Total Pokemon Ultra Revival Chapter 8: EP 5: Digging for Danger (Part 2), a Pokémon + Total Drama series Crossover fanfic

Feeling all reinvigorated now so it's time for another chapter!

"EEEEEEEEEK! Have we lost them?!" Cramorant screamed at the top of her lungs, as she continued to run as fast as she could, taking a few seconds to take a look behind her, relieved that the Sunflora wasn't lagging closely behind. "O-okay! Omigosh, I think we lost the Sunflora…"

"How could you be so sure?! That Sunflora is a TRAINED PSYCHOPATH!" Vivillon pointed out, starting to get tired as her flying grew slower. "They could be hiding in the shadows and we can't risk that!"

"Couldn't we get a break though?!" Skwovet pointed out, exasperated. "I mean… we'll lose energy eventually… and if that Sunflora's not going to give up on chasing us, it's a matter of WHEN we'll get caught…"

Silence… there wasn't any disagreement with that so the butterfly groaned, begrudgingly voicing agreement with the squirrel's words. So, the group decided to stop and take a break, only noticing the difference in their surroundings as they actually found themselves… in an interesting chamber with purple and pink crystals embedded all around, on the walls, on the ceiling. There were even large crystals jutting out of the ground.

"Ookay… did we like… leave the cave and enter a totally different one? Cuz… I don't remember this place…" Cramorant said, laughing nervously as her eyes naturally focused on her phone. "Is it just me or…"

"No, it isn't just you. Clearly, we went to the direction we came from… yet we encountered a strange new location…" Klinklang affirmed plainly in a dry voice. "It's… certainly uncanny. There's something strange about this cave…"

"I mean… this mountain literally came from out of nowhere," Dedenne pointed out, deadpanning. "We shouldn't be surprised that it's literally crazy and nothing in it makes any sense… like come on! A straight hallway in a cave?! That set alarm bells in my head…" He groaned, putting hands on his hips, "Don't you agree, Oricorio?!"

"..." Dedenne blinked, confused by the lack of response, quickly looking around the lost bird.

"Uhhh… Oricorio?" Cramorant's voice echoed around the whole room as she looked around, spinning around in place as she tried to zone in for where their 'leader's went off too. "Oh no… don't tell me, she got lost…"

"So, that's why there hasn't been anyone motivating us to run with an annoying cheer…" Vivillon muttered to herself, rolling her eyes. Noticing the judgemental look Dedenne gave her, she groaned audibly, "I don't know why she would even get lost. Last I've checked, she was ahead of us!"

"Maybe, she was too fast and broke the sound barrier and ran into a wall!" Cramorant suggested, scratching the back of her head as everybody looked confused by her words. "W-what?! Klinklang said this cave was weird af so… that is a possibility, right?!"

Skwovet sighed, "Can't exactly argue with that logic…"

Dedenne gave his friend a look, cocking a brow, "Excuse me? I'd rather not assume that she went off and got hurt by herself… that feels too cruel. I know she can take care of herself… but that just really gives us a lot of problems…"

"What do you mean?" Cramorant chirped.

"Well… we sent Gossifleur and Gourgeist off on their own, to find help from Nihilego… and seeing as they went in the same direction we did… they might be goners too," Dedenne explained, sweating profusely. "And hell! Magcargo is literally probably in the middle of nowhere by now! So, we're all split up in a challenge where we need to leave this cave together!"

Reality settled in the rest of the Trubbish… then panic struck. Cramorant started fidgeting, tapping on her phone screen furiously hoping it would randomly revive itself. Klinklang looked… rather nonchalant yet looked around, in an attempt to show concern. Vivillon was more worried by the fact that they're trapped in a dingy cave. Skwovet… was actually edging closer to a nearby floor crystal, basically drooling.

Dedenne groaned as he noticed this, calling out, "Skwovet, don't go too far. We can't split up even further!"

"B-but it's a shiny crystal!" Skwovet pointed out, head turning back and forth from Dedenne to the crystal he had his eyes on. "Mmmh… if I sold it, I wonder how much will it cost-" He groaned as Dedenne stomped his foot on the ground to rein him in, "I-it might be valuable! And we don't know if this cave will even be here tomorrow and-"

"Skwovet… you should know not to trust random crystals in a cave… they might be harmful," Dedenne pointed out with Cramorant walking next to him, tapping his shoulder. "Yes, Cramorant?"

The bird nodded as she showed the mouse a BRACELET that she made in less than a minute, using the crystal as the centerpiece, "I got bored so I made a lucky bracelet f-" She gasped as Dedenne slapped it off her wings, "W-why did you do that omigosh?! Rude much?!"

"It might be cursed!" Dedenne drawled, folding his arms. "We aren't going to have that right now. Almost half of the team is fucking lost and you're going to potentially give us bad luck too…"

"B-but it's not bad luck!" Cramorant said pleadingly.

Klinklang rolled his eyes as he quickly fired a Charge Beam at the fallen bracelet, obliterating it to pieces, "We're not risking anything." The bird gawked at this, falling to her feet as she put her hands on her face.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Vivillon scoffed as she floated past the fallen Cramorant to face Dedenne, "Okay genius. What do we do now? We're literally lost and our 'so-called leader' is not even here… figures. We have a challenge and we haven't even found diamonds… unless" She looked around before grumbling, "Okay… obviously, I would know what an actual diamond looks like and all these crystals are just those gaudy crystals you can buy in a thrift shop…"

"... we need to keep going… staying in one place wouldn't bring us closer to those diamonds," Dedenne stated matter-of-factly.

"Greeeat… good luck with Cramorant and Skwovet then," Vivillon pointed out flippantly. The electric mouse looked confused before groaning as he looked around to find Cramorant doing an impromptu burial for her newly dead bracelet and Skwovet… who was basically licking a pink crystal and was already thinking of ways to fit it in his stash.

"OKAY… maybe I underestimated the weirdness factor of my team…" Dedenne commented, obviously unamused.

"OKAY! We need to hold hands so that nobody randomly gets lost!" Dedenne announced, facing the remains of his team, who were all seated while starting to get impatient. "AND-"

"I don't have hands…" Klinklang pointed out flatly. "Vivillon can't even fly while holding anyone's hands either. That plan is already at fault…" The electric mouse groaned at this rebuttal as the gear continued to drone on, "I have suspicions that this cave has some properties that bend the fabric of space-time… which is how Oricorio and Vanilluxe somehow aren't with us, despite the fact that we all ran away in the same direction."

"Wait… Vanilluxe is missing too?" Skwovet remarked in shock… before shrugging, "Okay… I won't lie, I actually didn't notice…"

"Who is Vanilluxe?" Cramorant chimed in, waving her wings around. "I would obvi browse through my contacts but my phone is dead so…"

Dedenne face-palmed, trying to compose himself, "OKAY! My plan's not working and I honestly forgot about Vanilluxe. So that's… FIVE people, who are missing in action right now?! Great… I hope the other team's having just as much trouble as we are right now…"

"We should spli-" Cramorant started only to squeal as Dedenne leaned closer to her with a deadpan expression.

"Didn't you just forget that splitting up is pretty much suicide, especially in a cave we can't even map out…" Dedenne reminded her in his best congenial tone… which just ended up really cold. "So… we have to do our best to stay together… but given Klinklang's argument… it's going to be a bit hard."

"What if I can ride on Vivillon?" Skwovet suggested, laughing as the butterfly turned to glare at his direction. "What? I'm not that heavy… okay, maybe that's a lie but hey, it might be fun."

"Oh please… fun for you maybe," Vivillon rolled her eyes, trying not to lash out because of her attempts to play nice and not get voted off, "But I'm a butterfly with wings almost as thin as paper, we wouldn't even be able to take off from the ground." She scoffed as Skwovet booed at her comments, "I'm not even trying to sound all stuck-up. It's called being realistic!"

"If I can't ride on Vivillon, I'll have to settle for Klinklang then…" Skwovet said with a mischievous grin… which turned to disappointment as the Klinklang threatened him with a stray Charge Beam flying past his head. "Oookay… I guess you're not good with that either…"

"Let's just… walk and keep an eye on each other and try not run way ahead…" Dedenne said flatly, to everyone's annoyance. "OKAY, I get we ran for a long time but we're losing time here!"

Begrudgingly, the entire team followed Dedenne through another hallway, leading out of the crystal chamber, with Skwovet whimpering as the little mouse slapped him on the shoulder when he tried to run back for a crystal.

Gossifleur hummed as she struggled to find the right time to ask Gourgeist for help and for her to answer her many many questions. Due to this, she had been so distracted that she hadn't noticed that they had been walking for an oddly long amount of time, when naturally… they should've found an exit by that point…

Gulping, she walked closer to the pumpkin, mustering up a bit of courage to ask something, "G-Gourgeist… how are you so unabashedly… awful?" She slinked back as the Gourgeist glared at her for her awkwardly phrased question, "O-oh… oh no… I think I must've phrased it wrong… but well… you're just so bad… that it's actually so inspiring!"

Gourgeist doesn't reply, just focusing on the task at hand… which was honestly a bad idea as Gossifleur's eyes glimmered with interest, intrigued by the pumpkin's constantly contradictory personality.

"Uhhmmm…" Gossifleur shrunk even further, as she blushed in embarrassment, thoughts rushing in and out of her head. How long had they been together?

Her heartbeat started to quake… she couldn't hold it in. She had always been held back by rather strict expectations… so she didn't exactly get the opportunity to… go against the grain, as what she read. She didn't even know much about the world before the game… hell, she was lucky enough to be here and that grilled her even further about her life story.

"Okay… why am I… so indecisive… oh no… Gourgeist might hate me, if I keep asking her weird questions though?"

"Gossifleur, are you okay?" The pumpkin asked flatly, confusing the flower even further. It seemed like the taller grass-type had almost reverted to her original personality on the first day they met: Straightforward, cold and calculating… which gave Gossifleur chills, yet at the same time thrilled her.

"I-is this an adrenaline rush?! Wow… I kind of like it… I didn't know this is how it feels li-"

"Gossifleur, I was asking you a question," Gourgeist interrupted her thoughts yet again, slowing down to focus on the smaller flower. "You're the person I trust the most on this team… you can literally tell me everything…" She paused, tapping her chin with her tendrils, "Weeeell, everything I haven't read from your mind, as of now obviously!"

Gossifleur blinked in confusion, "You can read my mind? I… don't know how to feel about that…"

"It was a joke," Gourgeist deadpanned, patting the small flower Pokemon on the head, "It's humor 101… and always a good non sequitur for discussions… so spill, what's on your mind?"

"Err… I am still int-" Gossifleur started only for the pumpkin to quickly cover her mouth.

"Don't tell me, you're going to ask me why I'm 'awful'..." Gourgeist stated flatly with a cold expression. "I'm a cold-blooded fortress. Don't expect me to break down my walls… it'll take a few more bonding moments for me to truly open up. But in case you must know, I'm a dog person."

"What's a dog?" Gossifleur asked in confusion. Gourgeist blinked as she stopped to think, urging her companion to stop as she caught up.

"... I actually don't know…" She muttered, rubbing the back of her head. "Hmm… I think I confuse myself sometimes…"

The flower laughed nervously, eyes shifting to the side, "I think that might be an understatement…"

"Gossifleur is my ride-or-die after Pikachu decided to unalive himself… so I have to take what I can get," Gourgeist stated with a confident smirk. "I'm literally controlling everyone like mindless puppets and they don't even see the strings!"

"I-in the end, I was too embarrassed to even ask anything! I feel very disgusted and disappointed with myself…" Gossifleur cried out with a frown. "I-I… got too cocky… I thought that a burst of courage would be enough but…" She stopped herself as she positioned herself more comfortably on the toilet seat, head dropped down.

"Well… summer isn't over yet so… I have to keep trying. I mean, I didn't exactly… sign up for this show in an instant after all!" She exclaimed… before laughing nervously, until it quieted down to a sigh. "..."

"F-Floatzel… this isn't f-f-funny…"

For the first time on the island… Bayleef was actually alone. He wandered through the cave hallway, searching for Floatzel, who he thought went too far ahead of him… yet, it felt like he was walking in circles, gulping as he examined the cave markings.

"I t-think I saw that star shaped w-wall marking six times by now…"

Absent-minded, he grunted as he bumped into… something hard. Steadying his vision, his eyes widened at the sight… of an outrageously large boulder, conspicuously laid out on the center of the hallway, "W-what? Is this normal?!"

"..." He whimpered as he noticed the boulder role a tiny smidge closer to him, "I-it's moving?!"

He started to sweat profusely… as it rolled closer to him. Wait… roll!? Needless to say, the dinosaur was frozen in his spot as eyes appeared on the face of the boulder, gazing right into his soul.

It was a Golem… and from the looks of it, it looked annoyed after being woken up from its sleep by the distracted starter. Bayleef whimpered as he slowly took a few steps back, "O-okay, I'm s-sorry if I woke you up! I w-was just… really caught up in my thoughts and…" He shrieked as the rock-type doesn't seem to get closer… getting into rolling position. "D-d-don't roll on m-" He paused as he then thought to himself, "Wait… I'm a grass type… grass beats rock! S-so I should be able to-" Oops, no time! The dinosaur's thoughts were easily interrupted by the rapidly approaching Golem.

Left with little time to think, Bayleef could only do one thing…

RUN as fast as he can in the opposite direction, hoping that he can tired the rock out… though he wasn't too confident in that idea as tears streaked down his face as he yelled for ANYONE to help, "E-Empoleon?! Aaaah, I n-need youuuuu! Okay, now I'm thankful you made me run around the island but AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Unfortunately for him, there wasn't anyone nearby so the dinosaur was left to run away from a rolling boulder. It was as comical as it sounded as it didn't seem like the Golem was struggling to catch up, yet Bayleef couldn't afford to trip and get caught, worried that he would get rolled over if he even stopped to breathe. "MOOOOOOMMY!"

"..."

Oricorio and Vanilluxe were silent as they trudged through the straight hallway, which showed no signs of letting up… or until, Vanilluxe laughed nervously in a loud voice, disturbing it.

"Why do I feel like we're being followed?" He asked rhetorically, starting to sweat. "Like… really… is this a normal feeling to have? It feels so weird…"

"D-don't scare me like that!" Oricorio stammered, starting to get nervous from the ice cream's sudden outburst. "What do you mean? We're in a cave… in a straight hallway…" She shuddered, looking around frantically, "Don't tell me… Sunflora somehow caught up with us? I really thought we outsped them… I do hope the others aren't in danger since I think they're just behind us…"

"Uhm uhm…" Vanilluxe couldn't think of an actual response as he continued to sweat profusely, "It's just a gut feeling… like I'm hearing really really light footsteps just behind us…" He flinched with a long groan, "Okay… I can hear something falling on the ground…"

"H-how can you even hear this? I can't even hear anything you're describing," Oricorio admitted with a bashful look. "N to the O, it's a no no no…"

Vanilluxe laughed nervously as he stopped walking, urging the cheerleader to stop walking as well, "S-sorry… I just have really good hearing…"

"..." Oricorio looked a bit skeptical but didn't want to just disregard the ice cream's suspicions, taking a deep breath, "... if someone really is following us… shouldn't we just continue walking… I mean… seeing as we already met a killer Sunflora… I wouldn't be shocked if we met other murderous creatures down here…" She shuddered, putting a wing on her head, "Thinking about it is already giving me a killer headache…"

"W-well… uhhmm… that wouldn't be so ice…" Vanilluxe joked.

"Y-yeah… I-" Oricorio started, only for her eyes to narrow, "Waaaait, did you just say ice? Give me an O! A M! And a G! This isn't the time to say a pun, Vanilluxe!"

"... y-yeah… l-let's uhhh… just keep going?" Vanilluxe quickly changed the topic, his face turning bright red. "W-we don't want to lose to the other team here!"

Oricorio affirmed with a nod as she started sprinting with the ice cream floating at a reasonable speed, "We're burning daylight but we can FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!"

"..." As the duo disappeared further into the hallway, Empoleon, who was lying face-first into the ground in the shadows, slowly lifted his head with a groan, "Those two… are very very annoying to listen to… thankfully, they didn't see me… but I'm shocked that ice cream somehow managed to almost catch me… I need to be more careful… they might be my ticket to finding my way to the diamond chamber…"

Lifting himself up, the penguin proceeded to continue following the duo… as an ominous shadow stared at the conversation, through the gaps in the wall, which were left unnoticed as the layout of the caverns changed yet again.

"WOW, I'm not good at ice breakers… maybe cuz I am ice cream! GET IT!" Vanilluxe said, bursting into a sharp and loud laugh… which slowly devolved to a long sigh as he slumped on the chair, "OOKAY, maybe I need to work on that…"

Sableye was dragging behind a dour Teddiursa, who was still recovering from her concussion from hitting the wall abruptly. The little bear was fully conscious and annoyed as her head kept hitting rocks on the cave floor, lifting a fist in frustration.

"S-Sableye UWU! You can stop dragging me already! As you can see, I am awake and you're going to give me more concussions just dragging me through the oh-so hard ground!" Teddiursa urged. "I think I'm getting a lot of internal bleeding already…"

Sableye blinked… blushing in embarrassment before he dropped Teddiursa's legs abruptly with a loud THUD. The little bear's left eye twitched at this, "S-SABLEYE?! Be more gentle UWU!- OOOOKAY, it actually HURTS!"

"I-I'm sorry… I d-didn't mean to hurt you even further…" Sableye stammered, twiddling his fingers. "M-maybe I should pick you up a-" He yelped in surprise as Teddiursa shot a death glare in his direction, "Was it that painful? I'm sorry, hehe…"

"..." Teddiursa deadpanned, crossing her arms as she struggled to stand back up, only managing to lift her upper up while her legs laid on the floor battered and beaten, "Sableye…"

"Yes Teddiursa," Sableye asked in anticipation.

"... you have to carry me now!" Teddiursa whimpered with a pout. "You don't want me to get too injured and get medevacced, don't you think?"

"Do I lift you by the legs or-" Sableye queried only to be forced into silence as the little bear covered his mouth with a grunt.

"No, we're not doing that again. By carry, I mean… bridal carry!" Teddiursa explained… before giggling faux-cutely, batting her eyelashes cutely, "I'm the kewtest bear on the island, don't'cha think?! So this would be a real big honor!"

"You're the only be-" Sableye started, only to whimper at Teddiursa's smile quickly changed to a scowl. "O-okay! C-coming right up, Teddiursa!"

Teddiursa crossed her arms, staring at the camera, looking very battered as her fur was all messed up and there was bruises covering her body, "OOKAY! Sableye definitely doesn't know how to bridal carry… he… is soooo messed up and made me hit my head on ANOTHER wall… like cooome on, where are the actually reliable people on this island?!"

She tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Like Floatzel… or Gallade… or Chansey?! Why am I stuck with Sableye?! Awks, I guess that's what you call karma…"

"I think Teddiursa is mad at me, h-haha…" Sableye murmured, twiddling his thumbs awkwardly as he stared at the camera pleadingly, "S-she isn't mad, right?! She can be really scary sometimes…"

Chansey had a perpetually flushed expression as she followed after Magearna… while she was starstruck when it comes to the Mythical Pokemon, this was a different case. They were alone in a cave with no signs of anyone else, and Chansey felt that even if she shouted to the top of her voice, nobody would even hear her.

She gasped for air as she put a hand to her chest, "I can't believe this is all happening… I'm a-alone with Lady Magearna…" She lifted her face to gaze at the Mythical Pokemon's back. The steel type was focused on getting to the diamond chamber that she wasn't even talking nor has noticed Chansey's quickening heartbeat and low hyperventilating. "I didn't really expect this to happen, when signing up for this… yet, it's clearly happening!"

Chansey could barely stand as she was too caught up in her thoughts, resulting to her leaning closer to the wall for support as she walked, fanning herself with the other hand. While she didn't want to be… too overbearing with her admiration. This was a bit too much for her. It felt like tears of joy were actually leaking out of her ears. "Lady Magearna… I always did wonder what type of lavish lifestyle she lives… t-though, she hasn't shared much… hmm, it does makes sense considering her sta… tus?"

She paused, stopping on her tracks as her thoughts flickered back to the night of the last elimination. Musharna had told her that Magearna had been lying… not just about the game… but about everything. While she still trusted Magearna… she was starting to get skeptical, gasping in surprise, "Oh heavens no… w-why am I starting to doubt Lady Magearna? She had saved lives… Musharna only said those things, because of her tumultuous relationship with the lady and-"

"Chansey, are you taking a break?" Magearna questioned, snapping the nurse out of her stupor. The mythical had stopped walking to turn around to check up on her companion with a concerned expression. "We can stop, if you want?"

"O-oh, that's really kind of you to say, La- errr… Magearna," Chansey stumbled on her words as she struggled to compose herself as her heart continued to beat out of her chest. "I'm… just feeling… very lightheaded. It has been a long time since we've entered the cave after all…"

"How long exactly?" Magearna asked, arching a brow.

Chansey tilted her head to the side, answering, "Hmm… I think about three to four hours by now… which is actually a shock, since we've been walking through the same hallway for hours…"

"Yes… it had been so long. I almost forgot what sunlight even looked like…" Magearna muttered, putting both hands on her hips. She chuckled dryly, cocking her head down, "I wonder if the others are doing better with this challenge… since at this point, I don't even think there is a diamond chamber in this cave… and if there is, it feels like it's nowhere near us even…"

"I'm sure we'll find it eventually… or well… at least, find the exit somehow…" Chansey muttered, smiling weakly.

Magearna sighed before turning to stare at the nurse, humming to herself, "I hope so… it would be terrible if we lose this challenge… I don't even know who to vote off?"

"Err… we still have the alliance… so we can vote together against Bayleef," Chansey pointed out, scratching her cheek.

"Oh, yes… we do have that…" Magearna whispered… before sighing, looking clearly distraught.

The nurse blinked, confused by her idol's mood suddenly dampening, "M-Magearna, is anything wrong?"

"Do you trust me?" Magearna questioned abruptly with a hurt expression. Chansey blinked… shocked. This was straight out of nowhere and caught her off-guard. She didn't even know what to say, yet her idol continued to talk in an off-puttingly cold tone, "I… have been getting chills down my spine. I just had a passing thought that Musharna's final words have snowballed… and I'm just worried that the rest of the team think I'm expendable. I mean… Empoleon is lambasting me for being 'useless', despite my Mythical status…"

"..." Chansey opened her mouth to talk but was interrupted by the steel/fairy's type long and drawn out sigh, "If you don't trust me… then you can vote me off next. I understand. I had a feeling that I would have a target on my back regardless, because of people's suspicions and disappointment in me…"

"I-" Chansey continued to be interrupted by the pensieve Magearna, who put a hand to her face.

"... save it… everyone has been giving me the cold shoulder… and I'm honestly hurt. Teddiursa called me fat. Empoleon doesn't like me. Sableye laughed at me as if I were a joke. Floatzel is starting to follow me, because of Musharna's accusations," Magearna listed, using her fingers before continuing to drone on, "I just want to help people… I don't see why people would think I'm suspicious or up to no good…"

"Magearna…" Chansey sputtered out, flushed. She sighed, clenching a fist, "D-don't say that… I'm on your side. You don't have to worry… I promise I'll defend you."

"R-really?" Magearna quivered and Chansey winced at the sight. At that moment… the mythical looked frail and delicate, that it made the nurse feel… a bit guilty for even doubting her… but nevertheless, she nodded in agreement.

"Thank you… I really appreciate it," Magearna said, smiling warmly as she leaned back with a sigh of relief, "Let's get going now!" The nurse nodded awkwardly as she blushed in embarrassment as she followed her idol, with only one thought flooding her head.

"Did I mess up? I probably did…"

"ARE WE THERE YET?!" Skwovet complained loudly as he rubbed the side of his arm with a groan. "We've been walking for ages… maybe I should've stolen one of those crystals and fixed it up, to make it look like a diamond to fool the hosts…"

"Stop complaining!" Vivillon scoffed, rolling her eyes. "And people call ME the complainer…" This spurred some giggles from Cramorant and Dedenne, making Skwovet rolled his eyes, annoyed.

"I have really stubby legs and I'm still in front of the pack!" Skwovet pointed out. "And we haven't stopped walking for what?! Ten minutes?! So, I'm already tired! It's justified!" He whimpered as Vivillon smacked him on the back of his head, "HEY?! What was that for?!"

"I'm also tired and your complaining is EXHAUSTING me," Vivillon stated impatiently. "We don't know how much time we have left before anyone finds the diamond chamber, so we have to keep walking or we'll lose!"

Skwovet chuckled playfully, leaning on the butterfly cheekily, "Maybe if you give me a little ince-" He groaned again as the butterfly slapped him on the face, "OKAY! How the fuck is your slaps painful when your wings are paper thin?!"

"Guys… stop arguing…" Dedenne chimed in, deadpanning. "Vivillon is right… even if she didn't need to hurt you to get her point across. Everyone's tired of walking… heck, I'm already starving…"

"ARCEUS! You have reminded me of my empty stomach… did anyone bring any food?!" Vivillon questioned nobody in particular, expression dropping. "HEAVENS, at this point… I'm willing to PAY for it even." A mischievous smirk popped up on the kleptomaniac's face at this… which was quickly ruined by the butterfly rolling her eyes in contempt, "No… not you obviously. I know you were stealing from me."

The squirrel's eyes widened in shock, "WAIT… you knew all along?!"

"Please… it was so obvious," Vivillon said flippantly before turning to her other teammates. "Anyways… does anyone who ISN'T Skwovet have any food on them? I'm famished…"

"... I'm not hungry yet and haven't brought anything," Klinklang replied flatly. "I wasn't informed that we were required to bring food for a challenge."

Cramorant looked bashful as she stared at her phone, typing in something, "Errr… uhhhmm, I don't have food either… and I'm kinda hungry too, el oh el…"

Vivillon deadpanned, face-palming, "... so if we don't complete this challenge… we're just going to starve to death in here?"

"Can't we be more optimistic?!" Dedenne asked with a frown.

"I'm hungry. I don't even think I can continue on with this challenge anymore," Vivillon said haughtily.

"I have berries!" Skwovet chimed in, flaunting some… greenish-purple berries on his hands with a cheeky grin. "If you pay me, I might just give you to them. I'm feeling generous."

"I said… not Skwovet," Vivillon grumbled… before sighing as her stomach churned really loud, surprising her teammates, "This is all Indeedee's fault for not feeding us anything edible…" Face-palming, she begrudgingly swallowed her pride, "Fine… give me some…" The squirrel grinned ear to ear as the butterfly grabbed a handful, quickly plopping it into her mouth, "... while, this is quite… bland, I suppose this will have to do."

"Yep! You can pay me once we get out of here!" Skwovet said with a smile as the group continued walking to their goal. Dedenne, who had a skeptical look on his face, quickly went to the squirrel's side, whispering.

"So… where did you get those berries?"

"I found them in this cave! They were lying around… I think they're cave berries," Skwovet answered with a wink. "So I got those for literally nothing while Vivillon owes me MILLIONS!"

"That's a bit low…"

"HEEEEY, I mean… Vivillon asked for it!"

"I'm going to be RICH!" Skwovet said, eyes shining brightly.

Vivillon was hunched over the seat, face green, "Okay… I hate this challenge… a LOT…"

Gossilfleur was nearly out of breath as she managed to catch up to a speeding Gourgeist, "G-Gourgeist… why did you suddenly speed up? Did you find anything?"

The pumpkin in question nodded… urging the flower to stare at where she looking at… a wall. It was another dead end, making the flower deadpan. "Errr… this is a dead end, Gourgeist?" She pointed out, unsure.

"Hmm? What do you mean? This is clearly the exit," Gourgeist mused, twiddling her tendrils playfully.

"... it's a wall…" Gossifleur explained, putting a hand on the wall with a concerned expression. "Maybe, you're just seeing things. Since-" The flower was quickly interrupted by the pumpkin breaking down the wall with her head, revealing the outside world, with Nihilego and Poipole… blinked in surprise at what was happening. "O-oh… okay?! I guess this works…"

"We made it!" Gourgeist cheered in an unenthusiastic tone. "Did we win?"

Nihilego blinked, dropping her magazine… before folding her arms with a frown, "Did you find a diamond, like the challenge rules stated? How did… how did you even?!" She quickly turned to Poipole flabbergasted, "The openings literally disappeared a few hours ago and these two managed to break out, for no explicable reason…"

"It is Gourgeist!" Poipole pointed out, clapping his hands together. "I'm pretty impressed!"

"You know what… you have a point. But anyways, you're not the winners since you need the diamond AND everyone from your team outsid ehte cave," Nihilego explained.

"Oh… I guess I'll die then…" Gourgeist said with a sad expression… before being interrupted by Gossifleur, who was waving her hands frantically.

"G-Gourgeist, haven't you forgotten why we're here in the first place?!"

"To win a lot of money and a lifetime supply of food?"

"N-not the game! We went the opposite direction from the others to save Magcargo!" Gossifleur explained before turning to the two hosts, blushing in embarrassment, "Errr… w-we need your help. You see… Magcargo actually fell into a pit and-"

"He died," Gourgeist added flatly, surprising Nihilego who nearly choked on her pina coolada.

"WHAT?!" Nihilego gawked, putting a tentacle to her mouth.

"N-no… he's fine… but he fell into a pit… and we don't know how to save him," Gossifleur corrected. "This cave… is really confusing…"

"..." Nihilego turned to Poipole, annoyed. "Poipole… what do we do?"

"Don't worry! This cavern has a lot of floors, hallways and readjusts every minute! Magcargo's fine… he just needs to find his way back up and to the diamond chamber and exit… since the diamond chamber is actually on the same layer as the entrances since the challenge needs to be beatable," Poipole assured… before yelping as Nihilego glared at him, "W-what?!"

"This challenge doesn't even feel easy!" Nihilego argued before turning to the two Trubbishes. "Gossifleur… Gourgeist, I think it's best if you don't head back in since well… I'm sure everyone knows that it doesn't matter if only 1 member reaches the diamond and bring it back. As long as everyone is outside with the diamond first, they win."

"Oo… kay?" Gossifleur commented, a bit taken aback. Gourgeist shrugged, indifferently as the duo went to sit close to the hosts, to wait out this challenge.

"So, you're a psychotic serial killer for a living?" Magcargo asked his new companion, the initially murderous Sunflora, who had grown exhausted just from being with the talkative Magcargo. "So… do you sell your victims' organs for a living… or do you steal from their dead corpses?"

Sunflora deadpanned, putting his hands to his hips in exasperation, "What the fuck are you even talking about?"

"I mean… your 'friendship bracelet' was clearly a ruse to fool me into being killed by you!" Magcargo pointed out, giggling cluelessly. "So, I was thinking that it was your usual strategy to kill people and well… seeing as there's not any dead bodies in this cave, I figured you were doing something with them!"

"..." Sunflora blinked… completely confused by what the snail was even saying… though he wasn't allowed to refute, as the Fire-type continued to drone on, "You see… I was kind of surprised, that of all the Pokemon… it turned out to be Sunflora, who'll be the deadliest Pokemon in here. I expected an Ursaring or a Bewear or a Klefki honestly but I guess twists like this make life more fun, don't you think?"

"I feel somewhat offended…" Sunflora remarked dryly.

"You're right! I shouldn't be surprised! Every Pokemon was made uniquely! Any Pokemon can be a psychotic murderer!" Magcargo exclaimed with a wide grin. "A Vanilite, a Swirlix… even as GOOMY can be a killer. Thank you for opening my eyes, Sunflora!"

"..." Sunflora was internally screaming at how spatially unaware his companion was.

"Sunflora? Are you okay? You're shaking…" Magcargo queried, starting to get concerned as the flower started to shake in fear. His eyes widened as foam started to seethe out of Sunflora's mouth, "O-okay… I think you're running out of sunlight already!"

Sunflora groaned, wiping off the drool with an agitated look, "... you're weird…"

"Thank you!" Magcargo said, humming to himself.

"..."

The 5 Trubbish were still making through the straight hallway… still unable to find the exit. Lagging behind at the back of the pack was Vivillon… who had an oddly sickly complexion, leaning to the wall for support. Nobody, in front of her, noticed her pain… until she accidentally hit her head on the wall, making a sound that alert her teammates, with Dedenne being the first to notice.

"What was that?!" The little mouse questioned frantically before focusing on the butterfly, arching a brow, "Vi… villon? You look greener than usual… are you okay?"

"W-what do you think?!" Vivillon blurted out squeamishly. "I don't know why this is suddenly happening… but everything hurts!"

"You were fine a few minutes ago though…" Cramorant pointed out, waving her phone around in confusion.

"I'm not fine NOW!" Vivillon growled before turning away to gag. "It's almost feels like something is burning my insides…"

"Maybe, you ate something bad," Cramorant suggested. "Like errr… Indeedee's bad mush surprise. Yeah, that would def make your insides pop a lot!"

"I haven't eaten Indeedee's food today…" Vivillon grumbled… before she turned to glare at Skwovet, who flinched at the sight, "It was clearly Skwovet's berries. He is POISONING me!"

"What are you even talking about?!" Skwovet said in disbelief.

"You gave me POISONOUS berries earlier!" Vivillon snapped in frustration before groaning into her wing, "... feeling so… squeamish…"

"They… weren't… poisonous?" Skwovet attempted to defend himself but ended up sounding too unsure.

"Where did you even get those?!" Cramorant asked.

"I saw them growing in this cave," Skwovet explained, folding his arms. "Can't be too picky, if there's no other options in here… and Vivillon was asking for them!"

"WHAT?!" Vivillon looked surprised at this, "You found them in this dingy cave?! What made you think they would even be safe to eat?! You're deliberately sabotaging me!"

Skwovet gaped in shock, noticing the unamused looks of his teammates, "W-what!? She was hungry and it was the only food I've got on me… beggars can't be choosers. Vivillon probably just has indigestion or something from all of that flying…"

"Skwovet… give it a rest. Just admit it was probably your berries…" Dedenne said with a deadpan expression.

"... fiiiiiine!" Skwovet waved his hands around with an exasperated expression. "Sheeesh…"

And with that, the group continued walking… until Vivillon shouted loudly again, beckoning the players in front of her, "HEY! I-I still feel like shit. Can't we take a break?!" The whole group groaned at the butterfly's suggestion… she did have a point.

"Ninety-nine ice cream scoops in a large sundae cup, ninety-" Vanilluxe sang to himself as he followed Oricorio through the hallway… only to be stopped by the said cheerleader's small frame, grunting as he bumped into her, "Ori? Anything wrong?"

Oricorio was gaping in shock at the sight in front of her, intriguing the vanilla ice cream cone even further, "Oricorio? What…" The ice creamfloated past her, eyes widening at what he saw.

It was a wide open chamber… which would usually be not notable, but this one was littered with a blue crystalline gemstone: Diamonds, which were what they were trying to find in the first place. Moving, as if their bodies were in sync, the duo headed into the chamber, scrambling to pick up the lightest diamond they could find.

"Y to the A to the Y! We did it!" Oricorio cheered, examining every diamond in the room slow but steadily, "I can't believe our luck… we actually found it!"

"I know right! The diamond stars in the sky are shining bright on our team again!" Vanilluxe affirmed with a wide grin. "Let-" Before Vanilluxe could finish his sentence, he was suddenly hit by a strong blast of water. Oricorio's eyes widened at this.

"W-what?! Is there another killer P-pokemon in here?!" Oricorio stammered, looking around frantically as Vanilluxe laid on the ground, groanibng in pain. "Is anyone there?!"

Her eyes narrowed as it noticed a familiar Pokemon, pilfering diamonds near the corner of the room. It was Empoleon, who had a cocky look on his face. Oricorio clenched a fist, calling out to him, "W-wait a minute! You're from the other team! What's your problem?! Why did you just decide to hurt my teammate?!"

"This is a competition! Everything goes," Empoleon scoffed, firing a Gyro Ball at the cheerleader's direction, while holding a small diamond on the other. "So, your team has to lose and what better way to make it easier for me than to knock you out. Nothing personal."

"That's just rude!" Oricorio huffed, starting to dance around and wave her pom poms. "I'll kick your BUTT!"

"Why the fuck are you dan-" Empoleon started only to scream out in pain as static started to envelop his body. "What the fuck?!"

"Leave my team alone! I heard what you did to Vanilluxe, Cramorant and my other teammates in the first challenge!" Oricorio recalled, continuing to dance and fire sparks towards the struggling penguin. "YAAAAAAAAA!"

"Crazy bitch!" Empoleon growled, firing a Hydro Pump at the bird, hitting her wing. The flying type hissed in pain as she cradled her hurt wing with the other. "Just give up, and I'll make this less painful for you."

"Y-you're the crazy one!" Oricorio stammered, firing a Thunderbolt while dodging attacks, but missing due to being distracted by the pain caused by the penguin's attacks. "Let's talk this through. We can both get a diamond here. They're many to spare-"

"I HATE LOSING!" Empoleon yelled, interrupting the bird's pleas.

Oricorio screamed as she barely dodged a Hydro Pump that made a clear dent on the wall of the cave chamber and destroyed some nearby diamonds. Her eyes quickly gazed over to the fallen Vanilluxe… they had to get away from ANOTHER danger. At this rate, they were going to get even more hurt, just because of Empoleon… and Oricorio didn't want to risk that.

She dodged another blast of water, scurrying over to help Vanilluxe up. "V-Vanilluxe, get up! We need to go, or Empoleon-"

"Oricorio… everything hurts…" Vanilluxe groaned, teary-eyed… though he deadpanned, "Not to the point of being medically evacuated obviously… I don't want to worry you!"

"It's alright. We just need to get away from-" Oricorio's eyes bulged as another Hydro Pump shattered a diamond close to them. "Empoleon's not even trying to hold back?!"

The bird's anger began to boil over at that moment, quickly overwhelming her worry and concern for the hurt ice cream. She knew that this was a game… but this was going too far. Though, a look of realization came to her face as she smirked.

She had a plan.

Floatzel was whistling to the tune of S.S. Anne as he exited the cave, generally unscathed. While he was worried about Bayleef earlier… "He's doing fine… probably…" He shook his head, crossing his arms.

While Bayleef might appear to be the weakest member of the team, there was some glimmer of po- Floatzel stopped himself there. He almost sounded like Empoleon for a minute there… Shuddering, he walked over to Nihilego, hands to his hips, "There weren't any diamonds. Where's my team?"

The jellyfish had a confused look before pointing over to a picnic mat where his teammates were resting, "Sure? I guess everyone gave up finding this diamond chamber, huh…"

Floatzel shrugged, walking over to his team… which currently consisted of a weeping Sableye, who was hunched over a fainted Teddiursa. Arching a brow, his stomps increased in volume as he stomped on the ground near Sableye, catching him off-guard, "What the fuck happened with Teddiursa?!"

"I c-can explain!" Sableye sputtered out, eyes shifting to the side.

"You two were alone!" Floatzel pointed out… before glaring at Gossifleur and Gourgeist, who looked confused. "Or did those two hurt Teddiursa for no reason? Only a VILLAIN would hurt their peers!" Gossifleur perked up at this. "Ugh…"

"Hehe… it's a long story but… where is everyone else?" Sableye asked.

Floatzel rolled his eyes, "Changing the topic? Wow, not so smooth… but if you must know, we split up to cover more ground but I'm pretty sure we all got lost from each other… Bayleef and I were together but we somehow split up even if I wasn't even running!"

"W-well… Teddiursa and I had a similar thing…" Sableye admitted, rubbing the side of his eye as he avoided the piercing gaze of the weasel, "W-we went back where we came in from, to find a wall… and that makes zero sense, hehe… Poipole explained that the cave apparently changes layouts once in a whil-"

"WHAT?! That explains everything!" Floatzel exclaimed, cutting in. "That must be why I got lost from Bayleef!"

"It still makes zero sense… haha…" Sableye muttered to himself.

Floatzel frowned at the camera, pointing at it threateningly, "You don't just withhold important information like that, Nihilego! What if somebody got hurt?! Only a villain would keep secrets like this…" He turned to the side, expression pensieve, "And Sableye?! I'm still keeping my eye on him. I don't think I can trust him fully…"

He face-palmed, shaking his head, "Or he might just be an idiot… it's looking more and more like that…"

"Don't be scared. Don't be scared…"

Tears were streaming down Bayleef's face as he continued to run away from a rolling Golem that didn't show any signs of stopping. He wanted to stop, take a break… HELL, at this point, he would've been fine getting crushed but fear was controlling every movement he made.

"Breathe, breathe… o-only a few more steps and this Golem will get tired, right?!" He gagged as he struggled to breathe. He was starting to get out of breath, from running too quickly.

"What would Empoleon do?" He thought to himself, letting out an awkward cough. "Surely, he would be able to fight off this Golem without running away… r-right?!"

While he wanted to fight back, due to a small spur of courage… he was quickly reminded of his fear as the Golem let out a loud resounding roar, which made him want to crawl up into a ball and die in a corner in the middle of nowhere.

"W-what am I even saying!? I can't do this! I'll die before I can e-even land a single blow!"

His eyes widened as he noticed something damning in front of him…

A dead end. He was absolutely and completely screwed. There was no other way to run. Was this the end of his Total Pokemon journey? Ejected, because he was crushed by a Golem, of all things.

"E-Empoleon… SAVE ME!" His face turned red from embarrassment. After all of that talk with Floatzel… in the end, here he was, expecting Empoleon to come in and save him. He felt pathetic.

"E-Empoleon! If you're anywhere close, I n-need you!" Bayleef screamed loudly… but because of him being distracted with finding help, he forgot that there was a wall in front of him, bumping into it, head recoiling back as he tried to steady himself. "W-w-w-why did I forget there's a wall back h-" He was again interrupted by something tapping on his back.

He gulped knowingly… it can't be. Turning around, Golem faced him with the scariest grin that he could ever imagine…

Of course, he immediately fainted, confusing the Golem who tilted his head to the side.

"I was just asking if he needed help…" Golem sighed, disappointed. "Am I that scary?"

"F-fine… I give up…" Oricorio said pleadingly. "P-please spare us… w-we'll let your team win… j-just stop hurting me and Vanilluxe…" She turned to pat her fallen teammate, who didn't seem to be responsive, "V-Vanilluxe is already unconscious… and I'm on the verge of fainting already…"

The penguin looked confused by this. A few moments ago, the Oricorio seemed more plucky and determined to defeat him… yet now, she was waving a white flag around, nearly driven. Empoleon didn't want to admit… but he felt mildly guilty. Only mildly guilty though. But Empoleon was obviously not going to let this situation pass without taking advantage of it.

"Are you sure?" He asked again.

"Y-yes… I'm… not exactly that strong…" Oricorio admitted longingly. "I'm just a cheerleader so while I am quite agile, I don't have the firepower to boot…"

"..." While Empoleon remained skeptical, his grip tightened around the diamond he was holding as he slowly walked over to the distraught Oricorio.

"If you try to do anything silly… you know what's going to happen, right?" Empoleon threatened. The bird nodded in agreement. "... you're surprisingly very easy."

"Excuse me?" Oricorio gawked in shock at this.

"I mean, you gave up so fast. I'm almost disappointed," Empoleon scoffed as he lifted the bird off her feet, "I'll be grabbing you n-"

"V-Vanilluxe, NOOOOW!" Oricorio yelled, making the penguin's eyes widen.

"WHA-" was all Empoleon could say as he was then encased in an ice block, thanks to a groggy Vanilluxe firing Ice Beam at him.

"O-okay… t-that plan was straightforward… but it worked!" Vanilluxe remarked, floating closer to the Oricorio. "I don't know Empoleon mistaken a pile of dirt for me though… I almost feel offended…"

"Yep… I feel a bit awful about it though…" Oricorio commented before shaking her head, "BUT, Empoleon was starting to get on my nerves anyway… so it had to be done! Let's grab a few diamonds, just in case… and get going!" The ice cream nodded as he proceeded to collect diamonds in another side of the chamber.

Soon enough, the duo had managed to gather a sizable amount of diamonds… and at that point, the ice encasing Empoleon was starting to melt, with the penguin growling at the duo.

"Y-y-y-you lied to me!" He growled, shivering from the cold.

"H-hey! You tried hurting me AND Vanilluxe here!" Oricorio pointed out. Empoleon's eyes narrowed as he scoffed.

"I didn't even know t-t-t-there was a Vanilluxe in this game!" Empoleon yelled out, making the ice cream groan in annoyance.

"Yeah yeah, I don't care," Vanilluxe said, laughing awkwardly before floating over to one of the exits, "L-let's get going before the ice fully melts off…" The bird nodded, following Vanilluxe into the hallway. This left Empoleon alone…

And he hated it.

"They fucking double-teamed me… that's not fair!" Empoleon complained, clenching a fist. "I-I… I could've beaten them if I knew Vanilluxe was behind me and-and…" He sighed, putting both hands on his head, "Did I lose my touch? That psycho pumpkin bitch wasn't even involved and I-I… I still lost… ME?! The strongest person on the island. I haven't won a single fucking challenge…"

He looked up, with a pained expression, "I must be so pathetic to be like this…"

"Empoleon is really terrible, trying to attack us, to incapacitate us just so we would lose this challenge…" Oricorio huffed, arms to her hips. "From what it looks like, he's the apparent leader of the other team… and that's the type of behavior he's trying to influence?! Now wonder his team is in a losing streak. He's not setting a good example!"

She sighed, shaking her head, "Okay… I'm not exactly one to judge. I mean, it's not like I asked to be the leader of my tea- Wait… is that even official?! I don't even know… Dedenne and Skwovet probably drilled it into everyone's heads to rely on me… but honestly?"

She blushed, embarrassed by herself, "I think I'm just the motherly one, who dotes on everyone… b-but that's a secret they don't need to know. It might feel too weird…"

"Wow, I can't believe we actually defeated Empoleon!" Vanilluxe said proudly, puffing out of his chest… before repeating, "W-wow… I can't believe we actually defeated Empoleon…" He shuddered, quickly turning to Oricorio, teary-eyed. "W-what did we just do?! Empoleon probably hates us a lot and will try hurting us painfully in future challenges! Maybe we should go back and apologize… or maybe, I should tell him a very funny pun?!"

"V-Vanilluxe, calm down…" Oricorio assured him with a weak smile, trying to stay calm. The high of defeating Empoleon… QUICKLY crashed, as the weight of reality dawned on them. Empoleon was their competition… and they have just enraged him even further. Gulping, she put a wing to her mouth, "Okay… w-we need to calm down! I know some mantras!"

"Now's not the time for mantras!"

"Uhm… you keep telling jokes in the wrong moments… no offense," Oricorio pointed out.

"... let's just keep walking… and hope we find the exit… and that Empoleon's not secretly following us again…" Vanilluxe said with a weak smile.

"Hopefully, it's not too… hard?" Oricorio said before trailing off… noticing that the diamonds were somehow shining a light to the front of them. "Okay… I know that diamonds can reflect light or something… but why do I feel like this diamonds are the ticket to getting to the exit quickly…"

"So, we should follow the light?"

"That sounds weird… but yep! We can do this!" Oricorio said confidently as she and Vanilluxe sprinted faster, guided by the diamond illuminating their path out of the cave.

"UGH?! Are we there yet?!" Vivillon screamed before coughing loudly as she held up the back of the pack. "I can't believe we're still walking through an entire straight hallway. You would think this cave would have more interesting things but noooo, Nihilego wants to make this boring for all of us."

"Stop complaining. We're all on the same boat," Klinklang drawled, rolling his eyes.

"WELL, I was poisoned!" Vivillon managed to spit out, glaring at the back of the squirrel's head. Skwovet scoffed at this, crossing his arms.

"You don't have to rub it in!" He grumbled, covering his ears to block out the butterfly's complaints.

Cramorant giggled as she still tapped on her phone, "OH EHM GEE! It looks like cabin fever is setting in and we're like… already starting to get sick of each other~"

"SHUT UP! You're making it worse!" Vivillon snapped at the cormorant, gritting her teeth. "I'm still starving, by the way! I hate this cave!"

"Vivillon, you're being irrational now…" Dedenne admitted.

Vivillon was about to rebute… but decided to retract her statement, grumbling quietly to herself. Dedenne sighed in relief at this, "Okay… let's… just keep going… we're bound to find the exit eventually… hopefully… I mean, we're going the right direction, right?"

"Hmm… analyzing our surroundings… I can't say for sure honestly," Klinklang admitted dryly. "The walls all look the same."

"What about this Bayleef-shaped rock though, lol?" Cramorant chimed in, redirecting everyone's attention to her. She blushed in embarrassment, "Oookay, stop giving me that look. I'm like… super shy…"

"What is this about a Bayleef-shaped rock?" Dedenne queried, arching a brow. The bird just nodded, pointing down to her feet… to reveal Bayleef, lying on the ground, groaning in pain. "Oookay… what? I think there was a Bayleef on the other team, right?"

"Was there a Mr. Mime on the other team too?" Skwovet added, starting to take a step back as he gulped. Dedenne looked confused… before turning around to find a Mr. Mime ominously setting up screens with a blank expression. He gaped, laughing loudly in an awkward fashion.

"OOKAY, there wasn't a Mr. Mime…"

"..."

"Run?" Cramorant suggested, waving her phone around. Dedenne doesn't respond, just nodding… and the group quickly scrambled to get away from the fastly approaching Mr. Mime.

"WAIT, what about Bayleef though?" Skwovet asked frantically.

"... oh shit… I can't exactly carry him…" Dedenne reminded with a deadpan expression… only to be surprised by a screaming Bayleef running past them. "OOOKAY, he can clearly handle himself. LET'S RUUUN!"

"AAAAAAAAH!" The Trubbish and Bayleef all screamed as they ran to the opposite direction of the Mr. Mime… who had just grabbed a knife from out of nowhere, expression darkening.

Dedenne was curled into a ball, eyes wide, "OOKAY… that was probably the scariest thing… I've EVER seen!"

Bayleef was whining incoherently between sobs as he was huddled up in the confessional, eyes frantically looking from left to right before he continued screaming.

"Lady Magearna… are we any closer to the diamond chamber?" Chansey continued to ask, trying her best to stay behind the mythical Pokemon. "Did Lady Diancie teach you her ways to sense diamonds, to help us with this challenge?"

Magearna shook her head, keeping her gaze in front of them, "No… she hasn't taught me…"

"Oh… I thought you two were close friends?" Chansey pointed out, a bit surprised.

Magearna sighed, eyes shifting to the side, "We had a bit of a falling out… it's hard to explain."

"OH!" Chansey said. "I always thought they were really close… but I guess this is why you shouldn't trust the internet too much…"

For the next few minutes, there was nothing but silence as the duo just… jogged as quickly as they could, without tiring themselves out. Though, Chansey was starting to get… while she didn't want to admit it… impatient.

She sighed in relief as she saw a bright light ahead of them, stating out loud, "Hey, there's a light over there… is it… the exit?"

"Hmm? We haven't even found the diamonds yet-" Magearna tried to remind… yet the nurse was eager to see the source of the light, running past her, making her shake her head. "Slow down, Chansey… it might be something dangerous…" She sighed to herself, muttering quietly, "Sheesh…"

Chansey blushed in embarrassment, looking back for a split second before turning back, "Don't worry. I might not look like it but I'm a pretty capable fighter!" The Mythical chuckled at this, making her blush intensify, "H-hey… d-don't laugh… it's not funny…"

"Keep being you…" Magearna said, eyes shifting to the side as she twiddled her fingers awkwardly. While she wanted to claim that she felt guilty… it was rather tough right now. She slowly took a step back… two steps back… three steps back, eyes focusing on Chansey as she chased the light…

Which turned out to be a confused Magcargo and Sunflora. Sunflora… was just leaning on the wall for support, having been tired out by Magcargo's long anecdotes while the snail just blinked in shock… before it quickly changed to a wide grin as he noticed that it was just Chansey.

"Chansey?! Is that you?! Long time, no see! How are you guys doing with the challenge?!" He asked with a wide grin plastered on his face. "Ooooh, are you alone? I actually got lost and-"

"Errr… who is the Sunflora next to you?" Chansey interrupted him, tilting her head to the side in concern. "And, no… I'm not alone. Magearna is here…" She turned around to gesture to Magearna who just waved awkwardly before turning back to the snail. "Not to offend obviously…"

"OH!" Magcargo was taken aback… but recovered relatively quickly, laughing loudly, making the nurse wince at how loud he was, "Sunflora here is my new best friend. Say hello Sunflora!" The sunflower rolled his eyes, waving weakly before grunting, folding his arms. "I found him in this cave and he almost tried to kill me but we're not best friends!"

"What's this about k-" Chansey chimed in, only to get cut off by the snail, to her mild annoyance.

"Don't worry, don't worry! While Sunflora might seem homicidal at first… he's very nice when you get to know him better!" Magcargo assured with a husky chuckle. "He's harmless!" Sunflora groaned, putting both of his hands to his face, making Magcargo nudged him on the side with his head… which accidentally mildly burnt his hand. The flower hissed, taking a few steps away, "OOKAY… I'm sorry about that, Sunflora. I almost forgot that my body's really hot sometimes…"

"Okay? Did you… well…" Chansey looked baffled, struggling to complete her own sentence.

Magcargo chirped in reply, "What? Get lost? NOPE! I fell into a pit. Sunflora found me there and he's leading me to the diamonds slash exit! Whatever we can find first. He's just so nice!"

"I didn't promise that!" Sunflora said, starting to get flustered.

"Aw…" Magcargo bowed his head down in disappointment. "Anyways… soooo… wanna go together?"

"Err… the more the merrier, I suppose…" Chansey said, composing herself, "Magearna, what abo-" She turned around to find… that her idol had disappeared into thin air. She frantically turned back to Magcargo, looking more panicked. "Where did Magearna go?!"

"Hmm? I was so busy talking to you that I didn't even notice!" Magcargo admitted, "Maybe, she took a short walk while we were talking and accidentally got lost!"

"..." Chansey didn't say anything as her eyes began to bug out.

"OKAY! I should've paid more attention and maybe Lady Magearna wouldn't have been l-lost… she-she…" Chansey began to sputter incoherently as she stared at her shaking hands. "I…"

"M-Magearna… lost? I…" Chansey was starting to grow incoherent, to Magcargo's concern.

Magcargo turned to Sunflora for help… but the flower just shrugged, confused by the fact that he's even relying on him, who isn't even a player in the game, for help. Clearing his throat, he sputtered out, "D-don't worry, Chansey! Let's just try and find the exit, so we can finish w-with this challenge and hopefully meet up with M-"

"I… don't even know what to do…"

Magcargo gaped in shock, slightly off-put by the nurse's defeated expression… which made him feel the same but he quickly shook his head to cheer himself up quickly.

"That's just cave madness doing you in! You need some fresh air and you'll be back to normal!" Magcargo said, a bit unsure with what he's even trying to say.

"..."

"Okay… I might've phrased that wrong. I'll go a-"

"JUST FUCKING STOP, I thought you're still trying to leave this cave and you're stalling for time! Shucks, you guys are more useless than I thought…" Sunflora interjected, deadpanning, "So chop chop, get to work!"

"S-sorry! I got carried away there," Magcargo admitted, gesturing for Chansey to follow him, "Let's get going, Chansey. The others might be outside by now… or worse, the diamonds might be found by now and we're the last people for our team…"

Magcargo groaned as he noticed the Normal-type, starting to get absentminded.

"Chansey?"

"What..?"

"We have to go!"

Chansey blinked, smiling with a sheepish expression, "R-right…"

"I don't get why Chansey's too obsessed with Magearna honestly," Magcargo admitted, "I mean… she's just like any other Pokemon. I mean, she's not any different from the normal Pokemon I meet in school and in real life so I am quite weirded out. What makes her special?!" He groaned, rolling his eyes, "Okay, I don't want to judge her but well, she's being strangely emotional just because Magearna disappeared into thin air. It's almost as if something happened."

He paused, muttering, "Okay… I think I need to ask one of her teammates for more info since I'm honestly very intrigued on what the big deal is… no offense to her obviously!"

Nihilego had a deadpan expression as she took a sip from her juice, brought over by one of the newly-hired interns, "... okay, this juice is too salty…" She turned to Poipole, unamused, "Okay… did we hired inexperienced people to work for us or-"

As she said this, an avian flew down, landing on the ground next to her striking a pose gracefully, surprising her and making her nearly spill her juice, "Staravia?! Uhh… you weren't listening in, were you?"

The bird, now known as Staravia, looked confused… before flushing, averting her gaze, "I-it's not like I like you or anything… I m-made you juice since you asked me to… Get it!"

"It's too salty," Nihilego pointed out flatly.

"Oh… I must've mistaken the sugar for salt!" Staravia exclaimed, face turning bright red as she covered her mouth, "I-I'm really sorry. You probably hate me a lot now… I-"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Staravia sighed, looking down, "D-do you hate me that much?"

"That wasn't me," Nihilego corrected as she held on to her chair as the ground began to shake. Staravia looked confused, almost stumbling. The duo looked over to a cave entrance… and emerging from it were…

Bayleef, Cramorant, Dedenne, Klinklang, Skwovet and Vivillon!

The six contestants all frantically looked relieved to find themselves out of the cave though most of them casted a worried gaze towards the cave entrance. Intrigued, Nihilego floated from her chair to greet the group.

"So… what happened?" She asked, "And uhh… none of you have a diamond either…"

"T-there was a dreadful killer Mr. Mime!" Vivillon huffed… before her face turned green again, "If you'll excuse me…" She quickly rushed to nearby bushes where some loud vulgar noises were suddenly made.

"... is she okay?" Staravia asked, face still flushed.

"She ate some really funky berries," Dedenne explained, walking over to the rest of his team.

"H-hey! I'm coming too! You're acting as if you're still bothered with that…" Skwovet said, following after him.

"Wow, this is my first day on this show and it's already so… interesting… I feel like a fish out of water…" Staravia admitted, "Oh! This just means this is the start of my big brea-" She groaned, deadpanning as Vivillon's sounds of horror erupted from the bushes, "Please keep it down!"

"Unfezant, I didn't know you're back?" Another voice chimed in from behind the bird. Staravia deadpanned, turning to the source of the voice to find a confused Magearna. "Wait… you look like Unfezant but your hair is all dif-"

"Oh Arceus… I'm Staravia, I'm a new intern and I hope we can get along!" Staravia said, quickly returning to her peppy attitude. She blushed in embarrassment, "I don't know who this Unfezant is… but I'm a hundred percent sure we're unrelated!"

"... okay?" Magearna muttered, floating away from the bird, leaving Bayleef, Klinklang, Staravia, Nihilego and Cramorant left.

"So… did we win the challenge?" Cramorant asked, cocking a brow.

"You need everyone here… AND the diamond," Nihilego reminded her flatly, "You only need Magcargo while the other team has Empoleon and Chansey missing. Oricorio and Vanilluxe came back with the diamond a few minutes ago… but this challenge is not yet over."

Klinklang had a deadpan expression… but a tinge of worry washed all over his body, "Magcargo's still not here? I thought Gossifleur and Gourgeist would get help for him…"

"I left Chansey behind. I absolutely had too…" Magearna admitted, leaning back with a scoff, "I mean… I was going to be in BIGGER danger after what happened last round… but any bit of dirt I have on her helps out. And I can throw her under the bus for this tiny challenge failure. I mean… woah, she got lost and split away from me and lost us a challenge!" She giggled, winking at the camera, "Puts the heat on her rather than me. It won't be too hard spinning a story on how Chansey is lying to everyone after all…"

Shortly afterwards… another figure crept out of the cave, body all battered and bruised.

It was Empoleon. The penguin groaned as he collapsed on the ground, dropping some crystals onto the ground. A concerned Bayleef quickly rushed over to him.

"E-Empoleon… a-are you okay?!"

"Fucking… Oricorio…" Empoleon grumbled, "I… was so close…"

"W-we haven't lost yet!" Bayleef pointed out.

"Yep… Chansey and Magcargo have still yet to arrive… and uhh…" Nihilego floated over to grab the fallen crystal, "Let me check this, just to be sure…"

Oricorio laughed nervously as she walked over, "E-Empoleon?"

"..." Empoleon glared at the bird from the ground.

"I had to do it…" Oricorio sighed, "You were going to hurt me and Vanilluxe, if we didn-" She yelped as the glare intensified, "Okay… you know what… I'll apologize when you're in a better mood. O-K Ok?!" Oricorio quickly ran away from the penguin and jumping into a nearby bush to hide… screaming shortly after, "AAAAAAH, Vivillon?!"

"I'm… not okay…" Vivillon said with a groan.

The time quickly turned from afternoon to evening as the group waited for Chansey and Magcargo to arrive.

Empoleon decided to situate himself far away from his teammates, head flooded with thoughts… though his alone time was quickly interrupted by Bayleef, who quickly ran to his direction… which he replied by taking a step away from the rushing dinosaur, making him hit a nearby tree with a groan.

"Bayleef? What are you doing here?" Empoleon asked, "I… need some time alone."

"H-haha… I just want to talk…" Bayleef admitted, "I… this challenge made me appreciate you more…" He gulped as Empoleon looked confused with his statement, "O-okay… I didn't mean to make it sound like you weren't helping me at all b-but… I think I t-took you for granted… it's just that…"

He gulped, closing his eyes and bracing for impact, "You scare me…"

"..."

Bayleef slowly opened his eyes… for it to widen at what he saw. Empoleon had a surprisingly non-threatening expression as his eyes were shifted to the side awkwardly. He laughed weakly at this, "E-Empoleon… a-are you okay? I-I'm sorry for saying that… everyone scares me… e-even Chansey!"

Empoleon glared at the dinosaur… before groaning, face-palming, "Am I really that scary?! Come on… I just got double-teamed by Vanilluxe and Oricorio. I'm not exactly in a good mood…"

"I…" Bayleef stammered, "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't judge you when… I'm not exactly perfect myself. I feel like an ingrate after everything you've done for me."

Empoleon looked surprised by this, "You actually said that without stammering…" He sighed, "But that's not true… I think I wasn't exactly too nice with you anyway… hell, I think I threatened you earlier this morning…" His eyes widened as Bayleef leaned closer to hug him with his vines, "H-hey, what the fuck are you-"

"H-hey… I just felt you were feeling cold since you were frozen in i-ice…" Bayleef explained, laughing weakly as he noticed the penguin's face turn red, "I'm a-actually shocked you can actually feel embarrassed…"

"... I'm not exactly that different from anyone here… just stronger obviously," Empoleon boasted with a confident smirk… which quickly faded as he buried his face between his legs, "..."

Bayleef took a step away… he didn't want to interrupt. While Empoleon usually had a very empowering aura around him usually… he could feel that his mood had been severely dampened by his loss in the caverns. Was this how he felt in the previous challenges? Bayleef wasn't too sure, since Empoleon usually only vocalized his anger towards his teammates for the most part.

But seeing this… Bayleef felt guilty… he nervously decided to leave while his teammate wasn't looking, unsure what to even feel about what he just experienced.

"OKAY, I'm sick of losing these challenges!" Empoleon said, both arms raised. "Like… what is even my USE if we keep losing these… I k-know we haven't lost yet but… I feel so…" He trailed off, arms trembling as he put them in front of his face. "USELESS!"

Soon enough, the cast could make out two figures leaving the cave… both walking at roughly the same pace.

Both quickly collapsed as they exited the cave… but one was notably the first one to leave…

…

It was Chansey!

The Shuppet all celebrated in a group hug at this, fully expecting Nihilego to announce their win. The Trubbish, on the other hand, glared at the fallen Magcargo, who laughed sheepishly.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked… before groaning, "Guuuuys, I literally fell down a pit!"

"Well, if it's not you… it was clearly Gourgeist and Gossifleur's fault," Klinklang pointed out, "They were supposed to rescue you…"

"W-what?! Nihilego didn't give us…" Gossifleur gaped in shock at the gear casually throwing her under the bus.

"Calm down, calm down… I haven't even announced the winners yet…." Nihilego said, rolling her eyes. "Sheesh… I haven't even said anything and everyone's already celebrating. Don't blame me if this gets your hopes down."

The contestants all turned to Nihilego, awaiting her judgement.

…

"Sorry to say this… but even if Magcargo was the last to leave… the Shuppet didn't bring back a diamond which means…" Nihilego announced, "TRUBBISH wins immunity, for the FOURTH time in a row!"

The Trubbish all erupted into cheers as they hugged each other in celebration of the fourth win… while the seven remaining Trubbish looked… rather defeated. That was it? They lost for a fourth time and were going down to six soon.

"WAIT A MOMENT! Didn't Empoleon bring back a diamond?!" Floatzel pointed out, rather put-off by their consecutive losses. "Are you implying-"

"It's not a diamond… it's another type of gem," Nihilego explained, showing a blue gem on her tentacle, "I… think it's a sapphire, but I definitely think it's not a diamond for sure… my co-hosts and interns confirmed that it's not."

"..." Empoleon groaned, face-palming, making his team-mates take a step away from him with this announcement. "So… uhh… I'll see you all later? Okay… it's already night time so in an hour at most!"

Since the cast returned back to camp, late at night, they were forced by a very insisting Indeedee to head to mess hall for dinner, to nearly everyone's dismay. They were tired, battered, emotionally-drained… and here they were, seated with the respective teams, to 'enjoy' dinner, just because Indeedee wanted them to.

Even the Twinkling Trubbish, who ended up winning the challenge, weren't really into celebrating after everything they've been through with the more physically and emotionally-drained members like Vivillon and Oricorio, already half-asleep on their chairs. On the other, the mood was way thicker on the Shining Shuppet.

Not only were they forced to eat Indeedee's new creation… which were just raw mushrooms, to their annoyance; they had an elimination to worry about.

Bayleef lifted his head after gagging a couple of times, just staring at the red-capped mushroom sitting on his plate, hoping he could break the silence… but struggled to find the words. Though, he internally sighed in relief as Empoleon, cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention.

"So… we fucking lost… AGAIN…" He said, smacking the side of the table, "And…" He paused, putting a hand to his face in disappointment, "Ugh… we really need to get ourselves in the game, or we'll just keep getting crushed…"

"... I mean, if you brought an actual diamond, we would've won," Teddiursa pointed out… yelping as Empoleon glared at her, "I'm j-just stating facts…" She let out a childish huff, pouting with her arms folded, "Sheesh… I thought freedom of speech was a thing, UmU…"

"... you know what, you're right!"

"I know I am rig-" Teddiursa started only to catch herself, "W-wait?! What the fwuck are you implying?!"

"It's my fault we lost… so… it's pretty simple," Empoleon explained, "Just vote me off. We lost FOUR challenges, despite my presence so it's pretty obvious that I've been really hypocritical for the past few rounds. I'm just as useless as everyone else here!"

"I don't like how you sounded humble yet put as all down, in the same sentence…" Floatzel commented, narrowing his gaze.

"I'm serious," The penguin repeated.

Bayleef, who was seated next to him, looked rather confused by this, "W-what? Are you serious? It's n-n-not just your fault… we all failed to find a diamond chamber and-"

Empoleon chuckled dryly, rolling his eyes, "I found it… but I lost to Oricorio and Vanilluxe… they froze me, and when I came to… I was pretty disoriented and idiotically picked up the wrong gem… it's my fault we lost this challenge. So, don't even try to shoulder the blame. It makes me feel even shitttier!"

"Empoleon…" Bayleef murmured, "Y-you…"

"Uhmm… do you just expect everyone to vote against you, hehe?" Sableye asked, raising a hand… only to put it back down as Empoleon growled at him, "Okay? I was just asking…"

"If you even think of doing anything else, I would be very pissed!" Empoleon grunted threateningly, "At least, let me do something right in this game for once!"

Magearna nodded curtly, standing up from her seat, "Understood… that does take a lot off my shoulders…" She giggled into her hand as she turned to leave the room… a few seconds later, Chansey also stood up, blushing as she did so.

"Uhhmm… I-I think I need to ask Magearna something as well…" She explained before following after the steel and fairy type out of the mess hall. Teddiursa then shot a thoughtful wink towards Floatzel and the duo stood up at the same time and also went out to leave through the mess hall exit.

As the numbers sitting around the table decreased, Sableye laughed sheepishly as he avoided the penguin's gaze, "So… uhh… that's it? We're… voting against you, Empoleon? And it's gonna be unanimous or something..?"

"Ye-"

"You can't just DO this!"

Empoleon and Sableye's eyes both widened as they turned to Bayleef, who was close to tears as he bowed his head down in disappointment… before glaring at the penguin, surprising him with how… strange it felt, coming from the dinosaur.

"You're just going to give up after you literally forced me to improve myself?!" The dinosaur snapped, "I can't believe this… I thought you were better than this… I… I can't even believe this! You're so despicable… I-I… I won't just vote for you!" He paused, expression hardening, "Sableye… please please please, don't just vote for Empoleon. He's still the strongest person on this team."

"Uhmmm w-"

"Empoleon, you're really getting on my nerves… and asking to be voted off?! You might as well just quit on the spot!" Bayleef continued… before quickly covering his mouth, realizing what he just said, "Err… o-oh… u-uhh… t-that's all…"

"..."

Sableye laughed weakly, shattering the growing silence, "Uhhh… w-why is nobody… uhhmm… shouldn't we get going and prepare for the vote, heheh… ha…"

"I-" Bayleef whimpered, instantly regretting lashing out from out of nowhere.

"Bayleef… you…" The penguin started to avoid the dinosaur's gaze, feeling a bit… embarrassed strangely enough.

"... OKAY… now, I have mixed feelings…" Empoleon admitted with a blank expression.

Bayleef groaned, slamming his head on the side of the confessional, quickly complaining at how it hurted as he did so before stopping, "Why d-d-d-did I just do that?! I think Empoleon is very very mad at me right now and… oh no oh no oh no…" He spun his head around in worry before wiping away the tears around his eyes with his vines, "I… I d-don't even know what to do…"

He paused… muttering, "I d-don't even want Empoleon gone but…"

"W-wait! Lady Magearna!" Chansey beckoned, running to the mythical Pokemon the moment they left the mess hall. Out of breath, she quickly sputtered out, "A-about the challenge-"

The mythical Pokemon cocked a brow, turning around, "What do you mean?" She tapped her chin thoughtfully… before snapping a finger as she nodded, "Are you talking about us getting separated?"

"Y-you went missing while I was talking with Magcargo an-"

"Chansey, the cave had a spontaneous layout," Magearna reminded, "I think the layout changed at that moment… so we were separated from each other. I sincerely apologize… if only I was a bit more careful…" She sniffed, wiping off some residual tears from her eyes, "I'm really sorry that you got lost…"

"I-I…" Chansey looked shocked by the Mythical Pokemon's tears… and immediately felt bad, blushing in embarrassment, "D-don't worry… I'll forgive y-'' She gaped as Magearna quickly hugged her with a cheery expression, "O-okay… this is a little bit too close!"

"Uhmm… are you two done?" Chansey and Magearna simultaneously blinked as the Mythical decided to release the nurse from her clutches, turning to the direction of the voice. A haughty-looking Teddiursa was marching from the mess hall with a nonchalant Floatzel lagging behind her. "So… what were you two doing?"

"M-making up!" Chansey stammered.

"Yeah yeah! OWO I honestly don't care…" Teddiursa said with a giggle, "But uhmm… about the vote…"

"Didn't Empoleon already volunteer to get voted off?" Magearna pointed out, "It seems a bit… counter-productive to do anything else."

"I mean… he made a speech and everything," Teddiursa said, "But honestly, there's something on my mind…"

Fourth time's… not the charm, as the Shining Shuppet all faced the campfire, still reeling in from the disappointment of their fourth consecutive loss. A faux-apologetic Nihilego held a tray of marshmallows as she secretly relished in satisfaction from the heavy mood of the tribe facing her tonight.

Poipole waved at the cast with a dazzling radiant smile… which almost blinded them just from his shiny teeth, "Hi Shining Shuppet! Nihilego was feeling very lazy, so-" He grunted as Nihilego hit him in the side, mouthing 'Don't fucking tell them everything I tell you', making him laugh awkwardly, "Ookay… moving on, there's six marshmallows here… yet there are seven of you! You've all already voted and I'll call your names out when you're safe to get a marshmallow."

"If you're left without a marshmallow at the end of this… then you're donezo, gone, forced out the island with no chance of returning," Poipole continued, "Yeaaah… this doesn't have returnees since Nihilego said she wasn't gonna do that with a cast of 20… anyways… let's get this party started!"

The cast all held a nervous expression as they waited in anticipation for Poipole's announcement. He looked rather confused but he quickly shook it off, grabbing a marshmallow from the platter, "First marshmallow of the night goes to…" He waved the marshmallow high, taking care not to drop it, "Floatzel."

The weasel smirked as he stood up to get his marshmallow. "Teddiursa…" The little bear made a fake gasp as she attempted to catch her marshmallow… which flew past her head again, to her dismay. "... Sableye." The gremlin cheered, only to cringe as he got hit by a marshmallow on the nose.

"Magearna." The Mythical Pokemon had a knowing expression as she came forward to get her marshmallow. She shot the worried Chansey a look of reassurance. "... and Chansey." The nurse gasped in shock as she nervously scurried forward to get her marshmallow.

Empoleon and Bayleef were left without a marshmallow. Empoleon looked rather impatient, already waiting for Nihilego to announce his departure while Bayleef cocked his head down in disappointment. One of them was leaving no matter what.

"Everyone… this is the last marshmallow of the night…" Poipole announced ominously. "And it goes to…"

Bayleef's eyes widened.

Empoleon put his head on his hands in disappointment.

…

"... Empoleon," Poipole finished, hurling a marshmallow to the surprised penguin. Empoleon turned to his teammates in confusion. He somehow survived? Even when he asked to be eliminated. It was almost as if nothing was going his way…

"Guys… I thought we had an agreement!" Empoleon snapped, "And you still voted to keep me?! What the fucking hell…"

"Sorry… you were still more useful than Bayleef," Floatzel explained with a grunt. The penguin blinked before looking away without a word.

Bayleef, on the other hand, was crying at the news, "I'm o-out?! Just like that… I-I-I…" He stood up from his seat, running into the woods to make his way to the docks.

"Okay… Thank you for doing our jobs for us, Bayleef? Poipole, join him on the boat," Nihilego asked. The youngest Ultra Beast nodded, running off after the dinosaur. The jellyfish was about to say something but was interrupted by Empoleon, standing up to sprint out of the area. "... okay? Where the fuck is he going? Oh well… the round is over anyway. Good night."

Bayleef sighed to himself as he glumly walked down the docks to the boat where Poipole was waiting, having surprisingly beaten him to the docks. He was gone… he had mixed feelings with being eliminated. Sure, the game… was tough and Empoleon was hard on him, but in the end of the day… it all amounted to nothing and the dinosaur felt nothing but disappointment.

"I can't… I c-can't believe this actually happened… t-the moment somebody actually asked to get voted off…" He muttered to herself… unable to fight the tears.

He whimpered, wiping the tears off… even as they continued to flow, "W-why am I even crying? It's not like this game mattered in the end b-but… I guess… e-even I wanted to prove something… b-but in the end, I…"

"Bayleef, hurry up already! We're about to leave!" Poipole beckoned.

The dinosaur sighed, nodding reluctantly, "Alright…" He had one look at the island as he rushed up the gangplank and onto the boat. The Ultra Beast pat him reassuringly on the back as the boat started moving away.

"Don't worry… you're going to a resort an-"

"I… I need some space…" Bayleef muttered, trudging away from Poipole, who blinked… mildly intrigued.

"Why is he mad all of a sudden..?"

"WAIT WAIT WAIT!" Empoleon screamed as he emerged from a thicket of bushes, hoping he didn't miss Bayleef's departure… only to stare in disappointment as the boat carrying Bayleef was already disappeared in the distance.

He fell to his knees, trembling, "No… this… I…"

"I didn't even say goodbye…"

Sableye yawned as he returned from the campfire ceremony. While he was… shocked that it was Bayleef voted off over Empoleon. It wasn't the first time he was caught off-guard by the results of the vote. Honestly, he was just thankful he wasn't somehow voted off. As he headed into his cabin… he looked confused to find a wide-eyed Gossifleur, sitting on Bayleef's former bed.

He stumbled back in shock, "G-Gossifleur… uhh… what are you doing here, hehe?"

"Oh, the door was unlocked!" Gossifleur chirped, "So, I just allowed myself in while you guys were voting someone off…" She tilted her head to the side, "Who was voted off?"

"Bayleef," Sableye answered, "But uhh… y-you still haven't answer my question…"

"I was together with Gourgeist the whole day," Gossifleur explained, "And I haven't learned anything… so I figured, I should ask a professional bad boy instead so I came here and waited for you! I'm glad you haven't been eliminated!"

"Wait… what?!"

"Can you teach me how to be a bad girl?" Gossifleur asked with a giggle.

"Uhh… can you repeat that? Cuz… I don't think I got it the first time…"

"Okay, well-"

"That was a joke… but uhh… teach you how to be a bad girl?" Sableye queried as the flower's expression changed from interest to confusion, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Gossifleur opened her mouth to reply but shrugged as she couldn't explain specifically. Sableye groaned face-palming, "I think you made a severe misunderstanding, heh…"

"Vivillon… why the fuck are you following me?" Skwovet asked, as he took a walk around camp, hoping he would shake off the butterfly from his tail. "Like seriously… are you still not over the so-called poisonous berries business. I already apologized so give me a break already…" He groaned as Vivillon shook her head, glaring at his back.

"Oh come on… I didn't know you were that petty…"

"Then, clearly you don't know me at all," Vivillon said with a smug look, "Besides… you have done nothing but get on my nerves for the past few days. Need I remind you that you have been pilfering some of my luxury items while I was… quote unquote not looking?"

The butterfly had a satisfied look as Skwovet groaned, nodding reluctantly. That was the validation she needed to push the squirrel's back onto the wall as she continued to make her argument.

"So… I need to keep my eye on you before you try to do anything else… or worse, escalate from just pickpocketing!" Vivillon continued, "So, you're stuck with me!"

"... Ughh… come on, Vivillon," Skwovet said pleadingly, "I'm sure there are other people you should be worried of… like Magcargo or Cramorant?!"

"Oh please, at this point, you're starting to grow desperate, "Vivillon scoffed haughtily, "I mean… Magcargo and Cramorant? Neither are even a threat to anyone… so that's a lazy excuse to make."

Skwovet groaned again, to her delight as she said in a singsong voice, "Now carry on with your activities. Pretend I'm just your very-much needed chaperone!"

The squirrel was about to lash back… before grumbling to himself as he stomped to another direction, with the butterfly flying after him.

"Vivillon is after my case… and that's NOT good," Skwovet admitted with a scowl. "Like, I thought I was good at being sneaky but apparently, she knows EVERYTHING bad I did to her… so maybe, she's less dense than I expect but that's not good for me!"

He let out a groan, holding his head frantically, "And worse! I think the whole berry incident has put me under a lot of fire… so ugh, I'm not exactly feeling good, if we do end up losing a challenge! And it all… HER FAULT!"

Marill had a deadpan expression as she stared at the newest batch of recruits. Staravia was donning a bashful expression… which made her scoff silently to herself as the bird maintained an 'organic and down-to-earth' personality. Standing next to her was a flower dancer, who twirled around, giggling as she bumbed into a stoic-looking turtle next to her.

"So… this is the best we can get…" Marill commented.

"Hey no, I'm sure they're all… great!" Gallade said awkwardly, "I mean… I like them all already!" He shuddered as he noticed Carracosta's sharp gaze, "Okay… maybe less in Carracosta's case but they're all… pretty good?"

"Two of them are literally the fakest people ever and… I don't think I even saw Carracosta smile… EVER," Marill stated sternly, smacking the side of her clipboard. "UGH… Maybe, I should've been in charge of casting over Whimsicott and Indeedeee…" She turned to Indeedee, who was eating a bowl of mush that he just prepared, "Like seriously? You're better off as a chef, cuz I don't know where you even found these people…"

"Online," Indeedee answered, rolling his eyes. "Where else?"

"... you know what?! At least, they're not too shady," Marill grumbled to herself before forcing a smile, "WELCOME to the show, you three! I hope you can make yourselves at home, since we're kind of… shortstaffed so…" She clapped her hands together, while holding her clipboard in between, "Good luck!"

"I won't ever waste this opportunity. My mama told me… Staravia, you didn't have a chance, but-" Staravia started only to be pushed aside by Bellossom.

"Yay! This will be the most funnest ever in the whole world absolutely situation yes ever!" Bellosom said, jumbling up her words by accident. "Don't you think so, Carracosta?" The turtle shrugged indifferently.

"Uhh… sure…" Marill commented, hiding a frown behind her clipboard. "Okay… this show is just about to get even weirder…"

Vote Count:

Bayleef - Chansey, Floatzel, Magearna, Teddiursa

Empoleon - Sableye

Chansey - Bayleef

Magearna - Empoleon

Shining Shuppet - Chansey, Empoleon, Floatzel, Magearna, Sableye, Teddiursa

Twinkling Trubbish - Cramorant, Dedenne, Gossifleur, Gourgeist, Klinklang, Magcargo, Oricorio, Skwovet, Vanilluxe, Vivillon

Eliminated: Unfezant, Pikachu, Musharna, Bayleef

THOUGHTS

This chapter… dragged on for far too long. So, it's nice to end another chapter. They went spelunking… but it was mostly walking around some dark tunnels. In case anyone is asking about Sunflora, he is still in the caves and Magcargo/Chansey forgot about him… for now, but he'll return eventually. Golem and Mr. Mime too.

It contained a LOT of foreshadowing and shit so I hope you guys are on the edge of your seats. I need to cover my mouth before I can share too much spoilers…

THE BOOT (Bayleef - 17th Place)

Bayleef… was a JOURNEY. He was the original second boot but I decided to keep him and have him express his grievances against Empoleon a bit more… and whoops, that relationship ended up open-ended since they… did NOT even have a happy farewell. But there's no returnees but there will be an episode with the eliminated characters so stay tuned for that.

He made it further after I pushed him out of the 2nd boot slot but I figured that this was the best moment to take him out… when Empoleon felt that he was at his lowest, not knowing he was going to get pushed down even further. While I did want to leave their relationship more ambiguous… it was a relationship built on fear, respect… and being forced into it in the first place was really toxic… Empoleon got harder on Bayleef after suffering multiple losses. While he did show some kindness and respect for Bayleef… that is nothing but a memory for him now. Since even Bayleef was starting to rethink things before his elimination.

THE INTERNS

OKAY, This is just a joke since Staravia was the first one eliminated in TPReboot… so consider them an accessory for now.

Newly Introduced Interns

Staravia, the Wide-Eyed Thespian

Bellossom, the Chipper Blossom

Carracosta, the Perpetual Stoic

Bayleef: P-p-please review… I'm begging you!