"Attention all prisoners, the next event will begin. Please standby at the Portal immediately!"

With the start of the next Survival Game, the Running Man all rushed out of the Facility in growing anxiousness.

As Liu and the rest stood at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the building, Lonky, Popo, and Pala exited the building as the only remaining prisoners. All having the same look as if they had been through all of their worst nightmares mixed into one.

As the trio slowly made their way down the stairs, Liu and the rest couldn't help but stare at them in both concern and confusion.

"Uhm... Are you guys alright?" Liu asked.

"You three looked like you've been through a lot?" Yuu assumed.

"I... I'm not going to try to escape ever again..." Lonky explained, having eyes similar to a person who has not slept in days.

"Me... Me too... After they captured the three of us... They put us in solitary... I... I can't live with that silence... I'm going to go crazy!" Said the panicking Popo with a shivering tone.

"Yeah... I didn't even try to escape... I just fell from the sewer..." Said the Poor Impala as he nervously shook his cane.

The group felt sympathy for them, mostly towards Pala, as they showed more concern in their eyes before Zola spoke from behind.

"All of you! Line up! The game is about to start!" Zola spoke with a mighty tone and posture.

"Mam! Yes, Mam!" The trio shouted as they made a stern salute. Surprising the rest before immediately rushing towards the Portal.

The Running Man circled the large blue portal, staring deeply at it as an announcement was made.

"Portal ready! The next Running Man Survival stage will now begin! It's running time!"

"GO! GO! GO!" Zola shouted as the Running Man team made a huge leap forward and vanished into the portal.

Then, one by one, they appeared in the same maze. The Runningman team were scattered all around the game stage and their only source of communication is the watches on their wrist, but using them means enemies within their closest proximity would hear them. That is... If the Operations behind this Twisted game knew what the Genius Grasshopper had done to their watches before the morning arrived.

The first one to have made it into the maze was Kuga after falling out of the sky like a furry asteroid. Without any thoughts, Kuga sprinted forward. Assuming that the objective is within the centre of the maze.

But as he ran past the tall walls of the maze, he was caught off guard when Pululus of multiple colours started to rain down upon him after dropping from the top of the wall. The tiger reacted by lowering his head as the Pululus started clinging to his body. Trying to drag him down and stumble upon his feet but the tiger refused and using his almighty strength, he shouted and flexed his body as the Pululus were knocked back. Without any more restrictions, the tiger smiled and continued to dash his way through.

While the tiger ran, he moved the hand with the watch close to his mouth and began to speak.

"This is Kuga, can anyone hear me?!"

Without any feedback received Kuga moved his hand away and continue to run as he thought in his head.

"It seems I'm far away from my nearest teammates... I have to keep going and find the next Gate... I must stick to the plan"

On the other side of the maze, the penguin screamed in a loud feminine voice as he ran for his life with a large boulder chasing after him.

"AHHH!!; SOMEONE HELP!" Popo shouted in fear.

Despite the adrenaline kicking in, the penguin still loses due to his flaw, short legs.

As he was about to meet his demise, a long yellow arm held him by the collar and pulled the penguin away from the boulder at the last second.

Popo clenched tightly at the hand of his saviour. It was Lonky. Smirking triumphantly. At him.

"Heh, what would you do without me, Popo?"Said Lonky.

Popo felt utter pride and relief towards the giraffe and hugged Lonky by the face out of gratitude.

"LONKY~~~!!!" Popo wailed with tears of relief as Lonky gently patted him on the back.

Meanwhile, Liu tried to find the gate to the next event but was met with obstacles along the way.

The agile bug jumped from cube to cube to reach the next path of the maze while avoiding falling from certain doom.

"Guys! It's Liu, anyone nearest to me please reply!" Liu loudly spoke through his watch while landing on the ground.

"Liu, I hear you! It's Miyo!" Miyo spoke through the watch.

"Miyo! I'm glad to hear from you, set up your tracker and trace my communicator. Let's meet up!" Liu suggested.

"Will do!" She replied before ending the call.

As Miyo and Liu made their rendezvous, Pala aimlessly wandered around the maze. He was lost and very much scared as he held his cane with both hands as if his life depended on it. Not having to handle the suspense, Pala quickly moved his wrist to his face and spoke to the communicator with a quivering voice.

"A-anyone... Please help! I'm all alone!"

Then, his anxiousness diminished when a familiar voice replied to him through the communicator.

"Don't worry, Pala. I hear you loud and clear, buddy"

"YUU!" Pala cheered his friend's name in joy and relief as he smiled.

"Stay put, I'll track your communicator and come to you"

"Yes! Hurry, Yuu! I don't want to be this alone! It's too quiet!"

"Don't worry, I'm on my way"

Before Pala could say his gratitude, he suddenly saw an army of Pululus cheating at him. His eyes widened and his body responded by jumping before running away as he screamed.

"YUU!!! HELP!!!!" Pala shouted as the army of Pululus chased after him.

"Pala?! What's wrong?!"

"Pululus are chasing me! There's a hundred of them!"

"HOLD ON! I'M COMING!"

Yuu screamed through his watch as Pala kept running.

With his breath running out, Pala was beginning to feel despair. Until a gate portal appeared ahead of him out of nowhere. With no other choice, Pala ran towards it and dived into the portal, escaping the tiny hands of the Pululu army that are after his emblem.

After regaining his vision when he adjusted his glasses, Pala notices that he was alone in a dark room. Filled him with fear and anxiety until a bright holographic Pululu appeared.

"Minigame; Tile Flip! Commence!"

"Tile flip?" Pala repeated.

Suddenly, the floor lit up in glowing blue colour and blinded him. After a short moment, Pala was now teleported into a square field surrounded by large walls.

"The winner is decided when the count down ends with the one who has flipped more tiles than their opponent. Winning the Minigame will earn you a powerful item for the next event. After the battle, winners can now freely exit the maze area and return to their task. Revisiting Minigame Portals are allowed. The winner can also be decided if their opponent surrenders or is immobilised. That's all!"

"I'm going to have to fight someone...? I hope I can handle them..." Pala nervously mumbled before hearing a loud stomp from behind.

Just as he turned to see his opponent, his screams of sheer terror were heard across the map.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Runningman Players arrived at the Minigame gate as well and are now facing their opponent.

Kuga first fought against a large-bodied Pululu. With one power to the ground, the tile started flipping in a large radius. Forming a strong wave as the Pululu was knocked out of his footing after the great fall, thus eliminating him and claiming Kuga as the victor. Despite receiving a choice on whether to spare the Pululu or not, even though the Pululu pleaded at Kuga, the tiger still chose to eliminate him and received a powerful item in the end.

Lonky and Popo were brought as each other's opponents but the two players had a plot brewing. And with a simple wink and smile, the winner was chosen just like that. Lonky won after Popo surrendered and the Giraffe took Popo as his partner before heading out to the exit and returning to the maze.

"Hehe~ This might be our best plan yet, Popo," Lonky said with a chuckle.

"Hehe~ Yeah! Let's keep going at this and build an army!" Shouted the penguin, riling up both of their spirits before diving back into the same Minigame gateway and challenging two more opponents.

But to everyone's surprise, their opponents were the same two Pululus that they once met on the Train at Tree City. Particularly, the first Pululus to be infected in the Running Man Express train.

"Wait... Popo... Don't those two looks familiar...?" Lonky pointed out before Popo stated noticing as well.

But before they could them completely, the Minigame started and the two Pululus quickly jumped over to the first two tiles and flipped them to the colour purple.

"Wait! Wait!" Lonky shouted as both he and the penguin shook their hands sideways to signal them to stop.
"We don't have to waste energy on any of these friends~ Let us win and we'll make the two of you our allies! Together, we are strong! And we can escape this prison together!" Lonky said with cunningness in his look and voice but the Pululus replied by flipping two more tiles before quickly flipping the rest of the tiles on their left to purple.

"DANG IT!" Lonky mumbled before looking at Popo and nodded. With bargaining out of the option, both of them tried to defeat their opponent as in the game I tended to.

"Talking to them is no longer an option! Let's win this right!" Lonky and Popo charged at a random tile ahead, and with a mighty leap, they punched the tile hoping it would flip dramatically.

Then, a small beep was heard followed by a sound similar to a firework fuse being lit. And then, an announcer's voice was heard.

"BOMB!"

After the split second of silence that followed, Lonky and Popo's eyes widened upon the realization before the tile they stood on exploded. Leaving a large cloud of black smoke as they landed on hard ground. Coughing up a few black clouds of smoke along the way before the Holographic Pululu arrived for an extra announcement.

"There are special tiles hidden in this Minigame that either assist you or your opponent, in becoming the winner! The tile you just found was Bomb, and it explodes upon flipping!"

"You couldn't have told us that before now?!" Lonky and Popo shouted angrily at the announcer.

"Ehe~" The announcer chuckled before vanishing.

Casting the incident aside they hopped from one tile to another, flipping them and turning them into the colour of green. But to their knowledge, jumping from tile to tile takes a lot of energy and stamina. Being the weakest link of their team, Lonky and Popo quickly ran out of breath and stopped to rest.

But when they turned back, they saw the two Pululus, full of energy, turning their green tiles into purple tiles.

Feeling the intimidation, Lonky and Popo discarded their exhausted breaths and pushed on. Flipping more tiles into the green but the two Pululus kept flipping their tiles into their own.

Having had enough of the suffering and humiliation, Popo stopped and threw a card at the smaller Pululu.

The Pululu's eyes were seen widening before it covered its face to avoid being hit, but just before the card could reach it, the large Pululu next to it caught the card in between its fingers as if it was nothing.

The Pululu even dared to smirk back at the penguin for what he did. Looking as if he was invincible.

Until Popo threw Seven more cards consecutively at the smirking Pululu and electrocuted him seven times.

With the large Pululu knocked out and in pain, the small Pululu was left helpless.

Then Lonky and Popo walked up to them with wicked smiles fixed on their faces.

"Well, well, well... It seems the table has turned" Said Lonky with his arms crossed and looking down upon them.

"Hehe~ Good thing is... Our offer for you to work for us still stands. So... How about it?" Popo asked, showing his deck of cards menacingly at the two Pululus with a look of fear and intimidation in their eyes.

Then, Lonky pointed at his watch. Gesturing to them about his zero points.

"Also... This offer is not free~"

Not long after, Popo, Lonky, and the two Pululus all exited the portal with a defeated look on the Pululu's faces. Lonky patted them both on the back and reassured them.

"Hey, come on now, new friends. Don't be salty. Together we'll grow an army and make millions of points!"

"Yeah! We'll be unstoppable!" Popo butted in.

"Let's go start our army!" Lonky pointed up ahead and ran with the speed of a light breeze before Popo and their new allies followed.

The two weakest links of their team kept repeatedly challenging other prisoners with them ending up as the victor. It was not too long until they formed an army of 15 Pululus.

Then, their next opponents arrived. They were two Castillets facing Lonky, Popo, and their army as the two Running Man Players stood proud and mighty.

"These two could make fine warriors to our army, Popo," Lonky said to his friend.

"Hehe... Yep! They sure would!" Popo agreed before Lonky tried to persuade their enemy.

"Hey! Fellas~~~ We don't have to fight. Why waste sweat and energy fighting when we could just work together as a team...? How about it? You see, there are over 10 of us... Only 2 of you. In terms of power... You're outnumbered. But we'll allow you to join us! With the payment of course" Lonky used his skill to cleverly trick the Castillets but they replied by showing him an uninterested look.

The giraffe slowly stretched his neck and reached one of their opponents. Blowing a whisper as he smirked.

"Come on, guys... Together, we can win! Not to mention... We have 2 Level 5 prisoners as our allies and 1 level 4~~"

Lonky slowly leaned his head back for a quick chuckle, until all of a sudden, the Castillets struck him by the neck with their robotic hand.

Lonky, feeling intense pain and suffocation, quickly retracted his neck and fell on his back coughing.

"Lonky!" Popo shouted as the rest of their team tried to aid him.

"These little~" Lonky muttered before hearing their opponent's sinister laugh.

With a great combination of speed and power, the Castillets launched themselves toward Lonky and Popo's team with full force and hostile motive. The gang braced themselves for the coalition before suddenly the Castillet's iron suit scrambled into pieces mid-flight. Confused, the Castillets widened their eyes before crashing on the large tiles and rolling towards Lonky's foot.

"... What...?" Lonky pondered what happened until the large green Pululu tapped on his shoulders and revealed several Nuts and Bolts on his palm. Revealing to them that he was the reason why their opponents are immobilized.

Amazed by their ally's unique skill, they praised the Pululu and patted his back in gratitude.

"Looks like we scored in turning you two into our allies!" Said Popo with a smile.

"Let's not celebrate yet... Lonky and Popo Army, Flip the tiles!" With one single command, the Pululus quickly synchronized and started flipping tiles in all directions.

After a few seconds, the Castillets were trapped in a red cube. Floating at Lonky and Popo's mercy.

"We're still willing to give you guys a second chance if you join us you know?" Popo tried to persuade them again but they still would not falter thus causing their elimination after Lonky pressed the red button and each received an item as a reward.

"Such a shame... I bet those two had a lot of points on their watch" Lonky sighed in disappointment.

"Yeah, for sure..." Popo sighed as well before the same Pululu called out to them with a smile as he revealed two Running Man Survival watches from the Castillets containing hundreds of points in total.

Their eyes glimmered as well as their smile before showing their gratitude to the Green Pululu once more.

"Good work! Your skill is unmatched!" Popo complimented him the Pululu chuckled before all of them left the Minigame stage and finally headed towards the next Keeper with full confidence.

Meanwhile, Kuga fought multiple Castillets as well. Despite being stronger than the Castillets they previously fought, Kuga still managed to win flawlessly without breaking any sweat. He may not have one by flipping all of the tiles, but the shattered armour and knocked-out Castillets showed that the tiger has no use in flipping the tiles when he can simply beat them up. Goes to show that no one can ever drag him down.

Miyo and Liu, on the other hand, were paired up after meeting each other. They faced off with wo normal Pululus in their first match. It was rather easy as the Pululus only focused on attacking them. Liu fired two shots from his pistol and exploded upon hit. Launching the Pululus back as smoke occured around their body.

"Miyo, I'll handle them. You flip the tiles!"

"Understood!" Without question, Miyo followed Liu's order and leapt into the air before gracefully landing on a random tile. Using her agility and flexibility, she jumped from one tile to another, flipping and spinning gracefully mid-air until she landed on a special tile.

"ROW FLIP!"

The stile she stood glowed in bright blue before a row of tiles flipped and turned to green colours.

"Whoa! That must be one of the Special tiles!" Liu commented Ashe turned to look at Miyo, but when he heard the shouts of the Pululus, he then realized that their opponents leapt towards the air and tackles the bug as they began to aggressively slap Liu.

"OW! HEY! STOP IT!" The bug shouted, covering his face as they continued to slap him with anger in their eyes.

Coming to his rescue was Miyo as she swung using her grappling hook and kicked both of the Pululus away from him. As she made a smooth backflip after her swing, Miyo landed on another Special Tile.

"CROSS FLIP!"

A cross row of tiles started flipping at a rapid rate just as the timer stopped with Liu and Miyo as the victor.

Miyo and Liu thought hard about what to do with their opponent but, in the end, Liu knew what to do... He pressed the red button.

"This one!" Liu said as he pressed it. The Pululus was sent to elimination and dropped to the bottom floor before Liu and Miyo received a mysterious reward that was transferred to their watches.

After a few moments, both of them re-entered the Minigame stage and were now facing two intimidating Castillets.

"This will be a bit hard without Yuu or Kuga's help... But let's get serious..." Liu spoke, creasing his eyebrows and bracing himself for the match.

"Right! Let's work together properly this time!" Miyo readied herself as well as they stood side by side.

Once the match started, both of them immediately sprinted in the opposite direction to flip more tiles.

Just as either one of them could jump on a tile, The Castillets launched themselves at them with an incredible speed. Their hands balled into a fist ready for the attack. Liu quickly stepped to the side, letting punch pass him and hitting the tile, flipping it in the process to the colour Green.

Liu made a small jump and kicked the Castillets in the face. He clenched the muscles on his thighs and using his incredible legs, he power kicked the Castillets as both of them blew in the opposite direction.

Miyo manages to evade the powerful attack by executing a perfect backflip and landing on a tile away from her opponent, flipping the tile she landed in the process.

The Castillet that absorbed Liu's kick grew angry and chased after the bug by propelling himself forward using the Armor's booster. Liu evaded the incoming attacks by jumping in a straight line and flipping multiple tiles in a row. Until the last attack of the Castillet struck a Special Tile.

"ROW FLIP!"

A green-coloured row of tiles occurred. Changing the purple tiles that Liu flipped to green in the process.

"Now way!" Liu exploited.

Wanting to reclaim her friend's effort, Miyo dashed and jumped on the same Special Tile, hoping to trigger the Row Flip but this time, it was different.

"RISING COLUMN!"

Sensing the sudden danger, Miyo immediately jumped off before the tile elevated and a tall column burst out of the ground.

"What was that?! I was sure I flipped the same time!" Miyo shouted as she puffed out powerful breaths.

"Hmm, maybe the same Special tile doesn't sit at the same place... Maybe it's randomly generated with each flip" Liu thought for a second before his antenna twitched as he received a spark of an idea.
"I got it!" He shouted before adjusting his glasses.
"Commence operation... Tile Storm! Miyo, follow my lead on this one! I have a great plan"

"Of course!" Miyo said with full trust and confidence before shifting her expression to a cringe one.
"But... Ease up on that "Storm" thing... You always add that to your plans..."

As Miyo awaited the commencement of the plan that Liu devised, another Minigame event was being held on the other side. And unlike the rest, the aura of determination and pride covered the area as the two opponents stared at each other's gaze with a glare.

It was Yuu and Salena. Facing each other from a few distances.

"This is stupid, Salena...!" Yuu spoke, sounding serious.

"Did you think I'd let you keep your win from our last match? It's time to even the odds, bestie~" Salena replied with a wide smile. Her eyes and tone hinting her determination to fight and win.

"You are stupid... Just surrender so we can leave this place already!"

"Oh, yeah? Why don't you be the one to surrender?" Salena returned the question as you came to silence.

"... Fine... If this is what you want... Then let me tell you this..." Yuu gasped a deep breath and closed his eyes. Calming his body before exhaling slowly. As he opened his eyes again his pupils were now glowing red and the bandages around his hands loosened.
"I'm not holding back anymore!"

With Yuu looking as terrifying as ever, Salena's eyes widened as she witnesses him. Then, she smiled even wider. Her cheeks showed hints of blush before closing her eyes.

"Great!" She said.

And the moment she reopened her eyes, her whole body was engulfed with electricity and emitted a bright blue flash. Her brown hair became white in an instant. But, this time, her transformation was different. Her ears became pointier, her hair grew longer, the electricity was now visibly seen coursing around her body, and the white on her eyes became pitch black. Her light blue pupils shone brightly around her dark eyes, giving off a stunning glow that even surprised Yuu. But what surprised him more was that after she transformed into Lei Zhi, she grew taller by a foot. Therefore she was now the same height as him and intimidated him for a short second upon realizing.

"Because I'm not holding back as well...!" Salena said with excitement as she smiled. Showing her suddenly sharpened teeth.

Yuu stood silently as he pondered. He then realized one flaw. The duration of his powers has been reduced due to overusing back at the last Gatekeeper match. He then, once more, realized... That he's in so much trouble.

"...I'm in so much trouble..."