Episode 4: Dropping Cold Comfort

With the previous elimination come and gone, Meowstic found himself once again walking to the clearing he had found before the previous challenge. He had assumed Dolliv wouldn't be there this time, as there would be no reason to be sleeping outside like this twice in a row. Unfortunately for him, Meowstic arrived at the clearing to find Dolliv sitting on a blanket while looking up at the sky.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Meowstic softly grumbled to himself. He started to turn away and leave when his action was interrupted by a voice.

"Good morning, Meowstic." The feline turned to see Dolliv now looking at him with a wave and soft smile. "You've already come all this way; why not join me? I even brought a blanket for comfort."

Meowstic rolled his eyes. However, he decided to walk over to the blanket rather than go back to camp.

"Hmph, dealing with one of these simpletons is far better than dealing with the rest of the lot," Meowstic grumbled as he gave the camera a sour look. "At the very least, I can make an opportunity out of this."

Meowstic was now seated on the blanket, reading his book of choice for the morning, while Dolliv laid down near him, continuing her cloud gazing. The two stayed in silence for some time, with only the sounds of book pages turning or the sounds of nature around them to interrupt that silence. Eventually, though, Dolliv sat up a little and looked over at Meowstic.

"Quite a lovely day, don't you agree?" she said to the psychic type, now officially breaking the silence between them.

"Sure," Meowstic dismissed, not particularly caring.

Dolliv frowned a little, not expecting nor liking that response, then decided to redirect the topic. "Might I ask what you're reading?"

Meowstic didn't reply to her at first; however, his eyes looked over to her for a singular moment. "It's a book. Y'know- with paper, and words," he rolled his eyes, going back to reading with a scoff, "I brought a few with me."

"You sound like you plan on being in this game for some time."

Meowstic scoffed at the perceived ignorance. "Of course I did. To not would be downright idiotic." He then looked back at his novel. "Now, if you will, I prefer silence. I have to think."

"While you read?"

"I can multitask," was all he replied with. While mildly confused, Dolliv relented to the request without much of a fuss, looking up to the sky and going into thought herself.

Dolliv held one of her hands to her head, as if continuing the train of thought that began earlier. "I understand that this game can be very important; it is not lost on me. But, you come to a nice spot in the forest with a book... And you think while relaxing. I don't think I fully understand him yet."

She let her arm down, now placing her hand on her heart. "Still, perhaps spending more time with him will allow me to understand him better. Perhaps he could help me in this game as well."

Ninetales was lying on one of the benches by the bonfire pit, having decided to get some early morning rays. Her eyes closed, she relaxed until she heard someone sit on the bench next to her, groaning at them, "Could you not bother me, please? I'm trying to work on my tan here!"

"You have silver fur, Ninetales. I would suggest not ruining your image with a tan." Recognizing the nonchalant tone, Ninetales opened her eyes to see Gothitelle next to her, holding her nail file. "Care for a pedicure? I can at least file your nails."

Ninetales got up from her lying position, casting a glance at the psychic type. "And why should I agree to that?"

"Because I'm a tad bored, and you, darling, could use a trim," Gothitelle spoke with a bit of mischievousness in her tone. "Besides, why not extend a little olive branch after our small quarrel on the first day?"

Ninetales silently contemplated the offer for a moment before offering a claw. "Just don't mess up."

"Oh, I wouldn't dare to," Gothitelle teased as she got to work.

Gothitelle was lightly filing her own nails as she smiled softly at the camera. "I don't regret arguing over the bed on day one at all. It was just a bit of fun, after all."

She stopped filing and admired her work. "But it does allow me to make 'amends' and possibly gather information in the future. Ninetales isn't too hard to read... I give it two days before she spills the tea on her whole team. Three at the worst."

"Hmph, not bad," Ninetales commented, looking at her claws to admire Gothitelle's work. "I guess I can forgive you then."

Gothitelle smiled proudly. "Why, thank you. I'm sure it helped relax you after what was surely a stressful first elimination."

"Stressful? HA! As if!" Ninetales started to laugh. "Oh, it was just fun to watch, really. I love a good trainwreck."

"But trainwrecks hurt people."

Both girls yelped in surprise as they turned around, finding Glimmora had floated behind them at some point.

"Agh! Stop doing that, you freak!" Ninetales venomously shouted.

"Glimmora," Gothitelle started, "what are you doing floating there?"

The crystal flower merely blinked. "I wanted my nails done."

Gothitelle pinched her forehead for a moment. "You don't have nails, Glimmora."

"Oh," was all Glimmora said sadly. She leaned down a tad before she simply floated away.

Ninetales groaned and jumped off the bench. "I am going to get as far away from her as possible. Have fun dealing with the freak in the challenge." Ninetales walked away, going in the opposite direction as Glimmora, leaving Gothitelle alone.

The psychic groaned, a noticeable glare on her face as she grumbled out, "Well, there went that."

"You know, I didn't expect to be invited to the beach this early in the show," Meowth said with a hint of teasing. He was seated by the starting beach with Raichu standing nearby, having apparently asked to meet. "But I can't complain."

Raichu wrinkled her nose at the implications the feline was casting her way. "Get your mind out of the gutter, please. I just wanted to talk to you privately."

Meowth snickered. "Aww, you're no fun." He waved her forward, relenting with, "Fine, what is it?"

"Have we met somewhere before?" Raichu paused for Meowth to react, only for the cat to perk a brow in clear confusion. "I'm sorry, but you just look... I don't know, familiar to me for some reason."

"Look, I'd love to go for a line where I say 'In your dreams' or something. But I haven't met you before the boat ride here," Meowth replied firmly. "Lots of Meowths in the world, so maybe you met a distant cousin or something."

Raichu shook her head. "I don't know. It's just this nagging feeling I keep having."

Meowth, rather oddly, seemed to try and force the subject to a close. "Maybe you're going a little stir crazy. The game must already be stressing you out. Relax."

Raichu sighed. "Maybe. It's probably just some dumb paranoia. I shouldn't have watched all those soap operas before coming here." She groaned to herself as Meowth's whiskers twitched a tad.

"Soap operas? Do you actually watch those?" He stifled his snickering behind the question, his face growing another mischievous grin.

"Uh, yeah?" Raichu replied, feeling a tad offended with a mix of embarrassment as she looked away. "I watch them with my mom all the time. I think they're charming. Sure, they're basically just never-ending dramas, but the characters still get bright spots every once in a while. Sort of like reality, right?" She looked back to see Meowth holding back his laughter, irritating her. "This isn't funny, Meowth!"

Meowth audibly snickered before clearing his throat. "Sorry, sorry. That was just really cheesy." Raichu gave him a deadpan look, to which Meowth held up his arms in defense. "Hey, no judgment. I watch them too."

Raichu cast him a look of confusion. "Really? No offense, but you don't seem like the type of guy to watch them."

"I'm just full of surprises," he said as he started to smirk. "Care to find out more of what I have hidden away?"

Raichu wrinkled her nose again as she started to walk past him to leave. "You are impossible. I'm going back to the cabins."

Meowth waved her off with his smirk, waiting until she got out of sight and earshot. And as soon as she did, his arm dropped to the side as he held a small scowl. "She could be a problem."

Meowth was seated in the confessional, his arms crossed and eyes closed as he pondered something that was bothering him. "Too close. Way too close. I'm probably going to have to deal with that eventually…"

After a little bit, he took a deep breath, relaxing his posture while reopening his eyes. "But for now... I'll just continue as normal." He winked at the camera.

Raichu walked back to the campground area, and as she did so, she saw Lycanroc walking out of the mess hall with a couple of bowls of breakfast. Curious, she walked over to him.

"Oh, morning, Raichu," Lycanroc greeted upon noticing the electric type coming towards him.

Cutting right through that greeting, she pointed at the dog's hands. "Lycanroc, why do you have two bowls?" Raichu asked.

Lycanroc chuckled nervously. "W-Well, Pancham woke up from what happened last night... s-so Mightyena suggested I bring some food to the cabin so he doesn't move too much."

"Oh…That's…Nice of you," Raichu commented. "Do you, um, need any help with those?"

Lycanroc flinched a little at that. "O-Oh, s-sure. Here." He offered Raichu one of the bowls, which she took, albeit a tad confused by the wolf's response to her question. Together the two walked to the boys' cabin and went inside to find an annoyed Mightyena growling at a defiant-looking Pancham standing on his bed.

"I'm fine!" the panda shouted at the dark type, who was growling at him.

"I don't care! Stay in bed, you idiot!"

"Who are you calling an idiot!?"

"You, idiot!"

"Umm..." Lycanroc looked uncomfortable at what was going on before him, while Raichu beside him groaned at the sight.

Before Raichu could do anything about the argument, though, Gliscor came down from his bunk, fearlessly getting between the two arguing Pokémon. Seeming more serious than he normally does, he said, "If you two wish to squabble, be my guests... but if you do, you'll forfeit your right to all your food to me!" He laughed maniacally, causing both Pancham and Mightyena to look at him like he was insane. Although it didn't take them long to look over at the duo by the door with their food.

"Oh, hey guys," Pancham said as if he wasn't just arguing with Mightyena mere moments ago.

Mightyena scoffed, "Screw this, I'm going to the campfire."

"Can I join you?" Raichu asked. "I suddenly want nothing to do with... whatever is happening here."

"You have my food anyway," Mightyena accepted. "Come on." He and Raichu left the cabin, with Mightyena slamming the door as he exited.

"So..." Pancham started, "are you going to give me my food or what?"

"O-Oh, right." Lycanroc handed over the bowl in his hands, watching as Gliscor got back to his bunk to hang upside down by his tail. He turned back to Pancham after a moment. "Are you sure you're okay, Pancham?"

Pancham gulped down some of his food. "Of course I am! Why are you guys worrying so much?"

"Perhaps it has to do with the display the previous night," commented Gliscor. "Quite amusing, watching Aegislash force you to look into the eye of a dead man!" He chuckled to himself.

"Do you have to put it like that?" Lycanroc asked, exasperated.

"Hmm…Yes," Gliscor replied teasingly, to which Lycanroc groaned heavily.

"That? Please, it was nothing," Pancham said before chugging the rest of the contents of the bowl. "I'm not scared or anything."

Hearing that, Lycanroc and Gliscor looked at each other with nearly equally doubtful expressions.

"I don't think he's okay…" Lycanroc said with a look of concern and sympathy on his face.

Gliscor was laughing to himself, "Oh, the panda is quite demoralized!"

Pancham scoffs, "Like I'm going to tell them how I felt about that… Damn sword… At least he's gone, and I'm still here to win this thing. And I'm going to win! No one can stop me!"

For a split second, Pancham looked…Off, but the expression didn't last long.

Skiploom and Frillish were hanging out by the lake on the island, having a casual discussion while in the background, Golduck was swimming laps around the lake.

"I love foggy days at the beach," Frillish exclaimed with a sigh. "M-My mom always said there's charm to the mystique of mist."

"Really? Most people are just scared of it," Skiploom noted.

"I-I know, but I find it comforting," Frillish said, smiling at her own fond memories. "O-Oh, maybe one of these islands will be foggy. I'd love that."

"I'm just hoping the rest of the islands smell better than Hydroxin did," Skiploom said, which caused Frillish to laugh a little.

"Agreed." Frillish heard a splash and saw Golduck going for another lap. "Um... hasn't she been at this for a while now?"

"Mhm," Skiploom answered. "I think it's a form of stress relief for her. I can't really blame her, though."

"Hm? What do you mean? Did something happen?"

"Oh, it's just the elimination," Skiploom clarified. "We didn't all exactly agree on who to vote for... and Aegislash attacked Pancham before he left."

"What!? That's horrible!" Frillish said in pure shock, her fins coming over her mouth.

Skiploom's smile wavered a tad as she was thinking back to the night before, but she quickly recovered. "I'm sure he's fine now, but... it wasn't fun to watch. If anything, it makes me feel better knowing that Aegislash was voted off."

"I-I could only imagine," Frillish commented, giving her a sympathetic look. She felt very happy that the sword wasn't on her team based on the events she was hearing. "But m-maybe things will look up now. It's still early."

"I don't know," Skiploom solemnly replied, despite her smile. "My team is just... a lot." Her gaze drifted off as she said that.

Before Frillish could have a chance to ask what that meant, the duo heard Golduck jumping out of the lake and landing on the grass nearby. After a moment, she took notice of the girls looking at her. "Sorry, did I interrupt something?"

"Oh, no no!" Skiploom exclaimed, her smile bright as she flew over to check on her teammate. "We were just talking a little about last night. Oh, speaking of, are you okay, Golduck? You haven't said too much since we got back to the cabin last night. I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine," the water type replied quickly. "I just needed to think for a while. What's done is done, we're just going to have to pick up the pieces and show the Kyogres what we can do as a team." She paused for a moment, realizing Frillish was right there. "Uh, no offense, Frillish."

"None taken."

"Great! I'm happy to hear it," Skiploom said happily as Frillish looked back at the grass type with a bit of worry.

Golduck sat with her arms crossed, holding a mildly hardened expression as she spoke to the camera. "I'm not going to lie, last night was a lot for me." She sighed before scratching her head. "The team was not getting along, the vote was split, and Aegislash attacked Pancham. I thought Pancham did mess the team up and even voted for him, but now I'm not exactly sure what to think about all that."

She got up, stretching her body as she continued. "But I can't focus on that now. We need to stick together as a team, and I'm going to make sure of it. Even if it means I have to deal with some…Issues. We can just deal with them if and when we have to eliminate someone, and things will be smooth sailing, right?" She momentarily looked to the side, still visibly bothered.

Frillish was floating above the stump, twiddling her fins mindlessly as she stared into space. "Why does Skiploom always smile?"

"Everyone, make your way to the starting beach! It's time to travel for your next challenge!"

"Fourteen… Fifteen… Sixteen!" Floatzel counted, making sure the whole cast was there. Behind him were the two boats the cast had used to travel to Hydroxin Island a couple of days prior. One of the boats seemed to have a cooler on it for the occasion. "Alright, you're all here! Everyone ready for the next island!?"

"Is it going to stink as much as the last one?" Ninetales replied in an annoyed tone.

"Who knows," Druddigon started, "Maybe we'll end up on some rainforest island or something."

"Or a wasteland," Mightyena drawled.

"Oh, or a winter wonderland!" Skiploom gleefully added.

Lycanroc, however, gave Skiploom a very confused look. "Uh, Skiploom, you're both a Grass and Flying type. That'd be the worst place for you."

"So? I like snow."

Floatzel chuckled as he smirked at the cast. "Well, it's your lucky day. One of you is right!"

"And pray tell, who would that be?" Gothitelle asked.

"Like I'm going to tell you that!" Floatzel barked back. "Now get on the boats! We've got places to be, people!"

Everyone got on the boats, and soon the cast was off on another adventure. Thankfully, the ride didn't take too long, as soon enough the sixteen contestants saw an island coated in white with large, rigid structures coming into view. Skiploom's eyes widened in pure glee.

"I knew it! I knew it!" Skiploom cheered as she clapped to herself. "This is the best day ever!"

Once the boats arrived on the white sandy beach, the cast got a firsthand look at the island. The island was practically blanketed in snow as far as the eye could see—from the ground to the trees and everything in between. There also seemed to be a lot of jagged mountains and cliff faces, ranging in height and roughness. The skies above were generally overcast with light snow falling onto the arriving Pokémon, and the waters were surrounded by ice floes that the boats had to be careful of. And of course, it was cold as hell!

"Oh Arceus," Raichu exclaimed as she started shivering. "It's freezing!"

"Y-Yeah, no kidding!" Pancham added, his teeth chattering a little.

"Oh, the beauty of snow… and how it coexists with the brutality of its cold nature," Dolliv muttered to no one in particular. And while many gave her looks for such an oddly eerie line, Skiploom, however, nodded along with what she said.

Floatzel, now holding and sipping from a thermos, chuckled at everyone's reactions. "Ah, this is even funnier than I expected."

"Screw you too," Lycanroc muttered to himself.

"Anyway, welcome to Glacridge Island, everyone!" Floatzel announced. "Home to snow, ice, cliffs, and rigid mountaintops! I doubt I need to explain what types this place represents."

"Fire and Ground, truly," Gothitelle boredly commented, rolling her eyes.

"Fire? But we're seeing snow, aren't we?" Glimmora asked, to which she was promptly ignored.

"Oho! Just you wait," Floatzel spoke in a sinister tone, causing some of the cast to feel a shiver down their spines. He cleared his throat afterward. "Anyway, challenge time! Who here has gone bowling before?"

"I have," Dewott commented while raising a hand. Meowth and Golduck also raised their hands.

"Not much experience here. Oh well, not like it would help too much," Floatzel said, taking a sip from his thermos before continuing. "Today, your challenge will have you playing a modified game of bowling. I will send you to the top of a cliff face that slopes onto some flat land. It'll be your job to roll snowballs down the cliff to destroy three snow sculptures, each adorned with a flag of the opposite team's color. The first team to make those flags fall to the ground wins. Simple as that."

"Simple, you say?" Gliscor asked. "Thus far, I wouldn't say the challenges are 'simple.' What evils are you hiding from us?"

"Me? Hide some sort of malicious and mischievous cruelty? Gliscor, it's too early in the show to accuse me of something like that!" Floatzel replied with feigned betrayal.

Mightyena scoffed. "Just tell us the twist already!"

"Fine, fine," Floatzel conceded as he took another sip. "Two members on each team will be acting as defenders. They will be stationed by the snow sculptures and will have to defend them from incoming snowballs racing down the cliff. How you defend is up to you, but there are some ground rules. Firstly, Psychic and the use of any Fire-type moves on snowballs are strictly banned from this challenge. As such, Ninetales, you can't be a defender, to avoid the highest risk of rule violations."

Ninetales rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Next, all six of the defenders must stay on the cliff, and all snowballs must be rolled down the cliff slope. Any damage done otherwise won't count. And defenders, one last rule: you cannot use random objects to block the structures. The only thing that can be in the way is you. Everyone understand?" Floatzel paused, allowing the cast to nod or mutter in agreement. "Great. Now, I'm feeling nice, and I know it's freezing, so today the winners of this challenge will get a reward."

"A r-reward?" Frillish asked in response to the announcement. "What is it?"

"It b-better b-be something good, man," Druddigon said while shivering heavily.

"Oh, trust me, it is," Floatzel said with a cocky grin. "Sableye! Bring them in!"

The Sableye intern came from one of the boats, using Psychic to help carry the cooler that had been on the boat the whole trip. He set it down in front of everyone and opened it up to reveal sixteen thermoses. "Tomato Berry soup, courtesy of Chef Infernape."

"One for each of you so you can actually function in today's challenge," Floatzel said. "And the winning team will get a private dinner filled with the soup to heat up after it's all over!"

"Uh, n-no offense to the chef or anything," Raichu started, "but his food isn't exactly…"

"It sucks," Mightyena bluntly stated.

"I d-don't care, man! I need to h-heat up!" Druddigon said as he rushed to the cooler and grabbed a thermos, chugging it immediately.

Meowstic walked up to the dragon and took a thermos as well, giving it a careful sip. Once he did, his face lit up with genuine surprise that the rest of the cast hadn't seen from him. Once he recovered, he glanced at everyone as coldly as ever. "If you have any intention of winning today, drink this, now."

It didn't take long for most of the remaining cast members to get their own serving, which made Floatzel smirk. "Motivation enough for ya? When you're all ready, I'll bring you to the challenge site, and you can strategize from there."

Druddigon was seated in the confessional tent, chugging the last bit of the soup. The tent had a small heater inside to keep the contestants warm while using it. Once he finished, he sighed in relief. "Man, that's good stuff! Gonna be honest, me and snow? We don't mix. I just hate the cold, man; it makes me super uncomfortable, you know? But that won't stop me from rocking this challenge!" He paused for a moment and looked at the now-empty thermos. "Hopefully."

Gliscor was laughing up a storm in the confessional. "This show has truly done it! Giving me the license to rain down snow-flavored hell on my enemies! This is truly the day of all days!"

Pancham sat in the confessional with a contemplative look on his face. "Hmm, how can I exploit this to my advantage?"

After all the soup was consumed, Floatzel brought everyone to the cliff face where the challenge would take place. Each team huddled in different areas nearby to prepare a strategy.

"I hate to say this, team," Gothitelle started, "but we're at a bit of a disadvantage right now."

"Huh! Why d-do you say that?" Frillish asked, startled at the claim. Gothitelle merely replied by pointing at Glimmora, who spun once everyone looked over at her.

"Hello."

"Oh, right. She doesn't have hands or anything," Druddigon realized, scratching his head as he spoke. "That'll be a problem."

"Just a bit," the psychic type noted.

"You're looking at the negative too quickly," Dolliv said. "I'm sure we can find a way to get by regardless."

"She has a point," Dewott added. "There aren't too many... uh, 'big' people, so making snowballs to destroy those statues seems like an uphill battle."

"Hey, don't start talking like that! Even at a disadvantage, we can win, just like yesterday!" Druddigon encouraged. "Now let's pick some defenders and kick ass!"

"Let me defend," Mightyena said, a smirk on his face. "How bad can it be?"

"Famous last words," Meowth muttered under his breath.

"What was that!?"

"Nothing... Oh, say, Druddigon, why don't you defend too?" Meowth asked, trying to deflect from Mightyena's ire.

"Not a good idea, dude," Druddigon said, scratching the back of his head. "Cold and I don't mix, ya feel? If I take too many snowballs for the team, I might freeze over or something. I can roll 'em up just fine, though!"

"W-Well, that's unfortunate," Frillish admitted. "You a-and Mightyena are p-probably the strongest for defending. What do we do now?"

"I have a suggestion," Dolliv spoke up, the rest of her team looking over at her. "Why not Dewott?"

"M-Me!?" the otter stammered out in surprise.

"Oh yeah! Great idea!" Druddigon patted Dolliv on the back, but due to the difference in size, he accidentally caused her to face-plant into the snow in front of her. Thankfully, he helped her back up. "Whoops, my bad. But yeah! Dewott, you got Razor Shell, don't you? You can rip the snowballs to shreds!"

Dewott gulped. "Y-Yeah, I know the move, but I-"

"No buts!" Druddigon interrupted him. "You got this! Just like last time. Have faith, alright, bud?"

Dewott's face started to faintly turn red as he looked away shyly. "A-Alright, I'll try it."

"Wonderful, then we're ready to begin," Gothitelle concluded to the team. "Let's hope for another victory, everyone."

Dewott rubbed his arm as he looked to the side nervously. "Why did I have to give in so easily? I can't do this…" He took a quick deep breath before looking forward. "Okay, Dewott… it's just snow. It can't be that bad… right?"

Golduck cleared her throat as she stood in front of her team, giving them all a look like any leader would. "Alright, team. I know last night was… difficult—"

"Quite the understatement," Gliscor interrupted with a chuckle before a snowball hit him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground. The team looked over at Meowstic, who rolled his eyes after launching the ball.

"He was annoying me."

"Anyway," Golduck cleared her throat once more to regain attention, "last night was a lot. But regardless, we're still a team, and I expect us to at least act like it so we can win again. We can handle that much, can't we?"

"O-Of course we can," Skiploom replied, a tad too quickly for her own good.

"It's not like we have all that much of a choice," Pancham noted, rolling his eyes.

"Hmm, sure, why not?" Ninetales replied playfully. "So, wise leader, how are we doing this challenge?"

Golduck cast a glare at Ninetales, feeling that the fox was actively targeting her with the remarks. "I think it will be a good idea if I stay down here and defend. I think I have enough experience to handle it." She then softened her expression and looked over at a certain wolf. "And I want Lycanroc with me."

"What? Why!?" Lycanroc stepped back, clearly unprepared for the decision.

"Because you're the best man for the job out of everyone else on the team," Golduck said firmly. "Ninetales and Meowstic are both pretty much banned, Skiploom and Pancham are the smallest members of the team, Raichu doesn't seem like a good fit, and Gliscor would probably just let the snowballs hit him until he was unconscious."

"Debatable," Gliscor admitted, "but a solid enough read. Carry on~"

"Are you seriously calling me too small to defend!?" Pancham countered. "I can do just as well as he can!"

"I'm sorry, Pancham, but I think Lycanroc is the better choice based on everything I've seen in the past few challenges," Golduck said, making it clear she wasn't changing her mind. All Pancham could do was grumble indignantly in response.

Lycanroc groaned, unable to find any faults in her logic. "Alright, I guess I'll defend then."

Golduck smiled. "Great. Meowstic, can you lead the attacking group for me?"

Meowstic scoffed. "If I must."

"Well, I guess we're ready then," Raichu said, tentatively looking off to the side.

"I can't be the only one who felt Golduck was less… casual in the huddle, right?" Raichu asked nobody in particular as she sat in the confessional. "I know the elimination wasn't as smooth as Kyogre's, but still, she might be taking it a bit more seriously than others."

"Glad to know my team still treats me like I'm useless," Pancham grumbled to himself. "Fine, whatever. At least the damn sword isn't here to make it worse. Maybe now I can actually find a way to make us win. Then they'll see…"

With the team's roles set, the twelve attackers were sent to the top of the cliff while the four defenders stayed by the snow sculptures, which, now that the contestants took a good look at them, resembled Noice Face Eiscue. Once everyone was in place, Floatzel held a megaphone, lowering the volume a tad to avoid an avalanche, and spoke into it, "Alright, everyone is in position! Remember, you are sending snowballs to the sculptures with the opposite team's flag on it! Ready... set... GO!"

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!" Druddigon shouted, directing his team as they began to make snowballs.

"Let the madness begin!" Gliscor shouted in a similar manner, with the Groudons also beginning their work. All except Meowstic, who was near the edge of the cliff and looked down at the Eiscue sculptures.

"Hey, aren't you going to help us?" Pancham walked up behind Meowstic, scowling at the feline…Who was reading. "Or are you just going to read your book again? Keeping on like you're too good for us!" Meowstic stood there, ignoring Pancham entirely. "Hey! I'm talking to you—"

"Shut up," Meowstic coldly interrupted. "I'm busy and you're distracting me."

"Busy with what? Staring into space?"

"I'm busy devising a path to victory," the feline replied matter-of-factly. "Now leave me alone and get to work."

Pancham growled a little before turning away with a huff, going to the others on the team to do the challenge.

"Asshole," was all Pancham said as he gave the camera an obscene hand gesture.

"Hmph, if that imbecile wants to sacrifice our team's only means of victory, then so be it," Meowstic said, rolling his eyes as he sat in the confessional without a book for once. "I won't be the one eliminated for it. However, I am at least trying to help these fools, unlike that panda. I haven't forgotten the votes I received at the elimination, and thus I'm acting accordingly. Achieving victory for my team will surely remind them that I am necessary for anything around here."

"They are really high up…" Lycanroc muttered to himself as he looked up at the top of the cliff where the rest of the cast were. Taking note of how tall it was, he wondered, "I wonder if they could even hear us from down here."

"Did you say something?" Golduck asked the canine.

"Ah, n-nothing!" Lycanroc quickly stuttered out. He looked over at Golduck, watching her stretch. "Uh, why are you stretching?"

"Just getting myself ready for the snowballs."

Lycanroc looked at her with confusion. "I don't think it will be that serious."

"You can't be too sure, Lycanroc," she replied, looking away a little to hide her face before speaking in a lower tone, "I think we all learned that last night."

"H-Huh?" was all Lycanroc could bring himself to say.

"It's nothing. Come on, stretch with me." The water type ignored whatever concern Lycanroc had. Lycanroc could see on her face that she was bothered, but ultimately, he sighed, deciding to just go along with what she wanted in the moment and not press her on anything.

Meanwhile, Dewott was looking at the scalchops in his hand. Gulping to himself after a moment, he looked over at a stretching Mightyena. "H-Hey, Mightyena?"

"What?" Mightyena didn't look over at Dewott, as he was stretching himself.

"Well, is this going to work out?" Dewott asked, glancing over at the other team's duo. "Lycanroc and Golduck seem pretty strong... and compared to them, I don't think I can keep up..."

Mightyena rolled his eyes as he kept on stretching.

"Not to mention the cliff is pretty high up. Snowballs from up there would come down on us at such a high velocity... c-couldn't that mean we would get seriously hurt if we—"

"Dewott." Mightyena stopped stretching to give the otter a look.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Shut up and just get ready." Dewott flinched hearing that, but he sighed before trying to calm himself down a little. Mightyena rolled his eyes once more as he got back to his stretches.

Mightyena gave the camera a deadpan look. "Wimp."

Dewott groaned with his head in his hands. "Why am I letting myself spiral like this? Just do your best, Dewott. Is it really that hard!?"

The teams on top of the cliff were still in the process of creating their first snowballs to roll down. However, progress wasn't exactly going at a breakneck pace.

Meowth groaned as he looked at the snowball he had rolled, which was roughly a quarter of his height in size. "This is so tedious."

"I hate to say it," Gothitelle started to reply, "but I have to agree." Gothitelle's snowball seemed a tad smaller than Meowth's in size, despite them doing this work for the same amount of time.

"Yeah, no kidding," Druddigon said, standing next to a snowball that was bigger than everyone else's on his team. Meowth just looked at him with a brow raised.

"I think it's fun!" Glimmora exclaimed, bringing her head back down to the snow and floating forward to make a relatively tiny snowball before doing it all over again. They then took note that there were a bunch of small snowballs around her.

"G-Glimmora! How did y-you make all of those so q-quickly?" Frillish asked in utter astonishment.

Glimmora stopped for a minute to look over. "It's easy. I headbutted the snow."

"I always liked snow," Glimmora said, absentmindedly spinning around the confessional. "People always said that my head was full of snow… does that mean I can become an Ice type someday?"

Meowth rolled his eyes. "And how is that going to help us? We need a big snowball to knock the statues out."

"Oh… but it's fun," Glimmora said after blinking. "Try it, alley cat!" She continued with her method of snowball creation as Meowth glared at her for a fleeting moment.

"Actually," Dolliv's soft voice pierced through the conversation as she walked close to her team, "I think Glimmora blessed us for this challenge."

"Huh? What are ya talking about?" Druddigon asked.

"If you all can follow me, please," Dolliv led the team over to a part of the cliff with a small snowball at the edge. The Grass type walked right up to the snowball. "Watch carefully," she said as she pushed the snowball down the cliff.

The team watched as the snowball tumbled, but to their shock, it began to literally snowball at an exponential rate into a larger and larger snowball. Of course, this stopped once it crashed into a tree. The team was stunned as Dolliv smiled at them.

"I think we found our solution, no?"

"W-What was that!?" Frillish exclaimed.

"Meowstic did mention that these islands had some alleged magical properties," Dolliv started to explain. "And with some thought, I wanted to test that idea. An island whose snow can rapidly accumulate as it falls. Isn't it marvelous?"

"Magic snow? This is amazing!" Glimmora cheered.

"Wait, so that means this whole time," Meowth started, "we've been wasting time making large snowballs when we can just punt smaller ones down the cliff?"

"That would be the logic, yes," Gothitelle replied simply.

"Makes sense to me!" Druddigon rushed back to where Glimmora had been making her snowballs and grabbed one, kicking it off the cliff towards the opposing team's statues.

"Snowball incoming, Lycanroc!" Golduck shouted at the wolf… who was standing mere feet beside her.

"I see th—" Lycanroc quickly cut himself off as he noticed what the Kyogres had learned. A look of horror swiftly painted his expression. "W-Why is it growing so fast!?"

Golduck gulped. "Dodge!"

Both of the Groudon defenders jumped out of the way of the snowball, which went on to collide with one of the Eiscue statues, causing it to crumble and drop the flag to the ground below.

"Looks like the Kyogres got the first strike!" Floatzel announced. "Might be helpful if you actually defend the statues, you two."

"Oh, shut up," Lycanroc grumbled.

"HELL YEAH!" Druddigon shouted, pumping his fist into the air. "Alright, we got work to do, people! WE GOT A GAME!" He reached for his larger snowball to throw down.

"Druddigon, wait!" Meowth shouted, gaining the dragon's attention. "Let's use that one as a last resort, you know?"

Druddigon took a moment to think about it, but through his facial expression, the others could see the gears turning in his head. "Like a secret weapon! I got it."

"L-Let's let Glimmora make more snowballs," Frillish suggested. "Then we'll have so many to use!"

"And the rest of us can focus on larger snowballs in the meantime," Dolliv added.

Druddigon nodded. "Good plan! Let's get to work, everyone!"

The dragon's excited energy led his remaining teammates to get to work making more snowballs to chuck down the cliff, as off to the side, Meowstic took a glance at the opposing team.

Meowstic, seated in the confessional, was thinking to himself. "Hmm… perhaps there is use for her after all."

"I may not have seen all these islands have to offer us," Dolliv started, her hands clasped together in glee, "but I am already in love with these islands and all the wonders they have hidden underneath. Oh, I can't wait to explore more of them!"

The commotion among the Kyogres was not lost on the opposing team, as Gliscor was very quick to chuck a snowball down the cliff, getting the same result as Gothitelle's experiment. He sported a wicked grin as he faced his team. "This changes everything!" He laughed maniacally.

Ninetales looked at the other members of her team with a concerned expression. "Are we sure he isn't crazy or something?"

"I know that it's only been four days," Raichu started to reply, "but… I don't doubt it."

"Oh, come on, girls," Skiploom defended. "He's just a little eccentric, that's all. I'm sure it's fine."

"Fine, but if he's looking for sacrifices, I'm suggesting you," Ninetales said, rolling her eyes. Raichu glared at the fox, which made her huff. "What? He's going to sacrifice someone eventually. You never know."

Before Raichu had a chance to react, the girls heard Meowstic loudly scoff. "If you three are done gossiping, the other team is making headway."

"And, um, what exactly are you doing about it?" Raichu asked.

Meowstic looked at the Electric type for a moment before scoffing again and looking back down the cliff. "Planning. As I've done the past two challenges."

Ninetales playfully smirked at the feline. "And that plan worked so well last time~"

"Due to some unplanned variables, which I am planning around this time," Meowstic said, "victory is assured."

Skiploom slowly floated over to the Psychic type. "Well, maybe we can help plan with you? We're a team after—" Her thought was cut off as Meowstic used Psychic to push her back.

"No. I don't need help." As Meowstic said that, Skiploom's smile twitched a little, though this went unnoticed by her teammates.

Skiploom smiled at the camera as she floated. However, her eye clearly twitched for a brief moment, causing her smile to fade. The smile came back just as quickly.

"Seriously?" Raichu asked in exasperation.

"News flash, the other team is just going to win at this rate if we wait for your plan," Ninetales said with a deadpan tone.

Raichu groaned, pinching her forehead. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather trust Gliscor with a plan right now than you."

Meowstic looked back at her with an expression of indignation. "What did you say!?"

"She said…" Gliscor started in a sing-song tone, appearing behind Raichu. Raichu shrieked as this happened, but Gliscor merely carried on. "She would trust me with this challenge over you. And must I say, I'm dearly flattered~ And luckily for you all, I already have an idea!"

"Oh? Well, spill it already," Ninetales demanded.

"Hmph. You can't seriously think this is a—"

"Let's hear him out," Skiploom said, cutting off Meowstic. She held her smile, but even Meowstic could see its strain as she glanced at him. "If he has an idea, then maybe we can do it, right?" Meowstic's eye twitched, but he didn't bite back.

"Excellent~" Gliscor declared. "Then listen well, my comrades of the mighty earth! You," he pointed to Ninetales, "stand by the cliff and prepare your flowing appendages for a propeller assault!"

Ninetales blinked in confusion. "Uh, what?"

"I think he said we'll use your tails to smack snowballs down the cliff," Skiploom replied.

"Oooh! Okay, I like that idea~"

"What girl doesn't want to rain hell on her enemies?" Ninetales said before giggling to herself.

"The rest will work to create snowball after snowball, which will be delivered to our cannon!" Gliscor continued. "Then, we bombard the opposing duo until they are buried forever!" He laughed maniacally.

"I, uh, don't think we should kill them," Raichu said tentatively, "but the idea is solid. If all five of us make snowballs, Ninetales will have a lot to work with."

Skiploom nodded and looked around. "Wait, where's Pancham?" The rest of the team looked around, noticing that Pancham wasn't there.

"I thought it was quiet around here," Meowstic said dismissively.

"Tsk, we don't have time to look for him," Gliscor said seriously. "Places, everyone! We must be swift!" The girls all nodded as they got to work along with Gliscor.

Meowstic, on the other hand, walked off to the side to get away from his team for a time. He would use this time to make a plan… or at least he would have if Pancham hadn't suddenly appeared to grab the feline. "If you don't want to be voted off, then help me with something." Meowstic glared at the panda before following him into the forest.

Meowstic scoffed. "Imbeciles, all of them. Compared to my superior planning, that bat's wild plan will only lead us to ruin."

He then looked off to the side for a moment. "However, as much as it loathes me to admit, I do not want to be eliminated. So, I will work with that panda for the moment. If whatever he is doing fails, I'll simply blame him and send him away."

"I was listening in on more of that conversation," Pancham started. "Not all of it, but I heard enough. Personally, I think it's hilarious how cross Skiploom looked at Meowstic… So why not take advantage of that to get things done? Besides…" Pancham trailed off for a moment as he looked away. "I kind of can't reach what I want because of my height… Don't judge me."

Dewott was pacing back and forth in the snow, creating a small trench in his path. He was deep in thought, having been so since Golduck and Lycanroc had been attacked by a snowball. He muttered to himself as he walked, "Water Gun? No, I don't think I can deflect the kinetic energy well enough with that. Maybe if I knew Hydro Pump… Sticking to Razor Shell might work… but it could backfire too…"

Mightyena watched Dewott with slight amusement at first, but he quickly grew bored and decided to intervene. He walked over and tripped Dewott to make him stop.

As Dewott hit the snow, he groaned before lifting his head and glaring at Mightyena. "Why did you trip me?!"

"Because you weren't going to stop, and I doubt you'd hear me otherwise," Mightyena replied, sounding bored.

"Still!" Dewott indignantly responded. "It was rude! I'm trying to think of an idea for us."

"You're going in circles," Mightyena bluntly said. "Just be on guard and ready to fight back."

Dewott looked up at the cliff. "But no more snowballs have come down since the one that got a flag from the other team."

"Yeah. Meaning we could be jumped on at any second," Mightyena explained. "And if you were lost in the snow during that, we'd lose." Having said all he needed to, Mightyena walked a bit away to be ready for defense.

Dewott looked back with a worried expression before moving over to stand on defense like his teammate.

Mightyena pinched his forehead, muttering, "If this idiot wants to win, he needs to get his head out of his ass. How did he pull off the move that almost won us the first challenge again?"

Golduck and Lycanroc were huddled together, trying to form a plan after the earlier snowball incident. Golduck had gotten a stick and mapped out several ideas in the snow as the two discussed their strategy.

"Golduck, don't you think…" Lycanroc began, looking down at the various strategies the Water type had sketched out. Some were more fleshed out than others, "this is just a little too much."

Golduck rubbed the back of her head in mild embarrassment. "Maybe… To be honest, I'm not used to forming game plans with just two people." She used her foot to brush away most of the drawings in the snow to start over. "Let's keep it simple. All we need to do is attack the snowballs as they come down. That way, we can keep the statues safe."

"But is that going to work?" Lycanroc asked, glancing at the statues. "That snowball was pretty big… and it's been a while too. I think we need to rethink our approach."

"Hm? Like how?" Golduck asked, handing him the stick so he could sketch out his idea.

Lycanroc, despite suggesting a change in strategy, stared at the snow for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. After a bit, he started writing in the snow. "Well… I know Stealth Rock. Maybe I can lay out a bunch of those as obstacles. That way, we'll have fewer snowballs to deal with overall… Right?"

Golduck thought it over for a moment before smirking and giving Lycanroc a firm pat on the back. "Lycanroc, I think that'll work! Start laying them out. We probably don't have much time before they start raining down."

"O-Okay," Lycanroc said, heading off to prepare the Stealth Rocks for the impending onslaught of snowballs.

"I knew there was something I liked about Lycanroc," Golduck said with her arms crossed. "Despite everything that happened yesterday, I'm glad there's someone here I can really rely on."

She brought a hand up to her chin. "Maybe I should try talking to him about our team again. Especially now…"

On top of the cliff, the teams were hard at work making as many snowballs as they could in order to throw them at the opposing team. The four Groudons who were actually doing their job had to compensate for Pancham and Meowstic suddenly disappearing. As a result, they had to work faster and make smaller snowballs.

Gliscor was laughing to himself as he made snowball after snowball, causing Raichu some concern as she walked over and grabbed some of his snowballs. "I, uh, I'm just going to bring these to Ninetales…"

"Hm?" Gliscor turned to pay attention to the Electric-type. "Oh yes, that's fine." He then turned away to continue his work. "All the more to prepare for our assault!"

"Uh, right?" Raichu walked away shortly after that interaction, heading over to Ninetales, who seemed to be humming to herself. "Hey, Ninetales, I have some snowballs for you. I think we can start throwing—" She noticed that Ninetales had her back turned and was paying no attention to her. "Uh, Ninetales?" Raichu set the snowballs down and walked around to Ninetales' side to get her attention.

As Raichu moved over, she saw what had captured Ninetales' attention: the Fire-type had created a small Vulpix snowman while waiting. Once Raichu saw it, she couldn't help but smile. However, the nice moment did not last as Ninetales looked over at the mouse beside her and shouted, "GAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" The Fire-type hastily started stomping out the small snowman.

Raichu stumbled back slightly due to Ninetales' reaction. "I was handing you snowballs, but you didn't listen to me." She pointed to the snowballs she had left on the ground. "I'm sorry for interrupting you."

Ninetales groaned and looked away, her silver fur not hiding the small blush that had formed on her face. "You… You didn't see anything! Just start lining them up over there," she said, pointing to a spot near her tails. "I'll start throwing them down."

"Alright, alright," Raichu replied as she began to follow the instructions, deciding not to push the topic further.

Ninetales scoffs, "Look! I was just bored, okay? Those losers were taking too long, and I was a little restless, that's all." She then glares at the camera. "I wouldn't just make a cute little Vulpix snowman like I was some little kid. Nope!"

"Honestly," Raichu started, a small smile on her face, "I thought that was really cute of her. Maybe if she let her guard down more, she'd be more tolerable."

"Hey, it looks like they're throwing snowballs down!" Druddigon pointed out to his team as he began to grab some snowballs for himself. "I'm gonna start chucking!"

"O-Okay! We'll keep making more then," Frillish replied, continuing to roll her snowball. However, she stopped again to look over at Glimmora. "Glimmora, h-how is it going?"

Glimmora blinked at being called before looking down at how she had made… a whole league of snowballs with her headbutting. She then looked back at Frillish. "I think it's going well."

"Impressive, Glimmora," Dolliv complimented. "Take a break; we should be fine for some time."

"Okay!" Glimmora floated over to Meowth, who was rolling another snowball. "Hi, Alley Cat!"

Meowth's left eye twitched a little. "Hi, Glimmora." He tried to ignore her presence in his space.

That plan kind of failed as Glimmora got next to him and started headbutting the snowball. "Oh, a big one! Do they get snowballs this big in alleys?"

"No… Because I'm not from any alleys," Meowth said, slightly frustrated. "I'm just from some squalid apartment in Castelia City."

"But you said you were an 'Alley Cat,'" Glimmora reminded him. "Doesn't that mean you live in alleys?"

Meowth internally groaned.

"...I hate the fact that I did this to myself." Meowth whispered, pinching his forehead.

"Look, I don't want to talk about this. Why don't you help me make this snowball bigger?" Meowth offered in a friendlier tone. "I know you're on break, but it would help everyone if we could get this large snowball down on the other team, right?"

"I think so?" Glimmora thought about it for a moment. "I think so! Okay!" She continued to headbutt the snowball as Meowth helped to move it. The two went a ways away from the cliff's edge to allow the snowball to grow larger and larger.

"The alley cat is funny," Glimmora said gleefully. "I think we'll be good friends!"

With snowballs falling down the cliff, the four defenders all had to handle them with their respective methods. For the Groudons, Lycanroc's plan was proving effective against the onslaught Druddigon was making them deal with. Many of the snowballs collided with the floating pillars of Stealth Rocks, and those that made it past them were dealt with by Lycanroc and Golduck.

"Lycanroc, on your left!"

"Got it!" Lycanroc used Rock Throw to break the snowball.

Golduck, on the other hand, was using Aqua Jet to deal with any snowballs near her. "Alright! Keep them coming, Kyogres!"

Meanwhile, with the Kyogre defenders, Mightyena led them in a more head-on approach as he attacked snowballs up close and personal with Foul Play.

Dewott watched, occasionally slashing at snowballs with Razor Shell but putting a lot of focus on Mightyena. "Are you sure throwing yourself at them is a good idea?"

"It's working, isn't it?" Mightyena retorted. "Focus already."

"I am! But maybe we should try and make some defenses like the other team—OOF!" As he was talking, Dewott got cut off as he accidentally let a snowball smash into him, sending him barreling into one of the statues along with it. The flag quickly fell to the ground.

"Oh! Looks like we're all tied up!" Floatzel announced. "And with all the snow rolling around, it's anyone's game!"

Mightyena growled, "I told you to focus!"

Dewott could only groan in response, forcing himself out of the snow to get back to defending.

Dewott sighed weakly, "Maybe I should listen to Mightyena… just a little…"

"Hmmm…" Gliscor was thinking to himself, watching the opposing team as they prepared larger snowballs with the large quantity they had from Glimmora. "They have far more than we do. Our assault can only do so much in comparison."

"But Golduck and Lycanroc have rocks protecting them," Skiploom said, pointing down to their teammates below. "See? The other team doesn't have defenses like that."

"Very true, my floating friend," Gliscor said. "However! The Kyogres are creating larger snowballs, no doubt to pierce the defenses! Yet we have nothing to counter such an assault."

"Well, we just might!" The team all looked over to the source of the voice, seeing Pancham walk up to them with Meowstic beside him. Above them was a large amount of tree leaves that Meowstic was holding up with Psychic. "Please tell me we aren't losing."

Ninetales looked down at the cliff, squinting her eyes a bit. "I think we're tied. Two statues on each team." She then swiftly looked at the duo with a scowl. "Also, where the hell have you two been!?"

"You especially, Pancham," Raichu added. "We haven't seen you for most of the challenge."

"Look, I have a good reason!" Pancham said defensively, before nudging Meowstic. Meowstic rolled his eyes before setting the leaves down in front of the team.

"Um, leaves?" Skiploom asked.

"Leaves! We should have collected a lot of them!" Pancham said proudly. "Quick, start making snowballs with these in the center. Stuff as many as you can in them!"

Raichu looked at the panda, confused. "Uh, why exactly?"

"Don't ask questions," Meowstic scoffed. "We don't have time. Do as he says." As he spoke, Meowstic began making a snowball with some of the leaves inside.

Gliscor smirked at the sight. "Oho! The feline is participating! Very well then, let's do as they say!" Gliscor grabbed a bunch of leaves and got to work. Raichu and Skiploom looked at each other for a moment before joining the others.

It didn't take too long for them to make enough for a batch of snowballs to give to Ninetales. Although Pancham stopped her before she could toss them. "Push some of the leaf balls first. Then the normal snowballs close behind. Trust me."

"Whatever," was all Ninetales said before tossing some leaf balls down the cliff.

As they fell toward Dewott and Mightyena, the water type stood ready. "Okay, I'll get them this time. Just watch."

"Hm? Alright, I like the energy. Do it!" Mightyena encouraged.

Once they were close enough, the two of them went after the snowballs in front of them. However, the snowballs didn't merely explode into piles of snow. Instead, as they burst, a bunch of tree leaves exploded out as well! For Mightyena, this wasn't a large issue as it only left him surprised. But for Dewott, who used Aqua Jet to attack, the leaves started to cover his body, in particular, his eyes.

"Gah! I-I can't see!"

"Shit, what the—Dewott, watch out!" Mightyena tried to warn, but realized Dewott couldn't do much due to being blinded. This allowed another snowball to barrel its way toward the otter. Mightyena, at the very least, pushed Dewott out of the way, allowing himself to get hit by the snowball and taken along with it to another statue. This thoroughly smashed the statue and allowed the flag to fall to the ground.

"Oh, this is getting close!" Floatzel excitedly announced. "The Groudons need to knock over one more statue before they win! The Kyogres have to knock down two!"

Hearing that announcement, Golduck looked over at the opposing team, seeing that… Dewott was covered in leaves?

Golduck looked at the camera, utterly perplexed. "Why was Dewott covered in leaves? In fact, why were there so many leaves over there in the first place? I don't like what might be going on here."

Pancham was laughing. "It worked! It actually worked!" He laughed a little more before calming down enough to smirk. "I was going to collect leaves anyway, but after hearing everyone talk about how fast the snowballs grew down the hill, I knew bursting open would make the leaves really cause problems! Oh, this is great!"

Ninetales looked down the cliff, stunned. "What the hell... That actually worked!?"

"Yeah!" Pancham cheered. "I knew it!"

"I suppose your idea had merit," Meowstic added boredly as he walked over with a few snowballs.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Does that mean they lose another statue?" Skiploom asked. Ninetales nodded. "Amazing! Then if we keep doing this, we'll win!"

"Everyone!" Gliscor shouted. "More leaves! Victory is ours!" He laughed maniacally once again as the team prepared for the next wave.

"Ah, shit, that ain't good," Druddigon said as he watched what happened to his teammates down below. He backed up and started racing for the larger snowballs. "Time to use the big guns! We're losing over here!"

"I see," Gothitelle said. "Okay. Send the prepared snowballs to the pillars. Maybe we can knock them away for a clear shot."

Druddigon, along with Gothitelle, Frillish, and Dolliv, all pushed larger snowballs down the cliff for Golduck and Lycanroc to deal with.

"Uh! Golduck! Incoming!" Lycanroc warned as the snowballs grew larger as they came barreling at the two!

"Hold firm, Lycanroc!" Golduck shouted to her teammate. "Attack what gets through, just like you planned!"

They watched as some of the snowballs knocked some of the Stealth Rocks away, but those that managed to get past them were met with Lycanroc and Golduck managing to counter them without fail.

"Didn't even break a sweat!" Golduck said proudly.

Lycanroc rubbed the back of his head. "I, uh, guess it wasn't that bad of an idea after all."

"Oh my," Dolliv said. "It didn't work."

"B-but that was all the bigger ones we had!" Frillish exclaimed.

"Then, what is that over there?" Gothitelle pointed to the largest snowball of the lot so far, which was several feet tall.

"It's so big…" Druddigon marveled.

"Meowth? Is that you?" Dolliv asked.

"S-sorta!" Meowth called out. "Glimmora is doing most of the work at this point."

"Making snowmen is fun!" Glimmora cheered. She continued to headbutt the large snowball with increasing force, making it move forward each time without issue.

"Guys, get out of the way; she's moving it quickly!" Meowth warned. The rest of the team swiftly moved aside as Meowth collapsed to the ground, no longer able to keep up with the large snowball.

From where the other team stood, it was hard to miss the large snowball heading toward the cliff's edge. "Ooooh, that's not good!" Raichu shouted.

"The barbarians!" Gliscor reacted. "Fools after my own heart!"

"I'm ignoring you," Pancham said, giving Gliscor a side-eye.

Ninetales looked over at Meowstic in a panic. "Can't you stop them?"

"I can't use Psychic on the snow in this challenge," the Psychic-type clarified. "There is nothing I can do."

"Dammit!"

Glimmora continued to headbutt the snowball, pushing it to the edge of the cliff before giving it one final push. "All done!"

Druddigon went over to the edge to watch the other team's statues. His excited expression quickly turned to one of pure horror. "Oh shit."

The snowball was falling down the cliff, gaining momentum and growing larger. However… it was heading straight for Dewott and Mightyena.

"Uhh… Mightyena—"

"Oh fuck…" Mightyena said as he gulped. "I'll use Foul Play; you use Aqua Jet in three… two… now!"

The duo used their moves in an attempt to counter the large snowball, only to be run over and engulfed by it. Afterward, the large snowball collided with the final statue they were defending. The statue was destroyed as the flag flew away, and the snowball rolled until it reached some trees further beyond. Dewott and Mightyena both groaned as they were freed from the snow.

Floatzel chuckled at the sight, then pulled out his megaphone. "The challenge is over! With all the statues down compared to the other team's one, the Krashing Kyogres have lost the challenge! Gigantic Groudons, you'll be treated to a tomato berry soup dinner shortly after we return to Normilne! Kyogres, I'll see you at the elimination tonight! Everyone stay where you are; we'll be teleported to the beach very soon."

The Groudons on top of the cliff cheered for their victory, excluding Meowstic, who merely smirked. Even Golduck gave Lycanroc a nice side hug. The Kyogres, on the other hand, looked fairly dejected with how things ended up.

"Gah, dammit!" Druddigon yelled into the confessional. "We were so close!"

Ninetales brushed her tails and smiled for the camera. "These bad boys were the real heroes~"

"First I get run over," Dewott started, "then blinded by leaves, and then a giant snowball knocks us out…" He sighed, "I did terribly in that challenge. Ugh, I can already see myself in the bottom two again."

"Today was a little…" Skiploom started before trailing off for a moment. "Difficult. But we still won the challenge… albeit thanks to some accidents on the other team's part. I'm sure they can figure that out." She smiled brightly. "I hope."

Shortly after the cast had returned to Normilne Island, the Gigantic Groudons were mostly seated at the mess hall, enjoying their tomato soup feast reward. Meowstic took a bowl and left to be on his own. Lycanroc and Raichu also took their reward to go, just to take some time for themselves after the day they'd had, leaving the other five members of the team to relax together.

"Ah, victory tastes so good~" Ninetales happily commented, savoring every bit of the soup.

"Absolutely glorious!" Gliscor shouted, before chugging the soup rapidly, much to Skiploom's concern.

"Uh, Gliscor?" Skiploom said with a kindly smile, "Maybe you should slow down? The soup is a little hot."

"I don't think he can hear you," Pancham commented, "Just let him do… whatever he's doing."

Ninetales rolled her eyes. "I swear he's in his own world. A world I definitely don't want to live in."

Gliscor sighed happily as he set the bowl down, playfully smirking at Ninetales. "You're simply jealous of the life I live~"

"As if."

"Hey," Golduck started, wanting to get the team's attention, "I want to say something."

"Yeah, yeah, we did great today. You don't have to remind us," Ninetales replied in a condescending tone.

Golduck groaned in Ninetales' direction. "Can you not for just one moment?" She then took a deep breath before looking over at Pancham. "I wanted to say something to Pancham."

Pancham looked up at her, raising a brow. "Go on."

"I want to apologize," the Water-type began, "for handling the situation with you and Aegislash poorly, to put it mildly. As the team's leader, I should have taken the time to actually see what was going on rather than letting it slide for the sake of the team. As such, I failed you, and I apologize for that." The table went silent after that apology, with the other three seated looking over at Pancham to see how he would react.

The panda looked at Golduck for a moment before shrugging. "It's whatever. At least you apologized. I'm better off not focusing on it."

Golduck blinked, a bit surprised by the reaction. "Oh, well, if that's what you want. I'll respect it."

"Thanks," Pancham said as he got up from the table. "I'm going to head to the cabin. See you guys tomorrow." He soon left after the announcement, leaving the others at the table watching him leave the mess hall entirely.

Golduck sighed. "I hope I didn't upset him."

Skiploom held her smile as she looked off to the side. "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine. Maybe he's still trying to get past everything. Oh, maybe I should have apologized too; maybe that would have—" She was cut off by Ninetales putting a tail over her mouth.

"Stop being such a suck-up," the Fire-type chastised. "Just give him some space. He'll be fine. What happened happened. Not like you can change it." Skiploom's smile twitched a bit from behind the tail before she floated away from it.

"I hate that you're somewhat right," Golduck admitted. "But still, hopefully he'll be—" She stopped talking as she looked over at Gliscor chugging another bowl. "Gliscor… was that Pancham's!?"

The bat set the bowl down and gave an innocent look. "Nooo~" The others all groaned as the bat continued chugging soup.

"I'm not going to say that I'm happy with Pancham's plan from the challenge," Golduck began. "I haven't been since I asked Raichu about it before the meal. But bringing that up then and there wouldn't be a good look for me."

Golduck took a deep breath. "Plus, that whole thing from last night has been bothering me all day, whether or not I like to admit it. Apologizing seemed like the right thing to do. Maybe now we can move past it for the betterment of the team."

Pancham scoffed. "She can fuck off with that apology. If she or anyone else was so sorry, where were they the whole time I was getting attacked by that sword? Besides, you saw how she cut off any idea of me working as a defender in the challenge today. She doesn't trust me at all! She's just covering her ass like everyone else does."

Pancham looked off to the side dejectedly for a moment before picking his demeanor back up. "I'll just take it for now. Make her feel like it's all fine… but I didn't come here to be cradled. I'll show her… I'll show them all! And when the time comes, it'll be me in the game and her riding that boat without a damn thing."

At the benches by the cabins, Dewott was drinking another thermos of tomato berry soup. Floatzel had provided him and Mightyena with another serving due to the nature of how the challenge ended for them. He was finishing up the soup as he stared into the sunset sky, thinking about the challenge. Did he do well enough? Could he have done better? He was involved in each of the statues being destroyed, so does that mean he'll—

"Hey." Dewott looked up with a start, accidentally dropping the thermos in the process. He saw Mightyena walking right up to him, before getting on the bench as well. "Feeling better?"

"Sort of," Dewott sighed, looking down at the thermos he dropped. "H-Hey, about the challenge. I—"

"You did fine, idiot."

"Wh-What?"

"You did fine. Stop worrying about it," Mightyena said. "It's getting annoying."

"O-Oh." Was all Dewott could muster, now looking at the Dark-type with concern.

Mightyena saw the look and scoffed. "I'm not going to pretend to be nice. You're overthinking too much and that's going to bite you. Didn't today, we just got screwed over, but at least you held your own." Mightyena rolled his eyes. "Now stop spiraling already. You want to win, don't you?"

Dewott blinked. "Was... that you trying to cheer me up?"

"It was whatever you wanted it to be." Mightyena then yawned. "Damn, if it wasn't for the elimination, I'd sleep after that challenge. Speaking of which, any plans?"

"Um, not yet," Dewott admitted. "Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what happened with that giant snowball that took us out. Looking back, it didn't seem like it came from where the other team was dropping snowballs."

"That's because it wasn't." The two looked over to see Gothitelle coming up from behind, with Frillish not far behind her, giving the boys a wave.

"Ugh, fucking warn us next time, Gothitelle!" Mightyena snarled at the feline. Frillish flinched a little hearing that, which Mightyena noticed and backed down.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to go on a nature walk," Gothitelle replied. "I didn't think you'd be so jumpy, Mightyena." The Dark-type just scoffed while rolling his eyes.

"Wait, what did you mean by that?" Dewott asked. "The Groudons didn't push that snowball?"

"O-Oh, did no one tell you?" Frillish asked, confused.

"Uh, no? Druddigon kind of went off to work out after we got back," the Water-type explained. "Actually, it's been a while... We should probably find him."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. For now, let's discuss the vote." Gothitelle sat down with a soft sigh. "It really won't be that hard."

The two guys looked at each other before allowing the girls to explain what happened.

Mightyena growled with a twitching eye, "Oh, you're fucking kidding me!"

Meowstic was walking in the forest after finishing the soup reward on his own. He knew no one was going to look for him, especially since his team won, so he was given no issues as he walked among the trees to a specific spot—the clearing he had been at that very morning.

"As I figured, you'd be here," he said once he saw the one he had been looking for, Dolliv, who was seated on her blanket relaxing.

"Oh, hello Meowstic," she greeted him with a wave. "Did someone need to speak with me? I wanted to relax a bit before the elimination."

"The only one who wishes to speak with you is me," Meowstic revealed, walking over to her. "I have a proposition for you."

"What would that be?" Dolliv asked, looking directly at the feline with a small smile on her face.

"I propose that we form an alliance," Meowstic confessed. He began walking back and forth as he explained further, "It is no secret that my team doesn't appreciate my genius. I need an ally if I wish to continue in this game—"

"Okay," Dolliv interjected, but Meowstic continued talking.

"—And from what I can tell, you don't have any strong allies either. Thus, a cross-team alliance between the two of us would be one that no one on our teams would expect—"

"I said okay," Dolliv tried interjecting again, but was once again unheard.

"—Not to mention, you seem to have qualities that would befit someone with the honor to work with someone such as—"

"Meowstic!" Dolliv shouted in her soft voice. This time, Meowstic stopped and turned his attention to her properly. "I said okay. I'm willing to form an alliance with you."

Meowstic blinked, not expecting it to be so easy. He had a speech prepared and everything, but he hadn't even gotten through half of it. "I see. Very well then."

"The Krashing Kyogre, please report to the elimination area! The ceremony is about to begin!"

"Oh, I must be going then," Dolliv said, standing up to leave. "Perhaps we can continue in the morning?"

"Very well. You'd best not get eliminated then," Meowstic said as he turned to leave. "That would be quite disappointing." With that, the feline headed back to the cabins while Dolliv started heading to the elimination.

"That was surprisingly easy," Meowstic commented. "But at the very least, I'm not putting myself in a position to get further in this game. After all, with a cross-team alliance, you gain power on both teams, not just your own."

"Of course I had no problem working with Meowstic," Dolliv admitted with a smile. "Perhaps this is what I need to understand him better, as I wanted. Not to mention… I do not intend to leave this game so easily, and he could improve my standing very well." She giggled a little to herself.

The Krashing Kyogre were all seated at the elimination area. Unlike their first time in this location, their opposing team was not in attendance. This meant it was merely the eight of them alongside Floatzel, with seven Yache Berries on the platter for the evening.

"Good evening, Kyogres," Floatzel began with his winning smile. "You managed to escape elimination yesterday; however, today you're back in the thick of it. Someone will be the second person eliminated from your team by the end of the night."

Floatzel looked around at his audience. Mightyena looked mildly upset, Glimmora was spinning mindlessly, Dewott seemed nervous, but Druddgion flashed a smile. Meanwhile, Frillish and Gothitelle gave each other a quick look, while Meowth and Dolliv seemed fairly neutral.

"If there is anything anyone has to say before we begin?" Floatzel paused, giving the group time to chime in. "No? Alright. Time to vote then. Dolliv, you can go first this time."

"As you wish." Dolliv got up to go to the voting tent.

"I'm truly sorry," Dolliv began, "but this might be what's best for the team going forward. It's simply what must be done."

Druddigon rubbed the back of his head. "Yeeeah, kind of a no-brainer. Sorry."

Glimmora blinked at the camera before merely staring at it. The Sableye popped into the tent to remind Glimmora about the vote.

"It's only the second vote, but I've never been happier to cast a vote," Meowth said with a smile.

"As rude as it is to say," Dewott said, rubbing his arm, "better you than me."

Gothitelle adjusted one of the bows on her dress before looking back up at the camera. "I'm sorry, that was bothering me. Anyhow… Perhaps this should have been our first vote. Never mind, you're at least more helpful than Ribombee."

Frillish looked nervously at the camera. "W-Well… I'm happy you tried at least. I'm s-so sorry!"

"This is what you get for knocking me out," Mightyena said with an irritated expression on his face.

In his hand, Floatzel had one final Yache Berry to distribute for the evening. Everyone on the team had received one except for Glimmora and Meowth, the bottom two of the night. Glimmora floated without a care, while Meowth gave her a side glance before focusing on Floatzel.

"And the final player safe is…"

…

"Meowth!"

Meowth smiled as he grabbed his berry prize.

"Sorry, Glimmora," Floatzel said, "but you have been eliminated. Please head to the beach and board the boat."

Glimmora blinked. "Am I going to another island? Oh! Is Ribombee there? She was funny."

A few of the others looked confused by that comment, especially given how they had explained to her that Ribombee hated her only a day prior. Floatzel, on the other hand, just chuckled. "If that's what you want to believe, then sure!"

"Okay! Bye bye!" Glimmora earnestly flew off to the beach.

"Well," Druddigon started, "There she goes."

"Indeed," Gothitelle added.

"I'll miss her presence around here," Dolliv commented reflectively. "She is quite the kind soul."

Mightyena got up from his rock and started to leave the area. "Nothing we can do now. Maybe winning will be easier." As he began to leave, the rest of the team followed suit, all heading to the cabins. Dolliv broke away to return to her clearing.

Meowth smiled and gave the camera a wave. "Bye, weirdo. Nothing personal, but you can just be… so annoying. Besides, if it wasn't for Ribombee being… Ribombee, we would have voted her off sooner."

Meowth opened his mouth to continue talking but stopped, looking out of the tent to see if anyone was around. Once he was sure he was alone, he sat back down with a relieved sigh. "Okay, good. I think I've been too loose in here today. Just play it cool, Meowth. It'll all work out."

He attempted to slick back the fur on his head to look cooler but burst out laughing at how silly it looked.

"Any last words, Crystal Flower?" Floatzel asked as he leaned on the boat while Glimmora floated just above the floor of it.

The crystal flower giggled and spun around. "You're funny, Mr. Otter. Do you swim? I don't think I've seen you swim… are you afraid of the—"

"And we're out of time!" Floatzel cut her off, pushing himself away from the boat to let it begin taking Glimmora away.

"Bye-bye, island! See you soon!"

Floatzel rolled his eyes and gave the camera his winning smile. "Yeah, she won't be back anytime soon. Too bad, so sad. More screen time for me! Fifteen contestants are left, and there's still a lot of game to play! What other rewards do we have in store? What island will we visit next? And just who will be the next to join me on the elimination beach? Find out all this and more next time on Total… Pokémon… Elemental!"

"Uh, boss?" the Sableye spoke up from behind the camera.

"What?"

"Look behind you."

Hearing that, the otter turned and saw the boat continuing to drift away… while Glimmora floated around absentmindedly.

"Oh, goddammit!"

And that is another chapter come and gone. And in a timely manner at that, look at me go! [This may never happen again...]

With this chapter we do have to say goodbye to Glimmora... I can already see myself running from Glimmora nation over the next 24 hours, please send help to my location. It was merely her time to go. Simialr to Agieslash she didn't fit in to where the story was going forward and I didn't want to drag her out.

Still though, I hoped you were able to enjoy this chapter. Please give a review if you're so inclinded and I will see you in the next chapter.

[Many thanks to TPReboot for his editing]