Who is the Mole?

Side Note: This is the first Mario/Mole-related fic established on this website.

To all those reading: Be sure to NOT look at the end chapters, unless you want this entire story spoiled! Same with the reviews! Clicking on that number above and reading the reviews will reveal too much! Thanks a million for reading! Feel free to leave a review (=

My second season is also out: The Mole: Saboteur's Island! Be warned though, the identity of the Mole of this first story gets spoiled in my second season. So I would suggest reading this season first. However, if you really want to go ahead and read my second season first, feel free.

If you have never heard of the Mole before, it goes like this. Players in The Mole must work together to complete various physical and mental challenges to add cash into the team pot, that only the winner at the end would win. One of them, however, is "the Mole," a double agent hired by the producers to sabotage the efforts of the group. Not only will they attempt to wreck the team pot for the other players, but the Mole must avoid drawing suspicion towards him or her. At the end of each episode, the players take a quiz on their knowledge of the Mole, with questions asking what the Mole did during one of the challenges, or what their occupation is or what their eye color is, and even questions asking what the Mole had eaten for breakfast. The player who scores the lowest each round is executed, and is eliminated from the game immediately. When it's down to the final three, there is a winner, a final victim, and the Mole.

Well, enjoy the story and happy Mole hunting!

Episode 1

It has begun. Ten players. Nine are up to the challenge and playing by their own innocent strategies. Their goal is to win, to succeed in every challenge, and to be the one to be victorious at the very end. But one of them is the imposter. The cheat. The fraud. The saboteur. One of them is The Mole.

A helicopter, hovering over the cliff edge for minutes, finally lands onto the ground as the passenger steps out. The passenger is bedazzled from her exciting way to her destination, but is bedazzled with confusion at what's to come.

Birdo

Surname: Bowtie

Birthday: June 2

Occupation: Gardener/Florist

Another helicopter a distance away lands as well, and two more passengers had exited their way to the rocky ground.

Blooper

Surname: Inke

Birthday: November 4

Occupation: Sea Scavanger

Daisy

Surname: Floral

Birthday: May 12

Occupation: Hair Salon Owner

A third helicopter lands not long after the one previous. The passenger steps his way off the vehicle and looks around.

Doopliss

Surname: Shiftle

Birthday: October 14

Occupation: Actor

The next two come from a fourth helicopter that makes its way momentarily after the third. They both look around, puzzled.

Lakitu

Surname: Clouda

Birthday: February 25

Occupation: Air Traffic Controller

Luigi

Surname: Mario

Birthday: January 18

Occupation: Plumber

A person walks off from another helicopter that has landed, stepping her way carefully onto the dusty terrain.

Toadette

Surname: Rytoad

Birthday: June 26

Occupation: Emercency Nurse

Simultaneously another helicopter has made its way to the ground. The passenger has a look of uncertainty displayed on her face.

Peach

Surname: Toadstool

Birthday: February 3

Occupation: Tennis Trainer

The last helicopter to arrive arrives, and a person with a confident look on his face steps down.

Rawk Hawk

Surname: Hawk

Birthday: May 29

Occupation: Champion Wrestler

"Hey, so what did I miss?" Rawk Hawk asked loudly over the leaving helicopter. The other eight are confused, not to mention that they couldn't hear him over the intense sound of the propeller.

"Welcome!" came the voice from behind them. A man was standing right behind them, who resembles a familiar person to Blooper.

"You're McBallyhoo!" Blooper claimed.

"Yes I am!"

"Who's that?" Doopliss questioned.

"Yeah, I remember seeing him somewhere before," Birdo remembered.

"I honestly don't," Peach said, examining him closer. McBallyhoo frowned.

"I think only a few of us knows him," explained Luigi. "But I think you're our host for this show, right McBallyhoo?"

"Yes, I am," he said. "And now, welcome all of you…the Mole: Enemy Aboard!" Light-hearted cheers followed after, as they clapped happily.

"The ten of you are here to work together in order to complete physical and mental tasks. For each time you are able to succeed, money is awarded to your team pot. But keep in mind that only the winner at the end will be victorious over the large sum of cash. The maximum total that can be created, if each and every activity is completed successfully, is 500."

"Umm, five hundred coins?" Toadette repeated. "I guess that's okay."

"Hey, that doesn't seem like a lot!" Lakitu pointed out. "We signed up for this when they estimated the winning prize to reach-"

"Whoops, small mistake," corrected McBallyhoo. "I think I missed a few zeros when I read that. It's 500,000 coins that can be earned."

"Now that's a lot different!" Lakitu exclaimed. The others look at each other in excitement. Five hundred thousand coins? But just who would be the one to take it all?

"But there is…something important I forgot to tell you all," McBallyhoo added.

"That you accidentally made a typo?" Daisy joked.

"Something more troubling than that," he said. "One of you is not really who they seem to be. I guess your first instincts were that all nine of you were just a couple of curious contestants, am I correct?"

"And…what do you mean by that?" Birdo wondered out loud.

"One of you is a traitor, a lie, the pretender of the group. You have been set up by us as the Mole to inhibit the success of the others. The Mole's role in this game is to sabotage all your challenges."

The nine standing on the side of the cliff base look at one another in surprise. They couldn't imagine how one of them could actually be an enemy of all the others.

"Of course, your eyes have to be keen and observant to win the game. Otherwise, you'll have to pay."

"And we would want to know who the Mole is, why?" asked Peach.

"At the end of each episode you will be given a quiz on the identity of The Mole. There will be execution eliminations along the way, and your chances to win will over if you are the lowest scorer. The one who keeps up the Mole's identity would surely be the one to succeed all the way to the end. Any questions?" The players shook their heads.

"Ready to start?" he asked them.

"Yeah!" shouted the others.

"Cause I have a challenge for you," the host announced, as he stepped towards the edge of the cliff.

They followed the host to look over the edge of the cliff and looked on in amazement. Below them was a platform with various crew members, and leading down to the bottom fifty feet below was nothing except gravity itself. It was a cliff jump, into the glistening springs that were located near the camping station they would be staying at. They started to laugh in excitement and anxiety, realizing they were not as high as they had thought they had been when they arrived. But fifty feet was still a long distance.

"This is the Cliff Springs. All of you must jump down into the water below, and of course, survive." The contestants laughed.

"There is a twist, however. You must all complete the fifty foot jump for this challenge to me successful. And one more thing: none of you are allowed to add or take anything off from your bodies after the next…fifteen seconds. Starting now."

The contestants frantically started to dig into their pockets, trying to remove all their valuables or items that would succumb to the water. Many took off their sweaters.

"Everyone, cell phones," Luigi told them. "Electronics, whatever you have."

"How about my necklace?" Daisy asked quickly.

"I can't take out my ipod!" Rawk Hawk exclaimed, desperately trying to get the device out of his back pocket.

"Wait, wait wait…"

"Time up!" announced McHallyboo. "Do not add or remove anything in your possessions from now on. No! Rawk Hawk, time is up. However, you can situate your ipod anywhere on your body. This challenge is worth an amount of 15,000 coins." Some of their faces were relieved.

"If any of you remove or add any further articles to or from your individual bodies before jumping, the challenge will be lost."

"Damnit!" Rawk Hawk yelled. Many looked at him with uneasiness when they saw the ipod sticking out halfway from his back pocket. Blooper couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh shoot, my watch," noticed Blooper, looking at the front of his many arms.

"You can try your best to protect the items you didn't manage to remove," reminded the host. "And remember, all of you must complete the jump to win the challenge. Anybody up first?"

"I'll go," Lakitu said immediately. The others watched in anticipation as Lakitu stepped along with the host, to the lower platform. There were no cables or anything to support the contestants if they chose to jump down below, but the only things that eased their minds was when a person proceeded to put a life vest around Lakitu.

"Go Lakitu!" called out Daisy, to the platform ten feet below.

"He seemed a bit confident when he called out to go first," Doopliss noticed. "Oh, and that platform below kinda makes the jump only forty feet. That's not bad, I guess,"

"Gosh, do we all have to do this?" Luigi wondered. "Ahh, I'm terrified of a heights."

In quick time, Lakitu was all set to jump. To the surprise of the others his cloud was removed, to reveal that his feet weren't all that special after all. The others watched in hopes as Lakitu stepped to the edge of the platform. He jumped off.

When they saw the splash appear in the water fifty feet below, the eight of them above cheered and clapped at their first step to winning the challenge. But only one-ninth of it had been completed so far.

All you could do was take it all in and face the fact that you were jumping a great distance. It wasn't the first time I had been at high heights, after all.

"Well done for Lakitu," the host said, seeing the thumbs-up signal from one of the crew members below. "Next up at random selection: Daisy."

"No!" she said, as the others chuckled with glee. But with a smile proceeded to walk down onto the platform, to where the host was standing to get her ready.

"So, afraid of heights?" the host asked her.

"Nah, I'm the crazy type of girl," Daisy told him. "I can do this. Not sure about Toadette though."

"Oh?"

"She seems kind of upset about this challenge," said Daisy. "But I'll wish her well when I reach the bottom. I'm ready for this!" She put on her life vest.

The others ten feet above on the cliff watched Daisy as hopefully as they had watched Lakitu. However, Peach was talking to a shivering Toadette, who wasn't the type for extreme activities.

"I'm even scared of jumping off from a diving board at a swimming pool," Toadette explained to her. "I doubt anything can make me feel better now."

"This will help all of us," Peach told her in a positive attitude. "Fifteen thousand coins is a great start!" They heard a yell from below as Daisy jumped off the platform, to the water. The group of seven cheered.

Gosh, that jump was more than anything I had ever experienced in my life. But I loved the thrill.

But Toadette wasn't the only hesitant one. Rawk Hawk was being instructed by Doopliss on the best way to keep his ipod water-free along the fall. He sighed in exhaustion.

"Place it into your rather, tight pants," Doopliss suggested as his last resort. "Water will surely not be able to reach it."

"Here," said Luigi, offering Rawk Hawk his cap. "Wrap this around your a ipod. No water can get passed this fabric."

"And you're sure about that?" asked Rawk Hawk with doubt.

"It's specially designed to keep out a sewage water," Luigi explained. Doopliss and Rawk Hawk looked at him awkwardly, but Rawk Hawk had already taken the cap. The host called out the name Blooper, and Blooper reluctantly stepped down to the platform.

"Well," said the host. "It looks like you had no trouble removing any items of particular from your body. You don't have any clothes!"

"I still forgot to remove my Rolex GMT Master II," he pointed out. The host looked and shook his head at his misfortune.

"But fifteen thousand coins can buy me ten extra of these!" he told him, and jumped backwards with enthusiasm. The crowd whistled and cheered for the third time.

"Man, Blooper sacrificed his expensive watch," said Rawk Hawk. "Surely, he can't be the Mole."

"It could have been an act of innocence," Birdo reminded him. The other five looked at her, and looked at each other. Once again they came to the realization that one among them was a traitor, hired to hinder their next moves. Which person it was, they were not sure. Every single one of them seemed as innocent as another.

I did it for the group. I mean, I didn't want them to suspect me at all as being the Mole. But ha, now my brothers are going to kill me if I can't pay this watch back.

"Birdo!" Birdo's eyes widened, as she went down to the platform. The others watched as they hoped for her success. Would she be willing to jump?

"Any fears of any kind?" the host asked her.

"Doesn't include heights at all," she told him. "More of mental fear, like becoming handicapped or something along those lines."

"Not that that's likely," the host reassured. Birdo put on her life vest, and hesitated only a second before she jumped her way into the water below. The lessened crowd clapped happily.

I lied to McHallyboo about not fearing heights. I've been scared of them since I was young, and jumping of the platform sent that strange feeling into my stomach. You know, that feeling you get on roller coasters.

When Luigi's name was called, he groaned unhappily. Rawk Hawk shoved him lightly towards the walkway to the platform, and he made his way to the host nervously.

"Jumping will win for the a prize, right?" Luigi asked, as a crew member put on a lifevest.

"Only if the other four decide to jump as well," the host reminded him. "You can jump off this cliff, or you can quit this challenge."

"Go Luigi!" called out Peach. The others shouted supportive words to him, and Luigi held his breath as he stepped to the edge. He jumped forwards, and let out a shriek on the way down. The ones at the edge of the spring water who had already completed their job cheered as Luigi hit the water.

I admit, I'm a chicken. I'm scared of the a dark, ghosts, and even spoiled milk. I really don't know what a made me force myself to jump, but I guess it was for the team. And to meet Daisy again as quick as possible.

"Toadette!" the host called. Peach let go off her shoulders as she looked anxiously at the small contestant. Would she be the one to forfeit the challenge?

"Well," said the host, as Toadette stepped onto the platform. "It is your choice whether to jump or not."

"I really don't want to," Toadette said in a quiet voice, as she peered over the edge. She saw the others, looking up in hope at her. But the sight of the fifty feet to the water had overcome her.

"I just…can't," Toadette said, looking away from the edge.

"And it's your choice," said the host. Toadette looked over the edge again and saw her waiting teamates. They had made it, so why shouldn't she?

"You can do it, Toadette!" called out Lakitu, trying to block out the brightness of the sun as he looked up. "Come on!"

"She's been there for like three minutes," Daisy said in worry. "Please, please jump."

And she did. While she plummeted, she shrieked an ear-piercing scream along the way. The eight contestants, above and below wooted and cheered as she hit the water, and then saw the stunned look on her face as she popped above the surface.

Never before had I ever been so frightened when I was falling. I would have never done the jump if it wasn't for Peach's earlier support. The team was really counting on me, and I guess I showed it.

With ease, Rawk Hawk went next afterwards. Now that more than half of the players had made it to the bottom, the remaining three were confident. Rawk Hawk jumped with the cap-wrapped ipod clutched in his hands. It was perfect when he reached the other six, as his ipod was not affected by the water at all.

I'm glad that hat of Luigi's actually worked. I would have beat him to pulp if it hadn't . And that jump…whooof.

Peach screamed even louder than Toadette as she jumped down to the water. That was eight at the bottom, and one left remaining.

My scream had actually hurt my own ears when I screamed on my way down. And my shoes and socks were soaked! I felt so uncomfortable as I came out of the water.

At the first step of Doopliss' jump off from the platform, the crowd cheered louder than before. They were victorious over their first challenge presented to them. Fifteen thousand coins into their total, and the Mole had scored zero. Or was it really zero that the Mole had scored?

The host had made his way down in a helicopter to meet the excited group of wet people. Provided with towels, the first few jumpers were already completely dried off from the spring. As he approached them with a small smile, the crowd quieted down.

"Well, let's take a roll call," McHallyboo suggested. "Lakitu?"

"Here!"

"Daisy?"

"Here too!"

"Blooper? Birdo? Luigi?"

"Heres!"

"Toadette, Rawk Hawk, Doopliss, and Peach?"

"All here!" Doopliss claimed.

"Well, that's nine people, the same number we had started with from all the way up there!" the host said in realization. "That would result in the winnings of 15,000c into your team pot total, and congrats to you all." The contestants gave each other high-fives, and felt their first sense of success.

"Well, there was still one thing that had prevented you from success in this challenge," McHallyboo said suddenly. The group quieted down in record time and looked at him in confusion.

"Unfortunately, there were rules that I had stated clearly for you guys to follow out," said the host, "And the one that I am referring to was the rule that, quote, 'If any of you remove or add any further articles to or from your individual bodies before jumping, the challenge will be lost.'" He looked at the still puzzled group.

"The item in Rawk Hawk's hand was not in his possession after the fifteen seconds of freedom," the host clarified. Eyes turned to the left hand of Rawk Hawk, as he looked back in surprise.

"And Luigi seems to be missing one of his articles of clothing as well," the host said, as eyes turned directly at Luigi. "In the act of Luigi lending his cap over to Rawk Hawk after I had stated the rule, this challenge has now been declared lost." The looks of disbelief were aroused.

"I will meet you all at dinner, in that camp building over there," the host stated. As he went to jog ahead, the disappointed players trudged towards their new home in their semi-damped apparel.

"Don't look at me!" Rawk Hawk said suddenly. "I was offered without asking for anything." The looks averted to the player in green, who was looking away sheepishly.

"Didn't you listen to the host when he said you couldn't take anything off?" Doopliss questioned.

"I did, but I didn't mean to!" Luigi explained. "I seriously, really didn't a mean to."

"And I had to jump for nothing," Peach couldn't help adding. "Although I did come over a fraction of my fears."

"Good job Luigi," said Blooper sarcastically. "I think we finally have an amount of zero dollars in our pot." Blooper looked down in gloom at the watch still around his wrist, which was full of water and permanently destroyed.

"Oh, come on," said Daisy, obviously trying her best to defend Luigi. "I would have made the same mistake too."

"Let's stop all this blaming," said Lakitu, trying to change the subject. "I'm starving." The group proceeded to walk to the cabin.

Birdo: The Cliff Springs challenge had really shaken me up. I didn't know what this game had in store for us, but I think it'll be all crazy from now on. Although I'm disappointed I jumped for no money in rewards.

Doopliss: I have my obvious suspicion on Luigi, whether he had broken the rules inadvertently or whether he had given his hat to Rawk Hawk at the most appropriate time during the game, at his own will. I'm taking the latter.

Rawk Hawk: I wasn't aware of the rule that disallowed me from taking an item. I mean, the host did say it but still…rawh! Whatever.

Luigi: I never thought it was against the rules to a lend my cap to Rawk Hawk. It was a still with us to the bottom, and I hadn't considered it as taken off from me. But I promise, it was not purposely.

The inside of the small hotel cabin was relaxing, as they all hung out in the lobby. Most of their chats were about how they thought the cliff jump was, and who they suspected the Mole to be. But it was all light-hearted and playful, as the sun started to set behind the cliffs.

"Before dinner," a voice suddenly called out from the front door, and they turned around to see that the person who had spoken was no other than the host. He was rolling in a big cart full of similar-looking bags, each having a green fingerprint icon displayed on them. As he brought the entire cart in, he started to throw them off one by one onto the carpet ground roughly, much to the alarm and amusement of the players. Nine bags.

"Before you can enjoy your dinner," he finally said, "You must first retrieve your luggage. Fortunately, they all fit perfectly into these new bags of yours our crew members had created for you guys. Unfortunately, they had forgotten to write any names on them, so that's your job. I need the two people who have the best memory, in fifteen seconds. Starting now."

"Let me go," said Lakitu. "I have a great memory."

"Okay," said Daisy. "Lakitu, and who else? Anyone?"

"Not me," said Peach. "Not Luigi either. Blooper? Birdo?"

"Pick someone better," Blooper argued.

"Five seconds…"

"Toadette," Peach picked.

"Okay, Peach, whatever you say," Toadette said. The host looked at his watch again, and then looked at the group.

"Lakitu and Toadette?" he reaffirmed. They both nodded.

"Well, the two of you will be on much pressure now, cause I have a challenge for you."

And that is the first part of Episode 1! Who do you think the Mole could be? Is there really enough evidence so far? The next execution comes next…

P.S. Watch out for the hidden clues that point to the identity of the Mole.