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The wooden podium & benches "setup" had been replaced; now there were 11 clear plastic podiums, one for each of them; and they were set up in a semicircle, so everyone could see each-other. In addition to Vicks and Piette, Marian and Anar had joined the group in the Challenge room.

Bekkler rubbed his hands. "Today, we're going to play 'Strip Trivia'." There was a bit of commotion at this title. Lucca and Leena, in particular, were unhappy with this, while Korcha seemed intrigued.

Bekkler continued, "You'll be asked a series of questions, to which you'll have to write down the answers. (Ayla, we'll let you choose one of the staff to write down your answers, in a moment.) For each question, if you get the right answer, you move on to the next question. However, if you get the wrong answer, you must remove an article of clothing if you wish to continue. Should you get a wrong answer, and not wish to remove further clothing (or not have any left to remove), you loose the challenge. The last person in the challenge wins 6 points."

This explanation was greeted with a bit of dismay. Even prior to learning the name of this Challenge, Kid, Lucca, Serge, and Harle had all considered the possibility that they would need all their clothing because some of it would be removed in the challenge, but they had hoped it wouldn't be this extreme. And of course, those with a concern for their own modesty, such as Lucca, Leena, Marle, and Frog, didn't like it one bit. Still, most of the players were at least curious, if not looking forward to, the results of members of the opposite sex getting wrong answers, though few of them would ever admit it.

Bekkler continued, "Those of you who have vouchers will be given in-challenge vouchers, which you may use in lieu of removing clothing. Your original vouchers will still be valid outside of the challenge.

"Since we didn't have any evictions the past two rounds, the first 3 people to forfeit or fail shall face the Eviction Challenge.

"And, as always, if you do not wish to participate, you may forfeit the challenge now, however it will cost you up to 6 points, and put you at risk for eviction. Considering that you can give up at any point you are asked to remove more than you'd like to, I'd suggest you at least give this one a try; however, the choice is up to you."

"Yeah, but everybody (besides that French guy) who's had to face it has made it..."

"I know... But I'd still have to do extra dares. Come on, I promise I won't look at anybody."

Leena replied sarcastically, "What are you going to do, keep your eyes closed the entire time?"

Serge hesitated. Here it was again -- Leena asking him to make a sacrifice for the sake of their relationship, because she couldn't stand the thought of him looking at another woman. She was right that it would be hard not to see anyone this time, but that didn't mean he was going to be doing any oogling... Why couldn't she trust him?

Also, why was it always him who had to forfeit the challenge, while she continued on with it? Did she think it was okay for her to look at other guys, when it wasn't okay for him to look at other girls? Or did she expect him to trust her not to look, when she didn't trust him to do the same...?

Leena, meanwhile, hoped desperately that his hesitation was because he didn't want to have to do extra dares. Deciding to address that, she turned to Bekkler. "There isn't any way I could do his dares for him, is there?"

Bekkler shook his head. "I'm afraid not. All dares must be performed by the player to which they are given."

"I was afraid of that." She turned back to Serge. "I..." She tried to think of something to say. Their relationship once again had very suddenly started to feel like it was on shaky ground, and she desperately searched her brain for a way to fix things.

She was just about to tell him he could stay in the challenge if he really didn't want to risk eviction, when he spoke up. "All right. I'll forfeit."

Serge nodded. "Since it's so important to you. But there's one thing-- I want you to forfeit, too."

"If you don't want me seeing other girls naked, even by accident, then I don't want you seeing other guys naked, even by accident. ...Besides, we entered the Funhouse to spend time together -- and we aren't exactly doing that if I'm waiting in the Red Room while you're busy with a Challenge."

Leena's eyes lit up. "Oh, Serge!" She grabbed him and gave him a hug. "I'd love to sit this challenge out with you."

"All right then. Your points will be adjusted accordingly, and I'll meet you in the Dare Room when the Challenge is over, to assign your Eviction dares."

Bekkler turned to the others. "Any one else wish to forfeit? Or anyone have a question about the challenge?"

Bekkler paused a moment, which gave Harle time to say, "I am 'aving a question, but it iz not about ze challenge."

He scowled. "If you must know, there was a lab accident... I really don't want to get into it."

Bekkler blinked a few times. "... Anyway, if there are no other questions, let's get this started.

They did so, and Vicks and Piette handed sheets of paper with "VOUCHER" written on them to those who had vouchers. (Frog got 2, Robo 6, Marle 1, Ayla 3, Kid 1, and Korcha 1.) Bekkler, meanwhile, floated over to Ayla, and asked if she'd like Marion or Anar (both of whom had volunteered) to write her answers down, or if he should have Vicks or Piette do it. (Wedge wasn't there, as it was his day off.)

Ayla chose Anar to be her transcriber. (Since he seemed to like her, she figured it wouldn't hurt to "flirt" with him a little, and this was a perfect opportunity.)

Crono chose a podium near the left end, and Lucca and Marle each took a podium next to him. (Marle took the one to the right, and Lucca to the left.) Frog almost took the next to the right, but Marle shooed him over to the podium on the other side of Lucca. (Lucca found this odd, but didn't think too much of it.)

Next to the right, after Marle, was Robo, followed by Ayla & Anar, then after a space, Kid, Korcha, and Harle.

Once everyone was in place, Bekkler cleared his throat. "So, you all know what to do? I'll give you the questions, and you'll write down your answers. After a minute, I'll ask you to reveal your answers, and we'll proceed from there.

"All right? Then, the first question is.... 'What does the equation "E=MC squared" stand for?'"

Meanwhile, Ayla and Anar looked at each other. "I no know," she told him quietly. "Never heard before!"

"I've heard of it before, but I don't know what it means," he admitted, even more quietly.

Lucca and Robo gave the correct answer: "Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared." Robo added a dictionary-style definition of it, while Lucca stated that it was the formula to calculate how much energy a given object was made up of.

"Lucca, Robo, you continue on to the next question without a hitch. The rest of you must now remove one article of clothing, or give up one of your in-challenge vouchers, if you with to move on."

Without further prompting, Ayla began to sensuously unwind her "scarf" from her neck and body. Anar watched appreciatively.

Bekkler nodded, and came over to collect it. Frog and Marle both also chose to use vouchers. (This brought Frog down to one voucher, and Kid and Marle to none.)

Harle, after thinking a few moments, pulled off the metal armor that she wore over her breasts. Korcha watched this with a smile (Ayla's show being over), but of course, Harle was still well covered up.

Bekkler glanced at the players. "Everyone done? All right, on to the next question! 'Name the major towns that existed in the Kingdom of Zeal.'"

Korcha and Harle had guessed, "Zeal". Crono and Marle had remembered "Enhasa," and had added on "Zeal Palace Town" for good measure. Lucca said "Enhasa, Algetty, Zeal Palace Town". Frog had remembered Enhasa, Algetty, and Kajar, but hadn't mentioned Zeal Palace itself. Robo, Kid, and ironically, Ayla, got it right, with a full list of "Enhasa, Algetty, Kajar, Zeal Palace."

A bit of groaning was heard at this point. Not only had many of them failed on something they knew more about than most people, but for Marle, and Lucca, they would now have to start removing clothing...

Frog handed in another voucher, while Korcha took off one of "his" (Leena's) socks.

Harle reached down, and pulled off her right shoe. Underneath was an extremely fluffy pink-white sock.

Marle sighed, and began taking off her bracelets, while Crono took off his bandanna, and Lucca her helmet. Crono noticed that Marle was having difficulty getting the bracelets off her left arm, as she couldn't bend her right arm. He gave her a hand with it while wondering how she had gotten them on).

Once they were done with that, Bekkler pulled out a card, and read the next question. "What is the name for a skill used by one person, in battle?"

Marle, Frog, Crono, Lucca, Robo, Ayla, and Kid all answered, "tech". Korcha incorrectly answered "element", while Harle didn't answer at all.

"Korcha, Harle, you'll each need to remove an article of clothing or pass in a voucher, to continue," Bekkler said unnecessarily.

The next question was, "Determine the area of a rectangle with sides of the length 34 and 83"

Needless to say, Lucca and Robo got it right, while Ayla was clueless. As for the others...

Frog, Crono, and Korcha's schooling hadn't included geometry, so they ware as clueless as Ayla. Harle also apparently didn't know how to do it (although that might have been part of her amnesiac act). Marle and Kid however, were able to figure it out, though Marle had to work it out on her paper.

Bekkler confirmed, "The answer is 2,822. Ayla, Frog, Crono, and Korcha -- time to give up another voucher or article."

Frog, meanwhile, took off his Hero's medal, while Crono unbuckled his belt, and took off his outer tunic. (He was still wearing a black T-shirt underneath it.)

Korcha gave up his voucher, then turned to see what Harle would remove. She grasped the long tassels that hung from her neck, and pulled the collar of her jester's hat over her face. It was only as she began to pull her hat off that Korcha realized he'd never seen her head bare before. He wondered what color her hair would be.

...As it turned out, though, she didn't have any. The bald look wasn't too bad on her, except that her head (and in fact, her entire body) looked a lot smaller without her hat or a mass of hair to make it look larger than it was.

After a moment, Kid said quietly, "Of course. She's part reptite, after all. Come to think of it, I'm surprised she even has breasts..."

Lucca adjusted her glasses. "I suppose. What I'm really waiting for, though, is Crono to take off his shirt, here."

Bekkler cleared his throat. "If you are all ready for the next question? Here it is: 'What are the names of the monarchs who ruled Guardia during the Magus War?'"

Of course, for Crono, Marle, and Lucca, the name of the Queen was an easy one. (Remembering the Kings number, on the other hand, was a little more challenging.) Robo and Frog knew both answers, no problem.

Kid also was thinking hard -- as Kid, she'd grown up in Guardia, so she had heard their names in stories about the time. She'd enjoyed the tales, too, as it had involved Big Sis and her friends...

Korcha and Harle, however, were once again facing a question out of their league.

After a minute, Bekkler asked them to reveal their answers. Korcha and Harle had both guessed, "King Guardia and Queen Guardia". The others had all got the Queen's name -- Leene -- correct, but only Frog, Robo, Marle, and Kid had been able to remember that the King was Guardia the 21st. (Lucca had come up with the 27th, while Crono had thought he was the 13th.)

"Queen Leene and King Guardia the 21st is correct. Everyone else, you know the drill by now."

Harle looked at Korcha. "I am zinking we will be wearing not very much quite soon."

"Cha got that right..." He smiled. "'Course, as long as I'm not cha first ta go, I don't mind too much."

Harle smiled, as she pulled off her gloves, to reveal dainty pale white hands with blue-green nail polish. "You like ze taking off of ze clothes, oei? Especially when it iz ze girls who are doing it?"

Perhaps because Lucca had requested it, Crono took off his bracelets and his shirt.

"No kidding," Lucca agreed, blushing underneath her latex mask, and adjusting her glasses.

Bekkler cleared his throat. "You need to take something off, too, Korcha and Lucca."

Korcha had completely forgotten. "Oh, right!" He reached back and untied his pony tail, and dropped the string with the rest of his clothes. Kid snickered a bit -- his wirey hair bounced outward in an unruly manner.

As for Lucca, she continued blushing. Not only had she been distracted by Crono's physique, but she wasn't used to being told to remove clothing. After a moment's hesitation, she untied her scarf, and took off her tunic. She was soon able to recover her composure, as her shirt and leotard were more than sufficient to protect her modesty. (In fact, she often dressed that way at home -- it was really only "in public" that she wore her helmet and outer tunic.)

"Well, on to the next question: 5. Given 'x = y + z', determine the value of 'y' if 'x = 81' and 'z = 15'."

Once she got over her intimidation, Marle discovered that it wasn't as bad as she'd thought -- all he was asking, really, was for the answer to "81 = y + 15". This was just simple algebra, so if she could remember what she'd learned from her tutors in time, she might make it...

Let's see... I remember that you can do the same thing to both sides of an equation... I guess in this situation, we'd want to subtract the 15, I think... That would make it "81 - 15 = y". Yes! Now I just need to figure out 81 - 15...

"Well, it wasn't exactly easy for me." Then she smiled. "But I guess Crono's the one who should be worried, huh? Looks like he has to take off something else!"

There was a loud "clang", as Frog took off his armor. Lucca glanced over. She stared for a moment, then adjusted her glasses. "Say, he has a pretty good chest, for a frog!"

On the other side of Crono and the girls, Ayla kicked off her other boot. "This boring. Ayla want question Ayla can answer!"

Meanwhile, Korcha quickly pulled off his right glove, and looked to see what Harle would take off.

Kid sighed. Why did it bother her that Korcha was paying more attention to Harle than her? Sure, his crush on Kid was amusing, but she didn't share his feelings. The only guy here she was interested in was Serge, but she wasn't going to push him while he was going steady with Leena. Or at least, that was what she told herself was the reason for her not pursuing him.

Actually, come to think of it, she wasn't really all that interested in Serge. She liked him, as a friend, and there was even some chemistry between them... but he just wasn't quite what she was looking for in a love interest. ...But, neither was Korcha...

Harle smiled at Korcha. "You are waiting for one of us girls to remove something interesting, no?"

She winked at him, then reached up to her neck, and grasped the edges of her shirt. In a fluid movement, she stretched out the opening, and pulled it down over her shoulders. As her chest was revealed, Korcha's eyes widened. She wasn't wearing a bra underneath it.

Korcha couldn't admire the view for very long though -- Bekkler soon launched into the next question.

"Question seven: Name as many battle-accessories as you can. This is a special bonus question-- the person who comes up with the most valid answers gets to put one article of clothing back on (or gets a voucher), and so long as you can come up with a single correct answer, you don't need to remove anything."

Robo, with his advanced memory retention, was able to list the most items. Even Harle managed to come up with a few, despite her "amnesia".

Even Frog and Ayla had heard of the fall of Guardia and the rise of Porre, so this time the answer was almost unanimous.

Kid gave Harle a strange look, and Korcha stared. "You didn't know that Porre ruled cha world?"

Kid commented, "Yer devotion to yer dares is admirable, but if ya keep this up yer gonna be facin' eviction..."

"Do not worry, Mademoiselle Kid -- ze eviction challenge iz no threat to moi," she said confidently, as she removed her left sock.

Crono, Robo, and Kid remembered that it was the Spectra Swallow; everybody else got it wrong. (Marle called it the "Prism Swallow", and Lucca called it the "Spectrum Blade". Ayla, Korcha, and Harle couldn't even come that close.)

Harle pulled off her other sock, while Korcha added his last glove to his pile of clothes.

Marle took off her hair-band. As her hair spilled loose, Crono commented, "You look good with your hair down."

"...You think...?" Marle gave an astonished reply, shocked that it had impressed Crono enough to get him to speak. Maybe her chances of getting his attention when in her Naga-ette costume weren't as bad as she'd thought...

Lucca sighed. "Well, guess I might as well keep going..." She pulled off her right boot.

"Oh! ...Okay." He'd actually hoped she'd keep saving them, but he decided not to argue with her.

Once Ayla had handed in the voucher, Bekkler continued on to the next question. "What sort of weapon can you steal from a Nu?"

When Bekkler asked them to reveal their answers, only Crono and Ayla had the correct answer -- a mop. (It hadn't struck the others the way it had Crono and Ayla -- a lot of the stuff Ayla charmed from enemies was relatively useless, though this had to be the most useless of them all. Even Robo had deleted the information to save memory space.)

Robo, rather than using one of his many vouchers, took this opportunity to remove Kid's boot from his exhaust pipe.

Frog pulled off his cape. "Methinks this challenge is to get quite undignified soon..." he commented.

Marle carefully took off her pendant, and placed it on the floor with her hair band and bracelets. "Yeah, but most of us still have a few things we can take off without it getting embarrassing."

"Thank goodness for that," Lucca said, as she pulled off her left boot, leaving her in stocking feet. "And I think we're only a few questions away from finding out who the third person to face eviction this round is," she commented, glancing over at the other side of the stage, where Korcha was taking off his vest, and Harle her pants.

Seeing Korcha and Harle in their underwear, Kid turned away in disgust. "They're certainly two of a kind!" She used a bit more force than necessary kicking off her boot.

"The next question is another bonus question: Identify Pi to as many digits as you can in the allotted time. The winner gets to put back on an article of clothing. No penalty for failure."

It was no contest -- most of the players didn't even know where to start. Marle and Kid remembered "3.14", but that was it. Only Lucca and Robo could actually list any further digits, and Robo was able to do it far faster and further than Lucca.

"Next question: What is the name of the mountain range at the northern edge of the Zenan continent?"

Frog and Robo recalled that it was the Denadoro mountains; the others couldn't remember (or hadn't known in the first place).

As she knelt down to unbuckle her right sandal, Marle said to Lucca, who was taking off her right sock, "Guess it's barefoot time, huh?"

Korcha watched Harle anxiously. Would she take off her underwear? He was hoping she wouldn't, for practical reasons – if she forefeited now, she would be the thrird one up for eviction, and he'd be safe.

Unfortunatly for him, Harle had no absolutly no sense of modesty. With a flourish Korcha would have enjoyed under other circumstances, Harle slid her underwear off.

Korcha looked up, blushing furiously, and covered his crotch. "Forfeit," he said. He wasn't normally a very modest person, but even he had his limits...

"Very well then. You may leave the podium, and put your clothes back on. After the challenge is over, we'll meet in the Dare Room."

He gathered his clothes, and walked away from the podiums. He sat down on the floor close enough to continue to observe the going's on, and began to put his clothes back on.

At this point, Frog wore his pants, boots, and gloves; Lucca wore her shirt, leotard shorts, and her left sock; Crono wore his pants, and socks; Marle her shirt, pants, and left sandal, Robo still wore everything but Kid's boot, and had 6 vouchers; Ayla wore her left cuff, her bra, and her loincloth, and had 2 vouchers; and Kid wore everything but her boots.

"Shall we continue?" Bekkler asked. "Your next question is: 'Who were the greatest scientific minds of the Kingdom of Zeal?'"

Ayla remembered Melchior easily enough -- she'd met him and role-played as him. She wasn't so sure who the other minds might be.

Crono, Lucca, Frog, Kid, and Robo all answered correctly: "Belthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar." Marle forgot Gaspar, while Harle had no clue.

Bekkler told them, "Ayla, Marle, you must each remove an article or give up a voucher. Harle, I'm afraid you're out of the game."

"If I did not have amnesia, I would have won. Howevair, I am not facing ze eviction, so I am happy." She began putting her clothes back on, but not in a particularly hurried fashion.

Marle unbuckled her left sandal, leaving her barefoot, while Ayla used another voucher (bringing her down to one).

Lucca and Robo did it in their heads. Marle and Kid had to use paper. Crono guessed 1,903, while Frog couldn't work it out in time. Ayla knew better than to even attempt it.

Soon Bekkler asked for them to reveal their answers. After looking them over, he told them, "The answer is 1,897. Crono, Frog, and Ayla, you'll need to remove clothing or vouchers."

Frog sighed and pulled off his left glove, while Crono began to take off his right sock. He stopped in the middle though, when Korcha gasped. Those who hadn't already been paying attention to Ayla now turned to Korcha, whose gaze was on Ayla -- thus directing their gaze her way as well. To everyone's surprise (though not necessarily all that big of a surprise to those that knew her well), she had chosen to take off her loincloth!

Noticing their surprise, she shrugged and explained, "Everyone start at top, work down. Ayla thought make things interesting, do different."

Lucca shook her head. "It figures. I'm just glad Leena and Serge aren't here -- Leena would flip!"

As soon as Crono had finished, Bekkler asked, "What body of water in El Nido is known by two names, and what are those names?"

Out of those remaining in the Challenge, only Kid knew Bekkler was referring to the "Sea of Eden / Dead Sea".

Robo and Ayla used vouchers, leaving Ayla with none, and Robo with 5. Frog removed his right glove, while Lucca and Crono removed their left socks.

Lucca adjusted her glasses. "We're really getting down there now. What do you think, Marle, Crono? Should we stop here (the next time we get one wrong)?"

Marle said, "Aww, that's no fun! ...Although, the idea of taking off any more clothing..." She began to blush. "...Well, why don't we just see how it goes."

The next question was, "Given x = y - z, determine the value of y if x = 27 and z = 12."

"More algebra, huh?" Marle asked uneasily. For once, she wished she'd paid a bit more attention to her math tutor...

Marle, Lucca, Kid, and Robo answered, correctly, 39. Crono, Frog, and Ayla were once again clueless.

"This silly," Ayla complained. "Ayla no can win!" She scowled. "But, Ayla never give up!" She pulled off her top.

Bekkler, in the announcer tradition of stating the obvious, said, "The challenge is now down to Marle, Lucca, Frog, Robo, Ayla, and Kid. Shall we continue?"

As Crono went to join Korcha and Harle watching from the sidelines, Bekkler said, "Name the main human villages 65 million years ago."

Ayla and Robo answered, "Ioka and Lauraba." Lucca guessed "Ioka and Laura," and Marle and Frog also came up with close but incorrect answers. Kid was clueless.

Frog removed his other boot. Kid took off her vest. Marle looked down at her clothes, blushing. Finally, she said, "No, I can't do it." She looked up at Bekkler and made it official. "I forfeit."

Bekkler nodded. He started reading the next question even as she crouched down to get her clothing.

Lucca and Robo answered, and Frog guessed correctly, "Mystics". Kid guessed incorrectly "Demi-Humans", while Ayla went with the unimaginative "People of Medina."

"...Oh, right. I suppose it would be interesting to see whether she can win. ...But I don't want to catch you staring at Ayla! She's taken, you know!"

"Next Question;" Bekkler continued, "Which types of magic cancel each other out?"

Ayla knew she couldn't get this one right, and thus that she was done. Still, she decided to take a wild guess. She didn't know much about magic, but she did know (from watching her friends and enemies) that the types of magic included fire and water. She had Anar write those down.

Robo remembered the correct answer from the previous trivia challenge. Kid knew the answer already. But Frog and Lucca couldn't remember so well. Lucca put down "Red & Blue, Black & White", but couldn't remember the other colors. Frog guessed, "Lightning & Shadow, Fire & Water, Earth & Air".

"The answer is Black & White, Red & Blue, and Yellow and Green. We also would have accepted 'Light and Shadow, Fire and Water, Lightning and Earth', but none of you got that. Frog, Lucca -- time to take more off. Ayla -- you're out."

Ayla sighed. She picked up her clothes, and headed over to where the others were watching everything. Marle covered Crono's eyes until Ayla had sat down.

Bekkler nodded. "And you, Lucca?" he asked, as she had not yet taken anything off.

She adjusted her glasses. "Well..." She really didn't want to take anything more off... but she had gotten into this trivia game now, and wanted to see who would win -- her, Robo, or Kid. Robo had a major advantage, as had been already shown, but he wasn't perfect. If she stayed in the game a bit longer, maybe she could at least figure out if she had a chance...

Marle's jaw dropped. After a moment or two, she managed to comment, "I can't believe she had it in her to do that!" She was wearing a conservative bra under the shirt, but still...

"Ready for your next question? It's another bonus question. 'Name as many magic spells as you can.' So long as you can name at least one, you don't have to remove anything. The winner can put something back on."

Lucca and Kid both easily listed off their own spells, as well as some of the spells of their companions. Robo, of course, had a far longer list of virtually every spell Crono's party possessed, as well as that of many of the enemies they'd faced.

Lucca sighed, and leaned on her podium. "Who am I kidding? Robo has this one in the bag."

"Next question. This one is multiple choice. 'Scientists believe the continents of Guardia and Medina are: A-- sinking; B-- rising; C-- moving towards each other; or D-- moving apart.'"

Having seen both the past and future, Lucca and Robo both knew that the two continents in question were in fact moving closer together over time. Kid, unfortunately, was only familiar with the Dark Ages and the Present, and didn't follow modern science. She guessed "moving apart", as she knew the continents had been moving apart in the Dark Ages.

She shook her head in annoyance, then bent down and undid the wrappings from around her left foot. Much like Lucca, she knew that her being able to beat Robo was unlikely, but she was too stubborn to give up when she still had clothing she didn't mind removing.

"Moving right along, 'What is the name of the Kingdom that ruled the world 12 thousand years ago?'"

Lucca almost said 400 years ago, then remembered at the last minute that they were 20 years in the future, and changed it to 420 years ago.

Lucca and Robo answered, "Truce, Medina, Porre, Choras, Termina." Kid answered, "Truce, Porre, Termina, Guldove, Arni, Marbule." With one more answer than the other two, Kid got to put her foot wrappings back on.

"Who is the most beloved musician in the world?" Robo and Kid remembered that it was Nikki. Lucca didn't.

"Um..." She thought about it a moment, before answering, "No. There's not much of a chance of my beating Robo, so it would really be pointless."

Lucca pulled her shirt back on, then took her clothes over to the others. "Guess we might as well stay and see how long Kid lasts, huh?"

Robo remembered that it was "Catalack, G.I. Jogger, the Green Ambler, and the Steel Runner." Kid could only remember, "the Jogger, the Ambler, and the Runner."

"What retired wrestler currently lives in Termina?" Kid answered "Greco", correctly; while Robo was unable to answer, and took Kid's boot off again.

"What are the negative conditions that can affect a person during battle?" Robo answered "Sleep, Chaos, Slow, Lock, Poison, Blind, Stop." Kid answered "Slow, Sprain, Frozen, Flu, Burnt, Confused, Sleep, Cursed, Dizzy, Fatigued."

As both lists were incomplete, Kid removed the wrappings from her right foot, and Robo gave up a voucher.

Noticing that Kid didn't seem too happy with the way things were going, Korcha called out, "Go, Kid! You can beat that tin-can!"

Marle joined in, shouting, "Go..." before realizing she didn't know who to root for. "...Er, both of you!" She turned to Lucca, and said quietly yet forcefully, "Well, cheer Robo on!"

"What...? Um..." In a voice not much louder than normal, she said, "Good luck, Robo."

Bekkler cleared his throat, and continued. "What is the mathematical notation for the Pythagorean Theorem?"

Robo answered correctly with "c squared = a squared + b squared." Kid removed her hair ribbons and her pendant.

"What land-mass has endured unchanged for the longest amount of time?" Both answered correctly, "the Island of the Sun Keep".

Robo, being unfamiliar with human pastimes, could only come up with a few: "Catch, Fetch," (he'd seen a boy playing fetch with his dog using a ball, once), and "Blitzball." Kid wasn't exactly a sports fanatic in either of her incarnations, but she was able to come up with "Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Catch, Nu Ball, Sun Ball, and Tennis."

She put her pendant back on, but didn't bother tying her ribbons back into her hair.

"What is 438 divided by 9?" Kid got 48 with a remainder of 6; Robo got 48.66, with the six endlessly repeating. Both were counted as correct.

“Under what circumstances would you not want to use the most powerful weapon or piece of armor that you can?” Both mentioned that some weapons and armor have special attributes which make them useful against certain types of enemies; and that some items can cause the user to behave uncontrollably, going berserk or getting confused.

“What is the main disadvantage to a "instant death" or "banishment" spell?” Both of them pointed out that these spells often fail to work.

Robo answered: “299,792,458 meters per second (approximately 186,282.4 miles per second).” Kid, however, had only even heard of it from Lucca as a kid, and certainly couldn't remember it.

Kid hesitated. She glanced over at the “audience”. Finally, she said, “Aw, what the hell. It's not like everyone hasn't seen me without my skirt already.” She undid her skirt, and tossed it onto the rest of her clothes.

Marle put her hand to her forehead. “I hope she doesn't plan on going all the way. That would make three girls who took everything off, when none of the boys did. It's unfair enough as it is.”

And so, the contest continued. “Who invented Fireworks?” Bekkler asked. The answer: “Taban”.

“Who caught the worlds largest recorded fish?” Neither of them knew the answer to this one.

“Well, that's enough. Wining this Challenge isn't important enough to be worth taking anything else off.”

As Kid put her clothes back on, Bekkler said, “Korcha, you should join Leena and Serge at the Dare Wheel, so the three of you can choose your Rescuers, and spin for their services. The rest of you may watch, if you like, but other than that, should get back into any costumes you're supposed to wear.”

Author's Note: Normally, I'd end the Episode here, for length reasons; but since I'm breaking the Episodes up into chapters now, I'll end it after the Eviction Challenge.

Speaking of which, I haven't written that yet. Hopefully, I can get it written without another huge break...

Oh, and regarding the ball games mentioned above, Nu ball and Sun Ball I came up with on the spur of the moment. Nu ball would be what the monsters at the entrance to Truce Canyon were playing; while Sun ball is like the Mayan ball game (sort of like a combination of soccer and volleyball – you try to keep the ball off the ground without using your arms and hands) only no one gets killed. As for Blitzball, bonus points to anyone who knows where I got that one from!