Author's Note: And here we are, the second chapter. I would like to start by giving a massive salute to those who have read or reviewed or altered or favored this story! You guys are AWESOME and I hope more will join your ranks soon enough!

There is something I should tell you before you read this chapter. As I have been writing this chapter, I've been debating about whether this story will be/should be rated T or M. I believe that this chapter is almost entirely T but there are one or two scenes that might cross the line into M territory. Please give me your thoughts about such matters, ok?

Also, I should inform the reader that this chapter will not have much Mike and only slightly more of Zoey than Mike. The reason? This chapter is basically the calm before the storm: where most of the relationships, most of the characters' states, and some of the plot elements must be established for when things get serious. But don't worry, after a certain point much of the story will focus on Mike and Zoey.

It's worth noting that in many ways this chapter is the true testing ground for my writing of fan-fiction (why will be discussed in the author's notes at the bottom).

Once again, I must give a shout out to Akira500 on DA. You rock man! In particular for helping me with some moments where I had writer's block.

Having said all that, here's the second chapter of "Mad Mikey": Ratio of Secrecy.

As the sun was shining a new day for Camp Wawanakwa, the light betrayed much in the way of warm and fuzzy appearances.

It has been well established by two seasons on Chris Maclean's privately owned Hell-hole on the sea that the faculties of this island could not be considered an ideal vacation spot by anyone. Except maybe for the blind, deaf, and dumb. Maybe.

However, despite what anyone could have guessed, it actually got even worse.

I guess Chris didn't listen to any concerns that locking up and releasing all at once every single atomic abomination on the island might (just MIGHT) have been a terrible idea. The mutants ran rampant after the finale and brought much of the crappy buildings to the ground. In their radiation filled rage, they even destroyed the dreaded Dock of Shame!

It was only thanks to Chris' beloved botanical behemoth, Larry, that something vaguely resembling safety was restored to Camp Wawanakwa.

However, with the destruction of the Dock of Shame, there was no way for ships to dock at Camp Wawanakwa. So in effect, the contestants, their host, and his crew were marooned on a radioactive island. Oh sure, there was Chris' helicopter but please…do you honestly think Maclean would let a bunch of stupid teenagers ride in his helicopter?

But wait!

What about the fact that the island was not truly even an island? What about when Courtney discovered the outside world just beyond its man-made borders? Well, long before the new turn of events with the Dock of Shame, a section of the Canadian military created a massive perimeter around the land connecting civilization to the "island".

This would not go unnoticed by Mr. Maclean or his producers. Steps would have to be taken in the near future.

In the meantime, like any cockroach, Chris could find potential even in Armageddon.

Until that day, he saw profitability from another, less extreme, angle.

With Total Drama Revenge of the Island now done and the ratings in, many more people than had been excepted couldn't get enough of the new cast. From Dawn's unfair elimination at the hands of Scott to Brick's noble actions in the mines, the exploits of the thirteen teenagers became a rating's boon.

So, Chris had a thought. Since no one could leave the island for at least a few weeks anyway until the Dock of Shame was repaired, why not simply let the contestants interact with each other in anyway they chose to feed the unquenchable demand for the new cast?

This brings to mind the saying of a wise man, that if the personalities of a group are strong enough, just watching them play a game of poker will be more entertaining than the greatest physical challenges.

That didn't mean, however, that those being filmed were happy with the arrangement.

There were protests from the contestants of course. But Chris, ever being a devil of details (or maybe just a devil) pointed to their contracts.

According to their host, the campers were under contract until they left the island, provided of course that they leave the same way they came: by boat (or swimming in mutant infested waters).

This elicited a united grunt from the contestants with the exception of Cameron.

The former bubble boy, being as observant as always, had his doubts. He claimed that he read the contract several times and that clause was not stated anywhere. After sending Cameron a look of annoyance, Chris had an intern fetch him a copy of the contract. Having flipped through the pages, Mr. Maclean found what he was looking for.

Sure enough, it was there, just as the host said. Despite not being able to contend with the words right in front of him, Cameron was unshaken in what he had previously stated. For one thing, to say Cameron's memory was photographic was like saying that Hitler was not a very nice man. Also, unless there was some new legal practice he didn't know of, Cameron was pretty sure that legal binding contracts don't write clauses in red ink while the rest of the document is typed in black.

While in essence being filmed as if they were penguins or gorillas, the campers didn't complain after seeing the "contract". Though the setting could not have been more unpleasant, this meant that they didn't have to worry about life-threatening challenges.

Just as importantly, they were able to truly interact with people who they had become friends with, without the pressures of alliances or elimination ceremonies.

Though it was a reality t.v. show first and foremost concerned with profit, the seasons of Total Drama proved to be a most unique social experiment. In this, an environment about as dire was one could be, all of the pomp and circumstance of life's barriers and one's self-designed archetypes evaporated. When out of their comfort zone, both physically and socially, the contestants begin to reveal and develop features which otherwise might never have seen the light of a brand new day. As a result, people who would never talk to or even know of each other could become the dearest of friends or (if fortune so smiled upon them) a couple.

From a single acorn, many mighty trees soon sprouted and thrived. Becoming a forest of friendship and pheromones.

For the former, one had to only follow the sounds of combat. Though this combat was not with fists and curses, but rather power drills and plasmids.

Though technically stranded, by Chris, the campers were not completely cut off from the outside world. Now that the contest was over, the campers were allowed things they could not have had during the competition (much to Chris' chagrin). Said things were brought to the island by helicopter.

The most impressive things brought were a large flat-screen t.v., the latest gaming system, four wireless controllers, and several of the hottest titles. This technological island in amidst of the crappy island became a hot spot for many campers. There were currently four campers huddled around the screen of highest HD.

No one would be shocked to find that Sam, video gamer extraordinar, was among those four. Also feeling right at home was B, the silent genius formerly known as Beverley. Though this explosives expert mime was more acquainted with hands-on technology, he was comfortable with and skilled at the art of gaming.

The remaining two, Brick and Cameron, were clearly out of their element. Brick was here because of the desire to make the friendships he couldn't during the competition. Cameron was here due to the encouragement of Mike, who played Portal 2 (a personal favorite of Mike's) with the other three yesterday.

But today they were playing Bioshock: Raptured, a recent reimagining/reboot of the hit 2007 video game. This version of the game had better graphics, more weapons, and several multiplayer match types. They were playing one called, 'Alpha-Omega'. Their goal was to bring a Little Sister back to their base camp while not getting killed by an extremely powerful enemy hunting them called the Alpha-Omega Big Daddy that's also guarding her while fighting the splicers and security systems of the submersed city.

And while the four players made their way through dark corridors of Art Deco decay, their attentions had shifted.

As the four played, two of them had entered a deep discussion in their comradery. And just what was being debated? World hunger? Abortion? The existence of God in a seemingly godless world? No. They did not waste their time with such travail matters. Instead, they were debating THE issue! The Ultimate Question (and the answer is not 42)!

"How can you say that they are not…?" Brick began asking before being interrupted by Sam.

"They are not plumbers!"

"What do you mean they are not plumbers? Do they or do they not travel through the sewers?"

"So, anyone who travels through the sewers is automatically a plumber?"

"No, but that is their job, right?"

"No, no its not! They've been fighters and teachers. Jugglers and tennis players. They've raced go-carts and F-1's! They've even been doctors. Do you know of any plumbers that have Ph.D.'s?"

While Sam was by all accounts a good-natured and reasonable guy, he was also a gamer. For those not acquainted with gamers, they almost always have an explosive core that can be sparked by seemingly trivial matters. That's why on-line gaming has swearing that makes seasoned sailors sound like sissies. And why Sam was going off on a tangent while the others just stared at him, not even paying attention to the video game.

"They've used mushrooms, fire flowers, and turtle shells. I've played every Mario game and I've never seen a plunger in their hands! Do you think they've fought King Koopa with a socket wrench? In fact, has a plumber ever defeated a dragon? Not unless you could by showing it your butt crack!"

As the gamer said this absurd statement, Cameron looked at B, who was sitting next to him.

"Really? You can't bring any of your wisdom to comment on this display of insanity?"

A shrug of the shoulders and a small smile was the only comment brought forth by B.

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"After he came back to the island," Cameron told the camera, "B and I spent a lot of time together due to that business with Dakota. Turns out that aside from girth and, well, speaking, were simpatico. I'll admit that his, uh, vow of silence, is sometimes a pain. But is it really any odder than being in a bubble? Besides, ninety-three percent of all human communication is non-verbal anyway."

(Static)

B is seen has he merely shrugs his shoulders, as if saying 'Go figure'.

(Static)

END OF CONFESSIONAL

It was only at that point that Sam realized how stupid this whole discussion was. This was the kind of stuff that that former contestant Harold was known for.

"Uh, sorry guys. I guess I lost it here for a second." Sam said as he rubbed the back of his neck in shame.

As the three other players looked at each other, it took microseconds for them to reach a mental agreement. They were all perfectly aware of the stress that Sam has been under since the finale ended.

"That's perfectly fine, solider. We all sometimes loss our heads in the heat of…" Brick began to say with calmness, but then Brick's character was killed by a splicer with a crossbow.

"…Why would anyone use a crossbow when they have machine guns and grenade launchers? I thought this was suppose to be set in 1960, not Medieval times!"

While Sam's tangent was certainly greater in passion, Brick had been experiencing tiny tangents throughout there playing. Brick did have some experience with video games but those games were the sort that the Army used to train its troops. As a result, they were extremely realistic. Therefore, Brick was struggling with the more fantastical elements of the game and couldn't help but criticize the game. Though he kept his criticism to the realism of the weapons and not elements like having a fist full of lightning or fire at your fingertips.

After Brick said his latest statement, Cameron couldn't help be remember some of his previous ones:

"That is not how you load a 1882 Spencer shotgun! You load them from the ejection port on the top, not the bottom!"

"A Thomson Submachine gun drum has fifty rounds of ammunition. Not forty! Would ten extra bullets have been too much?"

"I don't care how mutated they are, there's no way they would survive a point blank shotgun blast!"

"How can a research camera be considered a weapon? I know surveyance is important but that doesn't make a camera a weapon!"

Cameron's train of thought was stopped when the four players finally made it to the lair of the Alpha-Omega Big Daddy (Brick's character came back to life thanks to a Vita Chamber). They saw the Little Sister, shivering and alone as she cried. Sadly, they also saw the Alpha-Omega Big Daddy. He was indeed an imposing sight. Two or three times the size of a normal Big Daddy; it was armed to the scuba-diving helmet. Each shoulder had a mounted weapon, a RPG launcher on the left that fired heat-seeking rockets and a Gatling gun style machine gun on the right. On it's left arm there was a massive gauntlet that concealed a large flamethrower. The entire right arm was a massive power drill.

Against such a powerful foe, a head-on assault would be suicide so the players had to use traps and teamwork to outsmart it.

With that, Sam's character fired one of the new weapons available in this game. Using his grenade launcher, what appeared to be a proximity mine was fired at the ground some distance away from the Alpha-Omega Big Daddy. Instead of the normal green blast radius indicators, this mine had purple ones.

But then, a sweet sound began. In contrast to the decayed city of Rapture, the lively and rhythmic music of Waltz of the Flowers flowed through the air like a delicate perfume gently blowing some flowers into a swirling dance.

Despite being a lumbering palooka in a foul smelling diving suit, the Alpha-Omega Big Daddy became entranced by the soothing medley and began slowly walking towards its source. As it did, Sam and Brick ran to get the Little Sister while Cameron and B watched their backs for the splicers that would be attracted by the tune.

As they played, Cameron, being as observant as always, noticed that Brick had a subtle sad look on his face. Cameron could guess why. Shortly after the finale, Brick unashamedly proclaimed that he was going to use his portion of Cameron's winnings to enter fashion school. Everyone was naturally shocked. While Brick appeared to have no qualms about what he said, Cameron couldn't help but suspect that there was some shame in the this supposedly macho-military man wanting to be in fashion school.

"You know Brick," Cameron said, "the military has branched out into areas other than direct combat in the past."

"Like what?" Brick asked interested in what Cameron was about to say.

"During World War One, there was a program called Project Façade. The medical discipline of plastic surgery came into being because of reconstructive surgery for soldiers who became facially disfigured due to the massive use of heavy artilleries." Cameron said as he recalled the contents of one of the countless books he read in his bubble.

"Really? Then in a way, I'll be continuing a noble lineage of the military. What did those helped by this project look like afterward?"

As Brick asked Cameron, a wave of splicers charged at the players due to them being attracted to the music like little moths to a flame. They were truly grotesque. One had an exposed eye and an exposed eye socket without an eye while also have nostrils vaguely resembling those of a bat. Another looked as if it was wearing a Zorro style mask, except that it was made of human skin grafted to its face.

"Just like that actually." Cameron said, before realizing that this wouldn't help Brick.

Brick briefly held his head down in shame. B simply raised an eyebrow.

Then it hit Cameron that what he just said made Brick feel worse. While the bubble boy had made leaps and bounds in terms of socializing, he still had some things to learn.

Seeing Brick ashamed unintentionally by Cameron, Sam spoke up.

"Luckily Brick has a interest in fashion and not faces," Sam said before adding with a clearly artificial gruffness, "Isn't that right Private McArthur?"

Despite (or perhaps because of) that terrible attempt to sound like a officer, Brick smiled at the gamer and said, "Affirmative, Sergeant Sam!"

This put everyone in good spirits; just in time to hear the explosion of the musical proximity mine and the angry roar of the Alpha-Omega Big Daddy. The four were quickly slaughtered by the enraged steam punk golem.

After all of them were easily killed, the scores of each player were presented. Though they all technically lost, the game still evaluated each player's performance and ranked them. The rankings were as follows: Sam came in first (big shocker), B placed in second, Brick clawed his way in third, and Cameron came in dead last.

'10th'BLEEPING' time in a row!' B thought to himself. He may be a good soul, but like everyone else, B thought with words he would never say. Which in B's case meant almost any words at all.

Cameron sighed at coming in last place again. For all of Cameron's knowledge and skills, he was a terrible video game player. Though he spent sixteen years in an environment that could have made a master gamer, Cameron spent those years reading books.

Changing from being the observed to the observer, Brick was the first to notice this.

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"That's the tenth consecutive game that Cameron's come in dead last. Believe me," Brick said as he began unconsciously rubbing one of his arms, "I know how hard it is to keep doing something you bomb at every single time."

His voice then took on the flair of pride, "But being the good solider that he is, Cameron gets right back up and goes at it again anyway."

As he salutes the camera, Brick then adds, "I salute him!"

Returning his arms to their normal positions, Brick continues, "Plus, Cameron has the benefit of the bullets being fired not truly aimed at him…or real."

(Static)

END OF CONFESSIONAL

Also noticing Cameron's sigh, Sam quickly pressed some buttons in the time that it took for the next game to re-load (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A).

Being the one sitting the closet to Sam, Brick saw him do this but chose to say nothing.

The next game did indeed have Cameron do far better, it appeared as if the enemies' attacks didn't damage Cameron so much this time. Though Cameron couldn't explain why this was, he wasn't complaining since he ended up coming in second place. He was overjoyed at finally not coming in dead last.

Sam and Brick looked at each other and smiled for their friend's joy. Spurred by this, Cameron asks everyone if they would be willing to go another round. They all accepted.

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"Yeah, I put in a cheat code to help Cameron. I've been burned a few times by jerks on-line, especially some guy named Leeroy Jenkins. And I don't want his lack of experience to deter him from video games. Brick saw me put in the code but he seemed cool with it. I'm pretty sure B didn't see anything." Sam said to the camera in the Confessional.

Then after a very brief chuckle, the gamer added, "Even if he did, he won't say anything."

(Static)

B is seen nodding his head as if in agreement.

END OF CONFESSIONAL

As they played, they actually started to get the upper hand over the grim guardian. Sam was in the zone! He had killer focus and energy to burn! But he was so focused that he didn't detect the mass moving ever so silently behind him.

With his eyes like daggers at the screen, Sam was caught unawares when the figure from behind turned his head. As it did, it gave Sam something.

The one thing which could make even the most committed and focused of gamers not give a damn….the kiss of a beautiful blonde.

As their lips parted, Sam stared at the lemon hair and lime eyes of his beloved, Dakota.

Forgetting the game, and the sounds of his character being violently gored by a power drill, Sam just gazed at Dakota and the sequence of events that occurred during the competition and over the past few weeks came rushing over him.

In more ways than one, Dakota was one of the sleeper contestants of this season. A girl whose hair and eyes reflected the colossal amounts of gold and cash her family obtained through the Milton hotel empire, many a viewer thought she was going to be nothing but a fame obsessed bitch. But then those same viewers were hit by a double-whammy. First, she was a sweet and actually lonely young woman who just wanted love. Second, the island transformed her into a spiky twelve-foot tall rage monster.

It's hard to say which was more shocking!

Sadly this was not without precedent. There was no denying that the events and challenges under the direction of Chris MacLean pushed the boundaries of what was viewed as acceptable by society or legal under the law. Many times over, Chris and his producers should not only have been arrested for needless endangerment but also taken for every penny they had. Sure some of the contestants in the past had been so radical affected by the show as to no longer be human in the fullest sense of the word but this time they crossed a line.

They dared to anger a man with a massive bank account! And now they were paying the price for it, a price with a lot of zeros behind it.

Along with the government, Chris soon found the entire Milton hotel empire breathing down his neck. Rightly fearing the cruel ruthlessness of Mr. Milton's lawyers, Chris agreed to allow many scientists to come to the island and to erect a facility dedicated to curing Dakota of her mutated state.

Thanks to the magic of money, it only took a few days to build a complex medical faculty. If you think that this is impossible, you clearly don't know what money can do. At first, despite having the most talented doctors and advanced equipment in the world, no recognizable progress was made over the first four days or so. Although the seasoned doctors protested with tooth and claw, the binary black brainiacs of B and Cameron were added to the facility's staff.

The turnaround was so impressive that these two teenagers made the most highly regarded professionals in medicine look like a bunch of slack jawed yokels. While hours' worth of technical jargon and medical mumbo-jumbo could be barfed out to explain this, what's important to know is that they were able to isolate and restrain the recent 'Dakotazoid' part of Dakota's psyche. As a result, in both appearance and personality, Dakota had returned to what she once was.

"Hey Sam." Dakota said full of pep.

A little startled by this this, it took Sam a moment to respond.

"Oh, hi Dakota. Haha."

Ever since returning to normal, Dakota still felt largely isolated except when around Sam. As a result, she rarely left the medical complex and was generally not having much zest.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked still trying to understand why Dakota was acting this way. Not that he was displeased by her upbeat demeanor mind you.

"Oh I just missed my Sammy whammy is all." Dakota said as she sat down on Sam's lap and snuggled up against him.

Despite whatever social convention would dictate, Dakota had come to develop very strong feelings for the geeky gamer. She had dated other guys of course (often much more physically attractive ones to boot) but Sam was the first one that she felt like truly cared about her as a person.

Dakota then turned to the screen and saw that the Alpha-Omega Big Daddy had gutted the island's Geek squad.

"Uh, sorry sweetie." Dakota said as she just realized that she cost her boyfriend and his friends their game. She knew how much video games meant to her not so little lover boy.

"Come on Dakota. You know you matter much more to me than a video game. And coming from me, that's saying a lot."

As hard as it was to believe, Sam was not lying. Sam was very self-aware of his place on the social totem pole. Guys like him only got a girl like Dakota in fairy tales. And yet here she was, sitting on his lap with a smile so sweet that it could give someone diabetes.

"It's true ma'am. When he is not talking about video games, he speaks only of you." Brick told the blond beauty, knowing that he was scoring his friend some major points.

"And what exactly do you tell them?" Dakota asked Sam as she slightly raised an eyebrow with that sweet smile of hers still present.

"Well, let's see. You're the sweetest, most beautiful girl I've ever met. Being with you gives me more joy than all of my hours of gaming combined. Every time I see you I fight the urge to pinch myself to make sure I'm not in some wonderful dream."

As Sam said these things, Dakota's eyes grew and her cheeks blushed. Of course she knew all of this already but she loved hearing it anyway from the boy with an auburn Jew fro. But Sam had one last card up his sleeve.

"And you're an incredible kisser."

As if on cue, Dakota locked lips once again with Sam. As they looked at the lovers, the three single guys couldn't be happier for their friend. Cameron had a large smile on his face. Brick lightly nodded his head in approval. B gave the two an unseen thumbs up.

After their kiss, Dakota looked at the large television screen and turned to Sam.

"Can I give it a try?"

The three other players looked at each other perplexed by this question.

"You play video games, Dakota?" Cameron asked, saying what they were all thinking.

Looking at the bespectacled teenager, Dakota answered Cameron's question.

"I've just started recently thanks to Sam. I guess I'm slowly becoming a gamer. Some of them are so much fun! Especially the ones with those two plumbers."

With Dakota still facing B, Brick, and Cameron, Sam for a split second had a look of unhidden shock on his face. How could his princess say that, such blasphemy!

As that expression passed, the boy with the black eyes looked over Dakota's shoulder to observe his three friends. They were all trying to keep stoic faces but failing as great big horsy grins started forming.

While Dakota still stared at them, now slightly confused, Sam shot them a look of frustration, as if saying to them, 'Not one word'.

Having seen enough of the three, she turned back to face Sam with puppy-dog eyes and her lips in a little pout. Dakota knew that he didn't have the willpower to say no to this face.

It took about one second before Dakota's Puss in Boots face did its job.

"Of course you can, my princess." Sam said as Dakota let out a light squeal. Turns out that Dakota had a weakness too, being called princess, except when in an iron clap begging to stay on a reality t.v show.

"Would you like me to move so you can have my seat?" Sam asked.

Pondering this, Dakota, still sitting on Sam's lap, quickly gave the gamer an answer.

"Nope. I have the best seat in the house right here. It's comfy, heated, and cushioned."

This time it was Sam who leaned in for a kiss. Dakota very willingly returned it. He had been hoping that would be Dakota's answer but he felt like he had to give her the choice.

"Oh poop." Dakota said with a cute pout as her character met yet another grisly end.

True to what Dakota said not too long ago, she was slowly becoming a gamer. Very slowly. Being more at home in the world of Mario, Dakota found the city of Rapture to be a very uninviting one. Since this was literally her first time playing this game, she made many mistakes as she was learning the controls. The others present were very good about not laughing at the many mistakes that Dakota made. However, they couldn't stop themselves when she fired a proximity mine only to walk in the blast radius and kill herself a few moments later.

Like many a new gamer, Dakota was not taking her loses well. Each defeat made her a little more displeased with herself. Dakota was feeling good today, a fairly rare state these days. And she wanted to take advantage of that and bond with Sam, who she hadn't been able to be with to the degree that she desired. Not only that, but she was hoping to impress her new boyfriend with her increased skills at gaming.

Years of grooming at the highest levels of society taught Dakota many things. But the most important was to be prefect. A true man would settle for nothing less. Not only did you have to have flawless skin and bouncy breasts but you had to have a personality without blemish: cheerful, bubbly, devoid of sadness or issue, an enteral beckon of pep. Not only that, but a true woman had to grow to match and master whatever the man liked. If it's football, become a captain of the cheerleading team. If it's academics, read the classic works of literature. If it's gaming, become good at gaming.

But now she was making a miserable spectacle of herself. Just like when her dress got caught on a door and she lost the back half at Cary's party. Or when she found out that the apparently sweet Charlie just wanted to get her in bed. Or when Elijah broke up with her because she wouldn't smoke marijuana. Or when Allen publically shamed her for not liking football enough. Or when it was revealed that Gary was just using her as a beard to hide that he was gay.

'Why have all of the guys I've dated turned out to be such creeps?' Dakota couldn't help thinking to herself as she was playing yet another ultimately disgraceful match.

But Sam wasn't a creep. He was so genuine and sweet. He would never even think about hurting her in anyway. But could Dakota do the same? She cared about Sam more than anything in the world. But she also knew what kind of person she was.

Dakota couldn't help but hear the same sad songs that played in her mind during her pervious experiences with boys, now with some added lyrics.

You're embarrassing him!

You are failing him!

He'll never truly love you!

You will never know love!

You'll never be good enough!

You're turning him away!

You don't deserve a guy as great as him!

Your nothing but a shallow spoiled little rich girl!

What guy so sweet could possibly love someone as vain as you!

You are pathetic! Worthless!

You can't do anything without daddy's money behind you!

He will lie to you! Hurt you!

He only cares about your looks!

You can't trust anyone! Not Sam! Not yourself!

Like a swarm of rapid killer bees, these thoughts buzzed around in Dakota's brain and would not leave. Despite Dakota keeping up a friendly façade, she was feeling the stings of this psychological swarm.

And then she saw it! She saw it again!

The horrors of Rapture melted away as if they were fresh paint dosed by a water cannon. What replaced them was an even greater horror. Dakota lost all sense of anything else as the images began playing themselves out before her in their ghastly succession.

She saw Sam with a look of sheer terror as he appeared to be trapped between two massive but undeterminable objects. Then as she heard a progression of loud pops, Sam's face vaguely resembled the agonized expression of the classic Impressionist painting The Scream as Sam's eyes and mouth bugled to a degree that should have been inhuman. The gamer looked as if he was in the bleak vacuum of space and the life was being violently forced out of him. At the same time, a furious flood of blood blasted its way over Sam's frightened form as if it was emerging from a long dormant volcano. The blood filled all of the space before Dakota.

Back at Camp Wawanakwa, Sam and the others were becoming greatly concerned. For a few minutes now, Dakota had stopped playing the game and was just staring at the screen with the controller still in her hand.

"Dakota? Dakota? What's the matter Dakota?" Sam called out to the girl still sitting on his lap.

As Sam called out to her, Dakota was not there. The gamer was so worried about his first girlfriend that he didn't notice that something had changed. Dakota's normally money green eyes had become bright yellow and developed blood red pupils.

Though the four young men didn't see this, they all had a creeping suspicion of what was about to happen next. Unfortunately they were proven correct.

The confirmation came with an overture of light snaps, crackles, and pops (insert Rice Krispies joke here, be creative). This was joined by the sound of stretching. Though Sam knew what was happening and that it was like looking into the gaze of a Gorgon, he looked for the source of the sounds. As he found it in an instant, his worst fears were realized.

It was Dakota. She, his beloved, was becoming a monster right on his lap.

As she became slowly taller and taller, Dakota looked at Sam's frightened face and knew that they were both trapped. Her body had become so tense that she was incapable of moving it. Though the transformation was less than a minute old, Dakota's body had already increased in weight enough to pin Sam's legs underneath it.

With the weight pressing down on his legs become greater and greater by the second, Sam was forced into a front row seat to his girlfriend's metamorphosis. He saw her slowly growing towards the height of twelve feet. But that was the least radical ordeal of this process. Sam saw the more ghastly effects play out before him in horrific detail.

Her blond hair suddenly began to stiffen and curve upward until it became an overlapping series spiky of locks that were now bright green. She felt this as if it was someone pulling on her hair until it was locked into a fully upward position. In size, shape, and solidity, Dakota's hair now had far more in common with the horns of a rhinoceros than human hair (even though both are made from keratin).

Her hair wasn't the only part of her that was becoming spiny. Her arms, like the rest of Dakota's body, were becoming much larger than nature intended. To ensure that this unnatural growth didn't produce any long-lasting damage, her body had to create additional structures to contain and shape the growth. These structures took the form of large barb-like spines that were made of super-tense muscles and armored skin. Though she didn't see them, she felt these spines as they were slowly forcing themselves out of her elbows and shoulders as if a metal pole was being pushed out of her body. There was another, the largest one of these spines that formed what would become a tail.

As Dakota slowly started to lose the perceptions of her own body, her eyes (while they were still hers) darted downward and looked at her hands. But she did not see her hands, her slender feminine fingers or her perfectly pedicured fingernails. What she saw instead were increasingly colossal claws that were becoming curved, titanic talons. Her fingernails grew outward where there had been no nail before. They also grew inward and began covering and penetrating the soft flesh of her fingers with the same sharpened skin as her growing nails. It felt as if a serrated knife was slowly slithering its way from her nail to her knuckle, on each finger and thumb.

Then Dakota heard something smash. Looking at "her" hands, Dakota saw that the game controller that she had been holding this whole time was smashed into a pile of circuits and microchips. Things had a nasty habit of getting smashed when Dakota transformed.

In a minute of two, that would include Sam's legs. The gamer felt the weight that by now felt like it was matching that of a blue whale. His black eyes looked around for any deliverance from feeling his bones being flattened into powder.

All he found was his three friends, though clearly concerned about his well being, powerless to help him. They learned the hard way that getting too close to Dakota as she was transforming only accelerated the process and made her/it angry.

Caught between two unmoving objects, there concern for Sam and there powerlessness to help him, the three witnesses would not allow themselves to fully perceive what was happening. For whatever reason, each was blocking off some sense to the display before them. B had his hands over his mouth. Brick covered his ears (for some reasons). And the observant Cameron closed his eyes but put his hands over them anyway for good measure. They couldn't bear what they knew was coming. It was inevitable. Hopeless.

But then, from nowhere, there came deliverance.

"Dakota, look at me. Keep your eyes on me!" A voice without an owner said. A high-pitched squeaky voice.

Taking their eyes off of Dakota, the three friends saw a Seraph, an angel. They saw Dawn.

Despite them and Sam being overjoyed to see the Moonchild, her grayish-blue gaze focused intently on the transforming Dakota. It seemed that even in mid-metamorphosis Dawn got Dakota's attention because the mutating girl's yellow-red eyes stared right at her.

As Dawn slowly got closer to Dakota, the air felt ever denser with every step. Though fear was pushing on her like hurricane force winds, she did not falter. She had faced dangerous beasts in the past and knew how to handle them. She had helped Dakota several times over the past few weeks.

Ignoring the angry leers and rumbling growls from Dakota's form, Dawn came to stand directly in front of the beast. Had it been anyone else, they would have been swiped away by the creature's now massive claws. But with her presence able to put the mutant into a soothed trance, Dawn was able to not only get close but also actually place her hand on Dakota's forehead.

But not just anywhere on her forehead. Dawn placed one of her slender pale hands on the area in-between the eyebrows, the location of the Ajna. Having been trained in the spiritual practices of many cultures including those of India's Hindus, Dawn knew that the Ajna was not only the sixth of the seven bodily channels of spiritual energy called chakras but also the port from which two beings could become connected by their spiritual energy. If one was so gifted, they could guide another through their own spiritual energy. Thankfully for everyone there, Dawn was.

Though once Dawn placed her hand over Dakota's Ajna everything was silent around her and Dakota's body stopped transforming, she was experiencing a maelstrom of emotions. Her body was in Camp Wawanakwa but Dawn was traversing through the former fame-hog's spiritual energy.

She felt Dakota's fear, sorrow, anger, shame, and despair as others feel the rays of the sun. Not physically tangible but impossible to be numb to. Then Dawn heard something, a guide through the swirling chaos. She heard weeping.

Following that weeping, Dawn found the original Dakota. Though to Dawn the emotions around her were a merely a tangible presence, to Dakota they were a roaring typhoon that made her a prisoner in her own mind. The fears of herself and the feeling that all hope was lost had broken the beautiful blonde. Determined to free her from this nexus of negative energy, Dawn began the process of doing just that.

With her lips not moving and her eyes not blinking on the island, Dawn was able to beckon to Dakota.

"Dakota, can you hear me Dakota?"

Dakota had stopped weeping after hearing the familiar friendly voice. But that didn't mean she was any less trapped within herself. Plus, the fact that this voice, though of a friend, was talking to her from literally nowhere didn't ease her nerves any at all.

"I know you are frightened but you must follow my voice." Dawn said with some small sense of urgency. Only a small sense though because anything else might scare her away.

Even so, Dawn knew that time was of the essence. Sam's legs couldn't take much more.

"I know that you only see the negative inside yourself but there is much more to you. There is so much that is good and wonderful about you. You might not see it but others have and embrace you for who you are. If you follow my voice, I can show you."

Fear still gripped her and forced its full weight on Dakota. However, that tiny encouragement was enough to get Dakota to stand up and begin walking towards Dawn's voice.

After some distance, Dakota began to notice that the terrain around was shifting, changing. Before, there were only dark blue winds and thunderous clouds. But now, the landscape's color scheme was bright yellow and green. Though the same winds were still around her, they became much less forceful and far cloudier. In the churning mists of jade and gold, Dakota began to see forms taking shape. She began to see things familiar to her, faces and events from the recent past. Her memories.

She saw when she and Dawn laughed after a bird pooped on the Moonchild's light blonde hair during their first mediation session. Then she saw her and Zoey as they worked on each other's hair and talked for hours about Mike and Sam. Then came the time that she and Sam were overjoyed that first time she beat a level in Super Mario Bros., her first achievement in gaming.

Dakota felt mostly fear and dread after appearing to be rid of the 'Dakotazoid'. Ever since that first indescribably terrifying transformation which Dawn barely stopped in time, she was consumed by concern that she would alone and trapped in a monster. But these moments and others shined like stars from another galaxy. So distant and yet so bright.

As Dakota bathed in the warmth of these past but still shining stars, she saw her surroundings change. As the fog dispatched, Dakota slowly started to see a large flat-screen t.v. with many trees and a bright sun behind it. As she began seeing this change, her body had begun changing back to its original form. Once she returned to her human form, a massive weight was lifted from everyone's shoulders…and Sam's legs. Though they had been in considerable pain, Sam's legs had no true damage. Bursting with joy, Sam leaned in to hug Dakota but when he did he hugged nothing but air.

He then realized that Dakota had leapt off his lap and moved a few paces away.

The brightness that shined like supernovas had already died out.

Despite her obvious joy at not losing control, two other feelings overwhelmed Dakota. Guilt and fear. Guilt in that without Dawn's intervention she would have not only become that monster but hurt Sam. She could have hurt Sam…or worse! And that's what the fear stemmed from, losing Sam. Whether by death or him leaving her, Dakota feared being alone. Maybe it wouldn't happen today but how could it not somewhere down the road?

Dakota just stood there, with the expression of someone who survived a bombing raid. Now, whatever thoughts were lingering behind her fleeting good mood came to the forefront of Dakota's mind.

'It almost happened, it almost happened again. I…I can't keep it in. I'm not strong enough! It'll just keep trying to get out and take control for good! It'll just keep doing it and doing it and doing it until it succeeds. It's never going to stop.'

This though so rung in Dakota's mind that she didn't realize that Dawn was talking to her. She saw the light blonde moving her mouth and heard noise but didn't recognize words.

"I'm sorry but could you please repeat that?" Dakota asked Dawn.

After nodding her head, Dakota repeated herself.

"I said that me and B are going to travel there the wildness and help out the poor creatures on this island. Would you like to come with us?"

Dawn thought at walking through the woodlands might be just what Dakota needed.

"No, that's ok. Thank you for the offer Dawn but I need to be alone right now."

Though she likely would enjoy some companionship right about now, she didn't want to be around anyone at the moment. Feeling ashamed and sacred at almost losing control.

"Where are we meeting for today's session?" Dakota asked Dawn as she was becoming increasingly preoccupied with her fears.

"Our usual place. In three hours, same as always." Dawn replied, sad that Dakota wished to be alone but still respectful of her wishes.

After Dakota lightly nodded her head in approval, Dawn and B left for the forest. Both had expressions of concern on their faces.

With that, Dakota slowly walked into the woods. Her mind was full of unpleasant images and her eyes were starting to get teary.

This did not go unnoticed by Sam.

He would be lying if Sam said he wasn't truly afraid when Dakota was transforming right on his lap. He felt his legs start to bend under Dakota's increasing weight. Maybe even start to snap or break.

Though greatly concerned for his own self-pervasion, when Sam saw Dakota like this that didn't seem as important. There was something about Dakota that made Sam feel so good inside. It wasn't her amazing looks or sweet personality (though those were great). It was something else that though Sam couldn't explain, he unquestionably felt. So much so that seeing Dakota so upset was about the worst thing in the world.

After Dakota was out of sight, Sam very quickly reached the same state that she was in.

Seeing their friend so saddened and being unable to think of anything to say or do that would comfort him, Brick and Cameron silently got up and left Sam where he sat.

They knew that Sam had to be alone right now as well.

As they left, Sam just sat exactly as he had been before. The only difference was that his right hand was moving up and down the spot on his leg were Dakota had been sitting. As if trying to recapture the warmth he felt from his beloved and remove the pain that he had experienced mere minutes ago.

"I feel so bad for them! They are two really nice people who are crazy about each other. And, for all of my knowledge, I make their situation worse. Some friend I turn out to be!" Cameron lamented to Brick as they walked into the woods. Guilt was eating away at him.

"I still don't get it, how exactly do you feel that this is your fault? You weren't the one who mutated Dakota." Brick asked, both to understand the situation and try to comfort his friend.

"True. But that doesn't absolve me of blame for her current predicament." Cameron said as he stopped in front of a cluster of bushes. He was preparing himself to explain to Brick what happened to Dakota since she was apparently "cured"

"You see, me and B thought that once we isolated the 'Dakotazoid' part of Dakota's psyche, that it would cease to exist. In the same way that when you remove a Taenia saginata…uh, Beef Tapeworm, from a host it dies. But it appears that isolating it had the opposite effect of what was intended. Rather than destroying it, we gave it a consciousness of it's own."

"So you made Dakota human but unknowingly gave her a second personality?"

"Sadly, yes. And it seems that it is trying to take over Dakota's body. It appears that it has more success when Dakota becomes angry or upset."

"Then why was she starting to transform when she was playing that video game?"

"I honestly don't have a clue. These are almost entirely uncharted waters. The closest comparison is Multiple Personality Disorder, like Mike had, but even that is of almost no help with Dakota's case. The only thing that seems to have any real effect on her is her mediation sessions with Dawn, even though their effect is only fleeting. But there is at least one small victory that I can tally up."

Cameron was poised to continue, to say the only bit of good news involved but he became distracted be a faint rumbling in the nearby bushes.

"Which would be?" Brick asked to get Cameron's attention once again.

"Oh right! Well, B and me were able to give Dakota a mental safety valve, if you will. In the instance when Dakota does lose control and the other personality takes over, after sixty minutes a mental override occurs and the 'Dakotazoid' is repressed once more and remains completely repressed for at least thirty minutes."

"Really? And how exactly were you able to do that?" Brick asked with a genuine desire to learn more about this process.

Right before Cameron could answer Brick, the bushes behind them began to move again. The bushes this time was closer to the two teenagers. So close that Cameron could hear faint yet noticeable angry grunts.

Letting out a begrudging sigh, Cameron thought to himself, 'He just never learns'.

He really wasn't in the mood to deal with this right now.

Having no sense of peril in his voice, Cameron calmly asked Brick if he could wait a second.

Without even waiting for a response from the puzzled Private, the former bubble boy rolled up his right sleeve. What Brick saw peaked his preexisting puzzlement.

Above Cameron's elbow, there was an armband that was made of metal that had a dial on it. Turning said dial, rows upon rows of overlapping metal plates clawed their way down Cameron's arm until they reached his hand. Once there, the metal morphed into a gauntlet with a glowing core of energy over the palm.

Once this bizarre device was fully formed, Cameron, with the same demeanor as moments ago, asked Brick if he could kindly step about 8 paces back. The Cadet compiled with the request, as the palm's core began coursing with electrical currents.

Now with Brick several steps away, the being in the bushes forced its way out. It was an electrical current of a different kind…it was Lightning.

With a look of explosive anger on his face, the Athletic Overachiever let out a fierce growl as he leaped towards his target.

Said target simply lifted the gauntlet.

The fierce growl of the one called Lightning was drowned out by a booming symphony of alien syllables and the sound of thunder. His form was lost in a sudden flood of light, leaving only the jock's muscular outline visible. That outline was filled with blots of voltage, giving the burly teenager's bones the same flickering fluoresce as a house's circuit breaker on the fritz.

A few moments of this was sufficient. Turning the dial back to what it was, Cameron saw the small sheets of metal receded back into the armband.

Having been suspended in the air by the force of blast, Lightning fell to the ground with a blunt thud. His already black skin became slightly darker by a faint coating of ash. Small lines of smoke slowly slithered skyward, as if fleeing his failure. A cindered cough came from Lightning's scorched lips.

Appearing to have been completely un-phased by the incredible display, Cameron turned back to Brick and asked, "Sorry about that. Now then, what were you saying?"

Brick's black eyes looked at seemingly meek young man with awe at the display of invulnerability.

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"I have to say; I'm very impressed with Cameron's resourcefulness. Who knows, maybe after we get off this island I can convince him to join my squad?" Brick mused to the Confessional

Then Brick thinks for a moment and remembers how this was the same kid whose body was weighted down by his own clothes while trying to climb a mountain.

After having a look of realization, Brick weakly added, "Uh…never mind."

(Static)

"After I said I would spilt my winnings with all of my fellow campers, I got on good terms with pretty much everyone," Cameron said with satisfaction before weakly adding,

"…except Lightning."

Cameron gave a brief sigh before continuing.

"It seems that Lightning still hasn't gotten over the fact that I beat him. I just hope in time that Lightning will accept his defeat with quiet dignity and grace."

(Static)

Lightning's image appears before the camera and a Pandora's box of profanity is opened.

"…'MOTHER-'BLEEPER'! LIGHTNING'S GOIN' KICK THE LIVING 'BLEEP' OUT THAT SKINNY, LITTLE CHICKEN-'BLEEP'! AND HIS 'BLEEPING' DISTURBINGLY LARGE HEAD! OH…LIGHTNING WILL EAT HIS HEAD AND 'BLEEP' OUT HIS SKULL! YEAH…THAT'S WHAT LIGHTNING IS GOIN' DO! EATING HEADS… 'BLEEPING' SKULLS! BLEEPBLEEPBLEEPBLEEPBLEEP!"

(Static)

Cameron looks straight into the camera with a deadpan look on his face.

"Realizing that the Apocalypse will likely come sooner, I had to invent this."

Cameron rolls up his sleeve, turns the dial to the metal armband, and shows the full-formed device to the camera.

"Behold the Killowatt-Ionic-Magnetic-Ohm-Torrent-Appendage. Or Kimota for short."

Then for no reason Cameron shouts out, "KIMOTA!"

Cameron lightly chuckled to himself before saying.

"I think I'm finally starting to get why Lightning has his own battle cry."

(Static)

"Now that the little girl has that spark sleeve, Lightning has to find a way to out fox him."

After admitting that, the jock thinks to himself out loud, "Out fox him…fox him…fox…?"

He then expresses a sudden look of epiphany.

"That's it! Sha-brilliant! Man, I'm good! Makes me wonder why I didn't get higher scores on my STD'S? Who's mentally slow now, sha-suckers! SHABAM!"

(Static)

END OF CONFESSIONAL

Before Brick could repeat his question, there came another interruption. But at least this one was friendly…right?

"Hey Patton! Now that you've seen some fireworks, you ready for your daily drill of failure?" A rough voice asked, though it almost sounded like a command.

Turning their heads, Brick and Cameron found Jo looking at them with her purple pupils. Her expression was hard to read, somewhere between annoyance and anticipation. The normal ambiguities of being anything with Jo except a clear cut foe.

As Cameron stared at the not so girly girl in the grey sweat clothes, Brick responded without hesitation and even a bit of excitement.

"That's a negative! But I'm more than prepared for to give you yours."

Once again trading places with Cameron in terms of being puzzled, Brick said, "I'm sorry Cameron but I will have to get your answer another time. I have a race to win!"

As Brick and Jo ran off together, Cameron was left standing there in confusion with his mouth wide open at the almost friend-like interaction he just witnessed.

Cameron remained as unmoving as a statue when he heard the two continue their chat as they ran further and further from his limited sight.

"Do you think you can handle a 8K today?"

"Affirmative ma'am!"

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"B, Cam, and Sam make up a good platoon! There just not one that I would want to rely on in combat. As fun as those video games are, I must admit that I prefer physical activity. That's why I compete with Jo. Ok, sure, she's teased me continuously…and she's proven that she has no code of honor… and she was part of the reason I was voted off but…." Brick said before stopping mid-sentence with a puzzled look on his face.

With part of his unibrow arched as he struggled with how to continue this train of thought, Brick said the only thought he had at the moment.

"Can I get back you on that?"

As he hung his head a bit, Brick added with a sigh of defeat.

"Maybe Jo is regretting her actions this season?"

(Static)

"I regret nothing! Those of you who think I'm too cutthroat can suck my non-existent it! Deal with it!" Jo barked at the camera with her arms crossed and a stern scowl on her face.

"Just like I'm dealing with not being Miss Popular with the rubes and losers here. At least B.O. Boots is here to give me a challenge. Why? Because I'm like a muscle. Unless flexed, I get soft." The Jock-ette said in a calmer voice before returning to the earlier, harsher tone.

"And I hate soft!"

(Static)

END OF CONFESSIONAL

As the two athletes began their eight-kilometer run, they both heard something. After looking at each other with looks of horrified realization, the two picked up the pace.

This increase in speed was not fueled by a desire for victory but rather a desire for escape. Passing by a picnic table, their worst fears were confirmed.

They came closer to the sound of slow death and ran past it as fast as their legs could carry them. Even Brick was willing to ignore his code of 'Never leave a man behind'.

"My great, great, great uncle Sinclair invented electricity. Before him people had to harvest animal farts for energy." A voice said.

Though it didn't quite sound like it, hearing this voice left one with the same feeling as hearing a rusty nails on a chalkboard or a fly hovering right by your ear. A feeling of inescapable dread.

At the picnic table, two figures sat. Both were hated by the others on the island but polar opposites.

The source of the slow death sound was Staci, a pet-store parrot in human form trained to say nothing but tall-tale, after tall-tale, after mother-'BLEEPING' tall-tale!

Right next to her, sat Scott, a ginger who (in that rare instance of a stereotype actually existing) didn't seem to have a soul.

His normally devious smirk was replaced by a pained expression as he stared out into space as if his brain had been pulled out of his nose with a red-hot metal poker. That actually might have been preferable to him.

Oblivious to her companion's state, Staci did as she always did.

"But he was robbed of the patent when he was called crazy because he tried to say that tissue boxes were the next big things in women's shoes. If only he could have met my great, great, great, great auntie Sophia. She invented shoes, you know?"

Hearing these tall-tales was torture enough but bringing shoes into it was just too much. Scott expression changed subtly to that of a man almost torn. Stuck between death by either a little knife or a big gun. Choosing whether he wanted a quick or slow death.

Hearing a little bit more about Auntie Sophia, his mind was made up. No regrets.

As Staci started prattling on about her great, great, great, great, great grandfather Suchong (he was too far gone to question how the clearly white Staci had a ancestor of Asian descent), Scott without warning slammed his face on the wooden table several times.

He had chosen the quick death.

In her own little world, Staci didn't notice and continued as she once again went to another family member of another generation. Her ramblings were accompanied by the succession of Scott's attempts at a quick death.

"And then there was my father's (SLAM!) brother's (SLAM!) nephew's (SLAM!) cousin's (SLAM!) former roommate (SLAM!)…"

Not quick enough!

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"It seems that the fan base for this show has finally grown a brain. Apparently enough people complained, as they should, that what happened to me was too cruel, so the rich girl's people got me out of that trauma chair after a week." Scott said with a sense of pride.

That changed to disgruntlement in a microsecond.

"But that doesn't make up for the fact that that human jukebox Staci wouldn't stop going on and on about her great, great, great who gives a 'BLEEP'! Even after I can finally tell her to 'BLEEP' off, she won't leave me alone!"

He then pulls out a two small light blubs, one red and one green, the lights from his trauma chair.

"But at least they let me keep these lights."

He starts to speak to the lights in his hands in a sing-songly matter.

"Blubs of lights, Staci is which a twit, isn't that right?"

He presses the button for the green light.

The green light blub glows and a buzzing sound is heard.

He speaks again in random verse, once again sing-songly.

"Red and Green in my hands, say the truth…am I the man?"

He presses the button for the green button.

The red light blub glows and a buzzing sound is heard.

After realizing this, Scott suddenly looks at the red light with a look of total shock.

(Static)

END OF CONFESSIONAL

Having not much else to do since Brick went off to race with Jo, Cameron decided to take a stroll through the forest. Though this wouldn't seem like much to most, for someone who spent the majority of their life in a hermetically sealed environment it was a true adventure. Despite the danger, coming to this island was by far the best thing that ever happened to Cameron. He now had friends, self-confidence, 1/13 of one million dollars, and no fear of the outside world.

Besides, after the scare with Dakota and having to deal with Lightning yet again, he was hoping for a little peace and quiet.

He was not destined to find it.

"Yo Cam! Wait up!" A voice thick with accent called.

Turning his head, Cameron saw a by-now all too familiar sight.

Running up to him was Anna Maria, with her very tan skin and black bulletproof pouffe.

"Hello Anna Maria. Is it that time again?" Cameron asked the girl covered in various clothes coral in color.

"Just-a 'bout. Before they come, I want to say that you've been so good to let me be with you when they come. I know ya can't have-a high opinion of me but I thank you."

Cameron looked at girl with the stomach revealing top with a mixture of surprise and graduate.

Aside from Jo, Cameron had the hardest time decoding Anna Maria. Her personality traits and actions during the contest were mixed to say the least. On the one hand, this was the girl who caused his closet friends so much heartache because of her pursuit of Vito. But when Vito wasn't in the picture, Anna Maria showed that she was capable of being sympathetic to the needs of others and civil with her fellow campers.

Despite that however, Anna Maria quickly found herself one of the pariahs of Camp Wawanakwa along with Scott, Staci, Jo, and Lightning. For some it was because of the pain she made Mike and Zoey endure. For others it was because of her abrasive attitude. Either way, Anna Maria was left without a friend on the island.

As a result, the Jersey Shore Reject found herself looking for some companionship. She may not have been the nicest person in the world but she was still a person and as such she needed interactions with others. Of those on the island, the only one (aside from Staci) who was willing to give her a shot was Cameron. Coming from a largely friendless existence and willing to forgive her for her part in the Vito controversy, the former bubble boy was pleasant and accommodating to Anna Maria. Admittedly the two didn't have much (if anything) in common and found basic conversation with each other difficult.

But there was one thing the two had in common. And it was rapidly approaching them.

With the sounds of cameras being prepared and note pads primed being the chirping, the Biblical plague of the modern age, the paparazzi, swarmed on the two teenagers with the same gusto as the true Biblical plague of locusts. Though seemingly out of place in this ecosystem, they truly weren't.

Total Drama Revenge of the Island was a massive success and many people couldn't get enough of it. So much so that many of the less than respectable publishers sent waves of reporters to dig up some material on the teenagers of the hour and misrepresent the hell out of it! Though the most logical choice was Dakota with her struggling against herself, big cash payoffs from Mr. Milton made sure that Dakota's recent problem wasn't in any paper or broadcast on any network. So they went for the next best thing, the contestant who took the game by storm and won.

Finding that they had a common enemy, a certain respect that may one day become friendship formed between the unlikely duo. Having learned from pervious encounters with the press, Anna Maria took the foreground. Remembering how it was Cameron who saved her from the feral Ezekiel during the finale, she now entered the role of savior.

"All right you pasty-faced dirt bags, listen up!" Anna Maria shouted at the many paparazzi, resulting in looks of shock from a few black reporters in the crowd. "Make your questions snappy and hope that you don't get a beat down so bad that you'll be praying for a Staph Infection!"

But something happened that was to Anna Maria's great shock. Despite the previous encounters with the press resulting in prying questions about Cameron, this time their focus was on her and her past.

"Do you still have any bad blood with The Jersey Shore for causing the cancelation your show 'Morons of Marlboro, New York'?" One of the cameramen asked.

"Your goddamn right I do! That bitch Snooki not only stole my thunder but my look! Before me, she was nothing but a no-good flippin' schnook whose only claim to fame was dating a jackass. But after my show aired, suddenly she began using my look. And now she makes $150,000 per episode!" Anna Maria blasted at said cameraman.

Realizing that there was not likely going to be any more earth to till with that topic, the press changed their focus to a more recent scandal with Anna Maria.

"How does it feel to be a shallow little witch who got all gaga over a figment of someone's imagination?"

"Are you truly nothing except a roadblock for a clear as crystal romance?"

"Do Mike and Zoey still hate your guts for all the pain you so cruelly caused them?"

"Were you tripping balls at any point during the contest? Are you tripping balls now?"

For all of her swagger and roughness, Anna Maria found herself looking at the cameras as if she were a deer in the headlights. Though tough as nails, Anna Maria always found herself weirded out by the whole Vito thing and she didn't know how to approach it.

Now it was time for the savior to be saved.

"I can't say about that Jersey Shore thing…but those other questions are really out of line!" Cameron screamed at the flashing lights of the paparazzi's cameras before continuing in a calmer voice though his anger was still noticeable.

"She wasn't the only one who didn't realize that Vito was a separate personality, none of us did. It took me some time to figure it out and I'm super-observant. I haven't asked Mike or Zoey but I'm sure if I did, they would say that that's water under the bridge."

Having hoped for a violent reaction from Anna Maria (like the previous times) but not finding it, the grubs hungry for gossip turned their attention to Cameron.

Though a barrage of questions hit him, the former bubble boy was only able to make out the question of one "reporter" with bright gold hair and a fancy suit.

"Cameron, Rumple B.S. Spinner of 'Grimm Gossip'. People are calling your victory a modern day David and Goliath story. Do you regret not cutting Lightning's head off?"

Though Cameron knew that was what happened in the Biblical story, that question confused him to no end. He didn't know which part of that question to correct first.

"What kind of question is that? Sure I don't like the guy but I don't want to kill him!"

"Yes! I just got tomorrow's headline: 'Dorky David Doesn't Deny Desire to Decapitate Dimwit: "Sure I don't like the guy…"'

As Cameron looked at the suit and tie slime before him with his eyes bulged in disbelief and his mind wondering why every word had to start with a 'D', he began rolling up his right sleeve. That was the final straw! After feeling guilty about Dakota, annoyed at Lightning, and sorry for Anna Maria, he had enough of these pests for one day. Nothing gets the blood-sucking mosquitos away like a good bug zapper. And there was no bug zapper better than…'Kimota'!

With 'Kimota' fully formed, Cameron was poised to rid himself of these parasites. Unfortunately, the paparazzi were well aware of 'Kimota' and were hoping to see it in action. Life-threating technology got more papers sold than pictures of naked women!

"That's right! Strike a pose!"

"Oh. The risk of bodily harm. The flair of the dramatic. Sales!"

"Good, good. Give me angry. The camera loves angry!"

"You're a mad, mad little kitty, aren't you!"

"Come on bubble boy, bring the thunder!"

Notwithstanding the incredible power literally at his fingertips, Cameron was flabbergasted and immobilized by these reactions. With it clear that they were in danger of possibly serious physical harm, all they cared about was getting a good shot!

With both former campers dazed and confused by the cameras, it looked like all hope was lost. But then rescue came in the unlikeliest of forms.

A form that shook the ground with a deafening roar. As the loud and booming rumble continued, the press parasites ever so slowly stopped taking pictures. All were trying to figure out what was producing such a thunderous growl, more especially when they started hearing the force of heavy footsteps on the ground with each step getting a little louder. What was that sound? An elephant's trumpeting? A tiger's growling? An alligator's snarling? It sounded like a mixture of those sounds but greater. What they heard was the kind of roar that should have only belonged to the likes of a Tyrannosaurs Rex. However, thanks to Chris's raping of nature, another life form filled the same niche, the apex predator. But on this island, the top of the food chain was no animal.

From a thick patch of trees, the apex predator of Camp Wawanakwa emerged. It slowly stomped its way towards the many mammals in the area. Each step brought it closer and confirmed its mutated majesty.

Its form was truly massive, at over thirty feet tall; it was more than double the height of the Tyrant Lizard Kings. Rather than scales or fur, the majority of its visible body was covered in the membranes of plant roots. Those membranes gave the being's "tentacles" (which served as both arms and legs) and "neck" a light brown color while small patches of leafs on them added a little dark green as well. What this predator's true body was like was a mystery, as a massive clump of dirt formed what could be viewed as a loincloth without the loins. And then there was the head that resembled a massive dark green avocado with spots of a lighter shade of green except that there was a gaping maw filled with razor-sharp teeth and large pink lips.

"Larry." Cameron said in barely more than a whisper due to the fear gripping him when the leafy leviathan stopped right in front of the humans.

Though Larry had no ears, it seemed to hear Cameron acknowledge it as it developed a brief but sinister smirk. Then, despite not having eyes, the chlorophyll colossus lowered its head so that it was mere inches from Cameron. Its breath was hot, fogging up Cameron's glasses, even though it had no lungs. Both Cameron and Anna Maria were unable to move as the nightmare of nature issued a low growl that moved its pink lips enough for its massive teeth (over 24 inches long) to be visible. The fear filled expressions of the teenagers was reflected on them.

Despite the notable anatomical handicap of not having a brain, this vegetable was vengeful. Again, although it didn't possess the biological machinations necessary for memory, Larry remembered Cameron humiliating it during the finale and wasn't happy about that. Not one little bit.

But then deliverance came from the deliverance. Without warning, the paparazzi began taking pictures of Larry, much to the plant's evident confusion. While the mutants of the island were always a decent fail-safe for the paparazzi, people were always willing to give more respect, and cash, to those who got good pictures of the predatory plant.

Clearly never having seen the movie King Kong, the scandal-seekers continued to take pictures without even considering how the botanical behemoth would react. Similar to the ape over-lord of Skull Island, the king of Camp Wawanakwa was not that photogenic.

The tiny one with the skinny stem and enormous bulb could wait. Right now there were flies buzzing around and remembering the days when it was just a Venus flytrap, Larry thought, 'I think its suppertime!'

Raising its head, Larry let out a loud roar at the paparazzi. Whatever their zeal for sales-boosting shots, they got the message and began running away at full sprint.

Grinning, as it always preferred prey that put up a fight, Larry pursued the paparazzi after issuing another reverberating roar as if it were a hunting horn. It was determined to make this island a little shop of horrors yet.

Standing there in the exact same spot as when Larry appeared, both Cameron and Anna Maria looked at the fleeing flora and crooked columnists with looks saying, 'Not too long ago, this would have seemed really strange to me'.

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"Alright, what is up with ya people? Ever since I got here I've be'n getting hate mail out the ying-yang! Just listen to this one from 'Ren999', around the time when that creepy klepto Dawn was given the boot." Anna Maria said to the camera before pulling out a cell phone and reading the message in the same monotone in which she presented her team's "model" in the fashion show challenge.

'I live in Wildwood, New Jersey and you along with the rest of that fecal matter waterslide known as the Jersey Shore are about as accurate a portrayal of New Jersey as Uncle Remus is to black people. You represent what has become the goddamn herpes of the entertainment industry, you incompetent media cow. I suggest you stop shoving my gal Zoey about and give them two lovebirds some breathing space, girl. Lord knows your hairspray keeps stifling up the air, probably burning a hole in the ozone layer, too.'

Anna Maria looks at the camera shockingly clam…

"OH, IT IS ON YOU FUC…"

Though the sound is cut off, the camera still shows the tan-skinned girl moving her arms violently and making some gestures of a highly obscene nature. As this continues, a message from the show's crew appears over the still present image of Anna Maria and it says:

'Due to the highly inappropriate nature of this rant that lasted at least thirty minutes, we at Total Drama Revenge of the Island will not be presenting it even in an edit version. What follows are the only two bits which could be understood in the firestorm of foul language that seems like what would happen if you crossbred Chris Rock with Conker the Squirrel.'

"Well, I bet your wood has never gotten too wild!"

"And by the way, Ren, where the Hell is Stimpy?"

(Static)

Cameron looks at the camera with a gaping mouth.

"'BLEEP',she has a dirty mouth!"

(Static)

End of CONFESSIONAL

After that fiasco, both Cameron and Anna Maria parted ways with a sincere goodbye.

Maybe now Cameron could find some much-deserved peace? Just one more hurdle.

As Cameron was walking through the forest, he saw something rather odd.

Strange though it may sound, Cameron knew for a fact that there had been a mountain here. Not a paved road with a sunny sky directly above it.

But then Cameron looked a little closer, more specifically the "sky". The former bubble boy noticed something.

Skies don't normally drip and run, right?

After pondering this for a moment or two, Cameron fought hard to not burst out laughing as he thought to himself, "He can't be serious! How could anyone fall for the oldest trick in the book?"

"Gee, it's such a nice day…I think I'll go for a run around this road!" Cameron said in a voice far louder than it needed to be.

As Cameron began to run around the "road", he shouted loudly.

"And the best part is, since I'm the only one around to race, I'm the winner. THE WINNER!"

As soon as Cameron was out of sight, Lightning leapt out of the nearby bushes in a rage as he began to run.

"What! Lightning will show him who's the winner around here! SHA…"

BAM!

In his ego-driven rage, Lightning failed to realize that he ran straight into the painted mountainside, the painted mountainside meant for Cameron.

But that realization didn't hit him…until he hit the ground.

"I'm pretty sure it worked out better for the coyote." Lightning thought, amidst the throbbing pain in his helmet-thick skull. But his pride was much worse for wear.

As Lightning was experiencing Chuck Jones' 11th rule of Wile E. Coyote (that he is "always more humiliated than harmed by his failures"), two much kinder souls were walking through a open plain near the sea-side cliffs.

Ever since returning to the island, Dawn spent the majority of her time traveling through the forest and giving whatever aid she could to the creatures callously corrupted by Chris. Overtime, Dawn became almost a Saint Francis of Camp Wawanakwa, whose purity and compassion was able to tame even the most savage of the island's feral beasts.

Similar to the Catholic saint of animals, the Moonchild found herself surrounded by her winged brethren in nature. But instead of birds of all varieties, Dawn was engulfed in a swarm of Fire Breathing Winged Mountain Goats (funny how things change so much in a mere 900 years). The hovering hooved beasts had been summoned by a hollow horn Dawn found which had fallen off of a young male. True this was a feature normally not found in goats but so is having giant bat-like wings or being able to breath fire.

Dawn was not the least bit freighted by these garish misrepresentations of nature. A few days ago, the same day that she found the hollow horn that she now carried with her always, she went to the mountains along with Zoey and Brick to observe these imposing beasts. While Dawn largely just watched Zoey teach Brick how to ride these creatures as she did during the raid on the McLean Air Mobile Command Center (Chris' blimp) after Heather had commandeered it, that was sufficient for her to realize these goats were maybe some of the least aggressive mutants on the island.

Not having that same knowledge, B looked at the spectacle unfolding around him with some concern. The Strong Silent Genius made sure to stay close to Dawn just in case these furry dragons turned hostile. But B had to (nonverbally) admit that things were going smoothly. Though the teenagers were surrounded, the goats were not acting threating in anyway. It seemed hearing the horn's call made these dangerous beasts very tame and responsive to human suggestion.

Certainly much more so than the flute Sam used to try and tame the giant fire-breathing beetle. But then again the gaming console made better music.

After about thirty minutes of giving them food and checking for any wounds, the goats returned to their Cliffside nests and eggs (another feature not found in goats generally speaking). Having taken care of the creatures of the mountains, B and Dawn headed into the woodlands on the lookout for beasts to revive of some burden.

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"B's wonderful! Between his gestures and my aura reading, we comminute without any problem. And that's not easy for him. He was never a very sociable child, being named Beverley really alienated him from his peers." Dawn said before shaking her head back and forth in disapproval.

"Why do we have to be so cruel to one another?" The Moonchild asked herself.

"Anyway, B was able interact with people after being inspired by the films of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. I haven't seen any of their films", Dawn said before letting out a chuckle and continuing, "but if what his aura says is true…then I think I will."

(Static)

END OF CONFESSIONAL

As they walked through the forest, B couldn't help but notice that the normally cheerful Dawn was being very withdrawn. The big black teenage boy thought this was due to the mutated goats but Dawn's withdrawal continued with them no longer in sight.

Whether it was because Dawn sensed this or simply because she couldn't contain it any more, she spoke.

"B? Can I tell you something? But you must promise not to tell anyone else."

For his part, B merely looked at her for a few moments with a raised eyebrow before it dawned on Dawn that this wouldn't be a problem for him.

"Oh right! Silly me." Dawn said as she lightly chuckled.

As that chuckle died, Dawn's face became one of worry.

"Last night, as I was meditating before bed, I had a premonition. I can't say how or why but I foresee a great woe coming to this island."

B looked at her with a look of genuine surprise. The last thing he expected was for someone as sweet as Dawn to say such a terrible thing.

Sensing B's confusion, Dawn tried as best she could to explain the situation to her friend.

"Ever since we came back the island for the finale, the island's aura has been off. At first, I thought it was merely because of what Chris did to the poor souls living here. But it's been getting worse and worse. The past few days have been overflowing with negative energy."

"Even though Scott and Lightning have been here the whole time?" Asked a voice, a voice that was surprisingly soft, due to it rarely being used.

A moment's shock followed until Dawn quickly remembered that B was not a mute. He was fully capable of speaking but chose not to, preferring to be a Charlie Chaplin for a new generation.

Dawn couldn't help but laugh at this question.

"I suppose so." The Moonchild lightly spoke.

B gave Dawn a gentle but reassuring pat on her shoulder, though his hand was far larger than her shoulder.

Though still convinced that something was wrong, Dawn decided to drop it. Why concern B or the others when she wasn't even sure if there was any thing to worry about?

"Thanks B. Let's go to the Giant Turtles next. Shall we?" Dawn asked her friend.

B nodded his head in approval. He then proceeded to move his lower lip back-and-forth, thus moving his square chin-hair in order to mimic how the Tramp would move his toothbrush moustache.

Despite never having seen a film of Charlie Chaplin's, Dawn couldn't help but laugh at this silly but still somehow sweet gesture.

As their footsteps fell on the grassy ground, Dawn suddenly had a thought she hadn't before. She realized that in their time back on the island, there was only one place in which the aura of the island had noticeably changed for any period of time.

'Mike?' Dawn thought to herself as she and B ventured deeper into the woods.

While Dawn pondered about Mike, said teenager in baby blue was in another part of the forest. However, he was doing something that was very uncharacteristic for him.

He was hunting.

As he scurried through the bushes and undergrowth, the teenager scanned the area looking for his quarry. This quarry had proven a surprisingly great challenge, escaping his grasp several times already. But the young man with mocha skin was undeterred.

He would get his prize!

As he examined some nearby bushes, he heard something. He heard the faint rustling of low-level tree branches. They were close. His quarry was close!

The black spiky hair on the top of his hand vanished in a cartoony dust cloud of himself as the young male bolted after the source of the sounds. After his quarry.

Not too far away the desired quarry was running through the forest. But what was it?

A deer with three eyes? A bear with a buzz saw sprouting out of its belly? A flying fish that truly flew rather than just gliding like a coward? A squid that swung in the trees like a gibbon doing somersaults? Some matter of land cow? No. What Mike was hunting was just incredible in appearance but infinitely more appealing.

As it scurried through the vegetation, patches not covered in the island's flora offered brief glimpses of the target's features. Running on two legs, it was clearly human. With a bouncing near the chest, it was clearly female. Wearing a short red tube top and tan pants rolled up at the bottom of the legs, it was clearly Zoey.

Sure enough, it was Zoey who emerged from the thick undergrowth to find a very small clearing with more intertwined vegetation all around her. She was as she always was: two small pigtails and a flower featured in her short red hair, a small black chocker necklace around her throat, and tan sandals at her feet. But there were also the more unusual accessories of a bow and an arrow. Just one arrow.

Though a look resembling fear appeared on her face, Zoey stood at the center of the clearing. Closing her brown eyes, the red head let the sounds of the forest wash over her.

There wasn't much to hear. Aside from the almost metallic growl of some unknown mutant, not a sound was heard. Then there it came, the faint pattering of shrubs.

Leaving her eyes unopened, Zoey drew her only arrow and fired it into the woods. Though the swishing clearly came from the North, Zoey fired the arrow towards the East.

Moments after the arrow was fired, a shadow jumped out of one of the bushes facing the North. Still standing on the edge of the small clearing, the figure of Mike was seen.

Though a face-level branch obscured his eyes, Zoey clearly saw a smile on his face. A smile that was trying to appear sinister but came across as corny and overdramatic. Adding to the trite attempt to be terrifying, the boy began moving his thumb and pointer finger over his upper lip as if twirling a non-existent mustache. Despite what Zoey thought before learning the truth about Mike, a method actor he was not.

Proving that point, he spoke to Zoey in a performance stuffed with ham and cheese.

"Soon I will make you suffer large but first you must give me prize!"

For her part, Zoey was merely trying to keep a serious face while also fighting the urge to smile from ear to ear. She had been very successful until this point. It was in this state that she responded.

"I don't think so…" Zoey began before the sound of a loud snap and Mike's startled screams filled the air.

Mike had had his whole world turned upside down in a matter of seconds, literally. As Mike hanged with his spiky black hair merely inches from the ground, his brown eyes looked around to try and see what happened. After having seen the surreal sight of trees with their trunks where their leaves should be and vice versa, Mike finally found the cause of his current position.

A vine that had been looped into a noose was attached to his right foot.

He seeing that, Mike quickly looked at Zoey. The lovely redhead had her bow out and as she was flicking the bow's string she finished with, "…if that's ok with you?" She was still struggling to keep a straight face.

Instantly, Mike grasped what had happened. When Zoey fired her bow, Mike thought it was because she had done so in error. But he now realized that she had aimed there intentionally, to trigger the trap that she then lured him to. The hunter had become the hunted.

As he was just hanging there, Mike couldn't help but lightly rebuke himself. But with his focus still on the young woman who had ensnared him (in more ways than one), Mike didn't care in the slightest.

"That makes ten wins in a row! How's it feel to have your butt kicked by a girl again?" Zoey taunted in a playful manner.

"Almost as good as when I heard what your butt will do to thank me for saving it so many times." Mike retorted, matching Zoey's playfulness with a smirk.

Her face blushing, given it a shade of red almost as great as her hair, Zoey slowly walked over to the hanging young man. She had finally discarded any attempt to hide her feelings as a shining smile appeared on her face and her eyes sparkled just as brightly.

Silently reaching the young man with mocha skin, Zoey collected her prize for victory. With her face still blushing and her mouth grinning, Zoey seized Mike's upside-down face in her palms. Bringing their lips together, the two teenagers felt their mouths melt into each other for over ten seconds before Zoey removed her hands and lips.

Swooned and staring blissfully into space, Mike was speechless for a few moments. As he remained as the boy who can do whatever a spider can, Mike felt himself getting a little woozy. Most would chalk it up to the blood rushing to his head as he hanged like a sleeping bat. But Mike knew the truth; he was crazy about this girl!

"You are so amazing!" Mike said earnestly as he looked up to Zoey.

As he said this Zoey's eyes, now large and dark, glistened as she was touched by the simple yet heartfelt words.

Without saying a word Zoey drew a self-made rock knife and cut the vine. After comically falling flat on his back, Mike was helped to his feet by Zoey.

"Right back at you." Zoey said, as she stood right in front of Mike.

This time it was Mike who cupped his lover's face and brought it to his own for another kiss.

When their lips parted, Mike shot Zoey a short invitation, "Care to aim for eleven?"

"Your on! I believe it's your turn. After I count to ten times ten, I'll get to working so we can get to kissing again." Zoey replied to her lover with a sweet smirk.

After lightly laughing at Zoey's cute little rhyme, Mike turned around and began running while Zoey started counting backwards from one hundred.

As Mike ran through the forest, he felt himself distracted by the realization of how far he and Zoey had come. When both of them came to the island, they were outcasts. She, a beautiful and sweet young lady who found herself a social pariah without much self-esteem or a friend in the world by a town populated with nothing but jocks and juvie rejects with a collective I.Q. of ten. He, a nice and well-intentioned young man who was afflicted with Multiple Personality Disorder: a condition that can result in any one of several completely independent personalities taking over one's body without any control over what that body does during that time.

Both of them being genuine but isolated individuals, it didn't take long for them to start forming a bond. Despite many barriers, both natural and man-made, the two loners not only found the companionship they so craved but something even greater…a soul mate.

Even more impressive, both of them grew as individuals with the help of the other. For Mike, Zoey's concern for him gave him the drive to finally take control of his many alternate personas and let his true identity shine through…Mike.

As for Zoey, Mike allowed her to see the amazing inner strength that had been buried beneath years of insecurity. Had he not seen the footage of the competition after he left the island for himself, Mike never would have believed it. But after he was eliminated, Zoey had become something that he thought was impossible. A thousand times more awesome! Though concerned that just as he reclaimed his full identity that Zoey might lose hers this "Zoebo" or "Commando Zoey" (whichever you prefer), Mike was glad that the sweet girl he fell for was still there and that she was coexisting with this warrior woman's toughness.

After being reunited following Zoey's elimination, the two couldn't get enough of each other. Whether in conversation or making out, the teenagers acted as if they were joined at the hip. This largely remained the case after the finale. Though both did spend some time with other friends made during and after the show, they were more often together.

Eventually, Mike and Zoey came up with a little game to pass the time and show off some of their skills to each other while keeping the affection thick. The rules were quite simple: one of them would hunt and attempt to catch the other. Zoey would use her recently displayed skills of archery and setting up traps while Mike would use the time-tested method of ambush. Whoever caught the other, got the reward of a kiss from their beloved. So no matter who caught the other both won.

Since both of the sixteen years olds involved had never dated, much less kissed, anybody before, neither were great kissers. But that didn't chance that fact that their kisses gave both of them a feeling of euphoria that they thought was impossible.

And as far as their lack of experience was concerned, Mike was more than willing to practice with Zoey again and again and again!

At first it seemed like Zoey had an unfair advantage (though she still won the majority of these games) but Mike quickly proved to have some skills of his own. Though not fully sure why, Mike found himself stronger and more agile after taken control of his own mind. Cameron theorized that this was because some of the features of Mike's former other personalities now became features of Mike. The evidence seemed to point to this as each prior identity left Mike with some new trait: Vito (physical toughness), Svetlana (gymnastic precision), Manitoba Smith (skill at ropes), Chester (a love of prune juice).

And these were features that Mike was determined to use to his advantage, except the prune juice thing. Though it didn't matter to him who won since a kiss is a kiss, he still would like to win at least once today.

Then, inspiration hit Mike! He thought of a way not only to win but also make Zoey even happier.

After a hundred seconds had passed, Zoey took off. This time in the role of the hunter.

Following Mike's lead, Zoey listened to the forest and looked for any signs of movement.

There was a rustling! A bush not too far away moved back and forth. Mike had to have gone that way.

She took off, pursuing the sound with all haste. As well as wishing to kiss Mike again, Zoey enjoyed this game because it gave her a chance to use her newly found warrior instincts in a fun way. Not like the last time, when she nearly lost herself to them.

A second rustling in a bush a little further away snapped Zoey out of this thought as she continued to give chase. Even with her last arrow used, she was more than capable of dealing with any surprises that Mike might try.

Once the noises stopped, Zoey also stopped in her tracks. She then listened and looked at the bushes before her for the next clue. To her dismay, the shrubbery was still and silent.

The only sounds came from far above. Such sounds were not uncommon. Laser Eye Squirrels and Teleporting Frogs along with plenty of other mutants kept the canopy of Camp Wawanakwa in a constant state of motion.

Ignoring this, Zoey focused even more intently on her surroundings looking for something not incognito.

But then Zoey found what she was looking for: something out of the ordinary. She found Mike's shirt, spread out on a bush at the base of a large tree.

Paying so much attention onto the shirt, Zoey didn't even notice the weak swinging sound coming from behind her until she felt something force her upward.

Gripped by confusion, Zoey looked around frantically for an explanation as to why she was moving towards the treetops.

She saw Mike, shirtless, swinging on a vine that seemed to come from one of the treetops.

Zoey started to blush a bit. Before whenever Mike had his shirt off, that jerk Vito would take over. But now that Vito was history, Zoey could admire his surprisingly toned chest all that she wanted. Mike knew that she greatly enjoyed seeing him like this.

For his part, in addition to keeping his mind on making sure that he and Zoey were safe, Mike began to blush as well. Though not on purpose, Mike found that one of his arms covered Zoey's chest. Being a teenage boy, one could easily guess what had him blushing.

Fighting his raging teenage hormones, Mike let go of the vine as it reached the zenith of its arch. With Zoey now clinging to Mike's bare chest, the two landed on a very large tree branch.

As awe-inspiring as the sight of Mike shirtless was to Zoey, she found an even more impressive one after looking out from the high tree branch on which she and Mike found themselves.

They saw the island that they had been on for many weeks but there's no way that this could be the same place. The island that they knew was a toxic hellhole populated with dangerous mutants. But this…with its high mountains tops, its vast forests containing flowers of all shapes and colors, its cascading waterfalls and sparkling lakes under the shining sun…it had more in common with the Garden of Eden than Camp Wawanakwa.

Basking in the warmth of the sun's life-giving rays, the lovers looked at each other. The bright light intensified their feelings for each other as it gave their partner an aura of heavenly light. Of blessed divinity.

As Zoey beheld Mike, her focus shifted slightly and a look of concern formed.

"Mike, what happened to your arms and chest?" Zoey asked as she pointed to them.

Taking a closer look, Mike saw what Zoey meant.

Along his arms and chest were several small cuts. As he looked at the slightly curbed cuts, his mind flashed to some bizarre yet somehow familiar set of sights and sounds. The roar of thunder. The flash of lightning. The visage of himself in vines. A pathway thick with thorns. And that voice, that horrible voice so much like his but not.

"You can't run from me Mike. No more than you could your own shadow."

"Mike, what is it?" Zoey asked as Mike had been thinking to himself for as few moments.

Snapped back to reality, Mike addressed Zoey's concern.

"I don't know Zoey. Must have happened when I was climbing up the tree."

Yeah, that's what it was! After all, Mike was so focused on experiencing the sweetness of Zoey's lips that he likely didn't notice his arms and chest getting lightly nipped by some uneven patches of bark. Like Mike could have gotten these in a dream anyway? Especially since he didn't even think of it until just now. Besides, in that dream Mike received dozens upon dozens of small cuts but there were less than half-a-dozen.

Being ever the quick-witted young man, Mike found a way to turn this development back to the matter at hand. He began doing so by wailing in a playfully over-the–top manner.

"Ow! Now that you mention it, they do kind of hurt. I think I need some kisses to make them all better." Mike said with a growing smile on his face.

Looking at him with a smile to match his, Zoey slowly crawled her way over to Mike.

"I think that can be arranged. Consider this your reward for finally beating me today."

With that, Zoey started kissing the areas on Mike's arms and chest where he had the small cuts. To say that Mike was enjoying this would be a massive understatement. His face was one of pure, everlasting bliss. After several minutes of staying still so Zoey could play the role of nurse, Mike couldn't remain still any longer.

Leaning forward so that he was now laying on top of Zoey, Mike began kissing her back on the lips. Cupping the back of her head and wrapping an arm around her body, Mike held her to him as they made out, blissfully giggling, moaning, and gasping. Zoey pet his slender, semi-muscular frame in the process.

They lost all track of time or space. Everything else in the world was wiped away forever. All that existed, all that mattered, was these two teenagers making out on a tree branch.

After sucking face with each other for hours, Mike and Zoey were still going strong. There was nothing that could make either of them want to stop this magical experience.

"Uh…Mike…I have…to go to…the bathroom." Zoey said in-between smooches.

Except for that!

Though Zoey said so with great reluctance, she could ignore the feeling in her bladder anymore.

With a reluctance to match Zoey's, Mike stopped kissing the girl of his dreams. Both of them climbed down the tree and back to the forest floor.

Once back on the forest floor, the two exchanged one last kiss before Zoey began walking to the bathrooms. Despite Mike saying that he was very willing to wait so they pick up right where they left off, Zoey couldn't help by mentally rebuke her bladder for ending such a perfect moment!

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

Zoey: You have no idea how much Mike means to me!

(Static)

Mike: You have no idea how much Zoey means to me! After years of being socially isolated…

(Static)

Zoey: …there was a part of me that was starting to fear that I might be alone forever. But then…

(Static)

Mike: …I meet the coolest person in the world and…

(Static)

Zoey: …well, you all know the rest. Despite whatever low points I may have had along the way…

(Static)

Mike: … nothing could spoil this experience for me. Nothing.

(Static)

END OF CONFESSIONAL

As Zoey walked through the forest to return to Mike, she heard something. It was a faint cooing, at least that was what she first thought. As Zoey moved closer, she heard more clearly what it was.

It was crying.

Parting a bush, Zoey found the source. She found Dakota, shivering and alone on the ground with her back hunched and facing the Indie Chick. Unlike her first day on the island in the Confessional, the tears she was shedding were sincere and soul crushing.

After being responsible for Dakota being voted off, out of fear for her personal safety, Zoey feared that Dakota might have some kind of vendetta against her. There was no grudge. With both of the beautiful young ladies having a lack of friends, it didn't take long for Zoey and Dakota to start to become 'Ba-Fa-Fa's'. Though Sam was Dakota's rock (and a large one at that), Zoey and Dawn had become additional beams of support. And right now Dakota needed that at least one of those beams.

"Dakota?" Zoey asked.

"Oh hi Zoey! What are you doing in this part of the woods?" Dakota responded, trying to not sound upset. It couldn't fool even Lindsay.

"Hi Dakota. I have just been hanging out with Mike. What are you doing here?" Zoey said, fighting the urge to ask what she wanted to know for fear of upsetting Dakota more.

"I was just waiting for Dawn. It's just about time for our mediation session. I was just, uh, I was just…" Dakota answered, once again strongly fighting how bad she truly felt.

Then Zoey had a sudden thought!

"Was it the dream again?" Zoey asked, taking a shot in the dark about Dakota's sudden concern.

Ever being the skilled archer, Zoey seemed to hit the bull's eye because Dakota instantly dropped any attempt at appearing to be fine and began crying a new strong tide of tears.

"It just keeps coming back! None of my dad's medicine helps! It gets worse each time!"

Zoey approached her recent friend and held her from behind.

As Dakota cried even more furiously, after finally having some support, she could not hold it in any longer. In-between her torrents of tears, Dakota said a few fragments that could be easily understood.

"I still feel his blood! I still…I still see his face! Oh God, Zoey, I still see his face!"

All Zoey could do in response was to hold her friend a little tighter while petting her head.

"It's ok, Dakota. It's ok." Zoey said these words, the only words she could at the moment, as she tried to comfort her friend.

Less than a week ago, Zoey, along with all of the other girls on the island, was present when Dakota had this dream, this nightmare, for the first time. What she told her fellow occupants in the girl's cabin made it abundantly clear why she was so terrified.

There is a white room with many pieces of furniture, including a large white couch. On said couch were two teenagers, Sam and Dakota, paying tribute to Eros through the action of passionate making-out (the cross to bear for belief).

Their lips were so intertwined as to appear to have been fused. Dakota's eyes were closed as she felt like she was being melted into the joined lips.

Even so, a thought was nagging at her.

'Do I always have to crane my neck while doing this?' Dakota thought to herself.

Disregarding this, she went back to handling the gamer's joystick (his tongue, you perverts! His tongue!).

And yet, she craned her neck more, more, more, more…

Then she felt nothing on her lips. Had Sam grown tired of her affections?

Opening her eyes, she found a more alarming sight. Sam was there, but much shorter.

In truth, Sam had not become any shorter. Instead, Dakota had grown taller. Over ten feet taller, to be a tad more precise. Sam only came up to her knee now, and his face was one only of confusion. Dakota developed a worried expression on her own.

This expression lasted for about .05 seconds as Sam cheered and leapt on to Dakota's now much larger lap.

After landing between Dakota's (now thunderous) thighs, Sam said something that made Dakota mentally swoon (and a little aroused).

"Oh yeah! Just when I thought you couldn't get any hotter!"

That was all the encouragement Dakota needed to engage in a second session of sucking face.

But Thanatos would not be denied!

As the lovers kissed, Dakota noticed that craning feeling again. This time she took notice as her body was suddenly surged with pain.

Within seconds, Dakota had doubled in height. At over thirty feet tall, her head shot up and slammed into the white ceiling of the room. And she was not showing any sign of slowing down.

As the furniture of the room was being moved and smashed, Dakota looked down at Sam.

He had barely moved with his mouth gaping open in sheer disbelief.

"Sam! Run!" Dakota shouted as loud as she could, which was now quite loud.

Shocked out of his, well, shock, Sam bolted for the door!

By the time he reached the door, Dakota had grown to sixty feet tall.

He turned the knob but it seemed to be stuck.

Sam put all of his weight and force down on the doorknob.

It wouldn't budge a bit.

Dakota saw this. Words cannot fully describe the realization that she had at that moment.

Sam was going to die because of her and she was powerless to stop it.

As Sam continued to struggle with the door, tears came running down her face.

With the massive wall of her body mere inches away from Sam, Dakota put all of her heart and soul into pleading for Sam's forgiveness.

"Sam! I'm so sorry! My body's not doing what I tell it to! It's acting on its own!"

It was of no consequence.

As the body he had been embracing moments before started to surround him, Sam tried with all of his might to push away the wall he was being forced towards.

It didn't make the slightest bit of difference.

With him right up against the wall, Dakota's still growing body eclipsed all of Sam's lower body, leaving only his face and one arm visible.

As Sam started screaming in horrible pain, loud popping noises were heard.

Still completely visible to Dakota, Sam's eyes and mouth bulged to an inhuman degree!

Then, there was the blood!

Blood rushing from Sam's lower body, now covering the face of a man at death's door.

Only his arm, which was dangling, was the only indication of what the blood once was.

That same blood spilled over on to some of Dakota's exposed skin.

She felt him.

She felt Sam on her skin!

As her lover's blood gushed forth unrestrained, it quickly filled the entire room. Creating a true red sea. Only one object was visible in the crimson tide.

It was the lifeless body of Sam, his face forever frozen as an illustration of cosmic horror. Those bulging, lifeless eyes. That face contorted into everlasting agony…by her.

Where there was once white love, there was now only red death.

"Dakota? Do you hear me? Dakota?" Zoey asked the former fame-hog.

Dakota sat there, staring into space with water-covered eyes. She heard nothing.

Until…

"Go eat a worm?" A high-pitched voice, from seemingly nowhere, asked.

This shook Dakota out her state of shock and both she and Zoey turned to find Dawn behind them. True to her word, she was holding a wiggling worm between her fingers.

Zoey started at Dawn, totally puzzled. Dakota was the same way.

As the two looked perplexed, Dawn placed the worm in her hand back onto the ground. After gently stroking its head a few times (and hearing the sound of the worm purring), it buried its way back into the dirt.

Dawn, already knowing exactly what was troubling Dakota (she didn't even have to read her aura), addressed her fears.

"Back when you told me that, you were crying on the inside while smiling on the outside. It was agonizing to hear that. Your aura looked like someone threw up all over it. But since then, I'd say it's the brightest it has ever been. The road before you is likely going to be full of hardships but I see happiness at its end. With Sam's hand, waiting for yours."

Again Dakota's eyes filled with tears, though this time the tears were ones of joy.

The twinkle in Dakota's eyes filled Dawn which such satisfaction and warmth. People often think that those who act on Nature's behalf are indifferent to the suffering of their fellow human beings. Dawn thought that was all nonsense. Whether it be in helping a beetle or a human, Dawn loved helping those in need.

Throughout their mediation sessions, Dakota acquired a respect for Dawn that she didn't have before her mutation. Despite it having an adorable squeak to it, something about Dawn's voice had a clam, unwavering certainty. Like she truly knew what the future would hold.

Then Dakota felt a hand on her shoulder.

It was Zoey's.

"I might not know the future, but what I do know is that we'll always be there help you. I'll always be there to help you." The red head said to the blonde.

Dakota then spun around and hugged Zoey so tightly that Zoey thought for a moment that she was becoming the 'Dakotazoid'.

Dakota knew that her concerns were very real and had to be dealt with. But she had hope and love. She had friends. It didn't seem as bad anymore. It didn't feel as bad.

"You're a good friend! Even if your hair is all wrong." Dakota said, still hugging Zoey.

She couldn't help but chuckle at that last part. Though just a chuckle it felt like roaring laughter to Dakota.

This got a chuckle out of Zoey, remembering the first time those words were said and how Dakota was much taller then.

After waiting a few seconds for the small but significant moment before her to play itself out, Dawn was about to address the still hugging friends. She had planned on telling Zoey her concerns about Mike.

But then a higher power intervened, about 10 or 20 feet higher.

"Attention Total Drama losers and the slightly less loser-ly Cameron. Please report to the amphitheater ASAP. Attendance is mandatory. And before anyone asks, yes, it is now…uh, I mean it is in your contracts. Just as it has always been." The voice of Chris Maclean said over the island's inter-com system.

This was a bit of a shock to the three young ladies because since that whole contract dispute, the teenagers almost never saw or heard from Chris. None of the former campers complained about this in anyway.

Looking at each other in a shared confusion, the three friends headed over to the stage.

CONFESSIONAL

(Static)

"That was so sweet of Dawn! I feel so bad for Dakota but I don't know how to comfort her when she gets like that. I can't believe I ever thought of Dawn as creepy. Between her encouraging me to not give up on Mike and her helping with Dakota... She's amazing!" Zoey said beaming with glowing graduate.

(Static)

As the female Saint Francis (of Assisi) of Camp Wawanakwa sat with her legs crossed Indian style, she addressed the camera as if it were a priest made of mechanical parts.

"No, I'm really not. I'm just a child of the Great Mother Earth doing her best to help her less fortunate brothers and sisters."

Though she said this in a very a matter-of-factly tone, there was a small amount of joy in Dawn's voice and face.

(Static)

END OF CONFESSIONAL

As the three arrived at the outdoor amphitheater, they saw that most of the others were already sitting down on the wooden bleachers.

At the left-hand corner on the highest set of bleachers sat Scott and Staci. Because it was Scott and Staci, everyone else was staying far away from them. Especially with Staci going on and on about yet another ancestor's unlikely achievements. Sitting there in his own personal circle of Hell, Scott was weighting in his mind the pros and cons of striping down to his bare ass and setting himself on fire. At the moment the pros were winning.

On the right-hand side of that same bleacher sat Lightning as he leered at Cameron out of his broken sense of vainglory.

Sitting a few rows down and more towards the middle was Anna Maria, who was filing her nails while oblivious to the woodpecker drilling at her hair and producing a loud metallic sound.

Brick and Jo sat on the same bleacher though they were a much greater distance to the right. The two found themselves being avoided by the other campers. But this wasn't shocking since they had just finished their 8K run and hadn't had the time to hit the showers before Chris summoned them there. Though a little bummed out by not being around any of his new friends, Brick took the smell as a badge of honor because he finally defeated Jo in a race. Jo took it as a badge of defeat.

And then there was Sam, sitting almost at the middle of the bleachers and looking out into nothingness with his hands on his chin. He was left in an emotional funk after seeing Dakota so miserable due to nearly transforming. B and Cameron were sitting on the bleacher above Sam with one of them on each side of the gamer. B was now trying to do the same chin hair trick that he used on Dawn earlier to cheer Sam up. It didn't seem to have the same effect on Sam as he looked just as crushed as he had been for the past few hours.

Then Sam saw Dakota. His face instantly lit up with a massive smile. Dakota wasted no time as she ran to the gamer and they embraced each other in absolute joy. After leaving each other's arms, the two sat down next to each other. Having sat down, Sam gestured to a spot on his right leg. The same spot where Dakota had been sitting a few hours ago. Once she recognized what Sam was suggesting, Dakota wasn't sure how to respond. While she would enjoy being so close to him, she was afraid of hurting him again. Seeing the hesitation on Dakota's face, Sam simply reached out with his hand in an inviting open palm. The former fame-hog accepted the hand and sat on Sam's leg.

As the two looked at each other with loving eyes, Zoey sat next to the pair while Dawn sat on the bleacher space directly above them in-between Cameron and B.

Zoey began to wonder where Mike was as Chris Maclean, as handsome and raven-haired as always, walked out on to the stage.

Their former and not so humble host looked as if he was about to speak but then he took a look out at the audience. His brows lowered in clear frustration, Chris looked at his watch and began tapping his foot. Something was holding the host back. And that something came into sight from Chris's vantage point.

"Glad to see you finally grace us with your presence Mike." Chris said with a small amount of irritation.

Everyone turned their heads to see Mike running towards the bleachers. Being the furthest one in the woods as he waited for Zoey to return, it only made sense that he would be the last one to reach the amphitheater.

But since this was an understanding that would require empathy, Chris didn't grasp it.

"And now would you kindly just sit next to Zoey the lonely already?"

"Not anymore." Zoey bluntly retorted at their former host as Mike sat next to her. The two then quickly hugged each other for a moment before turning back to look at Chris.

"Ain't that sweet? But sweetness doesn't equal ratings," Chris said before mentally adding, 'But luckily shocking reveals and cliffhanger endings do!'

"Now then, aside from a few exceptions, this island has been successfully separated from the outside world since this season began." Chris said with a scornful look aimed at Dakota for both the paparazzi and the medical people before continuing.

Having everything set for the little magic show, Chris began a typical Maclean monologue with his trademarked sadistic glee. The fun was about to begin!

"But today, we are going to end that separation. At least partially. A very special guest is here for you, or should I say for one of you. I'll admit that it took some convincing on his part but what he told us might provide more ratings than this previous season. Because of that, let's not waste anymore time and bring out our mystery guest."

As Chris stepped out of the spotlight (always a difficult gesture), the mystery guest in question began walking onto the stage. As he slowly made his way to the center of the stage, every eye in the bleachers stared at him with reactions ranging from curious to concerned. Despite differing reactions, everyone in the audience did agree on one thing. This guest was a mystery.

Rather than the three thousand dollar suit the teenagers were expecting to see, they saw a figure wearing long full-body robes of blue, the flowing layers creating the illusion of a moving sea. No feature of the figure's body was identifiable under the wearable waters.

But what most sparked the mystery was the figure's face, a mask. The mask of a demon. Though none of the teenagers (with the possible exception of Cameron) could have known it, this mask was similar to the Hannya mask from Japanese Noh Theater in shape. But what they were clear of was the details of this devil.

The majority of the mask had the appearance of black alabaster, a largely shadowy shape with small splotches of chalky white mixed throughout. At the top were two slightly curbed bull-like horns that had jagged and uneven tips. Beneath downward curving brows, one found metallic-looking yellow eyes with large black pupils. But the most eye-catching feature was a leering mouth split from ear to ear with gleaming sapphire teeth.

What compelled the former campers the most about this mask was the complexity displayed by the seemingly stoic and simple. Depending on the angle one was sitting at when they saw the mask and the position of it, the emotion shown varied. Some saw a cosmic clown, as the jaw became one of jest at the same time the eyeballs were ones enjoying some unheard joke. Others beheld a frightening fury as the demon's opened mouth displayed a demonic vengeance while the lowered brow gave the eyes a dangerous glinting. And yet still others looked on a tormented sorrow, as the mouth became a gateway to unrestrained grief and the eyes seemed on the verge of tears. All three realities were there and coexisted behind the superficially stone-faced Satan.

As the devil stood at the center of the stage with those hollow, interruptive eyes looking out at the teenagers looking back at it, the thick click of an unseen machine under the long blue robes was heard.

After the invisible parts of the hidden and unidentified device slowly came to life, a voice was heard. But it was a voice that had been altered, in the same way that former gangsters have their voices distorted when being interviewed by the History Channel.

That voice then said seven words. Saying each word was like breaking one of the seals on the Scroll Sealed with Seven Seals. The Scroll of the Apocalypse.

"Sprach Abraxas…Dona Nobis Pacem…Deus Vult."

Most of the teenagers looked at the figure with confusion. But that confusion changed to concern when one of them started to react to the unfamiliar phrases.

It was Mike.

After the last word had been said, the reaction from Mike was as sudden as it was alarming. The teenage boy in baby blue began to gasp and heave wildly. As a look of pure unhidden horror fell on Mike's face, his limbs and spine began to feel as if some unseen force was pushing on them to bend them to its indecipherable whims. As his body seemed to contort itself on it's own accord, Mike found himself sitting with his spine not slouched in the slightest and his hands placed over his knees. Once his mocha-skinned hands were over his knees, Mike's facial expression changed. Where there was once a look of sheer terror, there was now only blank indifference. Though his brown eyes were wide open and unblinking, there was no hint of any emotion whatsoever. It was with this expression on his face that Mike sat as still as a statue.

Throughout this whole ordeal, those sitting in the uncomfortable wooden bleachers just stared at the bizarre and possibly brutal show playing out before them. They were so taken aghast that their glazes were as frozen as Mike's. It was only after Mike remained disturbingly still for a few moments that one of them finally reacted, having what just occurred finally sinking in. Not shockingly, the person who reacted first was Zoey.

"Mike? Mike! You! Who are you? What did you do to him?"

Overcome by emotion and fear for Mike, Zoey ran onto the stage and brought herself right in front of the masked figure, even though said figure was much taller than Zoey. But that didn't reduce any of the uncharacteristic rage flowing out of the normally sweet girl.

Zoey quickly found herself joined by the majority of the former contestants as they verbally assaulted the stranger Satan with exasperated questions and impassioned threats.

Raising a hand to silence the panicky teenagers, the figure dressed as the devil spoke, though the voice was somewhat muffled due to the face-covering mask.

"I know what you must be thinking but rest assured that I have not harmed Mike. On the contrary, I believe I've just saved him. I understand your concern but there is much more at stake than you could know. If you would please follow me, I will explain everything."

Though still fuming with furious fire, the former campers saw no way around this. They couldn't hope of helping Mike without first understanding what the Hell was going on. With searing suspicion, they followed the masked Mephistopheles as he moved from the amphitheater to an unknown location.

There were so mysteries, so many secrets swirling around in air.

Secrets hidden behind two devils dressed in blue.

One present before them with a sapphire smile.

The other hidden from sight with emerald eyes.

"Every relationship between two individuals or two groups will be characterized by the ratio of secrecy that is involved in it." –Georg Simmel's "The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies"

And that's the second chapter. Believe me, I wanted to get this chapter posted much sooner but my summer job has me waking up at 5 am and working 10-12 hours a day in the summer heat on trucks and at many stores without air conditioning. I think you can cut me some slack.

Honestly, this chapter has taken much longer to write than the previous one even though that was my first attempt at fan fiction. True its much, much longer (at 54 pages whereas the first chapter was only 10 pages!) but I think I'm pretty sure I know the true reason why.

When I decided to actually write this story, I knew one of the biggest hurdles was going to be writing the characters in character. I'll admit that stories like "Candy for Your Thoughts", "Total Drama Comeback", and "Total Drama Action Redux" place a lot of pressure on me because they all did such an amazing job at it.

Therefore, I would beyond grateful if those who read this story could leave me a review describing which characters you thought I nailed and which I didn't. Also, even though it's totally up to you, please know that I enjoy reading longer reviews. But I like all types of reviews, long or short. I'm easy that way.

Just so everyone is aware of it, this story is going to be anywhere from 9 to 12 chapters long with the majority of chapters likely being closer to the length of this one rather than the first one. However, the next chapter will likely be much shorter but it's not as thought out as detailed as this chapter was before the actual writing process. Hopefully this chapter's length and content will be enough to hold you over until the next chapter. Next time we learn about the two demons!

So until then please: read, review, alert, favor, and spread the word!