Every end has a beginning.
"W-we have to answer ten questions related to the original show? I thought you said this was supposed to be a mini-challenge," Chansey commented with an anxious look.
"Well, it is? Just answer them with the right answers very fast and we move on to the next question and we finish this in like… five minutes, tops," Nihilego said flippantly.
"Let's get this over with…" Chansey said with a sigh.
"I don't know about you but it MIGHT be fun! I mean, I don't know anything but whatever the fuck Total Pokemon Ultra Space or those other seasons are, but I love answering random questions I don't know the answers to!" Magcargo said, turning to Chansey with an elated expression and slightly overwhelming her with her behavior.
"M-Magcargo, calm down. We're just answering questions…" Chansey murmured.
"This could be the chance you needed to prove your worth and finally believe in yourself more than you believe in Magearna!" Magcargo explained in a quieter voice.
"I d-don't know what you mean…" Chansey slowly trailed off as she turned back to an eager-looking Nihilego. "Let's just do this… the challenge, I mean… it's not going to be hard questions, right?"
"Eh… it's 50/50 so let's get started!" Nihilego shrugged nonchalantly as she procured a set of flashcards from out of nowhere before deadpanning as she threw them off the stage, "I nearly forgot we had a flat screen…" Snapping her tentacles, the flat screen on the stage suddenly flickered on, with the words 'Total Pokemon: Quiz Show' showing on the screen over a cutesy light blue background.
"I hope you're both ready… cuz the first question is here!" Nihilego dragged her announcement longer as the screen changed to show the first question. "And the first question is… who was eliminated in the Nacrene City episode?!"
Magcargo gasped at this, "We're going to NACRENE CITY!? I always wanted to go there and see the sights. And I heard there were great cafes in the area too! Oooh, there's also the museum! When is the Nacrene City episode, Nihilego?!"
"M-Magcargo, calm down. It's from one of their past seasons," Chansey explained before facing Nihilego with a puzzled expression. "Though, do we get a hint? Since we don't even… know what happened in your past seasons?"
"Don't worry. I have choices prepared for this specific situation!" Nihilego assured, clapping her hands together as three choices appeared on the scene: Izaya, Juvia and Erza.
"I LOVED Fairy Tail!" Magcargo said. "It's definitely IZAYA since he's not a Fairy Tail character!"
Nihilego deadpanned at this, "You're correct… but what the fuck is that logic?!"
"If I'm correct then my logic was right!" Magcargo said with a smile.
"Mmhm?! We're currently 1-0, with the Trubbish in the lead. Well, let's move on to Question Two: Which of the following contestants were in a showmance during Total Pokemon: Ultra Space?" Nihilego asked. "The choices are: Poppy, Azure and Meowzer."
"I don't know who any of those are!" Magcargo exclaimed with a smile.
"M-Magcargo, I don't know them either… and I'm not even confident in my guessing abilities," Chansey pointed out shyly.
"Let's guess together!' Magcargo suggested.
"Don't help the enemy!" Klinklang yelled from the sidelines, making the lava snail feel sheepish.
"S-sorry…" He nervously looked back to the hosts, "Uhh, is the answer Poppy because I'm pretty sure azure is a color while Meowzer sounds like a fake name that you would use, for the sake of filling choices."
"You're… correct," Nihilego expressed shock at this. "You're surprisingly good at guessing, Magcargo."
"Oh, it was a lucky guess!" Magcargo said, blushing in embarrassment.
"You're doing great, Magcargo!" Chansey compliment, making the snail even more flushed.
"T-thanks! Haha, it's not like there's any skill involved with this mini-challenge since it's basically luck-based. I'm sure you'll get lucky with the answers soon," Magcargo assured with an optimistic grin.
"Hopefully…" Chansey muttered, laughing nervously to herself.
"This challenge is easier than the challenge Lady Magearna had to face…" Chansey commented before stopping herself. "Though, I should probably stop calling Lady Magearna a lady, after all her previous actions have been making me doubt things. Everything's a mess honestly."
"Vanilluxe? Vanilluxe?!" Oricorio continued to call out to the runaway ice cream, as she headed deeper into the woods. Brushing through a thick bush, she found herself in another clearing, starting to grow annoyed by her current situation.
"Vanilluxe… we have to head back or the team might try to vote you out for running off like that. If you have any problems, I'm here. D-don't worry, I don't… bite?" She slowly trailed off as she heard low mumbling on the other side of the clearing.
Stealthily, she sneaked to the source of the mumbling, biting her tongue to prevent a scream as she noticed the sharp thorns on the bush. She parted away some of the bush in front of her to see what was happening, eyes widening at what she saw.
It was GOURGEIST. The missing pumpkin was just casually whistling as she was sitting on a log, next to a figure shrouded with a long dark robe.
"What… what is she..?"
"Oricorio?" A voice called out from behind her. The bird jumped in shock, turning back to find Vanilluxe sneaking his way into the bush, wincing as the thorns grazed his frozen cold body. "What are you doing here? Are you feeling BUSHED?!"
"V-Vanilluxe, I was looking for you and-" Before Oricorio could finish, Vanilluxe floated past her, gasping at what he saw.
"Gourgeist? Who is she talking to? Is this why she's not at the challenge?" Vanilluxe said before being stopped by Oricorio silently shushing him to be more quiet.
"Don't make a sound… if Gourgeist discovers us… I have a bad feeling, for some reason…" Oricorio admitted, sweatdropping before shaking her head. "That aside, why did you run away during the challenge? Are you feeling alright?"
"W-well…" Vanilluxe tried to explain before he sighed, looking away. "It's nothing. I was not feeling well."
"Really? I hope it's not too serious then…" Oricorio muttered, hiding her disbelief. The ice cream's body was giving away that it wasn't just a run-of-the-mill 'I'm not feeling well' type of situation, making the bird even more concerned of what he's trying to hide; but Oricorio shook her head, turning back to the scheming pumpkin. She had bigger fish to fry.
"Let's… talk about that later. Gourgeist is planning something and I don't like the looks of it…" Oricorio murmured, trying to get a better view of the pumpkin but wincing as she pricked her finger on a stray thorn. "If only this bush wasn't coincidentally painful."
"But she's on our team so she's planning against the other team, right?" Vanilluxe pointed out with a nervous laugh. "I-I… well… okay, I don't exactly know how to feel about Gourgeist ditching."
Silence settled in before Vanilluxe awkwardly laughed to himself.
"Okay, maybe I ditched the challenge too but I have a perfectly reasonable explanation."
"Which is?" Oricorio looked confused by the ice cream's vague wording.
"Perfectly reasonable!" Vanilluxe deflected the question back at the bird, nervously backing out of the bush.
"You're lucky I'm too focused on seeing what Gourgeist is doing…" Oricorio grumbled, turning around. "I knew she was very creepy, but this goes beyond that."
"..." Vanilluxe didn't say anything as he pushed himself back forward to peer over the cheerleader's shoulder as they attempted to eavesdrop.
"So… I only have to do that?" Gourgeist said with a bored expression. "Doesn't seem too hard enough."
"But you know what you must do… right?" Gourgeist's companion said in a gravelly voice.
"Obviously. I mean, I was going to do it anyway so you can count on me!" Gourgeist said in a singsong tone… then suddenly, her eyes narrowed. "Though, we should leave since I'm 100% sure someone is listening in on us.
"She sensed us?! But I was confident that Vanilluxe and I were sneaky enough!" Oricorio gulped silently to herself. Before she could even finish processing her thoughts, she looked up to find Gourgeist staring down at them with an eerie expression, with her shrouded companion disappearing into thin air. "Oh no…"
"O-Oricorio?" Vanilluxe stumbled around his words.
"G-Gourgeist, we can explain!" Oricorio tried to defend both herself and Vanilluxe, to Gourgeist's amusement.
"Oh, I know you will~"
"And Magcargo gets another question right, which makes the score 4-1… he only needs to score two more points to win this mini-challenge!" Nihilego repeated, waving a tentacle around while holding a microphone. "This is… unironically a huge curbstomp but WOW, my heart is pounding to see whether Chansey can still pick herself up!"
"Y-you're not helping me with all that pressure!" Chansey argued with a nervous look.
"Don't worry! I'm pretty sure you've got the next question in the bag!" Magcargo assured before making a weird noise when Chansey groaned in annoyance.
"You already said that for the past few questions and I only got one of them right!' Chansey pointed out. "There are five more questions left and I'm not too sure I'll answer all of them correctly."
"Well… the next question is kind of a doozy! Who was my former co-host: Pheromosa, Kartana or Guzzlord?" Nihilego asked.
"Guzzlord?" Chansey tried to guess, sighing in relief as Nihilego flashed a thumbs-up.
"You got that right!"
"Good job, Chansey!' Magcargo complimented.
Chansey rubbed the back of her head bashfully. "Thanks… though, I think Magearna would've done better than me, since she's Mythical who would know this information though…"
"Uhmmm…" Magcargo tried to say something in retaliation before sighing to himself. There wasn't an easy way to get through to Chansey and her seeming fixation on the steel and fairy type.
"Okay, I hope you're all prepared for the next question!" Nihilego said. "Which of the following contestants was actually voted off: Alex, Ace, Crimson?"
Magcargo's eyes narrowed at the question before he turned to look at a thoughtful Chansey… when he smirked as an idea formed in his head. He tilted his head to the side, smacking his lips together in faux-confusion. "Oh, I don't know what the answer of this question is and don't know what's the right choice to guess too. Doh, my old professor told me to always circle B but I don't know."
He hid a smirk as he noticed Chansey looking at him weirdly as he leaned closer to the nurse. "Maybe, you should guess first? Or doh, let me do it first? I'm not too sure. I literally don't know what the answer is!"
"U-uhmm… maybe you can guess first? I don't think I know the answer either." Chansey admitted. "I never knew any of them…"
Magcargo gave her a look before shaking his head, "I'll guess first then? I think the answer is obviously and most certainly ALEX!"
"That's the wrong answer," Nihilego replied flatly, making the snail shrug in response.
"Oh no, I didn't know the answer to the question about a show I've never watched. No biggie," Magcargo said, smiling at the nurse, who giggled a bit. The snail's smile grew larger at this. "How about you, Chansey? Maybe, you can take a crack out of this question?"
"Err… sure? Is it Crimson?" Chansey asked. She sighed in relief as Nihilego nodded.
"Yep, the score is now 4-3 so things are looking to be very close right now!"
"Yeah! Chansey, you're better at guessing that you thought, right?!" Magcargo said jokingly. "I'm sure Magearna wouldn't be as good at guessing as you are!"
"I… don't know about that," Chansey murmured, starting to blush in embarrassment.
"The guessing game is more fun than I expected!" Magcargo commented with a wide grin. "I know Chansey has some… confidence issues to worry about and I'm not sure if Magearna's presence is really helpful for that. But it's not my problem right now but I do want to try and help out with that problem! Though, I do know she's on the other team and my teammates might not be fine with helping out an enemy but hey, today's enemy is tomorrow's best friend so I don't care!"
"Is Magcargo helping the enemy earn points?" Dedenne whispered to Klinklang suspiciously.
"Magcargo… just has an overly sensitive disposition," Klinklang tried to explain in a monotone voice. "It's nothing new."
Dedenne sighed at Klinklang's assessment, rolling his eyes. "I mean… I see your point there but I think he's pretty volatile and the only reason I'm trying to even work with him is because you're attached to him."
Noticing the gear's expression darken, Dedenne cocked a brow. "I mean… you two are close, right? You're rarely seen apart and you even called him an ally, which is a title you don't throw around flippantly, in my opinion."
The electric mouse face-palmed, leaning closer as he received no replies. "Klinklang, you're being awfully quiet. I just wanted to talk about strategy since winning has made things a bit… stagnant around here."
"You… I feel the same way," Klinklang admitted. "Everyone is so casual about things and this whole excursion has felt like a vacation without anything at stake."
"If Magcargo flops this challenge, maybe we have a chance to actually vote someone off. It'll strangely feel therapeutic…" Dedenne joked. "What do you think?"
"The ideal route is to keep winning to ensure we keep the numbers, in the event of a merging or tribe swap," Klinklang answered.
Dedenne laughed quietly, in order to not attract anyone else's attention. "Tribe swap? I didn't know you watched Pokevivor too! Since in all of the Total Pokemon shows I've watched, there was rarely any swapping… so I have some doubts we'll be swapping. Honestly, I'd be fine with that. Let the other tribe collapse on itself and cannibalize each other!"
"It's a bit-"
"Boring?" Dedenne finished the gear's sentence with a knowing smirk. "I know how it feels."
Before Klinklang could respond, Dedenne continued to explain, "I mean… I have been trying to lay low since I'm dreadfully normal and everything, but I think we have it way too easy…"
"Don't throw the challenge," Klinklang told him sternly.
"Oh, I won't! I just wanted to put it out there," Dedenne explained, sighing in relief. "I just wanted to get that off my chest. Everyone is just really nice here so it would be terrible if we had to vote anyone off. I mean, sure I won't vote for anyone included in the alliance. That's already a given."
"Logically, we would be targeting one of Vanilluxe, Gourgeist, Cramorant or Gossifleur." Klinklang pointed out.
"Obviously!" Dedenne said, rolling his eyes. "Are you trying to imply that I would stab anyone I trust in the back? Oricorio's our leader. Skwovet and Vivillon are fighting. But I like to think we're all tight."
"... same," Klinklang breathed out.
"But Klinklang, do you want to uhmm… talk about who you want to gun among those four?" Dedenne continued. "Personally, I think Gossifleur is-"
"Gossifleur actually earned our team a point," Klinklang cut him off coldly. "We need to look at this from a logical standpoint. Gossifleur is more useful than Vanilluxe or Cramorant and between the two, Cramorant is more volatile and harder to work with."
"Are you sure that's not your anti-bias talking for you?" Dedenne queried.
"... I mildly dislike her but it's from a logical standpoi-"
"Well, your logical standpoint feels mildly emotional~" Dedenne said jokingly.
"I have no idea what you are trying to point out…"
"Eh, I guess I just wanted to tease you a bit," Dedenne admitted flatly. "Watching this challenge has been pretty boring with how slow it is." He sighed as he turned back to the stage where Chansey seemed to sigh in relief as she tied 4-4.
"I guess I should be relieved there's no drama on this team, I guess..?"
Klinklang's gaze remained on the electric mouse's back as he mumbled silently to himself. "You sound disappointed though…"
"Did you say anything?" Dedenne questioned, looking to the side.
"... it's nothing," Klinklang lied flatly.
"I'm usually a wallflower, who ends up naturally slinking into the background, which is a useful skill in this game, where I can use it to avoid the target since I'm the last person anyone can expect," Dedenne commented, twiddling his thumbs thoughtfully. He laughed to himself, leaning back.
"Though, it's not exactly useful, when the other teams sucks this much."
"Chansey… you have to answer this last question first correctly to tie up the score… so I hope you are ready. Same as you, Magcargo," Nihilego said.
"I'm… hopefully ready?" Chansey said, a bit unsure.
"I'm ready too! Let's do this!" Magcargo said.
"Okay then… the potentially final question of the mini-challenge is; Who was the first person eliminated from Total Pokemon Ultra Space: Clay, Junior or Breon?"
"... B-Breon?" Chansey answered nervously.
The nurse looked disappointed as Nihilego shook her head, "Since you've got that wrong… Magcargo, you have the chance to answer this question. But, if you get it wrong, we'll move to the extra questions I have prepared."
"Well… uhh, I don't know?" Magcargo said, looking over to Chansey with a sheepish expression. "Err… well… uhm…"
"It's honestly a tough question," Magcargo breathed out, noticing Chansey's expression look even more confused.
"Errr… ugh… I'll try my best and say… Clay?" Magcargo answered, hoping he got it wrong, to give Chansey a chance to win in the tiebreaker. To his disappointment, Nihilego nodded, giving him a thumbs-up.
"Yep, you're right! Which means, your team won this mini-challenge AND starting from the next mini-challenge you win, you can knock someone off from the other team!"
"Oh, that's great." Magcargo said flatly with an awkward smile.
"You did great!" Chansey complimented the bashful lava snail.
Magcargo nodded, smiling back at the nurse. "I think you did great too!"
CURRENT STATUS:
SHUPPET LEFT - 6
TRUBBISH LEFT - 7 (ELIMINATED: Oricorio, Vannilluxe)
"So… basically, Vanilluxe was acting like a pussy so you decided to check up on him?" Gourgeist tried to repeat Oricorio's words… albeit, in an 'obviously butchered and altered to sound more offensive' way. "Well, that checks up, mmhm! I always knew Vanilluxe had the smallest dick among the boys plus Gossifleur~"
"I… you…" Oricorio deadpanned, face-palming to herself. "I didn't say any of that. Stop trying to twist my words."
"I dunno… that's what I remembered!" Gourgeist said with a confident smirk.
"AHEM! If you're just going to put words in my mouth then Vanilluxe and I will be taking our leave then," Oricorio mumbled, rubbing the back of her awkwardly, in an attempt to prematurely leave this conversation before it blows up.
"Aw, but I thought you were curious about what I was doing here!" Gourgeist teased with a confident wink. "I mean, I don't exactly have much to hide!"
"If you insist?" Oricorio said, confused by the pumpkin's current disposition.
"Uhhh, yeah! What she said! If I were to be honest, I'm honestly not following this conversation… like, at all!" Vanilluxe admitted sheepishly. "There's just too much going on in my head right now."
"Aw! Don't worry, Vanny! I'll spill the tea regardless," Gourgeist said. "You see, a little birdie told me that there's SOMEONE really, really suspicious at camp. Do not trust them at all."
Vanilluxe laughed awkwardly, throwing in a random joke. "By little birdie, you're not talking about Cramorant, right?"
"I can't confirm or deny that, cuz she's at the challenge, remember?!" Gourgeist reminded the ice cream, deadpanning. "I can't exactly give away their identity since I promised to keep it a secret. And last time I checked, I wasn't a Pretty Little Liar."
"At least, give us a hint?" Oricorio suggested before sighing to herself. "Okay, now I feel like I'm prying too much when it's not my business to know what you were even trying to do."
"You are the mother hen… errr BIRD of the group after all," Vanilluxe joked, hoping to lighten the mood, groaning in disappointment as nobody reacts. "Oh come on! I was pretty confident with that joke!"
"Uhhm, I don't think this is the right time to make a joke…" Oricorio made an excuse, laughing awkwardly. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Vanilluxe's feelings even further after his outburst earlier. "But it was a funny joke."
"Hahaha, you're a kidder, Ori!" Gourgeist chuckled at the birds' obvious lies, rolling her eyes before putting her tendrils to her hips. "But anyways… I'll be leaving now since OBVIOUSLY, giving a hint would make it too obvious so uhh… bye?!"
"Wait, you're leaving?! Just like that?!" Oricorio gawked at the pumpkin.
"I mean, I have somewhere to go!" Gourgeist explained.
Oricorio's mouth remained agape at the pumpkin's declaration. "B-but?! Everyone in the team is wondering where you went, including the two hosts. We don't want to be penalized an-"
"Don't worry about me!" Gourgeist said with a giggle as her eyes began to glow as the atmosphere darkened. "Bye!" With a snap of her tendrils, she disappeared from the scene, leaving no trace of her presence. Oricorio and Vanilluxe stared at each other, left with more questions than actual answers.
"Uhm… what just happened?" Vanilluxe said, blinking in confusion.
Oricorio sighed, scratching her head feathers with a shake, "Honestly… I don't even know."
"Okay… I-I… had a bit of a… well… it's hard to explain," Vanilluxe admitted with a strangely vulnerable expression, which quickly changed to an awkward grin. "Though, I'm slightly thankful I found Oricorio and Gourgeist since it was a good distraction-" He paused before quickly adding, "-from making JOKES obviously. Since I have so many ideas. I needed a breather, you know. Hehe… h-heh!"
Oricorio huffed to herself, putting both wings to her hips. "I don't know what Gourgeist was even doing… or even care enough to find out. It feels like something I shouldn't actively seek out. It's a gut feeling honestly. Y to E to S! That spells YES!"
Dedenne and Empoleon stared at each other nonchalantly. They were two contestants who barely interacted beforehand, so there wasn't much conversation happening between the two as Nihilego began to explain the next mini-challenge with an unchanging grin on her blue face as the wheel had just landed on a snowflake wedge.
"The challenge is really easy! You will have to survive in a freezer. Person who stays in the freezer the longest wins the mini-challenge!" Nihilego said.
Dedenne rolled his eyes, folding his arms. "More like mega-challenge since Empoleon has an inherent advantage…"
"Don't patronize me," Empoleon scoffed.
"Whatever…" Dedenne breathed out as he and Empoleon were then abruptly teleported to a frozen freezer crate in the middle of nowhere. "Oh okay… we're just going to do this, huh?"
"..."
"So you're just going to ignore me?" Dedenne asked.
"I'm going to save my energy and not bother talking with someone I barely know." Empoleon leaned on the side of the container, looking unbothered.
Dedenne yawned at this. "Are you serious? I mean, we'd be stuck here for potentially hours so it'd get boring if you just… stand there, doing nothing. I mean, I'm already bored and my legs are stiff; and it hasn't even been five minutes yet."
"..."
"Empoleon? Empoleon!"
Empoleon face-palmed, gritting his teeth in frustration. "If you're doing this to psyche me out to leave then fuck off. I'm not relenting."
"Hey… I was just curious, y'know. I noticed that Bayleef guy was eliminated. Didn't know him much… but he seemed very squeamish," Dedenne remarked flatly. "I'm honestly shocked he wasn't eliminated first since at least Unfezant seemed competent."
"Stop it…" Empoleon said with a low growl.
Dedenne looked confused by the penguin's sudden outburst… before hiding a smirk in internal realization. "Hmm? It seems like you and Bayleef are close."
"Were," Empoleon corrected guiltily. Dedenne silently chuckled at the penguin letting down his guard easily at the mere mention of the eliminated dinosaur.
"You're too easy to mess with…"
Gourgeist is staring right at the camera, so the only thing visible was her eyeball. "Does this work? HI!"
Dedenne sat in the confessional smugly, crossing his arms. "I'm not usually the type to resort to underhanded tactics but it's Empoleon we're talking about. I had no choice. Don't worry… I won't go too far… probably."
"So… how close were you and Bayleef?"
"I already told you to fucking STOP!" Empoleon yelled back, starting to feel the cold temperature of the freezer as he sat down, huddling to himself.
Dedenne scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Why are you acting so defensive about him? He's already gone. You don't have to worry about making him mad, you know? Besides, I was just curious. You're acting as if I'm the type to just spill this information to random people like some kind of bitch. I'm not that type of person."
"What if I think you're that kind of person then?" Empoleon asked rhetorically. "Just fucking stop already."
"I mean, aren't you bored just sitting around and-"
"Stop fucking asking about Bayleef then!" Empoleon shouted, gritting his teeth, hitting the side of the container with a loud thud. "He probably hates me anyway…" He paused before growling at the electric mouse, whose smile grew larger.
"Why the fuck are you smiling?! I wasn't supposed to say that…"
Dedenne chuckled into his hand, trying his hardest to maintain his composure and psyche Empoleon even further by looking like he was unbothered by the cold. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm surprised, you seem too passionate about Bayleef that I think you're not just friends with benefits, you're b-"
"NO, WE'RE NOT!" Empoleon retorted, face turning red in anger.
"I was going to say best friends," Dedenne drawled flatly. "Why? Were you thinking of another B word?"
Empoleon sighed, face-palming. "I- Well- UGGGGGH, I wasn't. Stop trying to assume things. You're making it colder here… I may be a Steel and Water type but I don't like it…"
"That's the goal," Dedenne pointed out, deadpanning. "Ugh… it's almost as if you're not going to try with this mini-challenge? I mean, if Bayleef w-"
"Why do you keep bringing him up? You're doing this on purpose!"
"No, I wasn't. I said BayLEAF with an A, she's one of my best friends who is good at lasting long in the cold," Dedenne lied, winking at the aggravated penguin. "You don't have to be so sensitive."
Before Empoleon could even come up with a retort, Dedenne continued to muse to himself, "It just seems like you're very sensitive for someone, putting up a rather cold and icy facade. I mean, I'm barely doing anything but you're already letting yourself get chipped off… bit by bit."
Dedenne sighed, hugging himself as the temperature wasn't getting any hotter, "But you do you. I know you don't talk to anyone but Bayleef anyway and from what I heard, everyone's scared of you anyways."
"You…" Empoleon breathed out, teeth clacking together as his gazed intensified. "T-t-that's not true!" He groaned, holding his head. "Look at what you did… it feels colder now."
"Well, that was the goal!"
"Fuck off."
"Dedenne is so fucking annoying… I-I…" Empoleon stumbled upon his words as he stared at the camera, looking more exhausted than ever. "It doesn't help that it was fucking cold, even though I'm a water and steel type…"
"While we're waiting for Dedenne and Empoleon to finish with their mini-challenge, let's keep going and try finishing off these mini-challenges!" Nihilego announced, clasping her tentacles together. Sableye and Skwovet exchanged a confused look.
"So when you were asking for volunteers to help, it was actually volunteers for the next mini-challenge, huh?" Skwovet commented flatly before sighing. "A bit underhanded… but I respect it."
"Well, I didn't think these mini-challenges would take… this long, so whatever. We'll keep going, but you guys can't choose to pick off Empoleon or Dedenne since they're still doing their respective challenge," Nihilego explained. "We're running on a 30-minute timeslot, we can't keep cutting corners and make it longer than that for no reason."
"I hope it's shorter than the last mini-challenge then… heh," Sableye commented, fingers fidgeting as he looked around the stage uneasily.
Nihilego giggled as she snapped her fingers to direct Poipole to spin the wheel again… this time, it landed on a Vikavolt wedge. She gasped, winking at the two, "Oh, this is easy! The first person to reveal a secret about themselves that I don't even know wins the mini-challenge. I read both of your applications thoroughly so you have to try v-"
"I have kleptomania-" Skwovet started to reveal, only to be cut off by a frustrated Vivillon.
"WE KNOW!"
Skwovet groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah yeah… I guess I can't use that secret then…"
"I mean, it's not like you were trying to hide it…" Nihilego pointed out with a blank expression. "So, yep… that doesn't count. NEXT?"
"I eat trash… WITHOUT salt!" Sableye chimed in, twiddling his fingers awkwardly. Noticing the blank expressions he's getting, he sighed loudly. "W-was it that obvious?!"
"Girl, that wasn't even a secret." Nihilego face-palmed to herself as Sableye and Skwovet exchanged a nervous expression. It looked like this competition wasn't going to be ending anytime soon, despite its relative ease.
Sableye is huddled up in the confessional, holding his head in anguish. "Is it bad to be down about the fact that I don't have any s-secrets to hide for this challenge, heh… but I guess Floatzel's going to use it as an excuse to suspect like he's always been doing. I just wanted us to be friends." He frowned, neck slowly craning down as he stared at the floor.
"Gossifleur is probably one of the few people to treat me normally, and that's because she thinks I'm a shady weirdo, h-hehe… I don't know what I'm even doing wrong!"
Back at the cold storage, Empoleon and Dedenne were staring each other down, choosing to stay silent… or well, until Empoleon decided to break the silence.
"J-just give up already!" He spat out, grinding his teeth together as he was close to being reduced to a blubbering mess due to the cold. "H-how are you even doing alright when you're weaker than me?!"
"..." Dedenne doesn't reply, biting his fingernails as he tried to wait it out and see if Empoleon gives up before him.
"Oh wow, now you're being quiet?!" Empoleon yelled, clenching a fist. "Y-you… you really are insufferable, you know that, right?"
"..."
"I-" Before Empoleon could finish his sentence, he let out a loud sneeze, groaning as his complexion noticeably turned paler. "Okay… you know what!? Fuck it! I can't just get sick…" Glaring at the electric mouse, he stood up from his position and walked over to the exit of the cold storage. "How about you?"
"You can go first and I'll follow," Dedenne said smugly.
"You… you…" Empoleon struggled to find the words as the little mouse just leaned back on the wall, acting as if it was nothing. "I… UGGGGGGH!" Without another word, the penguin quickly stormed out of the room, making Dedenne the official winner of the mini-challenge. The little mouse sighed in relief, sweating nervously.
"That was so cold, I think it actually felt hot because I was going to die," Dedenne commented, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Dedenne followed Empoleon out of the cold storage to discover that they were back at the stage area, with a surprised Sableye, Skwovet, Nihilego and Poipole facing them.
"S-surprise?" Dedenne stammered awkwardly.
While everyone else was distracted, Skwovet groaned, yelling out loud, "I ACTUALLY LOVE INDEEDEE'S COOKING AND THINK IT'S UNDERRATED"
"..."
Complete and total silence. Nihilego deadpanned at this before sighing, "I… actually didn't know that. And uhmm…" She looked over to Poipole, who was holding a remote lie detector. Noticing the smaller Ultra Beast nod, she continued, "So technically, you also won this mini-challenge then. Dedenne and Skwovet, you both get to eliminate someone from the opposite team from this challenge. I'll give you a-"
"Empoleon!" Dedenne chimed in, nonchalantly fiddling with his whiskers. Empoleon gawked at him, clenching both fists.
"WHAT?! WHY!? Haven't you embarrassed me enough?!" He pointed out, eyes bulging out of their sockets as his head was starting to boil over from anger.
"You'll get over it, like you got over Bayleef," Dedenne drawled, rolling his eyes as Empoleon held himself back from hitting the smaller Pokemon.
"I'll eliminate Floatzel then," Skwovet said with a shrug.
"They're both eliminated from the challenge then! That leaves them with four players left in the game!"
"OOKAY… that was a joke. I definitely don't like Indeedee's cooking or anything!" Skwovet lied, sweating profusely. "It tastes like GARBAGE and I like Vivillon more than-" He paused, noticing what he just said. "Ookay, maybe that'd be an overstatement."
CURRENT STATUS:
SHUPPET LEFT - 4 (ELIMINATED: Empoleon, Floatzel)
TRUBBISH LEFT - 7 (ELIMINATED: Oricorio, Vannilluxe)
As Empoleon returned to his seat, noticeably worn out; Chansey quickly stood up to try and console him, stammering out, "Emp-" She couldn't finish her sentence as Magearna pulled her back down to sit. She blushed at this sudden movement, turning to the Mythical Pokemon in confusion.
"M-Magearna? I was going to try and see if Empoleon was alright. Dedenne went a little bit too hard on him in there and I feel slightly worried he's worse than what he looks."
"Don't. It's good for us," Magearna explained dryly.
Chansey blinked… before gasping in shock, "W-what are you even trying to say?!" Her blush intensified as Magearna leaned closer to whisper to her ear.
"Shh, you do get that someone might overhear us talking, you know…"
"Errrm… y-yes. But I do f-fail to see why you're fine with Empoleon hurting, Magearna. I thought-"
"I recently learned that sometimes, you have to use desperate measures to succeed in this game," Magearna answered ominously with a daunting expression. "I'm a little bit conflicted about things but have you seen how people like Empoleon, Musharna and Unfezant treated me. I'll admit, it's making me a bit jaded."
"Lady Magearna…" Chansey murmured.
"Oh, don't mind me. I'm playing next so we can talk after the mini-challenge~" Magearna mused as she floated off her seat, leaving Chansey alone, feeling even more conflicted.
"Now, I'm even less sure… La- no… Magearna…" She muttered to herself, eyes glazed over.
A brief montage of the next few mini-challenges are sped through in this order.
Klinklang and Magearna's challenge was bending a spoon, which both were confused about, due to its strange simplicity compared to the other mini-challenges. Magearna groaned as Klinklang easily bent his spoon with a Gyro Ball… also completely destroying the spoon. Klinklang nonchalantly chooses to eliminate Teddiursa from the challenge.
Sableye and Gossifleur's mini-challenge w-. Before Nihilego could even finish, Gossifleur opted out, giving Sableye the victory by default, confusing literally everyone. Sableye awkwardly chooses to eliminate Dedenne.
Vivillon and Chansey's mini-challenge was eating an assortment of berries. Vivillon gagged at the mere sight, remembering what happened with Skwovet in the cave, backing out of the challenge, to her team's frustration. A confused Chansey chooses to eliminate Klingklang from the challenge.
CURRENT STATUS:
SHUPPET LEFT - 3 (ELIMINATED: Empoleon, Floatzel, Teddiursa)
TRUBBISH LEFT - 5 (ELIMINATED: Dedenne, Klinklang, Oricorio, Vannilluxe)
"O-okay… o-of course the only way I would win a mini-challenge is by default, huh?" Sableye said, holding back his awkward chuckles. "Well, I'm not one to look the gift horse in the mouth, and well… I'm sure G-Gossifleur just wanted to help our team out, huh? Though, our team's winning over hers right now, h-heh…"
Chansey sighed, rubbing the side of her arm awkwardly. "Firstly… Vivillon made the mini-challenge easy for me, because of some internal problems. But secondly… I'm not even sure what to think, when it comes to Lady Magearna. It just feels like time and time again, it has been proven that she's not as good of a person as I initially thought. And as someone who helped shape my worldview, it feels like I've been gutted… metaphorically and literally."
She deadpanned, slamming her head to the side, "I guess that's where the phrase: 'Don't ever meet your heroes' come from?'. I feel lost…"
Vivillon is seen barfing into the toilet, face looking pale before trying to stare at the camera with a straight face, "Is it overreacting to MENTION that Skwovet might've given me traumatic war flashbacks?! UGH… you better not air this or I will sue this show…"
As Chansey returns to her team, she is met by a group of hi-fives, coming from Sableye, Floatzel and Teddiursa.
"Wow, I don't know what kind of mind games you tried to play on Vivillon, but you must be secretly a gaslighting girlboss!" Teddiursa commented with a cheery expression.
"W-what? I d-didn't do anything!" Chansey stammered awkwardly. "I t-think Vivillon just f-felt sick that she backed out from an eating challenge. If I were to g-guess… she has indigestion or f-food poisoning."
"Either way, we're back in the lead," Floatzel commented with a sigh. "Even if it was due to your competitors backing out. Though, it's strange that Gossifleur also backed out…" His gaze turned cold as he directed it at Sableye, "Almost as if someone has dirt on her and she did not want that exposed because of this mini-challenge…"
Sableye smiled weakly at Floatzel's bold accusation, "W-what?! No no, Gossifleur i-isn't blackmailed… by ME… l-last I've checked, hahah… W-we're just friends!"
"MMMHM… sure you aren't, "Floatzel said, crossing his arms with a deadpan expression.
"I r-really don't know what you're talking about…" Sableye said, eyes shifting to the side.
Teddiursa scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Yeah yeah, we get your shtick, Floaty. Sableye is a shady bitch but at least, he's not as shady as MAGEARNA!" She said Magearna's name louder than the rest of her sentence as she smirked. Her teammates all gave her a look of confusion, making her groan in annoyance. "What?"
"Isn't that a bit… sudden to bring up… now? I mean, it feels awfully shoehorned in," Magearna defended herself with a calm look.
"It was a joke obviously!" Teddiursa said dryly. "Sheesh, I know I'm a cutie but sometimes, you have to not take everything I say too seriously!" Chansey noticeably laughed nervously at Teddiursa's words, which was unheard by her teammates. "But, I'm just glad we're getting a lead at this challenge, cuz I don't really wanna go to elimination again!"
"That, I can agree with," Magearna murmured, nodding her head.
Oricorio sighed loudly as she came back to the challenge area to sit next to Magcargo, dragging along an emotionally-exhausted Vanilluxe. Despite their sudden appearance, nobody on the team seems to have noticed that they even returned as they were focused on the current mini-challenge between Skwovet and Chansey. Magcargo was the only one to react to their return with a gasp, scooting closer to the bird curiously.
"Ori?" He asked, arching a brow.
Oricorio smiled weakly, shocked that someone noticed them, banking on everyone being distracted with the mini-challenge. "H-hi Magcargo. We apologize for being gone for a while…"
"Y-yeah… sorry about that," Vanilluxe murmured. "Are we winning?"
Magcargo looked back over to the stage, eyes widened as Skwovet seemed to be being crushed by an embarrassed Chansey before turning back to Oricorio with a weak smile, "U-uhmmm… we're… struggling?!"
"O-oh… that's… very unsurprising," Oricorio admitted. "I mean… Vanilluxe…" She turned to the ice cream, who just smiled at her awkwardly. "And… Gourgeist's sudden disappearance really put us at a large disadvantage, right out of the gate."
"Well?! I believe in underdog stories so I believe we're WINNING!" Marcargo said.
"Uhm… you do get that, in this specific scenario, the other team would be the underdogs since they lost the past FOUR challenges?" Oricorio pointed out flatly.
Magcargo blinked before laughing nervously to himself, "In that case, then I hope that the underdog rules do NOT apply and we clutch out a win, with the power of teamwork. I believe in each and everyone of-" He stopped before abruptly changing the topic, "ERRRR… UHHMM… well?! This might be a bit sudden but… where did you two go again?"
"Uhhm… it's a very long story," Oricorio admitted before her eyes narrowed at the snail, "Wait… are you bringing that up, since y-you're thinking of targeting either of us, in case we lost? I… didn't expect you to be that type of person. I'm surprised but I won't hold it against you-"
"What?" Magcargo gawked in shock. "Oh no! I don't target people because of a silly mistake. And if we're doing that, it would be Vanilluxe as the target since you already got eliminated from the challenge when you ran off… UHHHM, not that I was going to target Vanilluxe instead. HELL, I'm not trying to-"
"We get it, we get it." Oricorio said, face-palming.
"Uh… yeah… kinda," Vanilluxe affirmed, though his expression showed that he was getting lost with how fast Magcargo was talking. "What were we talking about again?"
"W-" Before Magcargo could answer, he turned back to the stage with a gulp, "Hold that thought… I think someone won the mini-challenge already…"
Back at the stage, Nihilego pulled an unconscious Skwovet from under Chansey with a deadpan expression, "Chansey… that was an… unconventional way to win a wrestling match…"
"W-well… I… j-just had to take advantage of our size difference," Chansey explained, blushing in embarrassment.
"We don't need an explanation… I… uhh… let's get this challenge over with, since I'm honestly getting tired since this feels like I'm experiencing like… twelve challenges in one…" Nihilego paused before snapping her tentacles as an idea popped up in her head. "YOU KNOW WHAT… I have an idea to make this go faster since this is honestly such a SNOOZE to get through. Like, we're barely halfway…"
Poipole clapped his hands together with a nod, "OOOH, what are you thinking of, Nihi?"
"Well… CHANSEY, eliminate someone first then I'll announce a change with how the game works, to speed things up," Nihilego asked the nurse who twiddled her fingerjoints nervously.
"Uh-"
"SCRATCH THAT, we'll just randomize someone for you…" Nihilego said, rolling her eyes as she got her phone from her pocket then began furiously typing on it. "Okay… random generator is giving me CRAMORANT so she's eliminated from the competition. Let's move on. Chop chop, everyone please head onto the stage, if you haven't been eliminated yet!"
"T-this feels a bit too rushed," Chansey commented, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events.
"Don't worry… budget cuts…"
"I'll be honest. I do like the attention I'm suddenly getting from Oricorio but I hope she's not TOO worried…" Vanilluxe admitted with a sheepish expression. "It's not her problem. I-I mean, I just want to make everyone get along and have a laugh, hahahah!" He paused, face bowed down as he sighed longingly, "Even if it might be at my expense…"
"AWKS, we're losing so hard rn!" Cramorant complained, vigorously typing into her phone with a frustrated look. "TTYL, raging rn! I hope we can make up for lost ground cuz I know KlingKlanky is already finding more reasons to just target me, because he's a borewhore who hates fun like come on, get a LIFE!"
"Why the fuck… is Chansey heavier than I thought?!" Skwovet complained with a loud groan.
Chansey huffed in the confessional, arms crossed. "I d-didn't sit on Skwovet because I wanted to! It was for the challenge…" She face-palmed, exhaustion evident from her gaze. "I'm already tired enough, thinking about Magearna… It's been a long day and this challenge has been going for ages… I guess I should be relieved that Nihilego is speeding things up so we can get this over with."
CURRENT STATUS:
SHUPPET LEFT - 3 (ELIMINATED: Empoleon, Floatzel, Teddiursa)
TRUBBISH LEFT - 4 (ELIMINATED: Cramorant, Dedenne, Klinklang, Oricorio, Vannilluxe)
Chansey, Magearna and Sableye are the players left for the Shuppet.
Gossifleur, Magcargo, Skwovet and Vivillon are the players left for the Trubbish.
They were all standing on the stage, by their respective podiums with each team facing each other with Nihilego standing in the middle, tentacles clasped with a bored expression.
"Okay, I hope everyone is prepared for the challenge PART 2!"
"More like you getting really bored that you decided to cut the challenge in half," Skwovet drawled, rolling his eyes playfully at the jellyfish, who just growled in response. "Hey, your words, not mine!"
"UGH… I hate arguing when I know I'm wrong…" Nihilego complained before forcing a smile, stretching her eyelids open as she stared down at the remaining contestants, "We're back to the Ultra Space trivia game show EXTRAVAGANZA, cuz I want this challenge to end soon and answering questions is the fastest challenge I could ever think of."
"Congrats Magcargo…" Sableye gulped, sweating profusely as he gazed at the listless lava snail.
"HEY, don't just give up! We got this in the bag!" Magearna assured the gremlin but struggled to do so as she said these words flatly. Noticing the gremlin's expression stayed the same, she rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you can't have cold feet NOW. We still have a pretty solid chance to win this. I don't want us to go to elimination for a fifth time in a row here…"
"I g-guess…" Sableye murmured, laughing nervously. "I just don't feel too confident about this…"
Hearing this, Skwovet laughed confidently, pointing derisively at the dark and ghost type, "Hear that!? The other team's spirit is DOWN. We got this in the bag."
"Tch, stop annoying me…" Vivillon said, covering her ears with an annoyed expression. "You're getting on my nerves with how loud you are."
"..." Skwovet didn't reply, expression clearly showing his contempt for the butterfly, who was STILL not getting over what he ACCIDENTALLY did in the last challenge. Key word is accident and Vivillon was acting as if he wanted to do it to her, when Skwovet knew better than to sabotage his own game by making a huge enemy in Vivillon. It wasn't his fault he didn't know Vivillon knew about his kleptomania. He shook his head, grumbling to the side.
"I'm not too confident about my guessing abilities honestly," Sableye admitted with a weak smile. "I mean, you clearly have seen how great Magcargo was at guessing, by going off at random tangents to f-find the right answer, h-heh…" He gulped, biting his toenails rapidly, gaze wavering at the camera. "I will admit. I'm not t-the type to be all nervous or anything. Not that I have anything to hide… but there's six people left on this team and well, there's not much to hide, haha… d-does that make any sense?!
He slammed his hand to the wall weakly, leaning his head on the opposite side of the wall, "Empoleon is still mad about Bayleef. Magearna… i-is kind of weird. Chansey's really nice and all, but h-heh, good girls usually don't finish first, right? Teddiursa and Floatzel are both m-more grounded but I think Floatzel doesn't like me for some reason. It's n-not my fault I'm like this, okay!"
Nihilego sifted through her flashcards with a confident smirk as the contestants anxiously waited for the first question. Poipole sneezed right next to her… just not doing anything but standing next to the hostess, to make it look like he was an important asset to this show.
"Okay… the first question is a true or false question…" Nihilego began to ask. "Is Nihilego the main host of the Total Pokemon Ultra Series. True or False?"
"..."
"Are you fucking serious?! The answer's pretty obvious. It's TRUE. She's hosting right now!" Skwovet pointed out, face-palming. "If you're seriously scratching your head at this question, I'll be very very concerned about how you're even surviving in this world…"
"IT'S CLEARLY FALSE!" Sableye abruptly screamed before covering his mouth, noticing the weird looks he was getting for his sudden outburst. "W-what? Was that wrong?"
"Sableye… Nihilego's literally fucking hosting this game… she's the fucking host… why is it false?!" Magearna said calmly, left eye twitching.
"Actually… he's right," Nihilego announced with a surprised expression.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Vivillon yelled, eyes bulging out. "Is this another one of your trick questions?!"
"I said 'Total Pokemon Ultra Series' so that answer is false since Pheromosa, Kartana, Celesteela and Stakataka also share the hosting role and we all know I only hosted two shows so not exactly main host material there," Nihilego explained.
"Oh, so Sableye's right because of your self-esteem issues?" Magcargo asked with an innocent expression. "It makes perfect sense."
"No , it doesn't!" Vivillon said.
"For once, I agree with her," Skwovet affirmed.
Vivillon deadpanned, moving a few meters away from the squirrel, "Nevermind, Sableye's answer makes perfect sense."
"Okay, Sableye… since you got that right, you can eliminate someone from the opposite team," Nihilego directed.
Sableye blinked, scratching his chin nervously, "Uhhm… V-Vivillon because she was kind of… rude, heh… no offense."
"RUDE?! RUDE?!" Vivillon shouted at the gremlin, flicking her wings in an attempt to intimidate him. "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ME AT MY MOST RUDE YET!"
"Okay… maybe I was a little bit over the top, when it comes to lashing out at Sableye… but Dedenne told me that I can be a bitch to the other team since they can't vote me off~" Vivillon said in a singsong voice, leaning on the wall with a smug expression. "PLUS, I need to blow off some steam since I can't just be a bitch at Skwovet 24/7 since UGH, Dedenne keeps telling me he'll vote me off if I keep doing it but FINE, he didn't say anything about passive aggression and I'm a professional at that."
The butterfly hummed to herself before glaring at the camera, "But don't even think that I don't have CLAWS, just because I'm elegant and the richest girl here. I will literally buy everyone's lives then sell them to the black market, if I wanted to…"
"Okay… now that Vivillon is…" Nihilego's eyes shifted to the side awkwardly as she stumbled to finish her sentence. "Sedated… we can move on with the challenge. "The next question is a multiple-choice question and it's about Total Pokemon Ultra Space again. The question is 'Which of the following Pokemon received the most amount of votes: Clay, Breon or Septh?'
"Uhhmm… pass?" Sableye muttered.
"Chansey, what do you think is the answer?" Magearna asked the nurse.
"Y-you're asking ME?!" Chansey stammered in response.
"... I'll answer then. Breon." Magearna said with a blank expression.
"Sadly, that's wrong," Nihilego answered. "The other team can m-"
"It's Clay because Clay has less letters in it so I think it's special!" Magcargo piped up with a warm smile, beaming at the nurse in encouragement. "It's fine if you don't know… I didn't know either."
"Well… you actually got it right."
"WAIT… really?!"
"Yep, so you get to eliminate someone from the challenge!"
Magcargo laughed nervously to himself, "Wow, I didn't expect to be this good at randomly making good guesses, when it comes to Total Pokemon Ultra trivia! I guess it can be handy for game night or something… or if I go on Jeopardy someday and there's a Total Pokemon Ultra category."
"Magcargo-"
"Hmm… this is kind of hard. I don't want to eliminate Chansey. Sableye is a nice person. Magearna is…" Magcargo stopped himself, expression darkening as his thoughts went back to his previous conversations with Chansey, basically highlighting the fact that the Mythical Pokemon was most likely taking advantage of the Normal type's kindness. "I'll eliminate Magearna!"
"Wow… okay, I see how it is…" Magearna grumbled, as she was ushered off the stage by a very eager Poipole.
Just like that, the competition was down to 5 people. Nihilego sighed in relief at how much progress the challenge was having in less than 500 words, as she prepared the next question. "Okay… the next question is hopefully easy but it's an identification type of question. Who was my former co-host?"
"... Philip Derassi?" Skwovet tried to guess but face-palmed as Nihilego just shook her head in response. "I guess… random names won't just work out for this question, huh?"
"Who is Philip? I don't even think that was a real person, Skwovet…" Gossifleur commented flatly. "Err… if I were to guess… is it Marill?"
"Nope!"
"It's obviously Shakira!" Sableye answered, waving his hands around. "I love her discography."
"I wish…"
"Uhmm… is it Yveltal?" Chansey said.
"What the fuck?! He's crazier than Poipole!... But not by much."
Poipole giggled into his hands before patting the jellyfish on the back, "You make funny jokes sometimes, Nihi! I love it!"
"It wasn't a joke…" Nihilego drawled before clearing her throat. "Keep guessing. It's not that hard… sheesh…"
"Hmm… my favorite singer is Lorde and there's an Ultra Beast named Buzzwole and buzz rhymes with guzz… so the answer is GUZZLORD!" Magcargo said with a confident expression.
"Uhhm… Magcargo, that might be too much of a stretch," Skwovet commented with a weak smile, looking really confused by Magcargo's weird explanation. "I mean, who names their child Guzz-"
"He's right."
"Excuse me!?" Gossifleur gasped in shock. "I know Magcargo's on our team… but that explanation was honestly really dumb."
"Aw thanks!" Magcargo chuckled at the flower's sharp words, as if it wasn't an obvious insult. "I try my best!"
"Okay… choose to eli-"
"Sableye!" Magcargo said suddenly before blushing in embarrassment, "Uhhmm… no offense obviously."
"None taken…" Sableye said, sighing in defeat as he gave Chansey one last reassuring pat on the back before hopping off the stage. "G-good luck, even if the chances of us winning are low… h-heh…"
"I'll try my best…" Chansey gulped, sweating nervously as Skwovet glared at her, wanting revenge on her for sitting on him. Gossifleur did her best to look threatening but just looked really pouty. Magcargo laughed nervously, waving at the nurse sheepishly. "Errr… I e-expected my competition to look less… miniscule though."
"Did you just call me short?!" Skwovet said, gritting his teeth.
"Yes, you are short. We're all pretty short," Magcargo pointed out. "But good luck, Chansey! I believe in you!"
"You do get she's the enemy. We should crush her!" Skwovet tried to point out, sighing as Magcargo looked teary-eyed at the mere thought of 'crushing' Chansey. "UGH, fine… we'll… defeat her… UGH, stop making that face. DEFEAT HER GENTLY! Happy now?"
"Well… I hope she can answer some questions right…" Magcargo admitted.
"UGGGGGH…"
"Skwovet, d-don't just g-groan. That's rude…" Gossifleur remarked before stopping herself. "Wait… bad girls are rude right? Then uhm… UGGGGGH?"
"Please stop with the banter. We have at least two more questions to go…" Nihilego interrupted with a bored expression, putting one tentacle to her hips before flipping her flashcards to the next question. "Next question is true or false. And it's about this game so don't fucking complain about it being hard. 'Pikachu was the second player to arrive at the island'. True or False?"
"Err… true?" Chansey tried to guess, sighing in relief as Nihilego flashed a thumbs up. "Oh thank goodness, I got that right… I'll make this quick and eliminate Sk-"
"UGGGGGGGH!" Skwovet groaned as he left the stage as the game was down to its final 3 players.
"Chansey is sort of my best friend on the other team," Magcargo admitted with a WIDE grin. "Well, it's more of she's one of the few players on it that I actively have an actual friendship with, aside from like… Sableye. I don't even know who Empoleon, Teddiursa, Magearna (but she's AWFUL) are! So I want to kind of help her out, since she's looking really stressed recently and I think it's because of Magearna."
He sighed, expression turning serious. "I don't care if Chansey looked up to Magearna. No friend would just… fuel someone's inferiority complex AND not even do anything to stop it. Magearna's taking advantage of that hero worship but she should know that once you meet your heroes, it never feels the same ever again. So, I think Chansey's starting to suspect that Magearna's not as great as she thought, which is GREAT!" He paused, sighing in disappointment.
"Okay, why am I sounding like I don't want Chansey to have friends… I just… have an off feeling that Magearna's using her… I want Chansey to have REAL friends and Magearna's the girl that might be stopping her. I mean, it doesn't take one to see it when Magearna tried to do when Chansey just wanted to check up on Empoleon. YES, I was watching her. It's not weird or anything. I was just worried. Don't make it sound weird…"
"Okay… potential last question… what's my color-"
"Blue," Chansey answered sheepishly.
"Great job!"
"Was that an actual question though..?" Gossifleur said in disappointment at the freebie questions suddenly popping up from out of nowhere. "N-not that I'm mad at Chansey for finally succeeding but… sigh… great job, I guess."
"I'm eliminating Gossifleur… s-sorry. I'm just closer to Magcargo…"
"It's fine… I saw it coming…" Gossifleur sighed, leaving the game down to its final two players, in Chansey and Magcargo.
Magcargo gasped, crying tears of joy. "Did you just say 'CLOSER TO ME?!' I don't know what I did to be closer to you over Gossifleur but you WON'T regret saving me for last-"
"Err… s-sure?" Chansey commented, starting to get mixed feelings towards the snail, who has done nothing but treat her kindly since their first encounter on the beach.
"AHEM… it's down to the two of you so drum roll… the last question is…" Nihilego started, as a nearby Whimsicott pressed random buttons on her device which played a clip of beating drums. "Why is the sky blue?"
"... uhhmmm… because of the refraction of light?" Chansey stumbled upon her words, worried that Nihilego was asking another trick question. "S-sorry… physics isn't exactly my college major… but I'm pretty sure that's what I learned in biology class in high school…" She stopped herself, face-palming in realization. "Or was it biology..?"
"Don't worry! You got this!" Magcargo assured.
"STOP HELPING THE ENEMY!" Vivillon yelled from the sidelines.
Magcargo laughed nervously, nodding reluctantly, "Uhh… okay? Uhhh… you will lose!?" He pouted. "Uhm, but lose because of a fair game and not because we did anything wrong like cheating, malpractice, bribing or-"
"Just fucking answer, since Chansey's wrong," Nihilego interrupted, annoyed with Magcargo's antics. "Why is the sky FUCKING blue!?"
"Uh… it's fucking blue because it wanted a baby?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Ex-cuse me?!" Nihilego yelled at the snail in frustration. "This is a rated-PG show! Don't just say things that'll get taken out of context and get us sued. I have enough problems already with the producers as is… do you want to make things harder for me!?"
"I mean, it makes perfect sense," Poipole pointed out.
"NO IT DOESN'T?! HOW CAN THE SKY FUCK SOMEONE?!" Nihilego snapped at the younger Ultra Beast in exasperation. "ARCEUS, I sound like a complete psycho or Vivillon right now…"
"I RESENT THAT STATEMENT!"
"Does it look like I care, hmm?!" Nihilego said sarcastically. "But moving on… Magcargo, you're obviously fucking wrong so make another guess… preferably one that doesn't involve babies."
"I thought you would mention the fucking part more," Poipole said sheepishly.
"I JUST SAID THIS IS A RATED-PG SHOW!"
Magcargo eyed Chansey sheepishly, "Uh… do you want to make a guess first?"
"W-what?! B-but we're on different teams," Chansey pointed out, eyes shifting nervously to the audience where Magcargo's teammates seem to be unamused by the fact that Magcargo was obviously trying to help the other team. "E-eer… and y-your team might get mad."
"O-oh… true. I'm just really helpful and want to give everyone an equal chance here, especially with your team losing four times in a row," Magcargo tried to explain in an unconvincing tone. "And I sort of feel bad. Not that I'm worried that anyone I like might get voted off obviously. I know this game's just going to get harder from here but it feels unfair that your team had to vote someone potentially five times in a row and Nihilego didn't even bother to balance things out, against an Ulonging. Yes, I read my Pokevivor handbook and-"
"Magcargo, I really appreciate the sentiment… but we have a challenge and you're well…" Chansey answered, closing her eyes thoughtfully. "Stalling the results… I don't even know the answer to the question, since clearly the scientific reasoning is…" She huffed, glaring at Nihilego, albeit in a softer way since it was impossible for Chansey to look harsher than that. "Wrong…"
"Uhh… f-fine…" Magcargo breathed out, still unsure if he should try to make an actual guess or throw the challenge to Chansey… since even though Chansey was his friend, Klinklang and Vanilluxe were also his friends and they wouldn't be proud of him, for making a selfish decision. "Errr… is the answer… it's blue because it didn't have any friends to lean on and comfort them?"
"..." Nihilego's eyes narrowed before groaning. "How the fuck did you memorize every trick question I had prepared..?"
"Wait… t-that was right?!" Poipole asked, confused.
"... Of course, it was. You were there, remember?" Nihilego reminded Poipole, who laughed nervously, scratching his cheek sheepishly. "I honestly got this from a joke book, but it just reminded me of the cringe and dry puns Vanilluxe keeps telling. I have no fucking idea why I thought that was a good idea."
"Oh…" Chansey sighed, knowing what just happened. "We lost again? Just like that…"
"I-I'm genuinely sorry, Chansey," Magcargo apologized with a sympathetic look on his face as his team cheered from the sidelines while groans rang out like a chorus from the Shuppet.
"YEP! It's official. After what feels like a whole YEAR, this challenge is FINALLY over and the winners are the Twinkling Trubbish, for the fifth time in a row!" Nihilego announced, making it official. She clasped her tentacles together, tilting her head to the side as she cheekily faced the Shuppet, excluding Chansey. "Which means… you all have a date with me later at the elim-"
"I'M BAAAACK!" Staravia interrupted, appearing on stage from the side. She waved at the contestants sitting on the bleachers before putting her wings on her hips. "So… am I needed?"
"Dude… you're just an intern… and you interrupted my whole spiel about the Shuppet having a date with me later at the elimination ceremony," Nihilego said, annoyed with the bird interrupting her yet AGAIN. "Ugh.. why are you even here?"
"WELL… Marill, Bellossom, that hot Gallade and Carracosta have all disappeared and I'm BORED. Just let me in the game already!" Staravia complained, waving her wings around frantically. "Like, I think I have more personality than half of the cast here! Hell, I have TWELVE personalities I can use to replace twelve of them."
"Staravia… for the last time… you're not going to join the game, via an intruder twist…" Nihilego said, face-palming. "Go away."
"YOU'LL REGRET THIS WHEN I HAVE MY REVENGE!" Staravia hissed as she exited the stage, the same direction she came from. "I HAVE YOUR BABIIIIIIES!"
"... uhh… this is why I'm not a fan of theater kids…" Magcargo commented with an embarrassed blush on his face.
"Whatever… uhh… ANYWAYS, y'all can leave… SCRAM!" Nihilego said, clapping her hands repeatedly, for everyone to leave the place so she can have some more alone time. The contestants all exchanged an awkward gaze before scrambling out of the area to either talk about the upcoming vote or just have some time to relax.
Chansey sighed, putting her head between her hands in disappointment, "I think I really made Magearna disappointed with my performance in this challenge. I… didn't exactly do that great with guessing… Magcargo was just too good. I'm just not good enough. If only I studied about the game beforehand, I wouldn't be making the same mistake. As a nurse… you can't just make mistakes, when it might be a matter of life and death. I'm lucky that I'm only flopping in the matters of the game and these challenges… but well, even that's not a good thing."
"And now, we have to vote someone off the game and while Empoleon is still acting very defeatist, I don't think he's even the best option to vote off here, when we still keep losing and he's probably the strongest player on the team. I… I'm not good at playing this game, but I do want to try and do my best to err… help Magearna? Wait… I don't even know who to trust… I guess… I can hopefully trust Sableye, at the very least?"
"So… we lost and we have to vote someone off. I don't know who's the easy target here. Empoleon wanted to die because of h-his crush on Bayleef but he's… lashing out so I'm praying he goes for the other team instead, h-hahaha…" Sableye commented awkwardly. "Chansey and Magearna had a weird tight duo that's not so tight but I think they have problems. Floatzel still hates me and Teddiursa just likes making fun of me… wait a minute… does anyone even LIKE me?!"
He paused, deadpanning, "Aside from maybe Gossifleur? She's not even on my team…"
"We won again so uhhm… we're still going to keep celebrating it while we're still winning…" Gossifleur said with an unsure expression. "You never know when it'll end and I have a pretty strong feeling that things will start changing up soon… and we won't be sitting with our laurels…" She shook her head, forcing a weak smile. "E-er… I don't want to sound a bit w-worried, when I am still practicing how to be a bad girl but there's so much I have to learn about… and the game is one of them."
The Trubbish were gathered on the porch of their cabin, celebrating their recent win at the challenge, with the mere exception of the still-absent Gourgeist. Despite this, the mood was noticeably damper than usual.
"WOO! We won!" Vanilluxe cheered, half-heartedly. He had a STRONG feeling that he would be on the chopping block if they lost, for just dropping out of the challenge with little to no resistance. It was… a moment of weakness that he still felt bad about, but it was just hard for him to control. "So uhh… why the long faces? We won!"
"Well… no thanks to you," Dedenne said flatly, looking away from the ice cream.
"W-well-"
"D-Dedenne, it's not Vanilluxe's fault. We all have our things we can't control! Like Skwovet's kleptomaniac behavior and Vivillon's resting bitch face!" Oricorio defended the ice cream as she stood in front of him. "I-If anything, shouldn't we be more concerned about the fact that Gourgeist is still not here and didn't even bother to show up for the challenge?"
"..." Complete and utter silence. While Vanilluxe did drop out easily… it was still better than Gourgeist's performance at the challenge. Even though the pumpkin carried them in the past challenges, nobody was particularly close with her at all. Hell, none of them even see the pumpkin Pokemon outside of challenges.
"So… we're just going to pin the blame on the girl who carried us in FOUR challenges?" Dedenne asked rhetorically with an unamused expression. "Okay… that checks out. At least, Gourgeist is USEFUL. Vanilluxe is useless, even when he's participating."
"Well…" Vanilluxe was about to speak up in retaliation before groaning, "I can't argue with you there honestly…" He smiled weakly, shuddering from the sudden focus on him. "B-but well… I promise to try harder!"
"Well… if we lose, you're on the chopping block," Dedenne said harshly.
Vanilluxe gulped, nodding reluctantly, "F-fine… but I prom-ICE to prove myself!" The whole team, except for Magcargo and Oricorio, all groaned at the pun. "O-okay… fiiine… I'll also tell less puns too! I am a good person! I've b-been holding myself back!"
"Sure…" Dedenne said coldly, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
In the mess hall, Magearna, Chansey and Empoleon were all sitting in the mess hall, awkwardly eating dinner. The three were more worried about their upcoming elimination; they all collectively shoved slop into their mouths without any problem, with Chansey even eating a spoonful with a live cockroach in it without any problems as her head was filled with worries about what was going to happen for elimination.
There was nothing but deafening silence until Magearna sighed, standing up from her seat and slamming both of her hands on the table. "This has to stop. We have elimination coming up and there are three people here, so we make up half of the votes. We need to talk about the vote… seriously."
"Are you implying that we all vote together against one of Teddiursa, Floatzel or Sableye?" Empoleon queried, cocking a brow suspiciously. "I'm shocked… I thought you all had an alliance against me and Bayleef."
Magearna scoffed, a little annoyed with Empoleon's sarcastic tone, "Uhm… we're not even that close! Chansey and I are close but the rest? I don't care about them…" She blushed in embarrassment. "No offense to them obviously. We just voted together because our interests aligned. Stop assuming we're an alliance."
"Uhhhm… I… uhhm… I like them…" Chansey muttered, barely getting a word out as Magearna cut her off abruptly to continue making her pitch.
"So, Empoleon… we need to work together. In case you must know, it was TEDDIURSA's idea. She's basically salivating over the blood of her enemies. She lives for making big moves. She targeted Unfezant, she's the reason Pikachu got targeted. Musharna was probably really strategic and look at what happened to her!? And she voted Bayleef off because she-"
"Because I what?!" A high-pitched voice called out from a distance. Teddiursa has just entered the room, glaring daggers at Magearna. "OH, wow… fuck you, Magearna. To think, I PROTECTED you these past few votes because you were my SHIELD!"
"See, she just basically confirmed she's the mastermind of this tribe," Magearna said, voice turning flat, surprising Chansey. This was yet ANOTHER time where her 'supposed' idol was acting strangely out of character. "So… if that doesn't help my case, I don't know what else will. I want to respect your wish and have you voted off last time but Teddiursa told me she wanted to see you suffer."
"OH WHAT!? When did I say that!?" Teddiursa screamed, tilting her head to the side as her eyes bulged out of their sockets. "Oh… you're just making MORE excuses, you fucking faker. Yes, I know. You're fake. You're the fakest bitch here. You're even faker than the Gourgeist on the other team. Y-"
"F-fake? What are you even talking about?" Chansey questioned, sweating profusely. "What..? I… don't know what's even going on? Is there something I should know?"
"Well! I was keeping my eyes open and didn't you know that during the VERY FIRST round, I saw TWO Unfezants! TWO! Fucking… TWO Unfezant. How can there be TWO Unfezant?!"
"I don't see how that relates to our current situation when clearly, there's no Ditto or Zoroark on this team," Magearna said flatly. "And in case you must know, I am neither of those. So stop defaming me."
"... why are you…" Teddiursa growled at the Mythical Pokemon. "I was literally minding my business and you're just… THROWING me under the bus for no reason. I wanted to play nice but IMMEDIATELY, you throw me under. I thought that you were trustworthy enough to be an ally but I see, you do nothing but tell lies and string Chansey along. You're a-"
"What the fuck is even going on here?!" Another voice chimed in. It was revealed to be Klinklang, followed by a confused Magcargo. "Oh… it's… all of you?"
"OH! Finally! Someone sane! Please tell Magearna that she's a lying wench, who's probably not even the real Magearna!" Teddiursa pleaded.
"... hmmm… I don't get it…" Klinklang said flatly. "I'm leaving…" As he turns to leave, he is stopped by a nervous Magcargo. "Hmm?"
"UHHMM… I'm very very very hungry and I believe we should sit on the other table and definitely not listen in on their conversation. Can't you hear my stomach grumbling. I'm crumbling away!" Magcargo lied, eyes shifting to the side.
Klinklang sighed before reluctantly taking a seat on the table on the opposite side of the Shuppet. "Fine… but I'm literally going to tune out their argument…"
"YAY!" Magcargo cheered, eyeing the Shuppet with a concerned look before quickly joining Klinklang to definitely NOT listen in on what was going on. I mean, it wasn't like he was interested with gossip.
"..."
"..."
"Okay… now that they're… done interrupting this conversation, I hope that you can vote with me, Sableye and Floatzel against this faker, Magearna," Teddiursa said, clasping her hands as she returned to a cutesy smile, all trace of her anger gone. "I mean~ I might be the cutest girl on the team… but rumors say that you're the cutest guy on the team, Empy~ Bayleef told me himself!"
Empoleon choked on his food at the bear's words before making a face, "Sure…"
"What!? No, Empoleon is voting with me and Chansey!"
"H-he is?" Chansey stammered out.
"Yes, he just agreed before Teddiur-SATAN popped in," Magearna said.
"OH… you want to fight, hmmm?"
"... I'm better than that."
"STOP GASLIGHTING ME!"
"Teddiursa must be confused. I'm not a bad person. If anything, I'm just pragmatic, doing what's best for my game," Magearna said coldly, staring at the camera before a smug smirk formed on her face. "I mean… fake? Liar? This is Total Pokemon. Of course, there'll be liars and she should be glad I'm not the biggest one…"
Floatzel folded his hands as he sat in front of the cabin, waiting for Teddiursa after the little bird gave her a teasing kiss on the cheek, before telling him to come to the cabin… for a currently unknown reason. His annoyance grew as Teddiursa arrived… but she was joined by Sableye, who wasn't exactly someone he 'liked' on this team.
"Oh… you brought him…" Floatzel said flatly.
"HEY! He's on OUR side!" Teddiursa said, pouting childishly. "Besides, I talked to Empy… and that lying wench Magy was trying to get his vote so I like… don't trust him a lot right now. So us three need to stick together and vote for Magearna! I mean, MUSHARNA deserves to be avenged."
"Didn't you vote Musharna off?" Floatzel argued with a deadpan expression.
"THAT WAS BEFORE I REALIZED MAGEARNA MIGHT BE A PSYCHOPATH!" Teddiursa explained, raising her hands frantically. "Like, I thought she was just a quirky 'lil girl who thought that it'd be fun pretending to be someone's role model but it's worse than I expected. She's EVIL. And I don't likey her too much and want her dead, preferably in a bodybag… cremated so that I can drop her ashes into the ashes. NO EVIDENCE! Isn't that fun?"
"U-uhmmm… s-sometimes, I forget that y-you're actually pretty scary, Teddiursa…" Sableye commented, a bit put-off by Teddiursa's words.
"WELL, it's her fault for even trying to fight me. I was initially FINE with killing Chansey for being a borewhore but she just stepped over the line!" Teddiursa pouted at the gremlin cheekily.
"I already told you we shouldn't be voting off borewhores… we should be voting for the people who are malicious liars…" Floatzel pointed out.
"Well, you're working with one liar~ So you're not exactly doing good on that!" Teddiursa teased, poking the weasel's chest playfully. The weasel huffed in embarrassment, looking away. "I mean, lies aren't necessarily bad but she made far too many. I can't stand her so pretty please, let's vote her off! I promise to let you use the X-box, twinnie!"
Floatzel face-palmed, starting to feel second-hand embarrassment, "We don't have an X-box… twinnie…"
"Aw poo, play along! We're allies so try to spice things up!" Teddiursa said before turning to Sableye. "What'd'ya think?!"
"Err… I don't even know Magearna that much honestly," Sableye admitted bashfully… before blushing in embarrassment. "Wait a minute… I actually think my social game is probably trash since I talked more to Gossifleur over half of this team…"
"GOOD! You're in then!"
"I d-didn't say specifically b-"
"Should we even trust Sableye? If we're going after Magearna for being a liar… shouldn't we be going after Sableye for being cut from the same cloth?" Floatzel said.
"You just have a hatemance with Sableye! I ship it!" Teddiursa said jokingly, making Floatzel blush in embarrassment.
"I… I'm not gay…" Floatzel said, hiding his clear look of embarrassment. "And I don't even like Sableye…"
"ENEMIES TO LOVERS SLOW BURN SPEEDRUN?" Teddiursa tried to suggest before shaking her head. "Golly, you kids are making me move off-topic here with my investment in your intricate relationship. We're all good for Magearna, right? I don't want to keep confirming shit since we need all hands on deck for this vote."
"... I'm good with it," Floatzel said reluctantly, not wanting the little bear to know that for the nth time ever, he was going to put away his personal vendetta against Sableye.
"Same!" Sableye agreed with a nod.
After the confrontation in the mess hall, Chansey was left with her own devices as she sat on the docks, staring at the ocean. There were just… too many things happening at the same time that she can barely keep up with anything. Magearna was starting to show her darker side, which she was honestly not a fan of. Teddiursa made a scathing call-out, which she begrudgingly believes but pretends not to. Magcargo gave her mixed feelings with his multiple attempts to help her despite being on the same team and his weird encouragement that seems to point to the fact that Magearna wasn't trustworthy.
She was in the dark again. Was there SOMETHING she should know? Even with Teddiursa's words, she still found herself in disbelief. What can she even do? Magearna shaped her to be the person she was now. She can't just suddenly turn away from her own beliefs because of a few accusations… wait… why?
"This… this can't be true… right?" Chansey wondered aloud to herself. "Am I just that stupid!? I've known Magearna for a long time… I know, it's not in person… but why can't I even tell the real apart from a potential fake!?"
She kicked the water in frustration. The vote was coming up and she was left feeling more confused than usual. While she was expecting someone… anyone to help gather her thoughts. Nobody came. She was still alone. No Magcargo. No Teddiursa. No Sableye. She guessed that she was just overreacting. It wasn't that serious of a problem… right?
"Why did Magearna just throw Teddiursa under the bus… it's not like she was left with no options… she's… no… they're making fun of her beliefs. The real Magearna wouldn't be this casually cruel… would she?"
Gazing at the sunset in the far distance, she slammed the docks, a strange resolve forming within her heart.
"I can't just expect answers to fall on my lap… I need to search for them myself…"
Chansey looked thoughtful before writing down a name on her parchment then slipping it into the voting box, "This… might be the end…"
Teddiursa blew a raspberry as she showed a vote for Magearna.
"I mean… M-Magearna is kind of shady sus…" Sableye commented with a nervous smile. "N-not that I would know anything… it's what T-Teddiursa said!"
Empoleon stared at the camera with a listless expression, "I just fucking wish this could've happened before Bayleef got fucking voted off… ugh, now I feel worse…"
For the fifth time in a row, the Shuppet all sat in front of the campfire, gazing right into the raging fire… and soon, one of the flames on this team was soon to be extinguished. Nihilego looked rather bored as she held up a tray of marshmallows, though she giggled, noticing the hateful stares from Teddiursa, directed at a faux-innocuous Magearna.
Poipole laughed nervously, smelling the TENSION in the air… and BOY, it was thick. He twiddled his fingers, looking over to Nihilego, "GEE, this tribe looks sadder after every elimination ceremonies they attend, huh?"
"Well, I'd be sad too if I was part of a tribe that just flat-out sucks," Nihilego pointed out before raising a marshmallow off the tray. "Anyways, six of you left… but there's five marshmallows on my tray, which signifies your LIFE in the game. If you receive a marshmallow, you stay. Y'all casted your votes, with the person receiving the majority of the votes going home. So let's begin… the first person safe with no votes is…"
"... Sableye," Nihilego announced, hurling a marshmallow at the gremlin, who just looked confused. He honestly expected everyone to randomly blindside him due to his lack of actual personal connections with the players on his team. "... Empoleon." The penguin grunted, catching his marshmallow, stuffing it in his mouth as he grumbled something about Bayleef being robbed.
"... Floatzel." The weasel caught his marshmallow with a sigh of relief, but not before he eyed Teddiursa with a concerned look. "Guess tonight's WOMEN'S NIGHT, cuz the bottom 3 is between the girls… wow, this is so sexist and rude, by the way."
"Just get on with it!" Teddiursa complained, pointing a finger in the hostess' direction.
"Rude… well, I'm glad to say that CHANSEY's the one safe from the bottom 2 and not you," Nihilego said pettily as she threw a marshmallow at the nurse… which flew past her head completely. "Whoops, I should probably practice with my aim next time. Either that, or you all just suck at catching, which makes sense with how many challenges you all sucked at."
Magearna and Teddiursa. They were the bottom 2. Teddiursa glared at the Mythical Pokemon… who looked oddly calm, for someone in the Bottom 2. Nihilego waved the last marshmallow at the bottom 2 with a teasing expression.
"Mythical Pokemon and the Cutest Pokemon! One of you is going home… Magearna, I guess everyone got sick of the fact that you're the worst Mythic ever. Teddiursa, you may be cute but you don't have the challenge skills to show that you're not just a one-trick pony. So who stays?! It goes to…"
…
…
…
…
…
"WAIT!"
"?" Teddiursa's eyes widened at the voice, turning around to find GOURGEIST coming out of the woods to stand at the back of the Shuppet. "Ex-cuse me!? You were interrupting Magearna getting voted off. GTFO!"
"Oh… sorry… not really," Gourgeist said flatly before focusing her attention on the two hosts. "But uhhm… I quit?!"
"..."
"..."
"JSJWJWJQ1WJQJWJQWNQNWNQWNQ?! Are you fucking serious?!" Teddiursa screamed out. "PLEASE TELL ME MAGEARNA'S STILL ELIMINATED DESPITE THIS QUIT."
"That's rude…" Magearna commented.
"Uhh… this wasn't supposed to be a double elimination… so uhhm… Gourgeist… are you seri-" Before Nihilego could ask the pumpkin, the Ghost and Grass type just snapped her tendrils… disappearing in a flash of white smoke, surprising the team even further. "OKAY… wow?! Not even waiting to give me an answer!? SO uhh… that's awkward… I only have one last marshmallow…"
"I know!" Poipole said, swiping the marshmallow out of Nihilego's grip and splitting it in half, throwing it at the direction of the Bottom 2. "You're BOTH safe."
"..." Teddiursa's face basically said 'Are you fucking serious?! I literally almost blew up my game for half a marshmallow?!'
"Well… that wasn't planned… uhh… Gourgeist just did that… randomly… out of nowhere… I don't even know where-" Nihilego said before receiving a call from her walkie talkie, which she immediately picked up. "Yes..? Marill? Oh, you're going to find Gourgeist? Thanks! She suddenly disappeared but make sure she's not on the island anymore… we can't have any stowaways…" She sighed facing the Shuppet with an exasperated expression. "Okay… you are all lucky Gourgeist decided to quit… wherever she is. Pretend she's your guardian angel or something since things are going to get harder from here and the game's never going to feel the same by the next elimination so keep your eyes peeled."
Nihilego's ominous words concerned nearly the whole tribe as they stared at each other, curious as to what the hostess was talking about. Though, Teddiursa just kept glaring at Magearna, clearly still mad about her survival, grumbling something about committing pumpkin genocide.
"Well… that was useless…" Magearna said with a blank expression, removing the lid off the voting box and revealing that all of the votes were switched to Teddiursa. "Teddiursa is so lucky Gourgeist quit." As she said this, the confessional abruptly ended as it changed to static.
"WAIT WHAT!?" Skwovet yelled at the gremlin, who had just come back from elimination. "Gourgeist… quit?"
"OMG…" Cramorant commented, not really focused on the conversation as she was just doing some light typing on her phone, looking up once in a while to keep track of the conversation that was starting. "#DidNotExpectThatXD"
"She was our strongest player too…" Dedenne muttered.
"Y-yeah… n-nobody expected it either… Gourgeist's… just gone…" Sableye commented, twiddling his fingers awkwardly.
"WELL… she might be gone but we will NEVER forget her!" Magcargo said, teary-eyed.
"Why are you crying? You barely knew the girl," Vivillon asked, arching a brow.
"She was STILL a teammate. FAMILY! She felt like the estranged aunt who you never invite to reunions," Magcargo explained, wiping off the tears forming in his eyes. "I know she was a bit weird… but what's a person without a little personality quirks? It's what makes them SPECIAL!"
"Uhmm…" Oricorio looked rather concerned, remembering what she saw happen at the woods earlier. Surely… Gourgeist quitting wasn't related to that… right? Her gaze went over to Vanilluxe, who had the same expression as her. She was a bit relieved, knowing that she wasn't alone in feeling that the current circumstances were way too coincidental.
"WAIT WAIT… if Gourgeist is the estranged aunt, what am I?" Gossifleur asked, perking up.
"You're everyone's baby sister!" Magcargo chirped, making the flower GASP in horror, surprising the group.
"B-baby… sister?! That's what you all think of me?!" Gossifleur cried out before looking away. "I'm going to make you all wish you didn't think of me as a baby sister! WAAAAAAAAAAH!" And with that, the flower fled the scene, basically killing the mood and the conversation as the group slowly dispersed to do whatever they were planning on doing.
"This can't be right… Gourgeist isn't the type to just quit… she's planning something…" Oricorio commented, expression darkening. "And I don't think I like the implications of that…"
"I'm a BAD girl! Sableye is coaching me. Gourgeist gave me some advice before she quit. And well… I'm sick of everyone thinking I'm just an innocent delicate little flower who knows nothing about the world!" Gossifleur complained, pouting childishly. "I am stronger than everyone thinks and maybe, they don't know everything about me!"
In the middle of the woods… Gourgeist seemed to be meeting up with two figures shrouded by shadows. She had a dark expressionless face as she tilted her head to the side playfully.
"So… I quit… what now?"
"Good… there's something you must do…" A deep voice answered, throwing a pile of paper at the pumpkin's feet.
"Ew, paperwork!?" Gourgeist said in disgust.
"No… it's about the challenges and the format of the rest of the game. I stole it from that little blue mouse's trailer… we need to edit a few pieces and make things more dangerous. Oh… and we need to make sure that I can make it to the final 8 to execute the plan, of course!" The other dark figure said in a deeper voice. Unlike their companion, they weren't exactly hiding their true identity. "After all… Nihilego should discover the repercussions of her actions…"
"Oh… you're saying that as if you want this game to fall apart?" Gourgeist said, pretending she didn't know.
"Did I?" The uncovered figure said ominously.
"Well, I didn't expect YOU to be working with them…" Gourgeist pointed out before her expression darkened. "But then again, you weren't exactly good at hiding it… right? ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛"
Vote Count:
Teddiursa - Everyone but Teddiursa (Magearna changed the votes)
Magearna - Teddiursa
Gourgeist - No Votes (QUIT?)
Shining Shuppet - Chansey, Empoleon, Floatzel, Magearna, Sableye, Teddiursa
Twinkling Trubbish - Cramorant, Dedenne, Gossifleur, Klinklang, Magcargo, Oricorio, Skwovet, Vanilluxe, Vivillon
Eliminated: Unfezant, Pikachu, Musharna, Bayleef, Gourgeist
Eliminated: Gourgeist, The Freak of Nature (16th Place)
Gourgeist Gourgeist Gourgeist, she was a very weird character who was deliberately concealed from the story. We learned nothing about her. She barely talked with her fellow teammates THEN left the game with weird circumstances. I honestly can't share much about her when her story's not yet over but she was always leaving here.
This episode literally took so long to finish so the latter half feels more rushed but it's better to have a finished chapter than no chapter and things are just going to heat up from here and like Nihilego said, the game's about to change next round! It's going to be a mess
Gourgeist: Review… or else~