The thorns had temporarily paralyzed Sam, leaving him completely unable to move. Roslin had already used up her thorns earlier, so now it was Flower's turn.
Flower took a deep breath, almost as if she was preparing to shoot the darts from her mouth. Sam braced himself, knowing he couldn't escape anymore.
Flower exhaled with a powerful blow.
But instead of darts, a white dandelion came flying out of her mouth.
Sam and Roslin stared at her in confusion.
Then another dandelion came out.
Then another.
And another.
"What...?" Sam muttered.
It seemed that when Flower had fallen earlier, she had accidentally swallowed a whole bunch of dandelions.
Flower tried to use her attack again. She took another deep breath, but the moment she inhaled, one of the dandelions was sucked back into her mouth.
She immediately started choking.
Flower desperately signaled Roslin to help her.
Roslin, not knowing what else to do, grabbed Flower from behind and pressed her stomach, trying to force the air out.
Unfortunately, the thorns only stabbed the two of them even more.
"Use the water gun!" Sam shouted. "Let her drink some water! It'll help with the choking!"
Roslin immediately pulled out her water gun and pointed it straight into Flower's mouth, shooting water down her throat.
For a moment, it seemed to work.
Flower began getting some relief from the choking.
But then Sam secretly shot a thorn from his mouth.
He had managed to hide it there earlier when Roslin had thrown the thorns at him.
The thorn struck the water gun.
CLICK!
The gun malfunctioned.
Roslin tried to stop the water, but the trigger was stuck.
"Wait..."
The water kept pouring into Flower's mouth.
"Wait, wait, WAIT!"
Flower's stomach quickly filled up.
Then—
BLEURGH!
Flower started vomiting everything out, including the dandelion.
The puke landed directly on Roslin.
Roslin froze.
She looked down at her feet.
"Oh no..."
She panicked and slipped on the mess beneath her feet, falling straight on top of Flower.
The water gun flew out of her hand.
It landed on the ground and immediately started shooting water in every direction.
PSSSH! PSSSH! PSSSH!
The spray hit both Roslin and Flower.
ELIMINATED!
At the same time, the wild spray loosened the thorn that had been paralyzing Sam, finally freeing him.
Fortunately, Sam's tag was on top of his head, and the malfunctioning water gun couldn't shoot that high by itself without someone actually aiming it.
Sam slowly stood up and looked at the unconscious FloraxFauna.
"I hope the water helped with the choking. You're welcome."
He then signaled to the faculty members to come and help Flower and Roslin, asking them to take the two of them away from the field so they could rest and recover.
Sam looked around.
"Alright, so how many of them are left?"
He began counting to himself.
"Chingla, William, Preguy, Oppa... and now Flower and Roslin. They all got eliminated."
He paused.
"So that leaves only Liabilities, Tsunami and Jangla."
Sam sighed when he realized something.
All the remaining players were from the opposing team.
He was the only Red Bean left.
"I wish my teammates knew how to play as a team. Seriously, I need to teach them about team spirit later."
From the crowd came a chorus of boos.
"HYPOCRITE!"
"HYPOCRITE!"
Sam ignored them.
He looked ahead.
On one side stood Liabilities and Jangla, the chaotic duo.
And on the other side stood Tsunami, the unstoppable force of nature.
Sam was stuck right in the middle.
The three of them noticed him.
Then all three charged toward him.
But when they reached the spot...
Sam was gone.
"Where is he?" Jangla asked.
"Looking for me?"
Sam's voice came from above.
He was once again standing in a tree.
"You guys can't shoot me up here, but I can shoot down from here. So why don't you guys just give up?" Sam said confidently. "I can shoot Tsunami before she can rush toward me and kick the tree. And although it might be difficult for me to shoot Jangla because she's tiny, I'm sure I can manage it."
"So what about me?"
Liabilities' terrifying voice came right into his ears.
Sam slowly looked down.
Liabilities was staring directly at him.
Their eyes were almost level.
Sam blinked.
"Aren't I standing on a tree?"
He looked around in confusion.
"Did I fall down without even realizing it?"
Using that brief moment of confusion, Tsunami rushed toward the tree and kicked it with incredible force.
CRACK!
The tree shook violently, and Sam immediately fell.
He tried to use the same tactic as before, launching himself off the bark of the tree to propel himself away.
But to his misfortune, the entire tree had already been brought down by Tsunami's kick.
Sam's eyes widened.
I'm dead.
The instant he realized he was about to hit the ground, he made a desperate decision.
He grabbed Liabilities by the neck and climbed onto his other shoulder.
Now both Sam and Jangla were standing on Liabilities' shoulders like the angel and devil on someone's shoulders.
The only difference?
We weren't sure who the angel was.
Because both of them seemed evil.
Sam casually looked at Jangla.
"Hi."
Jangla, who was already standing on Liabilities' other shoulder, glared at him.
"Get off his shoulder. Now. I won't tell you a second time."
"How about... no?"
Sam pointed downward.
"Can't you look down there? Tsunami is waiting to literally kill me. So I guess I'll live the rest of my life here on his shoulder."
Liabilities sighed.
"How about you pay rent if you plan on staying? And for the payment, I'll be taking your life."
He swung his arms, trying to swat Sam off his shoulder like a fly.
"I haven't even stayed for a minute and you're already asking for rent!" Sam complained as he desperately dodged the swats.
Liabilities calmly replied,
"It's called a security deposit."
Jangla's eye twitched.
She pulled out her water gun and shouted, "Why are you two playing house at a time like this?! Just shake him off your shoulder!"
Liabilities nodded.
Then he spun.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Four...
Ten times.
WHOOSH!
Sam and Jangla were both sent flying off his shoulders.
Liabilities had completely forgotten that Jangla was there too.
He spun so violently that when he finally stopped, he somehow ended up buried in the ground.
He couldn't get himself out.
Sam and Jangla flew in completely different directions.
Jangla landed safely in a bush, which gave her a surprisingly soft landing.
Sam, however, wasn't nearly as lucky.
He fell directly into the arms of Tsunami.
In a princess-carry position.
Sam slowly looked up.
Tsunami slowly looked down at him.
There was a brief silence.
The irony of falling directly into the arms of the person he had been desperately trying to escape was not lost on him.
Sam quickly tried to escape.
But Tsunami grabbed his clothes and held him firmly, keeping him trapped in the princess position.
"Hey, um... Tsunami," Sam said nervously. "I'm sure the crowd doesn't like what they're seeing right now, so could you let me down? It's kinda embarrassing."
Tsunami didn't respond.
"Great job, Tsunami! Keep holding him down! I'll eliminate him now!" Jangla shouted.
She pointed her water gun at Sam.
"Point his head toward me."
Jangla got back up fixing herself up from the fall and prepared to eliminate him.
"Hey, hey, come on! This isn't fair!" Sam protested.
He wriggled around, desperately trying to free himself.
But Tsunami was simply too strong.
There was no escaping her grip.
"You're the only one left," Jangla said with an evil grin. "How great is it that we win the moment we eliminate you? We didn't even need to bother with the others."
Tsunami turned Sam's head toward Jangla.
"This is game over for you. Adios."
Jangla pulled the trigger.
In one last desperate effort before the shot hit him, Sam blew as hard as he could directly into Tsunami's face.
Her hair flew wildly across her face.
A few strands tickled her nose.
"Achoo!"
Tsunami sneezed.
That tiny movement was enough.
The shot missed Sam's tag.
Tsunami loosened her grip for just a moment.
Sam immediately wriggled his way out of her arms.
I'm free!
But just as he thought he had escaped, Tsunami grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.
She immediately took him into a hostage position.
Sam sighed.
Well... at least I'm not in a princess position anymore.
"Fine! I give up!" Sam exclaimed, raising his arms into the air.
He looked at Jangla.
"Funny how I'm the hostage, and the person holding me doesn't have the gun, while the person with the gun is the one trying to shoot me."
He paused.
"Actually, that's kind of messed up."
Sam then looked at his own height compared to Jangla.
"Although I'm still way taller than you, so how about I bow down so you can get a good aim at my dart? Don't worry. I won't run."
Tsunami stared at him.
"Even in the face of death, you still want to talk rubbish? What makes you think you can escape? You can't escape even if you tried."
Tsunami knocked Sam on the head.
"Ow!"
"Hey! Be careful! You can't eliminate me by hitting me!"
Sam suddenly paused.
"Wait a second..."
His eyes widened.
"Shouldn't it be illegal to use force in this game? Why didn't I think of that earlier?"
He looked toward the referee.
"Hey, ref! Shouldn't she be disqualified?"
The referee sat casually in his place, drinking Coke.
He took another sip.
"I'll allow it."
Sam stared at him in disbelief.
Jangla cracked her neck.
"You heard him."
"Come on! How come?!" Sam protested. "Aren't you basically abusing your power? This isn't how a fair referee would act!"
The crowd immediately responded.
"BOOOOO!"
"HYPOCRITE! HYPOCRITE!"
Sam looked around.
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?!"
"I guess I might just punch him some more since it's officially allowed now," Tsunami said.
She kicked Sam instead.
THUD!
"Hey! What's this about?! You said punch! Why kick?!" Sam shouted in pain.
Tsunami stared at him.
Sam sighed.
"Just eliminate me already."
"You're in luck," Jangla said. "Because that's exactly what I plan to do."
She raised her water gun.
"Make him bow."
Tsunami grabbed Sam by the neck and forced him down into a bow.
Jangla aimed directly at his tag.
"Any last wish?"
Sam looked at her.
"Nah."
Jangla pulled the trigger.
SPLASH!
Was it the end?