"Hey everyone! Voting is officially over, and I'm back to read the results. I'm very excited to see who I get to drop into lava this fine morning. Gookip wouldn't let me see the final results of the votes before now. Said something about how the audience would want a 'live reaction'."

*Sonic glares at the author through the fourth-wall*

"Anyway, let's just get right into it, because I really love lava."

*Four spotlights shine down on the four men from last chapter*

"Richter, Simon, Mario, and Snake.
Only one can remain..." Sonic cackled.

*Three spotlights fade, leaving only one resting upon the man sporting the sexy goatee*

"Okey-dokey then. Let's get this show on the road!" Sonic clapped.
"Lemme just count Snake's votes...." he opened an envelop and dumped it out, watching in amusement as one measly slip fluttered out.

"Aha! Well, well, well... Looks to me like Snake only got one vote. Boo-hoo.
At least someone cares about you buddy. Heh." Sonic laughed.
"Not to scare you, but you're pretty much a shoe-in for the lava pit."

*The spotlight over Snake fades and a beam of light appears over Simon*

"Heya pal! How's it hangin?!?
AHAHAHAH- I crack myself up!" Sonic slapped his knee in an overdramatic display of his hilarity.
"Well anywho, lemme tally up your votes! If you could just hang out for a minute up there..." Sonic wiped a tear from his eye, clearly extremely amused with himself.
Sonic dumped out the contents of another envelope, watching as two slips fell onto the ground.

"Alrighty! It looks like you got a total of two votes! Wow. Too bad so sad." Sonic stated.
"Onwards!"

*The spotlight over Simon fades as a beam appears shining down on Mario*

"Ahhh. Heya buddy'ol pal. I've waited a long time for this day." Sonic grinned maniacally, rubbing his hands together.
"I cannot wait to drop you into some boiling lava."

Sonic smirks and dumps out yet another envelope, watching in amazement as nine slips flutter out.

"W-what?!? No, no, no, no!!! I must have miscounted..." Sonic muttered, bending down to pick each slip up one-by-one. "T-there's absolutely no frickin' way!"

Sonic runs over to the fourth wall, banging on it to get the author's attention.
"HEY GOOKIP! LISTEN TO ME!!!
YOU MISCOUNTED THE VOTES! YOU- uh..." Sonic screamed, turning back towards the red plumber with dread.

"WAIT! WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!!!
If Richter got more votes than you, then I can still drop you in lava! I still win! HAIL SEGA!!" Sonic cackled, his eye twitching involuntarily.
He ran over to where Richter was tied up and glared up at him.

"You have to have more then nine votes! I believe in you!!! You have to!" Sonic shouted at him, frantically ripping open Richter's envelope.

As two slips fluttered out, Sonic fell to his knees in defeat.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" he screamed, banging his fists on the ground.

"H-how? W-why? UGGGGHHHHH!!!!" Sonic cried out in dismay.

"...Okay, I'm done with that. The thing is, I can just not untie you and still drop all of you into the lava anyway. No one's gonna stop me." Sonic pointed out.

Mario, who was previously chuckling in amusement, now gasped in horror.
"You can't a-do a-that!" Mario screamed.

"THAT'S A-NOT A-FAIR!!" Mario wiggled around in his ropes, trying to get free.

"MWAHAHAHAHA-" Sonic ran towards the lever.
A cameraman dove out and tackled him before he could reach it, dragging Sonic away kicking and screaming.

*The lights dim for a moment as the production team searches desperately for a new host to complete the show*

*Suddenly, a spotlight beams down on Pit, who walks out from backstage waving and smiling.*

He walked over to the host's podium and grabbed the microphone, carrying it over to where the men where still all tied up. 
"Well it looks like Mario won this round! Way-to-go! Red-he-ro!
Mari-o!" Pit chanted, while two men came out from backstage with a giant ladder to untie Mario and get him down.

Mario gratefully accepted their help, climbing down to safety after fifteen long days.
"Welp. Whaddya want to say to our readers Mario?" Pit asked, shoving the microphone in his face.

"Thank a-you all so a-much!!!" Mario cried, taking off his hat and holding it in his hands.
"I didn't a-think I'd a-have a chance at a-this. You guys are-a the greatest ever! Thank a-you! THANK A-YOU!!!"
Mario ran out, sprinting as fast as he could to get away from that treacherous room. 

"Hmm." Pit frowned, walking over to the lever.
"Let us down Pit!" Richter pleaded.
"Please!" Simon added. "Pit?"

Pit bit his lip, trying to quiet his conscience and pull the lever.
"N-no! I can't..." Pit insisted, pacing back and forth, trying to solve this moral dilemma.

"You're such a baby Pit-stain." Dark Pit rolled his eyes, walking out from backstage and kicking the lever over, watching in amusement as all of them fell into the lava.
"It's game over for you!" Dark Pit mimicked Pit's victory line, a confident smirk on his face.
(It's just pretend lava people!! No one actually died. This is a production, remember? They just got fired. That's all...)

"Well then....at least I didn't have to do it." Pit shrugged.
"I would've felt really bad..."

"Get over it. They had it coming. Look at us Pit. We're not getting fired because we're doing a great job here." Dark Pit explained.

"Oh. Hey (Y/n)." Dark Pit winked at you.
"Hey! Don't flirt with my girlfriend!" Pit huffed.
"I was winking at my girlfriend." Dark Pit rolled his eyes.
"Y'know what, we've got to end this right now."

"Okay! Well folks, I guess that's it then!" Pit grinned, turning to face the fourth-wall again.
"It's been fun, but I gotta run! Hey! Pitoo, that rhymed!" Pit excitedly pointed out.

"Good for you. See you later I guess." Dark Pit waved over his shoulder, strutting off stage-left.

"He just doesn't appreciate art." Pit huffed.
"Anyway! Thanks for reading, and  pretty pretty please with a cherry on top vote for this-" Pit was cut off by Dark Pit who had poked his head back out from the curtains.

"That's- no. You're doing it all wrong! Here, I'll show you how it's done." Dark Pit glanced at the fourth-wall.
"Hey hot stuff! Yeah, you there! Give this chapter a star if you love me!" Dark Pit smirked.
"There. If I don't see any votes, then they're all liars. Everybody loves a bad-boy."

Pit rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. But Gookip said maybe I'll get to host the next round of elimination if people respond well to me being host!" Pit's eyes flashed in excitement.

"Nobody cares. We were supposed to be wrapping this up, remember?" Dark Pit reminded Pit.
"I was! And then you interrupted me!" Pit fired back at his shady counterpart.

"I wouldn't have interrupted you if you had been doing it correctly!" Dark groaned.

"That's enough you two!" Gookip smiled, pressing a button to cut the lights. "Bye-bye!"