Princess Toady: I see you're still suspecting Daisy, nice sleuthing with that clue by the way, although I can't confirm whether it's an actual clue or not without ruining the story. You have a bad history with picking the Moles? Well I'll just say that I find you to be a kind of model reader, although I'm probably extremely biased because there are so few viewers anyway. :p Birdo does seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to rely on herself for her deductions, and with the next execution coming up, she'll need to step up her game. Goombella appears to be your favorite so far, not that it wasn't obvious.:)

Marioman: First of all, I'd like to thank you for your extreme continued support of this story! It doesn't seem to be getting too many viewers, which I guess is to be expected as a new writer, but having even a couple of dedicated readers is a nice feeling and a good motivator. ;) I try to occasionally add humor into the story, although it's a lot lighter in this chapter, I'll try to incorporate it more into the later parts of the story. Those numbers will actually, as the note said, have a variety of purposes, so you may be able to find some meaning for them throughout the story. Here's the challenge for you to pinpoint your crosshairs more accurately, and I hope that you enjoy!

Previously on The Mole, the 10 participants in the game received their rooms, where they would stay during their visit to Toad Town in the Mushroom Kingdom.

"At the moment, you have to decide the rooming conditions." Monty continued.

Boomer stepped up. "I'll take the first room!" he ran up enthusiastically.

"Very well, you are in room 1-712." Monty handed him the room key.

Before they could continue and inspect their new living conditions however, Monty stopped them long enough to give them each an item which would prove to be very crucial to many of them throughout their stay in the game.

"Let me guess-it's going to be our journals, am I right?" Goombella interjected.

"Why, yes, you are indeed correct." Monty said in reply. "You will indeed be receiving journals for you to write down your thoughts in over the course of the game."

These journal choices turned out to have surprising outcomes for some of the players.

"Wait, so are you telling me…" Goombella started before trailing off.

"That these neutralizers will be awarded to the players will the yellow trim notebooks, specifically Kooper and Junior? Yes, I am." Monty handed the cards to the mentioned players.

Soon after arriving in their rooms, the players went to lunch, where they found a note from none other than their favorite, or rather, least favorite, player.

"So, here I have a note from the Mole themselves," Monty opened, while pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.

Unfortunately for them, most of the players were unable to make heads or tails of the clue.

"What kind of hogwash was that?" Boomer exclaimed, after a short pause.

Monty straightened out the folded page one last time before passing it around the group. "The first note from the Mole is always the least helpful. Or most helpful, depending on your view." Monty cryptically spoke in answer.

After a delicious, but thought heavy lunch, the participants were shocked upon arriving into their rooms to find that their bags were missing.

"I can't find it anywhere!" Daisy searched the whole room, turning it upside down. "Do you think that someone stole it? But why would they? And this is Peach's castle, how would robbers just waltz in?"

"Honestly," Toadette replied, relaxing on her bed, "I think that the producers must have taken it. Although for the part about waltzing in, it isn't exactly difficult for Bowser, you know?"

Immediately on cue, Monty pulled the players out to the west garden, where their next challenge awaited them.

"Now as you players have no doubt noticed by this point, your bags are no longer in your rooms. In fact, if you look carefully, you can see them up there." Monty pointed away from the castle to above a set of warp pipes. "Hanging onto poles about 30 feet above these Piranha Plant containing pipes, are all ten of your bags." The players turned to face them in a flash, startled by this turn of events.

Waluigi: I can't believe the producers would pull something like this!

"They are part of your next challenge, called Piranha Possessions. In this challenge, you will be split into five separate pairs, all of whom have an important role in this challenge.

The players soon found that would be divided into five pairs for this challenge, each with a unique task; and that these pairs would be decided once again by those journals they had picked, which may have not been optimal for the challenge.

"Now," Monty went on, forestalling any further interruptions, "the pairs have already been decided. As the pair who picked the green lined journals, the color of bonuses, Goombella and Rosalina will be the players climbing to get the bags."

Boomer: Right away, I was worried with the division of the roles. Goombella and Rosalina were not the people I would have picked to do any climbing.

After each pair received their assignment, the four in charge of locating a code or object were given the necessary clues, sealed in envelopes.

"I have four envelopes here, clues for each of the four pairs. When I hand them to you, kindly do not open them until the challenge has started."

At the end of the episode, the challenge had just been about to begin. What will happen next on this ever changing game controlled by the Mole?

First Name: Boomer

Surname: Bro

Birthday: October 12

Occupation: Weapons Specialist

First Name: Toadette

Surname: Chanterelle

Birthday: May 22

Occupation: College Student

First Name: Boo

Surname: Vaninto

Birthday: December 13

Occupation: Spy

First Name: Birdo

Surname: Sauria

Birthday: September 3

Occupation: Jeweler

First Name: Junior

Surname: Bowser

Birthday: March 30

Occupation: Artist

First Name: Goombella

Surname: Capricorn

Birthday: January 26

Occupation: Informational Writer

First Name: Daisy

Surname: Sarasa

Birthday: July 17

Occupation: Floral Chain Owner

First Name: Kooper

Surname: Shellsby

Birthday: June 24

Occupation: Exploration Assistant

First Name: Rosalina

Surname: Nova

Birthday: February 6

Occupation: Cosmologist

First Name: Waluigi

Surname: Amello

Birthday: August 31

Occupation: Government Hacker

Episode 1, Part 3: Confusing Clues and Characteristics

Waluigi tore open the envelope haphazardly, intent upon reaching the clue. Pulling out the paper, he read it aloud for his partner, Birdo, to hear. "Your code is located in the place where one immediately heads in order to seek knowledge."

"It must be the library!" Birdo realized instantly. "I remember seeing an entrance to it on the first floor, near the third wing."

"I think you're right, that would fit the description perfectly," Waluigi agreed, turning to head towards the location the pink dinosaur had mentioned. "Let's go, the less time we spend on our part, the better."

Birdo: The clue wasn't too difficult to solve, honestly. I wonder if everyone else's were that simple as well? I certainly hope so, for the sake of our bags.

Kooper opened his envelope more carefully, making some effort to keep the envelope intact. Carefully slipping out the paper, he smoothed it out before reciting the words written on it. "The code you seek is at the place containing something similar to the reward you seek."

"It must refer to the treasury," Junior thought out loud. "After all, isn't the money what we seek?"

Kooper shook his head, disagreeing. "In this challenge, aren't we trying to get our bags? Wouldn't that really refer to something relating to clothes? It's probably somewhere in Peach's humungous closet."

"It wouldn't be in the closet because we wouldn't be allowed in there." Junior retorted. "Why would we be allowed into the Princess's private quarters?"

"Why would we be allowed into the treasury?" Kooper replied, giving Junior a strange look. "It kinda has millions of coins in it."

Junior thought a moment. "Well, why don't we split up then? I'll go to the treasury and check that out, and you try to check out Peach's closet."

"Good idea," Kooper replied. "We'll meet up in the Great Hall if neither of us finds it, otherwise, drop the code off and then meet up!" he called over his shoulder, heading into the castle.

Junior started to follow him, before realizing he had no idea where the treasury was.

Junior: Just as I began to head off, it dawned on me that I would need to find out where the treasury was located. As I thought that, though, it also made me wonder how much the size of the castle would impact the challenge and how much it could be used as an excuse.

Boomer enthusiastically shredded his envelope, eager to start his role. He cleared his throat before yanking out the sheet and speaking the words written on it. "You will find what you require as well as what you desire in the location of the sport people play after they retire." Boomer shook his head to clear it. "I don't understand this at all. All of these –ires are confusing the heck out of me."

Boo took the paper from him and read it over again. "Well, as far as I can tell, the sport that people play after they retire must be golf," Boo chuckled. "However, even Princess Peach doesn't have a full golf course inside her gardens and walls, so it must refer to the mini-golf course on the east garden."

"You must be right!" Boomer responded excitedly. "Let's go!" He raced off in the direction of the opposite garden, with Boo chasing after him futilely.

Boo: I've been giving all of the players a lot of thought, and I'm starting to feel as if Boomer's energy could actually be a clever cover up for him to make plenty of mistakes by rushing into things rather than thinking them through.

Daisy neatly slit open the envelope at the top with a pen before drawing out the page enclosed within. She read it over quickly, and then handed it over to Toadette. The female toad carefully took the page and read it aloud. "The key to the shed will be found where people occasionally bed, keeping cool, yet getting a better view of the heat."

"Yeah, I have no idea what it could be denoting to," Daisy admitted. "I honestly have no idea."

"Hmm…." Toadette pondered the possible options the clue was indicating to search. "I have a feeling this is really simple, and that we could be overthinking this.

"I just hope it won't be too difficult." Daisy answered.

Daisy: While Toadette and I struggled with our clue, everyone else had shot off to search various locations. I couldn't help but hope this wouldn't be representative of the rest of our game.

Birdo and Waluigi raced into the library, anxious to succeed in their task. However, in their path there remained one obstacle that the duo had not considered.

"Woah…..this place is huge!" Birdo said, in awe of the size. She eyed the staircase within leading to a second floor of books, as well as the various paintings and computers. "It must take up a third of the first two stories!"

"That same size is a massive problem for us though," Waluigi noted, worried. "How are we going to find the code in all of this?"

"How about we ask someone?" Birdo suggested. "There must be at least librarian or two in a library this massive."

Waluigi shrugged. "Sure, why not?" he asked of no one in particular, and the two began their search.

Meanwhile, Kooper recognized the fact that it would be nearly impossible for him to find his way around this place without any sort of guide. "I don't even know what floor I'm looking for!" he thought to himself. "Maybe I can find another map on the walls or perhaps even someone to ask for directions…"

Kooper: This place was so large, you could get quite easily get lost in it without a map or a guide. Thankfully, I realized that before I ended up getting lost, but that still left me in the predicament of trying to find out how to get where I wanted to go.

His partner Junior, on the other hand, decided that before he ran in there, it would be a good idea to get some sort of way to navigate this place. Following that train of thought, he walked up to one of the red-capped soldiers at the foot of the door. "Excuse me, but do you have a map of some kind for this castle?" he inquired.

"Why yes, I just happen to have a few," the guard toad replied, shifting his spear to his left arm and pulling out a folded piece of paper from inside his vest with his right. "Here you go!" he handed the sheet to Junior.

Junior quickly took the map from the toad and gave it a quick look. "Thank you!" Junior called over his shoulder as he started into the castle, following the map closely.

Boomer rounded the south wall of the castle and paused, finding himself in the east garden. In front of him he had a direct view of an expansive and beautiful mini-golf course, almost like a real golf course. At that moment, Boo caught up to him, panting slightly. "Could you be…..a little more considerate?" he asked between breaths.

"Uh, I think we may have a bigger problem here," Boomer replied, looking out along the entire space. "How are we going to find the code among this humongous area?"

Boo looked up sharply at those words. "Oh…shoot. This could take some work."

The final pair, Daisy and Toadette, was having more difficulties than the rest of the groups discovering the meaning of their clue. "I think that we should look in the bedrooms," Daisy suggested. "After all, it did mention sleeping conditions and beds."

"But…..it couldn't be that simple, could it?" Toadette wondered.

"You'll never know until you try!" Daisy cried, moving towards the castle. "Come on, it's not as if we have anything to lose, right?"

Daisy: Maybe we couldn't figure out the meaning of the clue, but Toadette was content to stand there and spend valuable time just thinking. I mean, I understand that we need to try to figure it out, but we might as well look in possible areas instead of just waiting in one place.

"I guess you're right," Toadette responded, following her towards their rooms.

The two bag savers were patiently waiting in their positions, hopeful that they would be released soon, now that all of the groups had left to find their respective objects.

"I wonder if any of them have gotten their clues yet," Goombella started.

Before Rosalina could reply, she was cut off by Monty making an announcement through the castle's loudspeaker system. "70 minutes remaining, players! 20 minutes used, 70 minutes remaining!"

Rosalina paused for a moment, considering before she spoke. "Based on the fact that so much time is remaining, I would be quite surprised if all of the groups had already hit upon the solutions to their clues."

Goombella blinked. "But wouldn't we need a lot of time in order to successfully climb the poles? The metal stands may be easily reachable for you, but I would have to jump for each one."

Goombella: I can never seem to figure Rosalina out. In fact, I'm starting to worry that I'm spending too much time trying to figure her out and not enough time on other aspects of the game.

"70 minutes remaining, players! 20 minutes used, 70 minutes remaining!" Kooper heard Monty's announcement blaring through the halls as he made his way to the Princess's private chambers. Turning the corner to the grand gold and pink double door entrance, he spotted two purple capped toad guards in front of the door. He raced up to them, eager to finish his section of the challenge.

"Hello!" he politely greeted the guards. "I'm a player from The Mole, a game show that Peach is hosting here at the moment, and I was wondering if there was a code that you two were given for me or if I can search in the chambers myself."

The two toad guards glanced at each other briefly before the one on the left responded to Kooper's words. "No, I'm afraid not. You must be in the wrong place," he told the koopa apologetically. "We received no such instructions."

"Oh, okay then," Kooper replied, racing out of the hallway and back to the Great Hall.

As he raced back to the beginning of the hallway, he noticed a handy elevator just opposite Peach's chambers. "Perfect," the turtle thought to himself, "I'll be able to reach the Great Hall quickly with this." He walked into the elevator just as a pair of toads walked out, and hit the ground floor. He noted the soothing elevator music by Numerical on his way down, identifying the song as Blissful Knowledge.

Arriving on the ground floor, Kooper found himself in the Great Hall itself, with Junior directly in front of him. "Did you get the code?" he asked his partner.

"Nope," Junior responded, disappointed when he realized that Kooper hadn't found it either. "I checked the treasury, but the toads there wouldn't let me in at all."

"Did you tell them you were part of the game?" Kooper questioned him instantly.

"Why…..no, I never thought to, I assumed they would have known." Junior answered him, picking up on the fact that he should have mentioned it. "Shoot, come on, let's go!" he cried, rushing off towards the treasury.

Kooper quickly followed, eager to make up for lost time.

Kooper: Around this time, I was starting to worry for the success of our challenge. I only hoped that everyone else would be able to discover their objects in a more timely fashion. How could Junior have forgotten to mention he was part of the game anyway? The thought is just boggling.

Boomer and Boo were searching the fourth hole of the golf course hopelessly, unable to find any trace of a code. "This is hopeless," Boo groaned aloud. "We're never going to be able to find a code in this large of a golf course in time."

"We can't give up though, we'll fi-hey, there's an attendant!" Boomer caught sight of a worker. "Mr. Attendent Toad!" he shouted, "can you help us?"

The yellow capped attendant in question walked up to them, whistling a little tune. "Hello, how can I help you today?" he asked politely.

"We're from a game show called The Mole," Boo explained, "and we're wondering if you can help us find the code we're looking for."

"I've been only instructed to say that I can't help you find the ends you seek," the toad said apologetically. "That's all I can tell you." The toad walked away again, starting up his little tune again.

"Well that wasn't very helpful," Boomer noted after the toad had walked a suitable distance, then beginning to restart the search for the code. "Come on, let's keep looking."

Boo had a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm, I wonder…okay."

Boomer: That toad wasn't helpful in the slightest. On the other hand, Boo seem to be giving his words a lot of thought. I can't help but think that Boo have gave gotten something that I did not.

Daisy and Toadette were busy searching their bedroom, looking for any sign of a key. "I don't think it's here," Toadette stated as she flopped on her bed, tired after searching all five of the rooms.

"You may be right, but where else would we…..wait a minute." Daisy was hit by a thought. "The clue said keeping cool under the heat, right?"

"Yes…..?" Toadette questioned, wondering the significance behind the statement.

"I think that the clue may have been referring to the roof! People sometimes sleep there, and it's cool at night but under the stars!" Daisy voiced her idea.

"You're right!" Toadette exclaimed, excited. "I knew it was something simple!" She followed hastily as Daisy tore out the door.

Toadette: Although I was elated at the discovery of the meaning of our clue, at the moment I was also slightly suspicious of Daisy. The discovery of the meaning of the clue seemed a little planned, if I may say so myself.

In the library, Birdo and Waluigi had finally discovered the librarian after hunting throughout the entire library. "Do you know anything about the location of a code?" Waluigi queried, slightly impatiently. "We're from a game show called The Mole."

"Although I do know what you're referring too," the librarian started, "I'm afraid that I cannot help you any more than allowing you access to the computers, and the various sections of the library." The female green-capped toad adjusted her glasses. "However, if you are looking for a particular book, I would be more than happy to helpful to help you!"

"That's fine," Birdo cut in before Waluigi could say anything. "We'll look for it ourselves." The dinosaur pulled Waluigi out of hearing for whispering harshly. "It said to look for the place we go for knowledge. While the library is one, isn't the computer one as well?"

Waluigi: While Birdo's idea was good and made sense, it may have been a little too good for her. It's possible that she is hiding her intelligence from us.

"That makes this challenge so much more straightforward." Waluigi agreed. "Let's start up that computer over there." The pair moved the mouse of the computer and found that the computer was already open to a book. Waluigi attempted to move the cursor, only to find it to be frozen. "We must have to look for this book," he spoke his thoughts. "An Intro to Animal Biology. It has a blue book cover, so it should stick out."

"Let's ask the librarian," Birdo suggested.

Goombella and Rosalina were still waiting patiently at their pipes, wishing to be released.

"45 minutes remaining, players!" the players heard Monty call out. "45 minutes used, 45 minutes remaining!"

Just as Monty finished speaking, Kooper and Junior burst into view, panting from their long run. "We have the code!" Junior shouted, covering the remaining distance to Rosalina and inputting the numbers 4-1-9-0 into the device, unlocking the chains before flopping onto the grass. "It's all you now!"

"I understand," Rosalina replied, stretching out her body before striding over to the poles where the bags were hanging. Bracing herself, she began climbing the post, using the rings every few feet to maintain a good grip.

"Man, at this rate it will take forever to get all of the bags down," Kooper noted, watching Rosalina's progress. "I think that without the ladder we'll never finish in time."

Junior looked around quickly to check for the other players. "I cannot believe that we are the first ones to arrive despite having so many delays."

Goombella wriggled uncomfortably in her chains. "I can't wait to be set free from these."

Boomer and Boo were still searching the entire mini-golf course. They had just reached the ninth hole when Boo paused abruptly. "Wait a minute Boomer; I think that I found out where we need to go if we want to get the code."

"Well don't just stand there!" Boomer ordered rejuvenated with energy. "Come on, spit it out!"

"Well, the clue had the mention of the word "retire" or near the end, and the toad we passed said that he couldn't tell how to achieve our "ends". So, going by that logic, it would mean that we have to go to-"

"-the end of the course," Boomer finished, seeing what Boo was getting at. "Boo, you're a genius, that's it! Let's go!"

"Well, I try," Boo answered, blushing lightly. He followed Boomer as they picked up the pace heading back for the 18th hole.

Waluigi and Birdo were still in the library. After they discovered what it was that they had to search for, they quickly asked the librarian where they had to look for the book. "Well, if you look at the book numbers, there will be 4 sets of numbers; the first one, a one digit number, will be the floor; the second, a two digit number, will be the corresponding section of the floor, the third will be a two digit number representing the row it belongs to, and the fourth will be a three digit pinpointing the shelf. Just check the number of the book you are looking for and you should find it in no time."

"Okay, thank you!" Birdo quickly moved back to the computer to check the book's number. "Hmm, it says here…..okay, the number is as follows; 2-23-35-186."

"That's the second, floor, let's hurry!" Walugi leaped towards the staircase.

Birdo: I feel like I was doing most of the work in our challenge, but with Waluigi's cunning, he should have been acing this stuff.

Boomer and Boo found themselves on the final hole of the mini golf course, where they believed the code to be found. Boo immediately floated over to the wooden pencil box of the hole, where the pencils would be placed after use on the golf course. Just as he was about to open it, Boo paused. "Hey, there's a four digit combo engraved on this box, do you think that's it?"

"It has to be it!" Boomer shouted, eager to complete his challenge. "What are the numbers?"

"Let's see….it says 0-1-1-2. That must be it," Boo read, but Boomer had disappeared soon after hearing the digits.

"We have to get this to the others as soon as possible!" he called over his shoulder as he rounded the corner to the south wall.

Boo, however was fine with this arrangement. Giving the corner of the wall one last look, he turned back to the wooden box. Eyes gleaming happily, he opened the box to discover the ultimate lifesaver.

Boo: I knew from the moment that I heard the clue that there was an exemption on our section of the course. The clue had mentioned two different objects, and the exemption could be classified quite well as what any player would desire.

Back in the west garden, Rosalina finished tossing her fifth bag into the pipes, dusting her hands off afterwards. The other players, namely Goombella, Junior, and Kooper, were waiting impatiently for the rest of the pairs to arrive. "We can't have much time left," Goombella spoke anxiously. "Where is everyone else?"

As if on cue, Boomer dashed around the corner towards them, stopping just short of the calculator like device. He hastily typed in the four numbers, and watched impatiently as the calculator screen turned green, before shutting down completely.

"Hey, wasn't that supposed to-"he has cut off by the lights glowing on the bags over in the pipe garden, all with emblems of the players on them. A quick search showed that of the bags, Kooper's, Boomer's, Toadette's, Goombella's, and a money bag were all already brought back, with Rosalina climbing down the post which had held up the second money bag.

"Cool, my bag's safe," Boomer flopped on the grass, relieved at this turn of events.

Junior: After the bags lit up, I noticed Rosalina's bag to be almost empty, if not completely empty. Perhaps an act of the Mole to ensure comfort?

Not a moment after Boomer had lain down on the grass, Daisy and Toadette appeared around the same corner, Daisy clutching a large and old-fashioned golden looking key in her right hand. While Daisy headed immediately to unlock the shed, Toadette spoke to the three boys relaxing on the grass. "Could you help us bring the ladder out of the shed, please?"

Kooper and Boomer instantly obliged, and followed Daisy into the shed in order to pull out the ladder.

The three of them picked up the 34 foot ladder with ease, bringing it out of the shed and beginning to take it over to the rows of pipes. Before the little procession could get too far, however, Boomer realized something. "Hey, how is Rosalina going to move this ladder around to all of the posts by herself?"

The other players instantly looked over to where Rosalina was, and spotted her coming down with her seventh bag, labelled with a thumbprint from the Mole.

"I should have known she would go for the exemption," Junior muttered under his breath, annoyed by the fact that she seemed not to care about the belongings in the slightest.

Rosalina jumped down the last few feet, landing gracefully, then walked the remaining distance back to the players. After tossing the empty bag back into the pipe she had been trapped to but a few minutes earlier, she pocketed the green card she had removed from the bag and sat back down upon the grass.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Daisy yelled angrily, hands on her hips. "Just because you got the exemption doesn't mean that you can just relax. There are other bags too!"

Rosalina wordlessly handed Daisy a piece of paper that she pulled off of the front of the exemption.

Daisy smoothed out the paper and read it aloud. "Your personal reward comes with a price for the rest. You may no longer save any more bags." Her face darkened. "Well, this could be slightly problematic."

"20 minutes remaining, players!" the players heard Monty's voice once more. "70 minutes used, 20 minutes remaining!"

Kooper: This challenge doesn't seem to be going so well, as everyone seems to be suspicious in their own right. I'll have to think about all of these actions later.

Rosalina: What I did not tell the others was that I suspected that there would be some sort of penalty for taking the exemption. Now I regret it, for I seem to have alienated the group, and the exemption was most likely not required to pass the first round.

Waluigi and Birdo both looked up at the sound of the host in the otherwise silent library. "We have to hurry!" Birdo broke the tension, redoubling her effort to search for the book.

Waluigi has about to respond, when he noticed a blue book on the top shelf, labelled 186. He plucked it out, and glanced at the cover. "I have the book!" he shouted, flipping through the book. "There's nothing here though, maybe we need to take it to the librarian?" He stood up and raced back down to the first floor, Birdo following. As she arrived on the first floor, Waluigi ran back up to her. "The code's 5-1-8-1-!"

The rest of the group was waiting impatiently for Waluigi and Birdo. Junior wore thin first. "Where are those two, they're going to lose us the challenge!"

"We're right here," Waluigi's voice answered, his body appearing in the others' view. He knelt down next to Goombella and entered in the code, freeing her to do her work. The goomba immediately jumped up and headed towards the bags, yelling "I'm free, I'm finally free!"

She headed towards the field immediately, and began to climb the ladder in place for her first bag. Before she could even make it a quarter of the way up, the left side of the ladder snapped just two feet from the bottom, sending the goomba tumbling back down. She fell back down on the grass, and the ladder fell on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

"Oh my Stars, are you okay!" Daisy shouted, rushing towards towards her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she groaned, unable to move. "The ladder is actually fairly light considering, but I still can't move at all."

Daisy quickly shifted the ladder a couple of feet, enough for the goomba girl to squeeze her way out. "Can you still go on?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I think so." She winced, discovering a new bruise on her foot. "Like I said earlier, the ladder is pretty light, considering. It's also covered with some sort of soft rubber. I think I'll be fine to go on."

Goombella picked herself, dusting herself off, before slowly climbing up the post to her first bag, as the other players watched. "I hope she's okay, and isn't pushing herself too much," Toadette spoke to the group.

Daisy walked back to the group, not looking too happy with the turn of events. "If that was the Mole's doing, they're even more despicable than I thought they were."

The rest of the group nodded grimly, feeling the same way except for one particular person.

"So, let's go over the results of the challenge, shall we?" the host started. "So, in total, nine bags were recovered. These bags were as follows; Kooper's, Boomer's, Toadette's, Daisy's, Goombella's, and Birdo's, along with two bags of money and the exemption bag retrieved by Rosalina."

A couple of players shot Rosalina dirty looks. Rosalina nodded at them saying, "While you're like that now, you would have done the exact same thing were you in my position."

Monty cleared his throat to regain their attention. "What this means is that 5 000 of the coins will be added to the pot, and that Rosalina, Junior, Waluigi, and Boo will be without their bags."

"At least all of use took out the essentials, right?" Junior tried to lighten the mood.

"That still doesn't make it too much better," Boo replied. "But you are right, it could have been even worse."

Daisy: When Junior brought up that all of them had removed the essentials, it reminded me that the Mole would have been careful to at least remove enough to be able to have the necessities if they were to lose their bag. Any of them could be the Mole in that case.

"However," Monty started again, "there was a very clear rule during the challenge that was broken multiple times." The players suddenly stood stock still. "During the mission, none of the searching pairs were to move into the space between the pipes the savers were chained to and the pipe rows. But during the course of the challenge, four times a player moved into that area, clearly breaking the rules of the challenge. Because of this, 4 000 coins are removed from the mission, leaving just 1 000 coins earned."

Challenge Results:

Money Won: 5 000 – 4 000 = 1 000

Team Pot: 10 000 coins.

"Well that challenge just plain sucked!" Boomer burst out.

"Although it would seem that nothing was intentional," Monty continued, "there was a lot of suspicious activity throughout the mission. Waluigi and Birdo took extremely long as a pair to get their code. Honest mistake or sabotage?"

"We did our best," Birdo defended, "and our clue was probably the most time consuming.

"Or how about Rosalina's name appearing once again? She took the exemption, wasting plenty of time during the course of the mission when she could have been saving bags."

"I require no justification for my actions beyond what I have already given," Rosalina answered calmly.

"And, of course, there was the ladder collapse, as well as the various infractions of the rules, when carrying it out and to help Goombella during the collapse. Daisy appeared the most suspicious during that event, although Boomer and Kooper are also choice suspects."

"It would have been impossible for us to sabotage the ladder in front of everyone else," Daisy responded. "And, should I not have helped Rosalina?"

"There's also one last detail. During the challenge, Boo had found an exemption that was mentioned to in the clue he was given. As such, he is now immune to elimination this round."

Boo: I was kinda hoping Monty wouldn't mention that aloud to everyone. I feel like now I have a target on my back.

"Now, any way you look at it, the results of this challenge were a failure for all but one of you. You are free to spend the rest of your time until dinner in…" Monty checked his watch, "3 hours however you wish as long as you stay within the boundaries of the castle." The host rapidly moved to the corner and disappeared, leaving the players behind.

Boomer: Right now, I'm more confused than ever on whom the Mole could be now. Everyone just seemed suspicious during that challenge. However, because of this challenge, I do feel more justified in suspecting Waluigi. He took an unreasonable amount of time to solve his task.

Junior: I'm still suspicious of Goombella and Kooper, two people who were under the radar but still open to sabotage during this challenge. Koooper was off doing who knows what during our section of the challenge, obviously not finding the right area for the code, and everyone forgets that Goombella could have sabotaged the ladder herself; it would have been the ultimate move.

Daisy: Overall, I've pretty much decided that the Mole is probably one of the quieter people under the radar. Basing my suspects on that thought, I've decided to focus my suspicions on Toadette, Kooper, Boo, and Birdo, mostly the latter three.

Toadette: I don't want to pick a suspect too early in the game, and if I do pick one, it isn't going to be a solid and unchangeable suspect. I think anyone could be the Mole, but I'd like to focus a little more on Rosalina, Goombella, and Boomer.

Kooper: I still find Junior to have been incredibly suspicious during that challenge. He apparently found out that the treasury wasn't the place, but we ended up finding that was the place to go to, which brings up the question of what he was really doing that time.

Goombella: Daisy continues to rank high up on my suspicions chart, with her sabotages during the challenges, as well as the long time period for her to find her key. I'm starting to suspect Toadette more as the game goes on, though…..

Birdo: I have absolutely no idea who I should be suspecting at this point. I've decided that Waluigi was the most suspicious at this point, as he barely helped at all during our section of the challenge, but everyone else apparently had their own suspicious moments as well.

Rosalina: For my suspicions, I have decided not to decide on anyone this early. I will simply continue to mark down sabotages and make my decision later in the game. This early, no one will know who the Mole is, not to mention this lovely exemption I have myself here.

Waluigi: When I analyze what happened so far in today's events, I found that Rosalina quickly went from being one of the most suspected to being one of the least suspected. In my book, an obvious Mole could still be a Mole.

Boo: Thanks to this exemption, I feel free of any pressures, for now anyway. Looking at the events so far today, anyone could be the Mole. That's only thing I'm sure of at this moment. I do have some suspects in mind, however…..

Eager to finally be able to explore their surroundings or relax after a long day, the players faded into various directions.

The Mole seems to be very active so far in the story? Or are they? Maybe the players just suck at working together as a group. :p Only time will tell!

If you have time, feel free to drop a review with your thought, both on your favorites and suspicions, and also if you have any suggestions. I have a new poll up, so be sure to vote for your suspects there! Guest votes will be accepted in the form of a review, although some feedback would also be nice. That's it for now, see you readers next time!