Last time on Ultimate Spartan Warrior: Twenty-two Spartan-II supersoldiers arrived on Reach for the chance to win one million dollars. After being split into two teams of 11, they began their first challenge, a game of Capture The Flag. Jai began leading Red Team in a game of stealth, but Jerome broke out to go for the gusto and lead a charge on Blue Base. Ultimately, he wiped out into the river and lost the flag, costing his team the challenge. Blue Team won the hot tub party, and Jerome became voted off the show first because his bonehead move cost them the challenge, despite being one of the best leaders to come from the Spartan-II Program. Will Red Team win the challenge, or will Blue Team repeat and force Red Team to send another contestant home?

. . . .

"It was the best wipeout ever, I tell you what!" Leon exclaimed. He was pouring milk into his bowl of cereal, with Douglas-042 on the "Have You Seen Me?" section of the milk carton. "He just slipped off the first rock and then cracked his nuts on the second!" He proclaimed this to uproarious laughter in the mess hall.

Fred confessional: "In all honesty, I have no idea what happened to Jerome. He used to be one of the best leaders in the program. I guess all that time in cryo messed him up and he was just eager to get back in action"

John was eating his waffles and eggs, talking with Sam. They were forming a plan to get in the final three.

"Who should join us in the final three?" he asked. Sam shrugged.

"Kurt and Linda are topping my list" he replied.

Sam confessional: "Look, I'm going to need all the help I can get to get into the final three. I don't know what I'm going to do with the million dollars when I win, as I've never been able to think about stuff like this"

Johnson walked in with some envelopes.

"Mail call!" He handed an envelope to John, another to Margaret, and a third to Naomi. John opened the envelope. It was a letter from Cassandra, one of his many "gal pals". She was severely injured in the war, and was recovering on Earth in Hong Kong. She wrote:

John,

I'm writing to you from the rehabilitation facility in Hong Kong. I've been able to regain some usage of my legs; however I have to use a cane for the time being. I can no longer lift my left arm up all the way due to severe nerve damage. Though I can't be on the show, I do wish you the best of luck and hopefully I will see you soon.

Lots of love,

Cassandra-075

Love. What is love? John thought. He figured he and the 20 other remaining contestants wouldn't be able to feel it. Margaret got a small package from one of her former teammates on Spartan Team Black, Otto. He adopted the surname of van Smutz in the post-war universe. She gasped upon opening it. It was an engagement ring. Otto had asked Margaret to marry him. Johnson was the first to congratulate her.

"I am so happy for you" he said while high fiving her. The others were applauding her.

Malcolm confessional: "Her and Otto have been close from the beginning. I'm not surprised this happened. But, I'm very glad for her. Regardless of a win or a loss, at least she has something to look forward to"

Johnson looked out over the remaining Spartans.

"We have our next challenge in 45 minutes. Finish up, get dressed, and meet me by the bonfire pit" he said. Naomi had silently opened her letter on the way out. It was from a man named Stefan Sentzke. She recognized that name, as he was one of ONI's 10 Most Wanted. She was creeped out, as this terrorist was saying he knew where she was and was going to see her as soon as he can. She stuffed the letter in her pocket, and caught up with everyone.

"Today's challenge is an obstacle course relay" Johnson announced, pulling out two batons from a canvas messenger bag. "There are ten obstacles on this course. You must have one team member complete each obstacle, and pass the baton off after each obstacle to another team member. If you fall, you must not drop the baton. If you do, and don't drop the baton in the process, you have to go back and redo that obstacle all over again"

"That's great and all, but we're a team of eleven" Keiichi butted in.

"Find one member who will sit out the challenge" Blue Team huddled up and began talking amongst each other.

"I'll sit this one out" Isaac said, stepping forward. Isaac then proceeded to the end of the course, bypassing all the obstacles.

"Now that we have an even number of contestants, I need to know who will be at each obstacle" Red Team began talking to each other. Margaret wasn't fully focused on being in the leadership position now that Jerome was eliminated as she was still clouded by her engagement to Otto.

"Alright, I'll start us off and we'll have James finish off at the last obstacle" she began.

"Who's going where on the other eight obstacles?" Vinh asked.

"You'll be second then. The remaining seven will be Malcolm, Cal, Carris, Adriana, Leon, Robert, and Jai" Margaret replied.

"Sounds good to me" Jai added.

"Put it in Red Team!" Margaret exclaimed. Everyone on Red Team put their fists in a circle.

"One two three WIN!" they all yelled at the same time. They scattered to their obstacles along the course. Blue Team was starting with Alice. She took the blue baton from Johnson, the red being taken by Margaret. The first obstacle was they had to walk over a rotating log that was positioned over a mud pit.

"The race will begin on my cue" Johnson said while holding up an air horn. The horn sounded, and the race began. Naomi quickly hopped up on the rotating log, and ran across with ease. Margaret lost her footing, and had to awkwardly hop across the log. Naomi handed the baton off to Keiichi, who began crawling under the barbed wire. Margaret fell off the log, but threw the baton to Vinh. But, Keiichi was already off to hand it off to Sam, who was strapped into the zipline.

Vinh confessional: "I knew we were done when we fell two obstacles behind. I thought we were done for for sure!"

Sam confessional: "Winning back to back was going to be easy"

Sam passed off to Alice, who began running the tires. Malcolm finished the zipline, passing it off to Cal. Alice tripped and fell at the end, prompting her to go back and redo the tire run. Cal and Alice were practically even throughout.

Cal confessional: "You know, when I was even in the tires, I thought we could win this"

Alice handed off to Solomon, and Cal to Carris. This next obstacle was crawling through a tangled mess of pipes. Carris got lost in the pipes, and it took her awhile to get out. Meanwhile, Solomon was passing the baton off to Kurt. The next obstacle was monkey bars over a tank of starving piranhas.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Kurt exclaimed.

"The hell I'm not!" Johnson called back over the PA system. Kurt took a deep breath and quickly began climbing the ladder, just as Carris found her way out and began sprinting towards Adriana with the baton. Kurt began going across the monkey bars quickly and tried not to look down.

Kurt confessional: "I knew I couldn't look down. Even though those piranhas were jumping out trying to bite my feet! Look, I know I'm in power armor, but those things are still terrifying"

Kurt hopped down, and handed the baton off to Linda, who proceeded to the next obstacle. That obstacle was having to swing from ropes over a bed of barbed wire. Adrianna now had to get over the piranhas. One of them jumped up and clamped its jaws into her butt.

"OW! GET OFF!" she yelled, smacking it with the baton. Everyone was laughing at the sight. Linda fell down she was laughing so hard.

Linda confessional: "Best thing I've seen all day!"

Leon confessional: "That moment I knew we wouldn't be able to keep up"

Red Team had fallen behind because Carris had gotten caught up in the pipe maze. Now they had to work overtime to catch up. Linda handed the baton off to Arthur, who had the task of walking through a pavilion full of mirrors and finding his way out. Robert had received the baton from Leon, and began charging into the mirror pavilion only to be stopped. Both Spartans were lost, and were slowly trying to find a way out.

"This is harder than expected" Leon muttered to himself. Margaret was watching the whole thing unfold on a TV screen with the Red Team members who had already gone.

"You can do this Robert" she said over the radio.

"Thank you for the encouragement!" he replied back. Arthur was admiring himself in one of the mirrors.

"Hello, you sexy beast" he said while flexing and striking poses.

"Arthur! There's no time for this!" yelled John over the radio. Arthur began running through the pavilion, and ran out at the same time as Robert. They went racing towards their teammates. Arthur passed the baton to Fred and Robert to Jai. This time the obstacle was having to dodge swinging arms from a machine.

Carris confessional: I couldn't believe we were still in it after our miscues early on!"

Fred began dodging the arms of the machines with ease. Jai went to jump over one of the swinging arms, only to get his right foot caught and fall down. Now, he had to back to the beginning and do the whole obstacle over again. Fred was sprinting towards John, who was at the rock climbing wall waiting to get the baton. There it was, the final obstacle. Jai got hit again by the arm, this time in the groin.

"Let's get a replay on that!" Johnson yelled. He played the slo-motion replay of Jai getting hit in the groin, cackling while watching. He called Isaac in and the two busted out laughing.

By this point, John was already halfway up the rock climbing wall. All he had to do was slide down the slide on the other side, sprint to the finish line, and end the challenge. Jai finally completed his obstacle on his third goal, and was sprinting towards James. John was already sliding down the slide on the backside when James began his ascent up the wall.

James confessional: "I knew we were done, but we had to finish strong"

John was breaking like the wind to the finish line. As soon as he crossed it, he chest bumped Isaac, knocking him to the ground. He turned around, and saw James at the top of the wall. Johnson lifted the arms of John and Isaac in the air.

"Blue Team wins again!" he proclaimed. Later, both teams were gathered at the bonfire pit.

"Blue Team, you might want to go get washed up and dressed up, as your reservations for a fancy dinner at La Korto in New Alexandria are for 6:30" Johnson said. Blue Team jumped up and began celebrating, heading off to the showers while chanting "Victory! Victory!" Red Team knew they had to vote someone off again.

"I'm so sorry guys" Jai said while sitting in the Red Team base before the elimination ceremony. Margaret was admiring her engagement ring from Otto.

"Don't sweat it. We're still human, and humans make mistakes" she said to Jai, trying to comfort him. Jai buried his head in his hands. He knew he was going to be eliminated that night. Red Team headed to the bonfire pit. A couple of Marines were adding wood to the fire. Jai took a seat along with the rest of Red Team. The two Marines left the bonfire pit. The fire was roaring, and everyone could feel the heat.

"Tsk. Tsk. Red Team, to say I'm disappointed is an understatement. And I would also like to say I'm genuinely surprised at the results of this elimination" Johnson began. Everyone perked up on the log benches being used as seats. Who is going home that he's shocked by?, they thought. Johnson held up a tray with little gold bags on them. "Last night, it was s'mores. Tonight, it's bags of gummy bears. There's only nine on this tray. When I call your name come up and claim a bag. Adriana. Carris. Leon" he began to call the names.

"Survive and advance" Leon said as he took a bag.

"Malcolm. Robert. Cal" Johnson continued. Jai was breaking out in a cold sweat. His stomach was in knots. Maybe I'm not going home after all, he thought.

"Next contestant who's staying is James"

"Place at the table!" James called out.

"Vinh, you get to stay as well" Johnson said. Vinh breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed a bag of gummy bears. One bag remained. It was Jai and Margaret in the final two.

"Before I say who's staying, I would like to repeat that I am very shocked by the results. But, the final bag of gummy bears goes to Jai" Johnson said. Both contestants were surprised. Jai took his bag of gummy bears and joined his teammates.

"How could you get rid of me? I'm one of your best members!" Margaret cried out.

"Yeah, and we still lost!" Leon shouted back. Jai shot back at Leon.

"It's not entirely her fault!" he yelled back. "I got knocked down twice at the swinging arms! Carris got lost in the pipe maze! Robert got stuck in the house of mirrors!" He handed his bag of gummy bears to Margaret.

"I want you to stay. Do it for you and Otto" he said to her. Margaret smiled.

"We could afford a nice honeymoon with the prize money"

"That's one way to look at it" Jai walked off, hopping into the Pelican and flying away. Red Team was shocked.

"He can't just do that! He can't just walk out!" James yelled. Johnson shrugged.

"It's not in the rules, so I guess it's okay" he said. Johnson walked off, leaving Red Team standing around the fire in a tense and awkward silence. Leon broke the silence.

"Jai did the right thing" he said "I thought about it and he's right. I guess we need to rally around you, Margaret and win the next challenge" Margaret smiled.

Meanwhile, Blue Team was smiling in New Alexandra at La Korto. Blue Team was sitting around a table in the restaurant eating a five-course meal. Arthur stood, holding a glass of Champaign. He tapped his spoon against the side of the glass.

"Another toast to victory" he said. Everyone else stood and clinked their glasses together. They all laughed as they sat down. The wait staff came by and delivered the second course, the soup course. They all began to eat, feeling weird in fancy clothes that weren't military dress. Naomi was looking around the table at her teammates. She was taking it all in, enjoying the experience as long as she was there. She was also thinking of that letter from Stefan Stenzke. She didn't want to know what he was planning on doing to her if he gets to her. But then again, he wouldn't pose much of a threat to her in a fight, so she didn't know why she was worried.