Chapter 02 - Determination


The rest of the challenge in Brazil went rather smoothly for Owen and Noah, until they got to the hang-gliding part. Noah wasn't even sure if the hang-glider could hold Owen, but miraculously, it did.

Not so miraculously, the glider pitched downwards far faster near their descent. Owen's frantic screaming and Noah's cry for people to move out of the way were soon muffled when they found themselves half-buried in sand.

The cynic could hear Don declaring winners as he struggled to free himself from the sand. A panic started to rise in him, as the numbers were getting rather close to fifteen, which would be last place, which could mean elimination.

Noah managed to free himself relatively quickly, and started tugging on Owen. His friend was wedged in pretty tightly, so the strain of pulling was starting to make his rib injury throb in pain.

"It's worth it. It's worth it!" he thought, fighting back the pain.

Then the cadets came gliding it, and MacArthur knocked right into Owen. This dislodged the large guy from the sand, knocked him backwards, and right on top of Noah. The pain in his chest felt like a stab wound, as he was being squashed under his friend against the ground.

"AAAAAAUGH," Noah screamed in agony. "GET OFF! Getoff getoff getoff getoff getoff getoff getoff!"

Owen, dazed from the crash and the impact, was straining to do so, especially when he heard his buddy crying out in pain. It wasn't until MacArthur grabbed him by his wrist, lifted him over herself with the power of her glutes, and tossed him aside. "Civilian down," she barked. Then she quickly realized what she was doing, and uttered, "Oh. You're one of the other teams. My bad!"

Don walked over to Noah, and casually asked, "Are you experiencing sharp shooting pains, Noah?"

"No, I'm just enjoying myself, lying here writhing in agony until I die, thank you very much," the cynic spat out, trying hard and failing miserably to not show any signs of pain.

"I'll get a doctor to give you some red and green herbs, but that's the best I can offer. Injuries that leave you too disabled to compete result in elimination, I'm sorry to say."

"Then get the herbs, and in the meantime, I'll just lie here and contemplate about all the regrets I have. It'll take a long time, believe me."

Don started to page a medical team, as Owen nervously approached his best friend. The big guy looked ready to cry. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you badly?"

"I'll live. I think. I really should have written a will before I started doing these shows."

Carrie and Devin walked up then, staring down at Noah. "It's not safe to leave him here," Carrie pointed out, clenching her hands tightly. "The remaining teams may trample him! Noah, you ready?"

"If you injure me along the way, you are so out of my new will."

As Carrie and Devin took his arms, and Owen took his legs, they moved him over to a bench and laid him out there. Noah groaned, not feeling much better but at least the pain wasn't as intense. Owen glanced down at him, still feeling super guilty.

"You want one of my new stuffed animals to help you feel better, Noah?" he asked.

"It'd be best not to give me Bazookie at the moment."

"He doesn't actually fire ammo, silly."

"No, but he's long enough for me to swat you with!"

Owen winced, and stepped away. Carrie put her hand on the big guy's shoulder, and said, "He's just in pain right now, he doesn't mean that. Just wait until the medic arrives, and things'll be fine. Here, let's go find them!"

The big guy nodded, then quickly fished into his pockets as the Best Friends walked away. Finding Bumbles first, he dropped the bee plushie onto Noah's chest and then dashed off to find the medical team with the Besties. Thus, he didn't realize that the bee plushie had bounced off of Noah's chest, and onto his face.

"Someone want to take this off?" he murmured, slightly muffled. "Anyone? Fine. I'll just lie here with a giant bee on my face, looking like an idiot honeycomb. God, I hate my life."

He felt someone's presence sit down on the bench next to him, and the bee plushie lifted off his face. The pale face of Crimson was right over his in the next instant.

"Oh, hello," he remarked, swallowing the sharp bit of pain that suddenly hit him. For some reason, his heart pounded a bit harder then, making his rib throb.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked, her monotone voice making it hard for him to tell if she was concerned, or asking out of sheer boredom.

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine, I know for a fact I cannot die," Noah muttered. "I mean, Heaven won't take me, and Hell is afraid I'll take over."

Crimson blinked slowly, cocking her head to the side. Noah, wondering if he had lost his touch, went for one more. "Yep, for doing so many reality shows, there is a special place in Hell for me. It's called the throne."

"You're obviously fine if you can make jokes," Crimson remarked.

"It's quite possibly the only sign that I'm still alive. And I mean that literally, because there are days when I feel dead inside."

"You're so," she said, as a little shiver went through her body, one he did notice, "dark."

"Yes yes, revel in my pain and misery. You really like to turn up when I get injured, don't you? Do you enjoy this?"

She frowned at him, by which she tightened her eyebrows and her lips curled a little more. It was hard to catch, but Noah was close enough to see it. "I don't take pleasure in other people's suffering."

"You seem to be around me when I get hurt a lot."

"When you get hurt, you seem to accept it, as if there is some reason you deserve it."

Noah frowned right back at her. "Oh, you psycho-analyzing me while I lay here, unable to move? Listen, I'm here to win half a million dollars in a race, not a therapy session where I discuss my family issues."

At this point, a nurse walked over with a full glass of blended red and green herbs. Offering Noah a straw, he chugged down the treatment as fast as he could, then lay back down.

"Listen, Crimson," he muttered, "I don't get if you're trying to study me, analyze me, or maybe you are just fascinated with the guy who constantly gets so close to death that he's got the Grim Reaper on his Christmas card list…

"But what I do know is," he started to say, then the world started to spin as he stared straight up, "oh… the herbs are kicking in. Stupid red and green herbs, shouldn't have taken them down so fast…"

"You'll probably pass out soon," Crimson stated.

"Yeah… do me one favor… if there is driving next challenge… don't let Owen do it… have a bus hit me, it'll be a faster death."

Crimson leaned over him, and kissed him on the lips, an upside-down smooch. His eyes started to go wide, then as he relaxed into it, the healing herbs did their final part and eased him to sleep. When she sat up, she noticed some of the contestants, namely Owen, Carrie, Devin, Emma, Kitty, and Ennui, were staring at her.

But she didn't bother to say a word, she simply got up and walked away, motioning for Ennui to follow her.


(Ridonculous Confessional - Topping a closet!)

(The Goths.)

Crimson - "Now do you want to talk about it?"

Ennui - "Not particularly."

Crimson - "Whatever."

Ennui - "…"

Crimson - "…"

Ennui - *gets up and walks away*

Crimson - "I wish you wouldn't sulk."


(The Sisters.)

Kitty - "Aww! Kiss number two! Looks like we got a real couple going on!"

Emma - "Psssh. Yeah. Her smooching him when he's passing out from a combination of pain and medical treatment is really romantic. She's practically a vampire."

Kitty - "Huh?"

Emma - "She's hovering over him when he's in pain, staring at him all creepy like…"

Kitty - "What have you got against Crimson?"

Emma - "Nothing! I don't have anything against her, I just don't like her."

Kitty - *raises a dubious eyebrow* "Uh-huh… couldn't possibly be because she's making a move on Noah, is it?"

Emma - "I'm here to compete, Kitty. Kindly shut up."

Kitty - "Sheesh."


(The Best Friends)

Devin - *crosses his arms and smirks at Carrie* "Say it. I know you want to."

Carrie - *happy squeal* "I ship it!"

Devin - *rolls his eyes and laughs* "Oh boy, here we go. Still, it's kind of a bizarre thing, isn't it?"

Carrie - "What? What's bizarre about a girl liking a boy?"

Devin - "I dunno… just, I guess, she's kind of going about this all oddly, don't you think? If she likes him, why doesn't she just say it?"

Carrie - *glances nervously to the side* "M-maybe she doesn't know how to?"

Devin - "Well, she'll have to come up with some way to say it, or he's just going to weirded out by her."

Carrie - *slumps* "Yeah… I guess…"

Devin - "What's got you down so suddenly?"


(The Reality TV Pros.)

*Noah is fast asleep, seated in a chair. Owen is holding Bumbles and Batty up in the air, doing voices again.*

Bumbles - "And when Noah wakessssss up, we'll asssssssk him how good that kisssssssss wassssss!"

Batty - "If he even remembers it! Ha ha ha! I'm Batty!"

Bumbles - "You think the herbsssss will causssssse him to forget his lassssssst consssssscious momentssssss?"

Batty - "Then we're just going to have to remind him! Ha ha ha! I'm Batty!"

Owen - "I'm so glad Noah got me these. I feel like I'm entertaining my little buddy as he sleeps away the pain!"


The last team to cross the Chill Zone turned out to be the Vegans, who were sent home in elimination. Don, still sporting the black eye Laurie had given him, seemed to enjoy this a little more than the other eliminations.

During the two hour break, Don took a phone call. The fourteen teams still in the game didn't have much to do, and thus wandered around for a bit. Owen performed a play with his plushie toys for his sleeping friend.

After the two hours, Noah was starting to stir in his sleep when Don called all of the teams back. "Okay," the host said, "apparently, there's been a bit of a snafu with the next location, due to a couple tourists who messed up what was going to be our next challenge area. So, I'm going to have to tell you this one, instead of a Don box."

He grinned as the Don Box was carted off during his speech. "The rules are going to be the same, you're just going to leave in the order you made it here, when I sound you off.

"Speaking of which, Owen! Is Noah capable of continuing?"

Owen, panicked that Noah wouldn't be able to answer, gripped the back of his friend's head and muttered as best he could without moving his lips, "Um, I'm Noah, and I am going to cynically say yes to-"

Noah slapped Owen's hand away and gave the host a thumbs-up. Don smiled at this, and said, "Alright, because I know you all want to hear this, being native to Canada: you're going to the largest city of our country, Toronto!"

Many cheers went out, especially from Devin and Carrie. "Home-town advantage, homie," he declared happily, high-fiving her.

"Think we'll pass by home?" she asked gleefully.

"Possibly! Hey, maybe we'll even run into Shelly," he said with a fist-pump of enthusiasm. He didn't see it, but Carrie became far less enthused with this comment.

Crimson's eyes widened, and nervously started rubbing her knuckles. "Where exactly?" she asked, her voice still neutral.

"You all will be taking a plane to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, which, if you didn't know, is located on an island. There, you will find a Don Box for your next travel tip! … I hope, they're rushing right now to set it up, this challenge was kind of made on the spot. I hope it's something good."

As the contestants all started to get organized for being called out, Owen helped Noah to his feet. "I can stand," the know-it-all grumbled.

"I just want to help," Owen pleaded. "I feel so bad about squashing you!"

They eventually found their place in line, and Noah, still woozy and wobbly from the healing herbs, leaned against his large friend. That was when he realized Emma and Kitty were in front of them.

"You only got ninth?" he asked. "You seemed so far ahead last time I was… sentient."

"We could have gotten farther," Emma said, glaring at her sister. "But Kitty here took her sweet time making her side of the costume."

"My hand was still so much in pain," Kitty whined. "I mean, it's better now, but it really, really hurt! Noah, you would know, right? You got bit by the ants too."

"All my existence is pain right now," Noah remarked, with a roll of his eyes. "I am on my way to make a great poet, I guess."

Despite herself, Emma chuckled at this. "Okay, that's actually kind of funny. Guess when you lose the million, you'll be on your way to become the next Edgar Allen Poe."

"Quoth the Noah, Never Million," the cynic said.

Again, Emma laughed. Kitty glanced at her, smirking, and as if that was a trigger, the older sister stopped what she was doing. "Um, I mean, whatever! Hope those herbs don't make you so groggy, you cannot finish this challenge."

When she turned away from Noah and Owen, it was the cynic's turn to chuckle. Owen whispered to him, "Aw, I thought she was going to laugh so much at your jokes, she would kiss you too!"

Noah elbowed his friend in the ribs. Or at least he tried to, it was hard to hit that far into Owen.


(Ridonculous Confessional - We gots a world map, baby!)

(The Reality TV Pros)

Owen - "So you seem to like Emma…"

Noah - "She's an intelligent, strict, and beautiful woman. From what I've seen… I mean, I don't know her, Owen."

Owen - "Maybe if we get on the same plane as her, you can chat her up!"

Noah - "That… wouldn't be the worst possible thing to happen."

Owen - "But how are you going to break that to Crimson? I mean, how was that second kiss with her?"

Noah - *frowns at him* "What are you talking about?"

Owen - "Oh dear, you don't remember? Here, let me try to remind you!"

Batty - "Ha ha ha! You were lying down, and Bumbles was on your face, then she picked him up and started talking to you, and-"

*Noah swats Batty out of Owen's hand.*

Noah - "I don't need what I am sure was going to be a thrilling recap, Owen, I remember what happened! I just meant, why do you think I need to talk to Crimson about… whatever it is you think I need to talk to her about?"

Owen - "She's kind of kissed you twice, I thought-"

Noah - "She makes zero sense to me, Owen! Zero! You really think I'm interested in a woman I cannot figure out at all? Not to mention, she's dressed like Vampiria, has a tattoo of a bat on her chest, and talks about gloom and doom as casually as you would the weather. You've known me for three years, Owen, does that sound like the kind of girl I would date?"

Owen - *glances side to side, and grins nervously* "The heart is a fickle thing?"


The trip to the airport was relatively quiet for Noah and Owen, as the know-it-all didn't care much to go more into his feelings with his best friend. The big guy tried to use his plushie toys again, but that didn't exactly bring Noah out of his shell.

When they reached the airport and boarded a plane, Owen was the one to notice Emma and Kitty were on the same flight. Thus, he made sure to take the window seat, Noah's favorite place, and waited for everyone to sit down. When the plane had taken off, he leaned in to whisper to Noah, "Emma's on the plane~!"

Noah gave him a second-long sideways glance, and said, "I'm trying to keep my head in the game here, Owen. We are racing for a million dollars. I'm staying in this seat."

Owen thought long and hard about what he should do. True, he wanted to stay in the game, and Noah was the smart one, thus needing his time to relax and recharge.

However, being on a plane did trigger one more thing in Owen than sheer panic: heartbreaking nostalgia. He could think back to the time on Total Drama World Tour, when he made the biggest mistake of his life, and broke up with Izzy. Then the plane crashed, on her, and he realized how much he cared about her. And the resulting events were complicated and weird, but all he remembered is that he never managed to say good-bye, much less apologize to her.

Thinking such sad things made Owen scheme like he never schemed before, all for his best friend. He glanced out the window, and muttered, "Gee, flying isn't so bad when I cannot see the ground. All those clouds though… seeing all those white, fluffy clouds made of gasses and such… it makes me feel kind of gassy myself!"

He heard a seat belt click, and a shuffle of movement. With a quick glance to the side, he smiled when he saw the empty seat where Noah had been. Then he actually felt gassy, and cursed that his tactic had worked a little too well.

Noah walked down the aisle, anywhere but near his potentially-flatulent friend. He recognized several of the other teams along the way: the Father & Son, the Rockers, Fashion Bloggers, Best Friends, the lone Sister, the Adversity Twins… wait…

Noah turned around, walking back to where Emma was seated alone. When she noticed him nearby, she asked, annoyed, "Can I help you?"

"Just was doing a quick head-count to size up the competition," Noah said, "and I couldn't help you are down a sister. What, was she too heavy to be considered a carry-on?"

Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes. "She's busy talking to the twins. Seems she feels bad for them or something, because you know, sympathy for our enemy teams is totally going to win us the game."

"Maybe she's undermining them?"

"She doesn't have the heart. Unless of course, they start trash-talking her in an online game, but I doubt they are going to do that."

"If they did, maybe she'll go on tilt, enter gamer rage mode, and take things serious from here on."

"Oh, please, Kitty never takes things seriously," Emma said with another scoff. "Have you any idea what it's like to be the responsible older sibling? It feels like being a parent."

"Actually, I'm the exact opposite," Noah admitted. "I'm the youngest of nine."

"Of nine?" She stared up at him incredulously. "Oh my God, how did you survive?"

"Pretty simple, really," he said, sitting down next to her as his legs were getting a little tired. "A good door lock, headphones, books, and a promise that any disturbance results in me spoiling their favorite TV shows."

"I totally should have thought of that," Emma admitted. "But seriously, books?"

"Some of us still like to read, my dear," Noah remarked with a grin. "But yeah, I made the switch to a tablet a while back, keep a bookshelf with me."

"Why don't you have it now?"

"Because I don't have any way to carry it during challenges without risking it be a hinderance or getting destroyed. For this race, I decided to keep my eye on the game."

"I wish my sister was half as focused as you. If you and I had teamed up, we probably would have come in first several times by now."

Both of them smiled, and there was a brief moment where they just enjoyed each other's company like that. Then Emma realized what she was doing, and cleared her throat.

"But we're not, you're my enemy," she said, turning forward. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Owen's in one of his, well, moods. I don't want to be near him when he's like that."

"Afraid he'll break a rib again?"

"The other kind of mood, the one that may actually be more damaging to my health."

Emma wasn't entirely sure what he meant, but she sighed. "I still shouldn't be talking to you, nor you with me. We're supposed to be focused on the game."

"True. But not much we can do while we're flying on a plane, with our teammates doing other things. So I propose, as a neutral point of conversation, we talk about something that isn't about the challenge or the contest or ourselves, so we cannot gain any advantage over the other person."

She glanced over at him. "How do you propose we do that?"

Noah thought about this. His first question that popped to mind was, "Do you like movies?" but it seemed like a silly thing to ask. "Well, do you like reading too?"

"Yes, but probably not the kind of books you'd like."

"Try me."


The airplane carrying the second half of the contestants landed during mid-day, and all of them bolted out of the plane. Noah had rejoined Owen at the last minute, and immediately the big guy besieged him with questions.

"Were you talking to Emma the plane ride? Did you get to kiss her? What did you talk about? Did you know that I actually get really gassy when I stare at clouds for too long? Wanna know how happy I am to be back on the ground again?"

Noah promptly ignored these until he reached the Don Box, and hit the big, red button. Reading the tip aloud, he said, "Either/Or. Either construct a raft from the trash ferries currently docked at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, or cross the water without one at your own peril. The Don Box is on the other side at the dock. My, how sanitary."

Owen swallowed nervously, then grinned when an idea popped into his head. "Hey, we found out I was rather buoyant in France! Why don't we try that again?"

"We had an oar then," Noah remarked.

"Well, let's see if we can find something in the trash ferries to paddle us across. What do you say, partner?"

"You sure you want to do that again?"

"I'll do anything for the team!"

He raised a hand for a high-five, and Noah sighed. He gave his friend the high-five he wanted, saying, "I guess I cannot argue if you're going to make the sacrifice."

"Just so long as you tell me details about what happened along the way!"

"Ugh, I knew there was a catch to it."

They headed for the trash ferries, where most of the teams were digging through the smelly trash; it seemed most of them didn't want to go swimming without a raft of some kind. Some teams were rummaging through the trash for anything useful, some were constructing rafts already.

Noah saw Emma was already there, searching as best as she could with one hand, as the other was pinching her nose. Crimson was also rummaging through the trash, though appeared undisturbed by the smell… until she gagged, turned away for fresh air, and turned back to it.

The goth gal stepped off the trash ferry, muttering to Ennui about needing fresh air. He shrugged, and went back to looking. Crimson took several deep breaths, as she tried to fight the nausea that came from what she was doing.

"Oh my God, Mom," she heard Taylor, a rather grating voice to her, shouting. "Would it kill you to look a little deeper than two feet into the trash?"

Crimson turned to see Taylor was standing on the shore, arms crossed and staring angrily at her mother, the one digging through the trash.

"I'm just trying not to get anything gross on my clothes, sweetie," Kelly called back, nervously picking through the trash.

"You need to get something that we can use as a raft, remember? I swear, we're falling so far behind because you aren't worked up enough to win this!"

Taylor huffed and took out her nail file. As she started checking her nails, Carrie was walking by, hauling a couple broken suitcases. The blond gal glanced at Kelly digging through the trash, then at Taylor.

"Are you not going to help her?" Carrie asked.

"No," Taylor responded with a tone that implied that had been a really stupid question, "the challenge does not call for both teammates to dig through the trash. So if I don't have to get dirty, then my mom can do it."

"She may need your help, though," Carrie remarked. Just as she spoke, a bunch of garbage fell from a pile Kelly was looking through, right onto her.

"Ugh, and have something like that happen to me? No way," the spoiled girl exclaimed. "She'll find something eventually, if she doesn't take forever! Go worry about building your own raft."

Crimson felt herself scowling, much more than she normally did. Her hands also balled into fists, and she felt her blood boil.

As Carrie walked away from Taylor, the spoiled girl called out, "I mean, if you can find anything that'll support those giant hips of yours, blonde."

The goth gal expected Carrie to react to that, but to Crimson's surprise, she didn't. Silently impressed, but miffed over Taylor for reasons she didn't fully understand at the moment, she walked back to the trash and started digging through it.

Nearby, Kitty gagged as she pulled a bunch of used napkins away from the pile. "Why can't we just swim?" she whined to her sister.

"Because neither of us are good enough to make it from here to there, we're not athletes," Emma reasoned. "And even if we did, we'd be too exhausted on the other side for the next part of the challenge!"

"Okay, but I don't see how we're going to find anything to help us cross a river in this heap of garbage!"

Kitty angrily kicked at a pile of said rubbish, and revealed a deflated raft with a small hole in it. She blinked, then smiled. "On second thought, maybe we will!"

As the sisters pulled the damaged raft off of the trash ferry, Carrie was walking back to Devin with the broken suitcases. He was duct-taping them together with half a roll he had found in the trash.

"Can you believe what people throw away?" he said as he started on the suitcases Carrie had handed him. "I mean, seriously, there's still so much tape on this roll as it is, and half of these suitcases are useable with a little patch job!"

"Yeah," Carrie remarked, obviously distracted.

He stopped taping the suitcases, looking up at her. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just," she started to say, then sighed heavily. "I feel kind of guilty."

"What about?"

"When you were napping on the plane, I started talking to Tom and Jen. They were telling me all about their fashion blog, and then I asked them which of them started it."

"What's wrong with that?"

Carrie pointed towards the trash ferries, where Tom and Jen were standing with their backs to each other, angry and sulky frowns on their faces.

"They started arguing who came up with it, and now they won't even look at each other," she said, shaking her head. "I feel so bad, I feel like I broke them up."

"Carrie, you cannot blame yourself if they haven't resolved that issue," Devin assured her. "I mean, that would have come up between them whether or not you asked eventually."

"It's just, I want to win the million, sure, but I don't want to feel like some kind of home wrecker to do so!"

"Come on, homie, if they are mature adults, they can resolve this issue and continue with the challenge."

As they both went back to working on their impromptu ramp, Kitty had procured another roll of duct tape from the trash ferry, this one still with about a quarter of the tape. As she worked on patching the hole, she turned to her sister and asked, "Which one of us is going to blow it up?"

Emma grimaced, realizing the air hole had been exposed to indeterminate grossness from whatever it had been buried under. "Um, maybe we can get someone else to do that, in exchange for a ride with us. The raft is big enough for four."

"I thought you didn't trust anyone," Kitty protested.

"I don't, but if they agree to help us, that's more us using someone else to get us ahead."

"Uh-huh," her sister said, smirking, "and what part of your conversation with Noah on the plane was about you using him?"

"How did you," Emma stammered, then growled. "We just talked, okay? Only talked! Nothing about me, or the race, or anything that could hurt our chances! And speaking of Noah, maybe Owen would be willing to blow it up. Have you seen him?"

Kitty pursed her lips, and pointed in the area where the contestants were supposed to raft/swim from towards the city shoreline. Owen and Noah were already in the water, the big guy as the raft as the cynic paddled with half of an oar.

"Dang," Emma grumbled.

"What's the matter, you wanted to talk to him more?"

"Kitty, shut up and focus on the challenge, or I'll make you put all your hot air to good use!"


(Ridonculous Confessional - Trash is divulged here too, among other things!)

(The Best Friends)

Devin - "There's something else bothering you besides Tom and Jen, isn't there?"

Carrie - "Oh, it's stupid. Just that bratty girl with her mom, Taylor I think her name is? She made fun of my hips."

Devin - *He stares at her with serious concern.* "You do know she's just a rich snob who thinks she's all that, her opinion shouldn't matter to you."

Carrie - "I know, don't worry, Devin."

Devin - "I am a little worried now. Please tell me it didn't upset you."

Carrie - "Devin, I'm perfectly fine, I swear. The only reason it was on my mind was because I realized she may be the kind to fight dirty."

Devin - "Alright then, if it's just that."


(The Fashion Bloggers)

Tom - "So Kitty offered us a ride on the raft she and her sister found if we blew it up."

Jen - "Yeah, I told them with all the hot air Tom expels, he could make that raft fly."

Tom - "It's nothing compared to how much you release when you try to say beanies may make a comeback."

Jen - *She gasps, and glares at him.* "Well at least they are better than that stupid hat you're suddenly trying to promote!"

Tom - *angrily puts a fez on* "Fezzes are cool! I am going to proudly wear this through Toronto, just to show you who knows real fashion!"

Jen - "You aren't putting that on my blog!"

Tom - "It's my blog!"


(Mother & Daughter)

Taylor - "It took forever for Mom to find something in that garbage we could use, and it still smelt terrible. I totally would have found something sooner just from looking, but that fat girl distracted me."

Kelly - *glancing around, confused* "'Fat girl'? Are you talking about the cadet woman?"

Taylor - "No, Mom, Carrie! The blond girl in the ugly green top, total lard hips there. Reminds me of you before you started taking yoga."

Kelly - *nervous laugh* "Thanks, I guess?"

Taylor - "Yeah, I said, 'before,' you're welcome."


(The Sisters)

Kitty - "I don't get why you have to get so mad at me."

Emma - "Because you keep acting like there is something going on between Noah and I!"

Kitty - "You talked to him for about eight hours on the plane, Emma."

Emma - "Yeah, and you know what we talked about? We talked about…"


"Books, and only books," Noah said to Owen, as he paddled. "We didn't talk about anything else, because if we did, that would be confiding in an enemy team."

"Really? Not even about yourselves?" Owen asked, staring up at his friend on his belly. "I mean, what would be the harm in that?"

"Talking about yourself reveals who you are, what you would do to win a game, and possible angles to exploit. I mean, what, you want me to give her that list of life-threatening allergies I got?"

"She's not going to throw a panda at you, Noah."

"Well, whatever, we talked about books the whole way, and that said enough about her. She loves mysteries a lot, probably read more than I have, with how many series she mentioned I didn't know."

"So you did enjoy talking to her?"

"Yes," Noah said, allowing himself to smile a little, "I did enjoy talking to a girl. Fancy that, huh? It's not like such a thing were outlandishly impossible, now was it?"

"I'm just happy for you, buddy! But still, what are you going to tell Crimson?"

"Owen," Noah said with a frown, "don't make me flip you around."

They reached the shore, and Noah stuffed the broken oar into a nearby garbage can. A quick scan of the shore revealed no other contestants, but they found the Don Box relatively quickly. Owen pushed the button, and read it.

"All In. A random café has the next Don Box inside. Find it, and press the button to receive the next tip. This contains directions to the Chill Zone, where you will head immediately if you wish to stay in the race. Hey hey, this sounds relatively easy! All we gotta do is find the right café!"

Noah stared at him, then pointed in the general direction of Toronto. "Yeah, easy. A random café, in the largest city of all of Canada."

"… Oh."

"And we are not ordering anything from any of them until we find the right one, or you'll want something from each one."

"But we didn't get anything in Brazil," Owen whined. "I stayed by you while you were recovering, so we didn't get to eat anything there."

Noah face-palmed, then glanced out at the water. He could see a couple teams heading across on rafts, still a good distance but closing. "Alright, here's my offer: we get what you want at the first café we find that doesn't have a long line, and we eat and drink on the go."

"Sounds like a plan! Let's go, buddy!"


Emma and Kitty down the sidewalk, keeping an eye out for nearby cafés. The former appeared a little bit distracted, while the latter was more than happy to take advantage of that. Kitty was taking selfies at every corner, stoked as can be to visit Toronto.

Eventually though, after checking out seventeen cafés and no sign of the Don Box, even the energetic Kitty was starting to feel a sense of dread at how long and tiring this could be. "How do you think the others are doing?" she casually asked her sister.

"Damned if I know, they're probably at the Chill Zone by now," Emma grumbled angrily. "The worst part of it is, I cannot tell if this is a pathetically easy challenge, or an insane, stupid one."

Kitty was confused by this at first, then she grinned. "Ohh, you want to get your favorite latte at one of these cafés, but don't want to waste the time. Next coffee shop, I'll buy one for you!"

"No," Emma declared. "We keep our head in the game, at all times! If you get in line, you waste valuable time over a drink you could get any day. Use your better judgement!"

Kitty sighed, then glanced into the next café. A rather large guy wearing a white shirt caught her attention. "Hey, is that Owen and Noah?"

Emma peered in too, noticing Noah standing next to his friend, in an admittedly short but still time-consuming line. She groaned in disgust, and muttered, "Guess he's not as focused on the race as he thought."

Kitty turned towards her sister, offering an optimistic smile. "Aw c'mon, maybe they just to-WHOA!" Emma dragged Kitty away by her arm, continuing on their hunt for the Don Box.


(Ridonculous Confessional - Venti cinnamon latte, please!)

(The Reality TV Pros)

Noah - "Most shops in Toronto don't allow you to use the restroom, unless you pay for something. At least, all the ones we kept running into had that policy."

Owen - "And I really needed to go after the plane ride, since I don't feel safe in airplane restrooms after World Tour…"

Noah - "The world trembles when Owen has to hold it in. Or at least mine does, so I consider this a necessary sacrifice of time."

Owen - *lifts up a large drink and takes a sip* "Especially since the barista made my order just right."

Noah - *sips from his drink too* "Yeah, I gotta admit, not bad."


Carrie and Devin had split up on one particularly long street, each searching the cafés on their side. While he was trying to wade through a bunch of crowds, Carrie was having a lot more luck.

She almost didn't believe her eyes when she saw the Don Box tucked in one side of the coffee shop. Nudging her way in, she pressed the button, and received the tip with directions to the Chill Zone.

"Oh, I wonder if we're the first team to find this," she said to herself, unable to remove the smile. "We could get first again!"

She walked outside, searching for Devin on the other side of the street. That was when she saw Tom and Jen, still bitterly sulking, heading her way.

"Oh what do I do?" she thought desperately. "I know that Devin said I shouldn't feel guilty, but I still do over…"

Her train of thought stopped immediately when she saw Taylor push her way past the Fashion Bloggers, impatiently storming down the sidewalk. Carrie quickly hid the tip behind her back as the spoiled teen walked right up to her.

"Was that a tip you had?" Taylor inquired, staring down the blond gal.

"Um, no," Carrie lied. "Haven't seen the Don Box quite yet, been searching every café in this ginormous city! It's a tough challenge, ain't it?"

Taylor glared at her suspiciously, crossing her arms as she said, "I could have sworn you were just holding one. My mom's taking her sweet time searching the cafés on the other side, we're going to be stuck here forever at this rate."

As much as Carrie wanted to snap at the brat over this, she noticed Tom and Jen walk by. Her sense of compassion and guilt over what happened earlier skyrocketed when she realized they were passing by the café with the Don Box inside; all she could think about was how if they never found the tip, it was her fault, in a way.

"Wait, Tom," she called out, turning her back on Taylor, "Jen! There's something I need to tell you two!"

When the Fashion Bloggers turned towards the Bestie, Carrie accidentally revealed what she had in her hand to Taylor. The spoiled girl growled, and snatched the tip right out of her hand. "I knew you had one," Taylor spat, "you lying slut!"

"Whoa, what?" Jen said as she and Tom approached the two. "What's going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Taylor said, keeping the tip behind her back, away from Carrie. "This fat liar just tried to get me eliminated."

"Okay, I have no idea where you're getting that 'fat' thing from," Tom said, frowning at Taylor. "Carrie's a perfectly normal size."

"Sheesh, fine mister white knight, why don't you just marry her then?" Taylor said. She turned from them, and started walking, before she stopped on a second thought, and cast an unfriendly smile back at Tom. "Then again, you'll have to wait until the race takes us to America. I hear it's now legal for weirdos like you to get married there."

She strut off, searching the other side of the street for her mother. Jen clenched her hands, and shouted, "You come back here and say that to my manicured fist, you horrible, wretched little-"

"No, Jen, don't," Tom said, grasping his friend's shoulder. "It's not worth it."

"Did you hear what she said to you?" Jen asked, incredulous and angry. "I won't have any of that! I won't-"

"I've told you before, if you get this riled over people who go at me like that, you're just going to exhaust yourself," he said. He managed to smile and add, "And I don't want worry lines to grow on your face, especially not at your age."

Jen heaved a sigh, shaking her head. "I know, I know… I just get so mad when people treat you like that! I really shouldn't care, she's a selfish brat, but… I just don't like it!"

She turned and hugged her friend, who returned it. Carrie couldn't help but smile, and ask, "Guess that means you two have stopped fighting?"

"It was a stupid thing to fight about," Jen declared, rather emotionally. "I totally should have remembered the blog was made by you, Tom!"

"Oh don't be silly, you're the one who thought of it!"

Carrie giggled, then she noticed Devin waving at her across the street. He shrugged his shoulders, confused by the little scene that was taking place near his best friend. She beckoned him over, then turned to the Fashion Bloggers, and said, "There's still something I need to tell you two…"


Noah and Owen were growing rather tired at this point. While the big guy didn't like endless walking in general, the know-it-all felt like he had to elbow every hipster to ever grace a café in vain searches.

"Man, I don't like how long this is taking," Owen complained. "At this rate, that drink we had is going to go right through me, and I'll need to go again."

With a frustrated face-palm, Noah grumbled, "Oh great, you know what that means? We've created a vicious cycle. You need to use the restroom, they won't let you unless we buy something, you'll drink or eat it, then need to go again, and the process repeats itself!"

"What if I don't drink or eat what we buy?"

"Owen, you couldn't resist eating the cheese raft when you were sitting on it."

"Oh yeah," the big guy said with a laugh. "Well, just make sure not to get anything cheese related then?"

They continued on their hunt for the café with the Don Box with a little more silence. Upon coming to a street with shops on both sides, Noah suggested they split up, but Owen didn't want to be left alone on a crowded street.

"Plus, I want to hear more about you and Emma," the big guy said.

"I already told you, we talked about books and mystery series."

"That's all? I mean, really, nothing else at all?"

"What are you expecting, that one of us burst into a confession of unrequited romance?"

"It's just that my first encounter with Izzy was a little more exciting, I thought all couples go through that."

"We're not a couple, Owen, we just talked."

"For quite a while."

"Yes, we talked for most of the plane ride! That doesn't mean I'm going to marry Emma, Owen! Come on!"

Noah would have carried on, but he and his and friend almost ran right into Crimson and Ennui right then and there. The goths stared at them, her at Noah, having overheard some of the Pros' conversation.

Crimson glanced at the café the four had stopped in front of, and walked in. "Wait here," she said, crossing her arms and staring more at the ground than where she was going.

Owen and Noah watched her go, both a little confused. Only Noah realized that she must have heard the last part of what he said to Owen, and how awkward that must have been to overhear.

The know-it-all, standing outside the café for a minute or two, finally started to feel just a little guilty. "Hey, what's taking her so long in there?" he asked Ennui. The windows to café were a little dark, making it hard to see inside.

Ennui just shrugged, and Noah frowned. "Well, thanks for the input there, Lethargy. If you don't mind, I'm just going to make sure-"

As Noah stepped towards the café, Ennui reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his sweater vest. Pulling him closer to his face, which lifted up the bookworm quite a bit as the goth was relatively taller than him, Noah got an up-close look at the frowning goth.

"Listen here," Ennui growled, his voice still monotone but deathly serious, "if you do anything to hurt Crimson, I swear, your rib injury will feel like a sunny day compared to the explicit pain I will bring upon you."

Noah had been threatened before, on some of the numerous shows he had been on by zealous contestants. This was the first time someone had said a threat that actually sounded one hundred percent genuine.

Before he could do or say anything, Owen reached over, grabbed Ennui by his own shirt collar, and yanked him up to his face. "Listen here, goth boy," he snarled in Ennui's face, "if you ever try to do anything to hurt my little buddy, I'll give you a distinct relationship with the theme of cracked skulls!"

Ennui blinked his yellow eyes as he peered into Owen's riled stare. "That's… relatively threatening," the goth admitted. "I believe I am a little intimidated by that."

"You'd better be!"

Noah stared up at the two, almost wedged between them, as Ennui was still clutching Noah, and Owen was still grasping Ennui. They stood there like that, until they heard Crimson say, "Um, what's going on?"

The goth gal had a carrying case with four cups of dark looking frozen drinks, as well as two travel tips wedged in-between the cups. Owen stared hungrily at them, then asked, "Wait, are those… for us?"

"Two drinks, one ticket," Crimson offered. "Extra dark mocha frap, I hope you like."

Owen and Ennui let go of the one they had been threatening, and the big guy grabbed a drink eagerly. Thanking Crimson a bunch, he started slogging it down. Ennui took his, and slowly sipped it.

"What was going on?" she repeated her question, glancing between the three guys.

"Nothing," they all responded in unison.

Crimson didn't believe them, but she ignored it for now. Turning to Noah, she handed him one of the travel tips, then picked up one of the drinks. She took a sip from it, then offered it to Noah.

As a bit of a germophobe, Noah normally would have found this action to be incredibly disgusting. But as she stood there offering the drink, her black lipstick smudge on the straw, Noah was entirely baffled why he wasn't grossed out over this. He took the drink and sipped it too.

"Thanks," he said. "Though I have to ask, why?"

"Because I wanted to," she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Noah took another sip, completely baffled by this woman. He sighed, then decided to offer to help as she had. "Maybe we should stick together for the trek to the Chill Zone? We are in Toronto after all, with so many Canadians accidentally bumping into each other, it may sicken your gothic heart to hear so many people sincerely saying 'soo'ry' to each other!"

Crimson shook a little, as she bit her bottom lip. Glancing at Ennui, he let out a long sigh. "Fine," he grumbled.

"To the Chill Zone," Owen happily declared.


(Ridonculous Race - Can we come too?)

(The Reality TV Pros)

Noah - "Okay, where did that side of you come from?"

Owen - "What do you mean?"

Noah - "As long as I've known you, I've never known you to threaten someone with bodily harm. At worst, you've gotten mad and sworn, but not threaten!"

Owen - "Ehehe, well, he sounded so serious when threatening you, I knew I had to step in. Ennui may be scary, but I won't let him threaten you!"

Noah - "Well… thank you, Owen."

Owen - "No problem! But what do you suppose has him so mad? You told me they weren't dating… do you think he still has a crush on her? Or that he really cares about her but won't say?"

Noah - "You're asking me if I understand him any better than you? People aren't my thing, buddy."


(The Goths)

Crimson - "What was that about, outside the café?"

Ennui - "I was just making something clear with Noah."

Crimson - *frowns at him, crossing her arms* "What, exactly?"

Ennui - "Making sure he didn't try anything."

Crimson - "Thanks, but I can take care of myself."

Ennui - "Okay."

Crimson - "I know you can be dark, but I don't want to know what you said to make Owen of all people mad enough to grab you."

Ennui - "Fine."

Crimson - "Please stop sulking."


The walk towards the Chill Zone was rather quiet at first, with Owen and Ennui exchanging frowns as they sipped their drinks. Crimson and Noah were naturally silent people, though she occasionally glanced at him, as if expecting or hoping for him to say something.

About a half hour into the walk, eventually he folded to this silent request. "You ever been to Toronto?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "Have you?"

"Oh yeah, a few times. A few of the shows Owen and I have been in have taken us here. I don't really like it that much."

"It's too big and crowded at the same time."

"Exactly! Smells like car smog everywhere I go. Still, gotta hand it to them, we'll never go thirsty with how many cafés they have!"

"I hate most drinks," Crimson said, "but I have a particular craving for extra dark mocha."

"Yes, about that," Noah said as he took another swallow of the extra dark mocha frap, "every sip tastes like the bitterness of a thousand angry reviews of a movie on the internet."

She sipped her drink again, watching him. "Do you like it?"

"I think I could adapt. Heck, I used to live off the internet, bitterness is in my bones."

Crimson glanced to the side as she had a thought of a question that was kind of silly, but she wanted to ask him anyway. "What kind of movie reviews were you referring to?"

"Oh, take your pick. Michael Bay, Adam Sandler, that pretentious twerp Tarantino…"

The bookworm glanced ahead, and added, "Speaking of pretentious twerps, look who beat us to the Chill Zone. Darn."

Noah pointed towards Taylor, who was seated on a bench reading a magazine nearby the Chill Zone. Also nearby the Chill Zone was her mother, the Sisters, the Fashion Bloggers, and the Best Friends. Don noticed the two teams approaching, and stepped towards them.

"Congratulations, Goths and Pros," he said, "you're tied for fifth place."

"Not bad," Noah commented.

"Woohoo," Owen cheered.

"…," was the response from Ennui and Crimson.

"Now, just stick close to the Chill Zone, please," Don instructed them, "Like I said in Brazil, we kind of had to make this challenge up on the fly, so we need you all to stay close."

The Goths and Pros walked over to the other side of the Chill Zone, where the other teams were waiting. Kitty was chatting with Carrie and Devin, Tom and Jen were complimenting each other as they both were wearing fezzes now, and Emma was alone, lost in her own thoughts.

That was, until she saw the two newly arrived teams come by, and she frowned at Noah. "I thought you said you were serious about the game," she spat out, "but now you're sharing drinks and allied with the Goths."

"This isn't an alliance," Ennui said as he and Crimson continued walking, putting some distance between them and Emma. The older sister rolled her eyes at them, then focused back on Noah.

"It's kind of hard to believe you're taking this competition seriously if you stop for drinks in the middle of it, Noah!"

"Actually, Crimson bought these for us," Owen said, nervously grinning to try and calm down Emma.

"So it is some kind of alliance? Or maybe it's just that weird crush thing she has on you? Maybe there's a little bit of poison in your drink, Noah, she seems to be around you when you're in pain."

Noah replied by finishing his drink with a loud slurp, and dropped it in a nearby trash bin. "And yet, I feel fine, so twas not poison that killed the Noah. Elementary, my dear Emma Watson."

"Aww, I loved her in those Harry Potter movies," Owen gushed.

Kitty walked up next to her sister. "Okay, I know you are all about being professional in this race, but how is chewing out the competition for not taking it seriously going to help us?"

Emma turned on her sister. "You're right, I probably should be chewing out my teammate, who is more interested in taking pictures of herself than crossing the finish line!"

Kitty was at first startled, but then she grinned. "There, see? That's professional and serious over the game."

Her sister cried out in utter frustration. "You are utterly impossible! I am warning you right now, Kitty, if you don't take this race more seriously, when we get home, I am going to break everything related to cameras and video games that we have!"

Emma stormed off to be alone, while Kitty and pretty much everyone watched her go. The younger sister sighed, and said aloud, "Maybe we should have stopped for a cinnamon latte."


(Ridonculous Confessional - I'd like one too, please!)

(The Reality TV Pros)

Owen - "Emma seemed kind of mad at you."

Noah - "If she wants to vent her frustrations out on me, she already knows I have eight older siblings. The scolding from an older sister is something I have built total immunity to."

Owen - "Do you think they're all watching you? Your family, I mean."

Noah - "I'm sure they have better things to do than watch myself get humiliated for the umpteenth time on international television."

Owen - "Well, then I'll just have to have my family cheer you on as well as me."

Noah - *to the camera* "My sincerest thanks to the Waterflower family for giving me the encouragement to make a total fool of myself."

Owen - "That's the spirit!"


(The Goths)

Ennui - "You didn't seem to want to come to Toronto when the challenge was first announced."

Crimson - *glancing to the side* "I don't want to talk about it."

Ennui - "Okay."

Crimson - *stares up at him* "You're not going to try to pry it from me?"

Ennui - "Why? I know that won't work."

Crimson - "Yeah." *She finishes her extra mocha frap.* "Whatever."

Ennui - "Now who's sulking?"


The next team to arrive at the Chill Zone were the Father & Son, quite shortly after the Goths and Pros did.

"Seventh place, not bad," Dwayne Sr. reasoned. He glanced over at Devin and Carrie, and grinned. "You weren't the only ones with a hometown advantage!"

"Woo, Toronto," Carrie exclaimed with gusto.

"Home of the Blue Jays," Junior chimed in.

"GO, BLUE JAYS," the four all cheered at once.

As the rest of the teams either smiled or rolled their eyes at this, Devin and Dwayne Sr. started talking about where they were from in this gigantic city. Junior started talking to Carrie, and with how he lowered his voice and attempted to speak smoothly, his crush on her was obvious even to the most thick of observers.

"Ooo, he likes her," Owen gushed, watching Junior chatting up Carrie. "That's so cute!"

"Yeah, but he's going to learn sooner or later that Father Time cheated him by about half a decade in his chances with her," Noah remarked. "Still, gotta hand it to the kid for trying. Apparently, gentlemen prefer blonds."

"You think our host does too?" his friend asked, pointing over at Don. The host was having a casual conversation with Kelly as he waited for the other contestants to show up.

"Probably, but he seems smart enough not to flirt back with the contestants of a show he is hosting," Noah remarked. "That could lead to serious trouble."

"Ah, women," Owen said with a wistful sigh. "They can be the cause of so much trouble for us poor men, can they not? You have two right now that confuse you to no end."

Noah frowned at him, saying, "They're not bamboozling me, if that's what you're implying. I am focused on the game, not the idea of some girl running into my open arms like a scene from a movie."

"DEVIN~!"

Everyone present at the Chill Zone looked around to see a very attractive brunette heading across the street to the contestants. Owen felt an immediate attraction, then watched as she ran towards Devin, and felt a little bit guilty and disappointed instead.

"Shelly," Devin called out to the girl as she ran up to him. He scooped her up in her arms, twirled them around, and then kissed her. "How did you find us?"

"Well, I heard on the internet that the Ridonculous Race was heading to Toronto," she explained, moving her hands as she spoke, which resulted in her sparkly nails shining in the light, "and I managed to get all my friends to keep me posted if they saw where they were setting up the Chill Zone.

"So I raced over here, because I knew you'd get here sooner rather than later, just so I can see you!"

She laughed, as did Devin, and they embraced again. Nearby them, Carrie watched, frowning in a way that was such a complex range of emotions, even she couldn't define it.

"Hey," Kelly whispered to Don, "is he allowed to see her while the race is still going on?"

Don shrugged, and said, "Eh, it's not like she can do anything to assist him when he's already made it to the Chill Zone. Plus, it'll make for good television, seeing a couple lovebirds reunite temporarily. Maybe your husband could try and visit us, that'd be neat to see!"

Kelly pursed her lips and glanced away, trying to ignore the happy laughs of Devin and Shelly. Most of the other teams were watching too, with Junior staying close to Carrie, as he started to realize this truly meant she was available.

"So, yeah, I know you may have to leave soon," Shelly was saying to Devin, "because the other teams could get here any moment, but I just had to see you! You're doing great, I saw that you made it first place in the first challenge! First! I knew you could do it!"

"Aw thanks, but I didn't do it alone," Devin admitted, glancing over at his teammate.

Shelly rounded on Carrie, who flinched when she suddenly realized that she had confessed multiple times to being love with Devin, and her clear dislike for his girlfriend. Said girlfriend was heading right towards Carrie now, and the blond gal didn't know if she should get ready to be yelled at, or attacked.

So the last thing Carrie was expecting was for Shelly to throw her arms around her, embracing her in a hug. "You are doing such a good job with Devin," Shelly said with cheer. "I mean, seriously, I know you two have been friends your whole lives, but you work so well together, I'm getting jealous!"

"Huh?" was all Carrie could say. When Shelly pulled back, she 'booped' Carrie's nose with her fingertip.

"And I heard some of the things you said on camera, but don't worry," she said with a giggle, "I know how it can be. Alone out there, pressure of the race, sometimes in the desert and sometimes in the jungle. Just take care of him, that's all I ask!"

"Um, okay," Carrie said, forcing herself to smile.

Shelly went back to Devin, showing him his cellphone. "Now, let me fill you in on all that you've been missing during the race, and you tell me all the details that didn't make it on TV!"

As the two walked a fair distance from the others, Shelly's head on Devin's shoulder, Carrie watched them go. And it felt like someone had attached her heart to a tow-truck, and ripped it from her chest, dragging it alongside the couple so she could see it leave.

Kitty and Junior were standing nearby her, also watching the couple go. "She seems real nice," Kitty said with a cheerful smile.

"Yeah, and she's real pretty and such," Junior gushed. Then he cleared his throat, and added in a deeper voice, "But not as much as you, Carrie."

She didn't answer them, just stared at Devin and Shelly from a distance. Both Kitty and Junior quickly realized how upset Carrie was, and looked at her with concern. "You okay?" Kitty asked, glancing between her and the couple.

"In the three years Shelly and Devin have been going out together," Carrie muttered, "that's the nicest she's been to me. I literally cannot remember the last time she even smiled at me."

"Maybe she just missed Devin so much, she realized what a great friend you are to him as well?" Kitty offered. When Carrie didn't offer, the younger sister bit her bottom lip, and muttered, "Or… maybe I should leave it be, because it's none of my business?"

"No, it's okay," Carrie said, walking over to a bench and sitting down. "I just… I guess I should have seen this coming.


(Ridonculous Confessional - Lanoissefnoc Suolucnodir!)

(The Sisters)

Emma - "I saw you talking to Carrie after her partner's girlfriend showed up. Didn't I tell you to keep your head in the game? Do you not listen to me at all?"

Kitty - "Okay, first off, I'm allowed to talk to other people, Emma. And secondly, this was a case of love!"

Emma - "What?"

Kitty - "Yeah, can't you see? Carrie is totally in love with her best friend! It's so cute and romantic and sweet and charming-"

Emma - "And it's none of our business! Besides, how can you even tell?"

Kitty - "She looks at him so fondly when he isn't looking, and she is so happy when they're together. And when that girl Shelly showed up, Carrie was, like, so devastated when she realized the relationship was very strong!"

Emma - "Or maybe she's jealous that he has a good relationship and she doesn't. Stop fraternizing with the enemy teams, or I'll make good on that threat about the cameras and video games!"

Kitty - "… It's not my fault your last relationship wasn't that good."

*Emma stands up, an enraged look on her face. Kitty, realizing she may have overstepped there, dashes away as fast as she can.*


Shortly after Shelly had made it to the Chill Zone to see her boyfriend, the Ice Dancers arrived to come in eighth place. The utter fury Josee unleashed at such a position had many of the contestants hiding, including Jacques.

When she had finally settled down, the Police Cadets showed up. MacArthur was chugging down quite the sizable soda cup, which she had obviously got at a gas station, rather than a café.

"Pit stops are cafés to me," she had argued with Don when he asked about it. "You keep your fancy lattes and espressos, I will go for a half a gallon of caffeine, and then nothing will stop me! Nothing!"

About fifteen minutes later, she was running to the nearest restroom. Sanders called out, "I told you so," which resulted in the empty cup being chucked at her, but she ducked in time.

By this time, the teams were all seated around the Chill Zone, talking to their teammates, other teams, their girlfriend (in Devin's case), or just seated silently.

Crimson watched Noah from afar, not sure if she should approach or not, wondering if she already spoken enough to him on their trek to the Chill Zone; this conundrum was resolved when he fell asleep, against Owen's side.

"He probably hasn't slept in a while, if he stayed up on the plane ride to talk to Emma," Crimson thought. "I wonder what they talked about… and why do I care? I shouldn't care, I never cared about stuff like this."

She slumped forward, covering her face with her hands. Peering down at the sidewalk in-between her fingers, she spotted a few ants marching in a line. "Those mindless insects have more of a path set for themselves than me. This is just… lame. Should I do something, or wait for him? I mean, is he just plain weirded out when I try something? And every time I get close, I…"

"If I could have everyone's attention," Don said, his voice loud enough to alert all of the teams around the Chill Zone. Owen woke up Noah to hear the host's speech. "The sun will be setting soon, and we're still down five teams. I've spoken to some of our producers on the phone, and we've decided to just call it a non-elimination draw for the sake of film and time.

"We've sent out rescue patrols to find the Stepbrothers, Daters, Adversity Twins, Surfer Dudes, and Rockers, see if we can get them to a hotel or something before the sun goes down and they're all jumped by very polite Canadian muggers. Apparently, as I argued, the final part of this challenge was a very, very bad idea, and it's sheer luck that so many of you made it here as it is.

"And in the meantime, it's my most sincere apologies that as we close for the night, our team hasn't had the time to find if there are any hotels with enough rooms for the night to store all of you. So accommodations are going to be entirely up to you all."

Most of the contestants let out groans of protests and disgust, while Don held up a hand. "Now before you complain about this being totally unprofessional, I must add… you're entirely right, they didn't set up anything for me either. I'm just as stuck as you all are…

"And on an even more sour note, the producers have asked that none of you who live in Toronto head home for the night. We need you here at nine o'clock sharp, or the challenge will start without you."

Junior groaned the loudest of all. "I was hoping we could see Mom before we left."

"Me too, son, me too," Dwayne somberly added, patting his son on the back.

"Great," Noah groaned, "finding an affordable hotel in the middle of Toronto. This'll be more of a challenge than the challenge itself."

As the teams all started to discuss what they were going to do, Devin walked over to the host. "Hey Don, I think I have a plan that may be a bit of a stretch to the rules, but could work!"

"What's that?" Don asked, intrigued.

"My apartment is attached to this playhouse rather close to here. One of my close friends lets me drop in, and right now, they're having this play called "The Emptiness of a Hundred Beds"."

"Say what now?" Don raised an eyebrow, frowning in concern.

"It's… some artsy thing that I don't get either, something to do with how people think when they're lying down, or how we're all one when asleep, it's super confusing and weird, but that's not the point.

"The playhouse's stage is loaded with beds as part of the play, and they're not performing tonight. If everyone here agrees to simply sleep in the beds, there's more than enough for everyone. After all, like the play's title says, a hundred beds."

Don rubbed his chin, then smiled at him. "If that's so, for the sake of well-rested competitors, and possible hilarious shenanigans I can share for years to come, I think I'll allow this. I may even check out this play one of these days."

"Oh, I've seen it," Devin said with a shake of his head. "You really don't want to."

Most of the contestants were rather grateful to Devin for helping them find a free place to stay for the night. Only a few of them refused, Taylor being the first to do so; the spoiled brat declared she wouldn't sleep in a crappy playhouse with a bunch of possible perverts and snoring losers, and thus demanded her mother find the most expensive hotel nearby.

Josee and Jacques, mostly on her side, refused as well. Tom and Jen also declined, but far more politely, especially since Carrie had been so kind to them earlier and it was her best friend making the offer; the two just needed a far more suitable location to sleep.

Emma also refused at first, but Kitty adamantly put her foot down. Pulling off the stubborn, little sister routine, Kitty wouldn't listen to any of Emma's threats, reason, or arguments. Noah, just to make the fight stop, walked over and said to Emma, "Take it from me, you're not going to change a little sibling when their mind is set up."

"Ugh, fine," Emma groaned. "Let's go sleep in a playhouse instead of a hotel, with all the enemy teams around us. There's no possible way for that to go wrong, now is there?"

"It's like a gigantic sleepover," Kitty said with a cheer.

Devin and Carrie led the way to the playhouse, and led all of the teams in. The sight of the stage full of beds was quite the bizarre one to see, and Don once again said, "I really gotta see this play now. I just got to know what the heck goes on in it!"

After showing everyone where the bathrooms were, Devin went to say good-bye to Shelly, who had to leave after they all had arrived. Don texted the address to the rescue teams, and instructed them to bring them here.

The Stepbrothers came in shoving and punching each other, blaming the other for getting them lost; the two had somehow wound up on the opposite side of Toronto from the Chill Zone. The Daters were almost as hostile, Stephanie being on full-tilt and glaring daggers at Ryan.

The Adversity Twins were just glad to be alive and well, away from the bustling streets of Toronto, where they were sure they were going to die. The Surfer Dudes had almost been robbed by very friendly muggers, and had spent most of the challenge running from the polite requests to hand over all their money.

The Rockers were the last ones to arrive, having been the most helplessly lost of them all. Though they were exhausted, Rock still took a moment to do an air guitar rift at the very front of the stage. That had made the whole day worth it for him.

As most of the contestants started to get ready to sleep, Kitty was having the time of her life. "Do you how much I love sleep-overs~?" she gushed, pulling Mickey in so she could take a picture of them together. "Eeee~! Let me know your number so I can send this one to you!"

"Haaaaa whaaaa?" Mickey stammered, his mind not functioning perfectly well with Kitty pulling him so close to her. The sappy smile on his face made the perfect picture, while Jay watched in approval.

"Pillow fight," Owen declared, lifting his weapon. MacArthur, never one to back down from a challenge, dive-bombed him with her pillow in hands. The two started hitting each other like gladiators, roaring enough to scare most everyone else.

At first, Stephanie was saying how immature a pillow fight was, then a stray pillow smacked her in the face. Roaring her desire for revenge, she dove in, as did the Rockers, Surfer Dudes, the Stepbrothers (but mostly just to wallop each other), Kitty, and Carrie.

Noah made sure to pick a bed far away from this rather intense fight. Kicking off his shoes, he was more than ready to go back to sleep; the quick nap hadn't been enough for him, and he felt like he was running entirely on fumes. Luckily, his rib wasn't hurting so much anymore, the herbs had done their work.

As the know-it-all stretched, ready to finally get some proper shut-eye, someone sat down on the bed next to him. He turned to see Crimson face-to-face with him.

"Hey," she said, her eyes and voice rather calm.

"Hello to you too," Noah replied, his mind immediately wandering to what she could possibly want. He forcibly set it back on track, but not before asking, "I hope you didn't want to share, this is my bed."

"No," Crimson said, glancing to the side very briefly. She then stared back at Noah. "I have something I want to ask you… before you go to sleep."

"Okay," he started to say, pausing to duck as a pillow flew over his head, flung by who knows. "What is it?"

"We'll obviously be flying out tomorrow, the challenges predictably go to another country each time," she reasoned. She glanced around a bit, and Noah realized this was her being nervous. "Can… we sit next to each other on the plane ride?"

"I don't see any harm in that. But will Ennui?"

"He's my soulless mate, and my friend, but he doesn't tell me what I can and cannot do."

Noah glanced over at Ennui, who was watching the rambunctious pillow fight going on. As if on cue, he looked around for Crimson, saw her sitting with Noah, and narrowed his eyes. She stared right back at him, and he turned away.

"I don't know what he said to you," she continued to say to Noah, "but he's not going to do anything aggressive. Ennui is not violent."

"Good, because death by angry goth was not the way I want to go. Then again, with the amount of ways I've nearly died these past couple years, I'm sure my death is going to be something that'll win me a Darwin Award."

Crimson stared at him for a few more seconds, then pointed across him, towards his other side. When he glanced over to see what it was, she cupped his chin in her gloved hand, leaned in, and kissed his cheek. "Lucid dreams to you, Noah," she whispered, before heading over to a bed of her own.

He rubbed his cheek where she had kissed him, and couldn't help but smile. That was a lot more sweet than he thought it would be.


(Ridonculous Confessional - Got a pillow with your name on it!)

(Reality TV Pros)

Owen - *rather battered but grinning* "She gave you another kiss too? Aww, I missed it because of the pillow fight!"

Noah - "You look like you got attacked by a claw-less tiger. And no, she didn't kiss me, it was a peck on the cheek."

Owen - "Oh, well, then why are you smiling over it?"

Noah - *He frowns and turns to his side.* "I'm not smiling, dopes smile over stupid things like that."

Owen - "Little buddy, there is nothing stupid about a girl kissing you."

Noah - *He sighs hard, then turns back to Owen.* "Okay, you may be right about that. But don't go acting like I'm a love-struck fool, or I'm going to smack you so hard with a pillow, you'll be spitting feathers for a week."

Owen - *grins so impishly, you'd swear he was still dating Izzy* "I just wonder skin tone your children will have!"

Noah - "… You are lucky that was relatively witty enough to avoid a pillow walloping, my good sir."


The giant pillow fight was continuing on, with more of the contestants joining in. Even Don was, jousting with Dwayne Sr. like royal gentlemen.

Emma stared in disgust, especially at the sight of Kitty on top of Spud's shoulders, slamming him on the head with her pillow over and over. "WAAAAH-HA-HA-HA-HA," her sister cackled as she continued her fluffy assault.

"Kitty, I'm going out to get a drink," Emma shouted above the noise. "And when I get back, you'd better no longer be acting like a five year old on a sugar rush!"

"Whacka-whacka-whacka-whacka," was Kitty's response as she continued pounding the pillow on Spud's head.

"Ugh! I wish more than ever Mom could have joined me instead!"

Emma stormed out of the playhouse, infuriated as the pillow fight continued. Right as she left, Spud slowly widened his eyes. "Is there someone on my shoulders?" he asked aloud, as Kitty relentlessly hammered him with her pillow.


(At a nearby café close to the playhouse…)

Emma had always been serious about studying, and that had led to some late-night cram sessions. That led to hitting up a café, which led to experimenting with different flavors, which led to quite the love for cinnamon.

This had made orange one of her favorite colors, hence her lucky shirt she wore for this contest. It also led to Kitty being able to get her relatively easy choices for gifts on Christmas, birthdays, and bribes.

She couldn't help but think back to all this as she was in line at a café, salivating at the chance of getting a venti of her absolute favorite drink. "They'd better make it right," she thought to herself. "Hopefully, Toronto's store workers don't just rush it and make it half-hearted due to long lines."

When she gave her order, getting a little food to spoil herself, to the assuringly friendly cashier, she scanned the café for a free spot. When she saw one, she was surprised to see that Devin's girlfriend was seated at the table next to it, talking to two of her friends.

Emma was more glad than ever that Kitty hadn't joined her, as she knew her sister would go right over to Shelly and bother her with a hundred questions. As the responsible sister, she decided to just seat herself and wait for her order to brought out to her.

"So who do you think is going to win The Ridonculous Race?" one of Shelly's friends asked. "I mean, now we have insider information on who is still in the game, thanks to Shelly."

"I mean, I think Devin and Carrie can do it," the other friend said cheerfully. "They did place first in the first challenge, after all! Them, or maybe the Police Cadets, the Pros, or… oh! The Sisters, they seem like they have something going for them!"

"Well, thank you," Emma thought, smiling to herself.

"Yeah right," the first friend scoffed. "It's definitely going to be the Ice Dancers, the Fashion Bloggers, or the Daters. Every other team has a teammate who is a total dumbass or weirdo, or both of them are."

"That's kind of harsh," the other friend said. "Wait, you don't think Carrie is a dumbass or a weirdo, do you?"

"Meh, I never understood her. Devin has to carry her, literally."

Emma rolled her eyes, annoyed at this girl. She may have thought Kitty was flaky at times, but "total dumbass"? That was uncalled for.

"What about you, Shelly?" the second friend asked. "I mean, don't worry, I'm sure Marina thinks your boyfriend can win it."

Shelly was quiet for a moment, then said, "Probably the Cadets or the Ice Dancers. I don't think any of the others could do it."

"Besides Devin and Carrie, as well?" the friend whose Emma didn't know yet asked.

"She didn't say them," Marina said, "therefore, she doesn't think they'll win."

"Hey, come on, stop being so rude!"

"It's fine, Irene," Shelly said. "I don't much confidence in them either. That's why I met Devin, give him some motivation. Sadly not enough time or ability to give him the full kind of motivation for a guy, but hey, enough."

"Seriously, Shelly?" Marina asked incredulously. As Emma continued to eavesdrop, her drink and food arrived. She silently thanked the employee, so not to alert the girls on the other side of the partition.

"Hey, if wins the million, that'd be amazing," Shelly said. "But hey, if not, I have Ashton."

"Wait, what?" Irene sputtered. "You'll start going out with your tennis instructor if Devin doesn't win the million dollars?"

"Go out with him? I already am, we've been having sex since Devin left for the contest."

Emma was very glad her drink was still too hot to swallow, or she would have spat it out overhearing that.

"It was too risky when he was here, as Ashton can be very strong, and that'd make it obvious," Shelly continued, while sipping her drink at the same time. "But now, now I can fully enjoy it."

"I… what?" Irene stammered.

"Oh, I knew it," Marina said with a chuckle. "I knew you had a thing for him. He's so damn handsome, and I'll bet he's really good at it, eh?"

"Yep," Shelly said. Emma could practically hear the smile on her smug face as she bragged; it made the older sister's fists clench hard. "It's amazing. I feel incredible now."

"So, wait a minute," Irene spoke up again, "if you're seeing Ashton, why did you encourage Devin? Wait… oh!" She snapped her fingers as something clicked in her mind. "If you broke the news that you wanted to break up with him, that'd probably devastate him and he'd lose. So you don't want to tell him until he comes back?"

"I didn't really care if he lost or not," Shelly replied, "but when I saw him and Carrie get first place in the first challenge, it made me realize there is a small chance he could win. And if he does, he's coming back with half a million dollars.

"And who do you think he'll spend that on?"

Emma heard her sip more of her drink. The older sister wanted to go over there and throw that coffee into her face. It took all of her effort not to do that, to stay where she was.

"That's perfect," Marina gushed in admiration. "If he somehow wins, he'll get you a whole bunch of stuff, then you can dump him for Ashton!"

"Exactly," Shelly said. "And I mean, if he doesn't, Ashton is easily so much more of a catch. He's more handsome, richer, strong, better at sex…"

The cheating girlfriend paused, then sighed a little. "Okay, maybe not better. I gotta admit, Devin was pretty good in his own way. Guess if he does win, it won't be so bad until he runs out of his prize money."

"I don't," Irene mumbled, sounding very off-put during this confession, "I don't know if this is right, Shelly. I mean, you could really hurt him, and he's been nothing but sweet to you."

"Yeah right," Marina remarked. "I heard them arguing a lot before he left for the contest."

"I wanted him to stop seeing Carrie," Shelly said. "I really don't care if they've been friends all their life, what does it say about me if he's hanging around another girl?"

"Didn't she, like, confess to being in love with him on the show?"

"He doesn't know it, and hopefully, she will just continue assisting him like the stupid lovesick puppy she is, especially after what I said to her. But hey, if they lose, or after I'm done with him, she can have him.

"Though I daresay," Shelly let out a particularly mean laugh, "if he hooks up with her after I let him go, that's just sad. I mean, look at her compared to me. It's like going from a mansion to a shack."

"A beach shack," Marina suggested. "Or maybe! That outhouse from Total Drama?"

"Yeah, exactly. So don't worry, you two, I have all my bases covered. I just wish I could have properly motivated Devin to win this thing, he can be quite driven. And I mean, to do it for me? He might knock over that fat friend of his just to make it to the next Chill Zone!"

Marine laughed out loud, but Irene was silent. It must have dawned on Shelly that her other friend wasn't so supportive, and she asked, "Irene, you're not going to get all moral on me, are you?"

"No! I just… I don't understand why you have to sound so awful about it. Devin hasn't been bad to you."

Shelly sighed. "Look, when he gets back here, win or loss, I'm not going to dump him right away. We'll probably stick together for a week, have sex a couple times, hang out, then I'll let him go. He doesn't have to know I am already with Ashton, or was with him before the race. I'll just say it doesn't feel good anymore, and I have to move on.

"And he can go right to Carrie, or some other girl, and do whatever he wants. Hell, if they do win, Devin will have someone to go to who still has half a million dollars! That is, if she doesn't spend it bribing guys to go out with her ugly self." Shelly and Marina laughed, while Irene let out a nervous chuckle.

The cheating girlfriend switched the subject then, electing to talk about things she planned to buy for herself. Emma felt a little numb, unsure exactly what to do. Part of her wanted to go right up to that awful bitch, and tell her exactly what she thought of her. The other part just wondered what she could do. She had no idea what there was to be done…

But maybe there was someone who did know what she could do.

Realizing she would have to leave now, she slipped off her jacket and tied her hair into a ponytail. Scarfing down her food, she grabbed her drink and made her way to the door. Silently praying Shelly or her friends didn't recognize her, she stepped out and hurried back to the playhouse. She managed to finish her drink along the way, but not even her favorite cinnamon beverage was making her feel comfortable.

When she made it to the stage, she was surprised to see the pillow fight had ended and what looked like everyone was asleep. Some of the contestants were snoring loudly, some quietly, but everyone seemed quite content in dreamland; the replacement for a hotel had worked relatively well.

As Emma walked around, trying to find her sister, she caught Lorenzo trying to put his sleeping stepbrother's hand in warm water. He stared up at her like a deer caught in the headlights, and she grimaced.

"You really want him on your case about that all of tomorrow?" she whispered.

"Eh, good point," Lorenzo muttered, and slogged down the water.

"Have you seen my sister?"

The thinner stepbrother grinned slyly, and pointed behind Emma. She turned around to see two beds had been shoved together, and Kitty was snoozing right in-between Jay and Mickey. Her sister even had her arm wrapped around Mickey, and was snuggled into him quite a bit.

It might have been cute, if Emma was frantic to talk to her sister, and the fact that an older sibling does tend to not react well to seeing their younger sister in bed with two boys. Even if they were fully clothed, innocently snoozing, and there was absolutely not threatening about the twins.

"Kitty," Emma whisper-hissed, shaking her sister. "Kitty, wake up!"

Her sister's eyes fluttered open, and she glanced up at Emma. Before she could say anything, she quickly remembered who she was sleeping with, literally. "Oh, um, we all got so exhausted after the pillow fight," she whispered, grinning as she tried to convey her innocence amid her fervent blush, "that I just crashed on this bed with them. We didn't do anything, I swear!"

"Yeah, I believe that, just come on. I need to talk to you, in private!"

Kitty nodded, but paused. She took out her phone and lifted it up above her.

"What are you doing?!" Emma hissed.

"I wanna take a photo of this, and send it to Mom saying, 'lol just had a threesome, don't tell my mother!' and then send another text telling her not to read the first one."

"Kitty," her sister whispered as loud as she dared, clenching her hands in frustration.

"Oh come on, she'll get the joke, we're all wearing clothes!"

Emma tugged her sister out of the bed before she could take a picture, though she was careful not to wake the twins. She dragged Kitty off of the stage and into one of the hallways, far enough from the impromptu bedroom so that no one could hear.

"What is going on?" Kitty muttered. "Because really, are you that upset over what you saw? You just said you believe nothing happened, and-"

"Kitty, for once, please be quiet," Emma requested, "and listen to me! I… I need your advice on something."

Kitty blinked, then grinned most slyly. "You want my advice? Oh, this is gonna be good."

Emma told her everything she had overheard at the café, telling her every last bit of Shelly's infidelity and manipulation. When she was done, it was most certainly not good to Kitty; in fact, it was the complete opposite for her.

"That horrible, evil, wicked, bitch," Kitty declared. Emma shushed her, fearing someone might be awakened by the raised voice. "Oh sorry, but wow, I mean, you know I don't swear much, at least when I'm not playing video games, but for that… oh my God! How horrible! Poor Devin!"

"I know, I just," Emma shook her head, heaving in frustration, "I don't know how someone could be that wretched."

"I'll say!" Kitty crossed her arms and huffed. Then something crossed her mind, and stared at her sister in confusion. "Wait a minute, why are you telling me all this? I mean, shouldn't you be telling Devin this?"

"No, I came to you because I need to ask you what I should do about it! I don't know what to do in a situation like this."

"Your first thought wasn't to tell him that his girlfriend is cheating on him, and is planning to use him?" the younger sister asked incredulously.

Emma scoffed, rolling her eyes as she muttered, "Yeah, because he's really going to believe me."

"What? Why not? At the least, you can tell him so he can go confront Shelly over this!"

"Kitty, what's the one thing I was saying in front of everyone today? That it isn't a game, and we should take everything seriously now. All of the other contestants know me now as someone competitive and driven to win this race.

"Do you really think Devin is going to believe me if I tell him that I overheard his girlfriend saying she is cheating on him, and plans to use him if he wins?"

Someone else asked, "She said all that?"

Both sisters froze. There was no mistaking that low voice. They turned to see Crimson standing there, holding a glass of water in her hand. Kitty noticed in particular that the goth gal's eyes were slightly wider than normal, as she looked at the sisters.

"You," Emma snarled, turning towards Crimson. "How much did you just hear? And what are you doing here?"

The goth gal pointed at her glass of water with her free hand, then pointed back at the kitchen down the hall. "Devin's girlfriend is cheating on him, and plans to use him," she repeated. "You heard her saying that?"

Emma frowned, turning away from Crimson. Kitty glanced between the two, until she spoke. "She knows now, might as well be honest. Yes, Crimson, Emma overheard Shelly at a café when she went out to get a drink."

Crimson glanced at Emma, who frowned at her. The goth gal blinked slowly, processing this. "I didn't think she was genuine," she said.

"Oh sure, like you really thought that," Emma replied. "What's an emotionless Cthulhuist like you know about these things?"

"I am not a Cthulhuist," the goth gal stated. "But I know when someone smiles and doesn't mean it. When she smiles," she pointed at Kitty, "it is genuine and sincere. Almost sickeningly so, with how cheerful she gets, but very real. When I saw Shelly, I could tell her smile wasn't genuine. It appeared fake to someone not misguided by emotions, as Devin was."

"You know," Kitty spoke up, "I think you're right. When I saw her too, there was this tiny voice in my head saying that Shelly seemed a little too forward and sappy, like she was overdoing it. I kind of dismissed it then, but now, it makes total sense!"

"Yeah, yeah, you two both noticed, whatever," Emma snapped, turning back to them. "But that doesn't change anything! Devin isn't going to believe me if I tell him, because he and everyone else know I am in this contest to win it above all! So if I try, everyone will just think I am being a manipulative jerk, and aim to get my sister and I booted!"

Kitty winced, as she stared at her sister. She wanted to say that there was more to Emma than the competitive side, she knew that. It hurt her, a little, to see Emma talk in such a defeated manner.

"Why doesn't she tell him?" Crimson asked, glancing at Kitty. When Emma stared at the goth gal in confusion, she explained, "Tell her everything you heard, and Kitty will say she overheard Shelly with her friends. They are more likely to believe her, she is genuine."

"That's," Emma started to say, upset until the logic entered into her mind, "that's… actually not a bad idea. Kitty, do you think you can do that?"

The younger sister nervously winced. "But… everyone here saw me pass out with Mickey and Jay after the pillow fight. They'll know I didn't head out for coffee or anything."

"Then we'll say you woke up and went out just now!"

"That's even more ridiculous, that I went out to get a drink at this point of the night, after waking up from an exhausting day."

"Kitty, it's not a perfect story, but-"

"No, she's right," Crimson spoke up. "The more far-fetched it is, the less likely they will believe her."

"Then what about you?" Emma snapped, staring down the goth gal. "Why don't you tell Devin you overheard Shelly?"

Crimson stared at Emma, her expression not changing and her tone still as neutral. "You really think he'll believe me any more than you? I know what you all think about me."

"Actually, you're still kind of a mystery to me," Kitty admitted. "I mean, especially after that time you burst out laughing and kissed Noah good, I'm not really sure what's going on with you! Which reminds me…"

"No digressing," Emma hissed at her sister. "Fine then, Crimson! If Devin won't believe you, or me, and Kitty cannot say she can do it, then what do we do?"

The goth gal stared at them silently for a few moments, then shrugged. "I don't know."

"We have to do something! I'm not going to let that awful harlot get away with this."

"Why is this so important to you?" Crimson asked.

"What? What kind of question is that? What, are you okay with someone cheating and using someone who loves them? Do you like that, you… you pale freak?!"

"Emma," Kitty spoke in a scolding tone, glancing at Crimson apologetically.

The goth gal only blinked at the insult. "I never said I was okay with it," she replied to Emma. "You just seem unusually invested."

"Well, maybe you just don't know me," Emma said with a scoff. "This may be a competition, and I want that million dollars, but I'm not okay with someone cheating on someone who loves them, especially not with such selfish intentions behind it."

"But what can we do?" Kitty repeated her sister's words from earlier. "If either of you try to tell him, he won't believe you and they'll retaliate against us, or the Goths! I mean, I don't think all of them will, but enough people will be more than glad to give a hard time to a team they think is trying to hit below the belt."

Emma shook her head, rubbing her forehead. As she did this, she realized her hair was still tied in a ponytail. Undoing it, she stared at Crimson. "You really don't have any idea?"

"No."

"I don't either," Kitty said. "I'm sorry, Emma, I just don't know what we can do. Maybe I should tell him, and we hope for the best."

"No, if it goes south, they might label you as a horrible person on international TV who would say anything to win the game, and pretends to be a nice person. I'm not letting that happen to my sister."

"Well, I'm not letting it happen to mine," she replied stubbornly. "Or to Crimson!"

This actually provoked a reaction from the goth gal, who glanced at Kitty with wide eyes for a brief second. While it was gone incredibly quickly, there was a tiny bit of emotion in Crimson's next words. "Why for me?"

"Because you're trying to help us, it shows you're a good person."

"I'm not a 'good' person."

"Oh, pshaw, you are too!" Kitty said with a wave of her hand and a grin. Though this positive attitude kept her going for only a few more seconds, as she went back to a concerned frown. "Seriously, is that it, though? Can we not do anything?"

Emma groaned, shaking her head. "At this point, no. Devin won't believe any of us, and there's no point trying to tell Carrie. Even if she did believe us, it's just her repeating what we say to her.

"At this point, we just keep this to ourselves, and we try to see if there's a time where we can tell Devin or Carrie; maybe one of them suspects something, but as far as we know, they're both entirely ignorant of this."

"Actually," Kitty said, "Carrie seemed a little suspicious of Shelly when she saw her today."

"Kitty, just stay close to Carrie and see if you can find out what she knows or thinks about Shelly. We'll be on the same plane, should be okay."

"Okay. Do we tell anyone else about this?"

"What? No, we're still in a competition, this isn't high school or a country club. You don't gossip these kinds of things, you don't spread them around."

Emma turned to Crimson, eyeing her in particular. The goth gal stared back, and said, "Ennui will know if I am hiding something from him."

"Oh please, how could he? Just because you're soulless mates?"

"Huh?" Kitty honked, staring in confusion at both of them.

"It's her weird thing that she calls her friendship with Ennui. Anyway, he cannot possibly read you that well, you don't show emotion! Until you're kissing Noah or laughing at his jokes…"

"Hey, Emma, I know you're stressed about all this, but," Kitty frowned at her sister, "there's really no reason to be rude."

"You're taking her side?" Emma asked, pointing at Crimson.

"You're upset over this whole deal, but you're kind of unfairly attacking her, yeah. Crimson is trying to help!" Kitty turned towards the goth gal, and asked, "If Ennui knows, can he keep a secret?"

"Until he dies," Crimson replied.

Kitty smiled at her sister. "See? They obviously will take this seriously. Oh, and neither of you two should tell Noah."

Both Emma and Crimson stared at Kitty, as the younger sister rolled her eyes and said, "Oh come on, I know you both like him, and he is very intelligent, so you'd think to ask him for help. But there's no need to drag him into this drama, because you're just putting him, and Owen, in as much risk as we are."

Emma crossed her arms and glanced away from them. "I wasn't thinking of asking Noah…"

"I maybe was," Crimson admitted, "but you make a good point, Kitty."

The younger sister nodded, smiling at them. "Now, we need to get some sleep, the contest starts again in less than ten hours. Maybe tomorrow, we'll get our answer, maybe on the plane ride to wherever we are going next."

Without much else to say, the three went back to the stage. Kitty went back to the twin beds, wedging herself in-between the twins. Emma wanted to protest this, but had no more energy in her. Crimson finished her drink and sat down on her bed, next to Ennui's, who was silently slumbering.

The goth gal stared at him for a minute, wondering how he would react to this news; he could tend to be emotional about such things. She then glanced at Emma, who was looking sympathetically at a fast-asleep Devin.

When the older sister sat down on an available bed, she heaved out a large sigh. Part of her was infuriated she had to cope with this as well as the anxiety of the race, the other part of her almost… glad? No, it wasn't that, maybe self-assured that she had this task, because she would see it through.

Her eyes drifted around, glancing at everyone involved, whether they knew it or not, with this mess: Devin, Carrie, Kitty, and Crimson. She noticed the goth gal was staring off to the side, and when Emma glanced in the direction Crimson was, she realized she was looking at Noah.

The know-it-all was sleeping, appearing rested for once. He almost looked like a different person, as relaxed wasn't something had had been much.

"What would you do?" Both Crimson and Emma thought at the same time.


(Individual Confessions - To vent oneself verily.)

Emma - "I swear, someone really wanted to make me look like a hypocrite. One minute I'm saying how my sister needs to seriously focus on the race, the next I am involved in a convoluted relationship drama that I cannot say no to!"

*She sighs and shakes her head.* "I know it doesn't make sense, but I have my reasons. I doubt this will distract me from the race, I just need to recognize the right opening, with the help of Kitty, Crimson, and Noah.

"I mean! Not Noah, he's not involved! I don't know why I said his name, I don't even need his head. I mean, not that he couldn't be helpful… but things are already complicated enough."


Crimson - "One of the reasons I am who I am is because this world is so unnecessarily cruel. For someone like Shelly to use someone who loves her, for someone kind like Devin to be ignorant, as kindness is often manipulated…"

*She blinks, glances to the side, then back to the camera.* "These dark emotions would normally be inspiring, a rush to remind us how alive we still are. But for some reason, I'm just… upset. I need to talk to Ennui tomorrow, and Noah when I can."

"…" *She appears lost in thought, and walks off as she ponders everything that's been going on.*


Owen - "Noah said I should take one of the beds, and sleep somewhere else. If I have gas in my sleep, he said the resulting revulsion of the other teams towards him and me would be equivalent to the Salem Witch Trials. I'm not sure what that means, but it kind of sounds bad.

"So I set up my bed in the dressing room! It's nice here, and I feel like an actor before a big performance. I know I kind of have a performance, with the race, but this feels very exciting in another way! I wonder why the actors don't sleep here before performing, soak up all of that exhilaration!"

*As he finishes saying this, he hears something that sounds like a mixture of very faint snoring and humming. Confused, he glances all around the room, until he spots a collapsable wall for changing privacy. Pushing it back, there is a young lady sleeping on a cot.*

Ella - "Zzzzz… mmmm~… The Emptiness… of a… Hundred Beds~ / we ponder our lives… as we… rest our heads~! Zzzzz…"

Owen - *pulls the collapsable wall back, a panicked look in his eyes* "Did I just set up my bedroom in the women's changing room?"

Ella - "We daydream our lives… during the day~ / then when we sleep… we dream… our lives away…"

Owen - "Wow. She's actually very good at singing… like a soothing lullaby… hehehe…" *He falls back on his bed, snoring the moment his head hits the pillow. In his unconscious state, he pulls out his stuffed animals and snuggles them in sleep.

Ella - "Thank you~… you've… zzzzzzz… been a lovely crowd… mmmmm~!"