Group Two Cont.

The voice was silent for a few seconds.

"What's my name," the voice finally asked, followed by the hang up tone.

They paused as Adrian hung up the phone.

"What's his name?" Erica repeated, puzzled by the nonsensical question.

"Well," Evelyn began to run through the clues, "It is a riddle, which means we should be able to answer it with common knowledge."

Erica and Carly sat down on the bench.

"That's true," Erica recalled, lying down to think, "Or maybe it's something around here that has the answer."

Evelyn jumped into that idea.

"That's a good idea," Evelyn commented, "What's the name of this mall?"

"I don't know," Erica answered, deadpan, "I've never been here before."

"This is the Washington Mall," Carly answered and their attention was directed to her.

"How'd you know that?" Erica asked, sitting back up.

"I've been to this city a lot to watch the premiers of a lot of movies," Carly answered as she got up from the bench.

Everyone took this in.

"So, Washington?" Evelyn asked to make sure.

"Yep," Carly answered.

"Okay," Evelyn adverted herself to Adrian, "Call him and answer that."

Adrian went to the phone, but noticed something.

"I don't know his number," he explained, "How are we supposed to answer?"

Evelyn shrugged, but suddenly the phone began to ring.

"Never mind," Adrian stated as he went for the phone.

He picked it up and held it out so everyone could hear.

"Do you know what my name is?" are the words that spilled from the phone.

Adrian looked to the others for assurance of the name and got positive signs back.

"Washington," Adrian answered.

There was a short pause as they waited for his reply.

"Incorrect," the voice replied.

"What?" they all exclaimed, united in shock.

"I said, 'incorrect'," the voice teased them.

They went to think.

"Now what?" Evelyn asked.

"Now," the voice answered, "There is a new challenge."

"Like what?" Adrian asked, wanting to finish the challenge.

"Like this," the voice started, "There are four phones; each exactly one block from here."

Everyone listened in.

"There is one in each cardinal direction; north, south, east and west," the voice continued, "I am only going to call one of them.

He went on, "You must try to figure out which one it is and if you're right you must answer me another riddle."

"What if we get it wrong?" Erica asked.

"Well," voice explained, "Then you're out luck and you group loses."

"You have ten minutes," the voice added and he hung up.

"I think we should go north," Carly stated instantly.

"Why do you think that?" Evelyn asked.

"Well," Carly began to explain, "That's the one that's always written in big letters on the maps."

"That's sounds good enough," Erica said.

"Sure," Adrian added, "Why not?"

"Because it could be the wrong way," Evelyn answered, "Let's try and figure it out logically."

They all went into thought, trying to figure it out.

"How 'bout we all go different ways?" Erica suggested, "That way we can't be wrong."

They looked at her.

"That's a really good idea," Evelyn commented, "I think we should do that."

"But," Carly began, "What if we're not allowed to that?"

"He didn't say anything about not doing it," Erica retorted, ready to run.

"He doesn't have to," Carly explained.

"The idea of this is to work as a team," Evelyn came back.

"But…"

"Look," Evelyn demanded, "If we all go the same way, we have a one out of four chance, but if we split up, we have a one out of two chance if we considering that we're not allowed to split up."

Carly took this in and finally agreed, "Okay, I'll go north."

"Good," the over achiever took victory, "I'll go south."

"I'll go west," Erica called as she began to run in that direction.

Carly ran north and Evelyn south, which left Adrian standing there watching the rest of them leave.

"I guess, I'm going this way," he said to himself.

The first one to get to their phone was Erica, and she got there the phone was ringing.

She was happy, thinking she got the right phone.

She picked it up, but was met with the voice saying, "Wrong phone."

Erica tensed in competitive anger and hung up the phone.

The next person to get to their phone was Adrian and it was ringing as well.

He answered it, but he was also told that it was the wrong phone.

"Dang!" he cursed as he hung it up.

Looked around and saw Erica standing next to her phone two blocks away.

She saw him also, putting her arms out, signaling that she had the wrong one. He signaled back with the same gesture.

Meanwhile, Carly approached her phone, which was not ringing and began to wait.

She started to catch her breath as she waited, looking around for something interesting.

Something did catch her eye; a newspaper hanging out of a public trash can.

On the newspaper was the headline, "Most Remembered Children's Books." She began to read the list as phone rang.

She answered it with her eyes on the newspaper in the trash.

"You picked the right phone," the voice explained, "That was a good idea that Erica suggested, of you guys splitting up."

"So we are allowed to do that," Carly recalled.

"That's what this challenge is all about," the voice explained, "Teamwork."

"Yup," Carly absentmindedly replied as she continued to read the list.

"Anyway, I digress. I should give you your riddle," the voice continued, "I'm going to stay with the original question; what's my name?"

Carly went blank as she read one particular title.

"Anyway," the voice went on, "I call you back in…"

"Rumpelstiltskin," Carly said, interrupted the man on the other line.

"What was that?" the voice asked as the other three in the group ran up to Carly.

"Rumpelstiltskin," she repeated, followed by the other three repeating it to each other, realizing that it was the answer.

"Why, Carly," the voice applauded, "That's correct."

"Your name's Rumpelstiltskin?" Erica asked, find in that weird.

"It's a riddle, my young dear," the voice explained.

"Now," the voice continued, "I believe you want to know which way."

"Yes, please," Carly answered, waiting impatiently.

"Oh," the voice was grateful, "You said the magic word. Well then, you better lean in close, because I'm going to whisper."

They all leaned in and listened very carefully.

"Three blocks north!" the voice yelled, leaving the four of them to regret leaning in.

The voice was laughing on the other end as Carly hung up the phone.

"What a jerk!" Erica exclaimed.

Group Four: Lee, Kevin, MJ, and Vicky – Comment Not Included

They got to a phone, sighing in loss on breath.

The phone began to ring and Vicky answered it.

"Bonjour," she greeted.

"Bonjour, Vicky," the voice replied, "Je parle aussi le Français." (Hello, Vicky, I also speak French."

"Oh yeah?" Vicky was impressed, deciding to speak in their language, "Quelle est notre défi?" (What is my challenge?)

"Qu'en est-il une énigme?" (How about a riddle?) the voice asked.

"Bien sûr," (Sure.) the multilingual accepted, while behind her, Kevin was confused.

"Are they speaking French?" he asked.

"I believe so," Lee answered as he listened deeply to their conversation.

Kevin watched in a little interest.

"What are they saying?" he asked.

Lee looked back at Kevin.

"I have not a clue," Lee answered as he stopped listening.

Kevin nodded and then looked at MJ.

"Wait a second," Kevin said as he walked up to Vicky.

He held MJ out by Vicky for a few seconds and then pulled him back.

"Mm hm," Kevin said to MJ as if he was talking to him.

He turned to Lee.

"What starts with 'T', ends with 'T', and has 'T' in it?" Kevin asked Lee.

Lee was over thrown with confusion.

"Is that the riddle?" he asked.

"Yup," Kevin answered, thinking on what the answer was.

"MJ told you that?" Lee continued his quiz.

"Yes," Kevin answered.

"MJ knows French?" he went on.

"Yes!" Kevin answered in a bit of annoyance, "Where are you going with this?"

He looked down at MJ, "I know, right."

Lee looked between them, almost in horror.

"Do you know French?" Lee finally asked, met with Kevin shaking his head.

Lee was in shock and seriously confused.

Vicky hung up the phone approached the two; three, if you count MJ.

"What starts with 'T', ends with 'T', and has 'T' in it?" Vicky asked, leaving Lee to wonder.

"A word?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah," Vicky answered, still thinking, "I think so."

Then she addressed Lee for an answer.

"Lee, we need your vocab for this," she pleaded.

"Testament," Lee answered, "That begins with 'T', end with 'T', and has 'T' in it."

Vicky thought about it, but she wasn't satisfied with the answer.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Uh…" he thought, "Tartlet."

"What's a tartlet?" Kevin asked in wonder.

"It's a miniature pie," Lee explained.

As if it were planned, the three of them looked up at the sign of the store they were standing next to, and the store was titled "Ruthie's Homemade Pies".

"That has to be it," they all commented in unison.

Vicky turned to the phone, but a man began to use it while they were figuring out the riddle.

They all cursed that they had to use pay phones.

They approached the man.

The man looked at each of them funny, but then just looked away.

"Sir," Lee started, "We require that device."

The man looked back him, laughed a little to himself, and turned back around.

"Sir…"

"Hold on," the man said to the person on the other line, turning to the group, "Can I help you?"

"I believe you can," Lee answered, staying in a polite tone.

He had the man's attention.

"See," he continued, "That phone is a necessity for us, and you are most likely just contacting to some person to talk to them."

"There are plenty of other phones in this city," the man countered, turning back around.

He left the three of them to spite him.

Vicky took a deep breath and snuck up behind the man. She grabbed the phone and hung it up on him.

"Then how 'bout you use one," she commented.

"How dare you!" the man exclaimed as he walked away, "You're lucky you're a girl."

Lee and Kevin walked next to her.

"Interesting method," Lee commented as the phone began to ring.

Vicky picked up the phone.

"Avez-vous une réponse?" (French: Have you an answer?) the voice asked, less than eager.

"Tartlet," she answered.

"Incorrect," the voice answered.

"What?" Vicky was confused, hanging up the phone.

"It's wasn't right?" Kevin asked, not believing it.

"Drat!" Lee cursed, snapping his fingers.

They went to silence, thinking of what to do next.

"Curse myself!" Lee exclaimed, face palming himself.

"What?" Vicky asked.

"A teapot," Lee answered, leaving Vicky and Kevin to wonder.

"Huh?" they asked in unison.

"A teapot," he repeated, going to a state of explanation, "It is a riddle: the word teapot begins with a 'T', concludes with a 'T', and a literal teapot contains tea."

Kevin and Vicky cursed themselves for not thinking of that.

"So, what do we do now?" Kevin asked.

Then the phone began to ring again.

Vicky was not hesitant to answer it.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Why'd you hang up?" the man asked.

"We got it wrong?" she answered, thinking it was obvious.

"Well," the voice argued with no tone of frustration, "I wasn't done."

Vicky shrugged it off.

"I guess since Lee already figured it out I don't need to challenge you guys," the voice explained.

Vicky went wide-eyed and looked around for a camera, or for someway for him to know that Lee figured it out.

"Two blocks south," he said, hanging up.

She put the phone up and turned to Lee and Kevin.

"Two blocks south," she informed.

They began to run, but on their way, they saw another group of people running in their direction.

As they got closer, they could make out Evelyn and Erica; it was group two.

The two groups finally stopped in front of a tall apartment building.

"Which way are you guys going?" Vicky asked them.

"To that phone," Erica answered, pointing to the phone that they were coming from.

"We just left that phone," Kevin said.

"What's the riddle?" Evelyn asked.

"I do not believe that they would query you the same," Lee explained.

"What was your riddle?" Kevin asked.

Suddenly, a phone that was placed conveniently next to them began to ring.

The two groups looked at each other, puzzled.

Adrian shrugged and decided to pick it up.

"Hello?" he greeted.

"Hi," the person on the other line started, "I would like two large pizzas."

"Um…"

"One meat lovers," he continued, "And another with just pepperoni, because Bill just isn't a real man."

Adrian could make out laughter in the background.

"Anyway," the man went on, "That'll be to 3675, pi…"

"I think you got the wrong number," Adrian answered.

"What?" the man was confused, "Wait, this isn't Tim's Pizza Palace?"

"Nope," Adrian assured.

"Then, who is this?"

"Uh…"

"I'm John," the guy greeted.

"Hi…"

"So, what's your name again?"

Adrian didn't want to say his real name, so, feeling awkward, he responded, "Melvin."

"Melvin, huh?" the guy said, his voice stranger, "You sound cute, Melvin."

Adrian hung up the phone then.

Group One: Adam, Phil, Sam, and Tom

They were lazily walking down the street, because the last phone they went to didn't ring. They were walking around the City Park in which Josh almost drowned.

"I'm hungry," Sam complained, holding his grumbling stomach.

"You just had a truck load of chocolate, man," Adam pointed out, "I don't think your stomach is supposed to be that big."

"You're talking about Sam," Phil countered, "The guy came with two bags, one of which is filled with Twinkies."

"Double filled Twinkies," Sam corrected, thinking of the luscious cakes, "Delicious, double filled Twinkies."

Sam became lost in thought, drool dribbling from him mouth.

"What's in the other one?" Adam dared to ask.

Sam snapped form his trance, "Oh… um… cheese."

Adam looked at him funny, but Phil was already used to it.

"Wouldn't the cheese melt and start to stink?" Adam questioned, imagining the terrible smell.

"Forget that," Phil disregarded, seeming to be confused of something else, "Did you notice that he is wearing a brown shirt?"

Adam quickly examined Sam and realized that he was indeed wearing a brown shirt.

"Oh, this?" Sam asked of it, "This is just my shirt turned inside out."

Phil took that in, but quickly began not to care, all over again.

"You brought no clothes?" Adam asked the large teen.

"I brought the ones I'm wearing," he explained innocently.

Adam just looked at him he wasn't from Earth.

"POWER UP!" Tom yelled out of nowhere, holding a stick up into the air.

The three looked at the now mentally distorted Tom.

"Now I can get at least four kills without anyone being able to stop me," the gamer exclaimed, "And then I'll be in the lead."

"I guess getting his laptop getting taken away this time finally broke him," Adam commented, feeling bad for the gamer.

"That," Phil proposed, "Or this much fresh air is just too much for him."

"Yeeeah," Adam and Sam both drawled, agreeing with Phil's statement.

Sam and Adam began to approach Tom as Phil found glance of a building that he thought suspicious.

He examined the name of the skyscraper and smiled.

"It can't be that easy," he commented, finding the hosts' imagination plain.

Meanwhile with Group Three – Josh, Lucy, Mitch, and Zach

They were all sitting in the lobby.

Josh was sitting a comfortable looking chair, with Lucy on his lap. Zach and Mitch were sitting on separate ends of a three-person couch, Mitch playing his guitar.

Suddenly, Phil and others walked through the front revolving door.

"It's about time someone else got here," Mitch complained, ending his playing of the guitar.

"The MacLean Hotel," Phil drawled, "Kind of conceited don't you think?"

A long screech was heard then and out of a p.a. system the words "I heard that" came over the lobby.

"You were meant to," Phil responded into the air.

Then a ringing sound began and everyone turned to the lobby desk and there stood a girl employee, looking at Phil.

"Could you tell your friend to stop running in the door?" she asked Phil.

They then looked to the revolving door and there Sam was having a lot of fun walking, round 'n' round the revolving door, bumping into multiple strangers.

Meanwhile, Adam had made his way to the desk.

"Excuse me," he began to talk to the desk girl, "I seemed to have lost my phone number; can I borrow yours?"

The girl looked at him deadpan and unimpressed.

"Do you really think that cheesy pick-up lines are going to ever get you a date?" she asked.

"I don't know," he answered, "Is it working?"

She was still unimpressed, but pulled out a piece of paper and wrote done a number.

Adam was actually surprised to get a number.

"Oh," he was very into himself now, "It looks like it did work."

"No," she responded, as gave the paper to him, "This is a number to a therapist in town."

Adam took the paper and read it, but quickly after, he smiled and looked at her.

"Good," he answered, with a cheesy grin, "I'm gonna need a therapist to get you out my head."

The girl scowled him and rang the desk bell. Shortly after, there behind Adam stood a big, six and a half foot tall man.

"Please escort him, away from the desk," the girl asked.

The man, with one arm, picked Adam up by the back of his shirt and began the walk away with him; all Adam could do was gulp while everyone watched him get taken away.

Group Five: Ed-J, Sedry, Shadow, and Sydney – Words Can't Say Enough

They were sitting next to another phone booth waiting for the phone to ring.

The booth was located next to the beach and a few benches. It was still mid-day, considering they left the island around seven o'clock.

Ed-J was leaning next to the booth, Sydney was sitting in the sand, and Shadow was sitting on the bench.

All three of them were looking at the beach. Having nothing in common, they weren't talking.

Sedry was busy having second long conversations with passing strangers.

"God, dang it!" Ed-J exclaimed, catching Sedry and Sydney off guard, "Why is he so late all the time?"

"Maybe he's busy," Sedry suggested.

"You would be too," Sydney added, "He probably has to do this with all of the groups."

"All I'm sayin' is that he can show a little more recognition for our group," the delinquent commented.

Everyone fell silent again.

Out of nowhere, a scream was heard and three lifeguards came running by, heading to the shore with a gurney.

The four waiting for a call looked over to the shore and saw someone washed up.

When the lifeguards got there, there seemed to be a struggle with the patient and one of the lifeguards came back covering his arm and grimacing in pain.

He pulled out a phone and dialed three numbers, putting the device to his ear.

"Uh… yeah," he began to talk into the phone, "I'm a lifeguard at the most northern section of the beach and we have a washed up victim."

He began to wrap a line of bandages around his arm.

"No," he continued, "That's not the serious problem; the victim has a bite mark and is very hostile."

He cut the bandages and tied them to his arm.

"No, it's way too small to be a shark bite" he went on, "it's also too big to be a squirrel or any little animal."

He began walking back to the scene, so his voice got fainter.

"Wonder what's going on," Sedry said, walking toward the crowd.

"Sedry, no," Ed-J commanded, "We gotta wait for the call."

"Oh, come on!" she complained, walking back.

"Since when do you care about the rules?" Sydney asked Ed-J, getting up from the ground.

"I don't," Ed-J retorted, "I just want to get this freakin' challenge done."

"Are you tired?" Sydney asked, walking to a bench and sitting on the arm.

"No," Sedry answered, followed by the two of them looking at her funny.

She was embarrassed and pantomimed zipping her mouth shut.

"No, I'm not tired," he answered, "But we have a giant city at our disposal when we finish."

Sydney looked out to the beach, "Yeah, I really want to ride the waves."

Finally, a ringing sprung about and Ed-J rushed to the phone.

"It's about time!" he burst out, still kind of annoyed.

"Once again, I'm sorry," the voice apologized, "But this time, you are not getting of easy."

"What? That's…" Ed-J began, but was cut off by the voice.

"Now," the voice went, "This one is a riddle, and I don't believe it's that hard."

"Okay then," Ed-J gave in.

"Here it is," the voice prepared, "You are driving a bus."

"Okay," Ed-J said.

"The bus goes to its first stop and picks up four people," the voice started, "The bus goes to its next stop; drops two people off and picks up six people."

"Uh huh," Ed-J was getting lost.

"It goes to its third stop; drops three people off and picks up five people," the voice went on, losing Ed-J more and more, "It goes to its fourth stop; drops four people off and picks seven people up."

"Wait, hold on…" Ed-J had to think more.

"It goes to its fifth stop; drops five people off and picks up three people," the voice continued with no break, "It goes to its sixth stop; drops three people off and picks four people up."

Ed-J was very disgruntled trying to decipher all the math.

"Do you get that all?" the voice asked.

"Uh…" Ed-J wasn't very sure, "I think so."

"Okay then," the voice sounded amused, "What's the color of the bus driver's eyes?"

Ed-J went quiet and confused. When he came back to the real world, he found the question stupid.

"I don't know," he answered, once again annoyed.

"Well, you better figure it out," the voice hung up.

Ed-J hung up the phone, but was left to figure the mess out.

"What's the riddle?" Sedry asked, very interested.

"He told me a bunch of math," Ed-J explained, "And asked me what the colors of the bus driver's eyes were."

The girls looked at him.

"What?" Sydney was confused.

"Did he tell you that you were driving the bus?" Shadow asked, breaking from his silence.

Ed-J thought about that and remembered that the voice did say that.

"Oh yeah," Ed-J remarked, "So, it's my eyes."

Ed-J went back to the phone and Shadow looked back to the beach.

The phone rang and Ed-J picked up the phone fast.

"Blue!" he rushed.

"Correct," the voice said.

"Now, which way?" Ed-J hurried, wanting to get the challenge done.

"Calm down," the voice said, which Ed-J failed to do.

"Man… all these riddles about buses is making hungry for a snack," the voice commented, followed by him hanging up.

"What the hell?" Ed-J complained, "Which way?"

Then he looked up quickly and liked what his eye caught.

There, in the road, was a bus that had an ad on it for Hostess.

"Okay then," Ed-J remarked, finding the voice's wording clever.

He left the booth and began to approach the bus.

Sydney and Sedry were confused by this.

"Ed-J, where're you goin'," Sydney asked.

"We gotta take the bus," he responded as he signaled them over.

Sydney and Sedry shrugged and walked over him, but then Sydney stopped and turned to Shadow.

"You comin'?" she asked him.

He hesitated, but got up and began to walk to the bus.

Sedry was the first to get on and pay the fee, followed by Sydney.

Ed-J stay back to make sure everyone got on. He thought of an idea:

Why pay for himself, when he could get someone else to pay for him.

When Shadow walked by Ed-J pretended to check his pocket for change, and play it off as if he didn't have any.

The bus driver was getting a little tired of waiting for him.

"You gonna get on today?" he asked.

"Yo, Shadow," Ed-J started his plan, "I don't seem to have any change."

He then signaled Shadow to spot him.

Shadow looked at him and seemed to know that he was lying.

"I guess you're gonna have to walk then," he coldly responded.

The bus driver laughed a little and Ed-J felt stupid.

As Shadow walked to the back, the bus driver began to drive away and shut the door.

Ed-J didn't want to walk, so he put his arm in the door and yelled for the bus driver to stop.

"Make up your mind, man," the bus driver demanded, stopping the bus.

Ed-J walked up the steps and put his change in the fee collector.

As he walked by Shadow, who was paying no attention to him at all, he scowled him and sat two seats back behind him.

Sydney and Sedry laughed.

"Hey, Ed-J?" Sedry started.

"What?" he asked reluctantly.

"Did you find that change on the ground," she teased, "Or did you pull it out of the air?"

"Shut up," he demanded nonchalantly followed by Sydney and Sedry laughing again.

Groups 2 & 4 – Adrian, Carly, Erica, Evelyn, Lee, Kevin, MJ, Vicky – That's a Mouthful

They still stood in front of the same building, waiting for the phone ring as well.

Adrian was leaning against a wall, next to the phone. Carly was sitting on the pavement near the curb, with Evelyn standing next to her. Vicky and Lee were talking near the entrance of the apartment building.

Kevin was sitting near Lee and Vicky, having a full on conversation with MJ. Finally, Erica was leaning against a street light.

"He's never been this late before," Evelyn commented, walking to and then leaning against to the wall. Carly got up and patted herself off.

"I know," Erica added, "Usually were late."

"Yeah," Vicky commented, "So are we."

"Unfortunately," Lee added, "I am usually the person who answers the phone; thus, I get the challenge."

"Same here," Adrian commented.

Everything went silent for a few moments, but Kevin broke that silence.

"Hey?" he asked for their attention, "We weren't supposed to wait here for him to call; we were supposed to go different phones."

"That's true," Vicky conquered, thinking that they may have made a mistake.

"Yeah," Evelyn acknowledged his statement, "But this guy has constant watch over all of us, so he would notice that we're waiting at this phone."

"Oh yeah," Kevin remarked, going back to talking with MJ.

Once again, everything was silent.

Some old lady came walking by Kevin, limping. He couldn't help but notice and feel sorry for her.

"Hey," he asked her in worry, getting up, "Are you okay?"

Everyone else looked over to them.

The woman stopped and looked at Kevin, but the looked on her face wasn't a look of anguish, but a look of aggression and anger.

Quickly, she charged him and tried to knock him down. Everyone else stood in alert behind Kevin.

"What are you doing?" he grunted as he successfully pushed her away.

She tumbled for a few feet, but gained composure and began to thrash at him. She got him at the right moment this time, knocking him to his back, but he could still push her far enough away.

"Help!" he asked everyone.

Adrian and Lee rushed in, pulled the woman off him and pushed her away.

"What is wrong with you lady?" Kevin exclaimed.

She looked at him, but quickly turned her head toward the apartment building door and ran inside.

She left everyone dazed and confused.

"What the heck was that about?" Erica asked.

Then the phone rang out of nowhere making most of them jump.

Adrian walked over and answered it.

"Looks like Kevin isn't in with the old people crowd," the voice teased.

"You did that?" Adrian asked.

"Absolutely not," he answered, honestly, "But it was a sight to see indeed."

"Okay then," the artist accepted, "Now what?"

"Well," the voice began, "I guess I have nothing left to do, but escort you guys to the hotel."

"Why was he late?" Evelyn interrupted.

"I don't know," Adrian answered, cupping the talking end of the phone, so that the other line can't hear, "But he's taking us to the hotel."

"What?" Evelyn asked, "Why?"

"I don't know," Adrian answered, still covering the end.

"Did we lose?" she went on.

"I don't know!" the artist spat, getting slightly annoyed by her continuous questions.

"Let me see the phone," Evelyn semi-demanded, walking over to him.

"Fine," Adrian handed her the phone.

"She took it and put straight to her ear, "Why are you taking us to the hotel?"

"Because," the voice simply answered.

Evelyn rolled her eyes, "Seriously, why?"

"Because this challenge is a lot of work," the voice explained, "And one group had to come to the hotel because of a medical issue, and another just walked into the hotel as if the challenge was nothing."

"So, we lost," Evelyn tried to simplify.

"No," the voice continued, "Two of the groups are already here, and they didn't even finish the challenge. So, I'm bringing you last three groups here on a bus."

"Oh," Evelyn remarked, and then looked up and down the street, "When's the bus gonna be here?"

"It should be there in a couple of seconds," he answered, and, like magic, the bus pulled up, "Ah, there it is. Enjoy your ride."

He hung up, followed by Evelyn.

Everyone went aboard the bus, each paying his or her fee.

Adrian walked to the back where Shadow was and sat in the seat in front of him.

Shadow glanced at the artist in front of him, but went back to staring out of the window.

Meanwhile, everyone else was interacting.

"So, who on this bus has ever been randomly attacked by an old lady?" Carly blurted out.

"Uh," Sydney was confused.

"Kevin has," Erica told them as she and Carly sat down behind Sydney.

"Oh my god," Sedry was interested, jumping to the seat behind Kevin, "Was it fun?"

Kevin looked at her as if she were crazy…

"No!" he drawled, "It scared the heck out of me!"

Sedry just stared at him smiling maniacally.

"What did you do?" she asked with a happy aura all over her.

"What are you supposed to do when an old lady tackles you?" Carly joked followed by every one laughing.

"That's probably one of the weirdest things I've heard," the bus driver joined in, "And I have heard and seen a lot of weird stuff, in my time as a bus driver."

"Humor us," Evelyn dared him.

"Okay then," he says, as he takes a left turn, "I was a bus driver for some fan party…"

"People party with fans?" Sedry asked.

Everyone one just looked at her funny.

"No… no," the bus driver answered, "It was like one of those conventions, but was only like fifteen people."

"Oooooh," the loose-headed girl caught on, "I thought you meant the other fan."

"Anyway," he continued, "It was a, um… anime…?"

"You mean the Japanese cartoons?" Adrian asked from the back.

"Yeah," he answered, "It was like a futuristic samurai thing."

"Yeah, it's anime," the artist answered.

"But the kids weren't all to normal, like almost all of you are," the driver went on, "They were…"

"Nerds," Ed-J finished.

"Yeah, lets go with that," he took on.

Flashback: Bus Driver's POV

They all come with their costumes that are either really detailed or completely screwed up, but since I don't read that stuff, I don't know whether they were right or not.

Well, I drive to this little party and go pick them up to take them to a restaurant for an after party… for the party.

Anyway, there's these two guys there who were different characters in the show; one likes the good guy, who's some samurai I guess, and the other guy likes the robot, who's the bad guy.

Theses people took do seriously, that they hated each other for it. I mean, come on it's just a show.

So, they decide that they should have a duel, on my bus.

I didn't care, I was having a bad day and I needed something to laugh at.

One of them stood at the back and the other stood right next to me.

They took a long stare at each other, as if it were real. The samurai guy put his hand on the fake sword handle and robot guy put up his arm to show the other guy his fake gun.

Suddenly, they charged at each other, but were stopped by this guy who was dressed like and old guy.

Both of them were like, "Master! What are you doing?"

The old guy started to explain that the violence was too much and that it should stop.

The two of them then looked at each other and apologized, shaking each other's hand.

Then everyone else on the bus clapped and cheered.

Everyone who was listening was completely quiet.

"Uhhh…" Erica had nothing to say.

"I told you," the bus driver commented, "When you're a bus driver, you see some pretty crazy things."

"That was awesome!" Sedry cheered, in her usual excitement.

Everyone just looked at her funny.

"Okay," the bus driver called over, "We're here."

The bus pulled up to the MacLean hotel and the doors opened.

"The MacLean Hotel?" Ed-J questioned Chris's choice in hotel.

"Off you go guys," the bus driver commented.

Everyone except Shadow got off.

The bus driver looked at him in the mirror.

"This is your stop, man," the driver explained.

"No, it's not," Shadow answered, not even looking to the hotel or the driver.

The bus driver just stared at him for a few moments, but then closed the doors.

"Okay then," he replied as he pulled away from the hotel and began to drive.