By the time Melody woke up, the side of the bed that Chris occupied was already empty and cold. She wasn't surprised or sad. He needed to prepare for the next challenge, besides it wasn't as if there was something in between them. In fact his absence gave her the much needed time to think things through. She couldn't deny the attraction and longing she felt for him, and though the fact that he came over yesterday signified that he felt the same, she just wasn't too sure. Suddenly her lack of knowledge in the dating field was starting to catch up with her.

Sighing, she stood up and got dressed before going downstairs. Chef was nowhere to be seen so it was only natural for her to summarise that he was helping Chris or preparing himself to torture the contestants more. It was a bit quiet and lonely, however on the bright side, she only had to make waffles for herself today and to the two men she currently lived with. God knows how much they could eat, especially in the morning. Fortunately for her, Chris's timing was impeccable and she easily managed to finish her meal before she heard his voice over the intercom.

"Calling all contestants, it's time to get rolling. Hahaha. Eh, that will make sense in a minute."

Today's contest was located at the far end of the island, near a deep crevice that she had never noticed before and she was sure that she had walked past this place a couple of times already during her midday strolls. The new discovery was certainly interesting, but it was quickly blown out of her mind at the sight of what Chris hinted about. Two big, metal spheres were parked at the edge of the cliff, one green and the other bright red. Walking over to the two leading men, she greeted them but only got a reply from one. Chef seemed as puzzled as she did at Chris's silence but neither of them wanted to question it now that the campers were gathering round the clearing. It would have to wait for later.

"Listen up everyone. Today's challenge is simple, simple and deadly. You'll all be racing across the island in these turbo orbs! Each team will cram into one turbo orb and roll like a hamster in a wheel. First team to the other side of the island wins immunity."

"Both team are sure to have a ball."

"Just get in the ball Topher."

"Hey watch the hair!"

"Stop pushing!"

"I'm not pushing I'm shoving."

Melody giggled at the failed pun, though quickly quieted down at Chris's glare. Topher was honestly becoming more and more like Chris and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. She was pretty sure that one was more than enough. They watched in silence as the teams entered their own respective balls one after another pushing and shoving until only Jasmine was left. She was standing quite a way back and almost at the point of shaking from terror. It was an unfamiliar feeling, watching someone as tough as Jasmine be afraid of something.

"Jasmine, hello. You're still on Australian time? I actually have no idea if that's ahead of us or behind us, but you get the joke."

"Ok, just going to get inside that small, cramped, confined ball, no way out. Let's do this!"

"That's the spirit!"

She sighed in determination, but didn't manage to make even one step towards the centre of her fear, instead opting to crouch down onto the floor and wrap her arms around herself. The tremors were visible all over her body now, and to Melody it would be clear that she wouldn't get near the ball willingly. She seemed to have a serious case of Claustrophobia, and since Chris didn't seem to be willing to help, it was all up to the medic.

"Hey Jasmine, are you ok?"
"I'm OK. Just have a teeny issue with confined spaces, no biggie."

She stood up, determination covering up the fear in her eyes and actually managed to make a few steps this time. It didn't last long however and soon the tall Australian girl was back in the foetal position and slowly rocking herself back and forth. At this rate the day would end before they would manage to get her into one of those death traps. Chris was fully aware of that fact, however he didn't seem as inclined to help Jasmine. He instead chose a much different tactic.

"Aha, you know what else is a confined space? A cannon. Ok, bad cop didn't work, time for good cop."

Everyone watched as he approached Jasmine and knelt beside her, a calming smile on his face. He seemed truly concerned for her, which surprised Jasmine, drawing her attention from the big ball. To be honest, that smile looked a bit unnerving on his face, to Melody. She was just so used to seeing Chris either smirk or scowl, and never be pleasant to someone else.

"Jas, I didn't know you had this phobia. Now that I do I realise that this challenge is harder for you that anyone else and that's unfair."
Anyone could see the hope budding on Jasmine's face. She almost started believing that Chris, the meanest host on the planet, would actually let her stay out of the challenge. Too bad it was just a hope. The moment Jasmine started to trust him, that infernal smirk appeared on Chris's face once again making everyone sigh in disappointment Chris would always be Chris, and whoever thought he would change any time soon was gravely mistaken.

"Chef, toss her in!"

In her shock, Jasmine didn't even manage to react before Chef grabbed her with both arms and literary tossed her in. Groans could be heard as she landed on her team mates, but they were soon muffled as Chef slammed the doors on both of the huge metallic orbs.

"Eh, we can't see out of these."

"Oh, no."

You could practically taste the sarcasm in Chris's voice. He wouldn't Allow Jasmine to avoid the challenge, so what made the campers think that he would care about whether they could see or not? The two muscled men stood behind the two orbs, Chef with the red ball while Chris was at the green one.

"You might feel a small drop. Ready, set GO!"

With that said, both men pushed their orbs, watching as they rolled a small distance down the hill and fell into the dark ravine that she had a bad feeling about from the start. Melody rushed to the ravine to check if the campers were still alive, but Chris grabbed her arm and twisted her back towards the waiting recliners and the usual TV. She struggled for a moment, but she had no chance of getting out of the firm grip he had on her arm. Finally giving in, she willingly walked to the TV and turned it on, sighing in relief when she caught sight of the campers. They seemed battered and bruised thoroughly, but at least they were alive which was more that she honestly expected. With an unfortunate series of events, Sky landed on Dave which he saw as an opportunity to make his move on her. That in itself wasn't so bad, however Sugar ruined the moment by bringing up her breakfast, apparently consisting of only blueberries. Melody wasn't as shocked as Dave, honestly she expected more campers to have the same reaction, but she too was definitely disgusted at Dave's new appearance. Sky managed to avoid the burst, and like the others, she was staying far away from the source and effect of it much to Dave's disappointment.

"Ha host fail! I'd like to see Chris narrate us out of this one."

Topher certainly didn't waste an opportunity to try and prove that he was the better host, much to Chris's annoyance. She was worried as to what would happen to the proud contestant if he continued to anger Chris like that. To her astonishment, Chris did nothing but smirk. Clicking a button, he revealed a TV next to the campers, his and Melody's image appearing on it. He gave Topher a brief glare as he became visible, but quickly turned to the rest of the contestants.

"What was that Topher? So your real challenge is getting out of the cave."

"Why bother with the bogus challenge?"

"If I had said I wanted to cram you into giant balls and drop you 140 feet into a caver, you would have all moaned and whined, this was easier. Moving on. There are two bags of supplies behind you"

Sky and Max both rushed towards the back of the cave towards the aforementioned bags, managing to snatch one each. Maxe's bag contained items such as night vision goggles, rope and various climbing accessories, and despite the obvious usefulness of the items he saw them as useless. That viewpoint was not shared by his teammates however as they cheered. Sky wasn't as lucky, as her bag contained kitty litter, a Beardo CD (something that Melody had no idea existed), and soy sauce packets, things that would be completely useless to her team in this challenge.

"One bag might be more helpful than the other. Now if you look around you'll see a bunch of all lead to a single exit on the surface where the finish line awaits, but some will get you there safer or faster than the others. First team across the finish line wins. One more thing, according to Cree legend no one who's gone in has, ever come out, but hey I thought the fall would kill you so congrats on surviving that. Your challenge starts now."

With that said, Chris blew his air horn, the sound traveling down and making the cavern shake. A couple of rocks dislodged throughout the sound, almost hitting some of the campers below. It was the last straw for Jasmine who finally openly panicked and ran towards one of the walls, banging on it with her fists and screaming for her freedom. Her attack caused more rocks to dislodge, and her team barely managed to calm her down slightly before she caused a cave in. The disaster was only prevented for a few moments though, as Sugar's voice rang out, turning out to be that last thing that the cave needed to collapse.

"It's a cave it!"

"My face, must save my face!"

It was obvious as to who was screaming about his face, the yells mixing in the cacophony of frightened voices. Some like Topher, ran blindly (covering his precious face) into the nearest tunnel, while others hesitated, trying to pick the best one. It ended up with Topher knocking Jasmine into one tunnel, Scarlett and Max running into another tunnel, while the entire team Maskwak ended up in the third. All in all, both the teams managed to save their lives though one team got divided, a fact that would most likely prove to be a disadvantage. Only when all of the campers were in the tunnels did Chris let got of her arm, motioning to the seats that were prepared for them. Chef had vanished for now, most likely rushing off to prepare dinner or more traps for campers. Either way the two were alone once again.

"Let's go sit down."

"I thought you weren't talking to me?"

"What no...I just…"

Melody stared at the host as he struggled to find his words, something so unusual to the confident him she usually saw. A slight pink colour dusted his cheeks, reflecting the sudden colour of her own face. She knew what he was going to talk about, and the thought alone had a reaction on her.

"Just what?"

"I was embarrassed after what I did yesterday ok! I didn't want you to be mad at me. You know how girls can get!"

"I'm not mad Chris, I honestly slept better with you there, so you don't have to worry about it."

Realising what she said, Melody turned away and walked quickly towards the seats, praying that Chris didn't notice the now vibrant pink that coloured her face. It was strange admitting that fact, but she had learnt long ago that lying in the face of your crush only led to bad consequences. Besides, he must have felt something for her too, he wouldn't have come to her yesterday if he didn't would he? She shook away those thoughts as Chris sat next to her. Neither of the breech the subject again, deciding to focus instead on watching the campers attempts to survive the many dangers ahead of them. Dave attempted his kiss with Sky one more time, though it ended with him kissing a bat unfortunately. Chris seemed to find this especially funny, though he still refused to look at her. His team may not have had torches like the other team, but their problem was quickly solved by a cave filled with what looked like glowing slugs. Melody wouldn't put it past Chris to make them radioactive. That didn't stop Sugar though, who proceeded to eat several much to everyone's disgust. They didn't have much of a negative effect on her, though it was the same girl that ate a live tarantula so Melody wasn't too surprised about that fact.

Max and Scarlett however unfortunately hit a danger cave straight off the bat. It was a cave filled with very sharp stalactites hanging from the ceiling, ready to skewer anyone that passed underneath them. Even the slightest noise could cause them to crumble down, so even Chris had to whisper when explaining the challenge.

"Welcome to the spike zone. Try and stay quiet or all of those stalactites will rain down and skewer you like kebabs. Hahaha"

"Thank You for that warning. You are now in my favour. We shall tiptoe through slowly and…"

"Eh, tiptoeing is boring to watch so...here's a crocodile. Remember your entire team has to cross the finish line, so no leaving behind legs or heads, OK?"

Chris pressed the button and a crocodile appeared in the room with the two contestants. Scarlett backed away like a normal person would, although Max seemed to have other ideas. He walked towards the wild animal, convinced that he could train him as an evil pet. To be honest, Melody had no idea where Chris managed to find this guy, but at the same time, she had an idea that Chris himself picked him. After all, what is Total Drama Island without a little crazy?

Max's plan backfired as the crocodile bit him in the backside instead of listening to him, causing Max to scream, knocking down all of the stalactites. The ceiling of the cave quickly followed, knocking down the TV and making the two observers lose all contact with the two unlucky contestants. Worry was etched onto Melody's face, though Chris didn't seem scared or bothered at all.

"Oh, it was just getting good, eh. Stay tuned to find out who gets buried and who comes out on top here on Total Drama Pakhitew Island."