Episode 14: The Finale

Episode 14: The Finale
Days 26-29

The final three, still awestruck by Bowser's sudden departure, sit quietly at dinner. The meal is smaller than normal, simply because there is much less left in the house by this point.

"So....what do we do now?" asks Fox, finally.

Yoshi sets down a fork.

"About what?" he asks.

"You know. Falcon was going to nominate and we were going to vote. Does he nominate one of us to take to the final two? Or do we have a challenge still?"

"I'd think a challenge; it was his unfortunate luck that Bowser left by himsef," replies Yoshi, wryly, as he picks up his fork and continues eating.

"I think he'll get to select who comes with him to the Final Two," responds Fox, rather bluntly. "It's only fair."

"Who's ready for dessert?" asks Captain Falcon, after a silent moment of glares between Fox and Yoshi.

**********

Around noon on the 27th day, Toad enters the house. Fox, Yoshi, and Captain Falcon have been eagerly awaiting his return.

"Funny...wasn't there some other guy in here last time I saw you?" Toad asks, sarcastically.

"What do we do now?" asks Yoshi, quickly.

"About what?"

"Voting!" answers Fox. "Will Captain Falcon just choose who is the other player in the Final Two, or will we have another challenge?"

"We'll get to that in a minute. But first, I gotta ask Falcon here a few questions."

"Oh...alright," thinks Captain Falcon, after a pause.

"First of all, would you have nominated Bowser?"

"Yes, quite likely," answers Captain Falcon, rubbing his chin.

"Would he have been evicted?"

"....um.....possibly...."

"Who was the other person you were going to nominate?" presses Toad.

There's a dramatic pause before Captain Falcon finally fumbles, "Uh, either Yoshi or Fox, probably."

Toad's eyes fall.

"...nevermind. Anyways, onto today's challenge."

"WHAT?! We're still having a challenge?" blurts Fox, panicking.

"Well, it was Captain Falcon's bad fortune to happen to not be responsible for evicting Bowser from the house," replies Toad, sarcastically. "So we're having another challenge to determine who will be in the final two, and it's anybody's game!"

Fox glowers, his plans ruined. Yoshi, however, does not seem pleased, either. Captain Falcon keeps his normal look: one of confusion.

"Today's challenge, and our last, I might add, is the most fitting we've had; a little game to signify the end of this larger, more important game."

Glances shift between the residents; the challenge sounds interesting.

"I'm sure you've played Super Mario Brothers before for NES," begins Toad.

"Who hasn't?" asks Yoshi.

"Actually, I only played for fun," replies Captain Falcon, seriously.

"As everyone knows, the end of each level finishes with Mario leaping up and grabbing the very top of the flag pole, then sliding down on the flag to officially finish the level. We are going to recreate this event to determine who "beats the level" and who gets a Game Over."

The small group exchange glances again.

"In this final challenge, each one of you must BUILD a flag pole from the ground up using these poorly-balanced cylyndrical blocks. Your tower MUST be six feet high, or it's not go! I will personally measure your tower to let you know if you can move on to the next leg."

"Which is...?" asks Fox.

Toad smiles.

"Destroying everyone else's," he answers.

"COOL!" cries Yoshi, excited.

"Hmm...sounds dangerous," muses Captain Falcon, drawing his gun suddenly.

"GUN!" shouts Toad, and he, Fox, and Yoshi drop to the floor immediately as Captain Falcon spins it on a finger.

"Luckily, I'm prepared," finishes Falcon, casually, as the other three peer at him from on the ground.

"You cannot use any physical attacks against other flagpoles," utters Toad, crawling off of the ground and brushing himself off. "However, you can blow air at the rival towers to knock them over as quickly as possible."

"We're going to knock over these flag poles by blowing on them?" grumbles Fox, cocking an eye brow in suspicion.

"YES, and believe me, they WILL FALL," replies Toad, with a smirk. "They're not NEARLY as stable as you think they are.

"And when the tower falls?" asks Captain Falcon, and the other three know exactly why he's asking.

"You lose. That's it."

"Sounds simple enough," thinks the Captain, aloud.

"Each of you have a stack of building blocks before you. Everything is in place. Good luck, and the last one with a tower still standing, wins. On your mark...get set....GO!"

The threesome begin building like mad. Yoshi places a second block...and it wobbles and falls immediately.

"What the-"

"I warned you! Those blocks are terrible for stacking!" cries Toad, as the other two also begin to experience the crazed wobbling of their own towers.

"These things are horrible!" shouts Fox, as his best tower yet--three blocks high--comes crashing down as he tries to add a fourth.

"The key is taking it slow," answers back Captain Falcon, who is carefully stacking a higher and higher tower with relative ease.

"Huh.....what the heck?"

Fox and Yoshi stop, awestruck, as Captain Falcon moves slowly with great care, and his tower builds higher and higher. It seems Captain Falcon is a flagpole-building machine, and his every move is precisely accurate and painfully secure.

"Captain Falcon can do no wrong!" shouts Toad, as Falcon grabs his last block and tenderly places it on the very top of his tower. "CAPTAIN FALCON, YOU CAN BEGIN YOUR ATTACK!"

Yoshi and Fox gulp and begin trying desperately to build as Captain Falcon looks back and forth, deciding where to aim his attack.

"Slow...slow!" Yoshi thinks, carefully placing every block exactly.

Captain Falcon expels a puff of air, and Yoshi's latest block tumbles back to the ground, making his tower sway.

"Yoshi, you're still in, but if you take another hit, you might not be!" warns Toad, as Yoshi grabs the block and sets it back up again, moving a tad more quickly to try to finish his flagpole before it can be destroyed.

"Fox has finished his flagpole!" cries Toad, as Fox sets his final piece in place, doing so with great care. "Fox and Captain Falcon are attacking!"

Yoshi places his final piece on top, and Fox immediately blows it and half of Yoshi's tower back down.

"Yoshi, you had your final piece--you can begin attacking!" cries Toad, and Yoshi sucks up a giant mouthful of air, bombarding Fox's flagpole suddenly with the onslaught of wind. Fox's tower crumbles badly, but the bottom two blocks remain intact.

"Fox takes a MIGHTY blow!" exclaims Toad, as Fox grabs his thick vest, pulling it off and using it to blow a monstrous typhoon of air back at Yoshi.

Yoshi's tower falls, and he gives a final look at Fox and Captain Falcon, as his blocks tumble to the ground. Then he sits down quietly.

"YOSHI IS OUT!" bellows Toad. "IT'S DOWN TO FALCON AND FOX--ONE OF THEM WILL BE IN THE FINAL TWO, AND HAVE A 50% SHOT AT WINNING NINTENDO BIG BROTHER!"

Captain Falcon tries to blow down Fox's tower, but with so few blocks remaining, his tower has become nearly impossible to hit, let alone knock over. Fox, however, is having an equal amount of troubles with Falcon's flagpole.

"What the-" blurts Fox, as his latest big breath collids with Falcon's flagpole...and leaves it untouched. "That should've fallen!"

"The key is taking it slow," reminds Captain Falcon, taking another deep breath for an attack of his own.

"I'll give you slow!" snarles Fox, making a huge wave of wind with his vest.

The air VISIBLY smashes against Falcon's tower...but it remains as sturdy as a rock, as if it has been nailed together, cemented down, and chained to the floor. It appears to be completely unmovable, actually.

"I will prevail!" thinks Captain Falcon, as he lets out a small, accurate breath.

Fox's final two blocks sway slightly...and begin to tip.

"He's going-"

They tip further.

"-to-"

In horror, Fox watches his blocks hit the ground softly.

"-WIN! CAPTAIN FALCON WINS! AGAIN!" roars Toad, as Fox steams. "AND WITH HIS TOWER COMPLETE! That's winning with style, Captain Falcon!"

As soon as Toad finishes, however, Captain Falcon's entire tower suddenly crumbles to the ground everywhere.

"Oh, sure, NOW it falls!" growls Fox, to himself.

"Captain Falcon, you have the honor of being the final Head of the House Hold, the first of the Final Two, and the last person to wear these," announces Toad, handing Captain Falcon the Power Bracelets. "Tomorrow, you'll make the final eviction, and simultaneously decide who your rival will be for the final million-dollar prize. I'll see you then."

**********

Voting time comes at noon the 28th day, and nobody has spoken a word about the voting at hand, or the final day. Captain Falcon stands.

"Uh...this is kind of new for me, but it looks like I've only gotta do it once, I guess," he stumbles, looking for words. "I don't *think* I need any reasons for nominating you two....do I?"

"Probably not," answers Yoshi.

"But you can if you want, it's all good," grins Fox.

"Alright, well, I guess I'll go vote," blurts Captain Falcon, after a moment's pause.

Yoshi and Fox look straight forwards, hoping the voting will end finally, and the surprise will be over. Neither want to be in for any sort of shock, and both suspect it's their turn to go.

"I guess it's been nice playing with you, man," says Fox, at last, not looking to the side at Yoshi.

Yoshi doesn't say anything, and Fox doesn't bother saying more.

Captain Falcon returns, looking a little pale. He wipes the sweat from his brow, and Toad arrives very quickly with the vote.

"Take long enough tallying that sucker?" asks Fox, and Toad glares. "I was kidding! Just trying to break some tension here..."

"There is a vote in this jar for the last person to be evicted from Luigi's Mansion. I will not read the vote; I will only give the name of the person who has joined Captian Falcon in the final two."

Toad plucks the vote from the box and opens it slowly, facing himself. He reads it. Then lowers the vote, and carefully places it back in the jar. Yoshi closes his eyes, and Fox stops breathing. He looks towards the door, preparing to walk to it.

"Yoshi....you will be staying one more night here in Luigi's Mansion with the company of Captain Falcon."

**********

"He picked me. Captain Falcon chose me over Fox to come to the Final Two with him. Fox is GONE. For GOOD."

Yoshi smiles at the Camera, from inside the Camera Room; it's just before dinner.

"I don't know why I'm acting surprised; I made a deal with Captain Falcon EARLY in the game, actually; we agreed that we would vote our seperate ways as needed, but I'd do my best to keep him around, and he'd do the same for me, and--if by some chance--we made it to the end, we'd pick each other to tag along. And, as the game has progressed, we've met secretly and reassured each other. I shouldn't have had any doubts all this time, since Falcon's a man of his word...to me, anyways."

**********

"I played Fox like a fiddle. He was pretty confident, I think," laughs Captain Falcon, over dinner. "I just kept saying, 'relaxe, I've got it all under control'. Then again, I don't think he really trusted me, because he figured I'd end up losing somehow or forget our deal."

"Hey, you really picked up your game in the last few days," returns Yoshi, cheerfully.

The two are having steak as a final meal--the exact thing they first had for a meal in Luigi's Mansion. It also happens to be the last food left in the house.

"So what do you think happens tomorrow, then?" asks Yoshi, excitedly.

"I'm not sure," answers Captain Falcon, cutting his steak. "Probably we meet around noon."

"In the parlor, like for voting," adds Yoshi.

"Then...um...Toad comes?" blurts Captain Falcon, shrugging.

"Probably," responds Yoshi, but neither knows what happens next.

"Maybe we'll have a challenge to decide who wins," thinks Captain Falcon, aloud.

"It's possible. Or maybe the past evicted players return to vote, like in Survivor," notes Yoshi.

"I guess we'll have to wait and find out," finishes Falcon, taking a big bite.

**********

Noontime comes, and Captain Falcon and Yoshi nervously await. As the clock chimes ring, Toad enters the house through the front door. They are both worried and relieved to see him.

"Well...have a nice night to yourselves, guys?" asks Toad, pleased.

"We've had a lot of fun, but Captain Falcon and I haven't had a chance to really talk at all during the entire game because neither of us wanted to let anyone know that we were secretly-"

Yoshi's head snaps to the right, his eyes wide. Every player throughout the game has returned, following Toad in the door. They have all been listening as they file in quietly. His mind skips for a moment, then he nervously finishes.

"-in an alliance..."

"Surprised?" smiles Toad, as Fox brings up the rear, and the door closes. "Time to face the music--or, better, the players you've helped evict over the past 29 days!"

"Oh, gosh," blurts Captain Falcon, looking at the sea of familiar faces.

"And what's better: they're going to decide which of you are the true winner of Nintendo Big Brother," grins Toad. "It's simple. Each player will take a turn to speak; they can ask a short question, or just give you a statement. They may have already chosen who they'll vote to evict, or they may be deciding that as they go up. They can tell you if they're going to vote for you or not, as they see fit. They have NOT, however, been allowed to discuss their votes, and will not be given the chance. With that, I'd like to call up the first evicted player: Daisy."

Daisy stands and walks to the front of the room, where she faces Yoshi and Captain Falcon.

"Alright, congratulations," she says, "for being the last two. Being the first one evicted, I never really got to know ANYONE very well..."

She's definately hinting at something, but the few people that can sense it, brush it off.

"So, I'd like to say that you're both pretty nice people."

"Thank you," says Yoshi.

"You're very kind as well," returns Captain Falcon, bowing his head a little to her.

Daisy blushes, and her eyes are glued to Captain Falcon. There's a long moment of silence, then Toad bumps into her "by accident".

"Oof!" she peeps, jumping and widening her smile. "Sorry about that."

"That's alright. Next up!"

Daisy returns to her seat, and Candy takes to the front of the room.

"Now, it's pretty gnarly that you two made it this far," begins Candy, in her messy lingo. "But I gotta ask, what do you think is the most important style in this game?"

"Uh, say what?" asks Yoshi, confused.

"Style! You know, dude, like--how you play the game?"

"I think she means "trait" or "attribute"," explains Toad.

"Oh," blurts Yoshi, feeling a little silly. "I'd probably say honesty. I'm a stickler for being honest--I hate lies, I had being lied to, and I hate telling them."

He pauses, debating his next statement.

"That said, I have gotten here because of lies," he says, and a few murmurs go around.

"Falco?" asks Candy.

"My name is Falcon," explains the Captain. "Falco didn't make it into the game, I believe."

"What's your style, man?"

"I dunno...staying laid back and being cool?" he stumbles, with difficulty. "You know, not getting all up-tight about stuff."

"Tubular," replies Candy, slinking back to her seat with a final glance.

"Next up is Mario," announces Toad, as Mario takes to the front of the room.

"Alright, congratulations," begins Mario, "but I definately feel like I got the short end of the stick in this game. I'm a little irked still, actually. I can't believe that even with Link, Yoshi, and someone with the TRIFORCE OF WISDOM-"

He shoots a sour glare at Zelda.

"-, we STILL weren't smart enough to realize Fox was playing us all. I admit to being somewhat jealous of Yoshi; he was somehow lucky enough to make it all the way to the end, while odds were SO badly against me, I was third out of the game!"

A few eyes roll, but none are Yoshi's.

"To that end, however, my vote is going AGAINST Falcon," concludes Mario. "Yoshi and I are friends, and it'll stay that way. But Captain Falcon--you supported the enemy, and you SHOULD HAVE come and made an alliance with us, not hid in the shadows!"

"Perhaps," concedes Falcon, as Mario returns to his seat.

"Wrinkly, please stand and move to the front of the room," says Toad, as Wrinkly gets up.

"Well," she says, as she stands before them. "I don't know if either of you were responsible for voting me out. It doesn't matter. In fact, this whole GAME doesn't matter! Because, in the end, we're all winners."

She beams.

"I just want whichever of you wins to remember," she finishes, "that it's all about the heart. What you love, what you feel, and what you believe is all that matters. Focus on that, and your life will be much better. Above all, remember your friends, and do good to your enemies."

She smiles warmly.

"I love you both, boys--make me proud!"

She returns to her seat, and Birdo takes to the front of the room. She immediately blows a kiss at Yoshi, and he returns it.

"Awww...how precious," sneers Bowser.

"I thought you left already!" growls Yoshi.

"I'm like bad gas--you can't get rid of me!" roars Bowser, leering.

"Congratulations, you two," says Birdo, softly. "There's nothing to say, really. Captain Falcon, you're a very nice person, and I want you to know that if most anyone else were in the seat next to you, my vote would be for you. But, Yoshi and I are in love, and that is more important than anything in this game."

"I understand," smiles Captain Falcon, not at all upset.

"Go get 'em, Honey Buns," smiles Birdo, giving a wave at Yoshi, and he smiles as she returns to her seat.

Peach walks to the front of the room.

"Um, hi," she says, hardly able to remember that Yoshi is sitting beside her dream boyfriend...or, at least, one of them. "Falcon...you look...strong today..."

"Ha! Maybe working out in the gym has helped," he muses, sizing up his arms for himself.

"And Yoshi...you don't look as strong," bumbles Peach, trying to think of something to say to him. "Oh! I'm sorry...I didn't mean to-"

"That's alright," sighs Yoshi, glumly.

Peach returns to her seat, and Impa stands awkwardly.

"HI," she states, rigidly.

"Hey," squirms Yoshi.

"Yo," blurts Captain Falcon.

Both sit uneasily.

"I WAS...EVICTED. LIKE DEAD!" she droans, in a half-dramatic voice. "BUT I CAME BACK...FROM LIKE DEAD!"

"No kidding," mutters the hushed voice of Fox.

"Chop....chop....CHOP!" she utters, looking off in a faraway place, somewhere beyond the realm of sanity. "CHOPPP!"

"THANK YOU, IMPA!" interupts Toad, pulling her back to her seat, where she sits quietly. "Samus, could you give a few words?"

Samus walks to the front of the room and stands casually; she definately looks completely cool, and in no way anxious.

"Hey, never would've gussed who'd be here that I'd get to vote for," she muses, looking between the two. "Little surprises all the time... Look at the two of you! Gosh, looking at everyone outside this place on the first day...who would've thought it... Anyways, I was robbed out of the game by a clever little lie spread by Fox, another victim of the mistrust of my allies. But, I have no reason to be bitter; I'm perfectly happy, actually, and I think you two are pretty deserving. So, good luck; my vote is already made, actually."

She sits again, and Donkey Kong moves to the front.

"Well, I played right into another of Fox's traps--I'm glad he's not up here," scowls Donkey Kong, glaring at Fox. "However, both of you had a hand in having me taken down, I think. So, I'd like to ask each of you a question: do you have any regrets about the way you played this game?"

"Well," begins Yoshi, uncomfortable with the question, "yes. Yes, I do. First of all, I wish I had not put so much trust into people that were not trustworthy. Second of all, I wish I hadn't been so blunt; perhaps a little kinder. And third, I wish I hadn't had to rely on Captain Falcon to make it this far."

"My only regret is not varying my voting stratagey more," replies Captain Falcon. "I tended to vote in a pretty predictable, solid way; I wish I had voted a different way on a few occaisions, to see who might've made it this far."

"Like who are you thinking?" asks Donkey Kong, pressingly.

"I don't know!" glowers Captain Falcon, sounding annoyed for the first time in the game...and not at all like he normally does.

"DK, your time is over. Link, please stand."

"Greetings," begins Link, formally, as he strides to the front. "I'm proud of you--as near as I can tell, you've both played honestly, fairly, and HARD. You can't ask for more than that. I just want you both to know that even if most people here don't appreciate how hard you work, I do. I saw you both put some effort into this game, and you both played well. Congratulations."

Link steps away, and Ganondorf steps up.

"Ha...what a couple of losers," he sneers, getting the response he was hoping for--glares. "Just kidding, just kidding! Geez... Anyways, Yoshi played this game pretty text-book; luck and connections. Captain Falcon, on the other hand, had quite the amazing game that EVERYONE, I believe, was taken by--and that includes myself and Fatso!"

"Game?" asks Yoshi, confused.

"Yes, an ACT."

Ganondorf waits, with a large grin.

"Oh, come on!" he laughs, after a long silence. "You didn't believe his "bad luck" streak and all his "confusion", did you? Ha! See? EVERYONE fell for it!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," replies Captain Falcon, bewildered.

"My case is made," replies Ganondorf, leering. "The good Captain, as many of you have called him, has actually been PLAYING the role for the entire game; in the background, he's been making plans, taking mental notes, and RUNNING the game from every possible angle! He's the Ace-in-the-hole that nobody's been watching, keeping tabs on, or bewaring of. And look at that...he's in the Final Two! Brilliant!"

Ganondorf grins one last time, then sits down. Krystal stands instead.

"Well...that was interesting," she mumbles, looking at Captain Falcon a little oddly. "Um...and it's got me thinking, too. I was going to simply congratulate you both, but, Captain Falcon, I'm now a bit curious...is what Ganondorf is saying all true?"

A harsh silence follows. Captain Falcon looks around, then lowers his head.

"Some of it," he responds, half with a smile. "When the first day came, I knew that tensions were building and the strong were being targeted just as much as the weak...but were being reserved to be kicked off later in the game. So I had to make myself a cover. My cover was to act as the bumbling F-Zero pilot, who wasn't much into thinking of the game and not one for alliances, plotlines, and agreements. I worked out some tweaks, like my voting stratagey, but when the challenges came, I was thrown for a loop. If I totally acted incompetent, nobody would believe my act. However, if I worked hard, then I would become a target. So, I found something in the middle: misfortune. I found ways in every challenge to kill my chances of winning, yet not appear to be acting OR a threat. Then, a few challenges ago, I decided that I was close enough to the end to drop the act and start working to win. That was the Heavy Lifting challenge, where we had weights on ropes. However, mine broke, so my bad luck act continued; I'm most fortunate that I wasn't voted off then, because I feared a few people may have seen through my act when I started winning."

Krystal is in as much shock as everyone else, and can only gape at Captain Falcon as if he has two heads. He blushes.

"I feel kind of dumb now, in case you were going to ask that, too," he mumbles.

"BRILLIANT!" cries Ganondorf, and Link slaps him.

"Next up is Zelda," says Toad, as Krystal and Zelda change spots.

"Well, congratulations to both of you," begins Zelda. "Falcon, I'm honestly impressed; you played a tremendous game, and found a winning stratagey for sure! I'm still in shock at just how smart you actually are! But, I need to clear some things up for Yoshi."

Yoshi winces, knowing that he was responsible in her being voted off.

"Yoshi, I know you gave up on our alliance when I started getting romantic with Fox; you figured I had fallen for him somehow, and that's okay; it's perfectly understandable. In fact, I was pleased, because it meant I was doing a good job of it."

"Of what?" blurts Yoshi, surprised.

"Of luring Fox into thinking I was in love with him. I was hoping to get him to change targets by leading him to believe that we were set on going to the end with him. Perhaps if I had succeeded, Captain Falcon wouldn't be over there right now. However, I failed, partially because I never clued you in--I did SUCH a good job of acting like "The Bimbo" (aka Peach), I totally forgot to tell you what I was doing, and you ended up voting me off!"

"Hey! I am NOT a bimbo!" protests Peach.

"Anyways, I don't hold it against you, and I'm also sure that it's helped get you here. So, best of luck, because I'm rooting for you!"

Zelda sits back down, and Bowser stands.

"Bad gas, eh?" grins Yoshi, raising an eyebrow.

"Just as persistant!" sneers Bowser. "But, you know, I have no desire AT ALL to stand up here and say nice stuff about you guys; I'd MUCH rather say how horrible you are, so that's just what I'll do!"

He turns to Captain Falcon.

"You! Lanky mask-faced freak! Yeah, I'm talking to you! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Ha ha haaa! Of course you don't. Because you're DUMB. Dumber than a box of bon-bons! And do you know WHY? ...of course you don't! Gah-ha! Because you're DUMB!"

"Bowser, does this have a point?" asks Toad.

"Shut up, Mushroom Head! You'll get yours!" growls Bowser, shaking a fist. "Little did you know, Falcon, that I, too, was playing this game; you all thought I was MEAN this entire time! In truth...I'm actually NICE!"

He waits for everyone to gasp in shock. Nobody does.

"And you, you green-nosed, fat-nosed, dirty-nosed twerp with the saddle!" continues Bowser, turning to Yoshi. "You and your biiiiig looooong tongue! 'Oh, my tongue is so long, I can lick stuff with it, I'm sooooo much cooler than any of you'--yeah, I know that's what you're always thinking, Mister Boot-boot-booties!"

Yoshi goes to protest, then shakes his head and waves Bowser on to continue.

"Yeah, and that's another thing!" roars Bowser. "Your dumb little shoes! They are SOOOOOOO dumb! Yeah, you heard me! DUMB! D-U-M! Do you hear that, Green Guy?!"

"Thanks for the encouraging words, Bowser," interupts Toad, shoving him back to his seat. "Our final speaker is Fox McCloud; take it away, Fox."

Fox stands, still wearing a grin.

"Well, Falcon--you really threw me, gotta say," begins Fox, and Captain Falcon waves weakly. "I believed that you were honestly just tagging along with me the entire time. And all those little talks we had near the end about the Final Two? Brilliant!"

"BRILLIANT!" roars Ganondorf, and Link kicks him in the groin.

"HOW MANY TIMES MUST I DO THAT?!" roars Link, as Ganondorf crumples and groans.

"Anyways, my compliments--that was a game well-played," says Fox, turning to Yoshi. "And my ever-persistant, equally-skilled, yet under-equipped rival, the Yost'er."

"I'm listening, say nice stuff about me," retorts Yoshi, casually.

Fox's grin widens, but it's genuine.

"Man, you can be the most annoying person in the world," he chuckles, half to himself. "That said, I'm impressed you made it up to here; no lies, no cheating, no half-truths...it's like surviving the desert with no water! I might not be an honest person, but I admire the fact that you played this game on the HARD setting, and not the EASY setting like the rest of us. So, nicely done to both of you."

He returns to his seat, and Toad stands.

"Alright," he says, looking at the two final players. "It's time: the evicted members will, one-by-one, go cast their votes. They will vote for who is to be EVICTED; whoever has more votes, will get second place, the player with FEWER votes, claims the title and honor of being the winner of Nintendo Big Brother. Are you ready?"

Captain Falcon and Yoshi nod, and Toad waves a hand.

"Daisy, you may vote first."

Daisy enters the Camera Room and casts a vote. Candy enters next, casting her own, and so on. After every member has cast a vote, Toad enters the Camera Room for one final time, to tally up the votes. The parlor is pretty silent.

"Sooo...you totally acted like a doofus all this time just to make it to the end and win?" asks Fox, finally breaking the silence.

Captain Falcon sheepishly nods as several people burst out laughing, but there's still a lot of tension. At last, Toad emerges again with the voting box...for the final time.

"One vote for Yoshi, one vote for Captain Falcon," he begins, reading in no particular order. "Another vote for Captain Falcon. And another."

Captain Falcon cringes.

"Vote count is one for Yoshi, and three for Falcon. The next vote...is for Yoshi."

Yoshi winces.

"Three Falcon, two Yoshi. Next vote...is for Yoshi. All tied up at three votes each....and another vote for Captain Falcon."

Captain Falcon and Yoshi exchange glances.

"Good luck, man," hisses Captain Falcon, giving Yoshi a quick, manly hug.

"Thanks, same to you," hisses back Yoshi.

"One more for Yoshi, and one more for Captain Falcon," continues Toad, dropping the read votes into a pile on the ground. "Captain Falcon has five votes, Yoshi has four; six votes left."

There's a long pause.

"One more for Captain Falcon...and TWO more for Yoshi!" says Toad, making everyone in the room dead silent. "There are six votes a piece now, and three left."

The first is drawn and shown.

"Yoshi."

Yoshi's head lowers. The next vote is revealed.

"Captain Falcon."

A dead tie, with a single vote left.

The room dies of all noise. Nobody stirs, nobody breathes, nobody blinks.

Toad draws the final vote, making his eyes the first to see who has won Nintendo Big Brother. He savors the moment, leaving everyone in suspense.

Then, he turns the vote around.

"........the winner of Nintendo Big Brother is Yoshi."

Join us for the Nintendo Big Brother reunion, following this final episode shortly, in which Toad gets together with the cast of Nintendo Big Brother and discusses the tasty tidbits never discussed on camera or in the game! Relive your favorite moments of the season as each resident gives his or her own take on the game and who they voted for to win the game...and why. Join us for the Reunion, only on Yoshi Stadium!