket, and give the ticket to the Market leader," Dark Pit read. "I suppose then we get our needed club." He gave a thumbs up to DK. "Good luck, dude."

"The heck I will!" With a wide grin, DK faced the box of holes. Seeing a green button on its side, DK's large finger pressed it, and with excitement, he grinned.

"The lights!" The entire mechanical box began to flicker, and a weak light lit up at the front. The game was ready to be played. The mechanical seal was destined to pop out in any second. DK, hands rubbing together with exhilaration, readied his stance. Dark Pit and Joker held their breaths.

The arcade game began. And a wooden, robotic seal popped out.

And DK whacked it with his own fist.

And the entire, weak machine, from his single hit, smashed apart and collapsed to the ground in a fallen pile of wooden destruction.

---

45 MINUTES LEFT

Lucina didn't even see the arcade machine fall apart.

Elements: 1/3

"Another element…" Lucina looked around the room.

"Congratulations," Smash Host said. "You completed one of three."

"Humans…we are one with the elements too. I can perhaps try and produce one." She looked to the screen too, and saw DK trying to panickily put together the destroyed arcade machine. "Animals, too. All creatures…nearly all living things."

"Hmm? Very interesting statement. If that is the case…then, produce an element," Smash Host encouraged.

"Yes." Lucina stared at the cube, holding it up in front of her face. And she took in a deep breath…and blew strongly.

Whroooo….. And ever so slowly…the symbol image changed into that of a cloud of air.

The lone saboteur in white smiled.

---

40 MINUTES REMAINING

It took six game producers five minutes, several hammers and nails, and a very hot glue gun to put together a makeshift, half-efforted recreation of what used to exist. The whole time during the reconstruction, DK paced around the arcade groaning, worriedly with a sorry face, Dark Pit fumed and paced angrily as well, and Joker snickered the entire way through.

Joker: Quite a disaster. Why was I laughing? I tend to laugh at such unfortunate situations often in this game, it seems. But mostly when they involve DK.

"OH MY GOSH…..SORRY SORRY SORRY!" DK said to both the producers and his teammates for the fiftieth time.

Dark Pit groaned. "Why…why…

Dark Pit: Calm down, Dark Pit…calm down…he's just a dumb monkey…he's just a dumb…

"DK! YOU DESTROYED THE MACHINE!" Dark Pit hollered.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the blizzard was already blaring outside right now," Joker chuckled.

"Fixed!" One of the producers stepped back. "It's good to go now. Please be careful." The three players stared at the repaired game machine. It was indeed fixed…almost perfect again.

"Hmm…I'm impressed," Joker spoke, taking a step back and looking at it. he nodded, surprised. "Just like before it was demolished. A miracle. Perhaps these game producers are not on the Mole's side after all, it seems."

"AHHHH! You're supposed to use this!" Dark Pit realized, grabbing a small plushie of a club that was connected to the side of the machine via rope. He picked up the soft plushie. "Not your darn, huge fist!"

"What!" DK ran up to the side of the machine, seeing the soft club itself. Holding it in his hands now and looking at it closer, he moaned in both embarrassment and misfortune. "No one told me! I thought you had to use your hands!"

DK: I'm such a…what's that word…MOLE! An idiot!

Dark Pit: He does excuses like that, and the game fails. It wasn't that hard. The club was right there. You couldn't help but think, but it was suspicious.

Joker: Whether DK did that on purpose or not, we perhaps would never truly know. But possibilities exist. One funny, unimaginable possibility is that he might be the deceiver. One no one suspects.

The game was back. It was to be played.

"Well…what else can we do?" Joker began. "Let us begin Round 2, shall we?"

Beeeeep!

At the press of a button, the lights started up again. They flashed once, then twice, and then a seal popped up. Joker and Dark Pit stepped back as DK took his first whack with the soft club. Now with lessened power, the robot sensor only merely deactivated, as the seal went back into the machine. Another seal popped out, and with a yell of courage, DK hit it again.

Boing! A third hit, and DK was on a roll. He grinned and yelled, enthusiastically and triumphantly.

"Yeah, baby!" he hollered, hitting his fourth seal.

"Well…I give it to him…he hasn't missed a single one," Joker commented. He stared at the clock on the wall, counting the seconds pass by with a smile, but before he knew it, it didn't even have to reach thirty seconds until the game stopped. Joker turned back to the game in surprise. The buzzer sounded.

DK had won.

"Yeahhhhh!" The ape lifted his arms triumphantly in the air. "I did it! I'm the best and totally succeeded to help us win! I beat this game in the end! Boo yah!"

"Yeah," Dark Pit snickered. "You totally did beat it for sure…whacking it and destroying it."

"Well…at least we get this…golden ticket," Joker said, carefully seeing a piece of paper come out of the machine's front. As it fell to the floor, he picked it hastily up. Then, he hastily began to go off in the direction of the auctioneer. "Off, shall we?" He skipped off.

"Wait up!" Dark Pit said, stumbling. "Don't leave us like Isabelle did!"

"Man, I'm really in the mood for a seal burger right now…the game is almost over too, right!?" DK moaned, as they passed into the meat marketplace again. The auctioneer man, now, was surrounded by a smaller crowd of people, and it seemed to be hitting an hour for his break. But three people still wanted to see him: Joker, Dark Pit, and DK. Joker held the ticket up to him with a smile. The auctioneer looked at it…and smiled too.

"This is your club!" he announced to the players with his mustached, happy smile. It was a wooden club, and normal looking…if it were not for the splotches of many red stains on its sides.

The three players hesitated in repulsion. "Is…that…"

DK: …Now I felt nauseated, like Isabelle! Total yuck, dude!

"Very delicious! Tomato sauce!" the auctioneer smiled.

"T…tomato sauce?" Dark Pit repeated. He looked confused and stunned. "Why is there tomato sauce on a club?"

"Well, of course it's tomato sauce! This place is a vegan marketplace," the auctioneer said joyfully. "Synthesized seal meat…made to look like seals. Tofu, mostly mushroom and eggplants…quinoa…and a lot of tomatoes. We don't agree with the killing of seals at all! Why, that's just immoral."

The three male players were at a loss for words. They looked around the marketplace of tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplants, quinoa…and seal-shaped tofu.

"WHAT!?"

---

38 MINUTES LEFT

Elements: 2/3

Whroooooo…. It was the sound of blowing.

Every few seconds, Lucina would breathe hot air at the cube, and when she wasn't doing that, she was warming the cold, metal cube within her thick coat. And in addition, to add to her efforts of energy, she also futilely rubbed the cube directly, swiveling it within her hands, as if trying to create friction…trying to create a fire…

But the cube remained simply cold….like an actual ice cube itself. A moment of confusion and distress hit the princess, and she sighed out loud.

"I am trying to change this…" she whispered out loud, almost as if wishing desperately so much caused her to speak out involuntarily.

The host swiveled around in his chair. "It is the first word you said in the past five minutes," he realized. "So tell me, if you desire to: what are you thinking? What is the element you are typing to achieve?"

"Warmth…fire," she spoke, her eyes glistening against the screens. But her face was lost.

"It… may be possible to achieve such," the host shrugged, turning back around.

"But it is not working…no matter how much I warm this cube," she seemed to protest gently. But then, she closed her eyes, and took a breath.

Lucina: So many emotions were in my mind, and in my heart. Conflicting emotions. Is that why I was becoming agitated? I was ashamed. I needed to be…calm.

"Perhaps this element…is not right…or, if it is…then there must be another way to make this cube hot…" She looked up at the distracting lights in front of her…the wall of squares…then stopped.

"The screens are hot. Heat…"

Lucina: Then I suddenly remembered…like a miracle…how unbearably hot the screens were when I pressed near them.

"The screens! Could it be?" she spoke again loudly, and she stood up, facing the wall of screens with a full view.

The bottom row of screens, showing Town 3, were right in front of her face, right above the control panel of mysterious lights.

"This is it…" Gripping the metal cube in her first, she stretched her arm all the way forward…and pressed the cube right against the metal screen. As she held it down against the glass, it began to steam, much to her surprise and alarm. But she kept it pushed down against the glass, not budging the cube off from the hot surface.

Fffffffssssssssstttttt… The cube strongly sizzled against the screen she pressed against.

"Ten…eleven…twelve…thirteen….fourteen….fifteen," Lucina counted, her hand becoming heated, her face slightly wincing at the increasing hotness she felt coming from the cube, going directly into her own hand.

Then, she saw the symbol of the air cloud upon the cube change to that of a symbol…one showing fire. She smiled in shock, happiness, and relief.

Elements: 3/3

Then, the screen exploded.

---

36 MINUTES LEFT

They had exited the building…and were now standing together at the edge of the town. Looking to the white land.

"This is it."

The three male players stood at the edge of the white land before them. DK, Dark Pit, and Joker stared at their next world before them in silence, ready. It was a large, beautiful realm of snowy, white ground…peaceful and not of danger.

At least…not yet.

"We can't take this view before us for granted," Joker commented. "No…we indeed cannot. We know the terrible dangers which lurk." He stared at the land…and out at the third town in the distance. It was only a mile away. Then, Joker took his first step…and grinned…before his foot was yet to touch the ground. As if he had a challenging expression on his face.

"Let us run, shall we? Try to catch me…the wanted thief." He then bolted forwards

"THE HECK I WILL!" Excitedly, DK chased after him, galloping on all fours, as if it was a game. Dark Pit couldn't help but laugh, and he smiled slightly, as he stared after at them. His facial expression was mixed...but he was not sad. He was happy.

Dark Pit: Maybe…maybe this game could just be a little bit of fun after all.

And taking a breath, he then ran as well, trying to catch up to them. Once they were all parallel, they looked to each other, faces in determination, excitement as well, but something else in their eyes…new happiness. And optimism.

"Can we do this?" Dark Pit whispered. Joker looked to him. A confident smirk.

"Funny. I've never thought otherwise in this game before," Joker said, a wink in the calm snow.

And for a second, they all had optimism. They all seemed conflicted on how to feel. But while they had optimism, they also had just some apprehension. Apprehension that once again…a tornado would take one of them mercilessly out. But this upcoming time…successfully.

---

35 MINUTES LEFT

"I…cough...!" Lucina tried to make her way blindly through the smoke. Within the small room…she couldn't see. The smoke from the screen filled the control room so much, the lost princess could only see heavy, thick white fumes mixed, along with bright lights from the screens.

Lucina: I was lost…in the already very-confusing world of the Mole itself.

A hand grabbed hers. Seeing vaguely through the smoke and recognizing his top hat, Lucina gasped. She saw that it was Smash Host's.

"Follow me…there's another important room." She nodded quickly with concern and panic, and with a nod, he pulled her out towards the exit of the room, and Lucina immediately followed.

Flick… A small light turns on. Now, they were in a hallway. And a multitude of doors littered a dimly-lit hallway. But the host opened another room, and Lucina walked inside with the direction of the host, still with hesitation and confusion, but trust.

"Was there an error? …the screen…."

"No, you did the right thing," Smash Host told her, smiling. "Congratulations. Your intelligence is unparalleled. This is the next room. The final task. We're only here because there's something else here…that's quite important and the next step of the game." A very similar control panel existed on the end of the much-longer room, and Lucina, bewildered, stared carefully at the buttons, seeing they were similar to the ones in the first room of smoke. On the left side…she could see two remaining blue switches. Smash Host saw her staring at them with curiosity and wide eyes…and the host grinned.

"Those two switches are the two remaining blizzards," he explained, as Lucina followed with disbelief. The blue switches shined at them…but the left one was shining more heavily than the other. It was ready for use.

"If you dare to press one…" the host began. Lucina gasped.

Lucina: I had to make a decision…a decision of ruin…

The princess approached the control panel. Her face was still.

"Once again…I apologize deeply. Deeply to my friends."

She went and pressed the blue switch. And then, she immediately covered her face with a soft sound. A sound of guilt and regret.

"I…have caused ruin yet again. What would Peach say? Lucario? I have so many conflicting…conflicting thoughts..." Smash Host stared at her, seeing an expression of guilt ridden clearly upon the face of the warrior herself. He cleared his throat, as she turned to him.

"You know….not all is so bad. DK is a powerful, bulky competitor who's used to such terrible rough terrains and tremendous blizzards…Joker is incredibly fast and nimble and can probably slip through the winds of a snow storm with strategic ease…and Dark Pit can…well, he can manage somehow," the host began. "Maybe blizzards alone won't be able to stop them!" He said his last line with a little smile. Then, he turned around to enter a hidden side room, much to the princess' confusion. She opened her mouth, seeing him leave.

Lucina: I couldn't believe such…but...could it be that the very host himself was encouraging me to sabotage?

Now, the host emerged back, having gone into a separate closet. With bewilderment, Lucina noticed he had unearthed something. Something new in his very hands. It was a large, illuminated, brightly-colored box…laced with golden lining, shining brighter than any screen or fire before. Jewels of green and red were on the outside of the box, glistening to her eyes. Jewels of beauty…and temptation.

"Lucina…now, tell me…are you familiar with the legend of Pandora's Box?" the host spoke to her. Lucina stopped in silence.

Lucina: I felt…in my heart…that it was not good. I simply knew.

"There are four forbidden secrets…a forbidden secret about each of the four other players…inside this very box," the host continued with a smile, his eyes now shining as bright as the golden, sinister box of secrets itself. "And in order for each player to stay in this mission and not be eliminated in the next twenty-five minutes….if you decide to open this box...then must each openly confess their secret out loud and express it out loud, to continue on. If they don't confess it…they will be eliminated."

Lucina gasped. "No…that is not fair…" she began. "It is...unimaginable. It is..." Smash Host smiled to the distraught princess, who covered her mouth, her eyes in alarm at his shocking words being spoken.

"It is beautiful, isn't it? This game." He paused. "Blizzards cannot stop everything, Lucina, so…the choice is yours. Would you like to open up Pandora's box?"

---

DUN DUN DUN!

What will be the conclusion of…Episode 6?! :D Will the box be mercilessly opened?! Is DK's ball baby still alive? Is Isabelle still hurling from the (actually fake) seal meat? Is Dark Pit having good existential crises? Is Joker still winking at players and will he ever stop?! Will the players win? Or will the player as God swipe them all at the final second?

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY…WHO IS EXECUTED? A PLAYER FINALLY LEAVES! :( AHHH! WHO WILL IT BE!

:) I always LOVE hearing your words on the story! Please state in your review your chapter thoughts and suspects, as I'd LOVE it and appreciate it so much! Please state your top 1 or 2 suspects in a review if you can, and your chapter thoughts overall! :) It's so interesting to think there you all stand in terms of who you guys suspect as the Mole! :) AS well as what you thought about certain events in the chapter.

The truth comes down to this. Who is the true Mole? Is it DK, Dark Pit. Isabelle, Joker, or Lucina?

Vote on the new poll on my profile! (you have to go onto a computer browser I believe; I can't seem to access it on mobile ever xD But please vote i you can!)

I promise to update as soon as I can! Knowing my track record, I know I'm bad xD. But I'll try my best! The end of this episode is very soon. And then we'll have our final four. :)

And don't forget to check out the ALL NEW SEASON of "The Mole"! :D being released October 7 on Netflix and online! Ahhhh! IM EXCITED! I simply cannot wait! :) it's a miracle dream come true! And I'll see you all most likely after the show is all done xD. I'll also say my opinions too on the brand new season! I'm just so excited and thrilled!

I'll see you all soon! Happy Mole hunting! :)