"Last time, on Total Drama Revenge of the Cruise Ship..." Chris began to recap, starting with footage from the first boat challenge from Venice. "Our teams travelled to Venice, Italy, mi amore! Summer and Brinley fought over Marty, while Richard and Tristan made peace over Yvette. Katniss and Valerie's feud continued on, and Yvette's craftiness won her team the final part of the challenge, delivering a shocking result to Marty and Wolfy! Now that the teams will be merging, who will come out on top without the team barriers? Find out right here, on Total, Drama, Revenge of the Cruise Ship!"

The winners of the last challenge, the Killer Killifish, were all enjoying the hangout room. Tristan, Richard, Amber, and Valerie were currently using the hot tub, Richard practically taking a nap while the other three just relaxed. "There are only half of us left in the game, so what do you guys think of forming an alliance since the teams would merge? More power in numbers right?" Amber offered to Tristan and the sleeping Richard.

Tristan nodded his head quickly, not seeing any downside to 'teaming' with the two of them. "Sure, why not. I've already got Yvette working for me, and I'm sure she'll be willing to help you two out." Tristan accepted the offer, flashing a smile at them.

Amber held her hand out to shake, smiling back at him. "Perfect! I have a feeling we'll be able to go super far if we stick together!" Amber said cheerfully while Tristan shook her hand briefly.

Valerie didn't really care for Tristan, but she just nodded in agreement with Amber. "Works with me too. Don't expect us to be all friendly though, I'm not about that." Valerie told him coldly, although she was mostly in a bad mood because of Richard's presence.

Tristan gave one quick understanding nod before just closing his eyes and leaning back in the hot tub. Once his eyes were closed, Amber stopped herself from letting out an excited squeal. "That's another alliance member for us!" she whispered excitedly to Valerie, who couldn't help but smile at her excitement.

-Confessional: Amber-

"I was worried that Valerie's attitude was going to hold us back from getting any more allies, but if I take charge like this, then I think we still have a shot!"

-Confessional: Tristan-

"Amber is way too trusting, but that's perfect for me. She won't know what hit her when I turn on them. I doubt there's anyone else playing the game as good as I am!"

-End Confessionals-

In the cafeteria, Alex was eating the lunch from Chef, which was poorly prepared pasta made from leftover ingredients from the previous challenge. He ignored the gray bowl of slop as always, just eating the cold pasta.

Wolfy was sitting across from him, eating her gray slop first to get it out of the way. "You know Alex, I'm suprised you were able to get both of us through the elimination ceremony the other night. I really thought you were gonna turn on me just to save your butt." Wolfy told him, still in some amazement.

Alex chuckled, setting his fork down on the table and looking at his accomplice. "Well I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help. Although getting Summer booted like that probably put a target on our backs from the alliance. So maybe we should stick together even after the teams merge?" Alex suggested, having some concerns about Marty, Brinley, and Matias.

Marty was sitting on the other side of the table, glaring at Alex and Wolfy occassionally. He knew they were responsible for Summer getting eliminated somehow, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. "Do you think one of them swapped out the votes to be Summer instead?" Marty asked Matias and Brinley, both of whom didn't have much to say on the matter.

Brinley knew exactly what happened, but there was no way that she was ever going to admit that to Marty. "Probably. Wolfy seems like the one who would do something like that. Alex is a pretty chill guy." Brinley agreed with Marty, throwing Wolfy under the bus just in case Alex planned on exposing her if she got on his bad side.

Matias agreed with her, looking over at Wolfy. "Yeah, Alex was cool during all of our challenges, and Wolfy has known about our alliance for a while now, so I'm pretty sure she did it too. Do we vote her off today if we lose?" Matias asked Marty, who was pretty much the unofficial leader at this point.

"We'll wait a bit, we still want to make sure we win our challenges. Who is to say she won't do it again? If we get the chance though, we can group up to vote her off. If we merge, we have Tristan with us again, so that's already four votes against her." Marty replied, thinking of the best approach to take to this.

Matias and Brinley looked at each for a moment, before just turning to face Marty and nodding. "Fine with me. She's annoyed me plenty too. All that stupid talk about her siblings." Brinley added, feeling incredibly relieved that the blame was nowhere near her now.

After only a few more minutes, the entirety of the Killer Killifish walked inside the cafeteria behind Raphael. "Feed up soldiers! We've got a winning streak going, and we are not about to lose it!" Raphael ordered, letting everyone line up to get lunch before standing in the back of the line.

Katniss was the first in line, and she was quick to get her food and sit down. She wolfed down all of the pasta instantly, before moving on to the gray slop where she ate just a little bit slower. Richard sat down on the other side of the table, looking disgusted by her behavior. Tristan did the same, sitting down next to Richard. "Wild chick is pretty weird huh. Kinda suprised she made it this far." Tristan commented to Richard, who just nervously laughed at the mention of Katniss.

-Confessional: Richard-

"I'm suprised that I made it this far! I've had so many close calls, it's not even funny at this point! But I think I've grown a lot as a person on this show already! I was expecting to go home as like, the third or fourth boot. But hey, I've managed to stick it out this far and I have stood up for myself more! People remember my name, so that's major progress!"

-End Confessional-

While the Killifish now began to eat, Chris walked into the cafeteria and looked at everyone eating with a smirk on his face. "Wow, you're all pretty exhausted to have made it to the halfway point of the game! You've outlasted half of those who started out in this competition, showing just how fierce competitors you all are!" Chris congratulated all the players, all of them suprised to be getting any kind of positive words from Chris.

"So why are you telling us this Chris?" Amber asked, raising an eyebrow at him skeptically. "Everytime you try to bring our spirits up, you do something to crush them!" she asked, not buying the nice talk for a second.

Chris was annoyed that Amber had jumped right to that assumption, but he just sighed as he walked over and took the captain's hat from Raphael and threw it out the cafeteria. "Well now that you've made it to the halfway point of the game, the teams are now officially merged! It's every traveller for themself now on this cruise ship!" Chris announced, delighting and stunning many.

Looks were sent across the two former team tables, many more opportunities opening up for some players. "So no more crummy teams? How will the rooms we sleep in work then if we're split up?" Richard asked curiously, hoping he wouldn't have to move.

"That's an easy one. Since the the Killer Killifish ended with seven members to the five left on the Screaming Sting Rays, the dudes from the Sting Rays will move in with the dudes on the Killifish, and the same goes for the ladies. Kapeesh?" Chris answered, which definitely satisfied Richard.

Everyone understood, and all got up to leave and get settled in their new living arrangements. "Oh, and I'm gonna need you all to hit the confessional. Just go over how it feels to have gotten this far. Our audience digs that sentimental stuff. Except you Richard, you already took care of that today." Chris instructed all of them, getting a collective groan from the teens.

-Confessional: Raphael-

"Glad I got in here first, everyone was scrambling to get here for their spot in line! Anyway, I am not at all amazed to have gotten this far. I have been a team player and a valuable asset to my team, regardless of which one I was on. I believe my training and grit will carry me all the way to the finale, and I'll prove it!"

-Confessional: Katniss-

"I happy go far, just no Valerie or Richard, they bad people. I maybe win, that be cool!"

-Confessional: Tristan-

"How does it feel to make it to the merge, well besides being wicked awesome, it gives me something to brag about when I get home! You hear that Brent? Your boy made it to the merge! I'm gonna keep playing my cards right and grind the rail to the finale too, it'll be easier than actually grinding a rail!"

-Confessional: Valerie-

"You all knew your girl Val was making it to the merge! Hispanic pride baby! Big thanks to Amber for being such a good friend. If I could, I'd like to bring her to the finale with me. My girl Brooke is a perfect 10, but I'd give Amber a seven. She's got some fight in her you don't see often with those city council girls."

-Confessional: Marty-

"Is it great to be in the merge? Yeah, but without Summer, not so much. She was probably my closest friend on the ship before she got shot out of the cannon. Brin and Mat are still great friends, and Tristan has got my back, but there are plenty of mischievieous ones on this ship too."

-Confessional: Brinley-

"Marty was just in here, I bet he was talking about me wasn't he? It's great to be in the merge with him and no Summer to get in the way of our love! I just have to find the perfect time and I'll ask him out! I never thought I'd find the courage within me to go for a boy honestly, so this is my chance!"

-Confessional: Matias-

"Well... I made it to the merge! Is there really a whole lot to say? I just picked the right people to hang out with I guess. I'm pretty sure I'm getting to the final four with Marty, Brinley, and Tristan for sure. Piece of cake."

-Confessional: Alex-

"The merge, freedom from that awful team. If we lost again, I would have had pretty much no way of saving myself. But now that I'm away from them, I can just keep my distance and let the Summer sting gradually go away. I've got a lot of dirt of people, so I'm pretty much set."

-Confessional: Wolfy-

"Wow, I really did it! I made it halfway through my first season on a reality show! I hope all my friends back home are proud of me! Strider or Outback probably would have gotten here easily, but I did it! Me! Staci was right, I am making them proud!"

-Confessional: Amber-

"Not suprised to be in the merge to be quite honest. Valerie slipped up a couple of times and we lost Katniss, but I think I've still got a shot at winning the money! My leg has healed up now, so I'm good to go for challenges too!"

-Confessional: Yvette-

"My calculations predicted I would place sixth, so naturally, I made it to the merge. Most of my fellow competitors have formed their inner circles with each others, so it will be amusing to watch them all at war with each other. I would prefer to place higher than sixth, but it's hard to work on a plan that prevents that. There are a lot of factors to keep track of."

-End Confessionals-

Right after everyone used the confessionals, Chris made the loudspeaker blare as usual as the cruise ship had now arrived at their destination. "Okay everyone, we've arrived somewhere in Maskoka, so get your butts to the off ramp so we can get started on your first independent challenge!" Chris commanded, making everyone drop what they were doing to do so.

One by one, all the current players walked down from the off ramp to step onto a very unwelcoming island. There was a massive skull carved into a mountain, or was it natural? Regardless, it was very creepy. Chris was waiting for them on the beach, looking forward to having some fun with everyone today. "Welcome to Boney Island! A common location that we still only use for one-off challenges! Wawanakwa may have sank, but our cursed island refuses to go down!" Chris introduced their stop, concerning pretty much everyone except for Katniss since they had all watched the show.

Standing behind Chris were Noah, Dawn, Scott, and Max, the middle two holding oars. "Wait a minute, you brought four guests today? Isn't that a bit much?" Alex asked Chris, raising an eyebrow.

Chris shook his head, gesturing for Noah and Max to walk over to the rest of the players. "Nope! Over on our Total Drama Aftermath show, these two rocked our second chance challenge, so Noah and Max will be joining the competition! Just a fun little twist to start off the merge!" Chris announced, letting the two new competitors now stand with the others.

"W-What?" Yvette asked, looking the most shocked of the group, her left eye twitching. "You said no one would be allowed back into the game according to our contract. You are overstepping your legal boundaries here." Yvette pointed out, and Amber nodded in agreement with her.

Chris shrugged, not really caring about whether he followed his contract or not. "Wellllllll, they were never in this season before, sooooo... technicalllllllly, they're allowed in the game! Have fun!" Chris replied, coming up with a quick loophole on the spot.

Noah stood in between Tristan and Matias, giving a brief nod to the both of them as a hello, while Max stood in between Yvette and Alex. "Yeah, just try and stop me, because I'm here now! I'm here, and I am eeeeeeeeeevil! Mwahahahaha!" Max let out one of his signature evil laughs, not amusing either of those next to him.

-Confessional: Noah-

"So, looks like I'm gonna be stuck here for a while. I'd rather win a million bucks than be shot out of that cannon, so eh, might as well try and take a win. I've seen things that these guys haven't. I hate to be like Al or Justin, but I've got some dirt at my disposal. Probably won't use it though, I'm better than those worms covered in dry mud."

-Confessional: Max-

"Mwahaha! I may have been kicked off of Pahkitew Island in the most inconceivable way possible, but this will be my season- err, half season! Yes, I will go all the way to the finale and build an evil lair with my prize! Of course, I have to find someone to do my bidding first, a great supervillain isn't without his minions who do all the work for him!"

-End Confessionals-

Now that the two newcomers were situated, Chris began to lead everyone through the woods with Dawn and Scott in tow. Dawn had been glaring at Scott the whole time, while Scott was just trying to ignore her. "Oh yeah, one more thing I should announce, both of the immunity idols have been found! I won't say when they were found, but they are not in good hands! So yeah, you all can stop searching for them." Chris announced, disappointing everyone there.

Alex knew he had one, so he was scanning over the group to see who wasn't upset that the statues had been found. Everyone else had expressions ranging from current misery to mere mild disappointment. "So what's our challenge going to be if it's all the way in the middle of the forest like this?" Alex asked him, acting as though he was just looking around out of curiousity instead of checking their faces.

His question would soon be answered as they arrived at a river with plenty of wood and boat parts on the side of the river. "For today's thrilling challenge, you'll be putting together boats, rafts, whatever you think would be best in a race from here to the ocean going through the river rapids of Boney Island! It'll be tough, but I'm sure you'll all live!" Chris explained the challenge, pointing at the pile of wood and boat parts while explaining.

Before he could even say anything else, Tristan and Valerie ran straight for the supply pile to get the better parts. Tristan was quickly whacked in the face by Scott with his oar, and Valerie stopped before she would suffer the same strike. "Lay off the parts will ya? Let the turdhead finish explaining the challenge!" Scott told them, prompting them both to walk back towards the group.

Chris shot an annoyed look at the two of them, before moving on with his explanation. "Anywho, the first person or group to reach the ocean get invincibility in tonight's vote, while the last person to arrive I have a special punishment for! Trust me, you do not wanna be the last one to finish! Anything goes, but try not to get each other killed? We don't really have it in the budget to take care of any more deaths. We kinda exhausted that all on the last season." Chris further explained, which didn't really need to be said at this point.

Now that he had finished his explanation, Chris stepped aside and pulled out his airhorn. "Alright, you can all get started on the building process! I'll be back here in 20, so get to it quick!" Chris then blew his airhorn to let them all get to work, the more athletic players easily trampling the others to get to the pile.

Raphael had handled things really well back in Sweden when they made their boats with IBUILDA wood, so he figured that it wouldn't be any different in this case. He stuck to just wood to make a raft, grabbing several wooden planks and ropes. "Good luck soldiers, you're all on your own now!" Raphael waved to his teammates as he ran off to work alone.

Valerie and Amber were pulling everything that seemed useful from the pile, getting a jetski boat chasis and an engine first. "Hmm, do you have any idea how to actually put together a boat? I dunno how to use this stuff." Amber asked her partner, setting down the chasis next to a bush while Valerie set the engine down right next to it.

Valerie shook her head, now looking over the two big parts that they had. "Nope. Maybe we should have stuck to something more simple? I don't think anyone here would be able to use this stuff anyways." Valerie replied, pointing to the pile of wood instead of the boat parts.

Amber sighed since they didn't have any other options really, so they had to ditch their current materials in favor of creating a more simple raft. "We don't have to win this anyway, we just have to not come in last. It's not like anyone is out to get us. Richard is the obvious target, then Max after him." Valerie said casually, just to bring Amber's spirits up.

-Confessional: Valerie-

"I know Valerie is right about Richard being fodder, but I don't want her to quit trying at challenges! She's the one who needs the invincibility the most with Katniss gunning for her. This challenge is a freebie, but we still need to step up our game."

-End Confessional-

Max was currently working on some kind of contraption using some of the boat parts, trying to make some kind of weapon instead of something to ride on. "Why can't I get lasers to shoot out of this thing!?" Max yelled angrily, kicking the laser gun and immediately holding his foot in pain.

Seeing as how Max was having so much trouble with whatever he was building, Yvette walked over to him with her notepad in hand. "Did you need some help Max? It looks like you're trying to build tactical weaponery for your vessel?" Yvette asked him, looking over what he had so far.

There was a tall metal cylinder with a cannon attached near the top with some duct tape. "This is very flimsy and impractical Max... if you want to make a highly effective weapon, might I suggest using a heat source?" she jotted down some notes on several different routes to take with this project.

Max watched her take notes, snickering loudly as a plan quickly took form in his head. "You working on this would be excellent! Why don't you be my side-" Max began to proposed, but received a swift kick to the crotch from Yvette before he could finish that sentence.

"I'll be willing to help if you vote with me tonight. This is a mutual benefit for the both of us, do not, and I repeat do not, see this as a partnership. Your projects merely pique my interest." Yvette told him in a more serious tone than she had ever used with anyone before, adjusting her glasses and sending him a glare.

Max felt some very similar vibes from her that instilled some fear instantly. "You got it! My evil genuis is too much for you to handle anyway. I'll make the boat instead, while you work on my ultimate weapon! Mwahaha!" Max remained high and mighty, letting out one of his evil laughs as he walked over to the pile.

Yvette watched him leave and let out a sigh. She had to rework her entire plan to include Noah and Max, so she had plenty more calculations and social matchup charts to make after the challenge. For now, she would just have to work on Max's 'evil' weapon, just to ensure she would get his vote.

-Confessional: Max-

"Sidekick located! Mwahahaha! This one will not escape my grasp like last time!"

-End Confessional-

Matias, Marty, and Brinley were all working together on their raft, since any group that reached the ocean first got invincibility. "What if we all just made one big group to get rid of someone?" Matias asked, tying together some logs with twine.

Both Brinley and Marty looked at him with questioning looks, unsure of how to answer. "It's Chris. I don't think he'd allow that. He likes to keep the jerks in for ratings, maybe that's why Summer had to go home." Marty replied with a bitter tone, starting to believe that more now.

Tristan walked up to them, carrying a small motor. "Hey dudes, I scored a motor we can put on the end of our raft! Just to make up for there being four of us on the raft." Tristan exclaimed, holding it out for one of them to take.

Matias and Marty high fived Tristan while Brinley took the motor and set it down at the back end of their raft for now. "Nice going Tristan. I think if it's the four of us, we can probably have some people throwing stuff at the other people. Some of them are rowing after all." Brinley suggested, going back to pitching in with tying the logs together.

Tristan right away gave a thumbs up to the idea. "Great thinking! Marty and Matias can take steering while you and I chuck stuff. I'll go find some ammo while you guys fix up the raft." Tristan agreed with her, before running off into the woods.

The other two guys seemed fine with the idea too, so now all three of them were working on tying the raft together tightly. "Tristan is a pretty cool guy, I'm glad we got him in this alliance." Matias said with a small smile as he watched Tristan leave.

Marty nodded in agreement, just finishing securing another log in place. "Yeah, the dude is athletic, chill, and kinda smart too. I wouldn't mind hanging out with him outside of the game." Marty added, then just focusing on tying the twine.

Noah overheard them as he was carrying the abandoned motorboat chasis left by Valerie and Amber, raising an eyebrow at this praise towards Tristan. "You really think that highly of him? I'd say to get your head out of the clouds, but that cloud you're stuck in is thicker than a nimbostratus." Noah remarked with a smirk on his face as he walked past them.

So far, Noah was just gathering up all the parts of the motorboat since an entire motorboat was dispersed amongst the pile of parts. It was just a matter of finding them and putting them back together. Once he was at his own area where he would work on his boat, he turned and looked at all the groups working together. No one was working alone besides Katniss, which was very concerning to Noah. He all knew how they acted, and they all probably knew how he acted too, but there was no connections yet.

Noah had already gotten the steering, engine, and motor on his boat working on the chasis, which was all he really need to do to have a working motorboat. Since he was pretty much done, he now had 15 minutes to spend on actually building relationships. The obvious choice was Katniss, since she was all by herself trying to make a spear instead of a boat. Yeah... she needed help.

Katniss quickly diverted her attention to Noah as he walked up to her, aiming her wooden spear at him quickly. "What you want!? You stranger!" Katniss asked aggressively, making Noah raise his hands to show he meant peace.

"Woah, maybe take it back a notch with the whole violence stuff? I was just going to ask if you wanted a ride in my boat. Mine is done, and all you've got is a spear and leftover wood from when you made the spear." Noah offered, pointing out the obvious, which in this case was needed.

Katniss lowered her spear upon hearing his words, her aggressiveness turning into friendliness quickly. "Yes! I'll ride with, thank!" she thanked him excitedly, grabbing his hand and shaking it just a bit too rough.

Noah nearly fell over from the rough shaking, but he kept his balance and pulled his hand away. "Don't mention it. I just know you need the help." Noah told her, not wanting her to get too excited over this.

Katniss nodded and quieted down after that, following Noah over to where his boat was near the river. "Okay, you say so." Katniss said, holding her spear close to herself still. It was hers now, and she had no intention of letting it leave her sight.

-Confessional: Noah-

"Was Katniss someone I would normally choose to work with? No, but when you join in the middle of a season, everyone already has all their friends groups and alliances. So, she was the best I had. If I learned anything from Izzy, E-Scope, or whatever her name is right now, it's to just mostly go along with their shenanigans if you want to keep them on your side."

-End Confessional-

Alex and Wolfy were working together on their raft, going for a much thinner raft compared to everyone else. "Shouldn't we be making the raft just a little wider? So y'know, it can carry both of us?" Wolfy asked, questioning the design. It was only four logs wide, while the others were all at least three times that size in comparison.

Alex shook his head, carving out oars from another log for both of them. "Well there are going to be a lot of rafts and boats in the water to worry about right? The last thing we want is to crash and have to swim all the way to the end. If we have a thin raft, we're a smaller target and we can slip by the others. We're not playing for first anyway." Alex answered, which made things more understandable to Wolfy.

Wolfy was tightening up the knots on their logs, just to make sure the wouldn't fall apart. "True, we will be smaller. But why not try to get first? I feel like Marty and the others will gun for us tonight..." Wolfy asked worriedly, glancing over at the alliance for a moment.

Alex patted her back when she looked over at them, a smile still on his face. "I wouldn't worry about them. They have four people, and there are 14 of us in total. They won't be able to take us out just yet. Richard is probably a safe bet that he'll get voted out before anyone even looks towards us." Alex assured her, finishing up the handle of one of the paddles.

Wolfy felt a bit more secure about their whole position in the game, and Marty wasn't glaring at them like he was during lunch, so her mind was more at ease as she went back to fastening all the logs. "Alrighty, but I still think one of them needs to get out of here as soon as possible, just so they don't overpower the vote eventually." Wolfy said, some slight nervousness still in her voice.

Richard was trying to gather some supplies from the pile to work on his own boat, but he was having a ton of trouble even figuring out what parts to use. He wanted to use the actual boat parts from the part pile instead of the wood, but he had no idea how any of it worked. Looking around, he spotted Yvette working alone and jogged over to her for that extra time together and to maybe catch a ride for the challenge. "Hey Yvette, need any help with all of... that?" Richard asked her as he approached.

Yvette stopped what she was doing for a second and looked at him, glad to have someone that wasn't crazy like Max around. Speaking of Max, he just showed up with more wood and scowled at Richard shortly after he arrived. "Back off cretin! Can't you see we're busy!?" Max yelled at him, making Yvette facepalm. Was he just trying to make himself hated?

"Richard could help us out. Wouldn't you want more people to help out with your evil schemes?" Yvette asked him enthusiastically, trying to change his mind on shooing Richard away.

Max considered it, and quickly liked the idea. "Ah yes! Perfect! You will continue to prepare my ultimate weapon while this new fool works on our boat! Genius indeed!" Max grinned evilly, rubbing his hands together after tossing the wood he had just gathered to Richard.

Richard caught a couple of the planks, the rest falling to the ground and one of them hitting his foot. "Seriously? You're helping out Max? Well I've got no other option, so I'll chip in." Richard said, half-mumbling the last sentence as he followed Max over to where they were tying their raft together.

"Max had an idea that caught my interest, so I am simply executing it for him." Yvette answered Richard, now adjusting some mirrors taken from rearview mirrors in the part pile.

Richard let out a sigh at her answer, not expecting that kind of reasoning from her. "Alright, fine enough." Richard responded, still glad he was going to get to spend more time with her on the raft at least.

-Confessional: Richard-

"I'm starting to have some doubts about my feelings towards Yvette... maybe it was just us being on the same team that made it feel like there was an actual connection. I just don't get why she would help out Max of all people in a challenge, and because his idea interested her? What even was it?"

-Confessional: Max-

"Mwahaha! I have two lemmings under my wing now! Both of them will be loyal and follow my every whim of course, they'll take me very far yes. But should I be in danger, they'll be perfect to go home instead of me!"

-End Confessionals-

Noah and Katniss were walking back over to Noah's motorboat when they passed by Marty and co.'s raft looking pretty much done. "What's the point of having that motor there on a wooden raft?" Noah asked skeptically, since the motor was the only thing they used from the part pile.

Marty chuckled at the question, reaching over and patting the motor that was still duct taped to the raft. "I'm glad you asked, it's just for decoration." Marty answered sarcastically, smirking at Noah.

Noah smirked back at Marty, snapping his fingers once and pointing at the motor. "Well it better be decoration then, because that isn't going anywhere without all the other parts." Noah mocked them now, before walking away with Katniss who had no idea why what worked and what didn't work in this situation.

"So we supposed decorate boat too? But Chris not give us paint." Katniss asked, misinterpreting Noah and Marty's sarcasm.

Noah rolled his eyes while facing away from her, before turning and shaking his head. "No, just they are. All we have to do is make a boat that can travel down a river." Noah answered, trying not to use any sarcasm with her since she was probably incapable of detecting that.

Katniss nodded her head in understanding, her face looking as though she had some kind of big realization. "Ohhhhh, okay! We no decorate then. We race boat, we fight instead!" Katniss exclaimed, now running to their boat.

-Confessional: Katniss-

"Noah very nice, I like a lot. We friends I think, very good!"

-End Confessional-

The thirty minutes ended very quickly, mostly because not all of it could be shown in a 22 minute time slot. "Okay everyone! Build time is now up! Time for our two judges to decide who gets the advantage in the race!" Chris announced, then blowing his airhorn.

"Judges!?" Amber asked somewhat angrily, since Chris didn't mention it earlier. "You never said anyone would get an advantage in the second part of the challenge! This is so unfair!" Amber protested, but no one else backed her up.

"It's Chris, not like he plays fair, ever." Matias told her bluntly, to which Chris nodded in agreement with him.

Dawn and Scott were already starting to look over each vessel individually, having very different takes on each one. They started with Noah and Katniss's where Scott put it to his 'kick test' where he kicked it as hard as he could to see if it would stand. It was literally just a motorboat, so his foot hurt quite a bit from kicking it. "Yow! That's uhh, a 10 in my book!" Scott declared, rubbing his foot in pain.

Dawn shook her head, not a fan of the fact it was a motorboat. "It is not a very eco-friendly option, I will have to give this a four. Mother Earth would want it that way." Dawn rated it, giving it a total score of 14.

Noah facepalmed at Dawn's criteria for a good boat, since he had just taken pieces that were already provided to them. "Hey hippie, you do realize these are all recycled parts? We're reusing old boat parts." Noah asked her, leaning against his boat.

Dawn paused to think about it, before nodding her head. "Yes, that is true. You get a six then." she raised their total score to a 16 instead, which was good enough for Noah.

They moved on to Valerie and Amber's raft next, which was the most by the numbers raft possible. It was 8 logs wide, and they just had two planks of wood for oars. "This is the best ya got? Two, lazy bums." Scott insulted their raft, not even bothering to kick theirs.

Amber groaned in annoyance, since this just felt super unfair. "Well it functions just fine doesn't it? So why dock points just because it isn't all fancy?" Amber asked, glaring at Scott.

Dawn was in agreeance with Scott on this one suprisingly, briefly inspecting the raft and just looking disappointed. "It may be functional, but the others would appear to be more sturdy or go faster, which puts your raft at the bottom. Three points here." Dawn reasoned, giving them a total score of five.

Valerie was then held back by Amber from tackling either of them, furious with the result. "Seriously!? We actually worked hard on ours compared to some of these chumps!" Valerie yelled, but to no avail. Dawn and Scott had already moved on.

The next raft looked over was Marty and co.'s, which looked very similar to Amber and Valerie's. It was 12 logs wide to fit all four people on it, with the motor and propeller taped to the back of it to give them a speed boost while they paddled. Scott threw a kick at it, and everything stayed in place. "Looks decent and it survived the kick, so I'll give it a seven." Scott gave his score, while Dawn still inspected it.

Brinley and Matias were hopeful to beat Noah's boat in points since they only took the motor from the pile, but that was unfortunately what was going to cost them their points. "It's basic, and I am not liking the motor. Five points." Dawn gave them her score, bringing their total to 12.

-Confessional: Matias-

"Well I wasn't expecting that. Scott is the easy one to get points from, while Dawn is actually analyzing these boats. Oh well, we didn't do the worst at least!"

-End Confessional-

Scott and Dawn moved on to Max's so called 'Evil War Evil War Evil Vessel', where he stood confidently in front of it. It was a lot more refined compared to the other wooden rafts, having a normal motorboat chasis and engine, with some extra wooden planks lining the edges for safety. What stood out the most was some kind of futuristic cannon with a tall base and thin opening. It was on the back of the boat, and it had a control panel in order to use it. A lot of the machinery and technology that it was compromised of was hidden by wooden planks, so there wasn't much to really say about it.

"I sense some sinister energy coming from this, I give it a zero." Dawn gave her score, which instantly put Max, Richard, and Yvette out of the running for the advantage. Richard sighed worriedly while Max and Yvette just frowned.

Scott had the opposite attitude, stepping onto it and looking at the control. "I think this thing looks pretty sick! How's it work?" he asked, pointing at the control panel with one hand.

Yvette rushed on to the boat after Scott, standing in between him and the control panel. "I would not recommend touching it. I only had 30 minutes to put it together, so it has some... bugs. It is prone to malfunction in it's current state if used by someone inexperienced." Yvette told him, shaking her head.

Scott groaned and stepped off the boat, crossing his arms. "Fine, I give it a zero too. How's that?" Scott gave his petty score, leaving the three of them with zero points.

-Confessional: Yvette-

"While my hatred for Max is unlike any other, Scott is very petty. If I didn't respect him for his strategies, I would express my unsavory feelings for him here. He reminds me of my science teacher in seventh grade. He gave me the second place ribbon for my science fair project because it was 'potentially lethal' to make a giant robotic spider that shot fire. That was his last year teaching at our school."

-End Confessional-

The next raft to be inspected was Alex and Wolfy's, which was met with immediate disappointment for it's size. It was only four logs wide, which was only enough room for Wolfy and Alex to sit in a line. "Why did you make it so small? It'll probably fail the kick test." Scott asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at the two.

Alex was still proud of their raft, smiling at Scott. "Well you see, we made it as thin as we could so we'd have less weight to carry while paddling. We can slip between other boats, and are a smaller target, so I think we did a good job! We even carved our own oars." Alex explained why their raft was good, then holding up their oars.

Dawn liked the thought process behind it, so she gave an approving nod. "I give it seven points, well done." Dawn gave her score, bringing a smile to both Wolfy and Alex. So far so good...

Scott decided to put the raft to the kick test anyway, and it ended up moving just a little bit. "Well it stayed together, but that thing moved! So that's a five, you're gonna need a bigger boat!" Scott remarked, walking away and leaving them with a total score of 12.

The last raft to look over was Raphael's, whose had been made in the style of a military canoe, with the whole thing nearly closed off with only one spot to sit. It was just as thin as Alex's, but it was more oval shaped to travel faster. He also carved out his own oar, holding it in his arms like a rifle. "This is my canoe, styled after the best of the best military canoes!" Raphael quickly introduced what is was, then saluting to Dawn and Scott.

Scott rolled his eyes and looked over the canoe, ignoring Raphael. "Really had to bring in another obnoxious cadet huh Chris..." Scott muttered, putting the canoe to the kick test. It didn't budge despite it's smaller size, which Scott found impressive. "Wow, that thing is tough! Nine points here." Scott complimented the canoe and gave his score.

Dawn walked up to it next, looking over the canoe carefully. Although it didn't take long for her to see how well it was constructed. "Good use of just wood, I give it a nine as well." Dawn gave her score, which gave Raphael a total score of 18.

As soon as Dawn gave her score to Chris, the host blew his airhorn. "The judges have declared Raphael as the winner of part one! He gets a head-start in the race! You can take your canoe 100 feet away from her, while the rest of you will get your boats in the river in order of your score! Once I blow my airhorn, the race will begin!" Chris announced, making Raphael hurry off with his canoe while Amber and Valerie in particular let out loud sighs since they were second-last.

-Confessional: Amber-

"Seriously? Just because we didn't make the fancy boat doesn't mean we deserve to start in the back! Noah did basically nothing to make his, he got to do a jigsaw puzzle while we had to do actual work!"

-Confessional: Max-

"We may be starting in the back, but that's exactly what will give everyone else a false sense of hope! They think they're set, and then wham! I will destroy them with my eeeeeevil laser of doom! I designed it, created it, and will fire it all by myself, so it is bound to work!"

-End Confessionals-

After around five minutes, mostly thanks to Noah's and Max's boats being heavier and harder to get into the river, all of the water vessels were in the water in order of judgement placement. Marty's and Alex's rafts were side by side due to their tied score, but it wasn't too big of an issue since the river was 30 feet wide. Noah and Katniss were sitting in their motorboat in the front of everyone besides Raphael who was far ahead. Noah was at the wheel, while Katniss was sitting in the passenger seat with her spear in case someone tried to climb aboard their boat.

On Marty's raft, Marty and Matias were ready with their wooden plank oars while Brinley and Tristan were armed with a whole bunch of rocks that Tristan had gathered. There was a pile of rocks on their raft as well, so they had plenty to use. Alex and Wolfy weren't armed whatsoever, just ready to paddle as fast as they could once the race started. Amber and Valerie were right behind them, ready to paddle with all their strength to hopefully get an early lead and cruise from there. Behind them was Max in his motorboat-turned-battleship, grinning evilly as he looked over the competition. Richard was in the driver's seat handling the movement, while Yvette was in the back handling Max's evil laser of doom.

Seeing that everyone was ready to go, Chris blew his airhorn and let the race begin. "Go! Last one to the end eats a rotten egg!" Chris exclaimed, which no one actually knew if he was serious about that or not.

Right away, Tristan chucked a rock straight at Wolfy to try and knock her off their thin raft. It barely missed her, and the two thin rafters started paddling hurriedly. "Not cool Tristan! That's a dirty trick!" Wolfy scolded him as they sped off.

Noah and Katniss had things a lot easier as all Noah had to do was keep the level controlling the speed forward and they could relax. They were quickly closing the gap Raphael had in front of them. "So many people chose oars, guess they're fans of losing." Noah said sarcastically as they closed in on Raphael.

Katniss misinterpreted his joke, not getting it at all. "Wait, why they like losing? That bad." Katniss asked, tilting her head in confusion.

Noah took a deep breath, holding himself back from making another sarcastic comment. "I was making a joke. It's called sarcasm. Have you lived your whole life in the middle of nowhere or something?" Noah asked her as they drove.

Katniss nodded her head, taking the question seriously. "Yeah, I live out in jungle." Katniss answered, not all suprising Noah at this point.

"Okay, so there is this thing called sarcasm. It's when people say something that is obviously wrong. Like when I said that they were fans of losing, that was obviously wrong." Noah explained what sarcasm was to her, which Katniss sort of understood.

Katniss took a few seconds before she nodded in understanding. "So, you say something not true and it sarcasm?" Katniss asked to clarify, trying to fully understand what sarcasm was.

Noah gave one quick nod, glad it wouldn't take any more explanation than that. "Yeah, pretty much. Do you need help speaking or something?" Noah asked her, since Katniss's way of talking made it hard to actually get a point through.

Hearing an offer like that, Katniss got an excited look on her face. "Yes yes! I like help, speaking normal tough." Katniss responded quickly, leaning towards Noah in her seat.

"I'll help you out later then, after we win this challenge. Because I'm not a fan of losing either." Noah said, now putting his full attention back into driving the motorboat while Katniss turned back around and looked to see if anyone was closing in on them.

-Confessional: Noah-

"No, I'm not soft. I know I got all mushy with Emma on the Ridonculous Race, but there is a difference between the love of your life and a group of strangers. If my past experience has taught me anything, the nicer you are, the more you'll get favors. Besides, Katniss is like a helpless animal you find on the side of the road. You pretty much have to help out."

-End Confessional-

Noah and Katniss had left the other four groups far behind due to the sheer speed of their motorboat compared to the others trying to use oars on rafts. Alex and Wolfy were putting some good distance between themselves and the others, leaving Marty's raft and Amber's raft in a dead heat with each other. They were roughly travelling at the same speed, although Amber and Valerie were being pelted by rocks from Tristan and Brinley, so things were more difficult for them. "Knock it off! If you played fair and just paddled normally, you'd be ahead of us!" Amber yelled, holding one arm up briefly to block some incoming rocks.

Marty and Matias picked up on the pace with their paddling after hearing that, veering further away to the side from Amber and Valerie to put some distance between them. "Great idea, see you at the finish line!" Brinley taunted, now using a wooden plank to paddle, with Tristan soon doing the same.

Unfortunately for the six of them, moving to the side, gave Max's boat enough room to speed between them and leave them behind. "Mwahaha! You impudent fools! You just set yourselves up for your doom!" Max laughed evilly as they passed by, standing on the back of the boat while mocking them.

Matias threw a rock at Max's face and knocked him back onto the floor of the boat, everyone except for Max and Yvette laughing at it. "Permission to terminate the rock throwers?" Yvette asked Max, booting up the control panel and entering a password.

Max stood up while rubbing his nose, very angered by Matias's attempt to embarass him. "Permission granted! Fire!" Max yelled, standing at the back of the ship and pointing at Marty's raft.

Yvette nodded and pressed a series of buttons in an incomprehensible order to anyone besides her. A laser quickly came from the cannon hole, firing a line straight down the middle of Marty's raft and splitting it in two, seperating the four of them. Brinley let out a scream as the laser nearly hit her, but it was precisely aimed to only destroy their raft. "Target vessel terminated, shall we take care of the others as well?" Yvette asked Max, quickly entering into the control panel to target Amber and Valerie's raft next.

Max shook his head, laughing triumphantly as the two halves of Marty's raft quickly fell apart since the twine was burned apart. "No need for that just yet! They have already received a demonstration of what happens when they cross me!" Max told her, to which Yvette shut down the laser.

"Affirmative. I'm sure they'll all fear your evil countenance." Yvette said, sitting on the floor facing forward now. The real reason those wooden walls were placed around the edge of the motor boat was so no one could see that it was her firing the lasers. Max was the only one they saw.

Richard heard the yelling from the others, but he couldn't stop the boat to check on them. Yvette wouldn't actually hurt them in his mind, so he figured it would be fine to keep driving. "I can see Noah and Katniss up ahead!" Richard exclaimed, since their motorboat was travelling at a faster speed than theirs.

Max hurried over and sat down in the passenger seat, rubbing his hands together when he saw the back of their boat. "Yes! YES! We will pass them up and take them down as well!" Max exclaimed, while Richard tried his best to hide how upset he was with the style of racing in the challenge.

-Confessional: Richard-

"I feel like Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races trying to win this, why can't we just win fair and square?"

-End Confessional-

Raphael was still in the front, while Noah and Katniss were getting closer and closer to him. Everything was already getting bad, but soon a massive meatball was fired from the side of the river at him. Raphael ducked and looked to see where it was coming from, seeing Chef with his signature meatball gun that fired massive hot meatballs out of it. "What the heck!? We're unarmed!" Raphael yelled, speeding up on his canoe paddling.

Noah and Katniss ducked down as well and avoided the first one, but Katniss was hit by one right on her face. She nearly fell out of the boat, but she just hit the side and pulled the meatball off of her face. She then stood up and lined up her spear. "Not very nice Chef!" Katniss yelled as she threw her spear at him.

Chef jumped to the side as the spear was thrown at him, dropping his gun for a moment. This gave Raphael, Noah, and Katniss enough time to quickly get out of his range. "The girl ain't right! I shoot a meatball and she throws a danged spear!" Chef yelled mostly to himself as the three were long gone.

Near the back of the pack, Amber and Valerie were still trying to keep up with Alex and Wolfy, whose smaller raft and less weight was helping them gain speed over the former. "Come on, row faster Val! We're losing them!" Amber shouted, paddling as fast as she could with her wooden plank.

Valerie wasn't putting as much effort into it, just paddling at a moderate pace. "Well those four back there lost their raft, so I think we're safe to just chill." Valerie said, not wanting to put all the effort in since they had pretty much no chance of winning.

Amber didn't want to just agree with something that made them try less, but she knew that Valerie was right in this scenario. "I guess so, but let's at least make sure the rest don't catch up to us." Amber reluctantly agreed with her, slowing down on her paddling a bit.

As they slowed down and let Alex and Wolfy get away, the two on the small raft high fived before continuing their paddling. "We've got like six people behind us now, so I think we're safe from getting last now." Wolfy said cheerfully, looking back at Amber and Valerie for a moment.

Alex nodded in agreement, thinking that hard part was over now, but they soon arrived near the point where Chef was firing meatballs. He was currently occupied with Max's ship though, so they were fine for the time being. "Okay, we'll actually need to hurry here Wolfy, Chef is gonna get us if we don't." Alex told her, going right back to paddling fast with his oar.

Chef fired yet another meatball at Max's ship, but the three onboard were well protected by the wooden wall. Richard lowered his head while driving just in case, and no meatballs were coming his way anyway. Max was the only target Chef was aiming for it seemed. "Cease your fire lesser being! Or else you suffer the wrath of my eeeeeevil!" Max commanded, but instead got another meatball shot at him that missed.

After that shot, Max ducked down and looked over at Yvette who was still sitting down. "Minion, I need you to terminate that filthy Chef!" Max ordered, to which Yvette quickly shook her head in response.

"We'll be disqualified Max. Just stay down and let the wall protect you." Yvette told him, since actually hurting someone with the laser was too much for her to bear morally.

That wasn't the answer Max wanted to hear however, stepping right up to the control panel and trying to figure out how it worked. "How do you fire this thing? It must be broken!" Max complained, slamming a fist down on the panel.

The slam cracked and crushed the panel, making the entire contraption effectively useless. "No! Max you just broke it!" Yvette watched in horror as he broke it, quickly pulling the wooden planks hiding the inner works off and then pulling out the mirrors just so it wouldn't malfunction on them.

Chef was able to fire one last meatball at them which managed to hit Max, splattering some of the sauce on the meatball onto Yvette as well. "That absolute fiend! We could have taken him out!" Max yelled angrily while Yvette stormed over to the passenger seat of the motorboat and sat down next to Richard.

Richard was going to say something, but Yvette was sitting with her arms crossed angrily, sauce still dripping down from her head. "Just give me some quiet for now." Yvette told him, to which Richard nodded and stayed silent.

-Confessional: Max-

"Argh, what good is a minion if they don't actually do villainous deeds! This is beyond infuriating! Hopefully that Richard fellow will prove to be more useful than that wimp of a sidekick Yvette."

-End Confessional-

Raphael was still barely in the front of the pack, the shoreline coming into view as he was only 150 feet away from the finish line. Max and co. had been halted by their mishap and Chef, so the only competition left behind him competing for first was Noah and Katniss. Raphael was paddling directly in front of them with strong and long strokes, which was helping him maintain a good speed. "I don't think we can get past him, he keeps cutting us off." Noah said, not wanting to run Raphael over. That would probably win the challenge, but doom him later.

"No worry, I got win for us!" Katniss exclaimed confidently, getting out of her seat and then jumping off the front of their boat to land on the back of Raphael's canoe, right away messing with the weight balance since Raphael was also near the back.

Raphael looked over at Katniss as soon as he felt her landing on the back of his canoe. "What the- Katniss!? What are you doing soldier!?" Raphael yelled as he stopped paddling, getting ready to push her off.

"Distracting you, that's what." Noah remarked as he drove around Raphael with a smirk on his face. "Good save Katniss, see you at the finish." he said to her as he drove off, leaving the two of them behind, just 110 feet away from the finish line.

Katniss wasn't done yet at messing with Raphael, as she quickly stomped down on the canoe and flipped it over, sending both her and Raphael falling into the water. "Ha, we win!" Katniss cheered, then swimming to the shore and running to the finish to meet up with Noah.

Raphael swam over to the shore shortly after, running after Katniss at a slightly faster pace to catch up with her. "That was a good trick soldier, good one!" Raphael called to her, not feeling butthurt over it like one normally would.

Chris and Scott were all waiting on the beach where the river emptied out into the ocean, watching Noah riding in his motorboat as he neared and then crossed the figurative finish line as he drove out and stopped in the ocean. "Noah wins invincibility! Our newbie to the season made a splash it seems!" Chris announced, Scott giving an eyeroll at his pun.

Noah parked the motorboat right along the shore and hopped out onto the sand, a satisfied smirk on his face since he had won his first challenge already. Katniss and Raphael arrived at the beach shortly after, Katniss in just as good of a mood as Noah was. "We won challenge! We did!" Katniss cheered, running up and hugging Noah tightly.

Noah had to gasp for air as she hugged him, before being let go after Katniss realized she was hurting him. "Oop, sorry. I hug too hard." Katniss apologized, now calming down from her celebration.

"It's fine, just take it easy on the hugs next time." Noah told her, looking over at Raphael who was holding a hand out to shake.

"Good game Noah, I would have loved to have you on a team with us before the merge. An ambush was the perfect way to win. Good luck in future challenges soldier, I won't let you win again so easily!" Raphael congratulated Noah while he shook his hand, before giving a salute and then walking away.

The rest of the contestants arrived after a little bit, in order being Richard, Yvette, Max, Alex, Wolfy, Amber, and Valerie. "Only four left to go! Who will take the brunt of the punishment for last place? We'll see!" Chris announced after Amber and Valerie passed by the finish line.

Right after Richard parked Max's ship and the three of them climbed out, Valerie and Wolfy burst into laughter seeing how messy Max and Yvette looked. Max had little meat bits still in his hair with sauce all over the front of his body, while Yvette just had it dripping from her hair. "Wow did Chef get you guys! Serves you right for firing a laser at people, whichever one of you that was!" Amber joined in on the laughing.

"Silence! Cease this laughter at once!" Max yelled at them, getting embarassed again. "I spared you of my eeeeevil laser as an act of mercy, I could just have easily taken you out too! So you should fear me!" Max further yelled, but no one took him seriously.

Tristan, Marty, Brinley, and Matias all came running out of the woods after a few minutes in that order, looking very exhausted. "Lay it on us Chris-man, we got last didn't we?" Tristan asked Chris as they all stepped onto the beach, sweating bullets from how long they were running.

Chris blew his air horn now that everyone was here, and the cruise ship now came around to the beach they were on, being driven by Dawn the moment. "Nope Tristan, you did not get last! Matias did!" Chris told him, shocking only Matias really.

"Seriously!? But you said last group to finish!" Matias argued, storming up to Chris.

Chris shook his head, raising a finger. "I said last one to finish gets a punishment, not the last group. So you sir, have just earned yourself bathroom duty! Just clean the bathrooms on the ship and you're all set! We haven't cleaned them since the show started though, so have fun!" Chris gave Matias his punishment, grossing out nearly everyone with what it was.

Matias was fuming still, but Chris was ignoring him now to look at everyone else. "Okay everyone, Noah and Katniss won invincibility for tonight, so you'll all have to vote for someone to send into the cannon tonight, other than Noah and Katniss of course. See you all at the elimination ceremony tonight!" Chris told them all, before walking up the ramp onto the cruise ship, quickly turning the mood between everyone tense.

-Confessional: Noah-

"Well I'm safe tonight, which is more than I could ask for. Did not want to be like Eva in season one. Max might go down that route, but I'm voting for Matias. He's already put himself in the spotlight and that four person alliance is going to be a problem if we don't deal with it now."

-Confessional: Valerie-

"Oooooh I'm so excited to finally send that perverted loser Richard packing! I'd vote for Katniss tonight, but she somehow won the challenge with Noah, so this vote wasn't a hard choice at all."

-Confessional: Amber-

"Sorry Richard, but you're kinda the obvious choice here. Valerie will be a lot easier to manage without you here."

-Confessional: Marty-

"We'll have to go for Richard tonight, we didn't win invincibility tonight, so it's our best bet of us all staying safe."

-Confessional: Tristan-

"Yup, Richard is the one I'm going for, or is he? I know we made an agreement in Venice, and he's probably the most loyal to me. Besides, I've got what, six other people under my belt? I can ditch someone else safely."

-Confessional: Max-

"My evil plan may have been foiled today, but the one going in the cannon will the one who showed me the most disrespect, bwahahaha!"

-Confessional: Richard-

"I don't know who to vote for tonight, everyone seems like they're all out to get me! If only this choice didn't have to be so tough."

-Confessional: Katniss-

"Richard bad, cannon for Richard!"

-End Confessionals-

Later that night, all 14 players had gathered on the two benches on the bow of the ship, sitting in front of the bonfire. In the back row was Tristan, Matias, Marty, and Brinley, Amber, Valerie, and Raphael in that order from left to right. In the front row was Richard, Yvette, Max, Noah, Katniss, Wolfy, and Alex. They had all voted, and there was plenty of tension between them. Only Noah and Katniss were in a good mood, since they were safe tonight.

Chris walked up to them with a tray of 13 marshmallows, while Chef stood holding a yellow box with a biohazard symbol on it. He wasn't wearing a hazmat suit, but he still had thick black gloves on. "Since you all made it to the merge, we decided to introduce a new suprise for the loser of tonight! Chef, open the box!" Chris began to announce, standing about two feet in front of the fire on the opposite side of the players.

Chef opened up the box to reveal a glowing green marshmallow, which everyone minus Katniss on the benches knew what it was. "That's right, the Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom! It isn't as radioactive as last time since we had to amp it up from elsewhere, but you still want nothing to do with this bad boy!" Chris introduced the marshmallow, while Chef grinned evilly at the contestants, scaring a good three quarters of them.

"Anyway, you all know the drill by now..." Chris began, grabbing the first marshmallow from the normal tray. "If you get a marshmallow and I call your name, you're safe for tonight. Get the Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom and you're out!" Chris told them all, waiting a few more seconds to let even more tension build. "Marshmallows go to..."

"Noah."

"Katniss."

"Amber."

"Raphael."

"Marty."

"Brinley."

"Yvette."

"Valerie."

"Wolfy."

"Tristan."

"Alex."

After Chris tossed the 11th marshmallow to Alex, he looked at the three without a marshmallow with a grin on his face. Max was waiting for his marshmallow with confidence, Richard looked filled with worry, and Matias's mood had already hit rock bottom today, so he wasn't looking any better being on the chopping block either. "Whew, the threw of you all got some votes tonight! Well, one got seven, one got six, and the next marshmallow is for the person with only one vote." Chris said, which the close vote wasn't helping with the tension at all.

"Well the one vote is obviously for me, someone here is just too afraid of my evil power! The others are all just too afraid of me as well, but they know voting for me will be their undoing!" Max then let out one his evil laughs, annoying everyone.

Chris groaned as Max laughed, regretting letting the second chance challenge include old players. "As much as I hate to say it, you were the one with one vote. You're safe Max." Chris said reluctantly, tossing the penultimate marshmallow to him.

Max caught and popped it into his mouth, before immediately choking since he didn't chew it at all. He spat it out onto the ground, glaring at Chris. "You fiend! You gave me a pointy one!" Max complained, despite himself causing his own choking.

Richard tensed up more and looked over at Matias, who was glaring right back at him. "Richard, Matias, only one of you gets to continue on in the game. The other gets the Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom and the Cannon of Shame. So the last one safe is..."

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...Richard."

The final normal marshmallow was tossed to Richard, who let out a huge sigh of relief while Marty, Brinley, Tristan, Katniss, and Valerie all gasped in shock. Matias ducked as Chef threw the toxic marshmallow at him, then standing up in his seat angrily. "Are you kidding me!? You all voted for Richard over me!? RICHARD!?" Matias yelled, but he didn't get a response from those that voted for him.

Matias stepped out of the benches and followed Chef over to the cannon, Marty, Brinley, and Tristan soon following him over. "We didn't vote for you! We're gonna miss you bud." Marty told him, Brinley and Tristan nodding in agreement.

Matias looked at three of them and sighed, giving them a small smile. "Well, I'm glad I got to make some friends in you guys. I may have lost, but good luck to you guys." Matias told them, waving to them all before walking over to the cannon and being load in by Chef and getting a parachute.

"Bye Matias! Say hi to Summer for me!" Brinley told him, to which Matias nodded just before being shot out of the cannon and flying towards Boney Island in the far distance.

Now that Matias was gone, Chris looked to everyone else with a smirk on his face. "Well that's that! You all voted off the person with bathroom duty, so that's not getting cleaned I guess. Noah and Katniss, the hang out room is all yours by the way, so enjoy! The rest of you get some rest, as today's challenge was a cakewalk compared to your next one." Chris told them all, prompting everyone to leave their seats and head for their rooms.

Chris turned to look at the camera afterwards, flashing a smile. "So there goes Matias! Who will be shot out of the cannon next time? Will the betrayals ever end? Find out next time on Total, Drama, Revenge of the Cruise Ship!"

Votes:

Matias: Richard

Brinley: Richard

Katniss: Richard

Tristan: Matias

Marty: Richard

Wolfy: Matias

Alex: Matias

Raphael: Matias

Valerie: Richard

Amber: Richard

Yvette: Max

Noah: Matias

Max: Matias

Total:

Matias: 7 (Eliminated)

Richard: 6

Max: 1

Placements:

14th: Matias | 15th: Summer | 21st: Jonathan

16th: Laurie | 22nd: Vanya

17th: Yves | 23rd: Trish

18th: Robin | 24th: Adam

19th: Ricky | 25th: Felix

20th: Benjamin | 26th: Luke

Contestants Remaining:

Brinley, Marty, Wolfy, Alex, Raphael, Valerie, Amber, Katniss, Richard, Yvette, Tristan, Noah, Max

There was the first episode with the teams merged! Sorry for the wait again, online school as usual. But I hope you all still enjoyed! Boney Island is a place I think is underutilized in the series, so I had to use it here to give it some love. Although that won't be the only island from the series we visit... wink. As for Matias, he was destined to be the first one of the alliance going. Marty, Brinley, and Tristan just had a lot more going on in the plot. I was considering giving Max the Eva treatment as hinted by Noah, but I do have some plans for him (and he's just a hilarious character imo). We're going to Mexico next, so look forward to that! I hope you all have a good day as always and be sure to leave a review! The feedback always helps!

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be reading the reviews!

Matias ND aka a: Breaking the fourth wall with Geoff and Bridgette was definitely a fun way to spice things up. Also, sorry about Matias, I hope you continue to tune in even if he's gone. This isn't the end of him after all.

Fritz Electroscreech: I like how you and pretty much everyone else who said how their OCs would react to the newbies collectively hated Max. Valerie already has her feud with Katniss and hatred for Richard, so it'll be a little while before Max is in her line of fire.

Attackin: It will be fifty years from now and people will still be complaining about how Richard outlasted them. Definitely one of my favorite running gags this season (like in this episode too). Also about Max and Noah, canon players I plan on integrating into later seasons, I was more or less testing the waters here with these two. I hope you don't mind them too much, but Luke would have been Eva'd and that just felt like a waste of a returnee.

Candela Monsoon: Yeah, for some reason the site was down and only the app showed new stuff. But Aftermaths only happen so often, so I might as well make them long now! Don't worry about the messy review either, just technical difficulties.

NightwolfGamer3: Well it won't be just the smarties being treated as slaves this time around. Glad you enjoyed the Aftermath though, I think I can make them mainstays in my fics now with how much people are enjoying them.

Jessthedork: You already saw Noah and Marty getting off to a good start, and it goes without saying that no one likes Max. Both Noah and Max being robbed was kind of why I wanted to include them over other canon players. Only other big candidate was Tyler, but there was no getting him through the second chance challenge over the others.

Nobody245: You successfully called what I had planned for Noah and Katniss, and Max will be getting the short stick with a lot of people soon. I'm still holding back the climax of the Valerie and Katniss feud though, as would Chris for ratings.

Primione394: There is still some hope for Brinley, but yeah, things won't end well regardless if she wins or not once she runs into Summer again. I'm noticing the consensus with everyone is Noah good, Max bad, but I'm glad you at least were hoping for him to get in! Max was my fav from Pahkitew, which isn't saying too much since the cast wasn't the best, but he's still top 10 TD characters for me.

Alexneushoorn (PMed because of the bug): Glad you enjoyed the Aftermath! I know a lot people tend to skip over them (both in fics and on the actual show) because aside from the last ones in World Tour, they didn't have much of an impact on the game itself. So I'm going to make sure they all have some bearing going forward. Laurie kinda had to be kept from speaking in the Aftermath in order to keep Alex under wraps for now, so unfortunately that's how I had to do it. Both Noah and Max bring different things to the table, and I do have big plans for both of them. Next Aftermath I'll do the fanmail again probs, so I'll try to spice that even more probs.

Matias's Audition Tape:

The camera would turn on to Matias standing in his living room, looking straight at the camera. "Hello everyone! I'm Matias Gomez, and I hope I can be a good fit on Total Drama. I'll be a fair player of course, no cheating, no manipulating, no betraying, none of that! That always goes well right?" Matias introduced himself and chuckled, turning the camera off after that.