Hello, lovely readers! It's me again!

So I've been gone for over a year. That's not a milestone I'm proud of, I'm actually really sorry about that. I hope none of you thought I was dead!

There are a number of reasons I haven't been around—first and foremost is that my life HAS been busy with other things. But I also struggled with many rewrites of this chapter, which can be rather demotivating. It feels like a lot of work goes to waste when that happens.

But anyways, I'm back with another chapter! The world's a hectic place right now, but I hope you're all doing well. Here's a new chapter to keep you occupied!

Oh, but before we begin...let's take a look at new poll results!

8 votes - Clauncher

6 votes - Jolteon and Seviper

5 votes - Dusclops, Chandelure, and Beedrill

3 votes - Chatot, Combusken, and Lilligant

1 vote - Castform

No votes - Mienshao

And there we have the results! Full disclosure, I've pretty much gotten what I wanted out of the poll at this point (which was just to gauge who viewers were rooting for the most), so I'll likely take down the poll when the next chapter goes up.

Now, without further ado...here's your chapter. Enjoy!

"Hmph…"

Diancie heard an exasperated sigh coming from Jirachi's office as she floated down a hallway in the hosts' headquarters. Curious, she peeked her head in to see him talking on the phone.

"Well, all right. I wish you would've told me sooner, but…" Jirachi said with a frown. "If you've already got plans, I guess I'll have to figure out something else. Thanks for letting me know."

He hung up the phone, and Diancie lightly knocked on the doorframe. Jirachi perked up, realizing she was there. "Oh! Diancie!" he said with false enthusiasm. "Hello!"

"Who were you talking with on the phone?" Diancie inquired. "You sounded disappointed."

Jirachi's brow furrowed. "Ah, yeah...about that. Regigigas canceled on us."

Diancie's eyes widened. "What? But he was supposed to help us with the challenge!" Diancie said, looking panicked. "We only have one day left to prepare before that!"

"Turns out he's attending some family get-together in Galar that he forgot about until today," said Jirachi, sounding annoyed. "And I called a few other friends to see if they wanted to help with the challenge, but they're all unavailable."

Diancie raised an eyebrow. "Even Thundurus?" she asked.

"He's still mad that I didn't pay him after last time," Jirachi said, rolling his eyes. "Which is a decision I stand behind!" he added, noticing Diancie's look of disapproval. "He didn't defeat any contestants at all! That was his whole job!"

"Well, regardless of that fact, we're in a tight spot," Diancie murmured. "The producers won't be happy if we can't find someone suitable to help us with the upcoming challenge. We were kind of counting on Regigigas to help us construct this one."

Jirachi slumped backwards in his seat dramatically and allowed his momentum to spin the swivel chair around. "I guess that means we have to get creative," Jirachi mused. "All we need to get started is a good idea."

"Which we don't have," Diancie pointed out.

"True, true. We could ask the interns, I suppose—but I doubt they'd be any real help," Jirachi said. Diancie didn't say anything, which Jirachi interpreted as her agreement. "Actually…"

"What?" Diancie asked after Jirachi paused for a few seconds.

Jirachi's brow furrowed. "I...might have someone I can call."

"That's great!" said Diancie, looking rather relieved. "Whoever it is, give them a call now! We're going to need some help to put together a new challenge before tomorrow."

Diancie turned and left before Jirachi could protest. The small host sat there in silence for a few moments before looking at the phone on his desk reluctantly. He let out a sigh and picked it up, dialing a new number.

-static-

"Hey, Dusclops! Check this out!"

Across the campsite from the hosts' headquarters, Castform and Dusclops were hanging out by the campfire pit. Castform hovered in front of Dusclops, beaming brightly. The Magic Hat she had grown fond of was resting atop her head. "So, it's been a few days since the last challenge! And you know what I've been doing?" Castform asked energetically.

"Witchcraft, by the look of things," Dusclops said, gesturing at her hat. "Enchant any brooms lately?"

Castform rolled her eyes at him. "It's not witchcraft, Dusclops, it's magic! See, the Magic Hat has boundless potential, but I didn't know how to harness it during the last challenge," Castform explained. "So I practiced! And lo and behold, I now command the full power of the Magic Hat!"

Castform floated back a few feet and stared at an empty spot on the ground. "Magic Hat, set that grass on fire!" Castform ordered.

With a sudden whoosh, the grass at Dusclops's feet (or lack thereof) lit up in an instant. Duscops yelped in alarm and jumped back immediately. "Castform! You nearly burnt me!" Dusclops shouted. "Careful with that!"

"Psssh, you'll be fine. But you've got to admit that was cool!" Castform said with an expectant grin. Dusclops did not look amused.

"I mean, it was...something. But it was definitely dangerous," Dusclops reprimanded her with a judgmental look. "Also, couldn't you already make fires without the hat?"

"Only small ones. And they're pretty feeble when it's not sunny," Castform said with a pout. "But now, I can do so much more than just make fire!"

She did a dramatic twirl in the air and set her sights on Dusclops. "Magic Hat, turn Dusclops pink!"

Dusclops gave her a horrified look. "Wait, what—"

He was cut off by a series of snorts from Castform as she fell to the ground laughing. Dusclops took one look at himself and let out a shout. "CASTFORM! TURN ME BACK!"

"Okay, okay!" she said, stifling a giggle. "But you see what I mean! I can do all sorts of things!"

"You made your point. But I don't like being pink, turn me back," Dusclops requested, giving her a stern look.

Castform shrugged as much as a limbless Pokemon could before whispering a short command to the Magic Hat. In a quick poof of smoke, Dusclops's original color was restored.

The Ghost-type let out a sigh of relief. "Please tell me you're not going to only use the Magic Hat for things like this," Dusclops said, giving Castform a resigned look.

"Oh, don't you worry about me. I've got plenty of surprises in store," Castform responded with a wink.

The Weather Pokemon snickered and floated off into the distance, leaving a bewildered Dusclops behind.

"I...did not like that wink," Dusclops murmured to himself.

-static-

"I like Castform a lot, but she can even be a bit much for me sometimes," said Dusclops, rubbing his head. "I'm hoping the Magic Hat doesn't get her into trouble. If everything goes wrong...well, losing another teammate would be a real blow."

Dusclops sulked a bit. "Especially since Cryogonal, Mawile, and Noivern are all gone now. Castform's the closest friend I have left. I'd rather not see her go, too."

-static-

Castform giggled to herself as she floated around wearing the Magic Hat. "I've got the game in the palm of my hands now!" Castform cackled. "Well, if I had hands anyway! But who needs those, they're overrated!"

Castform abruptly stopped. "Wait. Can I give myself hands?" she muttered, eyeing the hat on her head. She stared at it for several seconds before shaking her head.

"No, Castform. That's too much power for one Pokemon."

-static-

Dusclops walked back into camp when he heard someone call his name from over by the cabins. He turned to see Chatot flagging him down with one wing.

"Oh, hey Chatot!" Dusclops said jovially. "What's up?"

Chatot didn't appear to be as cheery as Dusclops. "Ya haven't seen Jolteon today, have you?" the bird asked. Dusclops gave him a bit of a confused look.

"Um, no," Dusclops replied curiously. "Is he not in the cabin?"

"No. It seems he's been avoidin' me," Chatot replied bluntly. "And everyone else in camp, too. No one's seen him today."

"Maybe he went for a jog," Dusclops suggested with a shrug. "It's still morning. Give him some time to turn up."

Chatot gave him a sharp look. "I doubt that. Look, I normally talk with Jolteon each mornin' about...ya know, about strategy and the like," Chatot muttered, not wanting to get into specifics in front of Dusclops. "But he wasn't at our meetin' spot today. He's nevah missed a single meetin' before."

"Well, I haven't seen him anywhere around camp, sorry," Dusclops apologized, feeling kind of bad for being unable to help Chatot. "He's not at the campfire pit, because I just came from there. But I'll let you know if I see him! Good luck finding him!"

Dusclops then sauntered back into the male Milotics' cabin, and Chatot scratched his head in confusion. Where could Jolteon have gone off to?

-static-

"I swear, I'da ditched Jolteon by now if he didn't make himself useful by votin' with me," Chatot grumbled in annoyance. "He's been nothin' but trouble lately, what with the Mienshao incident last week and now this sudden disappearance of his. What does he think he's tryin' ta pull?"

-static-

"Combusken! There you are!"

Clauncher's voice caught Combusken by surprise as the chicken strolled through the woods, and he jumped nearly a full foot before he pinpointed where the sound had been coming from. Clauncher was up in a tree for some reason, staring down at Combusken.

"Why are you in a tree?" Combusken inquired meekly, angling his head up at Clauncher.

Clauncher laughed. "Good question! It's because today, I'm doing aerial training with Beedrill!" he announced. "We're doing some more training to get me closer to evolution!"

"That doesn't explain why you're in a tree," Combusken pointed out.

Clauncher smirked and lifted his claw. He carefully aimed it at the ground below and shot out a powerful stream of water. Combusken instinctively yelped and jumped back out of fear of a water attack, even though it wasn't particularly close to him.

But as Combusken looked up again to see what Clauncher was doing, he saw Clauncher using that stream of water to propel himself into the air. Clauncher was somehow able to use his Water Gun to boost himself, enabling him to fly around temporarily. Combusken stared in awe.

"Pretty cool, right?" prompted Clauncher as he dropped down next to Combusken on the ground after showing off. "Since Beedrill can fight in the air, he told me I'd need to be able to do the same to win in a real fight! And with this here, I most certainly can!" Clauncher said proudly, gesturing to his large claw.

"That's, uh...pretty impressive," Combusken admitted. Clauncher beamed at him. "Where is Beedrill, anyway?"

His question was answered almost immediately as Beedrill flew down towards them from above. "Great work, Clauncher," Beedrill remarked, giving Clauncher an approving nod. "Your speed in the air is honestly almost on par with mine already, which is no small feat given that we just started this type of training today. But I will say this…"

Clauncher frowned as Beedrill went on. "...I noticed you lacked control up there," Beedrill critiqued him. "Your stream of water had to be so powerful just to keep you airborne that you were having trouble aiming it where you wanted. If I was actually trying to attack you, I'd have been successful in taking you down—there's no way you could have defended yourself like that."

"Yeah, yeah, all right," Clauncher grumbled. "You don't have to rain on my parade."

"Hey, you asked for my honest critique before," Beedrill said with a shrug. "I'm giving it to you. Work on controlling how much water you need to propel yourself, and you could fix this issue. With proper work, you could potentially beat me in a fight."

"Oh, really?" Clauncher asked with a grin.

Beedrill smirked. "Maybe. Once you evolve. And that's still a big maybe."

The bug gestured back towards camp. "Anyways, that's enough progress for today. I bet you're starving by now," he said to Clauncher, who nodded. "Let's get back in time for lunch. I could use some food myself."

Combusken followed them back to camp, his mind now focused on training rather than his encounter with Jolteon. Maybe he could still become stronger, too.

-static-

"Clauncher still sometimes trains with me when he's not busy training with Beedrill," Combusken mentioned in the confessional. "I wonder if it'd be possible to evolve again if I train enough."

The fowl shook his head, looking embarrassed immediately upon saying this. "No, that's wishful thinking. It'd take forever for me to e-evolve again," Combusken sighed.

-static-

"So you saw Mienshao coming out of the woods from here before?"

Lilligant was crouched behind a bush with a pair of binoculars, with Seviper at her side. Seviper had informed Lilligant of her suspicions regarding Mienshao and invited her to see for herself.

"Yesss, I caught her walking out a few daysss ago," Seviper told Lilligant. "From that ssspot. And you sssaid that'sss where she usssed to meet with you and Minun, right?"

"Well...yeah, but that doesn't mean anything," Lilligant said, putting the binoculars down and giving Seviper a skeptical look. "She could've just been going for a walk."

Seviper scoffed. "Mienssshao? Going for a walk in the woodsss? Look, I've kept tabsss on her thisss whole game, ssso unlessss she'sss taken up new hobbiesss without me noticing, that's unlikely."

Lilligant shrugged. "All the same, I don't really feel like we have anything concrete at the moment. Just because you suspect she might be meeting with someone in the woods doesn't mean we can do anything about it."

"We can keep an eye on her," Seviper interjected. "Which I intend to do."

"Sure. But we don't even know who she's meeting with, if you're right about this at all," Lilligant pointed out. "I just don't see the point in chasing this. We should be focusing our efforts on getting that idol out of Mienshao's hands."

"Oh, we will. It'll be out of her handsss sssoon," Seviper promised Lilligant. "Ssshe can't keep narrowly essscaping usss forever, and ssshe knowsss that. That'sss why I think she'sss making an alliance."

Lilligant frowned. "I just don't get it. If that's really true...and I'm not saying you're wrong," she added, catching Seviper's harsh look, "...who would actually be dumb enough to ally with Mienshao?"

-static-

Chandelure turned another page in the book she was reading, trying to enjoy the pleasant weather on the island that afternoon. A laugh from Mienshao interrupted her peace and quiet, and Chandelure glanced up from her book at Mienshao. The weasel was pacing around in front of her with the Jirachi-shaped idol clutched in her hands.

"Would you cut that out already?" Chandelure asked irritably. "You're being quite distracting."

"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt you from your oh-so-important reading," Mienshao retorted, giving Chandelure's book a distasteful look. "What is that anyway, your summer reading assignment?"

"It's a novel my brother recommended to me," Chandelure replied with an impatient edge to her voice. "Not that you'd care what it is, since you seem to lack appreciation for anything besides that idol you've grown sickeningly fond of."

"You have no right to talk to me like that," Mienshao retorted with a menacing scowl. She stepped closer and waved the idol in Chandelure's face. "Did you forget who you're talking to? Only the most powerful player in the game, that's who. I'd still be here without your 'help', so don't forget that I'm the one with the immunity idol here, not you."

"And I'm sure that'll last you forever," Chandelure responded sarcastically. "But you have a plan, don't you? I'm certain a player of your caliber would never have made it this far without a backup plan of what happens when that idol of yours inevitably gets snatched away."

Mienshao threw Chandelure a withering look, but Chandelure returned it with an equally cold one. "Oh, right. That's what I'm here for, isn't that right?" Chandelure asked icily. "You just want me to secure you a place in the finals before you try to boot me off the island. What a clever plan, Mienshao. I'd never have seen that coming."

"Don't think I don't realize that you're trying to do the same," Mienshao scoffed. "You're not as subtle as you'd think, Chandelure."

"You seem to think of me as an underling, like Lilligant or Minun were to you," Chandelure continued. "And you think that leaving me in the dust will be easy thanks to that idol. But let me spell it out for you, Mienshao. I control this game. You do not."

Mienshao took a step back as Chandelure rose up from the stump she had been seated on and approached Mienshao. "The entire island is voting against you each night, and as soon as I decide you're not worth my time, you'll be all on your own with only that idol to buy you another night on this island."

Chandelure's eyes stared unblinkingly into Mienshao's. "And I will continue to rise to the top by myself. My plans have not faltered yet. You are not a necessity in them. Do not make an enemy out of the only Pokemon keeping you afloat."

Chandelure floated past Mienshao, her book tucked safely out of reach of her flickering flames. "You're convenient to me now. If that changes, disposing of you will be easy. Toe the line, Mienshao."

Mienshao's fists clenched as Chandelure left the scene. It took all she had not to chase after Chandelure, but she reigned in her anger and let out a frustrated growl. Now was not the time.

-static-

"She just thinks she knows EVERYTHING, doesn't she!" snarled Mienshao. "I'm so sick of it! Chandelure just thinks she runs this game...well, I'll be the one laughing when her grand plan starts crumbling apart."

Mienshao fumed silently for a moment before continuing. "But I can't get rid of her. Not yet," Mienshao said, plotting carefully in her head. "Beedrill and Seviper remain my targets for the time being, seeing as they pose the biggest threat to me. Chandelure comes after that."

-static-

"ATTENTION, ALL CAMPERS! PLEASE REPORT TO THE MULTI-PURPOSE BUILDING FOR YOUR CHALLENGE ANNOUNCEMENT!"

Jirachi's voice echoed across the campsite loudly. Seviper and Lilligant had just returned from their short excursion, and Seviper's tongue flicked out in exasperation.

"Challenge time already, huh?" Seviper said to Lilligant.

Lilligant shrugged. "I guess so. We probably shouldn't keep them waiting," she added nervously, hoping that Jirachi didn't have a nasty challenge up his sleeve. The last challenge had been far too kind to Lilligant, making her suspicious of what could come next.

The campers began to arrive at the multi-purpose building, which already had its doors propped open. A sad-looking Jolteon was the last to trudge onto the scene, making his way into the room with his head hung. Chatot cast him a concerned look as he entered, but he didn't get a chance to speak as a spotlight turned on in the middle of the previously unlit room.

Jirachi and Diancie appeared in the center underneath the spotlight. "Hello, campers!" Jirachi shouted, carrying his trusty megaphone in one hand. The high volume alongside the enclosed environment caused the noise to be amplified, and the campers all winced as their ears were assaulted.

"Sorry. Didn't realize that was still on," Jirachi murmured, flicking a switch on the megaphone. "Note to self: turn off the megaphone after shouting at the interns next time. Anyways, look alive, everybody! It's challenge time!"

"Oh, really? I had no idea," Chandelure drawled sarcastically. Jirachi threw her a withering look and cleared his throat, ready to continue.

"Yes, Chandelure, it is my favorite time once again," Jirachi said, maintaining a sharp look in her direction. Chandelure was unfazed as always. "I hope you're as excited as I am!"

It was pretty clear that Chandelure was not excited, but Jirachi went on without giving her a chance to insert a snarky comment. "Today's challenge is a bit of a departure from our original plans," Jirachi admitted, gesturing to himself and Diancie. "But worry not, for we have something just as fun for you campers to partake in! Diancie, the banner, if you will!"

Upon her cue, Diancie unfurled a banner, holding it up next to Jirachi. "Today's challenge is…" Jirachi began, before looking over at the banner. "Diancie, why is the banner empty?"

"I told the interns to write out the challenge on it," Diancie said, looking as surprised as Jirachi that the banner was blank. "I guess they forgot?"

Jirachi smacked a hand to his forehead. "I KNEW there was a reason I was yelling at them before. Oh well," he mumbled. The campers could hear all of this, and were listening in mild amusement. "This blank banner is not representative of a lack of ideas, my dear campers! No, we have prepared only the finest of challenges for today!"

"Doesn't seem like ya prepared at all," Chatot quipped.

Jirachi shot Chatot a glare. "Look, we had to put things together on short notice, but the premise is still good!" Jirachi said defensively. Even Diancie didn't look convinced by this, however. "For today's challenge, we're inviting a special guest here to the island!"

"Oh, Thundurus is back?" Clauncher asked. He let out an involuntary laugh, betraying his nerves. "I was kind of hoping he wouldn't show up again, seeing as he probably wants revenge against me."

"Relax, it's not Thundurus. Not this time, anyway," Jirachi said, dismissing Clauncher's inquiry. The crustacean let out a relieved sigh. "I've invited someone different to our lovely island!"

"You still haven't told me who it is you invited," Diancie mentioned to Jirachi in a hushed whisper. "Don't you think it would've been good to tell me so I could be prepared?"

"Trust me, if you knew who I invited, you would've stopped me," Jirachi whispered back. Diancie's eyes widened in alarm at this, but Jirachi went back to addressing the campers before she could speak again.

"So, without further ado…!" Jirachi began, twirling his arms through the air in a dramatic, albeit silly, fashion, "I welcome to the island...HOOPA!"

In the middle of this dark room, a black portal appeared just above the blank banner. The portal was outlined with a ring of gold, and from the portal emerged a purple and pink genie-like Pokemon of about the same size as Jirachi. She let out a high-pitched cackle that reverberated around the inside of the room, sending chills down some of the campers' spines.

"HOOPA IS NOW HERE!" the strange genie announced. She twirled around in the air until she came face-to-face with Jirachi. "YOU DID THE SUMMONING OF HOOPA, YES?"

"Yes, that is what occurred," Jirachi confirmed, already beginning to have regrets about his plan. "Hi, Hoopa."

"OH, IT HAS BEEN MANY YEARS SINCE I DID YOU A SEEING!" Hoopa shouted. She flew closer and embraced Jirachi in a hug. Jirachi seemed to resist her embrace, but Hoopa squeezed him tightly for a few seconds before letting go. "HOW ARE YOU BEING?"

"I'm fine, Hoopa," Jirachi mumbled embarrassedly, feeling the campers' eyes on him. "How are you?"

Hoopa puffed her chest out slightly. "I HAVE BEEN EXCELLENT! NO BAD BEHAVIOR FROM ME! MY ACTING HAS STRAIGHTENED OUT THESE DAYS. THE MISCHIEF DAYS OF MINE ARE BEHIND!"

"You don't expect me to believe that, do you?" said Jirachi, raising an eyebrow.

Hoopa cackled and rubbed her hands together vigorously. "TOO SHARP YOU ARE, JIRACHI! BUT OF COURSE NOT. I WOULD NOT BE HERE IF NOT FOR THE MISCHIEF! WE ARE GOING TO HAVE THE MOST FUN, YES?"

"Hold on," Diancie said, finally interrupting. She gave Jirachi a sharp look. "You invited Hoopa?"

Jirachi pulled her aside so that Hoopa and the campers couldn't hear them talking. "You said 'whoever it is, give them a call,'" Jirachi reminded her. "Who else did you think was crazy enough to come onto our show with only a day's notice?"

"Since when were YOU crazy enough to think about asking her?" Diancie asked frantically, casting nervous glances at Hoopa. Hoopa was watching Jirachi and Diancie intently from afar, chuckling to herself. "You know asking favors from Hoopa is a bad idea! Remember what happened when she tried to grant Kyogre's wish for less land, and almost completely submerged Hoenn underwater as a result?"

"Oh yeah," Jirachi reminisced. "That was bad. Rayquaza was pissed."

"Exactly. And I thought you didn't even like Hoopa, seeing as her whole thing is granting wishes, which is what you're supposed to do," Diancie reminded him.

Jirachi scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "It's...complicated. We have a history."

Diancie raised an eyebrow at this. "Look, I know Hoopa's a little bit out there, but she's got a thing for me," Jirachi explained. "She's the only one who would agree to come on such short notice!"

"You really should've just paid Thundurus," Diancie told him, shaking her head.

"I really should have," Jirachi agreed with a sigh.

"SUCH A LONG SESSION OF WHISPERS CAN ONLY MEAN AN EXCHANGE OF SECRETS! WOULD YOU CARE TO INVITE HOOPA TO HEAR THEM?" Hoopa called over to them eagerly. Jirachi gave her a fake smile and then finally turned to address the campers once more.

"Everyone, this is Hoopa! She'll be the one assisting us in today's challenge," Jirachi stated. "Let's give her a warm welcome!"

About half of the campers clapped while the others looked on in confusion, still puzzled by Hoopa's sudden introduction. "Okay, well that was thoroughly underwhelming," Jirachi grumbled. "Let's move on. It's about time we actually explain the challenge."

Jirachi clapped his hands and the lights finally turned on, illuminating the room and eliminating the need for the spotlight, which Diancie promptly shut off. "As some of you can probably tell, one of Hoopa's powers is her ability to create portals," Jirachi told the campers. Clauncher and Beedrill exchanged a curious glance, and Castform nudged Dusclops excitedly. "Today's challenge will be based around that."

"We get ta use portals, eh?" Chatot grunted. "What's the challenge gonna be, then?"

"Patience, Chatot, I'm getting there!" Jirachi said with a waggle of his finger. "Your goal in today's challenge is simple—you'll be looking to find one of these flags!"

Upon saying this, Jirachi pulled two flags out from behind his back. Some campers recognized these as the same flags from the capture the flag challenge: the pink Milotics' flag and the blue Gastrodons' one.

"Another challenge where we wander around trying to find something?" Castform pointed out with a snicker. "Gee, you must really be running out of ideas!"

"Okay, firstly, this wasn't our original idea for today's challenge," Jirachi argued hotly. "And secondly, no, we are not running out of ideas! Our audience just happens to enjoy this type of challenge a lot!"

Castform rolled her eyes, so Jirachi went on with his explanation. "In this challenge, these flags represent immunity," Jirachi informed the campers. "As you can see, there are only two, which makes them quite valuable! They'll be hidden in remote parts of the island, and if you are lucky enough to be the first to find a flag, you win immunity in tonight's voting ceremony!

"Of course, there are no guarantees that the flags will even be found," Jirachi added. "They'll be hidden quite well, so you'll have to search carefully. If no flags are found by the end of the challenge, no one gets immunity, and the voting ceremony will just take place like normal."

"You'll have an hour once the challenge starts to find a flag," Diancie declared, pulling out a stopwatch. "That should be enough time, but like Jirachi said, it won't be easy."

"So...where do the portals come in?" Combusken asked timidly, raising a hand.

Jirachi beamed at him. "Thank you for asking, Combusken! Here, take this flag for such a great question!" the host said, tossing the Gastrodons' flag at Combusken.

Combusken barely caught it before it hit him in the face, fumbling around to get a good grip on it. "W-wait...do I really get to keep this?" Combusken asked in shock, having a similar reaction to most of the other campers.

Jirachi snickered. "No. Of course not." He snapped his fingers and the flag disappeared from Combusken's hands and appeared in his own. "Ah, it does bring me joy to dash your hopes every now and again," Jirachi laughed, wiping a tear from his eye.

Combusken slouched over sadly and Clauncher gave him a comforting pat on the back. "Ahem. Anyways," Jirachi continued, "you'll all begin today's challenge in the web maze. Spinarak was a bit put out that we only used it for one challenge after she put in so much work, so we decided to give it another go."

Seviper frowned, trying to think back to her time in the maze. She couldn't remember much of what its layout was like, and internally cursed herself for not paying closer attention. "Seeing as having another challenge take place entirely inside the confines of the maze would be boring, THAT is where the portals come in," Jirachi said, bringing his explanation full circle.

"Scattered throughout the maze will be portals provided by Hoopa," the host stated. Hoopa grinned at the campers and waved; despite the fact that she hadn't done anything yet, her smile made some of the campers uneasy. "They'll take you to random parts of the island, where there may or may not be a flag! Who knows, really? Well, besides me."

"Wait, so this whole thing is luck based?" Mienshao complained. "That's not fair!"

"You're the lassst one who ssshould be complaining about that. Luck'sss carried you this far already," Seviper muttered under her breath. Mienshao caught most of this and threw Seviper a hateful glare, which was instantly matched by Seviper.

"Mienshao does have a point, actually," Beedrill reluctantly admitted, frowning. "How is this fair at all if we're just at the whims of these portals?"

"You should know my policy on fairness by now," Jirachi said, shaking his head. "But alas, you're in luck. The portals which actually lead to the flags will be marked in some way to indicate that they're the right ones—you'll just have to figure out what that means."

"Well, that was a bogus hint," Castform said to Dusclops. "Any idea what that means?"

"You're supposed to be the smart one," Dusclops told her cluelessly. Castform laughed quietly and smiled at him.

"HOOPA WILL MAKE MANY PORTALS! YOU WILL HAVE TO BE THE SMARTEST TO FIND THE RIGHT ONES!" Hoopa boasted.

Mienshao cast a look in Chandelure's direction at this comment, but the chandelier Pokemon was paying her no attention. Perhaps she was still trying to avoid being publicly affiliated with Mienshao.

-static-

"I'm hoping that we're not split up at the start of the challenge," Mienshao confessed. "Teaming up with or at least following Chandelure could prove to be an effective strategy, since she's good at solving these kinds of cryptic challenges."

The weasel's brow furrowed. "Then again, she may not want to work together, since the immunity flag is only for one. I'll probably have to figure this out on my own."

-static-

"Mienshao is going to have to figure this out on her own," said Chandelure bluntly. "She may be occasionally useful, but she's not worth losing immunity for."

-static-

"So, to sum everything up, everyone will be warped to the maze and from there you'll have an hour to find an immunity flag by exploring various portals," Jirachi concluded. "Everyone understand?"

The campers collectively nodded, and Jirachi smirked. "Good! Then, without further ado, let's send them on their way, Hoopa!" Jirachi shouted.

Hoopa cackled loudly, and pulled a gold ring out from behind her back. Before the campers' eyes, the ring grew in size until it was almost as tall as the inside of the building, and the inside of the ring became an impenetrable black, impossible to see through.

"IN YOU GO, YES YES!" Hoopa said, beckoning the campers towards her portal. The group seemed to hesitate until Jolteon just got up and walked right through without a word. "THAT'S THE SPIRIT! THE PORTAL WILL NOT HARM YOU, IT IS A HOOPA PROMISE!"

"That's not exactly reassuring," Beedrill muttered to Clauncher, who snickered.

"Come on, what other choice do we have? Let's go!" Clauncher shouted, dashing at the portal. "The longer we wait, the less time we have to get those flags!"

Clauncher vanished through the portal after Jolteon, but his words seemed to be enough to spur the other campers on. Mienshao sprinted through the portal after him, and Lilligant followed suit. Eventually, all of the campers went through, and Hoopa's massive portal shrunk back down into an empty ring, which Hoopa grabbed out of the air.

"LET US SEE HOW THEY DO, YES?" Hoopa offered Jirachi with a grin.

"Of course," Jirachi agreed, pulling out a monitor. Diancie and Hoopa leaned over to see the screen, on which the campers were visible.

-static-

On the other side of the portal, the campers found themselves in the murky midst of the Sinking Swamp once more. Webbed walls surrounded them on all sides, and Combusken felt a sense of dread creeping up on him—even though he had conquered the maze last time he had been here, it was still remarkably eerie.

"Oy, Jolteon," Chatot squawked, hobbling over to the Electric-type. Jolteon glanced up and blinked at Chatot, his face registering no emotion. "Let's get a move on. No sense in dawdlin' around here."

Chatot grabbed Jolteon brusquely and steered him away from the starting point and down one of the dark hallways that led out of the room. Beedrill watched the two of them go before pulling Clauncher and Combusken into a huddle.

"Okay, here's the plan," Beedrill said. "I think it's best if we split up. The hosts haven't mentioned traps of any sort being part of this challenge, and while that's hardly a guarantee of safety, our odds of finding a flag are much higher if we search three different places at once."

"True," Clauncher said with a nod. "There probably ARE traps, though. Seviper mentioned to me a while back that she got stuck in quicksand when she was here, and I wouldn't be surprised if the hosts added a few new tricks."

Combusken gulped nervously. "Qu-quicksand?" he sputtered. "I-I don't think we should split up."

Beedrill gave Combusken a critical look. "Combusken, we'll be fine," Beedrill assured him. "Not all of us can win immunity this challenge anyway, so it'll make decision making easier if we all try going solo this time."

Combusken wanted to protest, but he couldn't come up with a good reason to argue against Beedrill's logic. "I guess," the fowl muttered defeatedly. Clauncher saw Combusken's expression and decided to jump in.

"Hey, how about you and I explore together for a while?" Clauncher offered. "Once you get comfortable enough with walking around the maze, then we can both split up!"

Combusken looked up and gave Clauncher a smile. "Y-yeah...thanks, that's a good idea." Combusken agreed.

Beedrill gave Clauncher a meaningful look, but Clauncher ignored him this time. "All right then, let's go!" Clauncher shouted, grabbing Combusken's arm and tugging him along. "See you later, Beedrill!"

Beedrill gave them an empty wave, fully aware they weren't paying him any attention as they ran off into the maze. Beedrill sighed and flew off on his own.

-static-

"Sooner or later, Combusken's going to be forced to work on his own," Beedrill predicted. "Clauncher can't be there to hold his hand forever. And to be honest, I don't think Combusken has what it takes to stand alone."

Beedrill shrugged honestly. "But that's just my opinion. Combusken's made it this far, so maybe he does have some skills that he's hiding. If so, I'd love for him to start using them soon," Beedrill added with a dry chuckle.

-static-

The large room that initially housed the campers was rapidly emptying at this point. Chandelure and Mienshao had each wandered off on their own, and Castform was leading Dusclops down a narrow hallway filled with low-hanging vines.

Lilligant glanced over at Seviper, as only the two of them remained. "Shall we?" Lilligant offered, gesturing for Seviper to join her.

"Let'sss jussst get thisss over with," Seviper replied seriously, slithering down a somewhat muddy corridor. Lilligant followed after her, although she clearly wasn't thrilled that Seviper had picked the most disgusting path to follow.

"Are you sure you don't want to go some other way?" Lilligant proposed hopefully, stepping between pools of dirty brown water. "This hall seems kind of...um…"

"Backtracking wastesss time," Seviper countered as Lilligant's sentence trailed off. "We'll follow thisss path for now. If you really can't handle it, you can go off on your own."

Lilligant was surprised to receive this answer, but she continued trailing Seviper, avoiding as much mud as possible. "Besssidesss, there are only two flagsss," Seviper stated. "You have better oddsss of finding the other one by yourssself."

"That's fair. But I'll stick with you for now," Lilligant decided. "Do you see anything up ahead?"

"Nope," Seviper responded simply. "Jussst more hallway."

"Great," sighed Lilligant.

-static-

"Is there any reason why you picked this particular path?" Dusclops asked Castform as the two of them ducked below a ceiling of tangled vines. Castform spun around and grinned at him, continuing to float backwards while doing so.

"Of course! In case you hadn't noticed my attire," Castform told Dusclops, tilting her head so he could see the witch's hat resting there, "I brought my friend along!"

Dusclops decided not to mention how uncomfortable he was with her calling the hat a "friend" for now. "Um, that's great," Dusclops said awkwardly. "But how does that help us?"

Castform laughed. "What a ridiculous question! The Magic Hat can solve any problem!" Castform bragged. "Magic Hat, show me the way to one of the good portals!"

Immediately, the Magic Hat twitched, and the tip of the hat pointed forward down the hallway, lighting up a bright red to increase visibility. Castform smirked at Dusclops smugly. "Told you so."

Dusclops sighed. "All right, lead the way," he murmured in a defeated tone.

Castform did just that, following the pulsating red light of the Magic Hat as it guided her towards its destination. Dusclops followed her apprehensively, keeping his eye trained on the Magic Hat.

-static-

"Am I the only one who doesn't trust the Magic Hat?" Dusclops asked. "If it can think and act for itself, who's to say it doesn't have its own agenda?"

Dusclops folded his ghostly arms. "I don't trust it, and I don't think Castform should either."

-static-

Not far into the maze, Mienshao and Chandelure reconvened at a convenient crossing between two paths. "You're sure no one followed you?" Chandelure prompted.

"Yes, I'm sure," Mienshao snapped with a glare. "Now, we need to decide. Are we working together to find these portals or not?"

After a moment of deliberation, Chandelure's answer came. "No," the chandelier decided. "Not only would it arouse suspicion if we were seen working together, but the benefits of traveling together in this maze are next to none."

Mienshao crossed her arms, but didn't argue. "All right, that's fair," the weasel begrudgingly admitted. "Good luck out there."

"I won't be needing it," Chandelure responded briskly. She turned and started burning through the web walls of the maze with her purple flames. "The hosts rather foolishly forgot to place restrictions on destroying the maze again."

Mienshao watched in amazement as Chandelure continued fraying the webbing until there was a hole big enough for her to fit through. Chandelure turned to face Mienshao. "I'll see you once this challenge is over," Chandelure told her, then floated through the wall.

Mienshao stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before she decided to get a move on again. If Chandelure was going to pull out all the stops to get an immunity flag, then she'd have to be extra fast to get the other one.

-static-

"Was there something you needed to talk about?"

Jolteon plodded along behind Chatot as the bird led him down a corridor. "I'm sorry I skipped out on our meeting earlier," Jolteon apologized with his head down. "I didn't mean to—"

"Jolteon, stop," Chatot cut him off. Jolteon glanced up to see Chatot giving him a stern look. "Are ya feelin' all right?"

"...What do you mean?" Jolteon asked hesitantly, unsure how to react to this question coming from Chatot.

"Ya haven't been yaself since Vaporeon got out. It's clear that ya been avoidin' me these last few days, so don't just pretend nothin's happenin'," Chatot growled. "Spit it out."

"I...uh...okay," Jolteon mumbled timidly. Chatot's harsh gaze relaxed slightly. "I just...I miss her, and I wish she and I could've left off on better terms. That's all."

Jolteon went quiet, and Chatot didn't make an effort to say anything right away. When he did speak, Jolteon was surprised at what he heard. "Hey, don't beat yaself up ovah it. I get it."

"You do?" asked Jolteon, visibly confused.

"Yeah, I do, okay?" Chatot retorted, a bit snappily this time. "My last relationship wasn't exactly smooth sailin'. I know what it's like when things don't work out."

Jolteon allowed Chatot to continue, clearly curious to hear more. "But honestly, that's just life. Not everything goes the way ya want it to," Chatot reasoned. "I know ya liked Vaporeon, but there's plenty of fish in the sea. When this is ovah, maybe I'll help ya catch a new one."

Chatot gave Jolteon a thump on the back with one wing, causing Jolteon to jump. "Oh! Uh...yeah, that could be good," Jolteon agreed instinctively.

Chatot rolled his eyes at Jolteon's response, but beckoned for Jolteon to come along with him. "Let's keep at it, then. Think about the prospects if ya end up as the winnah of this show," Chatot inspired his companion. "The ladies'll be all ovah ya!"

Jolteon let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, that'd be...um...kind of terrifying, actually," Jolteon realized mid-sentence. "I don't want that much attention."

Chatot groaned. "Look, my point is that I'll help ya find someone. But let's do it AFTAH the challenge, yeah?" Chatot asked rhetorically, yanking Jolteon along by the scruff of his neck. Jolteon yelped and began to obediently follow Chatot again.

-static-

"Relationship drama ain't really my cup of tea," Chatot admitted. "But I hate seein' Jolteon down. 'Specially since he's supposed ta help me in these challenges."

-static-

"I guess you could say Chatot's going to be my...wingman?" Jolteon said.

He stared awkwardly into the camera. "And this is where people would laugh because I made a pun," Jolteon explained to himself. "...Except nobody's here."

Suddenly, the door to the confessional opened, and Spinarak appeared outside the door. "AAAAHHHH!" Jolteon screamed in high-pitched terror, running past her out the door.

-static-

"I'm just doing my rounds and cleaning up the place, and I get screamed at for trying to do my job," said a dissatisfied looking Spinarak. "Where's the thanks, huh? 'Make a web maze, Spinarak! Clean the bathrooms, Spinarak!'"

Spinarak sighed glumly. "But never a 'thank you, Spinarak!'"

-static-

"Well, whaddaya know?"

Chatot stopped in his tracks, and Jolteon bumped into him from behind. "Look at that," Chatot pointed out, and Jolteon's head peeked out from behind Chatot. "A portal already!"

Before them was indeed a portal, outlined by a silver ring. Chatot stepped forward and examined it. "How da these things even work?" he wondered, staring into the dark depths of the portal. "I'll never figya out how legendaries can do these things."

"We should probably go through, right?" Jolteon asked.

Chatot nodded. "Yeah. But I get the feelin' we ain't gonna have an easy time gettin' one of them flags. Be prepared fah the worst."

Jolteon adjusted his stance nervously, but he gave a nod to Chatot to signal that he was ready. Chatot took a breath and looked into the portal again. "All right, here goes nothin'."

Chatot set one talon into the portal, and shortly after his entire body vanished through it. Jolteon dashed forward to see what happened, but just as he reached the portal it disappeared.

"Wh...what?" Jolteon gasped.

-static-

Jirachi stared at Hoopa. "Wait, what happened?" the host asked in confusion.

The three legendary Pokemon were currently in the hosts' headquarters, monitoring the challenge in a more comfortable environment. Jirachi and Diancie were sitting in cozy chairs up front while Hoopa was eagerly leaning forward over the backs of their chairs.

"HOOPA MADE A TRICK," Hoopa said proudly. "THE PORTAL GOES DISAPPEAR WHEN A CAMPER ENTERS! VERY SNEAKY, YES?"

"Huh," Jirachi said, clearly impressed. "That was...actually a good idea, Hoopa."

"I AM FULL OF IDEAS! THE GOOD ONES JUST DON'T TEND TO HAPPEN AS FREQUENTLY!"

-static-

Chatot tumbled out the other side of the portal, losing his bearings after it unexpectedly sucked him through. Chatot stood up to reorient himself, his head still spinning. He flapped his wings a few times to steady himself, and then looked at his new surroundings.

He was far underground, that much was obvious from the cold stone ground and the darkness around him. Looking up, he could still see light from above; there was nothing between him and the surface, just jutting walls of rock on both sides.

Everything clicked in Chatot's mind after a few seconds—he was at the bottom of the ravine.

Chatot did a full scan of the area as he noticed something was missing, that something being Jolteon. "Jolteon?" the bird called out hopefully. No response.

Chatot scratched his beak. "Hm. Guess I'm alone, then," Chatot deduced. "Maybe the portal sent him somewhere else."

Chatot picked up his cowboy hat, which had fallen off, and returned it to its rightful place atop his head. "Time ta find that flag," Chatot said determinedly, marching off in one direction.

-static-

"Uh, Chatot?" Jolteon called. His voice echoed off of the webbed walls, but it was apparent that Chatot wasn't coming back.

Jolteon stared at the walls blankly. "I guess I should leave?" Jolteon said, more as a question than a statement. Regardless, he turned and exited the room the portal had previously been in.

As soon as he did so, however, his foot hit a thin strand of string that he had stepped over on the way in. Jolteon instantly felt the string snag his paw and pull him into the air forcefully. Jolteon let out a yelp as he realized he had triggered a trap of some kind; he was now stuck dangling in the air by a single strand of strong string.

"Oh, geez," Jolteon moaned. "Hello? Anyone? Please help!"

Jolteon swung gently back and forth for a while before he accepted that help was probably not going to come, and started chewing at the string with his teeth. Eventually it would have to break, right?

-static-

Elsewhere in the maze, Beedrill had come across a pit of quicksand. Fortunately for him, this was hardly an obstacle as he could fly across with ease. Beedrill opted to do just that, but a strange purple flash out of the corner of his eye made him stop.

Beedrill flew over to one of the walls of the room, where though a crack in the webs he could just barely spy a flickering purple flame. He pieced together quickly that Chandelure must be on the other side of the wall, and used his needles to pry the crack open wider so he could get a better look.

Surely enough, Chandelure was on the other side, but to Beedrill's surprise it seemed she had an unorthodox plan for tackling this challenge. Chandelure was using her flames to burn through the maze.

"Interesting," muttered Beedrill, quietly enough that only he could hear. "If I can keep a distance and follow her, she could probably lead me right to a portal."

Beedrill pulled away from the wall and began flying across the large pit of quicksand to the hall on the other side of the room to look for a way to reach Chandelure.

-static-

"Oh, come on, that's so boring," complained Jirachi back in his office. "He can't just fly over the quicksand pit! I had so many cool traps planned with that!"

"Like what?" asked Diancie curiously.

"Like...well, it's a quicksand pit! You're supposed to fall in!" Jirachi explained lamely. "Now it's just a big pit of sand that doesn't have anybody in it."

"SHALL I GO TO HIM AND INSTIGATE CHAOS?" Hoopa asked, rubbing her hands together evilly.

Jirachi glanced at her in concern, but that look was replaced by a grin seconds later. "You know what? Go for it," Jirachi dared her. "I don't know about you, Diancie, but the maze feels a little empty to me. Go in and liven it up, Hoopa!"

Hoopa cackled and tossed one of her gold rings into the air, creating a portal instantly. "THE TRAPS WILL NOT BE AT ALL NECESSARY! I WILL BE DOING THE STOPPING MYSELF!" she exclaimed. "NOW, WITNESS THE MISCHIEF MAKER AT WORK!"

Hoopa leapt through the portal and it disappeared with her. Diancie cast a highly concerned look at Jirachi. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Diancie asked. "I still don't trust Hoopa."

"Eh, it'll be fine," said Jirachi, waving her off. "Chaos should boost our ratings."

"I'm not worried about ratings, I'm worried about potential lawsuits," Diancie told him. "We have no control over Hoopa. If she gets out of control, we're going to have a real problem on our hands, Jirachi."

"Relax, she's not going to get out of control," Jirachi said with a frown. "Seriously, I don't know why you're so worried about this. Hoopa's done nothing but help so far, and trust me, she wouldn't do anything that would make me upset."

Diancie didn't seem reassured by this, but she leaned back in her chair and returned her gaze to the monitors. "If you say so," she conceded. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

"Psh, we'll be fine."

-static-

Just as Beedrill was about to exit the room, a hole suddenly opened in the ceiling and Hoopa dropped down in front of him. "AHA! IT IS ME, HOOPA, HERE TO CAUSE YOU DISTRESS!" Hoopa challenged the bug. "I HOPE YOU ARE ADEQUATELY SCARED!"

Beedrill seemed unfazed. "I've fought legendaries before," he mentioned. "Let's see how you compare."

Hoopa laughed and dodged to the side as Beedrill lunged at her with needles extended. "IT IS A FIGHT BUG BOY WANTS, BUT IT IS NOT A FIGHT HE WILL GET!" she said smugly. "HOOPA KNOWS NOT TO FIGHT THE BUGS, NO NO! BUT THE BUGS…"

Beedrill charged at her again, but a portal suddenly appeared in front of him and he flew right through it. Hoopa laughed as she closed the portal behind him.

"THE BUGS, THEY NEVER OUTSMART THE HOOPA!" she cackled.

A second portal appeared above the pit of quicksand, and Beedrill's momentum carried him down through the portal and into the quicksand. Beedrill let out a gasp as he tried to flutter his wings to get out, but only got sucked further in.

"What the hell?" Beedrill sputtered. Despite his ordinarily calm demeanor, it was clear that Hoopa's trick had completely thrown him for a loop. Beedrill struggled against the pull of the quicksand, but panic was beginning to set in already. "I can't get out!"

"YES YES, YOU ARE WHERE YOU BELONG," Hoopa said with a smile. "BUT HOOPA HAS OTHER CONTESTANTS TO ATTEND TO! SO LONG!"

Hoopa waved at him mockingly and created another portal, ducking into it and vanishing quickly. Beedrill continued struggling vainly against the quicksand, but his arms were trapped at his sides, effectively rendering him powerless.

"Damn it," Beedrill cursed.

-static-

"It was like the fear challenge all over again," said Beedrill, looking a bit haunted. "I never realized how much I hated being powerless until then, but…"

Beedrill shuddered. "I don't miss being a Kakuna. Having all that freedom stripped away from me again is a scary thought."

-static-

Not far from where Beedrill was currently sinking in quicksand, Chandelure was making quick work of dismantling the maze's structural integrity. In less than a minute, she had burned through another wall.

"Excellent," Chandelure said quietly, floating through. "Now let's have a look around."

To Chandelure's disappointment, there were no portals in the immediate vicinity. She wasn't exactly surprised, but this meant she'd have to continue her search further. As she rounded a corner, however, she did come face-to-face with a surprise.

"Shiftry?" Chandelure said as the Grass-type jumped back in fright, evidently not expecting her either. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh! Er, um, about that…" Shiftry began, twiddling with his leaf hands.

Chandelure stared at him emotionlessly. "Jirachi set you up to sabotage us, didn't he?" Chandelure guessed. Shiftry nodded wordlessly. "Who'd have thought."

"So you know what this means, then," Shiftry said uncomfortably, shifting into a battle stance. "You and I are going to have to fight."

"No," said Chandelure flatly, shooting a small ember at him. Shiftry yelped and jumped out of the way, which turned out to be a rather poor idea, as he found himself stuck against a rather sticky wall.

"Aw, come on!" Shiftry said as he realized his mistake. Chandelure floated past him without a second glance. "Not again!"

-static-

"So, um...how many portals do you think there are in the maze?"

Combusken was doing his best to maintain a conversation with Clauncher to mask his fear of the creepy maze, but Clauncher could sense Combusken was still nervous. Clauncher simply shrugged and said, "I'm not sure."

"What if there are only t-two, and the hosts are just making us paranoid about there being bad portals?" Combusken theorized. "That sounds like something they would do!"

"It does," Clauncher admitted. "Then again, we won't have any way of knowing, so there's no reason to worry about it."

"I-I'm kind of having trouble not worrying…"

"Buddy, relax," said Clauncher, turning around and giving Combusken a confident grin. "You may not believe you have what it takes to survive this maze, but you've got ME on your side. Together, we can't lose!"

Combusken weakly smiled, but the illusion of safety that Clauncher had provided was quickly shattered as Noctowl suddenly dropped down from above and crashed into Clauncher. Combusken let out a high-pitched scream and curled up into a ball.

"OW! What—" Clauncher could barely even get out any words as Noctowl swiped at him with her talons, cackling madly.

"OH, WHAT FOOLS YOU ARE, THINKING YOU COULD GET THROUGH THIS MAZE!" Noctowl shrieked. "YOU'RE IN THE DOMAIN OF THE FOREST DWELLERS NOW!"

"Wait, no, hold on!" Clauncher argued, grabbing her talons in his claws to stop her assault. Noctowl looked down at him. "You're the FOREST dwellers. You don't dwell in the swamp."

"You don't know that," Noctowl said with a straight face.

Clauncher paused. "That's fair," he admitted, releasing her talons. Noctowl resumed her assault as Combusken watched from his fetal position on the ground.

"I don't like it here," Combusken whimpered, shaking.

-static-

"Well, well, would you look at that?" came the voice of a smug Castform.

Dusclops entered the room after her and saw a portal with a glowing silver ring waiting there for them. "The Magic Hat doesn't lie!" Castform exclaimed. "Now let's go get that flag!"

"Hold on a moment," Dusclops said, stopping her. Castform waited patiently for him to say his piece. "Jirachi said something about the wrong portals being marked."

"Yeah, but the Magic Hat thinks this is one of the right ones," Castform told him. "Right, Magic Hat?"

The hat did some flipping motions, which Castform interpreted as a yes. "See?" Castform asked.

Dusclops gave the hat a dubious look. "It thinks so," he reiterated. "Does the Magic Hat know this is the right portal?"

Castform repeated Dusclops's question for the hat. After a moment, the tip of the hat flipped back and forth, signaling no. "And there we have it," Dusclops sighed. "It was a wild Zangoose chase after all."

"You're not giving the hat enough credit!" Castform argued with a pout. "It led us to a portal! Even if it's the wrong one, at least it's a start!"

Dusclops shrugged. "Okay, you got me there. It is a start, and I can't really figure out what we're supposed to be looking for anyway," the specter admitted. "Let's go through. What's the worst that could happen, you know?"

"You're gonna jinx it," Castform joked. Dusclops set one foot through the portal and immediately got sucked through. Castform was about to follow when the portal suddenly closed behind Dusclops, isolating her alone.

"Uh…" Castform was left staring at a blank space in a now empty room. "Any new ideas, Magic Hat?"

The Magic Hat started pointing her in a new direction. "Thanks," Castform said with a grin. "You really are the best!"

-static-

Dusclops fell into a snowdrift with an audible thump. He let out a surprised shout before pulling himself out of the pile of snow. Fortunately, he wasn't too susceptible to the cold, but he didn't enjoy the sensation of being dropped into snow.

"Uh…" Dusclops took a moment to register what just happened. "Castform? Where are you?"

He did a complete rotation to look around for her, but it appeared he was alone atop the mountain the campers had scaled a while back. "Why am I back here?" Dusclops wondered aloud. "Are the portals supposed to take us out of the maze?"

"INDEED!" shouted a loud voice from behind. Dusclops screamed and spun around to see Hoopa hovering uncomfortably close to him. "AND YOU, MY FRIEND, ARE CHOOSING THE WRONG ONE!"

"Wait, really?" Dusclops asked. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that hat!"

"HAT? WHAT HAT ARE YOU SPEAKING OF?" Hoopa asked, seeing no hat on Dusclops. "YOU DO NOT HAVE A HAT!"

"No, I meant...you know what, never mind. I'd actually feel better not explaining that," Dusclops decided. "Is there a reason why you're here?"

"TO POINT AND LAUGH!" Hoopa cackled, proceeding to do just that. Dusclops looked hurt. "OH, AND TO ALSO OFFER BONUS PORTAL!"

A portal appeared at Dusclops's side. "THE MOUNTAIN IS TOO COLD FOR MOST, SO HOOPA OFFERS THE WAY BACK!" Hoopa told him. "HOOPA LIKES MISCHIEF, BUT HOOPA IS MERCIFUL THIS TIME!"

"Oh. Well, thanks," Dusclops said. He gave her a thumbs-up. "You're kind of cool to do that."

Hoopa nodded. "I IMPRESS AS ALWAYS! BUT NOW I LEAVE. IT IS TIME TO STOP OTHER CAMPERS!"

With one final shout, Hoopa vanished through a portal of her own. Dusclops stepped through the portal she had made for him and found himself alone in a pool of slimy swamp water.

"Aw man, that's gross," Dusclops said with a shudder, dragging his feet out of the water and shaking them off. "I knew she couldn't be that nice."

Dusclops looked at the webbed hallway before him. "Well, time to get back to searching," he told himself.

-static-

Lilligant and Seviper continued venturing deeper into the maze, when Lilligant thought she heard a noise. "Wait, Seviper!" Lilligant said, her voice hushed. "I think I hear something!"

Evidently she piqued Seviper's interest, because the snake slithered over to join Lilligant. "What did you hear?" Seviper whispered back. "I don't hear anything."

A couple muffled, distant grunts reached both of them this time. "Sounds like someone's having trouble with...something," Lilligant said uncertainly. "Do you think we should go check it out?"

"It could be a trap, but I'm curiousss," Seviper admitted. "Let'sss go."

Lilligant nodded, and the two of them traveled side by side down a diverging pathway that led in the direction of that noise. As they walked closer, the grunts became more audible, and Seviper quickly began recognizing the Pokemon they belonged to.

"That'sss Beedrill," she hissed in realization. "Hurry! We should sssee what'sss happening."

Seviper and Lilligant rushed down the hallway and around the bend, where they saw a massive pool of quicksand. Seviper instantly recognized it as the one she had become entrapped in two challenges ago, but was surprised to see Beedrill struggling in the middle of it.

"How'd you get in there?" Seviper called out to him, slithering closer. "You do know that you can fly, right?"

"Seviper! Thank goodness. Finally, someone's here," Beedrill sighed in relief, not even put off by her sarcasm. "I need you to help me out. Hoopa's in the maze now, and she used her portals to trap me in here."

Lilligant looked surprised to hear this, but Seviper was already drawing closer to the quicksand to assess a possible solution. "I'm not sssure there'sss anything we can ussse to get you out," Seviper responded honestly. Beedrill looked disappointed, but didn't speak. "Do you have any ideasss?"

"No, or else I'd be out of here already," Beedrill said. "You two can't reach me by any chance, can you?"

"I'd sssay that'sss unlikely," Seviper said, eyeing the gap between them uncomfortably. "Look, I'd love to help, but you might be on your own."

"I understand," Beedrill groaned in defeat. "Look, if you meet up with anyone else, just send them my way, okay?"

"Even Mienssshao?" asked Seviper with a smirk.

Beedrill rolled his eyes. "Okay, not her. But I could use some help."

"Hang on, I might have an idea," came Lilligant's soft voice from behind Seviper. Beedrill and Seviper looked at her in surprise, and Lilligant quickly elaborated. "Seviper, can you hack off some of the webs from the wall?"

"Sssure, but what good will that do usss?" Seviper asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion.

"The webs here are pretty strong," Lilligant explained. "Which means if I use Grass Knot to tie them together, we could make a rope to pull Beedrill out."

Seviper and Beedrill exchanged a glance, and Seviper looked back at Lilligant with a hidden smile. "Look at you, thinking outssside the box," Seviper teased her. "I'll get to work."

Seviper raised her tail, and in one swift, carefully executed motion, made a slice in the wall's webbing. Lilligant studied Seviper's form as she made a second cut and began hacking away at the rest of the connected web to tear it off.

Once Seviper was done, she passed the webs to Lilligant. "Done," Seviper said, breathing a bit more heavily. "Now you can work your magic."

Lilligant smiled at Seviper and began tying the webs into a makeshift rope. Beedrill watched her work from the pit hopefully.

-static-

Meanwhile, Jolteon hit the ground with a grunt, having finally chewed his way to victory. The string that trapped him was no more. Jolteon let out a weak victory cheer as he lay dizzily on his back.

"Yay…"

-static-

Mienshao wandered through the maze by herself, growing irritated with each room she came across that contained no portal.

"Where the hell are these portals?!" Mienshao cried out in frustration. "I feel like I've been through half the maze by now!"

"IN NEED OF A PORTAL, ARE YOU?"

Hoopa descended in front of Mienshao, closing the portal she had used to arrive here. Mienshao eyed Hoopa distrustfully, but Hoopa made no immediately threatening moves. "I CAN MAKE YOU A PORTAL," Hoopa offered.

"In exchange for what?" Mienshao scoffed. "There's no way Jirachi would let you help me with no strings attached."

"JIRACHI DOES NOT CONTROL HOOPA," Hoopa said with a gleam in her eyes. "HOOPA CONTROLS HOOPA."

"Okay," said Mienshao, arms crossed. "And why should I trust you more than him?"

"YOU SHOULDN'T," Hoopa said with a grin. Mienshao took a step back, looking a bit scared, but Hoopa opened a portal behind her. Mienshao unintentionally stumbled through the portal as Hoopa laughed maniacally.

-static-

"Okay, now she's just messing with the campers for no reason," Diancie pointed out as she watched Hoopa's movements on the screen. "I feel like we shouldn't allow this."

"We've already committed at this point. Let her have her fun," Jirachi said nonchalantly.

"You're being way too lax about this," Diancie criticized the host.

Jirachi held up a hand. "I don't want to hear it, co-host," he taunted her. "And what I say goes. I say we let Hoopa do her thing, because frankly it's far more entertaining than watching the campers wander about aimlessly."

Diancie got up from her chair with a huff and left the room. "Touchy," muttered Jirachi, lazily watching the monitor.

-static-

Mienshao landed in a murky puddle with a large splash before she could react. Dusclops jumped in surprise as Mienshao suddenly just appeared behind him.

"...When did you get here?" Dusclops asked suspiciously.

Mienshao stood up and shook some of the water out of her fur. "Get out of my way," Mienshao growled, shoving Dusclops to the side. "I'm gonna kill that genie."

Dusclops watched her stomp off with a frown. "Would be easier to kill her if she wasn't a Ghost-type, too!" he called after her. Mienshao flipped him off as she turned a corner.

-static-

"Argh! Get off me already!"

Clauncher flailed about under Noctowl's grip, but she held him there firmly. "You're quite weak, aren't you?" Noctowl cooed mockingly. "However did you make it this far?"

"Want to find out?" Clauncher threatened emptily, though it was quite clear Noctowl still had the upper hand. Noctowl let out a hearty laugh. "Then let me fight you!"

"OH, WE ARE FIGHTING, AREN'T WE?" Noctowl reminded him, digging her talons in deeper. "YOU JUST WANT ME TO TAKE IT EASY ON YOU! HAHAHA!" she cawed madly.

Clauncher took the opportunity while she was laughing to hit her in the face with his free claw. Noctowl staggered back, caught off guard by his sudden attack. Clauncher stood opposite her, looking surprisingly fierce.

"NO ONE PUNCHES NOCTOWL AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" Noctowl screeched. "TWIGS, WE GOT A FIGHTER OUT HERE!"

"Would you stop calling me that already?" Trevenant grumbled, lumbering out from behind a nook in the wall. "My name is Trevenant, not Twigs!"

"Whatever, WHATEVER! It's time to teach him a lesson!" Noctowl said, dancing back and forth on her talons.

Clauncher glanced over at the newcomer nervously; a two against one situation was not good, especially when he'd already struggled against Noctowl alone.

"Combusken, get out of here!" Clauncher shouted. Combusken looked up from his position on the ground. "Go!"

Combusken took one look at Noctowl and Trevenant, who were rapidly approaching Clauncher, and decided to take the crustacean's advice. Combusken bolted in the opposite direction as Clauncher ducked underneath Trevenant's first strike.

"It's gonna take more than that to—" Clauncher's taunt was cut abruptly as Trevenant hit him with the second swipe. Clauncher was sent tumbling backwards, where he hit the webbed wall and stuck upon impact.

"Urgh…" Clauncher groaned in pain. Trevenant laughed and crept closer.

"Not very smart, are you?" Trevenant snickered sinisterly. "You're a Water-type, I'm a Grass-type. And you just ordered your Fire-type friend to run! What are you thinking?"

"HE AIN'T THE SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SEA!" Noctowl hooted. Trevenant gave her a weird look before turning back to Clauncher.

"Sorry, but our job is to stop any sorry campers that cross paths with us," Trevenant rumbled. "And it looks like you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Trevenant raised his wooden fist and brought it down towards Clauncher in a powerful Wood Hammer attack. In an instant, Clauncher snipped the webs with his pincers and rolled out of the way. Trevenant, not expecting Clauncher to have been able to react so soon, wound up with his fist stuck in the mushy ground, unable to stop its momentum.

"The hell?" Trevenant grunted. Clauncher dove past him and tackled Noctowl to the ground before rolling off and shooting her with a Water Pulse. Noctowl squawked in fury.

"TREVENANT, HE'S GETTING AWAY!" Noctowl screeched as Clauncher began rushing off in the other direction. "GET HIM!"

"I'm stuck!" Trevenant pointed out, grunting as he tried to tug his fist out of the ground. "Why don't you get him yourself?"

Noctowl turned to him with a glint in her eye. "Is that a CHALLENGE I hear?" she asked with a grin.

Trevenant chuckled. "Ten berries says you can't catch him," Trevenant dared her.

Before Trevenant even finished his sentence, Noctowl was flying down the hallway after Clauncher. Clauncher glanced back and saw that she was gaining on him.

"Uh-oh," Clauncher gulped. "Well, time to put my training to use. Here goes nothing," he added under his breath. He angled his large claw at the ground, and began channeling water through it. In seconds, the powerful burst of water propelled Clauncher into the air, just as it had when he had practiced with Beedrill.

"Haha, yeah! I'm doing it!" Clauncher cheered, steering his claw as he prepared to make a sharp turn. He turned to face Noctowl one last time. "SUCK IT, NOCTOWL!"

Noctowl's angry screeches reached Clauncher as he sped off to a different part of the maze.

-static-

"Not gonna lie, that felt pretty good," Clauncher boasted. "First I take on a legendary, and now I beat two Pokemon at once? I should just quit this show and join a battle tournament, man!"

Clauncher's cocky grin faltered. "I mean, I guess I didn't technically KO any of them, but...it counts, right?"

-static-

Combusken panted as he finally reached a distance he deemed safe from Trevenant and Noctowl. Unfortunately, this meant that he was now officially alone in the maze, which is exactly what he didn't want to happen.

"Why did I run? That was such a bad idea," Combusken muttered, chastising himself. "Clauncher's gonna hate me after this! I should've helped him fight!"

"Are you okay?"

Combusken looked up to see Jolteon observing him from across the room awkwardly. "Um...yes," Combusken lied. Jolteon did not appear convinced.

Now that Combusken had taken a moment to look up, though, he did notice something different about this room. A portal with a silver ring floated off to one side of it. "W-wait...there's a portal here!" Combusken stuttered. "I need to go back and get Clauncher!"

"I wouldn't bother if I were you," Jolteon warned him. "I don't trust this portal. The last portal I came across sucked in Chatot, and I haven't seen him since."

Combusken wasn't sure if Jolteon was just trying to scare him or if Jolteon was really that paranoid about the portal, but he took another look at the portal nonetheless. It looked just like the first portal Hoopa had sent them through, in Combusken's opinion. The only difference he could spot was that this one was much smaller.

"You mean, it trapped Chatot inside?" Combusken asked.

Jolteon nodded. "Yep. And it disappeared before I had a chance to go in, too," he added. "Spooky."

Combusken approached the portal suspiciously. No sound emanated from the portal. Curious, Combusken stuck one hand through, and that was when the portal sucked the rest of his body in as well. As soon as Combusken was through, the portal blinked out of existence.

Jolteon shook his head. "I tried to warn him," the Electric-type said sadly.

-static-

A portal opened elsewhere and Combusken fell into a body of water, letting out a shout that came out as a muffled gargle underneath the water. He quickly swam to the surface and took a deep breath to regulate his breathing once more.

"What happened?" Combusken gasped. "Where am I?"

As the panicked fowl took a look around, his panic subsided somewhat. He recognized the area as the river that wound through the woods; he'd been near here several times when he went out on a walk. Combusken let out a sigh and swam to shore.

"Okay, at least I know where I am," Combusken breathed. He paused. "Wait, I'm supposed to be looking for flags."

Combusken crawled back to the water's edge and peered into the river. The water was clear here, making even the bottom of the river visible. Unfortunately, this quickly revealed to Combusken that there was nothing here.

"Just my luck," Combusken muttered miserably.

-static-

"There ain't nothin' here!"

Chatot furiously threw his hat against a rock wall. He'd painstakingly searched every inch of this ravine, and there was nothing here. It had to have taken almost the entire hour, and his search had proven fruitless. Needless to say, he was not in the best mood.

Chatot's chest heaved as he panted angrily, pacing back and forth. "Now how the hell do I get back in time?" Chatot growled. "There ain't even a portal ta take back! I'm screwed!"

"YOU ARE IN A NEED OF A PORTAL, YES?"

Hoopa appeared before Chatot, twirling a gold ring in one hand. Chatot's angry expression didn't falter; he picked up his hat and fixed her with a sharp glare.

"What the hell kinda challenge is this?" Chatot asked accusingly. "There's no rhyme or reason ta anythin'! How am I supposed ta win this challenge?"

"YOU DO NOT NEED TO WIN," Hoopa reminded him. "THE FLAG IS AN OPTION, NOT NECESSITY!"

Chatot scoffed. "Yeah, well, I want one. Ya gonna take me back ta the maze or what?" he asked.

Hoopa grinned. "WHAT IS THE MAGIC WORD?"

Chatot narrowed his eyes. "Please," he added irritably, his tone anything but sincere.

Hoopa cackled. "THAT IS NO MAGIC WORD! BUT I SEND YOU ANYWAY!"

A portal appeared above Chatot's head and swallowed him whole, sending him back to the maze. Moments later, Chatot found himself sitting in a puddle of mud. He ruffled his feathers and stood back up.

"Ain't no way I came this far to lose," Chatot told himself. "Ya gotta keep ya head in the game, Chatot." He took off and began his search for another portal as Hoopa sought out someone else to bother.

-static-

"There," said Lilligant, panting as she and Seviper finished pulling Beedrill out of the pit with some effort. Lilligant's rope had proven quite sturdy, not threatening to break once during the whole process.

"Good thinking with the rope," Beedrill complimented her, finally letting go of it. "I would've been stuck in there the whole time if you hadn't stopped to help me out."

"It was nothing," Lilligant replied modestly, though Beedrill could tell his praise made her happy by the slightest hint of a smile on her face. "I'm glad we could help."

"I am too, but the clock'sss ticking," Seviper reminded them. "Thisss whole ordeal cossst usss a lot of time. We don't have much left."

"Right," agreed Beedrill, back to business. "I think it's best if we work together from here on out, given our lack of time. Any objections?"

Seviper and Lilligant shook their heads. "Great. Let's backtrack out of here, then," Beedrill suggested, taking lead of the group. Seviper and Lilligant followed after him, with Seviper pointing out to Beedrill which paths they had already explored to avoid taking them back to the starting room.

-static-

"Doo doo doo doo," Castform sang, to the tune of a song she didn't know the lyrics to. "Hey, Magic Hat, are we getting close to another portal yet?"

The Magic Hat nodded, and Castform let out a relieved sigh. "Good. I feel like we're running out of time," she said. "Any idea where Dusclops went, either?"

The Magic Hat didn't seem to have an answer to this. "Hm. All right, then," Castform said disappointedly. "By the way, it'd be nice if you could—"

Castform was interrupted as Hoopa suddenly appeared in front of her. "LOOKING FOR A PORTAL, ARE WE?" Hoopa asked smugly.

"Why yes, I am," Castform replied, not missing a beat. "I take it that you can help in that regard."

"OH, BUT OF COURSE! HOOPA IS THE MOST HELPFUL!" Hoopa agreed, not bothering to conceal her rather untrustworthy smile.

Castform returned it with a smirk of her own. "Oh, good! Could you make me a portal then?" she asked in her sweetest voice.

Hoopa cackled. "BUT OF COURSE."

A portal appeared on the wall next to Castform. Castform looked it over carefully; it was just like the portal she had seen Dusclops walk into. "Thank you," Castform said, flashing Hoopa one last smile before dipping her head through the portal.

Hoopa giggled eerily as the portal closed behind Castform. "YOU ARE WELCOME."

-static-

Across the maze, Chandelure stared into the room before her, contemplating her options.

As it turned out, her search had proven fruitful—more so than she had hoped. In front of her were two portals, both swirling with an enigmatic darkness that masked whatever was on the other side. The left portal had a shiny silver ring, while the one on the right gleamed with gold.

Chandelure remembered Jirachi's warning: the portals that led to flags would be marked somehow. Granted, there was no guarantee that either of these portals led to a flag, but Chandelure had a theory.

"Hoopa's rings are all made of gold. The portal she initially sent us through had a golden ring, like the one on the right." She glanced at that portal as she said this.

Chandelure sighed; the uncertainty of this theory made her nervous. "Which means, if I'm correct," she continued, "the portal on the left, surrounded by silver, is the wrong one. It doesn't represent Hoopa's rings correctly; something is off about it."

Chandelure floated forward, drifting slightly to the right. "I really hope I'm not being an idiot right now," Chandelure muttered quietly. "Here goes nothing."

Chandelure entered the portal surrounded by gold, and after a brief second, found herself in the underground tunnels of the island. She glanced around warily, but it appeared she was alone here.

At least, that's what she thought until she heard an electronic hum coming from down the tunnels. Chandelure stared blankly in that direction for a moment before deciding to investigate the source of the noise. She continued down the tunnel until she came to a split path; one corridor was pitch black, while the other led up to the surface, shining light down into the cave.

Chandelure instinctively started to head towards the light, but a glimmer in the darkness caught her eye and made her stop. Chandelure switched directions and floated down the darker corridor, her flames the only source of light illuminating the area around her.

Finally, after what was a longer trek than she anticipated, Chandelure reached the corridor's end. It was a dead end, with three walls greeting her on all sides but the one she had come from.

Chandelure looked down, in the hopes of discovering what it was that had caught her eye. To her delight, she finally discovered the source: a well-polished metal hatch, leading down into the ground. With some difficulty, Chandelure pulled the handle and opened the hatch. It swung outward, sending a light spray of dust off to one side. Chandelure peered down into the open hole.

There was a metal rung ladder leading down into a room with plain walls and a tiled floor. Beyond that, she couldn't see much of anything through the hole. Chandelure had a foreboding feeling about what could await her down there, but she floated down past the ladder anyway.

The inside of the room was lit up by electronic lights attached to the ceiling. A swivel chair occupied the middle of the room, sitting in front of many monitors, all displaying video feeds of various parts of the island. And sitting in that chair was…

"Conkeldurr?" Chandelure said, confused. She glanced around the room once more. "What is this place?"

Conkeldurr swiveled his chair to face her, his hands clasped on his lap. "It's my office," the burly Fighting-type grunted. "I work here."

"I thought you worked in the cafeteria during the night shift," Chandelure stated.

"I do," Conkeldurr grumbled. "But my primary job is security. I monitor the island from down here. Do you really think I'd be hired exclusively to work the cafeteria night shift?"

"I suppose that doesn't seem likely," Chandelure agreed. She eyed a door off to the side of the room labeled 'DO NOT ENTER'. "What's in there?"

"Those are my quarters," Conkeldurr said, starting to sound a bit annoyed. "I'm not going to sleep in the same building as the hosts or the interns. I don't get paid enough for that. So I built another room down here."

He gestured to another couple sets of ladders on the opposite side of the room from where Chandelure had entered. "I have easy access tunnels to multiple places on the island," Conkeldurr mentioned. "The tunnels, the swamp, and of course one to take me to and from camp. There's a reason nobody sees me during the day. I'm always down here."

As weird as this situation was, the pieces did all fit together. "I suppose that's interesting," Chandelure said, somewhat awkwardly. Conkeldurr was still giving her a death stare, which made her uneasy. "Look, one of Hoopa's portals sent me into the tunnels, and I happened to see the hatch, but...I'll just leave now."

Finally, Conkeldurr chuckled. "What, without this?" he asked, holding up a pink flag and waving it in the air. Chandelure quickly identified it as the Milotics' old flag. "Or are you scared to face me? I wouldn't blame you."

"Scared? No. Remember who you're talking to," Chandelure responded flatly, a plan already forming in her mind. "I take it you're not handing that flag over willingly."

"I get paid to fight sometimes, too," Conkeldurr said, cracking his neck. "And I'll be honest with you. That's my favorite part of the job."

Conkeldurr stood up, his imposing figure now towering over Chandelure. "So come and get it."

Chandelure stared at him, unimpressed, before she vanished from sight. Conkeldurr's eyes scanned the room, but Chandelure's ghostly abilities had given her the upper hand here; he had no way of seeing her naturally.

Of course, Conkeldurr was nothing if not prepared. He pulled out a pair of Silph Scopes and slipped them on just in time to see Chandelure struggling to maneuver her appendages in such a way that she could take the flag from Conkeldurr's hand. Conkeldurr grinned and smacked Chandelure in the face with the flag, catching her off-guard.

"You'll have to try harder than that," Conkeldurr said. "What, did you think I'd just let you or Dusclops take the flag if you found me first? I hope you didn't take me for a fool."

Chandelure reappeared, clearly aggravated by her plan's failure. "No, but I didn't expect you to have the convenient counter to my plan readily at your disposal," she snapped. "Guess we're doing this the hard way, huh?"

Chandelure's purple flames flared up and surrounded her body, before throwing themselves at Conkeldurr. He was singed by the Will-O-Wisp attack, and felt his power being drained as the otherworldly fire sapped the strength from his body. Conkeldurr picked up his two stone pillars and immediately swung them at Chandelure in retaliation; she was only lucky enough to dodge one, and hit the opposite wall hard as the second smashed into her full-force.

Chandelure let out a pained groan, but internally was pleased with herself; her backup plan had worked. Conkeldurr had set down the flag in order to wield his weapons, the stone pillars. Chandelure flung herself forward at Conkeldurr, a move he didn't expect from a special attacker like her; she took advantage of this and feinted to the side at the last second, before he could swing at her.

Chandelure took this chance to swipe the flag from his desk and flee to the nearest ladder. Conkeldurr let out a shout as he realized what she had done, and he grabbed at her with one hand but missed. Chandelure pushed the hatch above her open, and was greeted by the familiar, terrible odor of the swamp.

"Chandelure?" asked a surprised Dusclops as he witnessed Chandelure emerge from the side of a tree, sliding the panel back into place like it was nothing.

"Dusclops," she greeted him in return. Dusclops noticed the flag lodged between her appendages. "Good to see you."

"Yeah…" said Dusclops, scratching his head. "...You just walked out of a tree."

Chandelure glanced behind her; it appeared that Conkeldurr had disguised one of the entrances to his office as a tree. The entire tree was metallic and fake, but from the outside it looked exceptionally real. "So I did," she remarked. "There was a flag hidden in there."

"Oh. Cool," Dusclops commented. "So, any hints on where to find the other one?"

Chandelure debated whether to give him an answer or not, but sighed and decided it couldn't hurt to help him. "Golden rings. Those are the ones you want. Ignore the silver ones."

Dusclops looked confused by this advice, but he nodded anyway. "Okay," he said. He gave Chandelure a wave and started shuffling off down a random hallway. "Thanks, Chandelure!"

Chandelure watched him go as the tree panel slid back open and Conkeldurr emerged. "Hmph," Conkeldurr grunted grumpily. Chandelure turned to face him. "I'm not going to attack you, don't worry. You won the flag as far as I'm concerned."

He gave her a stern look. "But don't tell anyone else where my office is. Or we'll have to have a REAL talk," he said, emphasizing the right words with narrowed eyes and a sinister tone. Chandelure nodded, and Conkeldurr climbed back down the ladder to his office.

-static-

"Today was interesting," said Chandelure. Her tone was a strange mix of her usual snark but also genuine intrigue. "I don't know how to describe it. I'm not entirely sure if I'm allowed to. But I won immunity, and that's good."

-static-

Clauncher, now safely distant from Noctowl and Trevenant, paused to catch his breath. He felt comfortable that they wouldn't catch up to him, so now it was time to start paying attention to looking for the flags again.

Glancing around the room he was in, he realized he recognized it; the floor was completely covered by swamp water, too deep for most Pokemon to walk in. This is where he had fought Thundurus alongside Beedrill.

But more importantly, hovering above the water in the middle of the room, there was a portal surrounded by a silver ring. Clauncher's eyes lit up hungrily as he saw it. "Well, hello there," Clauncher said with a grin. "Might you have a flag for me?"

Clauncher hopped into the water and began swimming towards the center of the room. Finally, a portal was within reach! Could it really be this easy…?

Clauncher felt a pair of teeth clamp onto his body and yank him deeper underwater. Clauncher let out a surprised yelp, splashing at the surface frantically for a moment before getting pulled back down again.

-static-

"Huh?" Castform murmured. She had just emerged from Hoopa's portal into another part of the maze, but a frantic splashing noise close by caught her attention. Castform followed the noise, as it aligned with where the Magic Hat was directing her, until she arrived in a room with a portal.

"Whoa," Castform said, her eyes lighting up. "Another portal! And it's free for the taking. Lucky me."

Unfortunately, she realized she was not quite as alone as she thought as Clauncher burst through to the lake's surface with a desperate Aqua Jet. Sharpedo leapt out after him, snapping at the smaller Water-type with his jaws. From below, Basculin was doing circles in the water, waiting for Clauncher to come falling back down.

Clauncher hit the water again after a few seconds and immediately began evasive maneuvers. Basculin cackled as he chased Clauncher around. "C'mere, you little punk!'" Basculin jabbered. "I'm gonna bite ya whether you like it or not!"

"No, you're not!" a terrified Clauncher fired back. Sharpedo came crashing into the water in front of him, and Clauncher let out a yelp and instinctively shot back. Unfortunately, this landed him in range of the snapping jaws of Basculin, who chomped down on Clauncher's oversized claw, trapping him.

"Got 'im!" Basculin snarled through closed teeth, keeping a tight grip on Clauncher. Clauncher squirmed violently, trying to escape to no avail. "What now?"

"Now we get to have a bit of fun," Sharpedo decided meanly, grinning at Clauncher. "Jirachi and Diancie never forbid us from having a little fun, did they?"

"I don't reckon they did!" Basculin laughed. He let go of Clauncher for a brief second as he chuckled to himself, but Clauncher seized the opportunity and shot upwards towards the surface again. Sharpedo growled and followed him, but as Clauncher burst from the water, he aimed his claw down and fired a pressurized water blast. Sharpedo was hit by the blast head-on as he emerged, and Sharpedo sputtered for a few seconds before he regained his composure.

"Oh, that does it," Sharpedo said menacingly. From underneath one fin, Sharpedo pulled out a tiny round object—a transparent stone with a blue and yellow swirl in the middle. Castform could see what it was from afar, but before anyone could react Sharpedo's body was already engulfed in a white glow.

Clauncher watched in horror as Sharpedo's form was replaced by a much longer one, with sharper fins, a longer snout, and more yellow markings lining his body. Mega Sharpedo took a moment to adjust to his new form before his eyes rested on Clauncher.

Mega Sharpedo let out a feral growl, which sounded quite strange underwater but still did its job in intimidating Clauncher. Clauncher quickly climbed out of the water and onto a small muddy patch of ground, knowing Sharpedo would have difficulty following him there. Mega Sharpedo swam over to the shore and snapped at Clauncher with his jaws, but Clauncher was already trying to think of a solution to his predicament.

Clauncher eyed a rock protruding from the middle of the lake. While it was true that Mega Sharpedo would resist the majority of Water-type attacks at Clauncher's disposal, there was no rule saying he was limited to using moves here. If he could somehow break the rock and use a piece of it as a weapon…

Mega Sharpedo had evidently grown tired of Clauncher's planning already, because he started to resume his attempts to drag Clauncher back into the water with his jaws. Clauncher let out an alarmed yelp as the shark's teeth came dangerously close to touching him. In his new form, Mega Sharpedo had some formidable reach.

Clauncher took a deep breath. Deciding it was now or never, he shot into the air with Aqua Jet. Mega Sharpedo grinned and did the same, following him through the air as Clauncher began angling his descent towards the rock.

Clauncher's powerful impact smashed the top half of the rock cleanly off, sending Clauncher tumbling into the dark swamp water as bits and pieces of the rock fell into the water with him. Mega Sharpedo plunged into the water behind him, bubbles streaming from the angry shark's mouth. Clauncher immediately darted over to the nearest piece of the boulder he had broken and inserted it into his claw.

Mega Sharpedo chuckled, clearly not threatened by Clauncher at all. The shark's hungry grin widened, and he swam in place for a second, just watching Clauncher.

Without warning, Mega Sharpedo shot at Clauncher with incredible speed, his mouth open wide enough to completely swallow Clauncher. Clauncher frantically took aim with his claw and blasted the rock at Mega Sharpedo's mouth.

Mega Sharpedo felt the rock shoot into his mouth, and immediately began choking as he tried to dislodge it. Clauncher looked stunned that his plan had worked somehow, but swam away from Sharpedo quickly before his opponent could recover. Basculin suddenly darted into his path.

"Oy! What the hell do you think you're doin'?" Basculin asked Clauncher accusingly. "You tryin' to kill him or somethin'?"

"I think he started trying to kill me first," Clauncher pointed out. He aimed his claw at Basculin, revealing a second rock he had prepared. "Also, consider this payback for biting me."

Basculin let out a confused grunt before Clauncher blasted Basculin in the face with a rock, too. The green fish hit the wall and sank to the bottom of the lake, out cold. Clauncher couldn't help but grin triumphantly as he rose to the surface again.

"I did it," Clauncher realized. "I won! I beat them!"

Clauncher let out a victorious shout, but it didn't take him long to realize something was off. He looked down as a bright light reflecting off the water caught his attention. To his astonishment, he realized that the source of the white light filling the dark, watery room...was him.

"No way!" Clauncher gasped. "I'm EVOLVING?"

Clauncher was engulfed in a white glow not unlike the one that had consumed Sharpedo only minutes earlier. His body began to morph and grow within the light, his large claw becoming more exaggerated in size. His body curled up as it underwent its new transformation. Clauncher closed his eyes blissfully as this strange feeling consumed him.

The glow began to die down slightly, and Clauncher peeked one eye open to see if his evolution was complete. Not quite, but—

"BOO!"

"AAAAHHH!" Clauncher screamed in fright. Castform cackled mischievously as Clauncher's evolution ceased, the white light dissipating instantly. Clauncher's form returned to what it had been moments prior.

"Oh Arceus, your FACE!" Castform laughed. Clauncher stared at her in mixed shock and anger. "I can't believe you didn't realize I was here the whole time! Oh, man…"

"Castform! I was evolving!" Clauncher yelled at her hotly. "What the hell?"

Castform gave Clauncher a disapproving look. "Jeez, somebody can't take a joke," Castform said, rolling her eyes. "What's the big deal? You can just evolve later. It was funny, come on."

"I just defeated Mega Sharpedo and Basculin back-to-back, not to mention my encounter with Noctowl and Trevenant earlier!" Clauncher fired back. "Everything felt like it was building up to this moment! And you ruined it for a joke?"

Castform could tell Clauncher was upset—he was giving her a harsh glare she hadn't seen him give anyone except Mienshao. "Okay, sorry. I get it. Bad timing," Castform apologized sincerely. "I thought it would be funny."

"Well, it wasn't!" Clauncher shouted. A small part of him wanted to cry—what if he never got the chance to evolve again? The thought upset him a lot, but he was too angry to care right now.

Castform stared down at him, unsure of what to say. "I'm...just going to go through that portal now," Castform decided. Before another word could be exchanged, Castform flew across the lake and entered the portal hovering above it. Clauncher hit the water with his fists in rage.

-static-

"I can't believe it! I was finally ready to evolve, and then Castform had to come in and ruin it all!" Clauncher said. He looked thoroughly distraught. "NOT cool, Castform! Not cool!"

-static-

"I mean, evolution's kind of overrated in my opinion," Castform said bluntly. "I guess I wouldn't know, but everyone treats it like it's such a big deal. Makes me feel kind of left out."

She sighed. "I guess I really screwed up by surprising Clauncher during it, though. I didn't want to upset him, just give him a little scare."

Castform glanced up at her Magic Hat. "Magic Hat, can you fix this problem?"

The Magic Hat just sat there unresponsively. "Hmph," Castform replied, dissatisfied. "I see how it is."

-static-

Mienshao crept through the maze, looking for anything that might take her to a portal. So far, she was having no luck. The crafty weasel was growing increasingly frustrated the more time she wasted searching—not much time was left in this challenge.

Suddenly, voices from nearby caught her attention. Mienshao darted up against the wall as a group passed by the hallway she was in. Mienshao's eyes narrowed as she saw who it was: Lilligant was walking down the hall, followed by Beedrill and Seviper.

Mienshao quietly peeled herself away from the webbed wall and peered out into the hallway after them. It seemed Mienshao had gone completely unnoticed by the passing group. Mienshao weighed her options for a quick second before deciding to follow them from a distance—she had little to lose, but there was plenty to gain.

-static-

"Look! A portal!"

Lilligant's excited outburst alerted Beedrill and Seviper to what Lilligant had just seen: a portal with a golden ring at the end of the hall they were following.

Beedrill grinned and Seviper began slithering even faster. "Let'sss go! No time to wassste," Seviper commanded her companions. Lilligant and Beedrill ran with her up to the portal.

It was a strangely fascinating sight; although one could not see through to the other size, the black depths of the portal had an oddly mesmerizing property. Seviper tore her eyes away after a moment to remind the group of their mission.

"All right, ssso there could be a flag through thisss portal if we're lucky," Seviper stated. "We don't know yet. Anyone want to jump in firssst and ssscout it out for the othersss?"

"Good plan. That way, all of us won't waste our time in there," Beedrill agreed. "Lilligant, do you want to go?"

"Huh?" Lilligant was caught off guard. She didn't expect Beedrill to offer her this opportunity, out of anyone in the group. "Uh...why?"

Beedrill's red eyes left the portal and focused on Lilligant. "Well, you helped me out of the pit, so I owe you," Beedrill responded casually. "If you happen to find a flag in there, it's all yours."

Seviper considered letting Beedrill know that she actually wanted to look for the flag, but Lilligant smiled at Beedrill and nodded. "Okay! I'll do my best to find it," Lilligant assured him. "Thanks, Beedrill."

Beedrill smirked. "Don't thank me yet. You can thank me once you've got a flag," he told her. Lilligant's smile widened for a brief second before she waved to him and stepped through the portal. Seviper and Beedrill both jumped a little as the portal suddenly shrank into nothing after Lilligant entered.

"That'sss...not a good sssign," Seviper said with concern.

Beedrill scratched his head with one needle awkwardly. "Yeah, I was not expecting that to happen."

-static-

Lilligant fell through the other side of the portal, but managed to save her entrance with a graceful roll back to a standing position. She brushed some dirt off of herself as she got a good look at where the portal had taken her.

The scenery was quite familiar to her—it was the forest. Trees surrounded her on all sides, and she estimated that she was pretty far off the path that wound through the woods. What Lilligant didn't see, however, was a flag.

She was not so quick to lose hope, though. Lilligant walked around, peeking behind bushes and looking up between the branches of the trees. This search yielded nothing until about six trees in, when Lilligant spotted a small green form squirming about atop a tiny branch.

"Hey!" Lilligant called upward. She squinted to identify the figure. "Is that you, Spinarak?"

The spider dropped down suddenly, hanging from a thin web as she faced Lilligant upside-down. "Yep, it sure is! The maze maker herself, the mastermind behind it all!" Spinarak boasted jokingly. "And guess what I've got?"

Spinarak waved a little blue flag. Lilligant thought about jumping up to grab it, but Spinarak quickly retracted it anyway. "A flag! Only one of two, of course," Spinarak added quickly. "The hosts thought it would be pretty lame if one Pokemon had both flags, and I agree. That would be lame."

Spinarak's body naturally began to spin as she dangled from her web. "Still, I think I could've handled it. I could probably protect two flags if it came down to it, don't you think? I built a whole maze by myself!"

Spinarak looked to Lilligant for support, but Lilligant was just observing the spider with a puzzled expression. "So, um, anyways. You're going to have to take this flag from me. Which won't be easy for a Grass-type like you!" Spinarak warned. "I will warn you, I have a variety of moves at my disposal, including—"

Lilligant jumped up and swatted Spinarak out of the air, causing the Gastrodons' flag to clatter to the ground. Lilligant picked it up and looked over to see Spinarak sitting at the base of the tree trunk, dazed.

"Sorry," Lilligant said apologetically, before hurrying back to where she had come from. The portal she had come from was gone, but Hoopa was waiting there for her patiently.

"I SEE YOU COME WITH THE BEARING OF FLAG!" Hoopa said excitedly. "VERY GOOD! WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE RETURNING TO THE MAZE?"

"Yes, please," Lilligant requested meekly. Hoopa grinned at her and opened a new portal with one of her rings.

"IN YOU GO," Hoopa encouraged her. Lilligant stepped through the portal again, and shortly after the portal vanished, Hoopa did as well with a cackle.

"Ow…" muttered Spinarak, rubbing her head from on the ground. "I don't get paid enough to put up with this, do I?"

-static-

Beedrill and Seviper watched in surprise as less than three minutes after Lilligant had disappeared, a new portal materialized. Lilligant elegantly fell from the portal, landing gracefully on the swampy terrain.

The plant Pokemon looked up at Beedrill and Seviper, beaming. "I did it!" she said proudly. "I got a flag!"

Lilligant let out a happy giggle as she showed them her flag and twirled it around in the air. Seviper and Beedrill exchanged a look before Seviper finally decided to speak.

"That'sss great. I doubt Beedrill and I will be asss lucky asss you, but we ssshould get moving if we want to have a chance at all," Seviper stated. Lilligant nodded, and she began following Beedrill and Seviper out of the room.

Before she could register what she was seeing, however, a figure charged down the hallway at the trio. Lilligant let out a terrified yelp as it slammed into her, tackling her to the ground. She went tumbling backwards, unable to recover for a few seconds.

She felt the flag being wrenched from her grasp in the few seconds she was down. Her assailant stood back up and dodged a furious lunge from Seviper, who jumped in to protect Lilligant.

"You," Seviper spat venomously. "You were jussst waiting to sssteal a flag from sssomeone, weren't you?"

Lilligant glanced up to see Mienshao laughing, now twirling a flag in her own hands. "And it paid off," Mienshao remarked. Her eyes gleamed dangerously. "So what now? Are we going to fight for it?"

Seviper growled and slithered over in front of Lilligant. "Beedrill, guard the exit," Seviper ordered. Beedrill was busy glaring daggers at Mienshao, but he complied. "Lilligant, are you good to go?"

"Yeah," Lilligant murmured, getting back up unsteadily. The effects of Mienshao's initial attack clearly hadn't worn off, however, because she toppled over not shortly after.

Mienshao let out a smug chuckle. "She'll be paralyzed for a good while," Mienshao stated. Seviper's eyes narrowed. "Let's just keep this between us, shall we?"

"It's two againssst one, Mienssshao. If I can't finisssh you, Beedrill can," Seviper threatened. "Give that flag back. NOW."

Mienshao ignored Seviper, sprinting forward before Seviper could react and hitting her with a Fake Out. Seviper flinched, and Mienshao took the opportunity to leap into the air.

Beedrill immediately abandoned his position at the exit to the room and flew upward at Mienshao, ready to catch her off guard. It seemed she had expected this, though—she switched targets quickly and slammed her foot into Beedrill's abdomen, carrying them both back down to the ground.

Beedrill let out a pained cough as she knocked the wind out of him upon impact with the ground. Seviper was beginning to coil herself up, preparing her next attack as Mienshao's back was turned to her. "You're nothing but a thorn in my side," Mienshao spat at Beedrill as he lay there. "I hope you're ready to say goodbye to that little alliance of yours."

Seviper suddenly shot across the room and sunk her fangs into Mienshao's leg. Mienshao let out a surprised shout and tried to kick Seviper off, but the serpent hung on. Mienshao formed a fist and pummeled Seviper's head, but Seviper let go suddenly and slithered back.

Mienshao was confused for a moment before Seviper abruptly opened her mouth and drenched Mienshao in a wave of venom. Mienshao sputtered, completely disoriented, as Seviper helped Beedrill back to his feet.

"Thanks," Beedrill muttered to her. Seviper didn't pay him any further attention, approaching Mienshao once more. "Time to finish this."

Beedrill zipped over to Mienshao in a flash, just as she wiped Seviper's venom out of her face. Her eyes widened and she dodged to the side as Beedrill jabbed with both needles where she had previously been. He didn't let up his assault, pivoting perfectly and following up with a jab of his stinger. Mienshao barely danced out of the way this time, and Beedrill closed in on her once more.

"You can't dodge both of us forever," Beedrill told Mienshao as Seviper closed in on the other side. Mienshao's fists clenched; she knew he was right. She'd have to make an escape somehow, or else they would eventually overtake her.

Beedrill sharpened his needles and dove in for another attack. Mienshao ducked underneath Beedrill's flurry of furious jabs and kicked him backwards. From behind, Seviper bit down on Mienshao's arm. Mienshao tried to fling her off again, but Seviper hung on with determination. Beedrill spun back around and bashed Mienshao with one of his needle arms, causing some damage.

Mienshao glared at Seviper defiantly as the snake began coiling around her, trapping her in place. "Hand over the flag, Mienshao. You've lost," said Beedrill. He pointed a needle at her face.

The weasel laughed forcefully. "I can't. Seviper has me trapped," she pointed out. "Let me go and I'll give your flag back."

This was an obvious ploy to everyone in the room, but Beedrill glanced at Seviper's face nonetheless. "Seviper?" he prompted.

"All you have to do isss drop the flag, Mienssshao," Seviper hissed. "You don't need me to free your armsss to do that."

Mienshao tried to think of another way out, but Beedrill didn't give her a chance. "You heard her. Drop it," Beedrill ordered. He didn't sound like he was willing to be patient, and Seviper's rather painful squeezing was already enough to convince Mienshao. The weasel's grasp on the flag loosened slightly.

"ATTENTION, CAMPERS! THE CHALLENGE IS NOW OVER!"

Seviper stared at Beedrill in horror. "What?" she hissed frantically. "No!"

"YES!" Mienshao cackled gleefully. "I HAVE THE FLAG!"

Seviper's hold on Mienshao loosened, and Mienshao slipped free of Seviper's clutches, triumphantly holding the Gastrodons' flag up for the world to see. "Immunity is as good as mine," Mienshao said with a grin, looking back at Beedrill and Seviper. The two Poison-types looked utterly defeated. "Yet again, you fail to take me down. Notice any patterns yet?"

"Shut up, Mienshao," Beedrill grunted. "You stole Lilligant's flag. It's not like you earned it."

"Oh, I'd say I did. I fought off both of you to keep it," Mienshao reminded him. "And now it's time to head back to camp!"

Seviper seethed quietly as Hoopa appeared suddenly, opening up a portal back to camp. "INDEED, BACK TO CAMP WE GO!" Hoopa instructed them. "FOLLOW ME NOW!"

-static-

"I can't believe thisss," Seviper said, visibly frustrated. "How doesss she get away with it every time? The oddsss of thisss are next to impossssible!"

-static-

"Another win under my belt, and another night safe on the island," Mienshao said smoothly, looking at the camera. "There aren't many challenges left before that money becomes mine."

-static-

"Well, campers, this was a tough challenge for many of you," Jirachi said. All eleven remaining campers were lined up before him, most of them dirty from their trek around the swamp. "I'll let you all clean off in the showers before we take care of tonight's elimination, but before you do that, let's see who found the flags in this challenge!"

Mienshao triumphantly raised hers first, followed by Chandelure more calmly displaying her flag to the crowd. Lilligant wrung her leafy hands unhappily as she saw Mienshao enjoying the reactions of the other campers.

"Seriously? She won immunity again?" Dusclops complained to Castform, who looked just as disappointed. "Did she strike up a secret deal with Jirachi or something? There's no way she keeps winning fairly."

Jirachi, however, was not done. "Interesting," he remarked, eyeing Mienshao in particular. "But I didn't ask who has the flags now. I asked who FOUND them."

Mienshao looked confused. "I found a flag," she told him, waving it in the air. "That was what we were supposed to do, wasn't it?"

"Well, yes. The goal was to find the flags. Not steal them," Jirachi specified. "The rule was, and I quote, 'if you are lucky enough to be the first to find a flag, you win immunity in tonight's voting ceremony.'"

Mienshao stared at Jirachi in disbelief. "What? That's not fair!" she protested. "I fought for this flag!"

Jirachi grinned at her evilly. "Doesn't matter! You don't play by the rules, you don't win immunity!" he laughed gleefully. "Oh, how I do love a good twist! Which means…"

Jirachi pointed into the crowd. "Tonight's immunity actually goes to Chandelure and Lilligant. Place your votes accordingly, folks!" the host said cheerfully. "With that said, I'll see you later tonight!"

The host snapped his fingers and disappeared, presumably off to his cabin. The campers all watched as Mienshao simply stared in shock after Jirachi's revelation. "Fuck," she muttered under her breath, walking off to the confessional.

-static-

"Change of plans," said Mienshao, now sweating profusely. She held up her immunity idol in one hand. "Immunity idol, do your thing. I need you."

-static-

"She may still be immune tonight due to the immunity idol, but the fact that she didn't win immunity in the challenge means we can finally take that idol out of the game," Beedrill explained, looking quite pleased about it. "It's the next best thing. I'll take what I can get."

-static-

"I guess I have immunity," said a surprised Lilligant. "That worked out better than expected."

-static-

The rest of the day passed quickly. One thing was on everyone's mind, and that was the elimination ceremony.

"What are we going to do?" asked Mienshao, pacing back and forth behind the cabins as Chandelure watched her with disinterest. "Everyone's going to vote for me, and then the idol's forfeit! I can't let that happen!"

"It's going to happen, and you're going to need to come up with a new plan," Chandelure said, not willing to tolerate Mienshao panicking. "Face the facts. Your old plan was horrible. You're lucky to have made it this far."

Mienshao glared at Chandelure. "I didn't ask for your opinion about that," the weasel snapped. "What we need is a plan for what to do when the idol is out of play!"

"I don't know about you, but losing the immunity idol doesn't change much for me," Chandelure replied uncaringly. "And if you're half as good at this game as you say you are, losing that idol shouldn't spell the end for you."

Mienshao grit her teeth in frustration. Clearly, Chandelure was going to be no help. "At the very least, we need to vote together," Mienshao told Chandelure firmly. "Every vote is going to count here."

Chandelure didn't even blink. "I know who I'm voting for already," Chandelure stated. "You can join me if you'd like, or you can go off on your own—but I'm sure you understand by now that your vote is powerless alone."

"So is yours," Mienshao retorted with an irritated eye roll. "Now tell me your plan. I'm listening."

-static-

Later that night, the campers gathered at the campfire pit. Jirachi and Diancie awaited them behind the podium, accompanied by Hoopa this time. The genie was watching Jirachi with an odd intensity, but most campers paid her little mind, as they were all focused on Mienshao.

The weasel was visibly uncomfortable as she sat down on a stump to listen to Jirachi's usual spiel. "Welcome, campers! You all should know the drill by now, but because Hoopa is new here I'll repeat it," Jirachi announced. "Each of you will vote for the camper you most want to eliminate. Any camper with immunity cannot be eliminated. At the end of the night, the camper with the most votes gets sent home."

He clapped his hands. "So with that out of the way, you may go place your votes!" he concluded. The host nudged Hoopa with one elbow. "This ought to be an interesting one."

Hoopa grinned. "HOOPA HOPES SO!"

-static-

"Mienssshao," Seviper voted with a satisfied smirk.

-static-

"Mienshao," Lilligant said with conviction.

-static-

"Goodbye to Mienshao's immunity idol!" Dusclops said with a hearty laugh.

-static-

"If only our votes for Mienshao meant something," said Castform with a sarcastic smirk. "But alas, a vote for Mienshao is a vote against the idol."

-static-

"Mienshao's goin' down, soonah or latah," Chatot said confidently. "And if we get ridda that idol tonight, it's soonah. I know who mah vote's for."

-static-

"Mienshao," Jolteon voted. He didn't look happy, but he knew he didn't regret his choice either.

-static-

"Everyone is going to be voting for Mienshao tonight," Chandelure said calmly, floating in the confessional. "While this has Mienshao in a panic, in truth it's a good thing. It means their votes don't actually determine who goes home, since she's already immune."

Chandelure let out a sinister chuckle. "Which means, if all goes according to plan, only my vote and Mienshao's will have any real weight—and we can send home a real threat."

-static-

Beedrill sat in the confessional unhappily. "So. I had a bit of a realization," the bug began. "If everyone in this ceremony votes for Mienshao, and Mienshao votes for one other Pokemon...then by default, that other Pokemon goes home once Mienshao uses her immunity idol."

Beedrill crossed his arms. "Knowing Mienshao, this puts a huge target on my back or Seviper's. And I'm not about to let her have the satisfaction of taking me out," he said defiantly. From behind his back, Beedrill pulled out a red ticket.

"If Mienshao's going to use her prize from the treasure hunt tonight, then so am I. This ticket lets me cast a triple vote," Beedrill explained to the camera. "Or I can cast three votes that don't necessarily go to the same Pokemon."

Beedrill smirked at the camera. "Which is exactly what I'm going to do," he said. "Now, I don't really have a grudge against anyone else in the game, but Clauncher told me what Castform did to him in the maze. So this one's for him."

Beedrill pulled out three vote ballots and scrawled Mienshao's name on the first, followed by Castform's name on the following two. "And now, my votes outweigh Mienshao's," the bug said confidently. "Clauncher is voting with me too, of course. I explained this to him already, and although he'd rather have Mienshao gone, he's not happy with Castform. I can't blame him for that."

He gave the camera a determined nod. "Time to see if this goes according to plan."

-static-

"Okay, let's tally up those votes," Jirachi said, grabbing the box of votes from the confessional after the last camper exited. Diancie popped up beside him and helped him count the votes.

"Interesting," Jirachi said as he finished calculating the results. He beamed at the campers. "Okay, time to get this show on the road! First up, Pokeblocks to our two winners in today's challenge, Chandelure and Lilligant!"

Lilligant caught the Pokeblock that Jirachi tossed to her, while Chandelure lazily watched as hers hit the ground in front of her stump. "That leaves nine," Jirachi said, clasping his hands dramatically. "It could be any one of you!"

"Oh, stuff it already. We all know who we voted for," Chatot interrupted the host.

"CHATOT. Let me finish," Jirachi snapped, giving the bird a stern look. Chatot didn't look happy, but he leaned back and let the host continue. "The next Pokeblock will go to Dusclops."

"Yes!" cheered Dusclops, pumping his fist. He caught the Pokeblock with one hand as Jirachi threw it to him.

"Next up, Clauncher and Jolteon," Jirachi announced. Clauncher and Jolteon both looked a bit relieved to get a Pokeblock next, though neither had suspected any real danger to begin with. "And Combusken!"

Combusken let out a quiet sigh as he caught his Pokeblock. "Seviper," called Jirachi after a bit of a pause. The snake nodded, but kept her steady gaze fixed on Mienshao—she had been watching her like a hawk the whole ceremony.

"And, the last Pokemon with no votes tonight is...Chatot," Jirachi stated. "Who I saved for last because he was rude and just HAD to ruin my fun."

Chatot rolled his eyes and caught the Pokeblock Jirachi tossed to him. Three contestants remained without Pokeblocks: Beedrill, Mienshao, and Castform.

"Wait, who voted for me?" asked a confused Castform. She glanced around until her eyes settled on Clauncher. "Aw, c'mon, man! It was one little joke!"

"Dude, it wasn't even a joke," said Clauncher, shaking his head. "Not cool."

Beedrill exchanged a glance with Mienshao. "Going for me, huh?" Beedrill asked. Mienshao could detect some arrogance in his tone. "Let's see how that works out for you."

"Please. You can't vote me out. What do you honestly expect to happen?" Mienshao scoffed. "I'm not afraid of you."

Beedrill turned away from her. "Once your idol is out of the equation, that will change. I can promise you that," he told her, as if it was fact. Mienshao sneered and scooted away from him in her seat.

"So, our final three are Castform, Mienshao, and Beedrill," Jirachi said with a smirk. "What an interesting outcome! But let's make things a little more suspenseful, shall we?"

Jirachi tossed a Pokeblock up and down in one hand. "The votes tonight weren't even close for who had the most. Under ordinary circumstances, the next Lapras would be occupied by Mienshao," Jirachi told the campers plainly. Mienshao crossed her arms with a huff. "But luckily for her, the circumstances are not ordinary!"

Jirachi flew over to her and stuck out a hand. "You are the owner of the last idol on the island," Jirachi stated. "So, in exchange for one idol, you get to stay another night, guaranteed!"

"Gladly," Mienshao agreed, feigning more confidence than she had. She placed the immunity idol in Jirachi's outstretched hand, which the host pulled back once he had retrieved the idol.

"Excellent! And with that out of the way, as I'm sure most of you know," Jirachi continued suspensefully, "when an immunity idol is used, it is the Pokemon with the SECOND most votes who is sent packing."

Beedrill and Castform exchanged an uncomfortable look. "Hey, nothing personal, right?" Castform asked hopefully. "I just kind of hope it's you and not me."

Beedrill shrugged. "Don't worry, I'm not taking it personally."

Jirachi was clearly enjoying the new tension he had managed to create. Dusclops was looking scared now that his friend was on the line, while Clauncher and Combusken seemed nervous about Beedrill too. Chandelure was studying Beedrill from afar; he didn't seem nearly as concerned as she thought he would be.

"The final Pokeblock of the night goes to…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"...Beedrill."

Beedrill stood up confidently, already having predicted what the answer would be. Castform floated there, mouth agape as Beedrill stabbed his Pokeblock off the platter Diancie was holding.

"Was the prank really that bad?" Castform asked, a bit self-consciously.

"Yes!" Clauncher shouted from the back of the crowd.

"Well, shoot. This blows," Castform said with a loud exhale. Dusclops came jogging over to her. "Oh, hey, Dusclops."

"What...why did they vote for you?" asked Dusclops, confused. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Like you said, it wasn't personal," Beedrill explained to Castform. "Somebody had to fall victim to Mienshao's idol so we could get rid of it. If it's any consolation, you were eliminated for a good cause."

"Wait," said Castform with a grin. "The whole reason I was eliminated was so you could take down Mienshao?"

Beedrill was surprised she was taking this news well. "...Pretty much, yeah."

Castform let out a laugh. "Ha! Well, I guess I get to claim the title of being the one to take down Mienshao's idol with me," she said smugly. "Not such a bad way to go, if I do say so myself."

"It'd be better if you weren't eliminated at all," pointed out Dusclops sadly.

Castform leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Aw, don't worry, Dusclops. I'll still see you when this is all over," she assured him. She let out a snicker as she thought of a pun. "So cheer up and keep those spirits high!"

Dusclops stared at her blankly before a huge grin spread across his face. "You got it," he promised her. He wrapped his arms around her in a quick embrace (which she did not return due to a lack of limbs) before letting go.

Dusclops turned to see a sea of confused faces staring at him and Castform. "What?" he asked innocently.

"You and Cassstform are an item?" asked Seviper, straight to the point as always.

"Well, yeah," Dusclops said nonchalantly. "I thought that was obvious."

"I did not see that coming," Jolteon admitted. "Man, now I feel really stupid."

Castform faced Dusclops and flashed him one last grin. "All right, I have to go do my last confessional now. Catch you later!" she said with a wink. Dusclops waved as she closed the door.

-static-

"Well, I didn't expect to be giving my last confessional tonight, but honestly? Being the one who got eliminated so Mienshao could be next isn't so bad," Castform said brightly. "I wish I'd have won, obviously, but Dusclops can just do that for me. We agreed to split the money somehow if either of us won."

Castform let out a small sigh. "Anyways, I had a pretty good time here. Made some good friends, some good puns, and annoyed a lot of people along the way. But hey, that's my job!

"Clauncher, if you see this confessional at any point, I'm sorry about ruining your moment, dude. You can still evolve, I believe in you!" Castform said with a wink. "And of course, I'm rooting for Dusclops to win! Dusclops, you rock. Keep being you.

"That's all I've got to say!" Castform concluded. "Goodbye, everyone! I hope I made you all smile!"

-static-

Castform popped back out of the confessional and headed back towards her cabin to pack her bags. Jirachi quickly stopped her on the way.

"Excuse me," Jirachi said. He glanced at her head. "I'm going to need that back."

Castform stared at him. "Need what back?" she asked obliviously.

Jirachi snatched the Magic Hat off of her head. "This," he clarified. "It's not yours."

Castform didn't seem too fazed. "Yeah, that's fine," she agreed. "It stopped responding to me after I pulled that prank on Clauncher. I guess it wasn't happy with me either," she theorized. "We had some good times together, though. Bye, Magic Hat!"

The hat sprang back to life for a mere moment and waved back and forth at Castform. She beamed at it before heading back to her cabin.

Jirachi stared down at the hat in his hands uncertainly. "Why did I let Mr. Mime make this thing?" Jirachi questioned himself. "I'm sorry, Magic Hat, but hats were never supposed to be sentient."

The Magic Hat did not seem responsive to Jirachi's criticism. "Hm. Well, off to the trash bin with you!" Jirachi said optimistically. However, as he headed back towards the hosts' headquarters, a certain genie blocked his path.

"ARE YOU NOT FORGETTING OF SOMEONE?" Hoopa asked Jirachi with a grin.

"Oh, don't worry. I can provide you transportation back to Kalos if you need it," Jirachi assured her dismissively, trying to get around her.

Hoopa clicked her tongue and grabbed his arm tightly. "HOOPA DOES NOT NEED THE TRANSPORT. HOOPA IS HER OWN TRANSPORT."

She brought her face closer to Jirachi's, and the host shrank down uncomfortably. "YOU REMEMBER THE RULES, SURELY! JIRACHI ASKED FAVOR OF HOOPA TODAY. JIRACHI OWES HOOPA."

Jirachi laughed nervously. "Hoopa, come on, can't we talk about this?"

Hoopa grinned at him widely. Given that she was always doing this, this didn't help Jirachi decipher her intent. "OH, WE WILL TALK PLENTY," Hoopa said, throwing a ring into the air beside them. It opened up a portal instantly. "JIRACHI WILL HAVE A LITTLE DATE WITH HOOPA."

Hoopa roughly shoved Jirachi through the portal and followed suit, cackling softly to herself. After a second, the portal was gone without a single trace.

-static-

"So I guess this is goodbye," Castform said. She was at the dock now, where all the campers except Mienshao and Chandelure had come to see her off. Clauncher was still looking somewhat bitter, but he felt slightly bad about voting her out this way.

"Yeah," said Dusclops sadly. He knew he'd eventually cheer up again after Castform left, but he didn't like seeing her go. "Take care, all right? If you see Cryogonal and Noivern, tell them I said hi."

"Will do. Bye, everyone!" Castform shouted, bidding the group farewell. Her Lapras began swimming off into the distance as Dusclops stood on the edge of the dock and waved goodbye.

After everyone else had left, Dusclops stood there staring at the shrinking shape of the Lapras on the horizon. "I'll miss you," he said quietly.

-static-

"How did it not work?!"

Mienshao was furiously pointing at Chandelure as she said this. The two had met up in the female Milotics' cabin, now that Chandelure was its only occupant. "You said your plan would work, and that Beedrill would be gone!" Mienshao said accusingly.

"I said it might," Chandelure corrected her. "There was always a chance that the others would come to the same realization that I did. There is nothing that I could do in that case."

"Well, that's not good enough!" Mienshao said, pounding a bedpost in frustration. "We wasted an elimination ceremony on Castform! She wasn't even remotely a threat to us!"

"There will be other opportunities to get rid of Beedrill," Chandelure said. "We just need to think smarter. He saw right through us, but he's hardly invincible."

Mienshao exhaled heavily and let Chandelure finish talking. "Unfortunately, I don't have a plan," Chandelure admitted. "And I won't until more details about the upcoming challenges present themselves. But rest assured, he's priority number one for both of us now."

Mienshao smirked. "Good. Then we'll make sure he doesn't get a chance to mess with our plans again," Mienshao decided ominously.

Hey, welcome to the end of the chapter! Glad you could be here, pull up a chair! You're probably already in one, but if you're not...go find yourself a chair.

So, first and foremost, I apologize if the challenge wasn't particularly original this time around—as I briefly mentioned at the start, this chapter got rewritten a few times. The chapter you just read is the third challenge iteration I did, after two previous challenges' worth of multiple scrapped drafts each. At this point, I feel like a chapter with kind of a subpar challenge is better than no chapter at all—I don't want to take another year to put out a chapter.

If it's any compensation for how long this chapter took to release, it is the longest chapter yet by a significant amount—over 4,000 words more than the previous longest one!

Anyways, the idol's gone now. I dragged that plot out long enough and I feel it's finally time to lay it to rest. No more idols, huzzah!

...What does this mean for Mienshao? Well, that's a spoiler, so I can't say. Obviously.

This was also a notable elimination ceremony not only due to the use of an idol, but because someone finally foiled one of Chandelure's elimination plans. That someone was Beedrill, of course, who she was remarkably close to eliminating if he hadn't realized the same thing she did. Kudos to Beedrill for being one of the first to poke a hole in her schemes.

On a more unfortunate note, Clauncher got cheated out of an evolution this chapter, courtesy of Castform. I wanted to reference how ridiculous the in-game method of cancelling evolution is, which is basically just pressing the B button to "startle" the Pokemon out of evolution (at least, that's how I see it). Seriously, what's up with that?

We also witnessed the show's second Mega Evolution, Mega Sharpedo. In contrast to Mawile's quiet, calculated persona becoming more uncontrolled and violent with her Mega Evolution, Sharpedo's already violent personality just became a more exaggerated, "wild" version of itself. This didn't matter much since the fight ended without much fanfare and Sharpedo's a minor side character anyway, but there you have it.

Hoopa has also kidnapped Jirachi, it seems. What could she be planning? Will we even find out? Well, maybe. All in due time.

Now, for your regularly scheduled fun fact about the eliminated camper: Castform was initially slated to be eliminated within the first ten episodes. I replaced her elimination with Liepard's, justifying it because Liepard was a solo player who had little support within her own team. Castform was never supposed to make it this far, but I hope some of you enjoyed her time on the island nonetheless.

Castform's relationship with Dusclops was also kept very low-key intentionally. I feel like neither of them would be overly flirtatious in public, and it provided a funnier ending to have some of the campers be shocked that they were a couple at all. Astute readers might've picked up on the hints early, though.

Oh, and how about another season 2 confirmation? Since I mentioned her a couple paragraphs ago, I'll say you can expect to see Liepard back next season. Stay tuned for more!

And finally, I would like to thank you for reading! It means a lot to me that people still take the time to click on my story even after four years. Love y'all to pieces. Consider leaving a review if you've got the time, as it is the best way to show support and offer feedback!

Castform: Want to hear a joke? Then you better review, or else YOU'LL be the joke! Hahaha!