Hey guys! I had so much fun writing Survivor: Strangetown Edition this past summer that I found myself planning a sequel during it and thus, this story was born! I officially started writing The Amazing Race after I finished Survivor and one thing I will say is that this story takes a LOT longer to write than the previous one (especially since there are so many different storylines in the beginning), but I am hoping to post a chapter of this at least every month.

This story is the sequel to Survivor: Strangetown Edition and happens a few months after all the contestants left the island. Even though this story is technically a sequel, the story should still make sense to someone who hasn't read Survivor. Thanks for being so patient and I hope you enjoy this story!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Sims or The Amazing Race.

The Amazing Race: Strangetown Edition

Introduction

"Deep in the deserts of Strangetown live thirteen sims who were stupid enough to put up with me again and one newcomer who has no idea what she has gotten herself into," the man states, stepping forward with his tall, black top hat and black tailed tuxedo. He pushes his fingers together. "Hello, I'm the Unsavory Charlatan, and you may remember me from last season when I hosted one of the most frustrating game shows of all time, which I was forced to do after I was caught stealing one million simoleons from clueless tourists," the host reminds the audience.

"Well, I was caught stealing again, so obviously, I haven't learned my lesson. Many of these contestants have been on a show with me before, so obviously, they haven't learned their lesson," the Unsavory Charlatan states, "But it doesn't matter, because this season is going to be the best season ever! And I'm not just saying this because I'm being forced to – oh no. I'm saying this because I just got word that Pascal Curious had surgery yesterday, which means that he will be unable to participate on this season of the show. And ever since I heard that, I can't stop smiling," the host says, his face beaming.

The Unsavory Charlatan clears his throat. "Anyway, in just a few minutes, our fourteen contestants will set off on the greatest adventure of their lives. Which pair will survive all ten legs of the race and claim the million simoleon prize? This is The Amazing Chase: Strangetown Edition!" the host exclaims, throwing his hands up, "Now, let's meet our teams!"

…

"Hey, I'm Loki," the supervillain flashes onscreen, wearing the classic red and black spiked Criminal Mastermind outfit, "and this is Vidcund," Loki states, gesturing to the plant biologist that is standing next to him. "We were both on the last season of the show, but last time I played against these people, I got eliminated, which was the most devastating thing that ever happened to me. And yes, I am counting my divorce, so don't ask!" he growls. Loki steps back and shakes his head, quickly changing his demeanor. "Anyway, I was too nice last time, that's why I lost," he claims; Vidcund raising his eyebrows in disbelief at this comment, "But this time will be different because I'm older, more ruthless, and willing to do almost anything to win…even if I have to kill someone."

Vidcund steps forward, raising his hand in point, "-He's not going to kill anyone," he says.

Loki gives a slight chuckle. "Yeah. We'll see," he replies, crossing his arms and shooting an evil smirk into the camera. "Oh! And I'm also playing against my ex-wife with the guy who I cheated on her with, so no one wants to be me. I'm just kidding, everyone wants to be me! I mean, who wouldn't?"

Vidcund facepalms and looks over at the camera. "Can you please move on to the next pair?"

…

"Hi everyone, I am Crystal Vu and I'm playing again with my now-roommate, Nervous Subject," Crystal greets, her bright smile appearing onscreen.

Nervous steps forward and waves into the nearby camera. "Hi Mom!" he exclaims.

Crystal smiles. "Now I think we're going to make it really far this season because Nervous and I are a great team and we're really good at getting things done."

"And also I have the candles!" Nervous adds, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a red one. He brings it up to his nose and takes a sniff. "Ooh, apple crisp!" Nervous sets the candle back down in his pocket and looks back into the camera, "But this time we're going to be playing for more than just candles, we're playing for dinnerware that'll really bring our apartment together," he concludes, moving his hands together.

Crystal nods. "Yes, we're very sophisticated adults," she seconds, trying to hold back laughter.

…

"I'm Circe," the young red-haired chief of staff appears onscreen, "And if you don't know why I'm here then boy are you in for a treat!"

"-And uh, I'm Erin," Erin awkwardly steps into the shot, giving a small wave, "And I'm here for vengeance!"

Circe nods. "Yeah, what she said," she seconds, "You see, last season my idiot ex-husband, Loki, ousted me as a beard on national television and got together with my ex-boyfriend, so this season, I decided to go on this show again to repay the favor!" Circe snarls, fire in her eyes.

"And I'm on this season of the show to beat Crystal and if there's time, ruin her life," Erin clarifies next to her, "But I also wouldn't mind winning the million simoleons, because I have a lot of student debt to pay off," she confesses, "So, when do we start?"

…

"Hello puny sims, I am the Grim Reaper – but you can call me Death - and I am back on your television screens!" the Grim Reaper declares, sticking his scythe down into the sand. "Now just because I'm on the show again, doesn't mean that I won't be fulfilling my duties as the Grim Reaper," he states, "I'll still be harvesting souls throughout my journey. Also if anyone dies unexpectedly, it's not my fault," he quickly adds.

"And I'm Kristen!" Kristen Singles, unenthusiastically speaks up next to him, "But honestly, with an introduction that great, who could follow that?" she shrugs. "I'm the only new sim on this season of the show, but I'm very athletic and I love adventure, so I think I should be pretty good at this game. What do you think, Death?"

The Grim Reaper floats over to Kristen and stops in front of her. He rubs his chin with his boney hand. "Yeah, in terms of the partners I could've had on this show, you're definitely in the top half," Death comments, "And that's the closest thing to a compliment you will ever hear me say," he tells the camera.

…

"Hey everyone, I'm Jenny Smith," Jenny greets, "I'm a mom and I'm probably the nicest sim that you will ever meet."

"And I'm Olive Specter," Olive introduces next to her, "I'm also a mother and I'm probably the scariest sim that you will ever meet," she mirrors. "Back in the day, I was a real go-getter. I had a 'killer' job as a Professional Party Guest, I had an even more killer job as a serial killer, but now I'm retired and all I want to do is go home and sit on my wads of cash."

Jenny tilts her forehead, clearly puzzled. "Then why are you competing on this show?" she wonders.

Olive shrugs her shoulders. "I'm running out of wads," she confesses.

…

"I'm Pollination Tech #9, I'm a retired Pollination Technician, I'm eighty-nine years old, and I enjoy worldly adventures," Pollination Tech #9 greets, standing next to his friend.

"And I'm Ajay," Ajay Loner states, raising his hand, "I moved into Strangetown this past year by myself and I met a lot of crazy people – mostly scientists," the newcomer adds, "But I also met the guy standing next to me, and he was pretty cool, so we became friends," he recaps.

Pollination Tech #9 nods in agreement. "This season we're participating in this race because I for one, enjoy travelling, and even though I'm getting up there in age, I still have a lot of spunk left in these bones!"

Ajay cracks a smile, a bizarre look on his face. "Well, alright then."

…

"Now that all the intros are over with, let's say hello to our seven teams!" the Unsavory Charlatan announces, standing in the center of a nearly empty desert. The host gestures his arm out to the side, towards the large wooden entry way; a bright yellow mat laying down in the sand in front of him. He smiles and gazes down at the notecards that are in his hands. "Vidcund and Loki! Crystal and Nervous! Circe and Erin!" he shouts, watching as each of the pairs run onto the desert and take their place on the yellow mat. "Death and Kristen! Jenny and Olive! PT and Ajay!" he continues, three more pairs racing out the tunnel.

The Unsavory Charlatan flips his final notecard over. "And finally, Lazlo and Pascal!" he shouts, turning back towards the tunnel, "Wait? Pascal?!" he repeats, throwing his notecard down as Pascal races out of the tunnel with Lazlo. Pascal stops to wave to the cameras. "Pascal!" the host narrows his eyes at him as he storms over to the mad scientist. "What the hell are you doing here?! I thought you had surgery!"

"I did," Pascal replies, turning towards the host, his mouth stuffed with gauze, "I even performed it myself!"

The Unsavory Charlatan shakes his head, clearly dumbfounded. "But you weren't supposed to – Wait, did you just say that you performed the surgery on yourself?"

"Well, yeah," Pascal responds, "I am a mad scientist."

"Believe me, I never questioned why the word 'mad' was in your job title," the host mutters, "But I still don't understand. I mean, don't you need to recover?"

Pascal rolls his eyes. "Psh! And miss another season where I annoy you with my very existence? As if!" he huffs, crossing his arms over his torso. "Now, are those oranges for the crew or are they for everyone?" he wonders, pointing to the buffet table situated behind the cameras.

The host's face slumps. "They're for the crew," he groans.

"-Too late!" Pascal races over to the table, grabs an orange, and attempts to fit it inside his mouth; all the other contestants watching him intriguingly. Pascal squeezes down on the orange, causing some of the juice to squirt out. "Oh God! It burns!" he screams.

The Unsavory Charlatan groans and shakes his head, his eyes to the floor. "This is going to be a long season."

"I'll say!" Pascal seconds, throwing the orange down on the ground and squishing it with his shoe. He rejoins the group on the bright yellow mat. "Ooh! I know what'll pass the time! We can have everyone join my new internship program!" he exclaims, "Now, I can't afford to pay anyone, cause I don't want to, but all interns get a free burrito every twenty-four hours! This week's flavor is apple cinnamon!" Pascal beams, enthusiastically taking the box out from behind his back and holding it up to the others. Several of the contestants look disgusted.

"Who supplies the burritos?" Vidcund wonders.

Pascal nudges his brother in the side, "-Government," he answers, "But overall, it's a very worthwhile internship. You get to see my scientific brain in action!" Pascal reiterates.

Loki crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. "Psh, if people want to see me in action, they gotta pay money for it."

Vidcund slaps his forehead. "Oh God. You do realize how wrong that sounded, right?"

"Relax, I didn't mean you," Loki reassures him.

The Unsavory Charlatan steps forward, eyeing Pascal and Loki who are both standing next to Vidcund. He shakes his head lightly before sympathetically gazing at the plant biologist. "I don't know how you live with this every day," he states. "Well, much to my disliking, Pascal is here after all, which means we will still be having seven teams this season," the host informs the contestants, "But unfortunately, because we thought Pascal wasn't going to be on the show, we scrapped the intro video of him and Lazlo."

"Oh, that's okay, we made our own!" Pascal reaches into his pocket and holds out a DVD to the host.

The Unsavory Charlatan gazes down at the disc, a look of disappointment spread across his face. "That's great," he begins, "But we don't have a disc drive."

"No problem! I emailed it to the company," Pascal replies.

"Uh…someone hacked our email," the host counters.

Pascal shrugs. "That's totally fine, I have it on a memory stick!" the mad scientist reaches into his pocket once more and holds the USP drive out to the host.

The Unsavory Charlatan gazes down at the memory stick and sighs. "You're prepared to do this all day until we show this thing, aren't you?"

Pascal nods matter-of-factly. "Mmhm."

"Fine! Give me that!" the Unsavory Charlatan gives in, snatching the USP drive from Pascal and putting it into a nearby laptop. The video starts to play.

A raw beef patty is shown sizzling on a grill. A large spatula appears onscreen, flips the patty over, and presses down on it; the food sizzles once more. "Tax exemption!" Pascal shouts off-camera. The scene fades to black.

The Unsavory Charlatan turns and glares at the mad scientist, who is still staring excitedly at the screen. Pascal smiles and crosses his arms. "You know, it took twenty takes to get that shot. I really think it symbolizes the fall of modern society…"

"I think it shows that you're a nut," the host grumbles, reluctantly handing the memory card back to Pascal. "That video didn't introduce anyone. Lazlo wasn't even in it!" the Unsavory Charlatan exclaims.

"Yeah, he was. He was the one flipping the patty!" Pascal replies.

The Unsavory Charlatan facepalms and slides his hand down to his chin. "So, let me get this straight, you came on the show to display footage of a barbecue grill on national television?"

"Hey, someone had to be Lazlo's partner; showing symbolic hamburger footage was just an added bonus!" Pascal chimes.

The Unsavory Charlatan steps back and shakes his head a few times, grumbling to himself. After a few moments, he turns to the rest of the contestants and sighs. "Anyway, hello everyone and welcome to The Amazing Chase!"

Pascal tilts his forehead, "Don't you mean The Amazing Ra-?"

"-No!" the Unsavory Charlatan quickly interrupts him, "This is an entirely different show and any similarities of this show to any others already in existence is completely coincidental," he spews, "Now, today on The Amazing Race – dammit! Fine, this is The Amazing Race, are you happy?" the Unsavory Charlatan asks, narrowing his eyes at Pascal.

"Quite," Pascal beams.

"Before we get started, let me explain how this game works," the Unsavory Charlatan begins, pacing in front of the residents, "As you can clearly see, all fourteen of you have been grouped into pairs of two. Over these next four weeks, we will travel across the Simverse, visiting various towns. Each town represents one leg of the race. At the beginning of each race, we will meet up – much like this – and I will give you information on the neighborhood that we are visiting, as well as tell you where the task station is," he explains, "Whichever pair arrives at the station first gets first choice at the tasks. 'A task' is a small mission in the neighborhood that you must accomplish before we leave the area. Any pair who fails to complete their task in the designated timeframe risks being eliminated. Teams can be penalized time for not completing their tasks or for various other things that are laid out on the back of the task cards," the host states, taking out a sample task card and flipping it over to show the contestants.

"Now, if everyone completes their task in time, then the last team to arrive at the neighborhood's entrance or 'Pit Stop' will be eliminated, assuming no other pair was penalized enough to top the last place finishers' arrival time," the Unsavory Charlatan explains, clasping his hands together behind his back, "This season, this game will answer the question of which relationship is the best."

"-Well that's easy, ours," Loki speaks up, gesturing to himself and Vidcund.

The Unsavory Charlatan bursts into laughter. "Haha, oh Loki!" the host cries, wiping a single tear away from his eye, "You two probably won't even be together by the end of this! We all know you have intimacy issues."

"What? No, I don't. Who said that?" Loki says, frantically scanning the crowd, "I'll sleep with them to prove a point!"

Vidcund groans and cowers a bit, covering his face with his hand. "Oh God…" he moans.

"Wait! I forgot to mention the best part – the eliminations," the Unsavory Charlatan remarks, turning back towards the other contestants, "You see, there are seven pairs right now, but only three pairs will be lucky enough to make the finale. The elimination legs are completely random, so you have no idea going in if anyone is going to be eliminated at the end of that leg. Leg ten is the last leg of the race, and whoever completes their task and finishes first wins The Amazing Race: Strangetown Edition, and the winning pair will be awarded one million simoleons."

"Wow, what a prize!" Pascal awes, bringing his hand up to his chin in a ponder, "Actually, now that I think about it, did I ever get that money…?"

The Unsavory Charlatan shifts his eyes and quickly claps his hands together. "Okay, in the hopes of preventing stupid guesses about the relationship theme, you all get one chance to guess what pair title you were assigned," he tells them.

Circe raises her hand slightly. "Well, I don't know what we are, but I'm guessing those two are the vomit-inducing pair," Circe claims, pointing deviously at Vidcund and Loki.

Nearby, Loki nudges Vidcund in the side, sporting a rather large smile on his face. "-That's the nicest thing she's ever said to me."

"Ooh!" Pascal hops next to Lazlo, "Are we the hot pair?" he asks the host.

"No, no. Obviously, you're the head-cases, Circe and Erin are the 'associated with greatness' pair, Crystal and Nervous are the friendzoned pair, Olive and Jenny are the 'past their prime' pair, Death and Kristen are the athletic super-humans, and Pollination Tech #9 and Ajay are the 'who the hell are those guys?' pair," Loki names off, "-And that just leaves the two of us, and we're clearly beauty and the beast," Loki states, gesturing to himself and Vidcund.

The Unsavory Charlatan stops and stares at Loki, a rather weirded-out expression on his face. "Uh…no. That's not even close," he says suddenly. "Pascal and Lazlo are the brothers, Circe and Erin are the sister-in-laws, Crystal and Nervous are the roommates, Olive and Jenny are the mothers, Death and Kristen are the acquaintances, Pollination Tech #9 and Ajay are the friends, and you and Vidcund are the lovers."

"Lovers?" Loki cringes, "Geesh, that's assuming a lot, don't you think?"

The Unsavory Charlatan sighs and rubs his aching forehead. He clears his throat and turns back to the contestants. "Welcome to Leg One: La Fiesta Technical University!" the host reveals, "This university, established in 1924, is home to over one hundred sims. Like the deserts of its neighboring city, Strangetown, it's filled with many mysteries such as the normal-looking alien and the cafeteria that only serves macaroni," he continues, "This is also the place where our very own Circe Salamis, got her first college degree!"

"Thank you," Circe beams, crossing her arms in front of her torso, "It took two years, then I went to Sim State with these bozos," she claims, pointing to Loki and the Curious brothers.

"Excellent," the host replies, playing with his hands, "Now, since we're already twenty minutes behind schedule – thanks to Pascal," he mutters, glaring at the mad scientist, "I've decided to just randomly give each of the pairs a task, which the crew members already taped on the back of one member of each team," he reveals, "You must complete the task and return to this Pit Stop before sundown tomorrow. Good luck and get started, I will see you then!" the Unsavory Charlatan announces, backing away from the contestants and gesturing out towards the lavish deserts of La Fiesta Tech University.

All of the contestants turn to their partners and start looking over their task sheet. "It says here that we need to go to some place called Oresha-Hoh-Var," Jenny tells Olive, reading the lime green card over.

Olive nods. "Alright, lead the way!"

Nearby, Vidcund watches as all the other pairs start heading across town. He groans as he struggles to get the task card off his back. "Why did anyone think this was a good idea?" Vidcund moans.

Loki rips the card off Vidcund's back and reads it over. "So apparently, we're supposed to go to that white house over there," Loki says, pointing to the small white-painted rectangular house down the street.

"You mean the shady-looking one?" Vidcund wonders, adjusting his glasses; Loki nods. "-Of course," he groans.