Disclaimer: See Prologue.

Zevoros: Thank you for being the very first comment on this story! I´m glad to hear that, despite everything, I´ve managed to deliver a mostly well spelled story, of course, when you do find a mistake, please feel free to pointed them out to me. I figured going into more detail with the canon scenes would have helped to make the beginning of the story at the very least entertaining to read, good to see it has proven to be the right call, however, you won´t have to wait long before I start writing more and more original scenes. Isaac and Lillian, huh? Hopefully you will like what I´m going to do with them. Maybe they will make it far, maybe they won´t make it to the merge, maybe they will hook up with others, or with each other, or neither will. Who knows?! (besides me, of course) This story is not exclusively about them, though, hopefully you will like what I have stored for the rest of the cast. Thank you for your kind words!

LovelyLuly: Those are some good ideas, who knows, maybe their are closer to what will happen in the story than you think? Anyway, I´m glad that all of my OC left an impression on you, and a good one, for the looks of it! And Awww, no love interest for Isaac?

Let the real fun start!


Episode 1 – Not so happy Campers, Part 2.


The campers were standing at the edge of the world, fearing to step beyond the line, for they thought that the water below was a portal that would take them to the underworld, the afterlife, a place not in this world they really would rather not go to.

The cliff was high, unbelievable so, as in, they thought they could touch the sky, which far from amazing them, only made them even more aware of how far they were from the water of the ocean, the line that divided it from the equally blue sky was indistinguishable. It was quite strange the feeling most of them were harboring. Afraid of the heights as they were in, even if the fear itself was never something they have had a problem with before, yet unable to look anywhere but down, some of them even lingering dangerously close to the end of the cliff, seemingly ignoring the possibility of falling if they got any closer.

It was only when they heard the voice of the Host that they finally looked away from the edge of the cliff "Okay, today´s challenge in two-fold." Chris began "Your first task is to jump off this one-thousand-foot-high cliff into the lake."

"Piece of cake" Bridgette commented to Tyler.

But Chris wasn´t done "If you look down, you will see two target areas" Above from the cliff, the campers could clearly see a circle in the middle of the water, which was in turn surrounded by a much larger half-moon "The wider area represents the part of the lake that we had stocked with psychotic" Chris chuckled a little "man-eating sharks" As if on cue, the predators decided to made their presence known to what would probably be their meal, showing off their numerous sharper than razor teeth. Back to the top of the cliff, the camera showed us the expressions of the campers upon noticing the killer fishes, the all have various degrees of the same feelings of fear, panic and disbelief, all while Chris kept on talking "Inside that area, it´s a safe zone, that´s your target area, which we are pretty sure is shark-free" He added unhelpfully.

"Excuse me?" LeShawna asked, growing, much like everybody else, more and more uneasy at hearing the Host´s explanation of their first challenge ever.

"For each member of your team that jumps into the safe area, managing to survive, there will be a crate of supplies waiting below" In the beach below, there were large wood boxes resting on the sand "Inside each crate, are supplies you´ll need for the second part of the challenge: building a Hot tub!" The camera dashed back to give Chris a frontal shot "The team with the best one gets to have a wicked hot tub party tonight!" He pointed at the camera to emphasize his point, and soon after, a view of the dock with an evening sky could be seen, some luggage bags were left in the middle of its wooden floor. "The losers will be sending someone home."

Chris allowed one moment for the campers to fully digest all the information he was dumping on them, that being, not an especially long one "Let´s see… Killer Bass, you´re up first!"

"Oh… wow…" Bridgette, who not so long ago smiled at the relatively easy challenge, now looked down the cliff with fearful realization of what was waiting for her down there if she decided to jump to what most likely will be hers and everyone else´s doom. She tried and failed to brush it off by asking her teammates with her easy-going smile "So, who wants to go first?"

In the final edition of the episode, there would be an added crickets sound to light up, if only by a little bit, the tense silence that answered Bridgette´s question. It was, after all, supposed to be a comedy show for the most part, a kid friendly series that was to be viewed by all the family in their comfy homes —something which will be called into question by all the competitors more often than not, as time passes and the true nature of what they have signed up for will be revealed—. But in that moment, there was no such cricket to make its characteristic noise, the silence ruled as the loudest sound and none of them could bare it. The campers were truly scared, so much so that not only they didn´t want to go and be the first one to jump, serving as an example of what to do for the rest of their comrades (or what not to do should things go badly), but they also feared that, should someone else go first, it wouldn't be enough to give them the courage they desperately needed to perform such a risky feat. Bridgette might have referred only to her team, but their feelings were shared by the Screaming Gophers as well, for they would also have to face the challenge eventually.

Owen decided to be the one to cut to the dense tension with some cheerful words "Hey, don´t sweat it guys. I heard that these shows always make the interns do these stunts first to make sure it´s survivable" Though whether he was trying to convince the others or himself was open for interpretation, it more of least got the results he wanted, as the other campers decided not to fall silent once again, as they figured what he said was most likely true, to an extent.

"So" Eva said "Who´s up?"

"Ladies first" Duncan looked at Courtney, who could only look back at him.

"Fine, I´ll go" Bridgette said, albeit somewhat reluctantly "It´s not big deal. Just an insane cliff dive into a circle of angry sharks" She was reading herself to jump when Isaac approached her from behind.

"Excuse me, Bridgette?" The atypical nerd began "If you don´t mind me asking, could you tell how much do you weight?"

The surfer raised an eyebrow at her fellow teammate, taken aback by the out of place and arbitrary question he just made "Ah… why would you need to know that?" she asked cautiously.

"Is the only piece of information I need in order to determinate how fast you should run before jumping, as well as the angle and trajectory you should have once you start falling, to ensure you will land in the middle of the target area, as far away as possible from the dangerous albeit fascinating creatures down the lake" Isaac explained matter-of-factly.

Bridgette was now down right weirded out by Isaac´s robotic answer, but decided to not make a comment about it. Despite his tactless question and awkward justification for said question, she could tell Isaac didn´t mean to offend her and actually tried to help her with the task in hand, so she decided to politely turn him down "Mmmm… it´s ok, Isaac, I think I can manage on my own" She turned to face the cliff again "Thanks anyway" It´s not like she thought she didn´t need any help, but if Isaac way of express himself was any indication, she figured she wouldn´t be able to follow the set of intrusions he was going to give her down to the last detail, or most of them anyway, resulting in a worst jump than what she would have managed following her own instincts. And plus, her weight wasn´t something she felt like sharing to Isaac, her fellow campers or the rest of the world.

Bridgette jumped off the cliff, dropping in a straight line to the waters with a naturally good form, diving gracefully and flawlessly into the middle of the safe zone. She swam back to the surface of the lake, an equally relieved and satisfied smile on her face. As the boat that would pick her up and the rest of the jumpers approached her, she waved to the rest of her team back at the top, inviting them to follow her example.

Which was something Tyler was much happy to oblige "She did it! Yeah! Yeah! I´m next!" He ran a few steps back to gain as much impulse as possible once he jumps the cliff.

"Before you do that, Tyler" Isaac began once again to try and give his assistance to his fellow teammate "I suggest you to—"

"Here I come!" Tyler yelled, completely ignoring the nerd "Cowabunga!" Tyler took dive, his posture as good as Bridgette´s before him, but his trajectory completely off. He didn´t hit the water at first, landing instead on a buoy tower that make up the safe circle. It was a hard hit, Bridgette couldn´t help but wince. Tyler let out a pained whine, before slowly descending into the water. Unfortunately, he wasn´t in the right side of the line.

This did not go unnoticed by Chris "The Killer Bass start the game with a good first jump and a not so good dive, so they only have one point so far."

"Wait, only one point?" Geoff asked, being the one closest to the edge next to Eva and Isaac "But two of us jumped!" He protested.

"Is not enough to just jump" The host explained a bit too cheerfully "Remember, I said that in order to gain a point for your team, you need to land INTO the safe zone. Tyler did not, so one point is all you got"

Isaac frowned at this. Looking down at the lake, he could see Tyler already getting into the boat next to Bridgette, having avoided the wrath of the killer fishes, for they weren't swimming near the zone at that very moment. "Bummer" Isaac turned to see it was Geoff who said that.

However, his smile soon returned to his face, thinking that they could still bounce back from this. He was the next to Jump, his initial fear long forgotten "Woohoo!" Geoff screamed joyfully in his descends.

Eva went after him "Look out below!" she yelled.

Duncan was next, his arms crossed and his face bored, seemingly unaffected by the rapid speed he was dropping dead.

Then went Isaac. Once he was in midair, he kept his arms at his side and maintained a standing position as best as he could, for he knew this was the safest way to dive from great heights.

They all managed to dive into the safe zone, Isaac being the second person to land right in the middle of it. None of this, however, serve to ease DJ´s mind about the situation he suddenly found himself in.

He looked down at the far away lake before turning away in fear, shaking his head "No way man. I'm not jumping."

"Scared of highs?" Chris asked him, his plastic smile was a give away that his sympathy was fake.

"Yeah, ever since I was a kid" The Brickhouse confessed.

"That´s ok, big guy" Chris began gently "Unfortunately, that also makes you a chicken" he quickly shifted back to his uncaring, smiling persona "So you have to wear this for the rest of the day" He said as he pulled off a yellow chicken-shaped hat with the intention to place on top of DJ´s head.

He didn´t have the opportunity to do so, though "Is that true?" Suzanne was the one who asked this time, her words seemed filled with genuine concern.

"Yeah, it is" DJ repeated, his voice was soft and weak "I´m sorry... I can´t do this, I just can´t."

"I understand if you are truly afraid. I am very fearful myself, so I can relate" Suzanne told him with a gentle smile, much different from the one she has been showing so far "But that is mostly true for the rest of out teammates, even the one that have already jumped."

"Really?" DJ had troubles believing that "They sure didn´t seem scare to me. Duncan and Isaac didn´t even seem faced at all" he pointed down the boat with the rest of the Bass on board.

"Oh they were scared alright" The Girl in Sepia told the Gentle Giant "If they weren´t fearful for their lives, far from being impressive, it would be a little bit disturbing. They just managed to overcome their fear, even if only for the sake of the challenge. It just so happens, that would prove to be more difficult for you and me."

"So that means we have two chickens on a row?" Chris suddenly butted in, pulling a second chicken hat from who knows where "Because in that case, you´ll also have to—"

"But," Suzanne cut him off, not really giving him the time of the day as she still focused on DJ "as a team, we all need to work together to win this challenge, as well all of those to come, that means putting aside our fear and do our best all the time. We need all of us to jump in order to stand a chance at winning."

"Ok, bro, bra" Chris interfered once again, his irritation managing to replace his characteristic smile with a frown "All this talk about teamwork and whatnot is nice and all, but we are on schedule here, so if you both could just put these hats on a leave so be can continue, that would be great" He really didn´t like being ignored, even more so than being behind schedule, but he tried not to let it be shown, not anymore than it already had, in any case.

Suzanne barely managed to not snap at the Host, who whether intentionally or not was making her job at convincing DJ into a suicidal jump harder than it needed to be. Her words, genuine as they were and holding as much true as they did, didn´t come across as naturally to her as one would expect. She was really good at expressing herself in a well articulated, polite and respectful manner when talking to people, but DJ wasn´t a senior to look up to or a junior to guide through, he was a peer. Someone who stood on the same level as her. Someone who, as far as everyone else was concerned, was her equal. As different as hers and DJ´s backgrounds may be, as she would later find out they were quite diametrically opposite, there was no denying that they were just that, backgrounds as far as the Competition was concerned, there was no disparity between them on the island. Suzanne tried her best to not come across as a condescending snob who looked at everyone below her nose —even if some of her camp-mates have already viewed her as such, if her first interactions with Duncan and Gwen were any indication; granted, she didn´t really make a good job at trying to prove them wrong, but hey, if they were allowed to shamelessly display their obnoxious traits (who headlocks a deer and gives it a noggie? Who calls someone they just met an idiot?) then why couldn´t she let loose just a little bit?— so, after taking a deep breath and ignoring the host once again, she carefully chose her next words when addressing DJ.

"If you really can´t do it, then that´s ok, but please consider this" Suzanne tried once more "If you really can´t bring yourself to do it four your own sake, then do it for the sake of our teammates, I assure you they were thinking the same way" She pointed down to the lake "The fact that they are down there is proof enough."

DJ heard her, DJ understood her, but DJ didn´t humor her. He was still too scared. Even if he could somehow suddenly get over his fear of highs, what about his fear of water? Even if that wasn´t an issue, what if he didn´t hit the safe zone? what if he dived right next to a shark? He was obviously scared of being eaten alive but, you see, he was an animal lover. Scary as they were, there was no denying the sharks deserved every bit of his respect just like any other creature on this planet, and should he had to face one of those mighty marine creatures he would have to defense himself from them and defending himself implied… implied that he would have to hurt them! There was no way he could live with himself if he did such a thing to an innocent animal! He knew he had to jump, even if not for himself, then for the rest of the team but… but…

"Perhaps," Suzanne continue, seemingly reading his mind "an example would be a more convincing argument. Talking, after all, is cheap" she then walked to the edge of the Cliff.

"W-wait!" DJ called after her "What are you doing?!"

"I´m going to jump, obviously" She answered evenly.

"B-b-but didn´t you say that you were also scared?" he couldn´t help but raise his voice more than necessary "And that is was ok if I couldn´t do it?!"

"I did say that. But if the rest of our team were able to do it even though they were also afraid, I want to see if I can do it, too" She told him before looking down to the lake, and for the briefest of moments, her confident look dropped off her face. She quickly recovered, taking a deep breath and holding it in before jumping into the void.

"Wait!" DJ called for her, trying to reach out for her, but it was too late, she was already at the mercy of the gravity.

Suzanne felt weightless, her eyes were closed shut, expecting to hit the water at any moment, she didn´t have a good form while diving, but that didn´t affect her precision when she landed into the safe zone. She resurfaced, finally letting go of her breath. The previous jumpers, now in the boat that would take them to the beach, cheered for her. Suzanne looked back at the top of the cliff and upon seeing DJ was looking back at her, she waved her hand at him, hoping he would take the hint.

DJ couldn´t believe his eyes. She did it! And she was ok! DJ was still very afraid of what could happen himself, but maybe if he just took her example, he would be ok, too. It was hard for him not to think in all the things that could go wrong, but there was also a real possibility for thing to turn out right. He contemplated this idea as he saw Suzanne getting on the boat with the rest of their team.

"So" He heard Chris from behind him "what´s it gonna be, big guy?"

"Can I…" DJ gulped, taking his eyes off the lake to address the host "can I be the last one to jump?" He asked uncertainly.

"Nope!" Chris smiled unsympathetically "It´s now or never."

DJ figured as much. He looked back at the lake, having one final debate with himself about whether to jump or not to, until he faced away from the cliff, walking away with his head hung down.

"That's a shame" Chris taunted, his plastic smile not leaving its place on his face. He put out the same chicken hat from his back "Hey, big guy. Aren't you forgetting some—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, DJ dashing past him with a war cry. Before he knew it, Chris saw the Gentle Giant jumping into the shark-infected lake.

As soon as DJ was airborne, his mighty roar soon faded into a fearful cry, his mind once again filled with all the dreadful possibilities his recklessly made decision may have. Unable to face the fate that waited for him in the water, DJ covered his eyes. Finally, his great form caused an potent splash, managing to soak, more than they already were, all the people in the boat near him. Some bubbles formed in the surface of the lake, before DJ himself emerge from the water gasping for air.

"W-wha—?" He said dumbfounded, looking at his surroundings, instantly seeing he was inside the safe zone "I did it!" He cheered "I´m alive! I´m alive!"

"Well done, DJ!" Suzanne´s voice stood out among the cheers of her peers. She closed her eyes, continuing on smiling "I knew you could do it" she opened her eyes again, only to see that he wasn´t in the water anymore "DJ?"

DJ was next to her (when did he get out of the water?) crawling on the floor, repeatedly kissing the wooden surface of the boat "Oh stable ground, how much I´ve missed you" He kept on kissing the stable ground he was in "I´m never, ever, leaving you again, nor will I ever jump that insanely high cliff again" one more kiss "Ever" then he kissed the floor of the boat some more.

Suzanne, or any of the other passengers for that matter, didn´t know how to response to that, so they only stared at DJ as the boat took off to the beach.

"Well, what do you know, he actually did it" Chris said from the top of the cliff "Kinda hoped he didn´t, I would have loved see one of them wearing the hat..." He said low enough to not be caught by the camera "Anyhow, It´s time for the next jumper to come forward!" He quickly announced.

The next one turned out to be Ezekiel who, after taking a moment to prepare himself, jumped from the cliff with sound excitement "Yeehaa!" he´s excitement or his form did little to save his accuracy, for he hit a rock that stood out from the frontage of the cliff, making him spin around all his way down, but it would turn out to be for the best, for; as painful as that was, that richochet was what Ezekiel needed to fix his trajectory, sending him in a comfortable spot in the safe zone and as far away from the deadly fishes. He hit the water, and once he resurfaced, seemingly without much injure, he was greeted by the cheers of his teammates now in the land, to which he returned a thumbs-up.

"Yes!" Harold yelled before diving into the lake with his legs separated into a perfect split "WOW!" As cool as it looked, and it looked very cool, mind you, Harold didn´t thought about what would happen to him once he hit the water in that position. Needless to say, once it happened, Harold´s cheerful yell turned into a sound, painful scream, for his nether regions landed flat on the even surface of the ocean. His teammates, male and female alike, recoiled at the sight. His screech echoed within the woods of the island, scaring off some of the wildlife, making some birds fly away from the possible danger that loud sound might have signified. Even the sharks winced in sympathy. Harold, sinking into the lake, held his family jewels, letting once last moan before being swallowed whole by the water. If it was any consolation, he landed into the safe zone.

"Oh... hate to see that happen" Chris said with joyful insincerity.

"Excuse me, Chris" Courtney said after looking down the lake in a contemplative manner "I have a medical condition."

"What condition?" Chris asked. He doesn't recall any of that on Courtney's Bio.

"A condition that prevents me from jumping off cliffs?" she said matter-of-factly, though Chris couldn´t help but notice how it seemed to come off as more of a question.

"You can chicken out if you want" Chris said disinterestedly, a smug smile on his face indicated he didn´t believe her one bit "But it may end up costing your team the win, and then they´ll hate you" He added the last part as if to dare her to jump.

"It´s a calculated risk" Courtney didn´t take the bait "I´ve seen the other team, and I don´t think ten of them will jump." as if to emphasis her point, the camera showed a shot of the Gophers, none of them seemed to eager to make a response to her insulting comment.

"Alright, here´s your chicken hat" if anything else, Chris was happy he finally got to put one those thing on a camper´s head, specially one as up-thigh as Courtney "So, let´s tell ya the results" Chris said he pull out a table board, probably from the same place he kept all those chicken hats "Hold on, that´s ten jumpers, one of which is void, and one chicken. We´re missing two."

"I´m not jumping without Katie!" Sadie declared, holding onto her Best Female Friend Forever For Life´s hand for dear life.

"He have to be on the same team, Chris!" Katie pleaded, fearful that if she let go of Sadie´s hand, she would disappear from her life forever. On the side line, Izzy was watching the scene unfold with uncharacteristic quietness.

"Please!" Chris couldn´t tell which one of the girls said that "Please! Can we?" not that it mattered who was saying what, as the voices of the sickly inseparable girls started to converge into one big mess of seemingly endless pleas "Can we? Can we? Can we?"

"I´ll switch places with her" Izzy finally said, raising her hand to gain everybody´s attention.

"Alright! Fine!" Chris said with great irritation, it has been the longest his fabricated smile has been absent from his face, replaced with his deepest frown yet "You´re both on The killer Bass now! Izzy, you are on the Screaming Gophers!"

The Redhead all but shrugged, not really caring about the change. If anything, she welcomed it, this gave her the opportunity she needed to find the secret door that would let her to the other world, seeing as she didn´t find it on the female side of the Bass´s cabin. In the chance that she doesn´t find on the female side Gophers´s, then she just would have to try her luck on the male side of either cabin, she thought as she made her way to her new team, all while Katie and Sadie celebrated a victory bigger than the cliff they were about to jump off.

"Yes!" They shouted together.

"That means you're up, girls!" Chris announced.

"We are coming Killer Bass!" They cheered as they held hands, running together to the edge of the world. They jumped, staying together all the way down, hitting the safe zone together.

"Ok!" Chris began "So that´s Eleven points out of Thirteenth. Screaming Gophers, if you can beat that, we´ll throw on a pull cart to put your crates on."

"Nice!" Trent smiled at the prospect "Ok guys, who´s up first?"

Unfortunately, it seemed no one on the team seemed to share his enthusiasm.

"I´m sorry" Heather said, breaking the silence "There is no way I´m doing this" She said with a finality that didn´t allow for discussion. That took all of her teammates by surprise, looking at the Queen Bee with various degrees of disbelief. It was true that they all were scared, even after seeing the Killer Bass performing this outrageous task and coming out of it (mostly) safe and sound. But there was something about the score to surpass, about now having to jump in order to win, which made their option of chickening out kind of not an option anymore, that made them feel the same uneasiness all over again. The fact that one of their own blatantly decided they were not going to cooperate, without so much as to putting thought or consideration into it, when it was clear they all needed each other in order to stand a chance well, it really didn´t do much to improve the morale of the Green team.

"Why not?" Beth finally asked curiously.

"Hello? National TV? I´ll get my hair wed" Heather explained as if was the most obvious and valid reason not to help her teammates. Obvious? Well yes. Valid? well...

"You are kidding, right?" Gwen raised an eyebrow, not really wanting to hear the most likely answer Heather might give her.

Lindsay saw an opportunity there "If she is not doing it, I´m not doing it" She declared, eyeing Heather with a accomplice smile, one which Heather gladly returned. The gesture didn´t hold up for much, as she heard someone talking to her from behind, not sounding one bit happy.

"Oh, you´re doing it."

Heather turned to see it was LeShawna who said that "Says who?" she challenged.

"Says me!" LeShawna shot back "I´m not losing this challenge ´cause you got your hair did, you spoiled little daddy´s girl!"

The rest of the campers sensed a big storm coming, and, not being any sort of storm chaser, none of them wanted to be near it when it takes place, Lindsay carefully taking some steps back in fear upon seeing the sudden change of demeanor of LeShawna, and Lillian trying to find refuge behind the boys of her team. Bravery and foolishness tent to be divided by a paper-thin line, and Heather and the rest of the Gophers had opposing opinions regarding which side she stood on when she decided to take LeShawna head-on "Back off, Getto-glamour, too-tight-pants-wearing, rap-star wannabe!"

LeShawna was NOT going to be walked on "Mall-shopping, ponytail-wearing, teen-girl-reading, peeking in high school prom queen!"

Heather was silent for a single beat, until she came up with a response she knew was going to give her the last word "Well, at least I´m popular."

Gwen looked at them in shock. Cody looked at them in concern. Lillian looked at them in fear. Noah looked at them in amusement. Justin looked at himself in the mirror.

"You are jumping!"

"Make me!"

That could be arranged.

LeShawna picked up Heather as the weightless little thing she was well over her head and threw her to the far below lake without so much as a iota of hesitation.

Heather screamed helplessly all her way down, due to her awkward position she wasn´t even able to see the water, or whether she was going to land in the safe zone or not, making her fall of grace all the more scary.

She hit the water and didn´t waste any time in swimming back to the surface, splitting some water she inadvertently swallowed "LeShawna!" she said as soon as she caught her breath, raising her voice so she could be heard from below the cliff "You are so dead!"

"Hey, I threw you into the safe zone didn´t I?!" LeShawna replied as if that clarification made all well and good, she then added to herself "Now I just hope I can hit it, too." then she jumped too. She screamed, too, and she landed on the safe zone, too, innocently smiling at a still glaring Heather.

"I thought this was going to be a Talent Contest!" Lindsay pleaded desperately.

Chris Chuckled "Yeah" then he chuckled some more "No" he deadpanned.

Lindsay jumped, screaming all the way down with her arms and legs swinging erratically.

Then went Gwen, yelling as well, but with a more stable form in her way down.

Next was Cody, his fall was in a similar fashion as Lindsay´s

Lillian followed suit, she, much like DJ, covered her eyes in fear, letting a high pitch scream out.

Izzy, unlike her teammates, was not afraid, her body was fully extended as she couldn't wait to finally hit the water.

Justin´s drop was gracious and his form was perfect, his fully extended arms imitating the wings of a swam. Showing not fear or excitement, but rather a calm confidence in his way down, Justin´s dive was almost perfect.

Almost being the operative word, for none of the good qualities of his jump could change his awfully off trajectory.

His teammates shouted him to swim to the boat as fast as he could, fearing for his safety, How fast he could have swam, they would never get to know, for he has received their warnings a bit too late and by the time he realized he wasn´t in the safe zone, the shark already were behind him. They opened their humongous jaws to devour their easy prey, only for them close them just as fast, suddenly getting a full view of what, of who their prey was.

Even the animals were able to view Justin as the sight to behold that he was. The water drops ripping from his gorgeous form were so naturally beautiful, it seemed Justin was meant to be in the water, as there no other way to get an opportunity to view what seemed to be a magnificent yet estrange creature that can only come from the water realms. The sun shone upon him, its beam reflecting on the water on his body, the marvelous view now had a dazzling edge, for it seemed that Justin himself was shining.

There was no way they could eat him, was the only cohering thought the now infatuated creatures had, to take away something, someone such as Justin from the world was a sin none of the marine creatures could be burden with. Instead, one of them allowed him to hop up on top of its body, a eagerly transported him to the land safe and sound and Justin, wearing an expression that indicated this was the reaction he was expecting, simply hopped off the for now docile creature.

Well, many thought, without the context of the event they just witnessed, that just happened.

"I..." Beth was having a hard time finding the words "I can´t do it... I´m too scared" Chris pulled out a chicken hat, not bothering to show Beth any sign of sympathy "I´m sorry!" she raised her voice, looking at her teammates.

Down in the lake, LeShawna and Cody were taunting her, not really helping the situation at all. Next to them, Gwen at least had the courtesy not to make fun of her obviously scared teammate, but whether it was out of sympathy or simply not finding the point in do it so, that was up for debate.

"That is like, so lame" Lindsay looked at Heather next to her "Right?"

Heather had her eyes glued to the farm nerd on top of the cliff, Beth was the one to question Heather why she wouldn´t jump that insane mountain, and yet she was the first one to chicken out? "Fully lame" Heather added without hesitation.

"That´s..." it was in that moment when both girls realized Lillian has been standing in the beach next to them the whole time "not a very nice thing to say" she tried to say with as much strength and conviction as she could mused, which was to say, not much.

Heather scoffed, not dignifying Lillian´s statement with an answer. Lindsay looked at the shrinking violet in confusion, trying to figure out what her words meant.

Back to the Cliff, Chris was once again about to give away one of those humiliating hats when another camper decided to spoil his fun "That´s a pretty scary cliff to jump, isn´t it?" Ethan spoke for the first time since the challenge begun, looking down at his small and feeble teammate with a gentle smile.

"You can say that again" Beth weakly voiced before looking again down at the cliff.

"That´s a pretty scary cliff to jump" Ethan said again "It´d be really hard to jump from such a great high" his smile didn´t leave its place on his face, but his eyes hardened before adding "Hard, but not impossible. You can do this, Beth."

"Easy for you to say..." the nerdette couldn´t help but argue back "You probably do this kind of crazy things back home."

"True" the Giant akin to a brown bear admitted easily "But it wasn´t easy for me at the beginning, you know? I was pretty scare, too. But I managed to overcome my fear, and I´m pretty sure you can do it as well." He placed a big, rough and calloused hand on the small, soft and fragile shoulder of his teammate, the disparity between them in size couldn´t be ignored at all.

"Oh come on, people" Chris groaned in the background "We are on a schedule here! Are we seriously going to have another inspirational speech?" He asked rhetorically.

"Yes, we are!" Ethan flashed the host a thumbs-up, earning an eye-roll from Chris.

"I... I don´t know..." Beth should have felt inspired with the encouraging words of Ethan, she knew that. His sheer presence was irradiating confidence, positiveness, will-power, and a long etcetera of things she wasn´t projecting right now... but, if she was really being honest with herself, she couldn´t help but feel pressured than anything else... it was kind of intimidating. She was pretty sure that was not Ethan´s intention at all, it was most likely just her not having the right attitude at the moment, the attitude of being more than eager to help out her team now that they needed her the most, specially considering they were already a point short, due to the fact that Justin landed outside the safe zone —unharmed, that´s it, something she was really grateful for— but she was pretty sure no one on her team would hold it against him should they lose, but they already showed her she wasn´t going to have the same kind of forgiving treatment. She felt a little bit self-conscious all of a sudden.

"I wasn´t able to perform all those risky feats by myself, you know?" Ethan told his fellow brunette, as if reading her thoughts "I had my dad and my coach to helped me throughout many of the stunts I did when I was a kid, I wouldn´t be where I am today without them. They helped me to see most of the sports I wanted to try weren´t as tough as I made them out to be, so maybe I can be the help you need to see this is not as hard or terrifying as you think it is."

"You´re talking as if you have jumped off from cliffs to a lake full of angry sharks before" Noah said with his arms crossed.

"Been there, done that" Ethan, either not noticing the sarcasm or ignoring it, responded Noah´s comment dismissively, not looking at the raise eyebrow he earned from the Bookworm "What I´m trying to say, and really I mean it, is that you can do it, Beth! And I know you know it, deep inside you, you just have to convince yourself, all I´m doing is trying to help you do that" He said with a warm, friendly yet fierce determination, Beth could not help but to believe him.

"You... you really mean it?" The Wannabe asked hopefully, a new sentiment she couldn´t quite describe with words has awaken within her,

"Of course I do!" The Bear of Vancouver assured her "Beth, this is the first challenge, the beginning of the Competition, tough as it may be. This is the moment where we found out if we either go big or go home. Do you want to go home?" He asked her with the upmost seriousness.

"No" Beth answered, the hesitation all but vanished forever ago.

"Of course you don´t wanna go home. You want to go big, right?"

"Yes, yes I do!" Beth exclaimed.

"But to go big, you need to give it your all. Are you ready to give it your all?!" Ethan raised his voice.

"Yes I am!" She threw her hands to the heavens above.

"Are you ready for the competition?!" He roared like the mighty titan he was.

"Yeah!"

"Are you ready to jump this insanely high cliff to a lake full of angry sharks that are gonna kill you the second they get a chance?!"

"Yeah! Wait what—?"

"Then let´s do it!" Ethan shouted once more.

Before new thoughts of doubt and fear and hesitation could reform in her mind, before she realized it, before she could voice any sort of protest, Beth found herself being easily carried bride style in the powerful arms of the Bear of Vancouver, who was running at top speed to the end of the world.

"Wait—I need time to mentally prepare myself—!" by the time she finished her pleading sentence, Ethan had already jumped to the void. Both brunettes, with their weight combined, were dropping dead speedily.

"Woohoo!"

Ethan´s enthusiastic cheer and the wind speed were more than enough to cover Beth´s horrified but muffled gasp, as if she was unable to outright scream —which was exactly the case, as she would later reveal to the Blue Jock— Time seemed to slow down and Beth, not having the nerve to look at the ever nearing lake, closed her eyes shut, wanting to land on the water already so she would finally stop falling, yet hoping not to reach the water in fear she would land right next to a killer fish. Her contradictory thoughts and pleas came to a stop when they both hit the water, creating quite a splash as a result. First some bubbles appeared on the surface, until Beth finally emerged from the water, gasping for air.

"Wha—?" after realizing she was in the middle of the safe zone, a great relief, an intense joy and an immense gratitude overcame her all at the same time "Oh my Gosh! We did it!" she exclaimed with great emotion, her characteristic smile was back on her face "Ethan, we did it! we are alive!" she exclaimed to her teammate, only to see he hasn´t resurfaced from the water just yet "Ethan?" she looked around her, hoping to find him elsewhere inside the safe zone, because she really didn´t want to find him outside of it, but time was passing and the male Gopher didn´t show any sign of coming back to the surface. Fearing the worst, Beth´s smile has once again abandoned her face "Ethan?!"

As if hearing her call, much to Beth´s immediate relief, the Brown Bear appeared from the ocean right next to her. After spitting out some of the salty water he has inadvertently swallowed, he looked back at her, smiling as usual "Told ya you could do it" there was a certain knowing tone on his voice, but Beth was just happy for the good way the events have turned into.

"Y-yeah... I guess you were right" she suddenly felt a little bit flustered for some reason.

Ethan pulled a pair of glasses out of the water "I think you lost these."

"What?" Beth brought her hands to her face, and after finding nothing there, she felt even more bashful when she realized those were her glasses Ethan was handing her "Oh, gee... thanks" the ´th´ sound in thanks sounded tonged out, even for Beth standards, and she knew that, she only hoped that Ethan didn´t as she was taking her glasses back.

"You´re welcome" thankfully, it seemed he didn´t. Turning at his back, Ethan spotted the boat coming to pick them up "Let´s go, our ride has arrived" He started to swim at their transport.

"Y-yeah" she followed him suit.

"They did it" back in the cliff, Chris didn´t sound as excited as maybe he should have been, if only for the sake of the camera "about time" he muttered under his breath "Ok, who´s up next?" he asked the remaining Gophers.

"Let's do this!" Trent give Owen a High five of encouragement before jumping himself "Yeah!" He screamed all the way down, his enthusiasm being well rewarded, having landed right in the middle of the safe zone "Woo!" he exclaimed as soon as he resurfaced.

"Finally, someone who can do things quickly" Chris smiled once again, then looked back at the

"So..." Noah began, the same bored expression on his face all the others campers were going to grow familiar with "Am I really doing this?" he asked rhetorically.

"If you want to give your team the point, then yeah, you kinda have to" Chris said sardonically.

"You know, when I signed up for this competition, I was expecting something more fit for my smarts, since being smart is the one thing I am really good at. I really did not expect... any of this" The Schemer waved his arms around to emphasis his point.

"Pretty sure no one did, which is why we went for this surprise to start the competition" The host smiled sincerely this time, but wasn´t necessarily a good thing "Awesome idea, right?"

"Yeah, throwing everybody off their game before it even began, awesome idea indeed" Noah said in a tone that indicated he dind´t think it wasn´t indeed a good idea.

"We really don´t have much time left to be wandering around the place" Chris dropped his fake smile for a moment "So if you could either jump already or wear the chicken hat and be on your merry way, that would be great."

Noah just sighed "Fine, guess I´ll die" he said flippantly.

"Really? Are you serious right now?" Chris asked in slight disbelief "You are about to participate in the show that will make you famous all around Canada, and this is the attitude you are having?"

"Yeah?" Noah Shrugged.

"You are not very enthusiastic, are you?"

"Whatever" Noah said, effectively ending the conversation before taking his insanely high dive. It went as well as any other, landing next to Trent.

Chris wasn´t sure what he dislike more, Noah´s general attitude, the fact that he has got the last word on their little engagement, or the fact that once again a camper has unnecessarily dragged things for way too long, (or, most likely, a combination of all three) it was getting redundantly redundant. It was true he could just edit it out, which wasn´t to say it was something he was very fond on doing, due to the editing process was a long and costly one, and simply leaving some things out wasn´t as easy as it sounded, and even if it was, that didn´t change the issue of the thigh schedule they had in the present moment. There were already a few things here and there he knew were definitely going to go in order for the final episode to go smoothly, such as Suzanne and DJ´s little (read long, at least for Chris´s taste) conversation, but he was having doubts about whether he could do the same for Beth and Ethan´s, given that, without it, the audience wouldn´t have the context they needed to know why they jumped together. As for Noah... he decided that leave his jump out altogether, after all, jumping off a cliff certainly didn´t match very well with a supposedly intelligent but definitely lazy person, a shot of him on the water to prove he has indeed jumped, but that would be all. Serves him right for giving me attitude, thought Chris in a matter that certainly did not resemble that of a petulant child that didn´t get his way, like, at all. Honest.

As he was pondering about how this episode would play out, he noticed that there was now one camper left, and given the current score of both teams, it was going to be the decisive point the Screaming Gophers needed to win the first part of the challenge. Now, he could tell all of this to the only camper left and him alone, buuut he decided that it would be more dramatic to build up the tension let this information known to the rest of the competitors. And he Decided to use a mega horn so all of them could hear him crystal clear.

Now, he could try to be nice and cut some slack to the obviously nervous teen boy next to him, buuut he would be lying if he says there was no pressure, when there obviously was.

If anything else, Owen did have the support of his fellow teammates, who all have jumped, and he couldn't help but feel that he owned them at least try. Justin might have missed the safe zone, but he dived, and Beth might have needed a greater amount of encouragement, but she jumped, sorta.

"I was pretty darn nervous" Owen would reveal in the confessional outdoors "See, the thing is, I´m not that strong a swimmer."

"I´m looking at this guy and thinking, there´s no way he is gonna make it" Geoff said, a smile that didn´t match very well with the situation at hand.

"I actually thought, if he jumps this," Gwen began with a worried expression on her face, only for her to deadpan "he is gonna die."

Back in present time, Owen was puttinf on a pair of arm floats, before taking deep breaths in order to calm himself down. Being ready as he'll ever be, the blond Giant took a few steps back.

"Take a good run at it, buddy. You can do this" Chris cheered from behind.

"Come on, Owen! You got this!" Ethan voiced from the beach, only unlike Chris, he didn't need a mega horn to be heard.

"I´m going to die now," Owen stated in defeat "I´m going to freaking die now."

The Screaming Gophers and the Killer Bass looked at the top of the Cliff expectantly, wanting to see whether Owen will do what many before him have done, proportioning his team the point the needed for the win, or if he will be the second person in the camp to chicken out, taking away the advantage that could be decisive in the next part of the challenge. Suffice to say, both teams were expecting different outcomes.

"Come on, big guy" LeShawna urged from the peanut gallery down the beach.

Time was passing and both teams growing more and more sure that the giant was going to chicken out, causing the Screaming Gophers to feel a sentiment that greatly contrasted with the one the Killer Bass were having. Owen's nerves were fluctuating from great encouragement to fearful doubt, starting but not ending a cycle that repeated itself on his head over and over again. Always thinking he could do this, only to remind himself about the dreadful possibility of missing the safe zone, even if shouldn't be that hard to hit considering the good amount of space Owen could cover, maybe, if he hits the center of the safe zone, he would be able to squarely occupy the whole zone all by himself! Ha ha ha! Oh wait, the safe zone is a circle, right? So maybe not squarely, but 'circlely'? He he he...

Ah... That... That helped to light up the mood, even if only by a little bit.

With his resolve at all times high, Owen steeled himself before it shrinks again. With a mighty roar, Owen dashed to the edge of the cliff, after jumping as high as he could, he found himself airborne.

"Oh Crap!"

It was that moment that all confidence had completely abandoned him, but at that point there was nothing Owen could do to regret it, for better or worst and ah no... Ummm, nope, there wasn't a good joke to light up the mood anymore.

"AAAHHH!"

Despite his helpless screams and the fact he was dropping like a cannon ball, Trent and Noah smiled happily at seeing that Owen at last decided to jump, and there was no denying he was going to hit the safe area, judging by the fact that he was exactly above them, and he was going to land right where their were. Their smiles disappearing from their face was the telltale that they have realized a little to late that they shouldn´t have stayed on the water.

The mightiest splash that ever going to be recorded on the series occurred, creating a mini tsunami that send the boat to the shore of the beach, all the campers were knocked over from their feet, soaking wet once again after being hit by the wave, though they were laying all over the sand without much injured. Someway, somehow, a shark was hanging on top of a tree nearby after being ejected from the water.

"Yes!"

They all looked back at the lake. "Yeah! Oh Yeah! Who´s the man?!" Owen exclaimed from the safe zone. He was all well and good.

"Woo-hoo-hoo!" Beth cheered.

"Yes!" LeShawna celebrated.

"I knew you could do it!" Ethan exclaimed.

"The winners: The Screaming Gophers!" The voice of Chris was heard throughout all the beach thanks to his trusted Mega Horn.

"That was awesome, dude!" Trent prized his teammate, the joy tripping from his voice. He paused once he saw Owen gazing all over the water, as if looking for something "What´s wrong?"

"I ah... think I lost my bathing suit..."


Total Drama Isaac Lillian Suzanne Ethan


After covering a good distant, Lillian began "99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall... 99 Bottles of Beer. If one of those bottles should happen to fall, 98 Bottles of Beer on the Wall..."

Then, she grew in confidence and volume...

98 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,

98 Bottles of Beer.

If one of those bottles should happen to fall,

97 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

Ethan and Beth, the ones closest to her, soon listened to her and decided to join her.

97 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,

97 Bottles of Beer.

If one of those bottles should happen to fall,

96 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

The song in no time spread across every member of the green team.

96 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,

96 Bottles of Beer.

If one of those bottles should happen to fall,

95 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

The Screaming Gophers were joyful, carrying their crates on the pull carts they were awarded for winning the challenge.

95 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,

95 Bottles of Beer.

If one of those bottles should happen to fall,

94 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

It was a great start of the competition, and even though there was one more task at hand, they had a pretty good gut feeling they will be able to pull it off just as well as they did in the previous challenge.

94 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,

94 Bottles of Beer.

If one of those bottles should happen to fall,

93 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.


Unfortunately, the feeling was not shared by the Killer Bass.

Some of the crates might have not been as heavy as they appeared, but given how bulky they were, only DJ, Eva, Isaac and Tyler could carry one without assistance. All of the other boys and Bridgette could push one crate each. Katie and Sadie, as well as Suzanne and Courtney, were the only ones that needed to team up in order to move their respective crates, which they might have ended up doing anyway, given that they lacked two crates that might have or might have not contained a vital piece to complete the Hot tub they were about to build, but there was nothing they could do about that. Harold was having the most trouble in moving his box, but he was managing. Transporting the crates by hand may have not been such a hard task, but that wasn´t to say it wasn´t a tiring one; after deciding it was best to go in a relatively slow but steady pace to move the crates to the camp to not tire themselves out so much, they still needed to make a pause to regain a little energy every now and then.

Like now.

"Ouch" Courtney stopped pushing, which made Suzanne stop as well "I think I just got a splinter" she said eyeing her right hand.

Eva was having none of it "Shut up and pick up your crate" she effortlessly picked up the wooden container the girls were pushing, startling them both, only to quickly slammed it down as if to further drive her point home "Chicken."

Quickly recovering herself, Courtney protested "Hey! I´m the only one with CIT camping experience here. You need me!"

DJ and Eva looked at her, before turning to look at each other, clearly not convinced.

Suzanne looked at the Brickhouse and the Iron maiden before looking back at Courtney "Can I see that?" she asked politely, before taking a hold of Courtney´s right hand. She inspected it thoughtfully, until she found the splinter the CIT had complained about. With her thumb and index, Suzanne took out the splinter without much issue.

"Ouch" Courtney winced once again.

"There you go" Suzanne said with a smile, throwing the tiny piece of wood away, completely disregarded.

"Ummm... thank you" Courtney said, sounding a little bit off.

"You´re welcome. Shall we continue?" The Girl in Sepia was ready to get back to work.

But before they could start again, Tyler put his crate down "Ah... I gotta take a wiz" he excuses himself before heading to the woods.

"Hurry up, we´re already behind" Eva stated.

"Oh, I have to go, too" Katie commented.

Both her and Sadie stopped pushing their crate "You too? Oh my gosh, me too" they both then went to the woods as well.

Things really weren´t looking good for the red team. The Screaming Gophers, it seemed, haven´t stopped even once since they started moving their crates to the campgrounds, and as necessary as the stops were for the Killer Bass to catch their breaths, it didn´t change the fact that they were also widening the gap between the teams, giving the green team and even greater advantage than the one they already had. They were ready to go once again, but they needed to wait for their teammates to come back, because it wouldn´t do well for the team to have any of their members tiring themselves out even quicker should they try to push an extra crate. At the very least, things couldn´t get any worst, could they? Right?

"Ow!" Courtney groaned once again, a bug was flying dangerously close to her face, and with a quick motion, she managed to smash it with her hand, but she hit her right eye in doing so "I think something just bit me!"

Tyler has already returned to the beach, and Eva was starting to lose patience when she saw Katie and Sadie finally returning as well "All better?" she asked.

"Yup!" Katie replied.

"Can we go now? I think my eye is swelling up" Courtney complained.

They all began with their march once again, however, in no time, Sadie noticed something was up "Ew, something´s itching me, are you itching too?"

"Totally itching" Katie confirmed.

They tried to keep up with their space until they finally reached the camp, after figuring that they have already wasted too much time.

But it wasn´t going to be that easy "Oh, it´s really itching now!" Sadie whined.

"Mine feels like it´s burning" Katie complained.

"Ok! I have to scratch!" Sadie said, and Katie followed her example.

In that moment, Chris arrived in a quad bike, looking for the Killer Bass. It was true that he expected to a disparity between the teams, given the earned advantage the Gophers had, but he expected it to make the Bass push themselves harder in order to compensate for it, not to make them slack off on the beach. It the gap between the teams kept on widening, there was going to be a point where it couldn´t even be considering a competition, which was not good for ratings, which was not good for him "You guys are way behind the other team. Like, way behind" he stated "What´s the problem?"

"Their butts are itchy."

Chris turned to see it was Courtney who said that, and he also saw the grotesque state her right eyes was in "Gah! Oh my boxers that is bad!"

"Did you guys squat down when you peed on the woods?" Bridgette asked the itchy girls.

"Yeah?" Katie answered.

"Did you happen to notice what kind of plants you were squatting over?"

"They were kind of oval-shaped and green and all over the place" Sadie explained, still scratching herself.

"Were they low to the ground?" Bridgette put her hands close to one another, but not that close "About this big?"

Both girls nodded frantically.

"You guys squatted on poison ivy" Bridgette revealed to them, trying to hold her laughs.

Katie and Sadie didn´t react at first, until realization finally dawned on their faces "What did we do?!" Sadie yelled.

Chris didn´t even tried to hide his laughs "No way! That´s awesome!" he gleefully exclaimed, laughing unsympathetically at the twin friends, who were now crawling on the sand in an completely undignified matter.


Things were going much more smoothly for the Screaming Gophers, after already opening up their crates and seeing what was inside them.

"Hey check it out! I got wood!" Owen announced.

"I got some tools here and what looks like a pool liner" Trent revealed what was inside his crate.

LeShawna and Lillian were looking inside another wood box when they were approached by Heather and Lindsay "I just wanted to say," Heather began, raising a hand in sign of peace "I didn´t mean that about you being a Getto Rap-star Wannabe and I love your earrings, they are so pretty."

"Straight up?" LeShawna asked, placing a hand on one of her earrings, which happened to be special to her. When she saw Heather nodding her head, she decided she might as well accept her apology "Well... I´m sorry about pushing you over the cliff and all."

"No worries" Heather assured her "I needed a push. Truce?" She offered her hand for LeShawna to shake.

"Yeah, yeah. You got it" LeShawna, instead, decided to offer her fist for Heather to fist bump, which she obligated.

After that, Heather and Lindsay when on their way, while LeShawna looked back at Lillian "That was nice of her" the Shrinking Violet said with a small smile.

"Yeah" LeShawna acknowledged "She may be kind of a up thigh girl, but I guess she ain´t that bad either."

"Goes to show you really can't judge people based on first impressions" Lillian's voice grew in volume.

"Guess not, she just needed a little push in the right direction" LeShawna looked back at Heather, who was talking to Lindsay about something.

"Y-yeah, a push" Lilly laughed nervously, looking away from the Sister with 'Tude. Though she knew LeShawna meant that in a figurative sense, there was no denying LeShawna was capable of using that expression on a literal sense as well, but there was no way for her to express that thought aloud, partly because it would be rude, and partly because she was fearful that would be enough to trigger another fit from the girl. Twice have been the times Lillian witnessed first hand the volatile nature of LeShawna, and in neither case has it been pretty, and she did not want to find out what would be like to be directly in the receiving end of LeShawna's temper. However, Lillian could also tell that the general demeanor was that of a good, caring person, if only a tiny little bit on the boisterous side (which was another thing she wouldn't express out loud), so Lilly decided to practice what she preached and not judge LeShawna based on first (and seconds) impression. Besides, Lillian would be lying if she said she didn't appreciate the good qualities she saw on the sister, qualities she wished she had on herself. Hopefully she would rub off on some of that if she stood with LeShawna, but that was assuming she wanted her next to her... Which wasn't very likely... Because who would want her around...?

Lillian rapidly shook her head, now wasn't the time to have those kind of thoughts (it was never the time to have them, but tell that to her mind) looking back at LeShawna, Lillian said "Anyway, I'm just glad you guys could sort that issue out. I was kind of worried you guys were going to have a problem, seeing as we are going to be teammates and all."

"All you gotta do is be straight with people. Let 'em know where you stand with them. It will cut out so much crap, even if you still don't like them or they don't like you" LeShawna explained "What matters is that we respect each other enough not to be I'm anyone's bad side, lest we want to cause internal conflict on the team."

"I get that" Lillian said "I still do want people to like me, though" she added nervously.

"Well you won't have to worry about that, since Beth seems to like you already, and I can see why" LeShawna smiled, putting a hand on the taller girl, making her smile in return "But more of that later, right now we have a Hot Tub to build." The Homegirl said as she took some tools out of the crate they opened.

There were also some wood inside the crate, which Lillian took "Y-yeah!" She replied eagerly, following the sister suit.


"Finally" Harold breathed out.

It was just now that the Killer Bass have arrived to the campgrounds, and their spirits were as low as the energy they had left in them, and their drive as ascent as Katie and Sadie, who needed to stay in they beach for reason the red team wasn't willing to share.

The Screaming Gophers had begun with the construction of the Hot Tub well before they arrived, and seeing how far they already were on the project... well it was disheartening to say the least. They knew that didn't chance the fact that they still had until dusk to build their own Hot Tub, and just because they started earlier, it didn't necessarily meant the green team were going to make a good job at building it. And yet, here they were, sitting around the campgrounds while the Gophers were practically running circles around them. Catching their breaths wasn't the issue anymore, they were just plain tired, not even trying to figure how to proceed with the second part of the challenge. The crates were just lying there, unopened. Despite the fact that they knew they had a fighting chance on their minds, they just didn't feel it on their hearts.

Well Geoff was having none of that.

He stood at the top of a crate "Hey, Dudes! It's not too late! We can do this!"

"Ok, look guys," Courtney voiced, seemingly the only inspired by Geoff's words "We have a Hot tub to complete and we need a project manager. Since I've actually been a CIT before, I'm electing myself. Any objections?"

"Where do we begin, Cyclops?" Duncan wasn't impressed. He was, however, taken aback when Courtney practically got into his face.

"Open the crates!" Courtney ordered "Bridgette, go finds those itchy girls. We are going to need all the help we can get."

"If I might," Isaac raised his hand " I have experience in building furniture in the past, so I believe I can be trusted with the grunt work of building the body of the tub." He explained.

"Me too, eh!" Ezekiel also voiced "I know a lot about simple projects like this one, since I do one of those all the time back in my farm" he then addressed the rest of his team, specifically the girls "so you girls can sit down let the work to us guys" he suggested with a smile.

Suzanne noticed that Courtney and Eva had all raised an eyebrow at him, in sign they were picking up the implications on Ezekiel's seemingly inoffensive comment, so she quickly cleared her throat, putting and end to the silence before it even began "As chivalrous as that sounds, Ezekiel, we can't have only half of us doing all the work while the rest of us do nothing" she explained "You and Isaac may be the closest we have to an expert in this situation, but we simply can't let you guys do all the work."

"I agree" Courtney regained control over the conversation again "Ezekiel, you and Isaac will begin building up the tub as soon as we open the crates. DJ, Eva, can you guys take care of that?"

"No sweat" DJ replied, While Eva simply nodded.

"You cannot use your hands to open up the crates" Chris has told the Screaming Gophers, as well as the Killer Bass as soon as they arrived to the camp, so DJ and Eva used the second best thing they had at the moment, their legs. With powerful kicks, they were able to open the first crate in no time, and while they were able to maintain the pace up till the eleventh crate, they were wore out.

As soon as the first crate opened, the rest to the girls decided to start with the inventory, making sure to have everything accounted for and cheeking before adding the new materials from the second crate, and the third and so on. They seemed to have all the necessary parts that were needed to build the body of the hot tub, so Duncan and Geoff began to bring the parts and tools necessary for Ezekiel and Isaac, as well as Harold and Tyler who said they were going to help them to build the tub body from the ground, so they could start working quickly. The progress was steady and smooth, at least until Tyler began to hit too hard with the hammer.

"Your are using more force than necessary" Isaac informed him "You need to let the weight of the hammer do the majority of work."

"I know what I´m doing, ok?" Tyler snapped, before attempting to hammer another in, only for him to split the wood beam.

"It does not seem like it, if I´m being perfectly honest" Isaac commented.

"You just have to do what my pa´ always tells me to do" Ezekiel added his own two cents "Focus on the nail and not so much on the hammer, eh."

Tyler, being more open to Ezekiel´s advice than Isaac´s, decided to follow it, but the results weren´t that much different.

"Ok, that´s it" Courtney walked to the boys, Suzanne following her suit "Tyler, we appreciate the enthusiasm, but I think it would be best if we let someone else do this job, someone more... handy" The CIT stated.

"But I can do this guys!" The red jock protested "I just need time to focus a little more."

"Is precisely time what we don´t have, Tyler" Suzanne intervened "The guys here seem to be doing a decent work by themselves" she pointed at Ezekiel, Harold and Isaac.

"But I want to help" Tyler insisted.

"Then you can bring them the supplies they need to complete the hot tub, just like Duncan and Geoff have been doing" Courtney told him, not having any intention on letting him keep on ruining what little progress they were making.

With a dejected sigh, Tyler nodded his head and went to the pile of supplies the girls have been organizing. At that moment, DJ and Eva managed to open up one of the few remaining crates, so Courtney and Suzanne went to view the new materials they had. The three boys returned to their job. They needed more parts and another hammer. Geoff took care of the wood, and Duncan was about to provide the tool, but Tyler wanted to take it went it was already on Duncan´s hand without so much as to offering himself to carry the hammer. Both boys were struggling to keep the hammer on their hands, until they both let go of the tool, which caused the two of them to fall to the ground, sending it flying to Harold´s head. The nerd didn´t even have time to flinch away from the incoming projectile, but fortunately for him, Isaac caught when it was itches away from Harold´s head. This event did not go unnoticed by either Courtney or Suzanne.

"You know what, Tyler?" Courtney began, with barely concealed annoyance "I think it will be best for everyone if you take a break."

"Yeah, no kidding" Duncan said, getting himself up from the ground.

"But—" The red jock began, but didn´t finish.

"We insist" Suzanne deadpanned. And that the end of that discussion.

After DJ and Eva were done with the crates, they were offered the chance to rest for the rest of the challenge, but neither one of them were willing to ´slack off´ as they put it, so they decided that after catching a breath, they will replace Geoff and Duncan in providing for the tools and parts the builders will need, and the Party Animal and the Delinquent in turn would start with the Hot Tub system, and later they will receive assistance from Isaac, as promised by the square nerd himself. Katie and Sadie decided by their own volition that they would take a break for the rest of the challenge, asking Bridgette if there was anything they could do about the sour itching they still were feeling. The surfer girl went to the cabin, pretty sure she had some Aloe cream in her belongings to give to the nonidentical twins.

Victory was starting to become a real possibility for the red team, the Screaming Gophers might have started with an advantage, and while it certainly helped to ease their minds and not to make as many mistakes, it wasn´t a matter of who build their tub first, but who build it best. The hut tub was made, the system was set up, all that was left to do was to filled it with water. Using the buckets they were given, the Killer Bass went back and ford from the campgrounds to the beach, just like the Screaming Gophers did before them.

Finally, it was time for Chris to judge the finish products both team had produced.

He went to the Screaming Gophers first. The steam was emanating from the water, the craftsmanship was good. Everything seemed to be in order.

"This is an Awesome Hot Tub!" The host announced.

The green team Cheered, exchanging high fives, and whistling all around.

It was now the time test the Killer Bass. The stream irradiating from the water was also there, the most clear sign that everything else was also competently made. But, Chris noticed, not as competently as the Screaming Gophers. He could spot a few flaws here and there in the body of the Hot Tub, but what was really off putting to him were the pieces of dupe tape in some areas. When he took one off, he could see a small but noticeable leak on the side of the tub. The Hopeful smiles of the red team soon vanished. It couldn´t be helped, they thought resignedly, since they didn´t have more wood beam to replace the ones that got spoiled. There could have been some more in the two crates they were missing, but there was nothing they could do about that, specially now of all times.

"Stable, functional and going, I´ll give you that" Chris began "But I think we have a winner here" he made a pause "The Screaming Gophers!"

A new round of cheers erupted from the Green Team, while the Red team looked down in resignation.

"Gophers!" Chris announced "You are safe from elimination and You get to rock this awesome Hot Tub for the rest of the summer" He then pointed to the camera "Honest!"

"Killer Bass, what can I say? Sucks to be you right now" The killer looked back at the host "I´ll see your sorry butts on bonfire tonight."

In a competition, everybody knew, there were going to be winners and losers. The Killer Bass knew, or at the very least thought, that the could bounce back from this. For now, all they could do was taste the sour flavor that was defeat. It tasted... sour.


Losing the challenge, the Killer Bass figured, may have been the reason why the food they were eating tasted worse than their first meal on the island.

Isaac knew different, though.

His perception wasn't clouded by the bitter knowledge that his team has lost the first of many battles in this war with the Screaming Gophers, which was not to say it didn't affect him like the rest of his teammates (if anything he could have been even more affected than the anyone else, feeling responsible for their failure in the hot tub challenge as the one who was supposed to guide the rest of his comrades, even if he knew on a intellectual level that he did everything he could to deliver), it was just that he had an easier time than most in separating his mood and any other kind of personal bias when observing the reality unfolding before his eyes, so he knew as a matter of fact that the food did taste worst than the ones before this. He was ready to shrug it off and simply assume it was due to the chef's cooking skills (or lack thereof) but the fact that he was still able to eat it and so far hasn't shown any sign that it wasn't something he could not digest, made him reconsider whether Chef knew what he was doing on the kitchen. It seemed deliberate, as in purposely cooked this way. An extra punishment for losing the challenge, maybe? It was likely. He looked at the table of his rivals and saw the general good mood reflected on their expressions. He was certain that if their meal tasted as bad as his team's, the sweet victory they must have been feeling would have been long forgotten. Isaac felt compelled to share this theory of his with the rest of the Bass, if only for the sake of starting a conversation. He was by no means the most sociable person around, being an introvert all his life, but he understood enough that the atmosphere surrounding the Killer Bass was a thick one. But he stopped himself, for he was fearing that sharing his hypothesis would start a conversation that wouldn't end in a cheerful tone, or any tone lighter than the one they currently felt, if anything it may end up in a worst one.

He was hoping someone more sociable than him would try to say something that would cheer up the rest of the team, Geoff in particular seemed very adept in talking people up, even if they were still relatively strangers, but the "Funniest Guy Around" seemed as subdued as the rest of Bass, perhaps even more so given his usual upbeat demeanor. It didn't sit well with him to see them like this.

"So ah..." The Square nerd looked up from his unappealing meal to see it was Katie who broke the silence "What do we do now?"

"We have to figure who we are gonna vote off" Courtney didn't miss a beat.

Ah, right, the Elimination Ceremony.

"Funny you should mention that" Duncan began "Because I was just about to "nominate" you."

"What!?" Courtney was taken aback, she did not expect that "Why?"

"Because, lest I'm mistaken, you are the only one in the whole camp that is wearing a Chicken Hat."

"You guys need me!" Courtney protested, though it came out more like a plea "I-I'm the only one with—."

"We know" Bridgette rolled her eyes, sounding a little exasperated "You used to be a real CIT. So who would you pick?" She still tried to be diplomatic.

Courtney rapidly looked at everybody on the table. "What about... Him!?" She pointed an almost accusatory finger at Tyler.

The unsuspecting jock was taken aback, fortunately for him, Duncan came in his defense "Hey, at least he jumped off the cliff, chicken wing!" Duncan taunted.

"Shut up!" Courtney bit back, seemingly without any retort to Duncan's claim.

Geoff stepped in between them "Ok, let's chill out. This is getting way too heavy."

"I have enough prison good for one day" Duncan really couldn't have less of a care in the world "I gonna go have a nap."

"Y-you can't do that!" Courtney called out for him "We have to decide who is going yet!" But Duncan simply ignored her.

He couldn't, however, do the same with Isaac, who sat up from his seat and stepped in front of him "Please do stay, Duncan. This is a matter that should be best discussed with the whole team."

"Out of my way, Four-eyes." Duncan threatened.

"Four eyes? I only have two" Isaac was confused before suddenly looking worried, "Oh no, double vision is a sign of contusion. When did you hit your head? How much does it hurt?"

Duncan was actually taken aback by that comment, hearing a couple of giggles on the background that Isaac seemingly didn't notice. Ignoring the genuine look of concern on the nerd's face, Duncan was about to tell him off, but didn't get the chance to.

"Well I just don't get why we lost, eh?" Ezekiel voiced his thoughts.

"Oh I believe I can clarify that for you."

Suzanne practically slammed her tray down to the table, before placing herself in the seat between Ezekiel and DJ, the former with the next words he wanted to say on his mouth and the latter a little bit startled. Before coming to the table, she was having and conversation with the Chef ( a pretty one-sided one, given the lack of response from the man) Given the sour expression she was wearing when looking at her food, one could imagine how well it went.

"Oh really?" Duncan looked at the rich blonde "And would be the reason we lost, messy?"

Suzanne didn't give him the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of her "Lack of Teamwork" she was addressing everyone on the table, but was looking directly at the delinquent when she spoke.

Duncan raised and eyebrow at her, but before he could even ask what she was implying, someone else beat him to the punch.

"What do you mean?" DJ asked her.

"Simply put," she began, and Duncan noticed a subtle change in her voice "in order to work as a team, we need a common goal to work towards, and we also need to understand that the need of the team as a whole is more important than the individual needs of any of us."

"And what are those needs?" Duncan asked, although he preferred to say he challenged, he was yet to be convinced by Suzanne´s argument, and he thought she just was trying really hard to sound smart.

"To show off, obviously" The Girl in Sepia said "We are all here to become famous, are we not? We all want to have a fanbase, and for that we need to draw attention to us, and the challenges are the best opportunity for us to do so. The problem begins when showing off interferes with doing the actual challenge and he rest of the team suffers as a result."

"So..." Katie began "You are saying that... We need to focus on contributing to the challenge first, try to become famous second?" She was pretty sure that was what her fellow teammate was saying, but she wanted confirmation nonetheless.

"For as long as we remain a team, yes."

"Even if contributing means to step aside and not interfere with the others?" Sadie questioned. In the Hot Tub Challenge, the Killer Bass didn't need every member to participate in the construction, so it was safe to assume the Screaming Gophers didn't need all of their members either. The thing was, though, there wasn't any reason for the cameras to focus on the procrastinating campers that weren't doing much, if any, work "How will be draw attention to us, then?"

"You need to plan ahead" Suzanne informed the chubby twin "There will be others challenges, other opportunities for you to show off, where you will be able to actually help your team, rather than being a liability on the challenge, which will only serve to have you vote off after we lose, thus making you unable to draw attention to yourself anyway. You don't become famous by being an early out in a cast of Twenty-six participants."

"Much lest being the first eliminated" Eva interjected, having enough of beating around the bush and going straight to the point of the discussion "Which unfortunately, it's going to be one of us."

"But not any of us" Suzanne added at last "I think it will be only fair to eliminate the person who contributed the least in today's challenge."

The important question was, who is that person? They all needed to come to their own answer and make a decision. It was a decision they needed to take with cool heads and it was going to be a hard one. As they were making they deliberations, they kept on eating their unappealing dinner.


The last lights of dusk faded away, replaced by the darkness of the night. The glow from the crescent moon and the stars above, pretty as they were, were unfortunately ignored and overshadowed by the warm light of the torches and the hanging lamps surrounding the Campfire Pit, where the fire was burning the wood away in the middle of the place, viewed by the Thirteen Killer Bass, who were all sitting down in one of the stumps.

The silence was overwhelming.

They did not have the strong start in the competition they were hoping for, and they did get did not foresee an improvement of their performance as a team, if the Hot Tub challenge was any indication of that, and the tension build on the dining lodge when deciding who to vote for has been carried all the way to the Campfire Pit, reflected on the fact that none of the red team made any attempt to talk with one another in order to essay the tension, with the obvious exception of Katie and Sadie, and even the pair of the nonidentical Twins were strangely subdued on that moment. Suzanne´s words weighted heavy on the minds of the team, and with those words on mind they delivered their votes on the person they believed to be the least fit to keep on the competition, leas the rest of the team wanted them to slow them down for the rest of the show. Now. for the time being, They all decided to enjoy the bright fire as mush as they could. Because after tonight, one of them wouldn´t get to enjoy such a simple camp activity anymore.

"Killer Bass" The voice of Chris McLean broke the loud silence that was drowning everything and everyone in the Campfire Pit "At camp, marshmallows represent a tasty treat that you enjoy roasting by the fire. At this camp, Marshmallows represent life" He was holding a silver plate displaying the Twelve Marshmallows that only twelve Killer Bass will get to enjoy.

"You all cast your votes and made your decision. There are only twelve marshmallows on this plate. When I call your name, come up and claim your marshmallow. The camper who does not receive a marshmallow tonight, must immediately return to the Dock of Shame, to catch the Boat of losers. That means you are out of the contest and you cant come back. Ever"

"This, is the very first Marshmallow of the Competition. And the person who is going to have the honor to receive it will be..."

"DJ"

The Brick house with Heart smiled, and went to claim his token of immunity, He inserted a stick into the sweet treat, and sent a smile to his fellow teammates, his gaze lingered just a little bit longer on Suzanne, who gave him a small but sincere smile in return. DJ was signaled by the host to stand behind him, and so DJ did.

Picking up another marshmallow, Chris called each and every camper one by one "Isaac."

A small smile broke into the seemingly perpetually blank expression of the black and white nerd. He rose from his seat to claim his sweet treat.

"Ezekiel."

The Home-schooled Guy was on his feet in no time.

"Suzanne."

The Girl in Sepia smiled satisfactorily. After claiming her marshmallow, she positioned herself next to DJ.

"Bridgette."

The Surfer Girl smiled happily upon being called, receiving content smiles from the twin friends.

"Geoff."

The party animal threw a fist in the air in sign of joy.

"Eva."

The Female Bully did not show any reaction and simply rose from her seat.

"Duncan."

The Delinquent, just like Eva before him, only wore a bored expression when going to claim his sweet.

"Harold."

"Yes!" Harold cheered, wasting no time in getting up.

"Katie... and Sadie"

The Best Female Friends Forever For Life raised from their seats together, claiming their respective marshmallows together.

Courtney and Tyler looked at each other, before looking back at the last Marshmallow on the silver plate.

"It is said that the Second place it´s also known as the first loser in a game" Chris began enigmatically "But that doesn´t hold true in a elimination game. The first one to be eliminated is going to be the first loser of this game. And one of you" he pointed at the two Bass lacking the sweet white treat "will turn out to be that pathetic sucker, With only one marshmallow on the plate, the question is, who is it gonna be?"

Neither one of them could believe it, they were on the bottom two. One of them wasn´t going to receive a marshmallow, and neither one of them wanted to be that pathetic sucker. They looked at their possibly soon to be former teammates, who looked back at the remaining duo. Chris hasn´t mention anything about any of the other Bass having received any votes against them, so it was safe to assume that Courtney and Tyler were the only receptors of the votes. Obviously, they voted for the other, and as far as they were concerned, the votes were evenly spread between the two of them. But the number of Killer Bass was odd, and all if took was one more vote to be sent home.

Looking back at Chris, Both Courtney and Tyler gasped at seeing the host rise a finger dramatically —a little too dramatically, if you were to ask any of the presents— and began to alternatively point at one of the remaining Bass. It wasn´t supposed to be like this. This was not how any of them wanted their start on the show. They were suppose to make it far, to become famous. To win the competition and then go home with the money. But then again, that was everybody's goal, wasn't it? There was always going to be the first loser, it's just that neither one of them expected it to be one of them. But, then again, nobody really does.

In every elimination, one of the confessional made by one of the campers would be used where the chosen camper would explain why they voted the way they did "A team is like a chain, it is only as strong as its weakest link and right now, in the start of the competition, it wasn't that hard to spot a few ones" Suzanne was the last one to cast her vote, making her the one that broke the tie between the bottom two, and ultimately the one who sent the unfortunate soul home "Only time will tell if there will be any improvement, but for right now, we have a ceremony to face" her expression was stern "There was some deliberations to make, but ultimately the choice was rather clear to me."

"The final marshmallow of the night goes to..." Chris took the sweet treat from the silver plate and showed it to Courtney and Tyler, both with their eyes glued to it.

There was a beat...

Then another one...

And finally another one...

"Courtney."

"Which is why, I voted for Tyler" the Girl in Sepia confessed in the Outhouse.

The once CIT let out a sigh of immense relieve, wasting no time in getting up from her seat to claim her token of immunity.

Tyler looked dejected, disappointed and sad. All of his now former teammates were looking at him with sympathy (or at the very least, he thought it was sympathy, because it really wouldn't have sit well with him if they were looking at him with pity.) He looked back at them, but said nothing, because what could he say? Good bye? This didn´t feel good. It was nice to meet you? But he really didn´t meet them, sure he learned their names, and they learned his, but beyond that, he didn´t get to know them, whatever little thing he could have learned from any of them could and most likely will be forgotten the next day, same thing they can say about him.

"Tyler," The host finally pronounced the name of the Red Jock "The Boat of Loser awaits. The dock of shame is that way."

Tyler, the Jock who Sucks at Sports, only rose from his seat, put his hands empty of any marshmallow on his pockets and made his way to the Dock of Shame without muttering a single word to either Chris of any of the Killer Bass. On the Dock, Tiki torches ceremoniously illuminated the dock, allowing Tyler to see clearly in the darkness of the night, so at the very least he wouldn´t trip over his own two feet, ruining the last screen time he was going to have for the rest of the show he felt shameful enough, thank you very much. As he approached the Boat of Loser, Tyler thought deeply. Was he bitter he was eliminated? Not really. Should he be? Not Really. It was the purpose of the game, he just didn´t understand why did it have to be him. Did he really performed that badly on the Hot Tub Challenge? Sure, he made a few mistakes here and there, but he was only trying to help, just like in the Cliff challenge. He actually jumped, unlike Courtney. But... then again, unlike everyone else who also have jumped, he didn´t hit the safe zone, which would have gave his former team an extra crate, that hopefully would have contained the spare wood they could have used to replace the one he had screwed up... It was now, when Tyler entered the Boat of Loser, that he realized he may have not left a particularly good impression to his former team, and to all the viewers of the show.

He Sighed, this really wasn´t the way ha wanted to become famous.

"The rest of you" back on the bonfire, the host addressed the remaining Killer Bass "Enjoy your marshmallow. You are safe. For tonight."

And enjoy their marshmallows they did.


"To the Screaming Gophers!" Ethan raised his juice box.

The winners of the challenge were enjoying their reward to its fullest, the hot water on the tub was a nice contrast to the cold air of the night, the stars and the moon were all the light they needed and wanted for the party.

"The Screaming Gophers!"

"Woo-hoo!"

"Yeah, that´s the stuff!"

"Go-Gophers! Go-Gophers!" LeShawna sang, and soon her fellow teammates joined her "Go-Gophers! Go-Gophers!"

The camera captured their bliss from afar.

"Are you recording this?"

The camera panned away to view Courtney, as she stood near the cameraman, and far away from the rival team.

Now having the attention she wanted, she began "Good" Her words came sure and strong, much different from the girl who mere moments ago thought she was done for in this competition. Now that she was spared for tonight, she was going to make the most out of the second chance she was given "They can enjoy their little party all they want. But I´m gonna win this competition."

Despite the fact that she practically costed her team the challenge, despite the fact that she was forced to wear that ridiculous chicken hat, that was as denigrating and ugly as it was yellow, the splinter in her hand, the bug that bit her eye, leaving her with a ugly protuberance for an eye, and despite putting all her experience as a CIT into practice to lead her team to victory, only for them to lose anyway, Courtney was still standing, she was not going to give up. She still has the upcoming challenge to prove herself, to both her team and their rivals, that she still had so much fight left in her, and she was going to give it her all, for she was Courtney, and only her absolute best will do.

After the briefest moment of contemplation, Courtney put out that stupid Chicken Hat out of her head, throwing it to the ground, where it belonged.

"And no one is gonna stop me."


A/N: So, the first two episode of the show, I gotta said, it was really fun to write this one, much more than the last one, the main reason for that being the fact that I was able to write more from my own mind than from the canon episode. And fortunately for me, the next episode, ´The Big Sleep´, will be the episode where I can fully write on my own, so it will be from that moment on where I can really put my writing skill into practice, as well as improve them overtime, with your help of course. Hopefully, I will be able to maintain a monthly update schedule, which is a huge thing, because considering the length of the chapters thus far, I really thought I would have troubles in updating in a relatively steady pace, so I´m glad it´s not taking me as long as I thought it would take.

I quite liked how this chapter turned out, but of course, I once again I will take my time to review this chapter over for any errors that I overlooked before posting it. It you find any, please pointed them out for me. If you think there are some areas where I could improve this a little bit, please tell me how to, I´m all ears for your constructive criticisms. I also want you to tell me which part of this chapter was your favorite, as well as what do you think so far of my OC, seeing as that now you have more information about them to work with. Did you like Suzanne and Ethan giving DJ and Beth the help they needed, respectively? Did you like the Friendship Between Lillian and LeShawna? Did you like Isaac attempts and fails at being sociable? Did you like how Suzanne practically saved Ezekiel from Elimination? But I don´t want to only know what you think about my OC, did you like what I did for the canon cast? I had a particularly fun time writing Noah´s and Owen´s parts, personally speaking. I´m also all hears for that!

Speaking about eliminations...

26th. Tyler: The out of universe reason as to why I eliminate Tyler first was because I promised changes and changes I will deliver. I had two options, to either allow for the divergences to slowly build up or to change things almost right away, and I think you saw which option I went for. Ezekiel was never meant to be the first boot for this story, and fortunately for me, it wasn´t that hard to figure out who would take his place, which brings us to the in-universe reason as to why it had to be Tyler. In the two canon episodes, Tyler did not have that great a start into the competition, with his introduction gone wrong as well as his lackluster performance in the very first challenge overall. I decided to exploit those factor to have a believable first elimination, as well as to make some little change of my own to help me put this off, mainly with the added rule of the challenge of HAVING to land on the safe zone, as well as to have Isaac unintentionally pushing Tyler´s bottoms, which is why Tyler had an even bigger reason as to try to show off to the rest of his team, like in ´Dodgebrawl´, only for him to make even more mistakes as a result, as well as being a little hostile to the Atypical Nerd, despite the fact that Tyler is a rather friendly person in normal circumstances.

Overall, I hope your find my reason to be valid, I hope you like this story so far and I hope you will like what I have for the next chapter.

Until next time, See ya!