Total Pokemon Ultra Revival Chapter 16: EP 10: Out of the Woods, a Pokémon + Total Drama series Crossover fanfic

Picture me… in the trees

Welcome… to Episode 10! Congratulations on making it this far into the story. And I never even saw it coming. I'll never feel the same way I used to. So, I hope that you can enjoy this episode!

Whimsicott let out a drawn out sigh as she sat inside the intern's dining hall tent, having a cup of coffee. Sitting across her was an intrigued Bellossom, who seemed to be taking note of the quick mood changes that the camerawoman seemed to be going through.

"You okay?" Bellossom asked, face resting on her hands was leaning on the table with a bored expression. "Or was the footage unsalvageable because Staravia is the temporary hostess while Nihilego is busy getting over her cold or something?"

Whimsicott shook her head, smacking the side of the table in frustration. "Oh no! I actually think Staravia did fine hosting." Whimsicott paused, not bothering to comment on the flower dancer rolling her eyes before continuing, "It's just that weird things have been going on and I have no idea what it is."

"Weird… things?" Bellossom tilted her head to the side, actually intrigued. "Okay, now I'm actually worried that you are implying Staravia wasn't weird enough to be considered weird in the first place."

Whimsicott wagged her appendage at the flower dancer with a knowing tut. "Firstly, I can relate to Staravia since I can get overboard with my OBSESSION with this fucking show so if anything, she's someone more my speed over someone like I dunno… Marill or Indeedee. Secondly, fuck you. Don't get worried for my sake in a condescending way. You don't know anything."

"... I see." Bellossom nodded slowly, averting her gaze.

"Anyways, it's about the footage… well, it's…"

"What?"

"Do you think I CAN tell you!? What if YOU were the one behind this?! I'd be giving information to the one responsible!" Whimsicott explained with a huff.

"I'm not responsible for anything." Bellossom said simply, putting both of her hands on her lap. "If anything, I have no reason to sabotage this show or anything. I am very invested in making sure this is a success!"

Whimsicott's eyes narrowed… before giggling, fanning herself. "Oh well, I didn't suspect you in the first place. I just wanted to see your reaction, but it's almost disappointing that you didn't try to bite back." She paused, eyes looking up in thought. "Keyword is almost. This is my dream job and I'm not letting anyone take it away from me so-"

"Just tell me already. We don't have all day!" Bellossom replied.

"Fiiiine, I thought you'd be just as chipper and upbeat like Gossifleur is, but I'm guessing you lied in the application process." Bellossom actually blushed at this, looking away immediately. "Anyways… someone broke into the room where we kept the camera footage for previous episodes and… took them. I don't know why, but the doorknob was almost knocked off the door so I had the suspicion that someone broke in… and conveniently enough, they made sure that they weren't seen in the security footage around the place."

"Oh!"

"I know, right! This is worse than when my cameras went missing and when they turned up… there were bite marks!" Whimsicott exclaimed, face-palming. "That, by the way, is why I'm not sussing you out. You weren't even on the island back then so I cleared you from suspicion." She then gestured to her eyes then back to Bellossom. "But don't get too comfortable. I'm going to keep my eyes on everyone! I mean, you could totally still be a hypothetical plant of the culprit, who arrives later so that you can be less sus but it's a common trope for there to be TWO culprits, with the 2nd one showing up later than th-"

"Err… I can barely follow what you're saying but uh… it's still not me!" Bellossom said, putting a hand to her chest.

"I'm WATCHING you!"

"Okay..?"

In another part of the island, Gourgeist is sitting on a log alone in the middle of the woods as she stares at the shredded film footage at the ground in front of her. She isn't alone for long though, as Marill emerges from the nearby bushes, twiddling her fingers awkwardly as she goes over to the pumpkin.

"Gourgeist… I kept your promise." Marill started, her eyes doing their best to avoid the pumpkin's dauntless gaze that seems to follow her everywhere. "Nobody knows that you're still on the island, but I have to ask… why are you even doing this?"

"Oh Marill! You should know by now the reasons for anything I do… well, ANYTHING is an enigma! I mean for one, Staravia and Bellossom are HOT, so great job actually hiring attractive interns! Buuut, I mean… I should be the one asking you…" She stood up, stroking Marill's cheek with her spooky tendril. "What are YOU doing here? And don't make a dumb excuse like 'OHHHH, this pumpkin bitch told me to come in the first place~'! No, that won't fly! You didn't have to come when you know I can do you no wrong if you didn't listen~"

"That… I…" Marill deflated, hugging her clipboard tightly to her chest. "Okay… maybe I don't have a good explanation but I figured that we needed to talk again. You still haven't explained why you're here."

"Oh…? That's it?! Are you not going to tell me anymore about your plans?"

"... I don't know what you're talking about."

"I mean, haven't you heard that things have been rather… how do you say this… hectic? Is that right?" Gourgeist tilted her head to the side mockingly. "I mean, Nihilego is sick… and Poipole has proven to be rather incompetent without her! Do you really think Staravia can keep this show afloat?"

"I'm trying to handle it, at my own pace." Marill argued with a huff. "Are you trying to get a reaction from me?! You should know that I don't tolerate this… at all!"

"I mean, we all know you'll never tell Nihilego about it~" Gourgeist said teasingly.

"..." Marill looked pale at this.

"I'm guessing I'm right, hmm? By the way, how's the game?"

"... Skwovet got voted off last round but… why are you even asking? You're asking too many questions but you can't even bother to answer the one question I asked you to. I'm honestly starting to get annoyed."

"... Musharna."

"What?"

"There, I answered your question. Is that good?"

"W-what about Musharna? She's not even in th-" Before Marill could gather her thoughts at Gourgeist's abrupt 'reveal', the pumpkin had completely vanished in the blink of an eye. "Oh COME ON! You can't just leave me hanging here. This is not how this works…"

"..."

It had been a terrible day for Dedenne thus far. After discovering that Skwovet was voted off, he didn't get a good night's sleep. That was the 3rd time in a row that the vote didn't end up going in his favor and it was starting to get on his nerves.

Throwing his pillow off his bed, he lets out an annoyed scream. Empoleon punched the bottom of the bunk above him, growling in reaction to this.

"What the fuck are you doing?! Can't you see that I'm trying to sleep here?! It's barely 5 AM and you're already destroying my eardrums. There better be a good reason for this!" Empoleon sat up, crossing his arms. He looked over to his other teammates who were either asleep like Magcargo or just not available like Klinklang. "Oh fucking shit, it's just you and me in here, huh?!"

"Oh please, you literally throw tantrums over Bayleef but you can't let me be frustrated over my good friend Skwovet going home!? I'm sorry to say this early in the morning, but you're sounding like a hypocrite right now." Dedenne scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"How many times do I have to fucking tell you… DON'T! FUCKING! MENTION… BAYLEEF!"

"Too many at this point. It doesn't mean I'd stop, you know?"

"CUNT!"

"I get that a lot." Dedenne looked smug, lying back down on his bed and closing his eyes. "You're now the one screaming here so it's on you if Magcargo wakes up from all of this mess."

"I-..." Empoleon was about to refute but immediately realized that he WAS suddenly screaming after Dedenne mentioned Bayleef. Not wanting to look like Dedenne was right, he just decided to say nothing, looking away with a grunt.

Dedenne snorted, hand cupped over his mouth. "Looks like you agree~ If you must know, Skwovet and I were close… obviously, not as close as you and Bayleef were. We definitely didn't LOVE each other that much like you two did."

"..." Empoleon's left eye twitched at this. "LOVE?! What the hell are you going on about? Don't tell me this is another one of your mind games!"

"Don't you like-like him?"

"Where did that come from? First, you keep blabbing about how we're really close but now, you're saying that…"

"Hey, I'm just calling it for what it was."

"You can't call it what you want!" Empoleon clenched a fist in frustration. "You literally pointed fingers at me for 'controlling' him and now, you're calling that love?! Be more consistent. I really hate you!"

"I mean, why not both?"

"Excuse you!"

"You seem to be the type with weird fetishes an-"

"SHUT UP!" Empoleon was over Dedenne by this point, and he was not in the mood to give him any more time to talk and try to degrade him any further. "This conversation is OVER!"

"Awww, I thought we were bonding?"

"Fuck you."

"You mean, fuck Bayle-"

"FUCK OFF!"

In the middle of this, Magcargo was stirring in his sleep from all the noise around him. He smacked his lips together as he started rambling… in his sleep. "Chansey… we need to really take a trip to the Bell Tower someday to pay respects to the Bellsprout gods… mmm? I'm actually atheist but I like the appeal of yellow bell plants somehow being worth worshipping… where are you from, anyways? Maybe we can carpool? Wait, you knew Icy from Total Pokémon Ultra Space? … she was my random favorite. Maybe, give me her number an… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

The lava snail's sleep talk was enough to shake Empoleon and Dedenne out of their argument as the two just sighed, eyes closed.

"..."

"Let's not do this while Magcargo is here, okay?" Dedenne said matter-of-factly. "He has loose lips and while it'd be hypothetically fun to tease you with everyone else, what we have is special."

"What is that supposed to mean!? Teasing?! UGH… but yeah… I wasn't interested in talking with you anyway. Just let me sleep."

"Don't you wake up early to work out and exercise or something though?"

"I need to save my energy for the challenge and besides, Bayleef is-" He paused before just covering his face with a pillow, sighing into it. "..."

"Bayleef is what?"

"..."

"Oh, the silent treatment, huh? Two can play that game!"

"Now that Skwovet is out, I need to play this game smarter, and while messing with Empoleon to throw him off his game worked when we were on different teams, I'm honestly shocked with how… petty I could be with him." Dedenne admitted with a deadpan stare. "I mean, I thought I could use him if I use this emotional baggage with Bayleef as leverage… but I feel like it just made him hate me? I mean, bleh. I'm not exactly the type of person to be hated honestly when I just usually stick to the sidelines by default."

Dedenne sighed, crossing his arms. "Honestly… at this point, I just pick on him because it comes naturally to me. It's just so easy for him to act overly defensive but I know I need him on my side so I really have to undo the damage I've done in that Ultra Space whatever game show challenge."

"I know Dedenne is TRYING to be nicer because he needs me. I'm not stupid." Empoleon said, leaning on the side of the confessional. "Keyword is try, since he just can't stop reminding me about the fact that I screwed Bayleef over. I mean, it's my fault but he doesn't have to keep reminding me! And love!? Me?! Love Bayleef!? I like the dude but he's not exactly manly enough for me-"

He paused, realizing what he just said. "WHAT I MEAN TO SAY IS… I like girls, not men. Dedenne should know that. He better not spread rumors about this! I mean, if anyone is hot, it's ORICORIO or Gossifleur! Oricorio is really… energetic!? Yeah. And Gossifleur is grassy… okay I got nothing. Nobody is on my level anyway and that's why I'm not here to worry about something as stupid as love or liking someone to the point of crushing on them. The only crushing I do is these challe-"

He face-palmed, giving the camera one last glare. "You know what I mean! I'm not going to keep explaining myself."

Klinklang floated into the mess hall for breakfast. Today, he made the executive decision to eat without Magcargo since he wanted some alone time to think and ponder about what to do next for his game. The Magearna vote was unanimous, simple and clean but it didn't exactly expose any hidden dynamics within the group so Klinklang remained skeptical that he needs to really solidify his position on the team to prevent a blindside.

Unfortunately for him, the mess hall wasn't empty. Indeedee was out and about, wiping the tabletops with a soggy washcloth while humming an upbeat jingle to himself. When the chef noticed Klinklang's presence, his tone immediately shifted. He stopped humming and just tried his best to avert his gaze.

Klinklang doesn't comment on this as he sat on the table opposite to the table Indeedee was at. "..."

"..."

Indeedee cleared his throat, speeding up as he started frantically wiping the table faster so that he could unceremoniously flee the scene.

"..." Klinklang would've just stayed quiet, since interacting with someone now even competing was unnecessary, but some of Magcargo's words came back to him from when they first talked. It was something about him not being able to shut up… Klinklang didn't know what came over him. Maybe it was because of the awkward silence, but without any hesitation, the Steel-type called out to Indeedee in his trademark monotone voice. "... how's your day?"

"What?" Indeedee was confused about his newfound behavior, since he knew the contestants… more than they ever thought. Being fairly involved in the casting process, he knew everyone's personality information and pet peeves and of course, that meant he knew that Klinklang was not the type to start up small talk, so this was something he didn't expect. "Were you asking me or were you talking to yourself?"

"... I was talking to you, obviously. You are the only other person in the room." Klinklang said.

Indeedee blinked at this. Okay, did Magcargo influence Klinklang more than he expected? "I'm doing fine? I mean, I was definitely celebrating when Skwovet left, happiness happy happy happy yes. But other than that, I'm working. Not exactly much to feel there, right?"

"..." Klinklang's cold gaze continued to focus on the Psychic-type who flinched.

"..."

"Okay, I'm assuming the conversation is over then?" Indeedee was about to turn around when Klinklang continued with their 'small talk'.

"You're the chef, right? And you are always within the confines of the mess hall. That would mean you would know which certain groups stay in this building for meals. I wish for you to tell me." Klinklang explained, revealing his purpose there and then. "I want to know."

"I'm pretty sure I can't help contestants out by sharing that type of information-"

"... disappointing then. To think, I actually thought Magcargo was right about the importance of socialization…" Klinklang looked disappointed by Indeedee's answer, eyes shifting to the side coldly. "I suppose you can continue on with your work… while I wait for you to cook breakfast."

"Breakfast is actually done. I finished cooking an hour ago!" Indeedee exclaimed, chest puffing up in pride. "I mean, I follow a very strict schedule here so it's to be expected! You're not the only one who abides by very strange personal life choices."

"Interesting… so by schedule, you mean..?"

"From dawn to dusk, I make sure that I can maximize my time to also maximize profitability. I mean, I'm only working for Nihilego and Poipole for this season and after this, I'll keep going on my merry way but if you need assistance, just call this number to contact Indeedee's Odd Jobs where I-"

"Okay, you're going off-topic."

"I'm sorry… not sorry."

"..."

"Indeedee is not an actual player in this game, so there would be no repercussions from angering him or calling him names… but I believe that he's still a vital connection that could be used to further my game…" Klinklang explained before sighing. "But, I suppose I'm starting to see that perhaps Magcargo has more influence on helping my social and strategic game, when he's the one who knows what to say to get people's interests up…"

Klinklang shook his head vigorously as he looked to the side. "Overthinking things will do me no good. I need to make sure that I can take control of this team and I need to look at my options more… especially when the possibility of the merge happening in the next few rounds is highly likely…"

"If I can ask this question… What is going on with Nihilego? She wasn't around to host the last challenge, and it's been quite a long time since I've last seen her." Klinklang asked, deciding to switch topics. And perhaps this time, he'd actually get answers.

"I… I actually don't know." Indeedee answered, whose twitching left eye immediately alerted Klinklang that he was hiding something. "I mean, you should ask someone who actually knows what the hell is happening! Me? I'm just some cook!"

"Right…"

Indeedee laughed nervously for a few seconds before letting out a breathy sigh, as he realized that Klinklang didn't believe him for a second. "Okay, I wish I could answer your question, but I can't. It would be unprofessional for me to leak information and details like that so easily. I need to be tight-lipped."

"I suppose I can respect that, even if that means this whole conversation was useless then."

"I like to say otherwise but whatever, I don't give much of a fuck to even try and argue with you. Don't you do that with that Cramorant chick?"

Klinklang's brow twitched at the mention of the phone addict. "Don't even mention that… tch… tactless buffoon."

"Are you two the new Skwovet and Vivillon or..?" Noticing the Klinklang's intensifying glare, Indeedee sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Okay fine, I'll drop it. I don't exactly know what's happening in this show but whatever, you do you. And I guess you guys will ask me to do things for you when push comes to shove, which reminds me that I have to get your plate now. I'm personally proud of my cooking today. I felt like I jumped over a massive hurdle!"

"Your cooking is not that great." Klinklang said simply.

"Okay, and?" Indeedee crossed his arms. "I'm learning."

"They hired someone who barely knows how to cook… to be the chef. That logic still baffles me, but I guess I can appreciate the fact that you're more down-to-earth than some people in this game."

"..." Indeedee didn't say anything in return as he turned around to leave and head into the kitchen to get breakfast ready for Klinklang and any others who were having their breakfast early.

"I prefer to be productive with my time, and idle chatter is just not stimulating enough to keep me interested… I still wonder how Magcargo makes it look effortless. Hmmm… in hindsight, Magcargo appears to be a larger threat in the game than I expected…" Klinklang thought out loud to himself before shaking his head, staring at the camera with a laser-focused glare. "Well, I suppose that makes it extremely important to keep him on my side. I mustn't ever let him go."

"W-why did you call me here again, Floatzel? I don't know why but uhm… I'm feeling a lot of pressure, h-hehehehe…" Sableye muttered, twiddling his fingers awkwardly as he entered the clinic to find Floatzel seated across the counter. On the other side was Lopunny, reading a magazine and generally minding his own business. "Is this about… d-did I do anything wrong? I swear it wasn't me… I think."

"No, it's not about that. I believe we need to talk… that's all." Floatzel explained, goading the gremlin to take a seat next to him. "Honestly, it's not too urgent, but… I just want to get to the bottom of things. The truth, if you will. Only then, shall justice be truly served."

"Uhmm… I d-don't get it?"

Floatzel face-palmed before crossing his arms. "It's… it's about Teddiursa. Is she alright?"

"Do you..?"

"I mean, she's my best friend… surprisingly enough." Floatzel said with a surprisingly straight face. Noticing Sableye's eyes shift to the side, the weasel cocked a brow in confusion. "Why? Were you thinking that..?"

"I thought you two were in love or something!" Sableye exclaimed before covering his mouth with a flushed expression. "O-oops… I wasn't supposed to say that. T-that was just… a thought, okay. I d-didn't… tell anyone…"

Floatzel sighed, patting the gremlin on the back in a reassuring manner. "Okay… this might sound crazy, but I believe you."

"You do?"

"I think you've proven time and time again that you're too dense to be malicious."

"...Wait, was that a compliment or an insult?"

"It can be both, honestly." Floatzel answered, burying his face behind his hands. "But… Teddiursa was my first friend in a while and well… I blew it. I think they were right all along… I'm not a good person like I thought I was and I-..." He paused, kicking forward in frustration. "I ruined it. I really thought I was over… everything, but I let that get in my head and ruined every relationship I actually valued."

"You didn't ruin all of it!" Sableye pointed out, pointing to himself with a weak smile. "I-I mean… I'm your friend and well… I know I'm sh-shady, but I think you're a good person! J-just a bit loud and… scary sometimes but well… I like you. Isn't that enough?"

Floatzel chuckled, a bit touched by the Dark-type's words. While Floatzel had been hostile towards him for most of the competition and hell, even jealous that Teddiursa was talking to him instead, he was relieved that Sableye didn't think of him any differently. Maybe he might've misjudged him for his appearance after all. "Maybe, I was wrong all along. I thought you were the hidden villain, but I suppose you are more… heroic than appearances have shown."

"T-thanks?"

"I'll be honest.. I didn't think you'd even want to talk to me. You only hung out with me because of Teddiursa, and I saw you as a bit of a liability. I…" Floatzel bit his tongue, looking away. "I guess I should've tried harder and not just push everyone away just because I-"

"Uhm… I can't blame you there…" Floatzel looked surprised by Sableye's words. His expression became vacant as he stared in front of him, hands shaking. "I… don't even know much about… a-anything and well, I had to live on the streets… because I don't even have a family or home to go to. It's tough, h-haha… and I know it's hard to believe but… I just can't… remember anything about how I ended up like that. It feels likeI was always like this and gee… there's just a strong feeling that maybe, it wasn't always like that."

"W-what are you saying, Sableye? I don't want to pry your life story out of you, now… but like I said, I want to trust you more. You don't have to-"

"I just feel bad because I don't think I did anything worthy for you to trust me… I mean, it's like you said… Teddiursa brought us together and well, h-hahaha… I want to make a well… it's hard to explain but I wanna try harder and be closer with you too, y'know? I mean… Gossifleur thinks I'm a bad guy… and Vanilluxe has his own share of… whatever. I want to try discovering who I really am, and I'll be h-honest… I think I need help with that."

"And you think that I'd be your best option? O-over Gossifleur, Vanilluxe or hell- TEDDIURSA?!" Floatzel quickly covered his mouth, realizing that Lopunny was probably listening in on their chatter by this point. His voice quieted down to a hush as he leaned closer to the ghost. "I think you're making a mistake. I… I can't keep a secret."

"I mean… it's not a secret. This is just who I am."

"I-"

"I d-don't worry too much about it since… I mean… I'm not really that important of a person. I mean, I… don't have or want anything… I don't even know what I was so scared of! Honestly… I wish I volunteered in the last challenge, so I could've at least… learned something new about myself but h-hehehehehe… it's the nerves."

"Sableye…"

"I'm sorry for making things awkward when you're being genuine with me…"

"No no, you didn't make things awkward. I er-hem… actually appreciate your trust and while I did think you were a hidden villain, you're not. I made a huge mistake and honestly, I clearly proved my judgement is shit when I can't even see Magearna as the villain she truly is."

Hearing this response, Sableye's eyes glistened… before he abruptly hugged the weasel tight, laughing loudly. The Water-type looked rather flushed by his sudden touch. "Wow, thank you thank you! That actually means a lot to me! You know, I was really scared when everyone started changing, but… I'm glad that it's not so bad all along!"

"Y-you're welcome, but could you please let go of me?" Floatzel asked, to which the gremlin responded by releasing the weasel with a sheepish expression. The Water-type put both of his hands on his neck, looking away immediately. "Thank you. I… am rather sensitive about people touching me. But I… w-well… okay, I'm starting to sound like you now."

"S-sorry!"

"I haven't exactly thought about… anything outside the game much… even before I signed up for this show." Sableye looked uncharacteristically solemn as he looked to the side of the camera, fingers tracing the walls, checking for any cracks or jagged parts. "I… well… I didn't think much about it, really… but when the last challenge… I… and Cramorant asked me… about my fear. I don't even know. I… don't know anything. I-"

He sighed, slapping himself in the face. "I-I shouldn't be worrying too much when Floatzel is trusting me more! H-he's really trying and well… I can't be too shaken up just because I get too… into myself. Does that make sense? H-hahaha. The more I worry about something, the more I start thinking about how I'm even worrying when there should be no reason for me to worry…"

Floatzel looked relaxed as he let out a sigh of relief, leaning on the back of the confessional. "I… strangely feel lighter right now. I really didn't think Sableye would be so… insightful honestly. I don't know if I'm ready to trust anyone completely though. The last time I did, they… broke that trust immediately and went behind my back to make sure that I can't live with my secrets in peace. But… I can't just… not trust anyone. Sableye has no reason to stab me in the back… right?"

He shook his head at the thought. "What am I even saying? I'll trust him. I'm not telling him everything obviously but… I'll be working on that eventually."

Chansey was doing her daily routine of reading through another one of her romance novels when her personal time was suddenly interrupted by Cramorant, waving over to her before walking over. The nurse was used to it by this point, especially with how terrible Empoleon's apology went a few days ago, and Cramorant's haphazard attempts to force them to bond with each other since the last challenge.

"What do you want?" Chansey questioned, eyes narrowing in a skeptic manner

"L-O-L! No need to be hostile, Channy! I just wanted to like… chat and get to know you better cuz like, we're on the same team and I think we need to channel our girl-power energy into working together, O-M-L!"

"... what?"

"How was your day, bestie? OMG, I'm kind of sick of not having my phone to use for DMs, because talking to people F-to-F is just so exhausting. Like wow, y'all are really hard to lock down, huh?" Cramorant doesn't give Chansey any room to breathe as she continues to bluster on and on. "Maybe you should like… teach me about nursing? You're a nurse, right? Give me some pointers, m'kay?"

"Errr… I'm not exactly a good teacher. Besides, I'm still in training. I haven't actually graduated yet."

"Oh wow! Lucky you! I'm still deciding on which course to take in college! Barely graduating in HS right now. So tight. I was more focused on being socielle and talking with my classmates, but then I realized I wasn't too much of a hands-on type of girl… unless it's hands on my phone, obvi."

"I mean, I'm not exactly the type to talk much to people either." Chansey admitted, still skeptical about the bird's intentions. "So… why do you..?"

"Okay… maybe I kinda want a girls' alliance. The girls are dropping like flies here, and we need to work together to make sure we're not wiped out!" Cramorant explained.

"Uh huh? I don't know about that…"

"Oh come on! Aren't I so in touch with pop culture that you just want to work with me, OMG?!" Cramorant pointed out, her wing placed on her chest. "I like… really like you, Chansey!"

Chansey looked flustered by Cramorant's bold words, turning away awkwardly. "W-what!? Don't say it like that! It's… weird."

"Well, I'm desperate!"

"I… don't think I fully trust you."

"W-what?!"

"I mean… we barely know each other… and you're just starting to love bomb me with attention more recently since the fear challenge. After what happened with Magearna… I'm not sure if I can take your word for it." Chansey explained, rubbing her elbows as she continued to avoid the bird's dauntless gaze. "I'm… sorry?" The nurse paused, noticing Cramorant walking away. "Cramorant?"

The bird quickly turned back, forcing a smile. "Ya? Did you change your mind-"

"No. I'm just co-" Cramorant turned back around with a frown, walking away again. Chansey blinked and closed her book, weirded out at this sight. "Cramorant? Are you serious?"

Cramorant giggled, looking behind her with a wink. "Serious about what? The alliance? Like… it's very serious, OMG!"

"I meant… you wanted an alliance but you're just leaving because I said no?"

"..."

"Cramorant?"

"..."

"Cram-"

"I'm leaving, okie?" Cramorant's expression darkened as she pulled out her phone to start vigorously typing into it. "I mean… you're gonna be against me, right? So like… there's like… no use? See you laters!"

"Cramorant, wa-" Before Chansey could sit up straight, the Flying-type had already left the room, leaving her even more confused than she was before. "... what was that all about?"

"I'm choosing to be more selective with my relationships after what happened with Magearna. I like to think I'm over it, but the events are still pretty fresh in my mind, so I'm just letting myself get swept along with the current called Magcargo since he's the only person on this team I completely trust." Chansey had both of her hands on her lap as she stared at the camera with a concerned expression. "While it might sound stupid to refuse Cramorant's alliance offers, I'd rather not put my game in the hands of a complete wildcard like her. I'm going to play my own game, and try to be more independent."

"..."

Poipole sighed as he stared at Nihilego, who was still lying unconscious on her bed as he kept a bowl of porridge warm, in case she woke up within the next few hours. While the Ultra Beast's condition had gotten better, she was still not fit to host the show, and it didn't take an expert to see that having Staravia and Bellossom host the show for too long was never a great idea.

He calmly put his hand on the jellyfish's forehead to check her temperature, retracting it immediately as his friend stirred in her sleep, eyes fluttering open as she mumbled incoherently to herself. "Nihilego? Are you..?"

"Mmm… Guzzlord… Guzzlord… Xurkitree, you too? I-"

Poipole leaned further back into his chair as the jellyfish continued to mumble shaky words. He was relieved that she was finally talking again, even if it was in her sleep, but the words she said were all too familiar. Xurkitree was a fellow Ultra Beast who had beenin charge of editing for the old seasons… until it happened. Meanwhile, Guzzlord had been Nihilego's former co-host and ex-boyfriend. They were both helping Nihilego out when she hosted her first two seasons, and it hadn't exactly ended well. In fact, Nihilego had only been hosting this season because her contract explicitly mentioned that she was to be on the helm of three Total Pokémon seasons. Thankfully for her, this was supposed to be her last season.

Unfortunately though, things were starting to spiral out of control. Nihilego had gotten sick for unknown reasons, Lopunny and Gallade were both dissenting, while Whimsicott was reporting missing footage. Finally, Poipole was too lacking in confidence to host the season on his own, forcing him to rely on two interns to do the work of hosting and thinking of new challenges, since Marill had her own business to deal with in the middle of this mess.

"What do I do now, Nihilego?" Poipole thought quietly as he hugged himself. "I really want to help you out with this season, but I can't even host without you. I had to get Pheromosa, Staravia and Bellossom to cover for me and… I'm just so drained. I thought this would be fun and easy, but you were right. It's not."

"Poi… pole… is that you?" Poipole's eyes widened as the jellyfish gestured for him to come closer, waving her tentacle weakly, her eyes barely open. Poipole was relieved that Nihilego was finally conscious, but he didn't want her to know what was happening to the show. Poipole was a terrible liar, so he knew trying to hide it wouldn't be an option. "Poi… pole… what day is it?"

"Uhm, it's the middle of July. You were unconscious for over 2 weeks." Poipole answered, twiddling his fingers as the jellyfish quickly sat up, tentacles to her head.

"W-what? That long? I… I need to get back to hosting, I-" Nihilego let out a hacking cough, leaning on the bed frame for support. "I… I can't let this season drag on."

"You need to rest! You're still sick! I'll handle it!"

"If… you're handling it… then why are you… here? Where's… Marill?"

Poipole started sweating nervously, unable to find the right way to explain that he had actually just been looking after the sick Ultra Beast for the past weeks. "Uhm… actually… last round, we…"

"We what?"

"Do you remember the interns we recently hired? Well… two of them are hosting the show while you're sick, since Phe-" Before Poipole could finish, the jellyfish had completely sat up, eyes wide. "N-Nihilego? Are you oka-"

"You let Staravia and Bellossom host?!"

"How did you-"

"Holy shit… you guys really did it?! I thought context clues were ENOUGH to tell you that it's not a good idea…" Poipole's laugh was shaky,, realizing the jellyfish's vitality seemed to be returning faster the moment she figured out what was happening to the show. "Poipole! Don't just laugh… I-" Nihilego groaned as she lied back down, tentacles seizing up. "Ugh… my body still hurts… I can't even… stop… them."

"You need more rest, Nihilego! Let me uhm… handle things for now?"

"Then host, instead of having Staravia and Bellossom do it." Nihilego pointed out, closing her eyes as her consciousness was slowly fading away.

"I-" Before Poipole could answer, the jellyfish had already fallen unconscious. He was a bit relieved since he didn't know how to explain his problem, but it was starting to become a little concerning how she was still unwell. This sickness had dragged on for longer than he expected it to. "Good night, Nihilego."

"EVERYONE! PLEASE HEAD TO THE CLEARING NEAR THE MINESHAFT FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGE!" Staravia's voice blared out of the loudspeakers, informing everyone that Nihilego was still out of commission and that Staravia would remain in the hosting position for a little longer.

"WELCOOME TO YOUR NEXT CHALLENGEEEEE!" Staravia yelled and waved her wings, showing her overflowing enthusiasm. "I hope you're all PUMPED!"

"Just fucking get on with it. We don't have all day." Empoleon growled impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground repeatedly. "Where's Nihilego anyways? It's been three challenges since she was here."

"She's sick!" Staravia explained, before turning to Bellossom with a wide grin. "Or are we supposed to give a fake excuse?"

"I mean… you just gave it away." Bellossom pointed out with her arms folded.

"CRAP! I should've drawn it out… you're right, Bellossom."

"That wasn't what I-" Bellosom began to say before giving up with a sigh, realizing that nothing was going through to her co-worker. "You know what, nevermind."

"Errr, I don't mean to intrude, but what exactly is the challenge?" Gossifleur chimed in.

"YEAH, THAT… well, you'll be going into the cave and-"

"We already did that." Chansey pointed out.

"Really? Why didn't anyone tell me?!"

"Staravia, I gave you a list of previous challenges. Don't tell me you didn't read it." Bellossom shook her head in disappointment as she chastised the bird.

"I did read it! But I will admit, I got so engrossed in the details of some specific challenges that I forgot the other challenges. I mean, I have a better memory than this but when you're trying to memorize ten scripts concurrently, you have to choose what information to commit into memory!" Staravia explained, tapping her forehead knowingly. "Anyways, since cave crawling was already done…" She started looking around the clearing for ideas, before snapping her claws with a smirk. "There's a lot of trees here… so the challenge is uhh… FOREST… CRAWLING!"

"..."

"Excuse me?" Chansey was the first to break the awkward silence brought on by the bird's strange idea. "What is forest crawling? Not to be rude, but I don't think that's a thing."

"I try so many new things, but even I haven't heard of that before!" Magcargo admitted with a bashful expression. "I'm guessing it's like… caving, but with a forest."

"Yeah… what he said!" Staravia said, laughing awkwardly.

"..."

Empoleon face-palmed. "Don't tell me you don't even know what that means."

"I know what it is!"

"Then tell us!"

"It's crawling… in the forest." Staravia explained haphazardly, twiddling her wings together as she tried to avoid making eye contact with the contestants. "You'll be finding… something for us! Mmhm, we are definitely not running out of ideas, whatsoever!"

"What are we finding, anyway? Dedenne asked. "Don't tell me it's another gem like we did during the cavern challenge. These fetch quests are too exhausting for what they're worth."

"Why can't y'all just I dunno… buy these on Ebay or something?" Cramorant added, not really listening to the whole thing, just focused on having a staring contest with her reflection on her dark phone screen.

"Firstly, I'm still workshopping the idea. Secondly, that would ruin the point of the challenge. Thirdly, pay attention?!" Staravia yelled out, rolling her eyes. "Uhhmm… Bellossom, any ideas?"

Bellossom sighed in exasperation before whispering something in Staravia's ear. Staravia perked up upon hearing her idea, turning back to the contestants with a smug grin.

"Okay, I figured it out! You will be searching for video tapes in the forest. We uhm… scattered them around the woods, and there's a total of thirteen tapes that you have to bring back. The team with the most tapes will win immunity, while the losers will see us later for elimination!" As Staravia announced this, Bellossom elbowed her with a frown. "OUCH! How did that hurt when you're made of grass?! FINE, it was BELLOSSOM's idea. I am against stealing ideas anyway."

"That sounds easy enough!" Gossifleur commented cheerily.

"Wait, now. That's all fun and all, but can we grab a tape off the other team before they get to you?" Dedenne asked, cocking a brow.

"Yes! We are promoting the spirit of toxic competition!" Staravia answered. "Okay… maybe not toxic. Don't actually kill each other for them. You'll have the entire day to do this challenge!"

Bellossom nodded, clapping her hands together. "So let's get to it. The challenge begins in 3… 2… 1… GO!"

And with Bellosom's declaration, the game was on. The two teams went in opposite directions to start searching for video tapes. As both teams went out of earshot, Staravia turned to Bellossom, confused.

"Okay, not to sound suspicious considering your idea was good, but… where did you even find the time to hide tapes for the challenge?"

"Oh, I didn't." Bellossom said flatly.

"So they're just searching for NOTHING?!"

"No, Whimsicott lost some of her tapes, so I figured that we might as well kill two birds with one stone here, by making the contestants do the work for her in finding them."

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

Bellossom shrugged at this. "Eh. I just wanted to help Whimsicott out here, okay? It's nothing shady or anything."

"... but what if the tapes are actually being hidden by the thief right now?"

"Then we switch the challenge to a camping challenge where the first one back in the morning wins immunity."

"That's sneaky… but I LOVE IT!"

"It was during the cave challenge when I found out Magearna wasn't being honest with me." Chansey recounted, a thoughtful expression on her face. "So having a similar challenge again… I don't know if it's too soon, but I think I'm over what happened, especially since it wasn't even the real Magearna…"

Chansey shook her head, breathing slowly. "Well… it was a fake, but that doesn't mean my feelings about her weren't real. It just gave me more trust issues, so I guess I'm more than thankful to have Magcargo by my side as a friend."

"So, where exactly are we going?" Dedenne asked as he followed his team, which was currently being led by Empoleon. "Don't tell me you're leading us nowhere! I mean, your team didn't exactly do so great in the cave challenge, don't you think?"

"Stop reminding me. I know what I'm fucking doing." Empoleon snapped, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"Well, it looks like you're-" Dedenne's snide remark was cut off as he bumped into Chansey, who had turned around to frown at Dedenne. "Hey… why did you stop?"

"We're here to do the challenge, not argue… I mean, I've had my differences with Empoleon, but that doesn't mean I fight with him on a daily basis." Chansey explained.

"Whatever." Dedenne scoffed. "It's not like he's that bright."

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" Empoleon growled, stopping in his tracks to turn around, pointing at the electric mouse threateningly.

"I'm just saying you're leading all of us to find the tapes together, when we could just split up and find tapes in smaller groups, allowing us to find them faster." Dedenne explained, crossing his arms.

"We're NOT splitting up!"

"I'm shocked."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

Dedenne rolled his eyes at this, leaning on the side of a nearby tree. "I mean, I didn't think you'd be the type to be a team player. I thought you'd want us all to split up because you're a lo-" Before Dedenne could finish, a beam of water grazed the little mouse's ears. Hydro Pump. "OKAY, what was that for?!"

"Stop talking shit about me, when I haven't fucking did anything. I'm sick of it! I'm sick of you."

"Oh? Interesting… I mean, I wanted to play nice this morning but you decided to just ice me out."

"BECAUSE YOU KEEP TALKING ABOUT BAYLEEF LIKE-" Empoleon countered before face-palming, his face red from anger. "You… you don't just talk about my friend like that. He doesn't deserve it. He's not even in the game anymore…"

"... I can talk how I want to talk. Stop stifling my freedom of expression." Dedenne narrowed his eyes.

"YOU-"

"G-guys… we should really focus on the challenge! I mean I know you guys aren't friends, but can't we just grin and bear it and uhm… fight… after the challenge?" Magcargo suggested bashfully. "Wait, scratch that… don't fight at all. Just ignore each other, because this doesn't need to happen anyways. You don't have to talk to each other if you don't need to, and-"

"FUCK OFF! Stop acting like my problems don't matter just because you're not involved. Dedenne is really pissing me off lately, and the fact that this might not be a big deal to you doesn't change the fact that I hate him! I fucking hate him-"

"You do know I'm still here, right?" Dedenne pointed out, taking a step back.

"Does it look like I care?!"

Dedenne looked unfettered, rolling his eyes with a scoff. "Okay? You act like I'm bad, when you're literally an AWFUL SHIT ASS person yourself! I mean, I am not going to justify myself, but you act like you don't deserve this, despite being a terrible person? I'm just lashing out."

"Lashing… out?" Empoleon clenched his fists, a hollow-eyed expression on his face. "What is that supposed to mean?!"

"G-guys?! Should we really be fighting like this?!" Chansey tried to mediate the argument with no avail. She turned to her other groupmates pleadingly. "Shouldn't we stop them? Cramorant? Klinklang?"

"It would be inefficient to barge into their conversation." Klinklang stated matter-of-factly.

"And also I like… just got my nails done, LOL!" Cramorant said, scrolling through a black screen with a deadpan stare.

"Guys…"

"You know what?! Fuck you… I'm going on my own. I didn't like this team anyways." Empoleon grumbled, stomping away in the direction they just came from. He turned back one last time, glaring at the electric mouse. "Watch your back, kid. You're dead to me."

And soon enough, the penguin was out of sight, leaving the five remaining members of the Shining Shuppet standing in silence, trying to process what just happened.

Dedenne was sweating a bit as he gathered his composure in the confessional, a weak smile on his face. "Okay… that was probably the first time I actually thought Empoleon was intimidating, but he's still not scaring me…! Okay, I'm not Skwovet. He does scare me a bit, but I am not going to back down just because he refused my olive branch."

"BAYLEEF RAAAAAAAAH!" Empoleon was screaming, punching a hole through the side of the confessional in frustration. "I haven't forgotten you Bayleef! I keep telling myself I'm going to win this for you and I WILL! Dedenne is fucking with me though, and I'm really sorry he keeps saying your name in vain- UGH, why am I saying this like he's even dead?!"

He paused, staring at his shaking hands before running his flippers over his head. "I'm not even sure how to feel about Bayleef, honestly. I-I'm not into him, like Dedenne is saying though. I don't like it when people just make random, baseless assumptions about me that aren't fucking true!"

"Brrr… it's cold in here…" Magcargo blinked at the camera before turning to the side and gasping. "Oh… there's a hole! And it's big! I'm guessing Empoleon got mad again and punched a hole in here… I think I can fit through it, actually. Maybe I should try-" Magcargo's confessional is cut short as he continued rambling random nonsense about his size and shape.

"So what is our plan here, team?! I mean, I don't know if it's just me, but I don't want to keep losing challenges!" Oricorio asked as her and the team she was on had situated themselves in another clearing separate from the mines. "I'm usually fine with brute-forcing our way through the challenge but N! O! No! That might not work for us this time, since this forest has so many directions to choose from, so I think it'd be too risky to go without a plan."

"Uhm… maybe we can… follow the other team?" Sableye suggested, twiddling his fingers awkwardly.

"No, that sounds foolish! I rather win this challenge through our own merits instead of piggybacking off the success of the other team!" Gossifleur argued with a childish pout.

Teddiursa scoffed, rolling her eyes as she plopped down onto a fallen log. "I thought you wanted to prove that you're a bad girl? Isn't this an easy way to prove that, then? Or… don't tell me you're getting cold feet, huhu! I mean, it's a real tough sitch, don'tcha think? UwU!"

Gossifleur flushed, looking away immediately. "W-well… I s-suppose you're not wrong there, but… I don't want to follow the other team for an entire challenge. The hide and seek challenge already proved that stealth missions just aren't my forte…"

"I guess you have a point, bestie!" Teddiursa said with a fake grin. "I guess we can ask Floatzel what his idea is then, since he has a lotta experience being shady sus, and I wouldn't be surprised if he knew these woods like the back of his hand, since he's the type to hide a body!"

"..." Floatzel grunted in response, bothered but choosing not to say anything.

"I-I don't think that's true, T-Teddiursa…" Sableye murmured, attempting to defend the weasel.

"Awww, too bad! We all know that Floatzy's not one to tell the truth! Look at how fluffy his tail is! Must be because it's inflated with lies and secrets!"

"I-"

Oricorio sighed before clapping her pom pom wings together in an attempt to get everyone's attention. "Let's not fight when we're a team. Say it with me now! T–E-A-M! Teamwork makes the dream work!"

"That's good and all, but what's our strategy?" Gossifleur asked, raising a hand.

"We split up!" Oricorio answered confidently.

"I-is that a cheerleading strategy or something?" Sableye murmured anxiously. "Or… no?"

"It's not. It's common sense, Sableye."

"So how are we splitting up, then? I mean, the only splits I know are BANANA SPLITS… GET IT?!" Vanilluxe joked before groaning, as nobody reacted favorably to it. "Oh come on! I thought that joke was actually funny…"

"I have an idea! Floatzel, Vanilluxe and Gossifleur can be together since they're all BAD BAD people and Sableye, Oricorio and I can be the other group. #Cuties!" Teddiursa suggested, giggling into her paws.

"Uhm… I'm not bad!" Vanilluxe said.

"You're bad at making jokes!" Teddiursa rolled her eyes.

"I'm practicing!"

"Yeah, right."

"Errr… I don't have any problems with that grouping, but maybe… we can group based on girls and boys? So Van, Sableye and Floatzel go together in one group, while Ori, Teddiursa and I would be together in another group." Gossifleur suggested matter-of-factly.

Teddiursa glared daggers at Floatzel before shrugging. "I don't mind… as long as I'm not on the same group as-"

"I'M PREGNANT!" Vanilluxe yelled out, leaving everyone speechless. Ignoring the stares directed at him, Vanilluxe laughed it off with an awkward smile. "JUST KIDDING! I mean… it would be funny, right! But… UHMM… OKAY! Let's get to it! FIGHT LATER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!"

"... I think I forgot why I'm even mad…" Teddiursa commented, shocked by Vanilluxe's outburst.

"Let's uhm… just get to the challenge…" Oricorio mumbled as she gestured for Teddiursa and Gossifleur to follow her into the woods.

As soon as the three girls were gone, Vanilluxe turned to Floatzel with an exasperated expression. "A-are you two never going to make up!?"

"HEY! It's not like I wanted to fight with her in the first place!" Floatzel said, gritting his teeth. "I didn't ask for this!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry… but it's just… just…" Vanilluxe looked pale, looking away from the Water-type. "Don't you think it's going a little bit too far? I mean, I'd prefer if you two decided to just give each other the COLD shoulder and ice each other out! I'm sick of all the fighting. It's-" Suddenly, to Floatzel's surprise, Vanilluxe leaned on the weasel for support. "Okay, I think I'm feeling a bit light-headed again. We should just get going and do this challenge…"

"Yeah, let's." Floatzel just nodded, awkwardly removing Vanilluxe off his body, despite the ice cream's discomfort. "Uhh… let's do this."

"Floatzel and Teddiursa were the power couple of the season and now, they're fighting. It was okay the first few days, but it's gone hostile to the point that it's giving me a lot of pain… mentally, of course!" Vanilluxe cried, breathing in and out slowly to calm himself down. "Okay… give me a second to catch my breath. This challenge is going to be a LOT of running!"

Then, he paused, blushing in embarrassment. "D-do you think Chansey would come running if I asked for help? Wait, what am I even saying? Does she even know I exist!?"

Oricorio sighed, shaking her head slowly. "I now know why I didn't volunteer to be cheer captain for my school. There's just too much fighting and jealousy on the cheer team that I'd rather just stick to the sidelines… and well, it's not any better in this game. Teddiursa HATES Floatzel, and I don't even know what to say to try and help, and-" She gasped suddenly, pointing to herself. "Wait a minute… why am I even trying to be the leader? Skwovet and Dedenne aren't even here to tell me to lead…"

Back at the trailer, Poipole was just warming another bowl of porridge on his lap when Nihilego's phone started ringing, playing a familiar albeit obnoxious cry as a ringtone. For a second, Poipole's almost shocked that the loud screamy ringtone didn't wake the jellyfish up.

Awkwardly balancing the bowl on his lap, he grabbed the phone off the bedside table before turning it on and holding it up to his ear. "Hello! Poipole speaking-"

A mature and feminine voice interrupted Poipole's introduction. "It's Ga- I mean, Ceruledge. I was just calling to ask if that thing you said in t-" The voice on the other end halted when they realized Nihilego wasn't on the other end. "Wait a minute… who is this? You said you're Poipole? Where's Nihilego?"

"She's sick!"

"What?!"

"Sorry about that!"

"Oh… I'm hanging up t-"

"Wait wait wait! Ceruledge, was it? Who… are you?"

"..."

"Ceruledge?"

"Ah… I'm sorry. I didn't quite hear you. I'd have thought that you would know who I am, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Nihilego doesn't tell you anything."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Poipole cocked a brow, curious at what the other person was talking about. "Can you explain?"

"I'm… sorry. I promised ▇▇▇▇ that I wouldn't tell…"

"!"

"Hm? Are you okay? It sounds as if you recognize the name I just said…"

Poipole started sweating nervously, his eyes shifting to one side. "I can't exactly… deny that. What exactly is your…"

"They're a former friend of mine. We used to keep in touch, but they haven't exactly… talked to me in a long time, so I'm worried. But that's besides the point. Do you know about Ultra Vacation?"

"Nihilego told me a little bit about it…"

"I see… well, I don't want to confuse you by talking about things you won't understand." Ceruledge's voice began to fade away, slowly reducing to a murmur. "On another note, I heard Niko's in the game right now. He's… competing this season, right? Is he doing well?"

"I'm not sure!" Poipole answered, a clueless smile forming on his mouth.

"Oh… and uhm… about that Sableye-"

"What about him?"

"I'm not sure, but he seems… familiar actually. I don't know why, but Niko's stories did- but… wait… do you even know who I'm talking about? I'm talking about the Floatzel."

"Oh!"

"Did you even read the applications?"

"I read Musharna's!"

"I… see. I don't know if you know Sableye, but he's-" But before Ceruledge could continue, the line turned into static, as another voice seemed to be intercepting the conversation; this time, it was a cutesy and high-pitched voice that could put Teddiursa's own to shame.

"Poipoooiiiiii!"

"Ceruledge, is that you? Your voice is different…"

"Nope! It's Poppy!"

"Who?"

"Poppy, silly! I was on the first two seasons! Total Pokémon Ultra Space and Ultra Vacation? Don't you know that?"

"Nihilego hasn't told me much about Season 1 or 2, and I haven't really watched either season anyways…"

"Watch it for me, dude! Anyways, I just wanted to ask if you wouldn't mind if I went to the island? For old times' sake!"

"What do you mean? Did you talk to Nihilego about this? She's sick!" Poipole said in a concerned tone.

"Aww, I'll make sure to get her some soup and get-well gifts! But I'll be going there, no matter what. BAAAAI!" And just like that, Nihilego's phone went silent as the call abruptly ended.

Poipole was left dumbfounded at what had just happened, but before he could process anything, the bowl of porridge on his lap tipped over, accidentally spilling scalding porridge on his lap. "HOT!"

Meanwhile, back at the entrance of the mineshaft, Staravia was starry-eyed as she stared at the entrance, curious for what secrets the caves might be hiding.

"Bellossom, what do you think is down there?! Do you think I could film a psychological drama biopic down there!? I'd call it… 'Cavern Fever', telling the gripping tale of what happens to our psyche when pushed to the edge!" Staravia told her temporary co-host with a grin. "Hm… or is that a little too on-the-nose? We don't want the viewers to feel TOO comfortable!"

"It's just a hole in the ground. Trust me, there's not much to see there." Bellossom said, crossing her arms in disbelief.

Staravia rolled her eyes. "Oh, spoken like someone who doesn't have an active imagination. I mean, I prefer to be grounded in reality too, but I am multifaceted and can perform in fantasy settings once in a while! I also play Dungeons & Dragons with friends, so I do my best to set the mood! You?"

"Me what?"

"Do you play too?"

"No. I have better things to do with my life." Bellossom hummed to herself, feet teetering forward and back playfully. "I mean… not that it's boring or anything, but I don't see how it would be that useful in life."

"Uhm?! What are you saying? Klinklang is calling, and he said he wants his personality back. You know, it's not ideal to have copies of the same character in any theatrical performance!" Staravia pointed out.

"Firstly, I'm nothing like that gear guy… secondly, this isn't a theatrical performance!" Bellossom giggled to herself. "Though, I'm not surprised you think it is~"

"WOW! What a snake you are. I didn't expect you to be this devious when we first met, Bell!"

"Uhm… same~" Bellossom teased, leaning back on a tree.

"Anyways… how long do we wait for the campers to get back here?" Staravia asked, starting to get impatient.

"It hasn't even been an hour-"

"REALLY!? WOW… time is slow on this island. Maybe, there's some strange phenomenon behind that-"

"Or, it just has been thirty minutes." Bellosom stated flatly.

"WOW, does it kill you to be a little bit more dramatic?"

"A bit!""ME TOO!" A third voice chimed in from out of the blue, surprising the two temporary hosts. Staravia looked around frantically for the source before her eyes ended up on a Sunflora emerging from the mines with an innocent smile.

Staravia began slowly backing away until she bumped into Bellossom, who grunted. "W-who are you?!"

"Oh, me? I'm Sunflora! Howdy!" Sunflora said innocently.

"Staravia, we should tell Nih-" Bellossom tried to say, but was quickly interrupted by Staravia, who had her wings clasped together.

"HOWDY! I'm Staravia. I didn't know there was someone stuck in the mines! WOW, can I write a story all about you? I'm sure you suffered from a lot of tragedies down there!"

"STARAVIA-"

"What?"

"Stop talking to him! We don't even know who he is, or why the fuck he came out of the-"

"Golly gee, it hasn't been five minutes, and y'all have been talking shit about me already!" Sunflora chimed in with a creepy grin. "You know I just wanna be your pals now!"

"OKAY, forget giving him the benefit of the doubt. I do not trust him." Bellossom gulped, slowly starting to back away from the approaching sunflower.

"What's wro-" Staravia was about to ask, only to be knocked unconscious by Sunflora's frying pan that he got from… who knows where. Bellossom let out a shrill shriek as the sunflower casually walked past the unconscious bird on the ground.

"STAY BACK! I didn't sign up for this!"

"I just want to be your friend, and you're acting like I'm crazy! So this is all on you!" Sunflora said, preparing to swing the frying pan at the hula dancer. To his frustration however, Bellossom quickly dodged. "OH! So that's how you wanna play? This is all LOVE, you don't have to fight it!"

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bellossom could do nothing but scream as Sunflora chased her into the forest with a frying pan.

A few minutes after that whole debacle, Staravia lifted her face from the ground with a deadpan expression. "Rude, much? That was the worst jumpscare he could've ever tried and done, but I guess not everyone has experience like me! He could've at least waited for sundown before attacking us! Whatever… anyways! Does Bellossom not know how to pretend to be unconscious in situations like this!? Did she not read the training guide?!"

"OMG! I wish my phone was working R-N so I could take a pic of us trekking this forest. #SpookyWoods #ThisPlaceIsHaunted #HavingTheTimeOfMyLifeBeforeMyDeath!" Cramorant giggled as she was tapping on her phone with an elated expression. "Though, I guess the lighting is awks and bad… my best angle needs to be shown to the world and like, that's a blessing, not a curse."

"..." The rest of her team was awkwardly following after her, as she volunteered to take the lead. For the past 10 minutes, she had been yapping aloud about her phone, and what she'd want to do with it if it wasn't broken. Klinklang's face looked red with rage, as he was almost reaching his breaking point, and the only reason he hadn't spoken up to argue with the cormorant was because Magcargo kept passing worried glances at his direction.

"And like, do y'all think I should make a YouTube channel? Because YouTubing was like, my dream job when I was a kid and still is. OMG, I know I'd be famous if I made a channel. Would you sub to my channel, Chansey?"

Chansey blinked, a bit surprised that Cramorant was actually asking her another question after how their conversation went earlier. "M-me? I'm not exactly that updated on YouTube."

"I'm like… totes shocked to hear that, Chan-Chan!" Cramorant remarked cheekily.

"Why?"

"I mean, you are such a HUGE, HUGE fan of Magearna, who is like… an influencer so I thought you'd be one of those psycho fans who devote 80% of their lives to them. Totes giving your vibe, girl."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chansey frowned, clenching a fist.

"I mean… well, you were kind of giving L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L." Cramorant said with a stony-faced smile.

Chansey was not the type of girl who would blow up in the face of scrutiny, but she was tempted to just do it here. Cramorant was getting on her nerves and she HATED it. Yes, that's right. She hated it. Chansey didn't consider herself to be a saint, a title she reserved for people who she thinks deserves it, but at the very least she was not the type to be mad at anything that offends her. She preferred taking the high road and acting collected. CRAMORANT THOUGH!? She wasn't sure if she was usually this obnoxious, or if she had a vendetta against her for not agreeing to their girls' alliance immediately, but she knew from experience in the game that she can't just say nothing.

"I-" But before Chansey could even say anything, Magcargo also chimed in with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

"Take that back."

"Excuse me?" Cramorant looked visibly stunned by Magcargo's sudden remark.

"Chansey isn't a loser! She's really passionate about what she wants in life, and it's not her fault that the Magearna in this game was nothing more than a lying, two-faced [CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED] bitch who wasn't even the real deal!" Magcargo argued.

Cramorant gaped, unsure how to react. "I- I-" She raised her finger, looking ready to interject, but struggled to find the right words. In the end, she just rolled her eyes. "You know what… whatevs, IDC about this convo anyways. Putting it in the trash folder, XOXO."

"I dunno. I was really invested." Dedenne drawled smugly.

"Oh fuck you."

"Hey now. You were talking all over us up to now, so it's not my fault I've been listening in." Dedenne replied.

Cramorant scoffed, twirling her head feathers. "I mean I'm like, soooo good at making conversation topics so like, is it no surprise? I dunno, maybe you all should've tried… engaging in my group DMs instead of seeing my messages. I can see the receipts of y'all reading but not replying, mhm."

"..." Klinklang's left eye twitched at this. OKAY, he can't deal with this shit anymore. "And do you mind translating that whole sentence to English, for us… normal people?"

"Excuse me?!" Cramorant asked, gritting her teeth. She hated Klinklang the most so she was immediately on edge, when he suddenly broke his silence. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean!?"

"It means that your method of speech is getting on my nerves, and at this point I'm assuming you're faking it to get on my nerves, thinking I wouldn't comment on it just because of Magcargo… which by the way, I apologize, Magcargo. But I can't let this slide." Klinklang said flatly.

"WHAT. THE. FUCK!?"

"Klinklang didn't-" Magcargo was flustered as the situation was starting to escalate.

"Nope, he definitely meant it." Dedenne said.

"Every single thing." Klinklang affirmed nonchalantly.

"OKAY wow?! You're all ganging up on me now?! #CramorantIsOverParty!? You all make me sick!"

Chansey, who had slowly slinked into the background from the turmoil of the whole situation, laughed awkwardly as she walked over to Magcargo, who was looking rather stressed by the tension in the air. "Magcargo… we should just leave like Empoleon did. I'm sick of all this arguing… and I don't want to sound mean. but Cramorant honestly deserved this…"

"Huh?! Chansey? We can't just leave without telling the whole team! They'd think we're doing something shady!"

"They're not Floatzel. I'm sure we'll be fine." Chansey assured, folding her arms. "If anything, we need to do this since I'm feeling on edge from all of this shittalking."

"... you know what!? You're right! But WAIT, I want to at least tell Klinklang we're leaving first!" Magcargo said. Chansey sighed, nodding begrudgingly as the lava snail went over to the gear with an awkward smile. "Klinklang, ChanseyandIareleaving, BYE!" He then slowly backed away… which quickly broke into a run for the bushes, following after Chansey, leaving Klinklang with little to no time to react to what Magcargo just told him, as he was more focused on arguing with Cramorant and Dedenne.

"I'm like… beyond pissed right now. Channy is a bore, so IDC about her opinion in the first place but KLINKLANG?! Liek, as a fellow intellectual, I totes respect him but like, he's sooooo annoying when he thinks he's right, but it's sooo funny seeing him act so on top of shit when he has barely grazed the surface on everything that is ME!" Cramorant was gritting her teeth, biting her fingernails in frustration. "Like WTF, stop acting like you can read my mind. I BITE. I am not harmless. He should be afraid of me totes def, AWKS!"

Chansey smiled weakly as she rubbed her arm, looking over to the side. "Magcargo is an angel, as always… but I do wish he could've let me defend myself back there. Well, I guess it didn't matter, when the argument went elsewhere. That was very awkward. I think I miss my old team, ignoring the fake Magearna of course."

Oricorio and Gossifleur exchanged glances as they followed after a humming Teddiursa. For the past few days, the cute little bear's actions went from calculated… to erratic as her cutesy facade was slowly beginning to crack.

"Do you think Teddiursa is doing alright?" Gossifleur asked with a nervous smile. "She hasn't been acting like she used to…"

"I don't know what's going on with Teddiursa… but she has been acting a bit erratic recently." Oricorio remarked, voice lowered to a whisper so Teddiursa wouldn't overhear their conversation.

"She usually plays along with my 'Bad Girl' training, but recently she's been ignoring me…" Gossifleur explained. "And for some reason, she voted for me during the last elimination ceremony."

"I suppose I can't exactly comment on that since we weren't too close, but she hasn't been breaking out in her usual… cute-isms… is that what they're called?" Oricorio added. "And she kind of called me a bitch when we bumped into each other by accident in the mess hall just this morning, too."

Gossifleur sighed, looking down. "I'm guessing she and Floatzel are still fighting with each other, and it doesn't look like it's letting up at all."

"I mean, that's why we split up into groups in the first place." Oricorio reminded her with a sigh. "At the very least this should help us find the tapes faster, but I am worried for her."

"It's not like we can interfere with whatever's happening between those two, but I'm also worried for Sableye, since he's in the middle of all this…" Gossifleur whispered back.

Oricorio paused for a while to think before asking. "Do you think it would be intrusive if I staged an intervention and forced them to talk things through?"

"What!? You can't just do that!" Gossifleur remarked.

"Well, it's worth a try!" Oricorio said cheerily. "That's our motto on the Mauville City State University Cheer Team!"

"I thought your motto was… a Latin thing-"

"It was a figure of speech, Gossifleur! D-O-N-O-T-T-A-K-E-I-T-S-E-R-I-O-U-S-L-Y!" Oricorio said with an awkward grin.

Gossifleur blushed in embarrassment, looking away frantically. "I know you're a cheerleader, but you don't have to spell everything out. Teddiursa might be listening to us right now!"

Ït's whisper cheering." Oricorio assured before she looked forward… eyes widening in realization. "Wait a moment…"

"What's wrong?" Gossifleur asked, almost walking past the bird, but being stopped by the cheerleader's outstretched wing. "Did something happen?"

"It's Teddiursa." Oricorio started.

"We were talking about her… yeah." Gossifleur answered, still confused about Oricorio's sudden worry. "Can you just tel-"

"She's not HERE! M-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Oricorio explained, putting her wings to her face in shame. "We got so distracted talking about her, that we didn't even notice her moving too far ahead of us!"

"Oh no…" Gossifleur gulped, sweating bullets. "You don't think…"

"HAHAHA! Don't worry. At the very least, Teddiursa wasn't too close to us for her to get mad while thinking we just ditched her."

"That's not a good thing!" Gossifleur said.

"You're right. Let's not panic and just uhm… run in the same direction we're going and hope we run back into her?"

"This is a forest! She could've taken another turn elsewhere!" Gossifleur pointed out shakily.

"Then… uhm… Holy Arceus… let's just look for the tapes and hope we run into her again…" Oricorio suggested.

"That sounds like a great plan, because I actually found a tape under your feet and thought that's why you stopped me-" Gossifleur answered with a determined expression.

Oricorio blinked in shock, looking down to find that there was indeed a tape underneath her that she hadn't even noticed. "Wow… I'm really off my game today."

Oricorio leaned her head on the wall with a pout. "I'm usually more observant than this. You. DO NOT! STAND ON TOP OF THE POKEMON PYRAMID if you're distracted, you know? That kind of made me feel a little insecure… oh no, it's giving me war flashbacks to the bee incident again, help!"

"I don't really see Teddiursa as a friend… if anything, she's an acquaintance at most. But, my father taught me to never let my connections or bridges get burnt to nothing." Gossifleur admitted, averting her gaze from the camera. "So I want to know what's wrong with her, so we can fix it before it goes beyond reach."

On the other side of the forest, Sableye shuddered as he walked past Floatzel with a spooked expression. "W-was it me or do I feel like someone's watching us?"

"Trees have eyes!" Vanilluxe pointed out. Noticing Sableye's expression grow darker, he laughed awkwardly. "Joking about that, obviously. I don't know what you're talking about though. It feels like it's just been the three of us here for miles… or less than that?! But I guess I AM s-mile-ing right now- was that too bad? Did that take the wind off your sails?"

"... don't quit your day job." Floatzel said flatly.

"Really?! I thought that joke was funny! Also, this IS my day job!" Vanilluxe stammered.

"Same thing still applies."

"Aw, thank you then! I should never give up on telling my best jokes then! If you two have any suggestions, I'm all ears! I do need more material for my stand-up routine!" Vanilluxe said. "Don't worry. I promise to properly credit you both… and by suggestions, I don't mean… tell me joke ideas you had, just random scenarios that work to set up a good joke! Like, everyone just loves the bar jokes, right?!"

"W-we do?" Sableye said, unsure.

"Sure you do!" Vanilluxe assured.

Sableye blinked, flushed. "I-I… I don't even know what you mean by that…"

Vanilluxe looked shocked at first, but then he remembered Sableye had limited life experiences. "Oh? It's like you know… a Mudsdale went to a bar for a drink. You know why!? 'Cuz their throat was HOARSE! HAHAHAHAHA, get it!? Hoarse!? HORSE! It's a homo… phone." He paused, deadpanning. "I should probably stop explaining my jokes."

"Uhm… I'm not too… experienced with comedy, yeah. I agree with you there, h-heh…" Sableye affirmed with a sheepish smile.

"I ain't a clock, so stop clocking me! But yeah… any suggestions?!" Vanilluxe asked.

"Wait… right now? W-while we're doing a challenge? I don't think that sounds… good, h-h-hehe…" Sableye pointed out.

"We've been walking for ages. We might as well pass the time with some small talk!" Vanilluxe explained.

Floatzel crossed his arms, walking to the front of the group to turn to face them with a frown. "What if we miss a tape? We don't want to lose the challenge again. I'm tired of losing."

"H-hey, that sounds like something Empoleon wou-" Sableye commented, only to stop mid-sentence as Floatzel shot him a glare. "S-sorry…"

Floatzel sighed, face-palming. "It's okay… I'm not mad, but look at it this way… if we lose again, who's the likeliest to be voted off?"

Sableye and Vanilluxe shared an anxious expression of not wanting to expose their alliance with Gossifeur. Sableye smiled weakly, raising a finger. "O-Oricorio..?"

"Yeah no, that's not going to happen. I know people want Teddiursa gone, that's why she almost went home last elimination. I know she hates me, but I don't want her to get out of the game." Floatzel explained.

Vanilluxe averted his gaze. "Even if you're willing to look past the fact that she hates you, I won't lie that your fighting with Teddiursa is making me really, REALLY uncomfortable as well."

"I'm sorry… I just want to try and… fix things before it's… too late." Floatzel explained, with a grim expression. "Justice never sleeps… and neither do I… probably because I'm sleep-deprived right now, but-"

"W-well… I'll do my best to convince Teddiursa!" Sableye said, suddenly determined.

"Sableye… you don't have to do that for me, when I've been a huge cunt to you up until now." Floatzel said, feeling touched yet uncomfortable at the same time.

"Didn't y-you say that we're friends? Friends help each other a lot all the time!" Sableye pointed out, smiling innocently. Floatzel felt pain emanating in his chest, starting to feel worse because of how he treated Sableye.

"I see… well… again, I'm sorry for not trusting you-"

Sableye shook his head, flashing a thumbs-up. "Y-you don't have to say sorry… h-hehehe-... I wouldn't trust me either."

"Sableye…"

Vanilluxe laughed nervously. "Uhm?! Floatzel, I know I'm not close to you, but UHM!? I do also want to help in fixing your relationship? I don't know what I'd do if Chansey hated me too."

Sableye and Floatzel turned to him with a surprised expression. Vanilluxe tilted his head, confused by their shock. "W-what?! Did I say anything wrong? I didn't even tell a 'bad' joke this time!"

"You and Chansey?!" Floatzel pointed out. "I have the right to be suspicious when I haven't seen you together. Don't tell me you were secretly spying on her!"

"W-what!? I'm not a creep!" Vanilluxe assured. "I mean… suuure, I followed her sometimes but I uhm… get cold feet immediately and-"

"I think you're digging your own hole here, Vanilluxe. You're lucky I am not searching for any hidden villains… or you'd be on my radar right now." Floatzel commented flatly.

"W-what!? I swear I didn't do it to be shady!"

"Y-you did break the mood…" Sableye muttered beneath his breath.

Vanilluxe's eyes turned to spirals as he started sputtering out random words, pieced together as he tried to form coherent sentences. "No no! You… this isn't… no! What I meant was… I'm not stalking her or anything! I like… no, I have a cru- wait no, she's my friend!"

"Well, I suppose that explains things." Floatzel said. "Chansey doesn't talk about you much when we were on the same team."

"She didn't?!" Vanilluxe looked rather disappointed by the weasel's words. "O-okay, let's drop this topic now! This is so awkward. I-I'd rather get the cold shoulder again."

Floatzel sighed, laughing a bit. "Yeah… I think the moment has passed and we've been standing here for too long. Let's go."

Sableye and Vanilluxe both nodded as they followed Floatzel on the path they've been on before they stopped to talk. Sableye was doing his best to match Floatzel's pace, while Vanilluxe slowly resided towards the back of the group

"You know what… I kind of missed talking to people and not immediately acting suspicious of them for something they might have never done in the first place." Floatzel admitted, relaxing on the back of the confessional with a serene expression. "I didn't have much of a read on Vanilluxe, even through watching him from afar but-"

He paused, blushing in embarrassment as he looked away. "O-okay… that makes me sound like a hypocrite for grilling him about Chansey but I guess I just wanted to pivot topics immediately since talking to Sableye without screaming at his face still feels really weird and foreign to me right now… but I don't hate it at least."

"Floatzel and I… we have a-a well… weird relationship since it's still really different to talk to him… w-without having Teddiursa in the middle of things. T-though… it feels familiar and makes me think… wow, I know how to talk to people all along." Sableye said with a thoughtful expression. "I guess that's just another thing I thought I forgot… h-heh…" His awkward laugh ended with a long sigh as he looked to the side, eyes glazed over.

Vanilluxe's face was red, trying to avoid the camera. "O-okay… I d-didn't want them to find out I h-have a crush on Chansey, b-but I thought that I could do my best to relate to the conversation so I wasn't left out and well… they are probably laughing at that more than my jokes! I guess I should get more used to it, since I'm the biggest joke I could ever make, ha… ha…"

"Fuck Dedenne… fuck my team… fuck this game." Empoleon kept muttering to himself as he trudged down the forest path in frustration. At this point, he wasn't even trying to do the challenge, as his thoughts were clouded with anger towards Dedenne for trying to play on his feelings.

"UGGGGGGH!" Empoleon suddenly punched a tree, eyes red from crying, though Empoleon would never admit that he had been doing so. "Why the fuck is this happening to me?! I'm… STRONG! I'm POWERFUL… yet… they… Dedenne, he…"

"RHWHQHQHQHQHQHQHQ" Empoleon continued punching the tree to vent his frustrations. He didn't even like Bayleef in that way or anything! So why was Dedenne trying to gaslight him into thinking he had feelings for him in the first place!? He's not the type to be in denial, either! He was a straightforward type of Pokemon. That was his fucking brand.

"I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!" Empoleon yelled out, trying to imagine that the tree was Dedenne as he continued to punch the tree.

Throwing one last punch, his fist softened as he fell to his knees. He… was tired. "I… I…" Empoleon was a loud and vocal person, but for some reason he found himself struggling to get the words in his mind out, as they began to overflow in his head. "Bayleef… I'm sorry… t-that's not what I meant. I-"

The penguin put both hands to his face in shock at what he just thought to himself. "No shit… NO FUCKING SHIT… I-"

He fell on his back as he spread his hands out, looking too stunned to even speak. It was starting to sink in. He had a specific reason to mentor Bayleef specifically after all. He could've mentored Pikachu, or Sableye… but he chose Bayleef.

"So why did you choose him anyways? Does it matter? I mean, he's just holding you back…" Another voice. The penguin looked up to find his own self looking down on him with a grim expression… It appeared this other self, this alter-ego was VERY angry with him.

"That kid was holding you back. You could've beast-moded this whole thing. but instead you got distracted by unimportant things that slowed you down. You don't even care enough to do this challenge. Honestly, you deserve to get voted off. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet, but I guess weaklings like you never run out of excuses, huh?"

"Who the fuck are you..?" Empoleon managed to sputter out, between his teeth.

"I'm you! My name is Empoleon!"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I'm Empoleon!"

The other Empoleon scoffed, putting both hands to his hips condescendingly. "Oh really? You're just a little boy. Not exactly intimidating… Prinplup."

Empoleon felt an ongoing dizziness strike his head. The world, spinning around… and why did he feel smaller for some reason..? He looked at his hands… realizing just how small they were all of a sudden. Somehow, he had devolved back into a Prinplup. "W-what did you do to me?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, bro."

"I-"

"Don't try to fucking talk back at me. You know I'm stronger than you, right?" 'Empoleon' said threateningly.

'Prinplup' wanted to say something but his mouth refused to move. He was frozen in place, struggling to find the words. Clearly, this must've just been a hallucination, and that he was just seeing things, but it felt so real… So real that his worries and fears that he assumed had left him after evolving were starting to flood back in his body, beginning to overflow. "I-..."

"That's right, kid! That's the way I like it. I mean, you are fucking loud, y'know? It's better if you know when and how to shut up."

"Okay…"

"Good boy. Now, about that Bayleef kid..? Were you two..?"

"We're… friends." The word 'friends' rolled off surprisingly nicely on the smaller penguin's tongue.

"I'm surprised." 'Empoleon' commented. "I mean… you know he's WAAAY out of your league, right? He's a Grass-type. He could whip you up real good and beat you senseless. But even though you do deserve it, I'm a nice guy so I don't want that to happen to you."

"B… but I'm you." 'Prinplup' pointed out with a dauntless expression.

'Empoleon''s eyes started bugging out at this remark as his head started tilting in a way that is usually impossible. "wHaT iS ThAt SuPPOsED to MeAN?! KnOW yOuR PLacE, wEaKLing!" Letting out a loud battle cry, 'Prinplup' fell to the ground, landing unconscious as his head hit a rock with a loud thud.

Meanwhile hiding in the bushes, Marill stared at what was happening with a listless expression. Standing next to Marill was Gourgeist, who turned to her with a hum. "So, was that fun?!"

"What did you do..?"

"Oh! Well, you know… got into his head a bit, and made images pop up! Isn't that what you wanted?" Gourgeist pointed out with a creepy expression.

"... I thought you were joking when you said you were our worst nightmare. I didn't think you could actually make people's internal trauma appear from thin air."

"Oh no, no. I'm not a total mind reader! But thanks!" Gourgeist said cheekily.

"Why are you so weird?"

"I mean, you're the one who decided to follow me when I left you alone!" Gourgeist pointed out. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you're into me or something!"

Marill's face turned red. "W-what is that supposed to mean?! I was just suspicious of you! I mean, you still haven't explained to me why you've decided to stay on this island!"

"Oh, that's not important! Let's just watch Empoleon~"

"But he's unconscious-"

"Shhhh, that's the fun part!"

"EX-CUSE ME?!"

"And THAT is why I fucking hate it when you justact like you're sooo better than me, thinking you can just leave me on read!" Cramorant blustered out, glaring at Klinklang.

"I do not see any reason to pay attention to whatever drivel you utter." Klinklang retorted nonchalantly.

Cramorant clenched her wing, ready to swing it at the gear before stopping herself, knowing that punching a Steel-type with her bare fists would result in her getting hurt from it more. "Wow, LMFAO! Look at this mess! You are the scum of the earth, and your ratio is shit."

"I don't care." Klinklang replied.

"Excuse you!? For a robot, you are like soooo IDGAF about social media that it's cray cray cuz that's legit unhinged behavior. Like, if you can't even use a phone, then you might as well be living in like… the dark ages, LOL sorrynotsorry OMFG!"

"I'd rather live in the dark ages than live around whatever you're trying to do." Klinklang answered.

"Oh you're such a huge mega cunt, who just has to RATIONALIZE everything, even when you're getting a big fat L!" Cramorant spat back, folding her wings. "I mean, Magcargo would agree that you're way too uptight."

"He wouldn't." Klinklang said flatly.

"Oh? You're speaking for him!? Magcargo, what do YOU think?" Cramorant turned towards the direction Magcargo would've been at… only to find that the lava snail wasn't there. "Magcargo?"

Klinklang sighed at this, shaking his head. "It seems that he slipped away while we were distracted… so I suppose it is your fault for picking a fight in the first place."

"Excuse you!? Magcargo is missing, and you're blaming ME?! You are really a terri-bad person, dude!" Cramorant said. "LMFAO, I hope you get ratio'd real hard on Tweeter…"

"I don't even have a Tweeter."

"Are you serious?!"

In the middle of this, Dedenne looked fairly bored. He was intrigued by their argument at first… but it had immediately devolved to petty chaos, to the point that he had gotten exhausted listening to the both of them fight, and it looked like they weren't going to be making any progress if they kept throwing cheap potshots at each other. Clearing his throat, he spoke up. "Guys, Chansey's missing too. I'm guessing her and Magcargo left together because they were tired of your boring argument, and honestly… I can see why. We have a whole challenge to do. We found nothing yet because we're just standing around, talking shit towards each other!"

Klinklang and Cramorant exchanged looks. While they didn't want to admit it, Dedenne was right. They were too focused on arguing, that they hadn't even begun working on the challenge, and the other team now had a pretty sizable headstart on them.

"W-what are the chances Empy found 10 tapes while we were fighting?" Cramorant brought up, smiling weakly.

"Unlikely. Let's just go." Dedenne suggested. The other two Pokemon both just nodded as they followed after Dedenne to continue on with the challenge.

"It's not like I WANTED to fight with Klingy over there, but like he just triggers me OMFG… gives me war flashbacks to every dumb shit he said about me, and LOL I forgive but I do not forget, so uhm… IDK if I'm ever gonna get over this, but whatevs, we have a challenge to win!" Cramorant commented, whose calm facade was easily shattered by her frustrated button mashing on her phone.

Klinklang sat in the confessional with a deadpan expression. "I'm honestly shocked at how much emotion Cramorant can inspire in me. She's just so… illogical with how she acts that I can't help but criticize her every move. I suppose I should call for a temporary truce with her, since I am not foolish enough to let a feud ruin my entire game here.

"Cramorant, I would just like to apologize for my behavior towards you." Klinklang said simply as they followed after Dedenne along the path. His voice was quiet, to make sure that Dedenne wouldn't overhear their conversation.

Cramorant blinked, a bit shocked at how abrupt this was, given that they were literally just fighting before Dedenne snapped them out of it. "Uhm? WDYM? I mean, this is kind of… sudden."

"I'm just saying that you are indeed… correct." Klinklang was hesitant as he said the last word in his sentence. Even if it was just a lie, he had found it difficult to say that. "I was acting quite… how do you say it in your way of speaking? Mental? Yes… let's go with that. I was acting quite mental and insensitive towards your… hobbies, in a way that was uncalled for."

"Oh! Uhm… THX? I appreciate it, IG LMFAO…" Cramorant said, averting her gaze.

"I really mean it." Klinklang continued. "I just want you to know that… I don't want to vote you off, and I hope this apology can get that across."

"DW, I'm not that emotional, YKWIM? I wasn't targeting you in the first place!"

Klinklang looked mildly shocked at that, having expected Cramorant to be volatile and just focus on eliminating the person she hated the most. "Oh! Well… I appreciate that."

"Don't get me wrong! I absolutely talk shit about you behind your back but liek, that's because I hate you and not because I want you gone~!" Cramorant chirped in a sing-songy tone.

"..." Klinklang was silent as Cramorant walked past him. "What is that supposed to mean?!"

"So how many tapes have you picked up, Gossifleur?" Oricorio asked her companion as they trudged through bushes, searching for the missing tapes after discovering that most of the ones they'd found were strangely buried beneath bushes.

"Five!" Gossifleur said casually. "It was really lucky that we found 4 buried in the same place, huh?"

"Lucky… yes." Oricorio murmured, being reminded of Gourgeist's ominous words during the variety show challenge. It had seemed like too much of a coincidence that these tapes were hidden in the same place, unless Staravia was just an idiot… but, judging from the way the two temporary hosts had been acting, it seemed as if the challenge was completely unplanned for, so Oricorio could only wonder if this was what Gourgeist meant with 'someone acting suspicious at camp'. "Gossifleur, do you think something is going on?"

"With what?" Gossifleur queried, cocking a brow.

"With the show? I mean, we found 4 tapes in the same place and we don't even know what these tapes are all about-"

"It's a 'Stop It, Slender' reference!" Gossifleur answered.

"O-oh? So… what is… that?"

"It's like a game! But instead of notes, we're finding tapes!" Gossifleur explained before grunting as she struggled to make it past the next bush in front of her. "By the way, this bush feels… hard."

"Okay? I'll take your word for it." Oricorio awkwardly swaddled up behind the flower… stopping in place when Gossifleur began to call out to her.

"O-Oricorio… I can't move!"

Oricorio arched her brow at this. "What do you mean?" She looked over the flower's shoulder to discover that her lower body was wrapped up with vines. "W-wait?! How did you get trapp-" Before she could react, vines emerged from the ground, trapping Oricorio in place. "AAAH! W-where did THAT come from?!"

"Oh no, someone's going to eat us alive!" Gossifleur cried out, trying to hide the tears falling from her eyes, to no avail. "WAAAAAAH! DADDY, SAVE ME!"

"G-Gossifleur, calm down! The person who trapped us might hear us, and start ea-"

"Eat us!? NOOOO! I'm too young!"

"Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that." Oricorio laughed nervously to herself. "You know what!? Maybe I can sing a cheer to lighten the mood!"

"Didn't y-you just tell me to stay quiet?!"

"Oh…"

"Are you two trapped, too?" A voice uttered from out of nowhere.

Oricorio blinked, expression turning more worried. "D-did you say something, Gossifleur? That was you… right?"

"No! I'm busy trying to break free, but I only know shitty grass moves!" Gossilfeur began taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down… and surprisingly enough, it seemed to have been working.

"Y-you're sitting on me!" The mysterious voice stammered, prompting Gossifleur to look down… to find a Flapple lying beneath her, limbs and body tied to the ground with thicker, dark green vines. "H-hi!"

"..."

"Gossifleur, you sat on top of a person and you didn't notice…" Oricorio muttered.

"W-what!? I was focused on the challenge!"

"It's a person!"

"I'm a bad girl?!"

"Just say you didn't notice her!"

"I'm a REALLY bad girl!"

"G-girls?! Girls?! P-please… help me?!" Flappl's breaths grew weak, her face pale from Gossifleur sitting on her chest, making it harder for her to breathe.

"I wish I could… but…" Gossifleur's eyes darted over to the thorny restraints all over her body. "It hurts, by the way!" She smiled innocuously, prompting Flapple to groan

"I'd use a Fury Cutter on these vines if I could… but these vines are so thick!" Flapple growled.

"How long were you even… stuck here?" Oricorio asked.

"Two years!" Flapple said with a straight face.

Oricorio's eyes widened. "T-two years?! Are you okay?!"

"Oh, I'm fine. I've been nibbling on these vines! They're tasty!"

"Is it just me, or is this woman a few screws loose from being trapped for so long…" Gossifleur whispered to Oricorio with a concerned expression.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I've only been here for three months!" Flapple corrected with a weak smile, before glaring at the two. "Why are you both whispering and acting like I can't hear you though? That's very rude!"

"S-sorry about that. So, what happened?" Gossifleur asked.

"Oh! I was the one behind casting!"

Gossifleur and Oricorio looked at each other thoughtfully before Gossifleur looked back down on the Flapple. "Oookay? So, did someone trap you down here, or..?"

"It was a psychotic Sunflora!" Flapple explained, trying to clench her wing, but failing. "He caught me from behind, and then buried me underneath these bushes, expecting me to die."

"Can someone tell me who this Sunflora is again?" Oricorio looked confused.

"I don't know either, Oricorio. But aren't Sunflora usually docile?" Gossifleur pointed out.

Flapple whimpered loudly, glaring at the duo. "D-docile!? He's NOTHING but menacing. He was laughing the entire time as he trapped me down here! I'm lucky I was able to eat the vines that were covering my mouth… that was a long three months…"

"Err… at the very least, you're not alone anymore! We can help each other escape these vines together!" Oricorio encouraged with a weak smile.

"Oricorio, I don't know if you know this, but that doesn't change the fact that we're stuck here too, and if nobody found Flapple for three months, who knows how long it'd take for anyone else to find us! We could be stuck here for another three months… or even longer!" Gossifleur pointed out.

"S-H-I-T… you're right!"

"Why did you spell that out?" Flapple asked, deadpanning.

"S-sorry… it's a force of habit. I do it under stressful situations. It calms down my nerves!"

"What do we even do now then?!" Gossifleur asked.

"Scream, obviously! The bushes keep muffling my voice, so my voice can't be heard from up there… but you girls have your necks and heads above the bushes, so people might be able to hear you!" Flapple suggested.

Oricorio and Gossifleur both gawked at Flapple's surprisingly mundane suggestion… but for the sake of escaping, they started screaming at the top of their lungs.

"SAVE US SAVE US SAVE US PLEASE!"

Teddiursa hummed to herself as she followed a gravel path that she had been on for quite some time now. Surely, she thought in her head, it would lead her somewhere. Teddiursa had long since noticed Gossifleur and Oricorio's disappearance, but it hadn't bothered her too much. She can't be a complete cutie if she doesn't have some private time to herself, after all! It also gave her more time to think about… what happened.

"UWU! This forest is so thicc… not as thicc as my cutie patootie booty, but it's thick nevertheless! Where the heck are the tapes though?!"

She was starting to lose hope, passing by a rock she swore she saw a couple times before. "Didn't I pass by that already?! Don't tell me I'm going in complete circles here! Not even a cute shape like a heart, just a circle… my cuteness license is gonna be revoked after this!"

After a while, Teddiursa stumbled across a dilapidated cabin at the end of the road. To Teddiursa, that had made the whole walk worth it. After all, every path should have a set destination, or what would be the whole point of taking it in the first place? Though… she did wish she ended up somewhere more aesthetically pleasing, rather than a dingy old cabin that looked like it'd collapse if a strong gust of wind blew on it.

"OMG! It's a cabin! Floatzel, what-" Teddiursa shouted before remembering that Floatzel wasn't here. "... oh! Uhm… w-what about you, Sab-" Silence, as she also realized that Sableye wasn't here either, thanks to them splitting up. Even Oricorio and Gossifleur weren't here to break the silence. Teddiursa was alone, and it was safe to say that it was beginning to bother her a lot.

"Oh! I'm alone! I hope nobody hurts a cutie like me!" Teddiursa said, giggling as she walked over to the porch of the cabin. She placed a paw on the door to knock, but ended up screaming instead, as a Zubat flew out the open window next to her. "AAAAAH!" Teddiursa fell to her knees, whimpering. "O-okay… this cabin might be HAUNTED! Maybe I should just go go go, or wait for Gossi and Ori to find me… maybe even Flo… Sableye!"

Teddiursa stood up and began pacing back and forth on the porch, biting her nails nervously. "W-what am I saying!? Why am I even talking to myself, OWO?!"

"..." Teddiursa was too distracted, talking to herself and trying to calm herself down that she hadn't even noticed Carracosta walking down the path that she just took, his expression unreadable as he walked up onto the porch. "..." The turtle looked surprised to discover that he wasn't alone. "... you." His deep and husky voice broke Teddiursa from her anxious stupor.

"B-bwuh!? Sableye, is that you!? I know your voice is husky, but I didn't think it'd get THAT d-" Teddiursa looking up to find Carracosta, staring at her with his arms folded. "Wait… who're you, again?"

"... Carracosta… I'm an intern."

"Paid or unpaid?"

"..."

"Oh! Uhmmmmmm! IDK you, since Gallade doesn't talk about you!" Teddiursa admitted, starting to calm down. She was honestly more relieved than anything to not be alone anymore. She extended a hand towards the turtle, smiling cutely. "I'm T-" Her introduction is ultimately cut off, as Carracosta ignores her handshake, walking past her, twisting the doorknob open to go inside the abandoned cabin calmly. "WHAT!? Oh wow… rude, much?! I didn't look this cute to be ignored!"

Teddiursa wasn't going to back down after that cold rejection… besides, she had a feeling there were tapes inside the cabin, so without another thought, she followed Carracosta inside.

Unsurprisingly, the interior was just as dilapidated as it was outside. Open gaps on the floorboards, the ceiling marred with arrays of cobwebs, and some Zubats and Golbats sleeping on the ceiling as well. In the other end of the cabin were bookshelves filled with dusty books. Other than that however, the whole place had been empty. Teddiursa knew all about the minimalist lifestyle, but this cabin was just… empty. It didn't feel like anyone even lived there, with how few things were left behind.

Carracosta had situated himself near the bookshelves, examining them all individually, grabbing each book and reading their title before placing them back, disappointed. While it didn't look like there were any tapes hidden in this cabin (or that's what Teddiursa hoped since she was NOT searching underneath the floorboards!), she was curious about the books. Grabbing an untouched book in the middle row of the bookshelf, she read its title aloud.

"Experiment Logs 302…" Teddiursa muttered. She looked up, tilting her face to the side. "Is this a sci-fi novel or something!? OMG… is that why you're here, Carracosta? You wanted to read some 'experiment logs'?"

"... no." Carracosta answered simply, continuing to sift through the bookshelves.

"What even are these?" Teddiursa monologued as she flipped the book open and began reading the first page. "'The subject is a Dragonite named '[REDACTED]'. It was quite a blessing that we managed to acquire such a specimen, considering how protected he was by his family… but nevertheless, we pressed on.' Huh… that's a weird book introduction." Teddiursa looked up from her book to ask Carracosta about the contents, but the turtle had been reading through his own book now. It looked like he had found what he was looking for.

The silence didn't last however, as Carracosta started shaking. He dropped his book on the ground, his eyes wide like saucers, prompting Teddiursa not to say anything… "What is going on with him?" The turtle shook his head as he calmed down almost immediately, grabbing the fallen book from the ground and placing it back on the shelter. The fossil looked over to Teddiursa with a nonchalant expression, as if he hadn't been shaking just a moment ago.

"Are you done?"

"What were you reading?" Teddiursa asked, arching a brow.

"... Total Pokémon history." Carracosta answered.

Teddiursa deadpanned at this. That was most definitely a lie. "Are you serious?" She walked over to grab the book Carracosta was reading, and then looked over the title. "Total Pokémon Ultra Vacation Cast Informa- wait a minute…"

Carracosta looked to the side. "What?"

"Why were you reading this? And what the fwuck is a Total Pokémon Ultra Vacation?!"

"... oh, you didn't know? It's-" But before Carracosta could answer, the door went ajar with a loud thud, surprising the duo. They both looked to the open door to find Bellossom, tied up and gagged with duct tape. "... Bellossom?"

The flower could do nothing but let out muffled cries, as a familiar face emerged over her crumpled body. "Hello… friends!"

Chansey and Magcargo were noticeably farther away from the rest of the contestants, as they were closer to the main campsite right now, suspecting that the tapes were hidden around there. To them, it felt too obvious not to count out the possibility of them being there yet.

"Are we there yet!?" Magcargo grumbled. "It feels like we've been walking for AGES! Okay, that sounded hyperbolic, but wow this forest is huge!"

"I think we're close. I can see the cabins and mess hall from here already." Chansey assured her companion. "Just a bit more."

"Okie dokie, Chansey! Though, I can burn down these bushes, so we don't have to waddle through them! I mean, it'd definitely make our trip go faster!" Magcargo tried to suggest before immediately mumbling to himself. "Wait… that'd cause a forest fire so ignore what I just said, Chansey. I think we should just keep movi-" Magcargo's statement was cut short as he bumped into Chansey's arm. "What's wrong?"

The nurse gestured over to the slope that was hidden underneath some of the bushes, leading down to the main camp. "There's a slope here… we don't want to fall off and injure ourselves… we should find a safer way down."

"I didn't know there was a mountain near camp!" Magcargo remarked.

"Well, it's not much of a mountain… more of a small hill with a steep edge." Chansey explained. "It's not necessarily that large, compared to like… the mountain where the mine caves are."

"Oh! So, we can jump and land on our feet, right? Like a Meowth! I always knew I was slicker than I let on… but then again, maybe my shell would crack on impact and-"

"Let's just circle back to a safer way down." Chansey pointed out.

"That sounds like a good enough idea to me, Chansey!"

Sableye looked anxious while tapping Floatzel's shoulder repeatedly. They had been walking for quite some time now, but hadn't had much success with finding any tapes. Teddiursa's many attempts to strike up conversation with Floatzel to break the awkwardness between them had taught Sableye that he could do the same thing to break the silence settling in between the three of them.

"What's wrong, Sableye?" Floatzel finally turned his head towards the gremlin, arching a brow. "Are you hungry or something? Is there any problem?"

"N-nothing! I… I just want to uhm… chat? That's what friends do, right? Heh-ehehe… I'm new to this, sorry." Sableye mumbled.

"It's alright. I guess we've been walking for quite some time, so a little small talk to lighten the mood should be fine." Floatzel replied.

Sableye's face lit up at this. "Really? O-okay then! Uhm… so… F-Floatzel… w-when did you start uhm… wanting to become a hero of justice?"

"... oh that? Well… I suppose it's been a while…" Floatzel muttered under his breath.

"Oh yeah! I remember that! Dedenne kept complaining about you trying to hound him a lot during the first few days here!" Vanilluxe chimed in, catching up to the duo.

"There's nothing serious about it. There's a lot of hidden evil-doers and liars in this world, waiting to be unraveled… And if nobody else was going to do it, then it was up to me to do it!" Floatzel explained, eyes shifting to the side.

"Oh! I guess that makes you the hear-o, huh? Trying to play things by ear, checking out who the baddies are, right?" Vanilluxe remarked.

"Are you seriously making another joke, Vanilluxe?"

"H-hey! It's my thing! What do you want me to do!? Play dead? I mean, I guess my body's cold enough for that… but I'm more of a stand-up type of guy, Floatzel!" Vanilluxe defended himself with an awkward grin.

Floatzel's eyes narrowed in the ice cream's direction before he looked away. "... anyways… what were we talking about? Oh, about the whole justice thing… it's just… something I do, because I want to DEFEAT! THE! EVIL!" Sableye and Vanilluxe's eyes both widened at Floatzel's sudden outburst. The weasel had been soft-spoken for so long that they hadn't expected him to break out in his old justice spiel again. "RAAAAAH! VILLAINS, BEWARE! JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!"

"I'm just-ice!" Vanilluxe joked, laughing awkwardly.

"..."

"W-what!? Too obvious?" Vanilluxe stammered.

"Like I said… don't quit your day job." Floatzel said flatly, to which Vanilluxe started blubbering around awkward apologies as the weasel turned to face Sableye again. "Anyways… did that answer your question?"

"Oh, yes! E-err… well… why were you suspicious of me m-most of the time? I-is it because of my face or something?" Sableye queried.

"... I'm still sorry about that. But if it makes you feel better, I was just as suspicious of Magcargo, Pikachu, Dedenne, Gossifleur AND Poipole too." Floatzel assured.

"Wait… Poipole?! AND Gossifleur?! Why them? I mean, I'd be suspicious of everyone else in that line-up, but those two? Where are the clues, because I have no clue!" Vanilluxe piped up.

"Well, Gossifleur was far too nice that it felt more suspicious than anything, and I mean… look at what happened to Magearna. It's not like I was unjustified with that skepticism." Floatzel pointed out, starting to get annoyed by Vanilluxe's constant interruptions.

"I guess so!"

"..."

Sableye cleared his throat to break the awkwardness that was forming. "Errr… anyways uhm… where do you think the tapes are?"

"... I don't know. I'm just assuming they're all in the woods, since Staravia probably wouldn't just hide it anywhere else without giving us a heads-up." Floatzel looked relieved to see that the conversation had switched to a topic away from himself, especially considering Vanilluxe's random cut-ins.

"Yeah, we should look at the trees carefully because there's a big picture, and ignoring the-"

"Was that supposed to be an elaborate pun, Vanilluxe?" Floatzel asked, face-palming.

"W-"

"You know what… nevermind. Let's get moving." Floatzel waved for his two companions to start following him again. "The other team is probably ahead of us by now, since we're busy talking more instead of doing the challenge…"

Sableye just nodded as he began following after the Water-type, while Vanilluxe's expression fell after he was cut off for seemingly no reason.

Floatzel looked at the camera, visibly exhausted from the awkward conversation initiated by Sableye's question. His hand went down his face with a long sigh. "I know I said I wasn't going to be on Sableye's case, but he should ask better questions that'd make me less suspicious of his intent!"

He sighed again, this time dragging the sigh out a little longer as he stared hollow-eyed into the camera. "Okay… maybe I should just stop thinking about Teddiursa and what happened back then, but that's easier said than done."

"I'll be honest, I may be an ICE cream but getting the COLD shoulder from Floatzel kind of hurt. I mean, I know my jokes aren't golden, but did he really have to move away from me because of them!?" Vanilluxe asked with a frown. "... or wait… maybe my jokes really are that bad?! Oh wow, I definitely need more material then!"

Sableye scratched the top of his head with a thoughtful, yet awkward expression. "So… uhm… well, I didn't want Floatzel to feel too uncomfortable by asking too much, but h-hehe… I think I did end up asking too much from him. I don't want to… make him t-turn back on everything he said to me b-because of me saying the wrong uhm… stuff, so I'll have to be more careful with what I say… T-Teddiursa would be much better at this type of stuff…" He paused, bowing his head. "O-okay… speaking of Teddiursa, maybe I should also make sure not to mention her around F-Floatzel either…"

"Ugh… what… what even was that bullshit?" Empoleon grunted as he struggled to sit up after regaining consciousness. He punched a hole in the dirt as his face fell back down. "Mdndnwhhwsbfurhehwq!" Growling, he lifted his face with every ounce of strength he could muster.

Managing to pick himself up, he hobbled back in the direction he was going before he got distracted. "What… what the fuck was that shit?! Was I seeing things, or did Mage- Mew come back?!"

His thoughts filled with dread as he recalled the 'hallucinations' he experienced a while ago. He didn't want to think too much about it, even when it felt so real, but it made his chest hurt for some reason, and no amount of clarity could make him realize his own faults and hidden truths.

"No… that was just… that was just nothing. Heh, why should I even think about it when-"

"HELP US! HELP US! SAVE US PLEAAAAASE!" Empoleon's ears perked up at the sounds of distress. From the volume, it seemed as if it was nearby. Empoleon scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"It sounds like my team needs me."

Empoleon clenched both fists as he started running towards the yelling. Keyword was started, as he wasn't exactly breaking much distance with how his leg was weak from the weight of his body falling onto it after he went unconscious.

Fortunately for him, the voices weren't going anywhere, as it turned out that the source of the cries for help had been from Oricorio and Gossifleur, who somehow got into a worse position than they were before, due to their attempts to escape getting them even more stuck.

"SAVE US, WAAAAAH! A MICROWEEDLE WENT INTO MY NOSE!" Gossifleur whimpered, her eyes red from crying. "SAVE US, SAVE-"

"Gossifleur, Empoleon's here…" Oricorio murmured, causing her yelling to cease as she looked to the side awkwardly.

The rich girl's eyes glistened at this, sighing in relief. "R-really? We're saved! Flapple, you'll be alright after all!"

"..."

"Flapple?" Gossifleur looked down to see that Flapple had fainted from Gossifleur's constant squirming, eyes replaced with spirals. "O-oh dear! I guess I can count this as my first assault as a bad girl…"

Gossifleur shook her head, staring at Empoleon hopefully. "Empoleon, was it? I'm so glad you're here. As you can see, we're-" Gossifleur's words got cut off, as Empoleon started walking into the bushes. "W-wait! There's some vine traps here! You might get trapped too-"

Empoleon continued to ignore her warnings as he proceeded to walk to where the two girls were trapped.

"Gossifleur, I think we should keep screaming for help." Oricorio suggested.

"What do you mean, Oricorio? Empoleon is right there!" Gossifleur pointed out.

"H-he's not going to help us!" Oricorio stammered, screaming as the penguin got closer. "SAVE US, SAVE US!"

"Heh, you're gonna regret double-teaming me with that annoying ice cream…" Empoleon said threateningly, puffing up his cheeks.

"You're still angry about that?!" Oricorio squawked as Empoleon aimed an Ice Beam in her direction. "Aah-... Ah?" To her surprise, she wasn't hit by the freezing beam at all. "Okay, what did you do?"

"That was more than two weeks ago! You're still not over that?! You literally beat Vanilluxe up during the first challenge!" Oricorio pointed out.

"I-" Empoleon opened his mouth to make a rebuttal before gritting his teeth. "Does it look like I care!? It's not like I got him evacuated!"

"If you put it that way, I didn't do that either. All I did was bruise your fragile E-G-O!" Oricorio retorted, her face red with anger.

Gossifleur laughed nervously. "Oricorio? Stop arguing with Empoleon. He might be our only ticket to getting out of…" She looked around, sighing. "... this sticky situation. If not us… a-at least get Flapple into a better position? I think she's suffocating right now…"

"Oh wow! Fuck you. Don't tell me you told Dedenne to mess with me! I knew you were a bitch, but I didn't think you'd stoop so low!" Empoleon growled.

"Excuse me?! I DIDN'T TELL ANYONE TO DO ANYTHING! You're just letting things get into your head and making weird justifications to do bad things. I don't know what's going on between you and Dedenne, but you aren't exactly making yourself look like the good guy by being petty over something that wasn't personal!" Oricorio snapped. "If anything, I'd expect you to be GLAD that we actually fought back."

"..." Empoleon's eyes narrowed before he looked to the side awkwardly. "... what are you playing at..?"

"I mean, you're an athlete too, right? I know you have that competitive spirit, and wouldn't stand for people giving up and doing nothing. Do you really want me and Vanilluxe to let ourselves get beat up? That wouldn't make you look very strong. If anything, it'd make you look WEAK, because you can only beat someone while they're not doing anything! To be honest, I think it's impressive that you stood your ground against two people, and-"

"Shut the fuck up. Just get to the point. I can't stand your self-righteous back-talking! It's annoying!" Empoleon replied.

Oricorio gawked, her eyes widening. "WHAT!? OKAY, you are ridiculous. I knew you weren't gonna save us, but I didn't think you'd be THIS unreasonable! Stop being so stubborn, Empoleon!"

"You're unreasonable!"

"Okay, that's your counter-argument. I really don't want to fight, but you're not making it easy for the both of us. I just want us to get along… but you're still getting on my case for no reason."

"Oh wow… fuck you."

"Okay? I didn't do anything. I just pointed things out, but you're getting mad at me for telling the truth?"

"FIRSTLY… shut the FUCK UP! You're not dropping truth bombs here. You're just getting on my nerves, and it's giving me a massive headache. SECONDLY… why are you talking like you know me?! We barely even met. Even Dedenne-" Empoleon paused, biting his flippers anxiously. "UUGGGGGH!"

"Empoleon, c-can you at least free us? THEN we'll let you beat us u-" Gossifleur tried to reason, only for Empoleon to immediately cut her off.

"Fuck no. I don't trust either of you not to just team up on me. If anything, it'd be better if you're both trapped here, so you can't help your team win!"

"W-what!? N-no!" Gossifleur stammered, trying to reach out as the penguin turned around to leave. "Don't go! This is getting really… tight!" Unfortunately for her, Empoleon ran off in a flash, not even bothering to look behind him. "Empoleon… okay… wow, just wow."

"..."

"SO, does anyone want to talk about my secret garden?!" Gossifleur and Oricorio both gasped in shock as Flapple casually opened her eyes, smiling as if nothing happened.

"OKAY, you chose NOW to wake up?" Oricorio said, face-palming.

"I… what was I even thinking there!? That Dedenne was actually RIGHT!? NO, fuck NO! I'm not into anyone, and Oricorio is fucking annoying! She acts like she knows what I'm doing but no, she's just a bitch." Empoleon grumbled, holding his head beneath his flippers. "N-no… n-no…" His voice cracked as he looked up, eyes actually wide as saucers, as if they were about to shatter.

"I-I-I-I…"

Gossifleur sat in the confessional with an annoyed look on her face. "I don't know what Empoleon's problem is, but he is getting on my nerves. Is he not able to separate his emotions from the game? I just don't get it, honestly."

"Wow, so this is the confessional?" Flapple looked around, eyes wide… before she stared at the camera, dead-faced. "Okay, the fact that you make confessionals in the bathroom is actually pretty disgusting, but hey, I guess these shows do have a brand, right?"

Oricorio let out a long sigh, leaning on the side of the wall. "Empoleon is someone I haven't… talked to much. And that's surprising, since I've been making a serious effort to talk to everyone. He just… refuses to open up, and that's saying something when I'm on the same team as Sableye, Floatzel and Teddiursa, who all prefer to wall me off whenever I try to talk to them. Don't get me wrong, I hate him, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know him better, to get to know why he's like this…"

Back at the dilapidated cabin, Teddiursa, Carracosta and Bellossom were all sitting around a circle, backs turned against each other as their hands and bodies were tied together with a thick rope vine. By this point, Bellossom had regained consciousness, looking very pissed.

"Do you think that flower is gonna come back?" Teddiursa asked, pouting.

"Hopefully. But for now… all we can do is wait." Carracosta muttered.

"..."

"OKAY, this is boring. Can't we at least make some small talk so I don't die from boredom!?" Teddiursa whimpered, teary-eyed. "A cutie like me just can't be stifled for this long, Carracosta! I have needs… NEEDS!"

"Are you serious?" Carracosta responded.

"Obvi obvi! I mean, my hands are gonna get a lotta rope burn, and I feel soooo bored from all this silence that I'm gonna die. And that's not even mentioning the cobwebs and the smelly smell I've been getting in this place!" Teddiursa explained.

"... fine. What do we even talk about?" Carracosta asked.

"I dunno! I want to know more about you. What made you wanna be an intern instead of competing?" Teddiursa asked.

"It's nothing complicated. I just wanted more work experience." Carracosta answered matter-of-factly.

"Okie! Where are you from? What's your name?!"

"Why are you asking so many questions, Teddiursa?"

"GASP… you actually said my name without me introducing myself? I'm impressed by your forwardness!" Teddiursa remarked, leaning into the turtle's tough body.

"You didn't answer my question." Carracosta mumbled.

"Like I said, I want to get to know you better. I mean, it's not every day I get to see an intern or staff worker in this game! And to be honest, it's a welcome breath of fresh air, after getting used to the same ole faces these past few days!" Teddiursa explained, smiling from ear to ear.

"I guess you have a point there."

"ALSO, what were you doing here in the first place?"

"What?"

"I mean, shouldn't you be doing intern things? But instead, you're snooping in some abandoned cabin for some reason."

"I wanted to take a walk." Carracosta said in the flattest tone he could muster.

"In an abandoned cabin?"

"It's better once you get used to it."

"So you've been here before?"

Carracosta blinked in shock, before looking away in shame. "Okay… I really gave that away, huh? It's complicated."

"OKAY OKAY. I won't pry too much since we just met, but hey hey, at least you have a new friend in me, Carracosta! Hmm… that is a bit long. Want a nickname-"

"No, Carracosta is fine." Carracosta said.

"Not even Carry or Costy?"

"If I wanted a nickname, those would be my last picks. I'd rather that you call me by my actual name over that."

"So what's your real name?"

"..."

"Oop! Not me trying to breach your privacy again! Bu-"

Bellossom interrupted the conversation with a long groan as she looked up and rolled her eyes before shouting. "OKAY, shut the FUCK UP! I'm literally sitting here trying to plan my escape, but you two are noisy and ruining my train of thought. Here's a tip: Go to sleep!"

Carracosta blinked, a bit confused. "Bellossom, is anything w-"

"We've been kidnapped by a psychotic flower! I'm NOT okay here!" Bellossom said with an exasperated sigh.

"Sowwy, but these vines are tough to break, so I'm just chilling and not letting the stress take over~ You can't look this cute when you get mad!" Teddiursa pouted.

"Okay?! OKAY?! UGGGGGHHHHH…"

"Bellossom, you're not usually like this." Carracosta commented.

"That's because I'm not usually kidnapped or in danger, thank you very much!" Bellossom snarked. "Call it fight or flight, but I for one don't want to be here when Sunflora comes back with… I don't know, a machete?"

"UWU, I'm not Maggy but think of the bright side! Let's just gossip and chat for now, and hope someone gets here. I'm sure Sableye, Empoleon, Oricorio, Gossifleur, Cramorant, Magcargo, Chansey or maybe even Dedenne can find and save us!" Teddiursa pointed out.

"OKAY!? Then should we start screaming for help then? FLOATZEL, MAGCARGO, EMPOLEON, STARAVIA, GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!" Bellossom started yelling from the bottom of her lungs.

"Floatzel isn't gonna come, so don't bother counting on him to help us, B'lossom!" Teddiursa muttered. "Also if you start screaming, Sunflora might hear us and come back!"

"... you're right. It's unlike me to act so rashly like this. Usually, I have enough time to prepare… Not this time, though. I can't predict being kidnapped." Bellossom muttered.

"Who is this Sunflora person, anyways?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we need to know. He's just a harmful person." Carracosta remarked.

Bellossom mumbled. "I don't know either, but I do know that he came out of the mine caves and incapacitated Staravia… though seeing as she's not here right now, maybe she escaped and called for help to save us."

"We're in a place that nobody else knows about. They'll never find us." Carracosta said with a grim expression.

"What is that supposed to mean? Shouldn't an abandoned cabin be an obvious landmark to look for?" Bellossom refuted.

"Mhm! And there was a path leading here too!" Teddiursa pointed out.

"... well… they can't find this place." Carracosta breathed out, closing his eyes.

"Why? I mean, doesn't this cabin have Total Pokémon Ultra Victorian or something here? Isn't that like… related to the show? So, surely Nihilego has to know about this place!" Teddiursa added.

Bellossom arched a brow at this. "Total Pokémon Ultra Victorian..?"

"She means Total Pokémon Ultra Vacation… there were cast information folders in this cabin." Carracosta revealed with a sigh. "Unfortunately though… Nihilego wasn't the one who even wrote down this information in the first place."

"What is that supposed to mean? That someone just… wrote shit down about contestants from a past season, kept them in a book, and then stored said books in this cabin nobody knows about?!" Teddiursa asked.

"I don't know either, but I had my suspicions after Musharna reached out to me before the g-"

"MUSHARNA reached out to you!? Excuse me?! What is that supposed to mean?!"

Carracosta sighed, looking to the side. "I don't know what I can say… but well… Musharna told me I'd find answers on this island, so I'm sorry about lying to you when I said I was only an intern for work experience-"

"You're a bad liar then, if you're just going to tell the truth not even ten minutes later." Bellossom remarked, deadpanning.

"I'm sorry, but I felt like you two needed to know… not to mention, I don't think she even told me enough. That Musharna kid… she's sharp. I mean… she told me about Magearna's whole business before I even got hired."

"WAIT! Musharna knew about Mewgearna BEFORE the game!? How is that even possible!? And if you knew a lot behind the scenes… why were you doing NOTHING? I didn't even see you much, even-" Teddiursa pointed out, shocked by Carracosta's abrupt reveals.

"... I wish I could say I knew, but I don't know much. I haven't been around much because Musharna's been telling me to lay low for some reason. I don't know why, but…"

"Why would Musharna even contact a rando like you? No offense, Carracosta."

"It's fine… I don't know either, but I found out about this place a while ago… I think it was after the Goo challenge. Marill told me to look for Whimsicott's missing footage, and I ended up here."

Teddiursa tilted her head to the side. "So… TLDR, you don't know much of anything?"

"That's one way to put things, but I won't deny that everything I know… is pretty much surface level." Carracosta admitted.

"That's good and all, but you haven't explained why we can't reveal this place to Nihilego! She's been sick for a while, and I don't think she even… knows much about this island-" Bellossom started.

"Oh… she definitely knows something about this island. I know that much." Carracosta interrupted, expression darkening. "After all… it…"

"Okay okay, so you have something to hide too? Why is everyone hiding something? Floatzel won't even-" Teddiursa commented, looking away as a blush overtook her complexion. "... e-errrr… ignore that, but uhmm… I'm honestly confused by your story, Carracosta. I don't completely buy it. I mean, it's not anyone's saying you're wrong or anything, but Musharna?! I don't think she even knew that much… right?"

"Well she's out of the game, so it's not like you can ask her." Bellossom remarked.

"OKAY, wooow. You're really trying to make me regret voting her off, huh?"

"I dunno if I trust Carracosta, but he does remind me of-" Teddiursa commented before covering her mouth. "NOBODY. Anyways, I think it's weally, weally convenient that he's saying a lot about this Ultra Vitch shit without sharing anything about what really happened. Maybe I should read more on that book he was reading from, but WELPERS, I think he was serious when he said Nihilego can't find out about it."

"It's so weird to see the camp so empty…" Magcargo commented as he followed Chansey around, searching for any possible places that a tape could be hiding at. "But I mean… at least it means everyone else is doing the challenge in the woods, huh? So it'd be great if it turned out that there were tapes really hidden here!"

Chansey nodded. "Mhm. But we can cross out the cabins, since there was no opportunity for a tape to be hidden there… unless they planned these challenges weeks in advance, but I don't think that's likely."

"What about the infirmary? I haven't been there yet, and I wanna check it out!" Magcargo suggested.

"Let's not get too hasty yet, Magcargo. I think you might be right, but I'm interested in checking the mess hall first, since Indeedee typically won't let us go into the kitchen. Perhaps there might be tapes hidden in there."

"Oh! You have a point! If Indeedee's gone right now, it would be the perfect opportunity to check inside!" The lava snail affirmed, padding behind Chansey to the mess hall.

Chansey peered through the windows first, checking if there was anyone inside before walking in, satisfied that the mess hall was empty.

"Wow, the mess hall is empty after all! Indeedee must be busy right now." Magcargo gawked as he followed after the nurse, eyes glimmering with curiosity.

Chansey turned around, gesturing to her mouth. "Shhhh… Just in case, Indeedee could be hiding somewhere, so we need to be as discreet as possible. He doesn't like it when anyone tries to go into his kitchen…"

"I wonder why… I mean, I've been in a kitchen before. It's nothing special." Magcargo tilted to his side as Chansey went over to the counter, checking what was hiding underneath. "UNLESS… he's hiding something, but Indeedee feels like someone who has his heart on his sleeves. Not very good at hiding secrets, if you ask me!"

"Well, he's still secretive in his own way. The last thing I want is for both of us to get in trouble." Chansey explained, sighing as she rifled through the cabinet space beneath the counter, having no success so far. "Anyways… it doesn't look like there's anything here. I think we have to head into the kitchen…"

"It's not under any of the tables either!" Magcargo added, crawling away from the last table he's done a quick search of. "Or any of the chairs… Maybe it's beneath the floorboards! But then again, I feel like that's a bit of a reach. They can't make this challenge too hard, right?"

"..."

"Magcargo, you do get that the challenge wasn't supposed to be easy in the first place, right? Staravia didn't exactly leave very many clues on where to search, and seeing as this is a large island… it could take a while. I'm worried we might have to actually scour the entire island before we can find a single tape…" Chansey sighed in exasperation.

"We can only hope, right?"

"We can!" Chansey agreed with a nod before face-palming. "But that doesn't change the fact that we might have a long day in front of us… anyways… we should check the kitchen now."

"Okie dokie!" Magcargo remarked as the nurse went over to the kitchen. As the nurse's hand approached the doorknob, the door swung open, revealing Indeedee standing on the other side of the door, arms folded.

"What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be doing the challenge?" Indeedee queried, arching a brow skeptically.

"We are! I mean, we thought there'd be tapes hidden in your kitchen-" Magcargo started before Indeedee cut him off, stabbing the door frame with a knife, grunting.

"And why would there be tapes hidden in my kitchen? What kind of challenge even is this?" Indeedee looked exhausted.

"The challenge is finding video tapes around the island." Chansey explained. "And I suspected that there would be some hidden at camp."

"Chansey, was it? I'm sorry to say, but I still don't know what you're talking about. What video tapes exactly?"

"Staravia scattered them around the island… or so they say." Chansey added, looking to the side bashfully.

"... hmm… so that explains these, then." Indeedee muttered as he gestured for the duo to follow him into the kitchen.

The camp chef walked over to two pots on his stove, taking the lid off one of the pots, revealing five tapes that had been submerged in hot water. The casing had started to melt, and some of the tapes had looked worse for wear. "Here."

Chansey gasped as she stared at the contents. "T… They're melted. Did you accidentally cook them, Indeedee?"

"I didn't. I just found them like this when I woke up this morning." Indeedee explained, face-palming. "It was… after I had a conversation with Klinklang. I went into the kitchen to make breakfast, and then I found out someone had been boiling these tapes to death… without my permission."

"Maybe they were hungry!" Magcargo suggested.

"If they were hungry, they could've eaten my goulash!" Indeedee pointed out, waving his hands around frantically.

"..."

"I love goulash!" Magcargo chirped. "You should cook more for dinner, Indeedee!"

"Glad to see someone enjoys my food for once." Indeedee said with a small smile.

Chansey nodded, looking away with an embarrassed expression. "Y-yes… so… good." She turned back, twiddling her fingers awkwardly. "Do you mind if we grab these tapes? Would they count for the challenge?"

"I hope so!" Magcargo commented.

Indeedee shrugged nonchalantly. "You do you. It's not like I needed them in the first place."

"Thank you, Indeedee!" Chansey reached into the pot before pausing midway through. "Wait… this is probably still hot." She swerved to the lava snail, smiling weakly. "Magcargo… can you carry this on your shell? And Indeedee… can we borrow some tongs or something to grab these?"

"Chansey and I are like the dream team here! She's the thinker, and I'm… the hot things holder! OKAY, I'm selling myself short there, but I don't know what I'd do without her honestly. She's probably my bestest friend in this game!" Magcargo beamed at the camera, grinning from ear to ear. "She's so reliable, and I'm glad we are helping each other more after Magearna got out!"

He then looked to the side, whistling. "THOUGH, Klinklang is also my best friend in the game… but hey, I'm not gonna play favorites. They're both really great people to be with… even if Klingy can be a bit too overlogical when he doesn't need to. I'm the type of guy to not overthink things, you know? Hmmm… now that I say that, Pikachu was my opposite, right? Now I wish we got the chance to meet!"

"This challenge has been pretty related on our end… it kind of shocks me to say that." Chansey admitted with a relieved expression. "After what happened during the challenge in the mines, I was worried I'd be in a stressful situation again, but Indeedee was more accommodating than I expected. He's a little… prickly, but he means well!"

"Gallade, Gallade!" Staravia yelled as she landed on top of a cabin porch, where the interns had been staying in said cabin for the duration of the competition. It had been located on the other side of the island, opposite to the main campground. "Are you there?!"

Silence. Staravia looked around frantically, hoping someone would hear her. Sunflora was out amok and was up to something, while Nihilego and Poipole were unavailable. Since the contestants were busy with the challenge, the only people she could ask for help were… Whimsicott, Carracosta, Gallade, Lopunny and Indeedee. "OBVIOUSLY, Carracosta, Indeedee and Lopunny are out of the question… they wouldn't take me seriously if I told them that a killer Sunflora was after Bellossom!"

She started knocking on the cabin door repeatedly, hoping someone would answer the door, even if it was to tell her to stop. "HELLO HELLO! Anyone there?! Is everyone just gone today?!"

The bird groaned as she got nothing but silence. It looked like she wouldn't be able to rely on anyone for help. "OKAY, do you really want me to ask for help from the contestants?!" She cleared

her throat, putting on a dignified Galarian accent. "Expecting me to stoop down to the level of the uncivilized. Why… that is simply uncouth, I must say!"

"..."

"TCH! There is nothing worse than getting such a performance ignored!" Staravia scoffed, turning around and pretending to walk away before looking back at the door expectantly. No response. The bird deadpanned. "Oh! Playing hard to get? I mean, I know you're obsessed, but-"

"What are you doing?" A voice chimed in from behind her. Staravia turned around to find Gallade holding a bag of groceries. "Shouldn't you be hosting the show?"

"Gallade! I'm glad you're here!" Staravia said, putting a wing to her chest in relief. "Err… where did you even get groceries?"

"I bought them at the grocery store." Gallade explained matter-of-factly."We're in the middle of nowhere!"

"... yes, and?"

Staravia deadpanned, crossing her wings. "I'm all for suspending disbelief, but this is just ridiculous."

Gallade laughed, putting a hand to his hip. "Okay, I'll admit it. I might've taken a boat ride to the Loser's Land to get things for Teddiursa."

"Teddiursa!? Oh… OH! Don't tell me you're still..?"

"If Teddiursa is the sunshine, then I am a sprout that needs her warm rays to grow!" Gallade explained, tone changing to that of enthusiasm as he pumped a fist. "For the deaf, she is sound. For the blind, she is the sight. For the-"

"I get it, I get it. You are obsessed with Teddiursa!" Staravia remarked, put-off by the Fighting-type's intense emotions. While she knew that she had a tendency to exaggerate whatever she was feeling… this was a whole nother level. It was REAL. "ANYWAYS… Bellossom is in trouble, and I need your help."

"Okay?"

"..." Staravia face-palmed, before faking a distressed expression. "TEDDIURSA is in danger too." Gallade dropped everything he was holding to put his hand on his head.

"OKAY. Let's go!"

Not even wanting to waste time quipping at Gallade's skewed priorities, Staravia gestured for Gallade to follow her to Teddiursa's location. A few moments after both people had left, Poipole exited the cabin with a sigh.

"Where did ever-" He paused as he noticed the dropped groceries on the ground. "This is a waste of eggs!"

"UHHM… Klinklang, why are we heading back? Liek, we haven't even found a single tape, O-M-G! We are living in a flop city right now…" Cramorant asked as she and her group were returning back to the mines, having just completed a thorough search around the section of the woods they happened to reside in earlier.

"Staravia and Bellossom both sounded very rushed when explaining this challenge, so they probably didn't hide the tapes very well. In fact, I'm willing to say that they couldn't have gotten very far when trying to hide these tapes. Not to mention the fact that they'd totally be the type of people to make this whole challenge a waste by hiding shit at the place where we started." Dedenne explained.

"That uhmm… makes a bit of sense, i-g…" Cramorant muttered, looking to the side awkwardly.

"We should hurry up then, before the other team gets the same idea." Klinklang urged… to little effect, given Klinklang's tone remained the same with the cold and nonchalant intonation.

"I mean… would they?" Cramorant queried, exhausted from the several hours of walking they had been doing. "It's been what, two hours since we started searching for these stupid tapes? And uhmm… we found zilch. Nada. Z-E-R-O!"

"I can't deny your point, but I believe that it's a risk that we'll just have to take." Klinklang explained, floating ahead of the group as Cramorant sighed in defeat, begrudgingly paddling behind the gear, not really interested in arguing again.

Chansey and Magcargo exited the mess hall in high spirits. While their tapes were barely recognizable, they had managed to salvage them into five distinguishable clumps that Chansey stored in her pouch after letting them cool in Indeedee's freezer.

"Okay, that's five points in the bag! We should continue searching for any other possible hiding spots at camp!" Chansey exclaimed, feeling reinvigorated by their recent success.

"... do you think Lopunny might have tapes in the infirmary?" Magcargo suggested eagerly.

"Well… I'm not sure if anyone can hide anything there, since I've never seen Lopunny leave his post… ever." Chansey commented.

"Maybe he lives there!" Magcargo added.

"Well, he does still need to eat. Then in that case, I suppose someone might be bringing in food for him, so he can maintain his position… since I have genuinely never seen him outside." Chansey recalled.

"What if he's a vampire!? Like Gossifleur!"

Chansey face-palmed, rolling her eyes playfully. "Gossifleur? She's all sunshine. How can she be a vampire?"

"I mean, she likes taking long walks at night, but never the day!" Magcargo chirped. "So I thought that maybe… she's a VAMPIRE!"

"Magcargo, you shouldn't judge people based on when they're more active. Perhaps Gossifleur prefers to walk at night because it can be very hot in the morning, and well… I don't have to teach you about sunburns now, do I?" Chansey pointed out, to Magcargo's immediate understanding.

"That makes sense! But we should still ask Lopunny if anyone tried to hide something in the infirmary. Don't leave any stone unturned, as the old ones say… oh wait, we still say that now, huh?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Chansey nodded as she followed Magcargo in the direction of the infirmary.

"... uhm… Floatzel… why were you collecting toenails?" Sableye queried.

"Why are you asking!? That's embarrassing!" Floatzel muttered as they took a turn at another fork in the road. "W-we shouldn't be distracted… we might miss a tape!"

"It's a NAIL-biting experience!" Vanilluxe joked.

Floatzel turned to glare at the ice cream, clenching a fist. "Don't joke about that. It's embarrassing."

"W-what!? I was just lighting the mood! We've been walking and walking, only now stopping to talk. But you always brush me off, only talking to Sableye."

"... what?" Floatzel crossed his arms.

"I'm j-just saying that you're talking too much to Sableye, while acting like I'm not even here!" Vanilluxe explained.

"..."

"U-uhm-" Sableye was about to chime in before seeing Floatzel walk past him, grabbing Vanilluxe. "Floatzel?"

"Don't worry Sableye." Floatzel said, as he started walking with Vanilluxe towards the bushes.

Sableye blinked as he was left alone, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "W-what?"

In the middle of the bushes, Vanilluxe looked bewildered by Floatzel suddenly dragging him.

"What was that about?!" Vanilluxe questioned.

"I just wanted to… clear things up."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I want to ask about that part where you mentioned me ignoring you. Did I really do that?"

"I mean, I'm used to people hating my jokes, but you just… sort of ignore me… I didn't think it was that bad at first, but when it's just the three of us… it's…"

Floatzel looked shocked by Vanilluxe's words, crossing his arms. "What are you even trying to say, Vanilluxe?"

"U-Uhm... well, not to be rude or anything... but I feel like the third wheel somehow... like, not just because of the COLD shoulder treatment... I uhm... didn't exp-"

"Just spit it out. You're sounding like Sableye right now..."

"Oh, okay. Well, I didn't think you two were close. I thought you hated him, but now I feel like you hate me more-"

"I don't hate you."

"Thank y-"

"We never talked much, so there's no reason for me to hate you... but I am highly suspicious of you for bringing this up."

Vanilluxe's eyes widened, looking to the side awkwardly. "Well, I wanted to start an icebreaker so we could talk while looking for the tapes, but you two talked to each other as if I wasn't there, so I ended up feeling a bit left out... NOT that I have any problem with that! It's just-"

"It's fine. It's fine. I get it. I feel like that sometimes too." Floatzel assured with a frown. "I didn't want you to feel that way. I guess I did need a partner."

"Partner? W-where is this going!? Are you going to cream me!?"

"..."

"Oh! I didn't think that joke worked. Forget I even said that, and let's just go back to Sableye already."

"... let's."

Silence sets in once more, as the two turned back to where they came from, immediately noticing that something was wrong.

"... where did Sableye go?" Floatzel asked, squinting.

"I don't know, maybe he got lost since his eyes are gems! Or… maybe not? I'm not sure how that works."

"He was just following us until now, how can he be lost? I'm sorry, but even though he may be shady as hell, he's not the type to just get lo- What am I even saying!? He got lost in the cave challenge..."

"Oh, so this happened before? Maybe he-" Vanilluxe was about to say before gasping. "I-I-I-"

"Vanilluxe? Maybe he what?"

"S-S-S-S-. I can see the sun-"

Floatzel rolled his eyes. "Now's not the time to be making jokes. It's morning. Of course the sun is up."

"SUNFLORA!" Vanilluxe yelled out as he began floating away in the other direction… only to be completely smothered by a barrage of vines. Floatzel could do nothing but gawk, as he watched Vanilluxe get slowly dragged away on the ground.

"Vanilluxe!?" Floatzel exclaimed, more vigilant after that sudden occurrence… but surprisingly, it was peaceful. It was almost as if Vanilluxe hadn't just gotten captured. "..." The weasel folded his arms, deadpanning. "What did he mean by Sunflora?! And where did those vines even came fr-" He paused, shuddering. "Wait a FUCKING moment… it's reminding me of Gourgeist all over again. Don't tell me she's back?!"

The weasel immediately shook his head at the thought of the pumpkin still being on the island. "She quit. There's no way."

Gourgeist just stared at the camera with a faux-confused expression as she shrugged.

A quick montage of everything happening concurrently is shot in quick succession.

"... sooo, what's everyone's favorite game?!" Teddiursa asked with a bored expression. She had been stuck in the same position for over an hour now, and her whole body was starting to become sore. To distract herself from the pain and the fact that nothing was happening, Teddiursa had begun asking mundane questions to the other two people in the room

"UGGGH!" Bellossom groaned, looking down in annoyance.

"MMDMRENWNWNNQNQNQQN!" Vanilluxe could do nothing but scream as he continued to get dragged along.

"What if we shake?! Maybe that'll get us free?" Gossifleur suggested, which was not at all well-received, as Flapple growled from underneath her.

"YOU KEEP MOVING AROUND A LOT AND MAKING IT HARD FOR ME TO BREATHE-"

Poipole had returned back to his shared trailer with Nihilego after making a detour to see if anyone knew where Marill had gone. The phone calls he received earlier felt a little bit too ominous for him to feel comfortable… but for Nihilego's sake, he had to remain calm.

He sat back down on the chair next to the side of the jellyfish's bed. Poipole was shocked to see that Nihilego was actually awake, reading a book. Noticing the bee's return, Nihilego looked up from what she was reading to shoot Poipole a confused expression.

"Where did you go?"

"You know… out?"

"... you're a horrible liar, you know that right?"

"Maybe…"

"What do you want?" Lopunny asked as he looked up from his magazine with a nonchalant expression. "You got any bruises? Any fevers… or whatever?"

Chansey and Magcargo exchanged glances before Chansey put on an awkward smile, rubbing her hands together. "Err… I'd like to ask if you saw anyone enter this building? We're looking for somet-"

"This is the infirmary. Not the lost and found, kids." Lopunny drawled, rolling his eyes before casually blowing bubblegum.

"Well, we figured someone might've tried to hide… I don't know… video tapes here?" Chansey clarified, a bit unsure of how to explain it herself. She sighed, putting her hands in front of her before patting them on her lap. "It's for the challenge, basically."

"Mmhm! It's a race to find the most tapes, and so far we found five!" Magcargo chimed in.

"Mmhm… mkay, okay. I'll go check." Lopunny said… before turning around, walking in place before turning back around. "Yep, there's no tapes in here."

"..."

"Wow, I didn't know you're psychic!" Magcargo exclaimed, eyes glistening. "You should teach me how to see things without actually looking for it-"

"Magcargo… Lopunny clearly doesn't want to cooperate. It's honestly reminding me a LOT of Unfezant, and that's weird to say when it's been about a month since we last saw her…" Chansey whispered to the lava snail, who nodded in agreement.

"She's the grouch, right? We didn't talk much, but she had a very grouchy thing, right? I don't remember."

"You have her down-pat pretty much." Chansey said, smirking.

Lopunny cocked a brow at this quiet exchange, folding his hands as he placed his magazine on his desk. "Okay, are you two are talking shit about me now?"

"No-"

"Yep, we were!" Magcargo cut in, smiling nicely as Chansey face-palmed in the background. Lopunny's eyes narrowed at this.

"Oh… kay? Well, you're lucky I don't care enough about either of you to value your opinion. Just leave if you're not here for anything. I have better things to do with my life."

"You were just reading, though?" Magcargo pointed out.

"It's a medical paper."

"I can see 'Vogue' on the cover!"

"Medical fashion paper."

"Oh, that makes s-" Before Magcargo could respond, Chansey lifted Magcargo off the ground and started to walk out of the infirmary. "Chansey? We're leaving? I thought we were searching!"

"There's some people who are just difficult to handle, and I think I'd rather keep my sanity than try to grasp at straws with that conversation."

Magcargo laughed softly at this, smirking at the nurse as he was basically bridal carried out of the building. "Hey, that's always a good idea, huh?"

"Thanks! Having to deal with Magearna is always… a 'learning' experience." Chansey giggled.

"VANILLUXE?! SABLEYE! WHERE DID YOU TWO GO?!" Floatzel yelled at the top of his lungs as he was walking around in circles, searching for his missing teammates. He knew he had been going nowhere, as he passed by the same jagged boulder THRICE at this point. He cursed silently to himself as he decided to take a break from searching, and leaned on the rock. "Where did they even go? And what was that vine that got Vanilluxe?!"

"..." The bushes nearby started to rustle, making the weasel more tense. Was that the sound of whoever took Vanilluxe?! And did they take Sableye with them too?!

Emerging from the rustling was… "Empoleon?" While relieved that he wasn't alone in the woods anymore, Floatzel was undoubtedly shocked to see that he had managed to run into someone in these large forests.

"... oh, it's you." Empoleon on the other hand looked seemingly unfocused, a rare occurrence. As someone who touted himself to be confident and determined in the competition, it was odd seeing him look so… lost. "... don't tell me you're going to fight with me."

"I don't want to fight you right now! What happened in the egg challenge stays in the egg challenge!" Floatzel huffed, crossing his arms. "Besides, I'm looking for Sableye and Vanilluxe, since they both went missing on me!"

"Oh… so you weren't just fucking alone or something?" Empoleon questioned, backing away skeptically.

"Of course not! I'm not exactly running solo on spreading justice or anything."

"... with Teddiursa?"

Floatzel winced at the mention of the little bear, looking away awkwardly.

"..." Empoleon deadpanned, clenching a fist. "I… see."

Floatzel put his hands in front of him with a sigh. "Don't tell me you're going to attack me…"

"Oh no, I'm not. I already did that with your other 'friends', I don't need to take you down… I mean I could… but honestly, it's not worth my fucking energy."

"Mhm. Did you do anything with Oricorio, Gossifleur and… Teddiursa?"

"Look… Floatzel, I'm not going to fucking sugarcoat it. I want to win this, and your 'teammates' already got the upper hand on me once. I wasn't going to let them do it to me again."

"Okay? Just get to the point already-"

"HMPH! I'm not telling you."

"So you're just here to gloat?! I mean, I haven't found a single tape!" Floatzel grumbled, patting down from his waist to his feet. "Nothing."

Empoleon laughed awkwardly, unnerving Floatzel a bit, especially with how husky and deep Empoleon's voice was. "I-I found a tape! So my team is in the lead!"

"Yep, so you're here to gloat? Only villains gloat, and you know how I feel about those, right?" Floatzel said threateningly.

"HMPH! I mean, after being on the shit team for five episodes, I need a taste of victory!" Empoleon said, jabbing a flipper on the weasel's chest. "Plus, your team has some deadweight on it anyways."

"Is that a threat, or a blatant request for us to throw this challenge?" Floatzel queried with a grunt as he rubbed the part Empoleon touched.

"... it's a warning. You're going fucking down… Floatzel."

"No snappy comeback? Just Floatzel?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU'LL GET WHAT'S COMING!" Empoleon grumbled, face turning red from embarrassment and anger.

"Okay?"

"You're not scared?! Your team is LOSING!" Empoleon pointed out, gritting his teeth.

Floatzel started backing away. The penguin was growing too erratic for his liking. "Uh, so? At the end of the day, this is just a competition… we're literally looking for tapes. There's nothing more to that."

"B-but… you… UGGGH! You don't understand!"

"I literally don't understand anything you're talking about-"

"You know what! I'll just go… find more… tapes…" Empoleon mumbled, expression darkening as his voice quieted down to a murmur.

Without another word, the penguin left the scene, brute forcing his way through the set of bushes opposite in direction to the ones he had just come from, leaving Floatzel confused about his sudden presence. That was… a whole lot of nothing.

"What is his problem!?" Floatzel gaped in front of him, rubbing his eyes to make sure that the events that had just transpired weren't hallucinations.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, tw-"

"ORICORIO, I'm your friend, but why are you counting at a time like this?!" Gossifleur yelled, blushing in embarrassment as it seemed like Oricorio had given up on escaping. She even saw the bird take a bite out of the foliage, and that's when she knew this was going on for far too long. "W-we need to escape!"

"Gossifleur, we're in the middle of the woods. We'll never be saved. At this point, I think we might as well sing our last cheers-"

"Oricorio! Weren't you supposed to be the peppy cheerleader!? Don't give up!" Gossifleur pointed out, forcing a smile. Oricorio nodded at this, sighing as she looked down at her feet.

"You're right, obviously… but I don't think being forced into a standing position is good for my health." Oricorio admitted.

"AT LEAST YOU TWO AREN'T BEING CRUSHED!" Flapple yelled from under Gossifleur, chomping on the nearby foliage for food. "Honestly, I'm just glad that I can use Leech Seed to grow shrubs faster, or I'd be dead by now!"

"Again… I apologize for putting you in an awkward position, Flapple…" Gossifleur remarked.

"It's fine, it's fine. I'm used to this already. Honestly, I just hope they didn't replace me from the staff casting already."

"Actually… about that-" Gossifleur was cut off as Oricorio shushed her, shaking her head.

"I don't think she needs to know."

"Know about what?"

"It's nothing!" Oricorio assured with a fake smile.

"Is this about my job? You two got all quiet when I mentioned it!" Flapple snapped. "Just tell me. I'm not that weak-"

"They replaced you with Marill." Oricorio and Gossifleur said at the same time.

Flapple blinked at this… at first, she didn't seem unaffected… until it fully set in, and her left eye started twitching. "W-what?!"

"I mean, if you were stuck here for months, they'd be bound to replace you." Oricorio pointed out.

"They didn't try to find me!?" Flapple exclaimed, anger evident in her tone.

"I'm sure they tried… but they probably assumed you just died after a couple of days of searching for you…" Gossifleur murmured sheepishly.

"WHAT!? I'M NOT DEAD! THEY DIDN'T LOOK HARD ENOUGH. TH-" Before Flapple could finish her sentence, the now familiar vines began to slither on the ground. Gossifleur and Oricorio recognized immediately that it was the vines that had trapped them there in the first place. To their surprise however, dragged along by the new set of vines was Vanilluxe, whose mouth was covered by a makeshift gag made out of vines. Flapple could barely react as the ground below her collapsed, making her fall into a pit along with Gossifleur, who was on top of her.

Thankfully, Gossifleur and Flapple managed to not fall in fully thanks to the vines. Vanilluxe's unconscious body slowly slinked towards the newly formed pitfall. Oricorio could do nothing but watch, knowing that if Vanilluxe fell in, the other three would fall in after him into the potentially deep hole.

"G-guys?! G-guys!" Oricorio called out, praying that her companions were still fine. Thankfully, they were still close to the surface.

"Oricorio, is that you!? The vines are keeping us safe for now, but I'm not sure how long we can hold on if these vines suddenly snap. The walls in this pit feel too steep…" Gossifleur called out.

"At least I'm not under you anymore!"

"I-I don't think that's the thing we should be worrying about…"

"I mean I can fly, so meh."

"Then could you carry me out of the pit?" Gossifleur asked expectantly.

"... do you know how fucking heavy you are!?" Flapple gawked at the flower, who just blushed in embarrassment.

"H-hey… I'm not that fat… right?" Gossifleur stammered. To her disappointment however, not even Oricorio objected to that comment. "Oh… s-so that's how it is?!"

"MMMMFFFFF!" Vanilluxe tried to speak, only for his voice to come out muffled. He groaned, realizing that nobody could understand him. "Mmmff…"

"Vanilluxe, did you say something?" Oricorio asked.

"MMFMFMFMF!"

"Sorry, I can't quite understand you. S-O-R-R-Y!"

"MMFFFFFFF!"

Oricorio sat in the confessional noticeably disheveled, as her feathers were a complete mess by this point. "Well… this takes the cake for the worst challenge ever. We did nothing but get trapped. Honestly, I'm glad Gossifleur made me hold the tapes, because they'd be gone by now if she held onto them… but this is just not worth it at this point!"

Arriving back at the minecave area, what had immediately stood out was the fact that both Staravia and Bellossom were missing. Dedenne stepped into the clearing, blinking in confusion.

"Okay… did something happen, or did the hosts just go on vacation because this challenge was too slow?"

"Awks, that's so unffy! I wanna vacation too, O-M-L!" Cramorant whined as she walked past Dedenne to look at her phone impatiently. "Maybe they got eaten by the mines or something, L-O-L!"

Dedenne gave her a look that was mixed with confusion and concern. "We literally just went into those mines. It's not secretly some monster or oversized Torterra or something. Otherwise, we would've noticed."

"That was liek… a joke! No need to take it too seriously!" Cramorant huffed, rolling her eyes.

"... do we check the mountain or hill now?" Klinklang queried as he started to float higher and higher to get a better view. "It looks steep… can Dedenne even climb it?"

"I mean, I definitely can. It's just that I'd take longer, since I skipped leg day a LOT!" Dedenne admitted. "So it might be better for you two to check it out, while I-" Dedenne sighed, face-palming. "I guess I'll be checking the mines…"

Klinklang nodded in affirmation. "That sounds like a decent enough plan. Cramorant, let's go." The gear beckoned for the cormorant to start following him up the hill, as Cramorant groaned, reluctantly trudging after him. The moment they were out of sight, Dedenne sat down, wiping away sweat from his brow.

"Okay… let me… catch my breath a bit." Dedenne muttered under his breath, before he started thinking to himself.

"We still don't have any tapes, unless Empoleon, Chansey or Magcargo found any, but I doubt it. Welp, we might be losing AGAIN! I guess it's time to see if all of that time spent messing with Empoleon was worth it. What angle do I even go for? Just… gun for Cramorant? That sounds the easiest, but I'm not sure if the payoff is worth it."

Dedenne shook his head, folding his arms. "Whatever. I should just prioritize on surviving so that I can reunite with Oricorio at merge, and hopefully weaken whatever alliance there is that I'm not a part of. Ugh, I should've asked Klinklang and Cramorant to stay, so we could talk more about the vote…"

"..."

"Chansey and Magcargo are very tight with each other, so maybe I can-" In the middle of thinking, Dedenne was suddenly soaked by a barrage of water. Blinking, he looked in front of him to notice that Empoleon had emerged from the woods with a growl. Dedenne could barely maintain his composure, as he mustered enough willpower to wave.

"Hey. How long have you been standing there?" Dedenne laughed awkwardly in his head. While he liked to act confident about running circles around the penguin, Empoleon actually had the strength and determination to back up his own claims, so Dedenne had been worried that it'd all catch up to him somehow, especially when he didn't even really know what Bayleef and Empoleon's relationship was.

"Why are you alone? Where did Cramorant and Klinklang go?" Empoleon just asked, voice dripping with barbed inflections. "Did you leave them? Please tell me you found a tape already…"

"Sadly, I haven't… and you can tell I'm serious when I'm not sounding sarcastic." Dedenne said matter-of-factly, making sure to choose his words carefully in the conversation. He had already fulfilled his 'Mess with Empoleon' quota for the day. Any more bullying, and the penguin could possibly beat him up. If anything, Dedenne was shocked he hadn't decided to yet. "How about you?"

Empoleon groaned, running a flipper on his horns. "No! It's like they didn't hide anything. I haven't found a single tape, and I'm starting to think the hosts are just fucking around with us. That bird brain and flower bitch don't look like they know what they're doing!"

"Honestly, I think you're right there." Dedenne admitted.

"... why are you alone, Dedenne?"

"I was going to check the mines, but I needed to catch my breath since I've been walking for hours now!" Dedenne defended himself. "Why are YOU here?!"

"HMPH! If you must know, I was also planning to check this area! I mean… your stupid team humiliated me during the first challenge because I didn't think none of you would hide in the fucking mess hall, so I thought there'd be some tapes hidden in a similar way!" Empoleon answered, looking away with a scowl.

Dedenne blinked, picking himself up with a weak smile. "Oh? I'm shocked you are actually capable enough to use your own experiences to better yourself. I mean, after what happened to B-"

"I already told you to stop mentioning him!"

"H-heard you loud and clear!" Dedenne mumbled, exhaustion taking over.

"So, did Vanilluxe and Cramorant check inside the mines?"

"They're checking the mountai-" Dedenne answered, but stopped when he saw the penguin starting to make a mad dash towards the mountain. "WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?"

"I'm climbing the fucking mountain!" Empoleon answered, turning back before looking away.

"I-" Dedenne gaped at the sight of this, face-palming. "... you can't even fly! That's a steep climb! Do you want to fall off!?"

"I'm not that fucking weak! Never skipped leg day, and I have the strongest grip out there!"

"That's not…" Dedenne retorted before whispering to himself. "You know what… fine! Put yourself in danger, I don't care. I mean, you're way too busy distracting yourself from whatever you have with Bayleef anyways…"

Dedenne stared at the camera with a listless expression. "Empoleon is so confusing to me. I mean, he definitely has something going on with Bayleef, but now that I talked to him WITHOUT mentioning him… he has way more issues than I expected, and honestly, even I know not to cross the line with things like that. I mean, he keeps wanting to prove himself! We get it, you have the biggest muscles. You can run the fastest. It's not like we're all professional athletes competing against him! Who'd be interested in that!? Oricorio?!"

Empoleon smirked as he flexed at the camera. "I was the strongest guy I know back home! Nobody would even think of trying to compete with me on that! I don't know what that little rat is worried about, I can climb a cliff on my own, so this mountain isn't any different!"

"Found anything?" Chansey queried as she watched Magcargo emerge from a dumpster at the side of the mess hall with a disgusted expression.

"No… but BLECH! I don't know why I thought dumpster diving would be fun. This is just disgusting…" Magcargo commented with a shudder.

Chansey giggled at this. "At least you can cross that off your bucket list!"

"Yep! No regrets about that!" Magcargo beamed at Chansey's amusement. "But it sucks that there were no tapes in there. Maybe we might've searched everywhere in this area…"

"Well, maybe you can try the dumpster by the bathrooms?"

Magcargo gave her a look that said 'Really?'. Chansey laughed weakly, stroking her cheek. "O-okay… I won't ask you to search for more dumpsters… in that case, let's move on to the next area to search!"

Magcargo nodded, jumping out of the dumpster. "Where do we search next?! The beach, the docks, or the cliff?"

"Probably the beach, since I'll be honest… you smell like Sableye right now…" Chansey pinched her nose.

"Is it that bad?" Magcargo asked, sniffing himself before his face scrunched up in disgust. "O-okay… you're right. I smell horrible… and need a shower."

"I can wait for you to take a shower, and then we can continue searching!"

"Sounds good!" Magcargo chirped as he began crawling to the washrooms to take a shower.

A few seconds after he left, Gallade and Staravia ran into camp, breathless. They immediately noticed Chansey just standing alone, reading her novel from where she last left off, before Staravia rudely interrupted her.

"CHANSEY!"

Chansey looked up, confused. "Staravia? And… the guy I see with Teddiursa sometimes? What's going on?"

"Chansey, have you seen Indeedee?" Staravia asked.

"He was in the kitchen. Why?"

"Bellossom was taken by SUNFLORA!"

"Sunflora? Oh, he's the one from the mining challenge, right?"

"You… know him?"

"Yep, he's friends with Magcargo!" Chansey explained.

"Then where's Magcargo?!"

"He's taking a shower, since he was searching for tapes in the dumpster."

"Oh!"

The scene was silent for a while before Staravia decided to say something. "How many tapes did you find?"

"Five!" Chansey answered, to Staravia's surprise.

"How did you- I mean, CONGRATS! Where did you find them?"

"Indeedee's kitchen. All five of them."

"Why in the world would five tapes be hidden in the same place?!"

"I don't know. I thought you and Bellossom hid them?"

"O-of course! Obviously, that was a question to see if you were listening to instructions."

"Your words have more holes in them than a block of swiss cheese…" Gallade remarked, sweating anxiously. "But enough dilly-dallying. We should be faster than a freight train, since my maiden angel Teddiursa is in DANGER!"

"Sunflora got to Teddiursa, too?" Chansey queried.

"It is tragic. We are like a modern day Romeo and-"

"Sorry, Gallade. But nobody cares."

"I-"

At that moment, Magcargo had finished his shower, exiting the bathroom with a towel on his head, whistling 'Out of The Woods'. He went back to where he had been before leaving Chansey, immediately shocked to find that she wasn't alone. "Uhm… what are you two doing here? Is this like… some hint mechanic where you give us help on where to find-"

"No… just come with us!" Staravia said, gesturing for him and Chansey to follow her.

"Why?"

"Sunflor-"

This immediately got Magcargo's attention. "Sunflora is here? Why didn't you say so? Let's go!"

"I- you know what… fuck it, let's go!" Staravia said, unsure whether to be more nervous about Sunflora, or Magcargo's relationship with the sunflower.

"I'm starting to think there was no challenge after all…" Chansey commented, looking to the side with a concerned look.

"Sunflora and I didn't get to have full closure after the mining challenge! He just decided to stay inside the mines, so it shocked me when I heard he was out and about! I'm guessing he changed his mind, but that's not a bad thing since he is a SUNflora! They need the sunshine!" Magcargo blustered out, smiling widely.

"Gossifleur, Flapple? Are you two doing alright down there?" Oricorio asked. She sighed as neither replied, both of them having been exhausted from trying to dangle their way out of the hole. Oricorio attempted to use her talons to cut through the vines to little success.

"Why are these vines so strong?!"

As she continued to file through the thick vines, she felt water dripping from above. "Weird… it's not even raining…" She looked up, her eyes widening to find a spider web with a GIGANTIC Araquanid on it. How hadn't she noticed that until now?!

Getting more frantic, she filed at her restraints faster and faster. "Please please please…"

The water droplets began to fall down faster, as the Araquanid's eyes opened.

"Please please please PLEASE!"

The Araquanid's eyes began to glow, as it noticed it had a new prey…

"PLE-" Oricorio tried to shout, before the Araquanid jumped off the spider web, and landed on top of her. At the same time, Gossifleur had opened her eyes, groggy.

"Oricorio, are you still… there? Oricorio-" Before Gossifleur could react, Dewpiders had also started raining from the trees, landing all over her, Vanilluxe and Flapple. Vanilluxe started letting out muffled screams as they bit him like crazy, while Gossifleur and Flapple were both… relatively unscathed. "B-breathe in… b-breathe out, b-bre-"

Another Araquanid fell off from the trees, falling into the pit.

Floatzel was still alone in his search for his missing teammates and any tapes that he could find, but after a couple minutes of nothing, he was starting to give up.

"Vanilluxe?! Sableye… are any of you here?!"

"..."

Floatzel groaned, face-palming. It seemed more and more likely that he just wouldn't be able to find any of them. Hell, he hadn't seen anyone since he ran into Empoleon. The weasel looked around frantically, wondering if he accidentally got himself lost during his search. "Where's the way back again..?"

"Hello… friend…" Floatzel's ears jolted up upon hearing a strangely chipper voice from out of nowhere. He looked around to see where it came from, to little success. For some reason, the voice seemed familiar to him.

"Who was that!? Vanilluxe, is that you?! That wasn't funny! Only villains would do that!" Floatzel growled, punching the air immediately as he circled back and forth around the area.

"Don't be scared… friend!"

"Friend?!" Floatzel gawked at these words, starting to slowly back away. "I don't even know who the fuck you are! Show yourselves!"

"Don't worry, this won't hurt!" And just like that, a barrage of bullets began firing at Floatzel from behind. Luckily, Floatzel was able to dodge them by ducking, but it was close, a bullet grazing his hair. "Aw, don't fret! It's a healing bullet-"

"What do you mean!? That was a Bullet Seed! What are you trying to do?!" Floatzel yelled out at nobody in particular. "YOU must 100% be a villain if you're not going to show your face."

"Do you really think so? I just wanted to play a game, and well… you won!"

"Wh-" Floatzel quickly stopped talking, as another barrage of bullets were aimed at him, this time at a lower angle. Thankfully, Floatzel knew to dodge, being aware of the mysterious voice's presence now. "OKAY, what the hell!? Why do you want to take me down?! Are you intimidated by JUSTICE?!"

"I just want to be your friend!"

"Friends don't try to choose their friends!"

"It's a local custom!"

"It- OW! Did you just try to shoot me again?"

"Yep!" The voice said nonchalantly.

Floatzel narrowed his eyes at this. "Well, that hurts! I don't know who you are, but just know that I won't take this lying down! I'm re-" Floatzel could barely react as he fell to the ground, vines snagging around his leg. "Ah! W-wait… that's u-" The vines then began to tighten around his body. "HEY! LET GO OF ME!"

At this moment, the source of the voice finally revealed itself, as Sunflora emerged from the bushes with a bashful wave as if he wasn't trying to brutalize Floatzel a few seconds ago. "Hi friend!"

"A Sunflora?! Why are you doing this!? You're not even in the… ACCCCK!" Floatzel yelled out in pain, as the vines tightened even further, the sunflower drawing closer to him.

"Oh, you're cute!"

Floatzel blushed in embarrassment at the Grass-type's sudden, flirty tone. "W-what is that supposed to mean!? Let me go!"

"I wanna be your friend! Let me take you to my other friends now!" Sunflora said, ignoring Floatzel's complaints as the sunflower casually lifted him off the ground, walking back towards where he came from. Floatzel could do nothing but let out screams as he protested for him to be released.

"What the fuck was that!?" Floatzel was at a loss for words as he stared at the camera, completely gobsmacked by that sudden encounter. "I know I was looking for hidden villains, but that wasn't hidden- I didn't even know he existed before today!"

While Floatzel and Sunflora were having… 'fun' together, Empoleon was making his way up the steep mountain, hoping to reunite with Cramorant and Klinklang to help them with finding tapes. After a couple of minutes of walking however, the penguin was shocked to find himself at the peak already, with no cormorant or gear in sight.

"Did they fucking slack off, when we have a challenge to do?!" Empoleon grumbled as he walked towards the edge, arms folded. "I fucking knew they were useless! Do I have to do all the work around here?!"

"..."

Empoleon turned around with a permanent scowl. For some reason, he had a sinking feeling in his gut. "What was that?"

"..."

"S-show yourself!" Empoleon began backing away, only to stop as he almost fell off the mountain. "UGH! Fuck this! I'm he-"

Hands pressed on the penguin's chest, the Water-type's eyes widening as he stared into another pair of eyes looking right back at him, a haunting grin on their face. "Yo-"

But before Empoleon could speak, the other figure pushed him off the mountain effortlessly. HIM, of all people! Yet… after all those hours working out, he was pushed off the mountain as if he was lighter than a sack of feathers. He grunted as his flipper caught onto the ledge.

"Why the fuck are you doing this?!" Empoleon called out, as he struggled to lift himself back onto the mountain.

"... I'm sorry."

Empoleon let out a scream of pain, as the unknown figure callously stepped on his flipper. How did that hurt so much, when they were so much smaller than him!? "P-please STOP!"

"..."

"Wait, why are your ey-" Empoleon was about to ask, until his flipper could barely hold on, and soon enough, he was put into a state of free-fall… until he saw nothing but darkness.

Teddiursa yawned, as she stared at the wall in front of her. It didn't look like anything had changed from last night. That changed however, as the door swooped open, and she sighed. Either they were going to be saved, or Sunflora had managed to capture another person. Regardless, it would be a change of pace from staring at the wall, doing nothing the entire time.

Her initial excitement changed however after she saw who got dragged in. It was Floatzel, who was being dragged towards the group by Sunflora, who had pressed on Floatzel's head with his hand to make sure that the weasel's face was on the ground the entire time he was dragged. "Hello… friends! I found a new friend for you all to play with!"

"Are you just going to capture everyone?! Why are you doing this?!" Bellossom asked.

"Do you want me to kill you all gently and slowly now?"

"W-what!? NO, obviously!" Bellossom answered, averting her gaze.

"Awww… oh well, I'll go look for more friends now!" Sunflora said, stepping out of the cabin after tying Floatzel up with the others.

"..."

"Well, this fucking sucks." With each passing minute, Carracosta had begun looking more and more stressed, with dark circles forming around his eyes.

"Any moment now, Gallade will swoop in to save us, I just know it!" Teddiursa said with a weak smile.

"That's unlikely… but hmph, I suppose there's no harm in being optimistic…" Carracosta muttered, closing his eyes.

"How did you even get captured?" Bellossom asked Floatzel, who lifted his face off the floor, caked with dirt from being dragged on the ground.

"Sunflora caught me off guard with his vines… Are Grass-types this powerful? I'm starting to get a phobia for them, after Gourgeist…" Floatzel mumbled. He grew quiet as his eyes went over to Teddiursa, who glared at him with a huff before quickly looking away. "..."

Carracosta took notice of this, arching a brow. "What is going on here?"

"Floatzel here is just oh-so-nice, that he doesn't wanna be around someone soooo bad, like me!" Teddiursa said.

"I-... I didn't say that."

"You didn't say it to my face, you mean!"

"I told you that wasn't true, but you still w-"

"NANANANANA, I can't hear you!"

"Stop this!"

"Oh? Am I being too much of a bitch!? I'm sorry… NOT!"

"Teddiursa, you…"

Carracosta and Bellossom deadpanned at this, with the flower yelling out at the two. "OKAY, SHUT THE FUCK UP! I KNOW YOU TWO HAVE DRAMA, BUT WE ARE ALL CAPTURED RIGHT NOW, AND YOU'RE GETTING ON MY NERVES!"

This got the two to shut up. Bellossom smirked, satisfied with herself while Carracosta looked to the side awkwardly, not ever having seen that side of his fellow intern before.

"No tapes here either…" Klinklang sighed as he floated down to the entrance of the mines to regroup with Cramorant and Dedenne. Realizing that neither of his companions had made it back from their searches, he rolled his eyes. "Preposterous. Is searching for tapes truly this time-consuming?"

About twenty seconds later, Cramorant was seen flying back down, face red and clearly out of breath. "SQUAWK- Well, that was like… a HUGE waste of time, girls!"

"I didn't have much luck on my end, either…"

"Awks, did we really split up to cover more ground and STILL flop this bad?" Cramorant said, rolling her eyes as she looked around. "Where's the little rat, anyways? Wasn't he like… searching the ground or something?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since I searched the mountain." Klinklang answered.

"Oh…" Cramorant blinked… before a wide smirk crept onto her face. "Well, that's perf!"

Klinklang arched his brow. "What do you mean? I don't like it when you act this smug, it usually leads to disastrous results."

"Don't sass me, cunt! I'm like… just saying, this is the perf time to make stats, Y-K? Just chat and talk shit about everyone while nobody is here. I mean, a DM is 100% waaaay better than this but eh, this is close enough." Cramorant explained.

"I'm listening…" As much as he hated to admit it, Klinklang was genuinely intrigued by the cormorant's words.

"I know you and Maggy have an alliance! And I know Dedenne is in there too, so I wanna join in! We can be like… a mega alliance!"

"Then that's implying we put Chansey and Empoleon on the chopping block… is that correct?"

"Mmhm! I tried sooo hard to make a girls' alliance, but that flopped because both Magearna and Chansey SUCK! But let's face it: We're losing this round! We haven't found a single tape, so like… might as well cut our losses!" Cramorant explained.

Klinklang genuinely looked conflicted by this, a rare time where he actually felt human emotions. But of course, it was quick to evaporate. "Between the two, I suppose we could go for Empoleon. He seems too overconfident for his own good. His old team clearly lost all those challenges because of his poor leadership, so while he claims to be the strongest member of the team, he is expendable."

"I can't disagree there! Chansey does seem more reasonable, and I think you already know about how Maggy and Chansey are CLOSE… and not just tight-close, either. They're like sibs, and that's a bond you can't just break!"

Klinklang looked to the side listlessly. "Yes… she is already on our side because of… Magcargo."

The gear started to get lost in thought for once, as he thought of Magcargo's growing relationship with the nurse. He was the lava snail's first friend, but it seemed like he was starting to branch off.

"Klinklang?"

Klinklang quickly shook his head. Chansey was going to be useful as an ally, since Magcargo was surely still very close with him. He may not have joined him for breakfast that morning, but it's not like they did the same exact things together. For one, they didn't follow the same sleep schedule!

"Klinklang?!"

He needed to think logically about this. It was the Final 12. The merge was bound to happen sooner than later, and he had suspected that the other team was set against him, especially when he hadn't made significant progress in forming relationships with Gossifleur, Oricorio or Vanilluxe… even if they had been on the same team for the first five challenges.

"KLINKLANG..?"

If only Vivillon and Skwovet weren't voted off, he'd have more op-

"KLINKLANG, EARTH TO KLINKLANG!? OMG, you are losing me RN…" Klinklang blinked, as Cramorant's loud yells snapped him out of his monologue.

"Cramorant… oh, I almost forgot we were in the middle of a conversation…"

Cramorant weakly punched the gear's sides, making him flinch a bit. "Rude much? Awks, and you say I'M the one AFK from the game bc of my phone, but uhm no?! You're the one ghosting me in person. I've got enough of that already from my OL friends, O-M-G…"

"Fine… I apologize. But even though I acknowledge what I did was wrong, I was not distracted because of something ridiculous. I was thinking of the future, especially with merge being so close."

"Okay?! Wow, uhm… can we like, put that on a to-do list for now? I mean, we're like not even 100% guaranteed to make it to the next round, so like we should think of that first, Klingy-"

"Don't call me Klingy." Klinklang said flatly.

"Whatevs. I mean… we're not going off at each other bc of your bad taste like we were before, and that's like a sign that we're becoming friends-"

"My arguments were all completely justified… but you're not wrong there."

Cramorant's face turned red. "U-uhm!? M'kay, so you can still find time to talk shit about me!? Sooo rude, especially when I'm not even looking at my phone this time, which B-T-W, is worth more than your boring old personality."

"I take offense to that."

"GOOD! Now you know how I feel!"

Their minor squabble was suddenly interrupted by Dedenne, who had finished searching the forests for tapes. He waved at the two as he approached, walking over. "Hey."

Klinklang turned to Dedenne, frowning. "Oh… where did you go, Dedenne? I thought you were planning to check the mines?"

"I might've heard Sunflora, so I ran…" Dedenne admitted, sweating.

"Sunflora's back…? I thought he was in the mines." Klinklang mumbled.

"Well, he's not! And I know I wasn't going to be able to fight him at all, so I hid… I'm back now, since the coast seemed to be clear."

"Well I'm sooo glad you're back after not helping us find the tapes, L-O-L!" Cramorant said, smiling passive-aggressively.

"Oh stop. I don't need the sarcasm when I was just in serious danger." Dedenne put his hands on his hips as he started looking around. "By the way… have you guys seen Empoleon? He said he was going to catch up with you two."

Klinklang and Cramorant exchanged looks of confusion. They hadn't seen the penguin the entire time they were on the mountain.

"Are you sure he went up the mountain?" Klinklang queried.

"I'm 100% sure he did. He told me he would, and I even saw him start climbing! Plus, he's not really the type to give up. If anything, I'd say that's one of his major character flaws…"

"We should check the mountain again, then. We need to search for him." Klinklang muttered as he started floating back up the mountain. "And yes, that includes you Dedenne. We all need to cooperate, to maximize our search."

"I-" Dedenne gawked, watching Cramorant take to the skies after Klinklang. He fell to his knees, waving his arms around. "THIS MIGHT JUST BE A MOUNTAIN TO YOU…

BUT TO ME, THIS IS MOUNT CORONET!"

"Magcargo… why exactly are we following this dirt path again?" Magcargo had now been the one leading the pack as they searched for Sunflora and Bellossom.

"I can feel it in my bones!" Magcargo explained, beaming at everyone else. "I think this is the way!"

"It better be, I've been walking for ages. If only flying didn't make it easier for Sunflora to find us…" Staravia grumbled, not bothering to put on one of her typical acts for once, and instead just exhausted from the entire ordeal.

"You're a sacrifice I'm willing to make… this is for TEDDIURSA, after all-"

"And thank you for making me not regret talking badly about you behind your back, Gallade!"

"Wha-"

"SHHH, I can smell Sunflora!" Magcargo said, looking behind to shush them.

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing right now…" Chansey commented, twiddling her fingers.

"It's a good thing be-" Magcargo was interrupted, bumping into 'something' due to being distracted by everyone else. Noticing the pale faces of his companions, Magcargo turned back to find… SUNFLORA with a shocked expression. Magcargo's expression glowed as he GLOMPED the sunflower in realization. "SUNFLORA! I didn't know you were back! Are you here to visit your sister, Bellossom? Oh wait, that was kind of rude of me to assume that you two were related-"

"Hello… f-fr-f-" Sunflora's words were quickly drowned out by Magcargo's sudden gushing, as he hugged the flower with his neck. "T-tight… too… tight!"

"Sunflora, you're so cute! I heard you were kidnapping people, and I don't think you need a long lecture to know that kidnapping is wrong. I mean, I know the world's not black and white and all, but there are some things that shouldn't be done… unless you have a sick parent and need ransom money to pay for their surgery and-"

Chansey laughed anxiously, watching this. "Sunflora looks really harmless now, huh?"

"I think it's more Magcargo having a tight leash around him than anything…" Staravia commented with a deadpan expression.

"Ten bottles of beer on the wall. Ten bottles of beer. You take one off, pass it around. Ten bottles of beer on the wall-" Teddiursa sang in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

Floatzel groaned at this. "Teddiursa, I want you to know that I do not HATE you, but can you please stop singing?"

"Aw, that just confirms you hate me! Singing cutely is one of my hobbies!"

"It's… loud."

"That's the point! What did you want me to do? Sing like Billie Corphish?"

"Maybe…"

"Sunflora, there are better ways to vent your anger!" A familiar voice could be heard from outside.

"Is it just me, or do I hear Magcargo?" Teddiursa commented.

"Maybe he got captured?" Floatzel suggested… which Teddiursa promptly ignored as she started humming.

"Nine bottles of beer on the wall. Nine bottles of-"

"Are you still no-"

Before Floatzel could call Teddiursa out on her stubbornness, the door swung open, revealing Chansey, Magcargo, Sunflora, Gallade and Staravia, all with varying expressions. Sunflora's eyes were replaced with spirals, as he laid on the lava snail's shell.

"I'm gonna free them with an EMBER!" Magcargo said as he prepared to use said move, only to be stopped by Chansey, who sighed in response.

"Magcargo… we want them free… not for this place to be burnt down."

"Oh- you're right!" And with that, Staravia walked over to the group, using her sharp talons to cut through the ropes, freeing the captives.

"I don't know how you guys beat Sunflora, but y'all are my SAVIOURS!" Teddiursa said, clasping her hands together.

"We didn't even do anything…" Staravia commented, face-palming.

"It's the thought that counts!"

"I… welp, whatever! Let's just end this challenge already, it's been a LONG day…" Staravia mumbled, rubbing the back of her head.

"That sounds good to me. I think I need to lie down for a few days to get over this, myself." Bellossom admitted, walking out of the cabin.

"Okie dokie! Let's go gather the rest of the contestants and announce the results… though, why do I feel like we've forgotten someone…?"

"HMGMNNWWNNWNW!" Gossifleur's screams were muffled, as she and Flapple ended up getting crushed by the Araquanid. Oricorio and Vanilluxe had both been unconscious at this point from screaming for hours.

Staravia and Bellossom faced the remaining contestants. They had all been exhausted from the long and daunting challenge. While Chansey, Magcargo, Dedenne, Cramorant and Klinklang were unscathed, the rest weren't quite so lucky. Empoleon laid on the ground, writhing in pain. Oricorio and Gossifleur were both disheveled from being crushed by an Araquanid, not to mention being tied up in vines for a good chunk of the challenge. Vanilluxe's mouth was somehow still covered, and nobody had bothered to remove the vines. Floatzel and Teddiursa were both sitting on the ground, exhausted from all the walking and being tied up. Finally, Sableye was standing off to the side with a dazed expression.

"Okay… you all look… terrible." Staravia cleared her throat before pointing at the groaning mess that was Empoleon. "What happened to him?"

"Long story short, we found him on the ground. It seems like he fell from the mountain, breaking some bones in the process…" Dedenne explained shyly.

"WHAT!? He might need immediate help!" Chansey cut in, looking around frantically.

"DW, we called Lopunny for back-up, and he uhm… helped patch him up?!" Cramorant said, staring at the penguin's state. One of his arms had been bandaged and put into an arm sling.

"He basically gave Empoleon some painkillers, bandaged his arm in a sling, and then left without even asking if he was alright." Klinklang added flatly.

"Ookay… and is he alright?" Empoleon could barely lift his flipper to show that he was okay. "M'kay, then we should move on… Gossifleur, Oricorio and Vanilluxe… why were you underneath Araquanid, and uh… who's that?!" Staravia pointed at Flapple, who had been standing FAR away from the rest of the group. The apple dragon waved weakly before looking away.

"She's uh… Flapple. She's… someone?" Oricorio said, not sure how to explain it easily. "We found her in the woods, that's all we know."

"Ookay… this has been a weird episode so far, but the show must go on! Life's a stage, and it waits for nobody after all. How many tapes did each group find?"

"We found five!" Chansey said, grabbing the melted tapes out of her pouch, to the surprise of her teammates. "I don't know why they were in the mess hall, but hey, that's good enough, right?"

Gossifleur giggled as she revealed…

"Sorry Chansey, we have eight…"

"How did you even find that many?!" Klinklang gawked in disbelief. "I'm honestly shocked ALL of the tapes were found in the first place. It certainly felt like none of them were hidden properly."

"I found five of them around the same spot, and as for the other three… they were in a pit… I don't know why, but they were there."

"I think everyone would appreciate it if we stopped letting this challenge drag on any longer… CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TWINKLING TRUBBISH! YOU WON IMMUNITY, AND ARE SAFE FROM ELIMINATION!"

"..."

"... why's nobody celebrating?!"

"I mean, today was a very long day. Right now, I'd like to just crawl into a hole somewhere, and do nothing for a long time…" Bellossom commented, looking down with a grim expression.

"Mmhm. That makes complete sense. Well, we won't leave you here for too long! I'll see the Shuppets later for the elimination!"

After the challenge, Chansey decided to check up on Empoleon, worried about his situation. She found Empoleon wheeling himself around camp with an uncharacteristically somber expression. Unfortunately for her, Empoleon quickly recognized the nurse's gaze piercing through the back of his head, and the penguin quickly wheeled away from Chansey as fast as he could.

"Empoleon, are you-" Empoleon wheeled into the men's side of the cabin before slamming the door shut. The nurse tried to turn the doorknob before groaning, realizing that the penguin had locked it. "Empoleon?! I just wanted to ask if you're doing alright!"

"G-G… G-get the fuck away!" Empoleon managed to yell out between shaky breaths. This just made Chansey even more concerned.

"Empoleon… are you sure you're alright? I heard from Lopunny that you were fortunate enough to only end up with a broken arm, but maybe you shouldn't stay in the competition when you're injured-"

"Stop acting like you-you… y-you care about me! I bet you just want to vote me off. I-I… I'm fine. It's just like spraining any other limb… I-I'll walk it off!"

"Are you sure about that?" Chansey considered leaving him like he wanted, before shaking her head. She couldn't just give up on a patient, that'd go against everything she lived for. Sure, it was true the Magearna she met on this island was a fake… but the REAL Magearna still existed. The one who inspired her to become a nurse in the first place. "Empoleon, please open the door. I wasn't even planning to vote you off, but… you're injured. Are you sure you can keep competing?"

"..."

Chansey sighed at the response, or lack thereof. It seemed like the penguin decided to ignore her pleas. "Empoleon… I'm just going to sit here, and wait for you to come out… I can help you… if you let me…"

"..."

Inside the cabin, Empoleon was huddled up on his bed, his body covered by a thick blanket as he buried his head underneath. His eyes were red, having silently cried to himself. Of course, he didn't want anyone to know he was doing so.

"W-w-what… I… I can't even say anything… Chansey's right… I can't play the game anymore… m-maybe I should just get voted off…"

He buried his head into his knees, as thoughts of Dedenne constantly degrading him and accusing him of liking Bayleef swirled around in his mind. At this point, he was starting to wonder if maybe, he had been right. Empoleon was a weakling, and everyone was out of his league. What choice did he have, other than to love Bayleef.

"He's just like me…" A voice in Empoleon's head tried to make attempts to repeat this phrase, but Empoleon shook it off immediately. The reason he decided to take Bayleef under his wing, was because he was the weakest on the team, and-

"I'm just like him… I-I… d-did I do that, just so that I-I could get the… worthless gratification of winning 'twice'?"

"What do I do now..?" Empoleon managed to breathe out, hugging himself. "I'm… g-getting ahead of myself and… thinking I'm fucking weak? I can fucking… climb… mountains with a broken arm… I'm n-not some chump!" Empoleon removed the blanket covering his body, and tried to stand up. The confidence he had faded away however, as he fell on his back immediately. He reached up, but immediately retracted his flipper, overcome with grief.

"I can't do this…"

"THUD!" Empoleon quickly sat up, startled by the loud noise coming from the door. His eyes widened as he saw Chansey walk into the room. It had appeared that Chansey used an Egg Bomb to blast a hole through the door, allowing entry. "You…"

"Empoleon, we need to talk."

"..." Empoleon couldn't come up with a response, so he simply sighed in defeat. "Fine, what is it?"

Empoleon sat in the confessional, head buried in his flippers. "Chansey is doing her best to fucking reassure me… but at the same time, probably wants me out… I mean, my arm is broken, and I… I want to fucking talk to the cunt who pushed me off, but… I'm honestly… scared… I-" Empoleon's words trailed off, as he started shaking nervously.

Chansey exited the cabin a short while later, smiling. That was probably the best conversation she ever had with Empoleon to date. It had made her think, perhaps she knew less about the penguin than she assumed. Surprising her on the other side of the door though, was Cramorant who had her arms folded with an unamused expression.

"So uhm… were you liek… talking to Empoleon for strategy?"

Chansey blinked, before blushing in embarrassment, waving her hands around. "N-no! I was just checking in, since he did break his arm, and well… I am a nurse after all. It would've been weirder if I wasn't concerned…"

"M…m'kay? So, you two don't have like… a connection, since you two were on the same team and all?" Cramorant queried, tilting her head to the side. "I mean, the chances that you two are #SquadGoals isn't zero, you know? I'm kind of sus."

"Empoleon did nothing but terrorize me, and only offered weak attempts to apologize for the past few days… are you really skeptical that we might be working together?" Chansey scoffed, crossing her arms. "We're barely acquaintances… if anything, we're closer to enemies. But just because we don't have a good relationship doesn't mean I want to see anyone injured."

"Mhm? Not even a crush?"

"W-where did that come from? Of course not!"

"Since you're into Maggy?"

"Maggy?" Chansey's eyes narrowed, before she snapped her fingers in realization. "Are you talking about Magcargo? We're just friends."

"Sure you are. My ex-bff online told me the same thing, but flash forward, and it turned out that she got married with her so-called friend and didn't invite me to the wedding… that was like sooo rude when I lit was literally her shoulder to cry on, so I blocked her immediately the moment I saw the photos on Pokégram."

"Uh-huh… I'm not sure I can follow that way of thinking, but Magcargo and I really are just friends. Besides, I-" Chansey stopped herself, her face suddenly turning red. "... Actually, forget it."

"O-M-G! Are you like… hiding a secret from me?" Cramorant asked, leaning forward.

Chansey took a step back, a bit unnerved. "If I was, it's not like I'd want to tell you."

"Aww, D-W! I promise not to share your secrets to anyone if you tell me. I mean, I know I'm a bit of a gossip girl, but I'm not that desperate!"

"I-" Chansey muttered before face-palming with a drawn out sigh. "You know what… I don't think I'll ever fully understand what your plans are…"

"What plans? I'm like… just a LO-FI type of gal. Maybe you should like… go to the eye doctor and get those peepers checked out, L-M-F-A-O!"

"I mean, you're only talking to me when it's convenient, even going as far as try to take advantage of my relationship with Magearna. You've even made many attempts to guilt-trip me into trusting her." Chansey reminded the cormorant, crossing her arms. "I can name other moments too from the back of my head, but those are pretty much the immediate ones."

"Okay, I'm sorry! UHM… is that O-K enough?"

"I-"

The flying type didn't give the nurse time to reply as she continued. "Good! Cuz I also wanna talk strategy with you, since we have a vote later tonight, and uhm… Empoleon being injured makes it very E-Z to decide here. His hand is broken, his spirit's broken and he's pretty much just pathetic now. Like he went from a 10, to barely a 3 L-O-L…"

Chansey looked to the side, hearing the cormorant's harsh words. "I don't disagree with you there… but I don't think we should trash talk him when he's already at his lowest, Cramorant… even if he has been such a jerk… at the end of the day, he's still a normal Pokémon with feelings, just like each and every one of us."

"I mean, he like deserves it considering he's been acting like such a big baby the whole game. It's giving Roblox kid who says they're so pro just bc they're good at obbies, but they're actually a flop I-R-L…"

"Obbies..?" Chansey narrowed her eyes, confused by the bird's words before shaking her head. "Wait… I don't think I even want to know what that means… but well… the point is Empoleon is not in a good place right now, and I'd rather not make it worse for him, even if he was a jerk. I know when to separate my feelings from my work."

"So Empoleon is like your patient then, L-O-L?"

"I mean… basically!"

"You're such a mother, honestly. You love to see it!"

"Thanks?"

Cramorant tilted her head to the side, crossing her wings. "Though… does that mean you're voting him out or not? It's not like he'd do much WITH the broken hand."

"I… Well… that's what I was thinking of as well. Empoleon's too stubborn to let himself be medically evacuated, so the next best thing is voting him off before his injury gets worse from overexertion." Chansey admitted.

"Good good! Then we're done, right?"

"I guess so…" Chansey murmured, rubbing the back of her head as Cramorant started slowly backing away.

"M'kay! Gucci gang! I'll go talk to the others then!" Cramorant said, as she walked away from the cabin, leaving Chansey confused.

"Why did that feel like so many conversations in one sitting?"

"Chansey is like… soooo sweet, like sickeningly sweet to the point that I get diabetes just talking with her." Cramorant remarked, wings on her lap. "Like… girl, love you to bits but you're not a girls' girl either. Your besties are all men. It's giving pick-me behavior."

"Why did you drag me here..?" A worn-out Teddiursa asked Carracosta, as he led her to the back of the mess hall with a frown. She faked a gasp, wagging her finger knowingly. "Unless… you're trying to tell me you want to be inducted into the Teddiursa posse? I mean Gallade is reliable, but a back-up wouldn't be so bad-"

"No."

"No?"

"That's not the reason." Carracosta continued, looking away.

"M'kay? Then why did you drag me here? I mean, I would be less confused if it was FLOATZEL… but you're not Floatzel, and uhm, we just met… and I'm not interested, sorry. You're not my type. You're too aloof. Maybe you should try Gossifleur instead!" Teddiursa suggested, crossing her arms.

"This is not a confession. I just wanted to ask you if you saw anything weird in there?" Carracosta clarified, face-palming.

"In what?" Teddiursa tilted her head to the side, paw to her mouth before snapping a finger as it came to her soon after. "OH! That dingy cabin we got trapped in? Hm… well, uhm… the fact that there was a cabin in the middle of this island was kinda weird. Did anyone even know about it?"

"..."

"..?"

"..."

"M'kay! Like, it's cute that you're asking me something and then refusing to elaborate, but like, give me something girl? I'm not gonna fill in the blanks like some genius! But sure… go girl, give us absolutely nothing!" Teddiursa remarked flatly.

"... about your fight with that weasel-"

"Why are you changing the topic now? Tch, I know you're just an intern, but I didn't think you'd be here to probe me. What is this, Pokévivor? Are you asking me to make a confessional or something, O-M-G… I'm not ready to give out my CLEARLY rehearsed overexaggerated thoughts yet!""

Carracosta sighed, rolling his eyes. "That's… not the point. I just don't want you to do anything you'd regret."

"Tell me something I don't know, chump. That still doesn't explain why you abruptly changed the topic on me. What the heck is up with that abandoned cabin?!" Teddiursa questioned, leaning closer towards the prehistoric turtle. "I'll answer your questions about Floatzel if you answer THAT!"

"It's hard to explain, but-"

Before Carracosta could respond, a dazed Sableye emerged from the nearby bushes, expression seemingly unchanged since the challenge. The rustling from the bushes drew the attention of Teddiursa and Carracosta, who looked over to his direction, looking shocked as the gremlin crawled over to them just to collapse in the middle of their conversation.

"..."

"Okay, what the hell is this?! Sableye, Sableye!? Where did you even come from!? Uhm… Carracosta, can you just keep talking, and we can pretend Sableye's not here?"

"Is your friend okay?"

"He's fine-" Teddiursa assured, grabbing the Dark-type's hand, lifting it off the ground, only for it to limp down like a soggy noodle. "Err… he's always like this!"

"He doesn't look alright. We can postpone this conversatio-"

"Are you serious? You can't just leave after trying to coax me into having private conversations with you! I mean, I haven't even been talking to anyone IN the game since…" Teddiursa's words trailed off until she shook her head, steeling herself. "... you know what happened! I'm not going to 'socialize' with some rando working on the show!"

Carracosta's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. "Well… this 'rando' might have some information that you need."

"Information like what?"

"The merge, future challenges… future twists." Carracosta explained darkly, oddly contrasted by his flat tone.

Teddiursa took a step back in disbelief, waving her hands frantically. "So, you're volunteering to be my Total Pokémon Ultra Revival Cheat Sheet? I mean, that sounds good and all… but why? What do you want from me? You only met me TODAY! Seems like a leap you're taking, to want to help me from one look. I mean, I am a cutie so I get it… but still. It sounds like you have something planned, and UHM… after dealing with treacherous skanks like Magearna and Floatzel, I don't know if I can trust you!"

"..." Carracosta looked as if he was about to face-palm, only for him to break out into a long sigh, focusing his gaze on Teddiursa as his next words came out breathily. "This is not about trust, honestly. You don't need to trust me. You could use this as leverage to get me fired from this job if you wanted to, I don't care. I just need your help… and in turn, I'll help you too. An equivalent exchange."

"And your idea of 'help' was trying to patch up my relationship with Floatzel?!" Teddiursa scoffed. "Ridic! Literally ridic T-B-H…"

"Hey, I didn't know what else to say…"

"Mhmm mhm… that's fair and all, but WHY are you doing this?!"

"I don't think that needs an explanation."

"EXCUSE ME?! I need all the explanations I can get. Do I have to keep reminding you we literally just met for the first time earlier today?!"

"I-"

"Ugh…" Carracosta was interrupted again by Sableye, lifting his face off the ground with noticeable eye bags around his eyes. "Where… am I?"

"Sableye Arceusdammit, why do you keep interrupting at the worst time?!" Teddiursa groaned.

"S-sorry…"

"Okay okay… Carracosta, don't go anywhere. Let me help Sableye first, UwU!"

Teddiursa walked over to her friend, supporting him by putting an arm around her shoulder and having him lean on the side of the mess hall to stand, since his balance seemed to be unstable. The gremlin's expression had changed from what it was earlier, now to that of confusion. He looked at Carracosta, twiddling his fingers awkwardly before rubbing his eyes while talking. "Uh… who is this big guy? Don't tell me… y-you're replacing Floatzel!? H-haha… that sounds a bit too harsh, don't you think?"

"T-that's your first assumption!?" Teddiursa asked, falling to her knees as she started screaming while looking up. "I'M NOT OBSESSED WITH FLOATZEL!" Clearing her throat, she stood back up. "M'kay, did that answer your question?"

"Uh… n-no?"

Teddiursa face-palmed. "Okay… bottom line is… Carracosta asked ME to meet him here, so it's him who organized this meeting while I'm just being my cute self, humoring his request. I'm not replacing Floatzel with anyone, mhm? That sounds soooo uncute-like. I'm not relying on some hot, attractive Water-type to carry my brand, y'know?"

"Hot attractive?" Sableye queried, almost falling over himself.

Teddiursa looked to the side as a part of her ears turned a shade of pink. "I meant to say UGLY TRAITOROUS… and did I forget to mention LOUD?! He shouts… a LOT. Like, m'kay girlie… we get it. You are a hero of justice or something, but like you don't have to make that your whole personality."

"H-he's nice…"

"Are you serious? He's been hounding you since this game started, and now you think he's NICE? I know we're all in an alliance, dude… but have some dignity, sheesh…"

"Uh…"

Teddiursa shook her head, putting both hands on her hips. "Well… it's whatevs. I don't wanna talk about him any longer. Where were we, Carra-" Turning around, the little bear's eyes widened as she discovered the turtle had vanished into thin air after Teddiursa found herself distracted with Sableye's sudden appearance. "Wuh?!"

Sableye went over to Teddiursa's side, peering over her shoulder in confusion. "W-what happened? Who were you talking to?"

"Carracosta was literally just here!"

"Who? I-is that a secret 21st contestant or something… h-hahaha… I'm so out of the loop…" Sableye queried, eyes darting from side to side frantically as he started searching for whoever Teddiursa was talking about.

"Oh please! This isn't a joke, Sableye! Carracosta's an intern! But then again, I guess you haven't met him yet. I'm honestly shocked, impressed and intimidated that Sunflora hadn't caught you during the challenge…"

"Who?"

"... you know what? Keep being you, Sableye~!"

"I feel like there's way too many unanswered questions here, and I don't know if I love the sound of that! Like, I'm competing in this show to get some cutie money, not unravel some cray-cray conspiracy or something!" Teddiursa puffed up her cheeks in frustration. "I'm like… not gonna think about this… or well… TRY!? I mean, I have a lot on my plate as-is! I'm not gonna let something get me further down in the dumps than I am now!"

She slammed her head on the side of the confessional lightly, as fake tears started to flow out of her eyes. "What's a cutie gonna do when she's expected to do so many things, huh?"

Around the same time Teddiursa and Carracosta had their private meeting, Klinklang and Magcargo were both in their cabin, discussing their plans for the upcoming elimination.

"It has to be between Cramorant and Empoleon… and of the two, I think the choice is pretty obvious…" Klinklang stated matter-of-factly. "Empoleon has injured himself in the challenge, thus he is just a liability now. It would be best to nip that problem in the bud before he drags the entire team down…"

"Yep yep yep! That's pretty much my idea too!" Magcargo affirmed with a rambunctious nod as he turned to an exhausted Sunflora, who was tied up with a lot of rope. "Don't you agree, Sunflora?"

"..."

Klinklang looked at the side, muttering, "Is there any rhyme or reason to you bringing that… THING here?" Sunflora hissed at the gear's harsh words, but the Steel-type remained undeterred. "Did he not just put half of the cast and staff in danger earlier today?"

"No worries. I had permission to help him get better!" Magcargo explained.

"Define 'get better'..." Klinklang asked before immediately taking it back, bobbing his head from side to side. "Wait.. we're going off-topic here. We're supposed to be strategizing."

"We can do both!"

Klinklang sighed, avoiding the urge to roll his eyes. While Magcargo was a bit of a handful, he was still his tightest ally at the end of the day, and it wouldn't be smart to burn that bridge, especially with the merge incoming. So, forcing the most robotic smile he could, Klinklang began to explain. "Magcargo, we're at the Final 12… soon to be Final 11. That number is just going to keep going down and down. You know what that means, Magcargo? Soon enough, there won't be enough of us left to keep these small teams up, so I know Nihilego is going to dissolve these teams and announce the merge in… based on my predictions… two rounds maximum, so it's best to prepare and not get distracted, especially when the other team already has a sizable lead on us!"

"They have like… one extra person, I think… soon to be two after this elimination!" Magcargo counted in his head, tilting his head from side to side thoughtfully. "Hmm, I guess you're right. I thought we'd be getting another swap or something this round, so I was shocked to find out it was just another challenge… Although then again, maybe there WAS a swap, but they removed it since Nihilego was out of commission. Hmm, I wonder if the other tribe is all in a large alliance and-"

"UGGGGGGGH…" Sunflora groaned, slamming his head on the bedpost from Magcargo's rambling.

"Oops! I might've gotten a bit carried away again. Sorry Sunny!" Magcargo said sheepishly, to which Sunflora gawked at the lava snail giving him a sudden nickname. "But yeah… let's plan ahead Klingy! I can even get Chansey onboard, and we could be the strongest alliance ever!"

Klinklang's forced smile faded at the nurse's mention. "Excuse me… Chansey? What does SHE have to do with this?"

"She's also part of our alliance!"

"I- I can't deny that we had a 'mutual partnership' with the Magearna vote… but you cannot just insert random people into our alliance… honestly, I'm surprised you didn't go and invite EVERYONE to our alliance, but I guess even you have restraint…" Klinklang muttered, his voice lowering towards the end of his sentence.

"Well she's my friend, and any friend of mine is reliable enough to help us here! The more the merrier, I always say! I mean, the other tribe is pretty tight at this point, I think. So I feel like if us, Chansey and Dedenne all team up, we can try and fight back! That's what I'm thinking of right now!" Magcargo explained.

"I… see."

"Is something wrong, Klingy?"

"No… nothing's wrong, Magcargo. Don't worry. It's a simple Empoleon vote anyways."

"Okay okay! I just wanted to check!" Magcargo chirped as he hopped off the bed, surprising the gear.

"Where are you going? We're not done yet! We have to plan the bootlist, and-"

"We can plan that when we get there! I just wanna chat with Chansey first, cause she was very confused about the whole Sunflora thing, and I want to keep her up to speed!" Magcargo intoned cheerily as he started crawling to the door… with Sunflora groaning, as he jumped off and started following him… though he was a lot slower than the former due to his arms being tied up.

Before he could leave, Klinklang called out to him loudly, "Well… if you want to plan out future votes… you know where to find-" The gear stopped himself, as the lava snail had already left before he could even finish. "... me."

Left alone, the gear's eyes narrowed as he slowly lied down, staring at the top bunk. "Well… it seems like there are some… unpredictable variables in play here… and…" He couldn't finish his own sentence, getting lost in his train of thoughts. "Magcargo has always been the type to be distracted. This is nothing new, but… I didn't think he would get that close to Chansey… or perhaps I have noticed, but foolishly let it slip under the radar… this-"

"Klinklang, are you there?" A voice called out from outside, accompanied by three consecutive knocks on the door.

Klinklang closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he replied, "I'm here. Just come in."

"HMPH… I won't deny that there are unforeseen circumstances that I should've paid more attention to, and I suppose that is my biggest failure in this game. For that reason, I will have to take extensive measures to make sure that I can abate that problem, and ensure that success is guaranteed." Klinklang remarked, staring at the camera with a cold and hardened gaze.

"That's what makes this game interesting. It's like a game of chess, but I can't control the pieces… but of course, what I can do is control the environment around these pieces to increase the likelihood that they'll do what I want to happen. So… I may to make a difficult decision… if I can call it that. It's callous, but I can't leave things to chance."

"Chansey and I might've gotten really close since Magearna, or should I say… Mew… got voted off! But, Klingy is still pretty much my number one here! He's my best friend… Chansey's my best friend too, but Klinklang is my first best friend, and even though Cramorant says he's a wet blanket, he's a lot of fun to be with if you get to know him better!" Magcargo exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "So, I'd be pumped if all three of us could team up to dominate this game!"

It was only a few minutes until the elimination ceremony. Dedenne and Empoleon were both situated in the mess hall, eating dinner together. Well… it was more so Empoleon eating alone, until Dedenne forced his way over to sit across from the injured penguin.

Dedenne cleared his throat, eyeing Empoleon's bandaged arm awkwardly. "So… are you okay?"

"What do you think?!" Empoleon growled back, eyes darting over his injury as he tried his best to maintain his composure, shoving a spoonful of soup into his mouth.

"Does it hurt that bad?"

"..." Empoleon doesn't respond, his eyes losing its shine the longer the rodent spoke.

"I guess you'll just have to go home then, huh?"

"..."

"Cat got your tongue? You're not usually this quiet. Don't tell me… you can't even talk back? Did you break your voice, too?"

"..."

"Well, I guess I'll just cut to what I really want to say, then. You should've probably let yourself be evacuated, but since you refuse to, I guess you'd rather be humiliated by a unanimous vote then. Goodbye-" Dedenne stood up, preparing to leave until…

"... s-... s-s-stop!"

Dedenne turned back, eyes widening at the sudden stammer. This was the first time he's seen Empoleon sound so... lost. The penguin had been crumpled on the ground, tears streaming down his face as he fell off his seat, trying to stop Dedenne from leaving.

"I-I... I'm... I don't w-want to go home now... but I'm s-scared... I swear it doesn't fucking… hurt and I-"

"Empoleon?"

"..."

"Empoleon, you sound like Bayleef right now, and that's not me trying to get under your skin this time." Dedenne remarked, taking a step back. He was starting to feel overwhelmed by the penguin's slow descent into despair.

"... Bayleef… he…"

"Emp-" To Dedenne's surprise, the penguin grabbed the Electric-type, bringing him closer. "OKAY, this is too close to my liking-"

"W-why did you have to do this to me?! I w-was just... b-being my f-f-f-fuck-fuck-fudging self, and you keep getting on my nerves like I did something wrong..."

"... okay, dude... I mean, you're a jerk. You deserve it."

"... me?! A jerk!? Y-you... ch-c-chumps all deserve it for being weak!"

"Okay, stop talking. You sound like Sableye right now... which is weird to say, but hey, he did have that gravelly voice I guess. But still, you're going home, so you should just pack your ba-"

"... what if I want to be here?"

"EXCUSE ME!? You literally broke your arm!"

"I... I'd be a disappointment if I just... l-let it stop me." Empoleon's stammer made it obvious that he had grown desperate. Dedenne deadpanned. He wasn't here to be his therapist…

"And who would you be a disappointment to exactly? It's not like we had huge expectations of you…" Dedenne pointed out before adding in a hushed tone, "... except Bayleef, of course."

"I… you're…" Empoleon's eyes widened, before he punched his uninjured wing up towards the ceiling. "UGGGGGH! I hate to admit it, but you're… ugh… right. I… I really was nobody's role model, huh?"

"You're telling me? No offense… this is not me wanting to kick you when you're already down, but you do nothing but scream at people if they do things you don't agree with, and honestly? You shouldn't be surprised that people hate you!" Dedenne explained in the most delicate way he could put it… if he could even call it delicate.

Empoleon looked to the side, any confidence he managed to piece together in the last five seconds shattered immediately. "O-oh… oh… well… it's not like I want people to like me or anything. Huge fucking mistake, I know. I- I-"

"Okay… I'm going to leave now. Don't cry?"

"I-I… I wasn't planning on crying…"

"You're already crying!" Surely enough, the penguin's eyes were leaking with rivulets flowing down his face. "Okay… you're actually making me feel bad here."

"Fuck you!"

"Aaaand that's the Empoleon we know and love." Dedenne drawled, rolling his eyes as he patted the penguin on the back awkwardly.

"I like to think I can read people easily, but maybe I might've misread Empoleon… okay, that's an understatement. I egged him on having a crush on Bayleef to get under his skin, but as it turns out he might've just seen him as a little brother or something… whatever… it already happened. I'll just pretend I didn't do that now, thank you very much."

As Chansey was preparing to head to the elimination ceremony, Sableye caught up to her, hands on his head as his gems looked less shinier than before as he laughed nervously.

"C-Chansey, are you heading to the elimination?"

"Yes, Sableye. Or at least, I was about to… do you need me for something?" Chansey queried, arching a brow as she tightened her grip on the strap of her bag. "I don't know if we have much time to chat here however, so you better make it quick."

"My head… it… it really hurts." Sableye explained, eyes wholly unfocused as he struggled to maintain his gaze on the nurse. "It started hurting in the challenge… ugh… and it's making it r-really hard to think straight, h-hahaha…"

"Well, that's no laughing matter. I would really love to help you here right now, but I don't have enough time to treat you, so you might be better off going to Lopunny while he's available." Chansey advised, laughing sheepishly. "Though… he never does leave his spot, huh? I guess that means he's always available if you need him. Though, I'd advise you to get some sleep at the very least. And drink a lot of water, and-"

"Chan-Chan!" Chansey's expression suddenly deflated at the high-pitch voice calling out from behind her. Turning around, she saw Cramorant walking over to her, staring at her phone intensely. "We have an Elim Ceremony, so like… get that booty moving, gurl! We don't wanna be late, y'know? What were you even..?" She looked up from her phone, now noticing Sableye was also there. "Oh… it's the uhm… what's your username again? S-A-B-L-E? Sable, right?"

"Actually, i-it's Sabley-"

"Mmhm, don't care. You're like on another team anyways, so I don't wanna hear it. But uhm… what were you two talking about?"

"Sableye had a headache, and asked me for help treating it." Chansey explained.

"Oh! So like… did that matter more than the elim? I mean, you like… would rather chat with Sable here about his migraines over talking about the vote? Like, you really wanted out when we had that conversation earlier, and like… that's so rude!"

"You're still mad about that?"

"I mean, you're a bit condescending too, y'know? Also like… yeah, I get it… you're a nice girl and all… but Sable is on the other team, so like, maybe don't be trying to help him?" Cramorant pointed out, staring at her nails with a bored expression.

"Cramorant… you should know that there is no such thing as teams when someone is in need of medical attention!" Chansey refuted, hiding her annoyance with a chilling smile.

"Mhmhm… m'kay. Don't care." Cramorant said flatly.

"Uhmmm… should I still be here?" Sableye chimed in nervously.

"Oh, you can leave." Cramorant said, to Chansey's dismay. The gremlin gave the nurse a nervous look before scurrying out of the area, leaving the two members of the Shuppet tribe alone.

"..."

"Well anyways, good luck at the elimination ceremony~" Cramorant told the nurse with a giggle, as she started walking away towards the direction of the woods.

Chansey was left agape from Cramorant's rude and brief interruption. She knew she wasn't exactly helping their relationship blossom, but it felt like there had been a lot of unspoken tension between them.

Nightfall came, and the six remaining members of the Shining Shuppet gathered around the campfire for their 2nd tribal council. They all looked exhausted after a long day with Empoleon, who speaking of, looked like he was about to fall off his seat as he stared at the ground in front of him, while various thoughts flooded his head, adding to the pressure of elimination.

Surprisingly, NIHILEGO was waiting for them at the elimination ceremony, her complexion returning even though she still had dark circles around her eyes. She mustered a smile as she waved at the contestants. "Welcome to your elimination ceremony, Shuppet! I was… out with a cold, but I'm back now, and I heard Staravia did stupid things like… ask questions during elimination ceremonies, so I'm going to follow her example and copy her idea. Poipole?!"

The smaller Ultra Beast walked into the area, carrying a tray of marshmallows. "Is it my turn now?"

"No, just… you can ask them questions… my head is still killing me. I'd rather go back to bed, but them's the breaks."

Poipole almost dropped his tray, but managed to balance them on one hand. "M-maybe we should just let Staravia host this again?"

Ï… I can't. I can't do that. From what I've heard, she was bringing down this show with her confusing hosting abilities, and after what happened this challenge… I knew I had to return to hosting again." Nihilego said, gagging a bit while speaking.

"Uhm… are we interrupting something?" Dedenne asked, cocking a brow.

"No, it's none of your business. Let's just move on now." Nihilego answered, shooting a glare at the rodent, who almost fell off his chair from the jellyfish's intimidating gaze.

Poipole nodded as he turned to face Empoleon. "I'll start with you, Empoleon. You… you're injured. I heard from Lopunny that he made attempts to medically evacuate you, but you refused. Why?"

"I'm not a quitter. I'd rather go home on my own terms, than be pulled out because I… I-I broke my arm! I-it's just a scratch…" Dedenne looked slightly unnerved by Empoleon's answer, as he looked to the side sullenly.

"Chansey, as a nurse, what are your thoughts on this?"

"I think it's dumb… but at the end of the day, it's Empoleon's choice, so-"

"So you're letting him not quit? L-O-L, you're such a flop nurse!" Cramorant chimed in, rolling her eyes as she leaned back on her stool. "I mean… it sounds like a dumb idea to keep him in the game, when he's probably gonna break another arm… or worse, break both legs! He's such a meme, honestly."

Empoleon opened his mouth to interject, but in the end, he couldn't make a rebuttal, deflating in disappointment.

"T-that's not what I meant. I'm voting him off…" Chansey reasoned, putting a hand to her forehead with a sigh. "I'm just saying… Empoleon said it himself… he'd rather get voted off than be evacuated, and I would rather respect his wishes instead of kicking him when he's already down!"

"Mhm… most believable lie ever."

"I… you know what, let's just move on already."

"Okie dokie! Magcargo, you found all the tapes for the team this challenge! Do you think that's enough to make you safe for this elimination?"

"Hopefully! I mean, I reunited with Sunflora and that's enough of a reward for me, but I'd appreciate not getting voted off either!" Magcargo answered with a wide smile, contrasting the dour mood surrounding him.

"And who do you think is on the chopping block for tonight's vote?"

Magcargo gave Empoleon a pitying stare. "I'm sorry, Empoleon…"

"That looks like two votes for Empoleon already… Klinklang-"

"Let's just proceed with the votes. It doesn't look like we'll be moving away from the topic of Empoleon anyways." Klinklang said, gazing in front of him intensely.

"Okay then! Let's vote!"

Empoleon weakly raised his parchment with Dedenne's name written on it. "You're not going home, and I know I can just vote myself off, but… everyone would think I'm all bull if I voted for myself… This is payback for all those times you…"

Klinklang stared at the camera, saddened before returning to his cold expression. "I need to make tough choices… and with the merge coming closer, I need to…" Sighing, he shook his head. "Magcargo, I would like to make a formal apology to you… but I suppose it would ring hollow after everything…"

Chansey rolled her eyes, staring at the camera with a huff, as she showed her parchment with "Empoleon" on it. "I don't know what Cramorant's problem is… and I was honestly tempted to just vote her off, given the fact that-" She bit her tongue, averting her gaze. "Ahem… but anyways, I'm voting for Empoleon. I would sound like a hypocrite if I went back on everything I said tonight."

"Okay, we have all the votes! If I call your name, you are safe and receive a marshmallow." As Nihilego announced this, she grabbed a marshmallow off the tray and waved it around for everyone to see.

"The first person safe is…"

"Klinklang." The gear didn't even bother to catch his marshmallow, just staring in front of him intensely.

"Magcargo!" Magcargo cheered as he caught his marshmallow with his mouth. He looked over to Chansey, who smiled expectantly.

"Cramorant."

The cormorant was too focused on her phone to notice the marshmallow hitting her squarely on the forehead. "Ow!"

"We are down to our bottom 3… wow, these teams really are getting smaller… but that's enough of me being sentimental. Chansey, Empoleon, Dedenne… you all received votes."

Chansey looked confused by this, propping her head with her arm. "W-what?! Who voted for me?"

"That's my line! Who voted for me!?" Dedenne asked, deadpanning before turning to Empoleon. "Oh wait… should I even be surprised?"

"And with Empoleon's sole vote, Dedenne, you are safe!"

Dedenne smirked as he caught his marshmallow. This left Chansey and Empoleon in the Bottom 2.

Empoleon and Chansey exchanged glances. Empoleon was mostly at peace with leaving at this point, while Chansey had experienced so many shocking events in this game to the point that she wasn't even sure if she was safe.

"Empoleon, you broke your arm. You're basically expendable, and became the thing you wanted gone in the first place." Empoleon looked down, burying his face beneath his flippers. "Chansey, you are kind of preachy."

"W-what?!" Chansey gawked at Nihilego's choice of words. "S-stop joking, and announce who is safe already…"

"The person staying in the game is…"

"…"

"Empoleon." The penguin looked SHOCKED, as Nihilego tossed a marshmallow that landed on his lap. "Which means… Chansey, you're out!"

Magcargo jumped off his seat, frowning. "W-what!? I think you miscounted! Klinklang, Chansey and I all voted for Empoleon! That should be the majority! Empoleon is hurt, guys… g-guys?!" His gaze went over to Klinklang, who just looked away. And it was then that he made the realization. His pupils shrunk, as he gaped at the gear. "..."

"Magcargo, I-"

"SAVE IT! I don't think I can even look at you right now…" Magcargo choked out, as he started to cry.

"Magcargo… it's alright…" Chansey said, dusting her lap before standing up. "You'll be fine."

"C-Chansey!? You can't just say that! E-Empoleon, you should quit! You're hurting, and-"

"Buddy, I'm just as shocked as you are, but the last thing I'm going to do is quit." Empoleon said as he crossed his arms. He tried his best to hide his shock, but his expression gave it away.

"This isn't fair…" Magcargo muttered to himself.

"Life isn't fair." Dedenne pointed out, playing with his marshmallow.

"..." Magcargo only glared at the rodent in response.

"Chansey, it's time to go. Chop chop." Nihilego reminded the nurse, who nodded as she followed Poipole to the docks. Magcargo immediately crawled after them, with Empoleon sheepishly standing up to follow shortly after.

"Chansey… this can't be real… you can't be gone!" Magcargo whimpered as he and Empoleon followed the nurse down the docks. "We were supposed to make merge together. We… we… we were supposed to play this game together!"

"I don't know what happened either… but… I want you to keep having fun in the game, Magcargo. My time in the game is over… but hey… yours isn't, so keep moving forward." Chansey told her friend with a reassuring smile. "We'll see each other after the game anyways… or well… I hope so."

The lava snail nodded repeatedly at this. "Mhm! I'll give you my phone number… and my email address… and my social media account too, so we can keep in contact after the game!"

"Hahaha… never change, Magcargo." Chansey said, patting the lava snail on the head before preparing to climb aboard the boat but before she can get on, Empoleon managed to yell out in a… shaky, yet decisive tone.

"Chansey… w-wait a minute… I wanted… to say something."

Chansey blinked, a bit shocked by the penguin's presence. "Empoleon? What are you doing here?"

"I-I just wanted to… say…" Empoleon looked to the side, gritting his teeth as he struggled to piece together the right words. "I… I'm sorry… I-I… I'm really sorry. I should've just quit… first, it was Bayleef and now, you… so many p-people are going home when I'm the one who deserves it the most."

"Empoleon…"

"I… I'm sorry for being a shitty person to you. I will admit… I-I… was thinking of… shitty things… like plans… to backstab you if you accepted my apology, so you were right not to forgive me. I'm a terrible person. I'm a coward… hell, I'm probably the weakest person here… and I know it's probably hard to forgive me when you're the one going home, but-"

"No… no, it's not. I forgive you." Chansey said with a warm smile, surprising the penguin.

"W-what? Are you serious? B-but… I'm a terrible person… you… I… was a bad leader… I… I should be on that boat. I am a hypocrite… a fat liar, and I haven't changed at all. I-I-"

"Empoleon… the fact that you're giving me a sincere apology is enough. I know it's sincere, since you're telling me this after I got voted off. Apologizing to me wouldn't have any benefit to your game at all… and judging from your words, I can tell this isn't for pure closure either. You really feel bad for your actions, and that is enough for me." Chansey explained with a satisfied expression.

"Chansey…"

"Chansey, we have to go. We don't have all day!" Poipole called out to the nurse from within the boat.

The nurse sighed, as she wiped away the tears forming in her eyes. "Well… I suppose that's goodbye then." Climbing aboard the boat, she waved at the two guys on the docks with a smile. "Good luck!"

"Bye bye… b-bye bye Chansey. WAAAAAAAAH!" At this point, Magcargo had broken down into tears as the boat started sailing away from the island, with the nurse onboard. "IT SHOULD'VE BEEN MEEEEEEEE!"

Behind him, Empoleon just stared at the boat that was just growing smaller as it got further into the distance. His mouth was still agape from Chansey accepting his apology… and now, she was gone. For the first time since Bayleef got voted off, he was feeling absolutely lost.

"I… I…"

Bellossom was sitting in the interns' tent, drinking TEN cups of coffee, all in a row. After everything that had happened today, she felt that she deserved it. A worried Whimsicott walked over to her, arms crossed as she immediately noticed the surplus amount of coffee surrounding the flower.

"Bellossom, I heard from Carracosta about what happened. What's the deal with that Sunflora dude? Also, I heard you found a Flapple?! Where did they even come from!?"

"Does it look like I know?! Staravia got in trouble for all of it when I told Nihilego it was HER idea, but what if they found out it was MY idea to have the challenge in the first place!? Honestly it was very lucky for me that Staravia wanted to soak up all the attention, and volunteered to take the blame…" Bellossom exclaimed as she waved her hands around, spilling coffee on the table as she slammed the cup down. "I'm honestly sooo exhausted, and I'm glad the shock was enough to force Nihilego back into hosting. It feels like this game has been going on for three years, and I haven't even been an intern for that long!"

"Uhh… long day, huh?"

"Understatement of the century. Where were you even? Weren't you filming the whole episode?"

Whimsicott smirked, shaking her head. "I'm not the only one manning the camera, you know? I had some help… since I had some business to deal with…"

"What business?"

"I think it's better if I show you."

"?" Bellossom cocked her brow as she took a quick sip of her coffee, spouting out a curse as she accidentally burnt her tongue.

Vote Count:

Chansey - Cramorant, Dedenne, Klinklang

Empoleon - Chansey, Magcargo

Dedenne - Empoleon

Shining Shuppet - Cramorant, Dedenne, Empoleon, Magcargo, Klinklang

Twinkling Trubbish - Floatzel, Gossifleur, Oricorio, Sableye, Teddiursa, Vanilluxe

Eliminated: Unfezant, Pikachu, Musharna, Bayleef, Gourgeist, Vivillon, Magearna, Skwovet, Chansey

ELIMINATED: Chansey, The Kindly Nurse (12th Place)

Chansey was an interesting character to write, especially with similar characters in Gossifleur and Magearna (fake) also being in the story so I had to work around that and try to make her stand out as her own character. From being a MASSIVE fan of Magearna and getting disillusioned after finding out she was just using her… she had the whole journey this premerge but unfortunately for her, after Magearna got eliminated, she adopted a more supporting role since with Magcargo's help, she didn't have much baggage there, especially with Magearna actually being a fake.

She was definitely different from other nice girls that I've written, since she had more defined goals and a more independent storyline in this competition. While Comf was nice… she was just nice and taken advantage of. While Gossifleur and Chansey both have the spatial awareness that allows them to not let their 'nice girl' personalities be their downfall.

She had a LOT of conflicts with Empoleon, Cramorant, Klinklang (one-sided) and Magearna that all culminated with her elimination and I feel like she's more well-rounded in that… despite being nice, she wasn't actually that generally well-liked by the entire game. It's like 'oh, she's so nice. Everyone likes her'. Chansey was moreso in a bubble and was nice but unlike Oricorio, who was more active and assertive with her niceness (to everyone's sheer dismay), Chansey kept to herself and had a smaller circle of friends in… basically Magcargo. Honestly, she got unlucky with this swap since the other team had players she would've had stronger bonds with but with how the challenges were, she didn't exactly get many chances to bond with anyone but Magcargo and her teammates just lowkey despised her.

Note from Nihilego:

Hello hello! It's me again… this time to talk about this chapter as a whole.

This chapter is basically a set-up chapter and is probably very overwhelming but eh, I write what I want to write since this is basically the start of the midgame arcs and the end of the 'Nihilego is Sick' swap arc. EVERY intern gets a scene because I feel like they've been nothing but props until now and it's better to have it later than never after all so even if some (Lopunny) get like 1-2 lines, I wanted to make sure they can have some notable personality traits… for the future.

Chansey's elimination was not set in stone though and she was actually… a winner candidate that faded because I realized her story was so frontloaded that she didn't have much to do after the midgame wrapped up so I decided to push her up the bootlist and so, she's eliminated in 12th place with not much changes to her storyline. Other changes include Empoleon. He had a broken leg originally but I felt that was too debilitating of an injury to not even be able to walk so I switched it over to have him realistically still be able to compete… even if a broken arm is still painful to have.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter though… I don't have much to share since this is 40k words but it was fun. Thank you very much!

Magearna: (giggles) I wasn't given the opportunity to do this… so review for little ole me… pretty please?

Flapple: Oh, shut up! REVIEW SO I CAN GET MY OLD JOB BACK!