(A/N: Acelaces:

My first fanfic, inspired by a love of this season of TDROTI, which I do not own. I hope the writing's okay, I know Kez if you're reading this you're counting my errors, if I made anny.

WARNINGS

*This fic will spoil every single episode up to and including episode 7.

*This fic will switch POV alot. I aim to develoup basically all of these eight characters so even if one chapter focuses on only about three or four characters don't worry because I've got plans for everyone.

*This fic does not seek to target any character with hate.

*There may be some small-time cussing in it.

*This fic will not have any sex :[ but there might be innuendo ;D

*The ships that may be explored will definitely include Jo/Brick (Jock), Zoey/Mike (Zike), Anne Maria/Vito (Anito). There may be others but I'm not spoiling for now.

This story takes place towards the end of episode 7: A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste. Our campers are trapped in the mine after someone triggers a cave-in. Will they be trapped in there forever? Will Chris take his new prank too far? Will they fall apart or will they be forged together stronger than ever as a result of the struggle? You know, kind of like when a cake gets all broken up but you use the icing to patch it up together again.

Zoey: I have to do that all the time, I'm a pretty lousy cake maker I guess..

Mike: No way, it just means the cake's that much sweeter when you make it! - uh- I mean- because of the extra icing

Zoey: Really? That's so sweet of you to say!

Anne Maria: Ugh..I think I'm getting a toothache over here.

Acelaces: *ahem*

So

this is chapter one, of my seven-chaptered story. I chose seven because it's like the most important number

Jo: No way, One is the most important number. It's #1 in my books.

*crickets chirp*

Jo:What?

Acelaces: nothing, it's just not much of a surprise .

Jo: Who wouldn't love one? 1 stands on its own, it's balanced so no one can push it over. It faces clearly in one direction without leaning all the way and putting its neck on the line like 7. It doesn't have anything to hide behind its back like 4, so it's not weighed down, it's not sitting on it's butt like 8, or being so easily bent out of shape like 5 - not even knowing which way to face.

Mike: What about three?

Jo: hmm...three's too protective, always trying to hold onto something. Not a big fan of 3.

Brick: What about two?

Jo: Two's on its knees, can't you tell? 2 two kneels before 1. I like 2, two knows his place.

Brick: You're not talking about numbers at all, are you..

Lightning: WAIT A MINUTE! Lightnin' thought one came before two! Lightnin' could check again, Lightnin' aint so sure...

Jo: *sigh*

Cameron: What about six?

Jo:Don't know what to make of six, it's too curled up into itself, can't tell what it's up to, plus it's got that spike.

Scott: It could be asleep.

Lightning: NUMBERS CAN'T SLEEP!

Acelaces: guys, let's please just get to the story.

Chris woke up from his late o' clock beauty sleep to the sound of his ringtone on full volume. He shot out of bed, hair disheveled and with his satin eyemask skewed andjammed his finger on the green button.

It was his least favourite wannabe celebrity showoff showhost- Blainley.

"Hey Chris, how's it going hosting the second most popular reality TV show this side of Ontario?" her mouth slavered over the word second like an overpriced bonbon. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that question, if it even was you that came up with the brilliant idea to make 'Special Olympic Wipeout Hour.'"

"Mmm, no, I scrapped that." she replied, "Nope, you're talking to the newest host of Prank'd."

Chris nearly dropped the phone. How did she get her hands on that cash cow?

"Last weeks Bar-B-Que pit prank went wrong, turns out petting zoos don't go well with sevent foot flames- and neither does former host Blake Jakeman's patent leather jacket." she said, as if she'd read his last thought.
"Is there any reason you called, Blainley? Like, besides gloating?" Chris asked

"Aww, but it's so fun." He could almost see her smug smirk. "Come on Chris, even with your beady little eyes you must've noticed the 63% drop in ratings your show got once it dropped its original cast!" For a split second Chris wondered if he was having a dream, no, this had to be a nightmare, the scariest kind of nightmare- like triple lawsuit scary.

"No way! Where'd you get those numbers, Mildread?" he put a slow deliberate emphasis on his rival's real name. He cheered up a bit when he heard her growl of rage, but she steadied herself and replied in a cool tone

"Take a look at page 6 of LOOK magazine." Chris quickly snatched up the glossy mag that one of the interns left at the foot of his bed, (along with his breakfast on a fine bamboo tray). After scanning the page for a second or two his eyes widened in horror.

"Wow, even I couldn't have hoped you'd be this surprised" she cooed, her voice was smooth, like poisoned honey as she drew out the tension a few more seconds.
"What do you want?" Chris spoke out the words through gritted teeth, trying not to make it sound like he was asking for a lifeline.
"I just thought, being the magnanimous soul I am," she ignored his scoff "I just thought you'd like some... assistance."

"Just spit it out already!"
"Here's the deal MacLean- I've got a prank show without no losers to prank, you've got a bunch of losers..." Chris' hand gripped the phone so hard his knuckles blanched, but his mental turmoil blocked the pain from reaching him. "What do you say Chris? I give your show the silver bullet- let it go out with a bang instead of a whimper, together we could make... millions."
"Millions?" Chris thought.

"Maybe even a billion, we'd have to split it 60/40 of course but I-"

The nightstand quaked with the force with which Chris slammed the phone into the receiver.

"Hello? Hello? Dammit MacLean!" Blainley shouted to no one as she flipped her cellphone shut. Just then she got another call.
"Is he in?" the deep voice asked.

"No, he's having a little diva moment, it was the 60/40 bit that got him. He didn't even know his show was going down the tubes." said Blainley, scowling.

"Give him time," replied the voice, "He'll say yes."
Somewhere a very pissed-off Chris McLean was clenching his fists in anger while he set out to call on that day's challenge. He didn't even touch his breakfast or practice his award acceptance speech that morning, he was so full of rage and... was it... fear?

CAMERON

After all that crashing sound you would think I'd welcome the long silence that followed the cave in. But my ears were full of neither the echoes of the downwards crashing of cave walls nor Zoey's cry or Anne Maria's shrill shrieking. Nope, the only thing that I could hear was the question that repeated in my head: "Is this what guilt tastes like?"

Yes, I was pretty sure this was all my fault-
"Nice going String Bean!" came Jo's voice, and I felt her glare through the semi-darkness of the cave.
"Aw Cameron, what did you do?" chimed Zoey -as if I needed reminding..

Then I heard Mike under his most recently demonstrated personality

"Ay, no problem, mates, this must've happened to me a million times when traversing the vast caverns of-" but we didn't get to benefit from any of his advice as just then a large rock landed on his head, knocking him out cold, the hat landing a few metres away.

"Mike!" Zoey cried, running to him and scooping him up off the floor by his shoulders.

Meanwhile Anne Maria stood with her hands above her head looking at the ceiling with concern as if the whole cavern roof had conspired to pummelling her precious pouf.
"Nothing's gonna fall on you, Spraytan, You're under the skylight!" Jo shouted across the room, rolling her eyes.
The rest of them looked up, noticing that the light that they could see by filtered in through a fairly large hole in the roof.
"That must have opened up when I-"
"Yes we've already established that you did this, Egghead, how do you propose we undo it?" said Jo, stepping forward and gesticulating at the pile of large rocks that was now blocking the exit of the mine they were now trapped in.

"Mmmm," groaned Mike as he rubbed his head, "What... happened?"

Scott's voice was heard as he ambled in from some unknown tunnel.

"We'd jumped out of the carts and were on our way out when bubble boy here saw a butterfly and went all spazzy- tried to reach it by climbing onto that pillar of rocks, but tripped and brought the whole thing down with him, some of 'em fell onto our bomb backpacks and," he gestured vaguely towards the mess of rocks that blocked their way out, "here we are."

The bubble boy wanted to defend himself but he remembered how his heart had lit up when he saw it, Dineaus Plexipus, the Monarch Butterfly. He remembered how he had sat in his bubble a long time ago he was a small and awkward kid with glasses too big for his face back then, six weeks ago. He'd spend his days pouring over his favourite book, The Amazing Animal Kingdom, gently touching each picture, imagining textures he'd never be able to feel, warm, many-dimensional things- not like his sterilized linen sheets. One such day he was standing atop a stack of his books (a very risky activity his mother would not approve of) to get a good look out the window at the neighbourhood kids, healthy, sturdy kids playing hide and seek, a game he could define, describe and explain word for word, but that he could never really understand. he remembered watching them laugh, barely hearing the cheerful sound over the dull hum of the air filtration system his mum had installed in his bubble.
Just then something came in quickly through the window. It was red and bright and it flew so beautifully. Here I was wishing I could go outside, and here was a butterfly, an outside thing -my mum had often used the word 'outside' this way, as if it were a label for all things forbidden- yes an outside thing was coming in, was coming to me.
It landed soundlessly onto the side of my bubble and I touched the plastic at the place where it sat, leisurely opening and closing its wings. I longed to touch those wings, I would be very careful, I knew what it was to be delicate, to be looked at from outside like a thing to be pitied or cooed at or protected, and never admired, never to be appreciated for something I'd done all by myself, but until I'd signed up for Total Drama, I'd never done anything by himself, I'd already made it through the Mad Skills Obstacle Course and raised my voice to two entangled teenagers, and I really thought I'd finally have the chance to prove to everyone that I could win this thing, just with my mind, that just like Dineas Plexipus, I could use those delicate wings to fly. That's what I had thought, but now it was over, I had failed, there was no way I could make it up to my fellow campers. In their eyes I figured I'd just gone from competant competitor to clumsy kid.

"No way Lightnin's gonna lose to those losers just because of some stupid pile of rocks!" said Lightning as he charged towards the mountain of stones and began to push, and then pull, and then push on them.

"Man, these things must be glued together or somethin!" said Lightning, defenisvely, "Chris better not be tryin to make Lightnin' look bad!" he panted, still trying to push the rocks.

Lightning's persistent (though ill-conceived) optimism gave me a spark of hope. It wasn't over yet, we could still get out! If it wasn't a job for dumb muscle, then surely brainpower could save the day!
"I've got an idea!" I said, they all turned to look at him, except for Zoey and Mike who seemed a bit distracted.

"Let's hear it, Pipsqueak" said Jo, crossing her arms. "How about we use one of those shovels," I gestured towards the shovels in the mine carts "to lift the rocks out by using leverage- you know, like a seesaw."

"In case you haven't noticed, doofus," came Scott's voice coolly from the corner of the cave "these rocks are alot heavier than some 5 year old on a teeter totter."

"Well... yes, we'll need a pretty big force, but by my calculations it's quite possible."
"We could all push on it at the same time, spoke Brick, who I noticed, like Anne Maria (who had pulled their team's Golden Chris out of her hair), had opted to stand in the pool of light in the middle of the cave.

"You might just be onto something, Stringbean." Jo looked a mite impressed and I felt a surge of hope run trhough me.

"Lanky, go get one of those shovels!" yelled Jo over to Mike who was nearest the cart.
But from the looks of it Mike wouldn't've heard her if she'd shouted into Chris'megaphone, I doubted he could hear anything above his heartbeat, he'd just realized that Zoey had been holding him up and now the two sat gazing at eachother, I could almost hear harp music playing.

"OI! Deaf and deafer!" yelled Jo in a voice that would've broken harpstrings, "Don't make me pull out my whistle.."
"I'm on it!" said Brick as he marched over to the cart and returned with a very rusty shovel. "What now, Jo?"

"Hitch it under that rock- no- no, that great big one over there, the one that looks like Stringbean's head."
With a grunt of effort Brick wedged the shovel in place.

"Let's DO this!" shouted Jo, jogging forwards, but noticing no one was following her she stopped and cast a wide glance across the cave. Zoey was now brushing dirt off Mike's messy hair while he laughed nervously and blushed. Lightning was still in the corner, ramming himself against the wall of rock as if he was tackling a football dummy. ("Sha- Bam!",Sha-Boom!","Sha-BUDGE ALREADY!"). Anne Maria, still clutching that huge diamond that Ezekiel had presented her, was spraying her hair- when she noticed Jo looking at her she held her hands up defensively

"Uh-uh, no way am I gonna chip a nail movin' some dumb rocks, You see these?" she indicated her glossy nailpolish job "These babies are why I open doors with my elbows."
Jo sighed. I noticed she did not even bother looking at me. I was nothing short of relieved as the use she usually put me to in challenges involved being thrown like a javelin, I remembered too well my last injuries. Jo walked over to Brick.

"Guess it's just you and me, Brickhouse, just try to keep up." and with that she grabbed the handle, taking hold over his hands.

"In your dreams, I dug the mudpit for the obstacle course every morning back at Bootcamp."
Something told me this was going to be another Jock-off.
"On my count, cadet." said Jo, Brick nodded.

"One... two... three! Go!Go!Go!" she shouted as they pushed down on the handle so hard that Jo's knuckles turned white, and Brick's became bright red with the added pressure of Jo's hands on his, their shoulders were jammed hard against eachother, their faces screwed up in concentration. Brick's face was flushed, because of all the exertion of course.
But even these two were eventually exhausted, by that time the others were bored of watching, but I was marvelling at how long they lasted and even more at how the rocks had not budged an inch- it was if they had been there for four thousand years!
Brick sat down, rubbing his sore hands. I started "It doesn't make sense, my calculations-"

"-Were wrong," finished Jo, who had begun pacing back and forth along the length of the wall of rubble, "but even the strongest wall has a weakpoint...any idea where it is ScienceHead?" Jo looked to Cameron.

"Well... if I observe correctly, there should be one right in the middle, and at the top, where the rock pile isn't being supported by the cave walls."

"So we're gonna need to climb it, huh?" Jo grinned "No problem! I could do it with my eyes shut" Jo and Brick seemed to glance at eachother but then Brick looked doubtfully at his red hands and paused.

He was about to get up when Zoey spoke up "No way, Brick! Give your hands a rest... " He touched his fingers, winced and nodded in resignation.
Jo rolled her eyes and began a steady ascent up the rockface.
After a short while she called down to them "Here, Stringbean?"

"Uh, a little to your left!"
She shifted and called back "Here?"
"Uh yes, I mean, that should be it."
Jo paused a moment and then drew her head backwards.

"...Is she going to...?" asked Mike "...I think she is!" finished Zoey, eyes wide.

"Wooaah, blondie is crazier than I thought!" said Anne Maria, gawking.

"Don't you worry bout me. I'm a scorpion dojo karate champ, I've been breaking pine boards with my head since I was 7," said Jo "and mahogany boards since I was 15." she added smugly.

Even Lightning quit his role as a human battering ram to cock his head and say "Is he for real?"
She hitched her head back and they all closed their eyes.

*WHAM*

-thud-

Oh my Godwin's Law! Jo just hit her head so hard she knocked herself out and fell onto the cave floor! Okay, perhaps I should confirm that thought by opening my eyes, it was just so frightening! What if I saw... I didn't want to think about what I might see..

"You can open your eyes, you guys. I'm fine."

There was Jo, all in one piece but looking pretty pissed off. "Unfortunately, that wall's fine too." They all turned to look at the wall for a while in silence.

Not a stone had budged. Lightning was now on the floor, either alseep or unconscious from repeated (and self-inflicted) blows to the head. They were trapped in this cave, there was no way they could go back and get out the way they came after Lightning had brought down the ceiling there with his victory shout at the start of the challenge, seeing as these rocks were so strangely heavy. The lens of the camera mounted on the wall was smashed and the crackling of the P.A system told me that they had lost contact with the cruel host, Chris, who was now their only lifeline. Almost at the same time their chemical badge Geiger counters beeped, signalling that we were running out of time.

"Whoa-o-oh! Did you see that?" motioned a grinning Chris towards the plasma screen TV he was using to view the actions of a certain 8 teenagers, with the help of some extra secret hidden cameras courtesy of Daddy Dakota.

Chef nodded and chuckled, his deep voice replied "Sure was a good idea getting the interns to cement those rocks together from the outside. Ya know, when I said they'd probably use their heads to figure a way out, I didn't think they'd use their actual heads." The two laughed some more and Chris wiped a tear of mirth from his eye.

"See? Told ya we wouldn't need Blainley, I can play a wicked awesome prank- on my own."

He smiled smugly, it was wayy too easy, strap the kids to some bogus Geiger counters, shove em in an abandoned mine rigged with cameras and barrels labelled 'toxic' and watch them scramble. Shaving Dakota's head while she slept was a necessary step in convincing them - Oh - and it was fun too. Of course, the deal had been sweetened after that psycho Scott kid had set off the bomb backpacks and triggered a cave-in, which Chris had been all too eager to seal up.

"You know what gets me though?" Chef interupted his happy, sadistic thoughts, "How come they still trust that freckly punk, all he does is set them up to lose, they're blaming the puny kid- you saw."

"Logic, my dear Chef, they don't see the side of Scott that we do in his confessional footage- meh, it's all for the best." Chef arched an eyebrow. "All for our best anyways, ha, more scheming means more drama, more drama means more ratings, more ratings-",

"- means more paycheck." finished Chef "You got one mean mind, MacLean." he added.
"I know," replied the host as he played and replayed the footage of Scott setting off one of the bomb backpacks and throwing it at a large pillar of rock as the rest of their team jumped out of the careening cart, Anne Maria with their team's Golden Chris statue still stuck in her hair, racing towards the cave exit. The dynamite blew and a whole slew of rocks collapsed including a stack onto which a very frightened Cameron clung. The carts slammed into a pile of rock instead of flying out the exit, and a small butterfly could be seen escaping through an opening hole in the ceiling as the cave filled with dust. In the temporary darkness the glint of a grin from Scott's corner of the cave was just barely visible. The host leaned back in his chair, "I know."

LIGHTNING

Lightnin' is in a cave full of losers!

After that weak attempt at gettin' past that pile of rocks, Joe asked everyone to turn out their pockets, sayin somethin' about "Somebody has to have something useful for gettin us outta here." Well Lightnin' did not believe the nonsense these punks took into a cave.

Little glasses girl had a jar full of medicine, can't really blame her for that, less damsels in distress the better. Lightnin' can't be rescuein everybody's butt all the time! Lightnin's got his own needs!

Flower girl took out an mp3 player. Uhh last time Lightnin' checked music did not have the power to bring down walls, except the walls of Jericho which they always talkin' about in Sunday school. But Lightnin' digresses.

Weird Voice Guy came next, took out his lucky shark tooth- we don't need your luck in here, fool! Lightnin' doesn't even believe in luck anyway... only mad skill!

Next was Tall Dude, man and all he had was a deck of cards! Lightnin' hopes that guy don't mind eatin them cards, because with the stuff these losers brought along we gonna be in dis cave a lonngg tiiime.

Then it was Orange Girl's turn and she pulled this hair blower outta her hair like it was there the whole time or sumthin'. Joe got all upset and was all "Seriously? What were you gonna plug it into?" Man, Lightnin' has to agree, Lightnin' knew some cheerleaders in summer school smarter than that!

Next up was Army guy. Army guy looked all embarassed and didn't show anything, but Joe said somethin about "Team before Pride" and the poor fool took out a picture of his mom! Lightnin' thinks that's just pathetic. Lightnin' never knew his mom and even if he did he don't think he'd be carryin' around her picture everywhere. Nuh-uh.

Next up was my main man, Joe, he brought along a whistle. Mm-mm, that just aint useful in here, and Lightnin' thought Joe was the only one of them who had any sense, Lightnin' knows now only to trust himself. Lightnin' told everyone how alll along he'd been keepin' two cans of his favourite energy drink around in his pants pockets, that he never went anywhere without 'em. For some reason Scott said somethin about "Oh so that's what that was... we thought you just had a really big butt." Everybody laughed at Lightnin'! But then when Lightnin' took the cans out of his front knee pockets they stopped! Lightnin' didn't get it.
"Sha-Voom!" said Lightnin' as he slammed down the cans of Voom for all of them to see. Lightnin's favourite energy drink, y'all know how it goes, "When the goin gets tough..."
"Voom gets you going." they finished, everyone knew that radio ad. Lightnin' was feelin so pumped he didn't need any of his Voom right now. He just loved hearin' that slogan! Lightnin started a victory lap across the cave, but he ran outta space to run towards the elevator shaft cliff, so he just ran in circles. Lightnin' didn't look back (Lightnin' never looks back!) but he was pretty sure those losers were watchin him in awe.

BRICK

So there we were, all our men accounted for, but trapped in an abandonned mine, a deep, dark, abandoned, dark, mine. I wasn't that scared now, with the skylight and all, especially since I knew I could use my secret weapon to fend off anything that came near me, even if the smell off my boot was keeping everyone else a distance away. I was actually pretty grateful to Cameron for that hole in the roof, I couldn't help feeling some loyalty to my old teammate. Plus, the little guy was getting a tough time from Jo, and man did I know what that was like. I knew I was trying to quit thinking about her but I couldn't stop, I'd gotten so used to racing her to Mess Hall, to comparing the skills I'd gained from the armed forces with her private training, and even to following her leadership without hesitation. Before it was okay, I didn't mind how intense she was or how she was always bossing me around or calling me names- I guess it's like they say: 'you can take the cadet out of bootcamp but you can't take the bootcamp out of the cadet'.

At first I loved her intensity, her drive to win. But winning for her was worth leaving someone behind, and that was something I just couldn't stand by.

It wasn't like I wanted her off my team.. she was probably the strongest girl I'd ever met. I mean I didn't keep my eyes open to see her hit those rocks with her head, but I heard a thud- that must've been her landing on her feet from about seven metres up! You've just got to admire that kind of skill. She had carried the team to victory many times as a leader, and she'd saved me from that deep, dark, dark grave..the least I could do was try to protect her from elimination that day. As a leader she was good at keeping a cool head under pressure. But she had to follow my terms now, because this time I wouldn't be voting off Lightning just because she- I mean, I dunno...has that effect on me. You know... makes me feel like... like I could really run backwards with earplugs... -but sometimes she'd do the opposite and make me get all mixed up! Like when we thumb wrestled -as soon as she grabbed my hand it tensed up, so of course she won that one- she really did know how to manipulate people. And as if it weren't embarrassing enough to have had an accident in front of my team captain (embarrassing enough to make me run away on my own to dry off, which wasn't the best idea) she just wouldn't let me live it down, kept calling me nicknames like ...Drill Sergeant Drippy. She really thought she was the best thing that ever happened to this season, she thought she was better than me, I knew, she wouldn't even admit she missed me being part of her team! I tried to show her that Brick MacArthur could carry a team on his own last time around, that good old fashioned teamwork could get the win just as well as orders and delegation, that I was nobody's lackey...but even beating her to those skiis in the Gull shooting challenge hadn't given me the satisfaction I thought it would. I didn't know what to do now, because part of me just wanted everything to be back to the way it was before... before, when I thought she was my teammate and my friend. But that was before the first team swap, when Scott told me the truth. Now I knew everything she really thought about me and it really stunk. Maybe even worse than my boots.

JO

I was still pacing I guess, trying to figure out what to do next. How were we still gonna win this thing? If Chris would still accept our team's Golden Chris as it was -broken because Brickhouse decided all of a sudden that he wanted to switch allegiance and betray me- we ,Lightning and I, had formed a, to use his deluded expression "dude's alliance." Of course I didn't exactly enjoy his insistence on referring to me as if I were one of his halfwit jockstrap buddies, up until today if you'd asked me who I'd have voted off it'd have been Lightning in a flash. I didn't want to believe that stuff Scott had informed me of about Brick, seeing as I wasn't sure if I could trust that guy as far as I could throw him (which was pretty far, me being the regional Javelin and Shot Putt champ three years running), but that Jarhead had proven to be exactly the kind of guy you don't need on your team, so it was a neccessary move. Yeah at first he'd been surprisingly yielding, even obedient. Heck, he must've been the first guy to ever admit that I beat him at something. That was when I'd thought he was different than the piles of processed jockmeat I had to deal with back home. At first I thought it was just chivalry; pulling out my chair for me at Mess Hall, letting me beat him at thumb wrestling -typical country boy- but the more I watched him (you've got to keep a close eye on your team, and besides, whenever I noted how strong he was I felt an awesome thrill- the thrill of assured victory no doubt.) the more I watched him the more I realized that not only did he live to follow orders, but he loved it too. And if Sergeant Spill got a charge out of my being in charge, even better for the team. With two obviously skilled players on the same team it's necessary to make sure the rest of them know which one's command is to be followed, and which one's to be ignored.

So everything was going great, and it actually felt like things were looking up and up for the team, I had the perfect support in him, strong but yielding, trusting and moral. This last one worried me just as much as it was endearing. It meant he wouldn't dream of voting me out, and he even offered himself up for elimination that time. I knew my other teammates wanted me gone, just because I'd wanted us to go ahead with the challenge instead of stopping to look for Zoey and Lieutenant Leaks-a-lot. So I'd called him dead weight, I guess I was still pissed at him for bailing on me right after I pulled him outta that panic attack he was having in the pet grave. I was pissed cause of his abandoning his team just because of a little incident of incontinence. You'd think Captain Co-operation would put his team before his pride! Like today when he'd disobeyed my direct command to go save team Maggot, and just when we were getting back into the swing of things after this morning's disagreement. Why the sudden need to try to be my captain? We both knew I was the better leader under pressure, especially in a challenge like this one, in the dark. Did he really mean what he said, that he'd vote me off?

Guys. They really were all alike, why did Freckle face have to be right about this one?

CAMERON

Things seemed to be getting pretty desperate, in the time after the cave in I seemed to forgetabout my nausea. Zoey didn't look too good either... But no one else seemed to be affected, everyone was watching Jo pace in the front of the cave. Anne Maria, I noticed, was actually smiling and holding her huge rock up to the light that was streaming into the cave, watching it reflect on it. She breathed on the side of it and shined it with her sleeve.

"Hey, wait a minute, Anne Maria, can I see that diamond for a minute?"

"You can see it from here, wiseguy, I see what you're tryin' to do. I ain't lettin' go of this thing till I get to the bank!" said Anne Maria, eyeing him suspiciously.

"What's going on, Stringbean, you think we could use it to get out?" said Jo, looking as if she'd try anything at this point.

"No, it's just that I don't think that's a real diamond, Anne." I said.

"WHAT did he say? Don't try to tell me this thing's a fake." Anne Maria put her hand into a fist threateningly, but the catch in her voice betrayed that she was already afraid that I was right.

"Well, if it was real it wouldn't fog up when you breathed on it, not even a little bit. Diamonds don't hold heat." I replied, yes now that I was seeing it more closely it had to be.

"But- but I did the scratch test! I used my good fingernails!" cried Anne Maria, clutching the huge rock close to her, which only made it fog up more.

"Even the scratch test can be fooled by high quality Cubic Zirconia." I stated matter-of-factly.

"Hey yeah, plus if this cave had diamonds that big in it you could bet Chris would have given us a digging challenge." added Jo.

"Agh!" shouted Anne in frustration "Where's that pastey little gremlin? He is so gettin a beatdown fuh dis!" she balled her hands into fists and dropped the 'diamond' which made a surprisingly light thud on the floor. She looked at it and facepalmed in exhasperation.

"What? Who're you talking about" asked Jo.

Anne Maria began to tell the tale of her capture by former contestant Ezekiel.

"Hey, Cameron, come over here a minute" I recognized that grating voice, even in a whisper. Scott was calling me over to him, I followed him over to the carts. After some rummaging around he pulled out what appeared to be a souped up ePhone, made out of odds, ends and old parts of an ePhone.

I felt my eyes widen "Where did you get that?" I cried out before he shut my mouth with his hand

"Shhhh, I didn't want to show it in front of the others, but Beverly left this accidentally and I've been keeping it safe for him 'til I see him again. I didn't want to show it to Jo before because... b-because-" Scott covered his face and I heard loud sobs escape from behind his hands, "-because nobody in here trusts me!"

"I dunno Scott, you just come off as a little bit... creepy, I guess," I said, trying not to hurt his feelings even though I really couldn't blame anyone for finding this guy hard to trust. I mean all day today he seemed to be trying to lose us the challenge.

"I just thought that because nobody would believe that I'd kept it for Beverly, they know he didn't like me, maybe-" he sniffed and looked at me, and put his hands on my shoulders as if what he was about to say was of grave importance, "-m-maybe you could say that you'd kept it for him."

I started "What? I didn't even talk to B, Scott I think you should just-"

"Jo would be so glad you had a possible way of communicating with the outside that she wouldn't even notice, heck, she'd probably forget you were the one who got us trapped in here in the first place." Scott wove out the words, it was true, it was true, this way, I'd be back in Jo's good books for good, I'd be the one who saved the day!

"Well sure, Scott!" I almost yelled and I held out my hand for the phone.

But Scott didn't give it to me.

"Not just like that, Cameron," I never knew being called by my name for once could feel so strangely unpleasant, "I need to know that once we get out you won't be voting me off."

"Deal." I said, a little too quickly, revealing how eager I was.

"Not today, not ever. And no telling anyone else, either. You got it?"

Why did Scott need my promise especially? Did he think I suspected him of something?

"Sure. Of course. I won't vote for you." I said.

Scott grinned. "Here you go, buddy." he said as he placed the phone in my hand. The emphasis he put on the word 'buddy' made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. If this guy was trying to get people to trust him, he should focus on doing something about that voice!

SCOTT

After I got that doofus to show the phone to Jo I made sure of three things:

*I'd get out of this darn cave.

*I wouldn't trigger any more suspicion.

*I'd stopped the only one of my teammates who had a clue about my plan from putting me out of the game for good.

Of course he jumped on the opportunity, he wanted everyone to like him again so much, that's the problem with getting close to people, you set yourself up for some serious pain later on. If I hadn't been so close to my Pappy it wouldn't sting so bad whenever he gave me the ol' one-two. I winced just remembering it. Yep, I'd learned that the hard way, just like I'd learned to hunt kitchen rats, a skill that had turned out to be more useful in this game than I'd thought. Turns out trapping losers is alot like trapping rats.

It was a very happy Chris that picked up his PDA while replaying the clip of Lightning running around the cave while everyone else watched him with either bemused pity or exasperation. It was a very angry Chris that slammed down his phone, having received the text message that the campers were trapped in the abandoned mine.

"Aaaghhh, how'd they do that? How'd they get my number?"

Of course Cameron had figured out a way to find Chris' number, by logging onto the show's website and tracking the source of the updates.

This ruined everything, now he wouldn't be able to claim that he had no idea they were in there when the inevitable lawsuit came around. He'd have to go down there right now and let them out. And of course this would be the end of his indulgence in the goldmine that was prank show reality TV.

"I never get to have any fun!" he whined, kicking the wall fiercely. After a pause in which Chris fumed, Chef spoke. "Well you could always-"

"No, no there is no way I'm accepting help from that overrated screenhog!" Chris said, shaking his head.

"Don't think about it as accepting help, think about it as using her access to the tools of the trade, tricking her into trusting you with 40% of the earnings, and then manipulating it to pull the rug out from beneath her."

Using, tricking and manipulating just happened to be Chris McLean's favourite pastimes. "Pranking the hostess of pranks with her own prank? I like the way you think, Chef."

"I try." replied Hatchet, shrugging.

The gears that were turning in Chris' head locked into place along with the fates of a certain 8 contestants.

Acelaces: well there it is you guys, please review with questions, comments etc.

what did you guys think of it?

Lightning: Cool story bro, needs more Lightnin'!

Acelaces:*sigh* nevermind.

this chapter is titled 'sitting on a goldmine' because Chris realizes the cash potential of pranking our campers. Also, it takes place in a mine so...0_0

try to see how many times I put Lightning's name next to words like 'flash' 'strike' or 'charge' :P

there's plenty more to be put up, there will be drama, angst, fun, fights, fear and intrigue. Let's not forget fluff and friendshipping! Don't rush me because I'm a busy busy girl, but for once in my life I WILL finish something!