Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama or any of its characters. The Total Drama Series and all of its characters are the property of FreshTV and the parent company of the Total Drama television show.

Yep, this is kinda late. Things were kinda crazy around my area after the election and it got hard to find nice times to write. Also, I've been a bit depressed since around June, so there's that too. With that being said, I'm really happy to present you with this one.

I just wanted to include a quick shout-out to all of you who Favorited the story, Followed it, or Reviewed it in the past. And one to all of you who read it all despite not doing those things. Your support means a lot.

To Reviewer Mark: I personally didn't think last chapter was the best one either, but that's mainly because I tried to make it more of a funny chapter. The follow-up was mainly for comedy, but I can see your point. I think you'll find this chapter more accommodating to your view :) You would be correct that some eliminated campers may get a few scenes later on. I can say that, right? I don't feel like it gives much away lol. I'm trying to make Justin and Courtney just a bit sympathetic so that things are a bit more balanced. Glad you like the current dynamics. I agree that Gwen should've had a bigger role. I honestly was going to add more to her parts, but I kinda ran out of steam on what to do with it. Mike's story will advance a lot this chapter though, so I hope you have your seatbelt on ;)

To Reviewer Gucci: Glad to hear you liked Trent and Harold again lol. They're honestly just fun to write. If I'm honest, I didn't even plan that whole fight. Just sorta happened. Gwen and Heather was definitely a good part to me as well. Glad to hear your perspective on Justin and also how you're liking the conflicts and the main plot so far. I'm curious who everyone thought was getting the axe.

To Reviewers on Other Chapters recently: Thanks for letting me know your thoughts and how much you're liking the story! It really helps me keep up my motivation to write.

Day 6: Secrecy and Stupidity

(?)

The camera zoomed in on a room with walls of giant gray cinderblocks, vines growing messily around some of the cracks in each block. A large table sat in the far side of the room, with large TV monitors hanging on the wall in front of it. Chris McLean strolled into the room, holding a mug of coffee and gazing at the camera as he went over to the table and sat down in a comfortable-looking chair in front of it.

The host raised his arms excitedly, "Welcome back viewers! You're watching episode 6 of Total Drama Wars! And man, do we have something unconventional planned today!"

He grinned, showing his perfect teeth and giving a thumbs up, "But before we get to that, let's recap last episode for anyone who might've missed out!"

"I had the campers do an all-out pirate battle! Some proved to be more competent than others." Images of Trent riding across the sail of the Screaming Bears' Ship and Zoey sabotaging the Killer Sharks' Boat surfaced, as well as one of the Killer Sharks' cannon exploding and one of Harold being smacked in the face by a guitar.

"At the end of the day, the Screaming Bears won a hard-earned victory! And by that, I mean that Zoey and another mysterious person sabotaged the Killer Sharks while Manitoba Smith blew up their cannon and the other Bears struggled to even bring down Trent! I mean, c'mon, it was 4-on-1!" Chris shook his head.

He whirled around to face the TV monitors in front of him, "After I declared the victors, everyone met up on the ship that was still standing and were given trivia questions by moi," Chris motioned to himself cockily.

"In the end, our contestants proved that very few of them know much about our past seasons. How sad." Images of different contestants being shot off of the ship's plank by jellyfish showed on the screen.

"Only four campers made it through the follow-up! And once all was said and done, we said goodbye to goth girl Gwen, mainly because Ezekiel is a complete and total idiot."

Chris shrugged indifferently, "But hey, doesn't matter much to me personally. Means less snide comments."

His mouth curled into a smirk as his eyes narrowed, "Let's see what drama our poor campers have to face today! Will Justin and Courtney succeed in eliminating Harold and Noah? Is Alejandro for real? And how badly do you think Cody is going to strike-out today?"

"Find out now on TOTAL. DRAMA. WARS!"

Dear Mom and Dad I'm doin' fine,

(The camera pans over the cliff, where Scott, Alejandro, and Ezekiel are peering over the edge as some of the sharks wave them down. Ezekiel and Alejandro look at each other before Scott lets out a scream)

You guys are on my mind.

(The camera jumps down into water, where Harold is swimming. Nearby, a boat race is happening between Courtney, Jo, and Heather. Courtney's boat runs over Harold's head as she paddles ferociously)

You asked me what I wanted to be

And now I think the answer is plain to see,

(On the beach, Gwen and Duncan lay together in a towel. They lean in to kiss, only for Duncan to fall backwards into the sand after hearing Scott's scream)

I wanna be famous.

(Noah and Justin are push-fighting outside the confessional as Leshawna walks out of it and shoves Noah to the ground. Justin starts laughing at him until Leshawna steps on his foot)

I wanna live close to the sun,

Go pack your bags, 'cause I've already won,

(Zoey can be seen in the mess hall holding Mike's hands and leaning in. Mike suddenly clutches his head and runs out the door)

Everything to prove, nothing in my way

I'll get there one day.

(The camera pans to outside of the mess hall, where Mike trips over the steps and falls on top of Lightning, who was on his morning run outside. They both groan in pain)

Cause, I wanna be famous!

(The camera pans to the front of the cabins. Brick and Lindsay are sitting next to each other on the steps, where she is seen talking to him about fashion. She sees Trent walking by and tries to fix her hair, only to topple off of the steps)

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na!

(The camera pans back over to the campfire at night, where all of the campers sit in the middle on the log-seats except for Cody, who is leaning against Chris's podium and trying to flirt with Eva, who has her arms crossed. Chris comes over and shoves Cody off of the podium as Chef tells him a joke and he laughs maniacally)

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous

I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be famous

(The camera slowly fades out as it leaves the campfire and slowly shifts to the indigo sky scattered with bright white stars. All of the campers whistle as the intro ends)

(Somewhere in the Forest)

Scott shoved his hand into a giant trash pile that laid at the top of Mount Looming Tragedy, groping wildly for anything remotely small. The farm boy cringed as he begin feeling different sensations in the pile. Some things felt slimy and other things felt wet.

His hand grasped around an object around the middle. It felt small and slightly compact. He tried squeezing it to feel if it was wooden next before it suddenly felt like it had disappeared out of his hand. His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he pulled his hand out of the pile.

"What the?"

He stared confusedly at his hand, which was now covered in a soppy yellow goo. It almost looked like a cracked egg.

Heh, as if.

He wiped his hand off crudely on his shirt and began sifting through the big pile of junk once again.

Most people would've been dismayed and demoralized after so many days of searching and yet finding nothing each time, but he was the Scottmeister. He didn't let simple things like reality get him down. He would find that idol even if it didn't exist!

Nothing could stop him now, especially now that he had gotten rid of Brick successfully and was on-track to getting Mike tossed too.

Well, except for Alejandro. And possibly being eliminated. And-

He was broken out of his thoughts by a distinctive flapping noise behind him. That was strange. It almost sounded like a bird.

Uh oh.

His eyes slowly drifted behind him, only to see an angry-looking hawk hovering above him in the air, glaring at him with plenty of animosity.

He gulped and slowly took a step back, "Nice bird. I didn't mean to disturb your nice pile of junk."

The angry bird continued glaring at Scott as he kept cautiously stepping backwards, his hands raised defensively.

"How about I just leave you alone, and you leave me alOOOOOONNNNEEEE!"

The hawk perched itself on top of the mountain's edge and squawked loudly in amusement as Scott fell, hitting several edges of the mountain and screaming all the way down. The farm boy had been so focused on getting away that he hadn't realized that he had backed up right off of the mountain.

"What! Oww! Did I! Oww! Do to deserve this?!" A cracking sound ensued each time Scott crashed into the side of the mountain before he finally sprawled painfully onto the ground next to it.

Scott opened his eyes up wearily to see a pair of cleanly-cut brown boots right in front of him. He sighed as he realized who was with him.

"I hate you."

A small chuckle could be heard as a tanned hand extended down to Scott.

"Don't say that, amigo. After all, you're the one who decided to drop in on me."

Scott rejected the offered hand and stood up by himself, glaring at Alejandro, "Spare me the puns, funny guy."

"Um, I don't mean to be rude...but what is that stain on your shirt?"

Scott shot the Latino a confused look and glanced down at his wife beater shirt. Sure enough, a large yellow stain slinked down the bottom of his formerly-white shirt.

He growled and tried furiously to wipe the stain away, only to end up smearing it. He glanced up slightly at the Latino in panic, "It's not what it looks like! I've been potty-trained since Kindergarten!"

Alejandro just gave him a weird glance for a couple of seconds before shaking his head, "I didn't expect to find you out here, Scott. But I guess you can come with us."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Scott's left eye suddenly caught a figure coming out of the forest clearing behind Alejandro. His eyes focused and he realized that it was Ezekiel, carrying a plate of fresh food from Chef's fridge. Scott's mouth watered a bit at the sight.

"Hey Scott! Did ya want t'a come with us or something, eh?"

Scott's eye twitched. Regular food. It had been too long. The farm boy rushed over to the homeschooler in record speed and began reaching out to one of the chicken legs on the plate, looking to be stuck in a trance.

His hand was harshly slapped. He shook his head and cocked an angry eyebrow at Ezekiel.

The prairie boy wagged a finger at Scott as Alejandro walked over to the two.

"Ya can't be havin' none 'a this, Scott. Chef said I could take it o'only if it all went t'a the go'ophers, yo'o."

Scott looked confused, "The gophers? What the heck are you talking about?"

Alejandro cut into the conversation, placing a hand on Ezekiel's shoulder, "Zeke here is bringing food to the gophers to thank them for their help in the fort challenge. I had nothing better to do, so I decided to come with."

Alejandro's eyes now glinted mischievously at the farm boy and he shot him a knowing smirk, "Would you like to come with us, Scott?"

CONFESSIONAL:

Scott: He just stared into the camera with his arms crossed, "Yeah, I've gotta get rid of that guy soon."

"So'o, what were ya doing out here this early, homie? I didn't know ya were an early riser!"

Scott trudged along with a bored look on his face. He was wasting precious time here!

"Oh, you know, just searching for the invincibility idol. I needs me some security."

Ezekiel, who was leading the small group, raised an eyebrow as he glanced backward at Scott.

"Why would ya need that so'o badly, eh? Ya haven't done anything bad this season."

Alejandro glanced at Scott, who promptly returned the look. If only he knew.

But Scott sure wasn't going to tell him, "Yeaaaaaaahhhh, I'm a regular angel. But still, people can sometimes just vote for their least favorite person. You should know that better than anyone." The farm boy smirked.

Alejandro nudged Scott with his elbow, shooting the farm boy a soft glare, "No need to be bringing up such trivial matters on such a beautiful day. Besides, we're right about to reach the mines."

Ezekiel sounded like he was going to respond. That is, until the ground immediately underneath him gave out. The homeschooler let out a loud shriek as he free-fell deep into the darkness of the hole, no end in sight.

Alejandro and Scott both immediately rushed over to the edge of the large hole, peering downward into it with extremely anxious looks on their faces.

Scott had worry lines on his forehead as he directed his gray gaze to Alejandro, who was desperately leaning forward in an attempt to get any hint of how far Ezekiel had fallen.

"Oh my god! What do we do?! He's in that freaky mine! With those freaky mutant gophers! This is a disaster!" Scott began flailing his arms around in wild panic before Alejandro, now looking more nuanced and definitely more annoyed, slapped him hard across the face.

"You're panicking unnecessarily. Chris said that all of the animals were treated, and we were here to bring food to the gophers. They aren't mutants anymore."

Scott blinked. Then he blinked again. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he realized that Alejandro was right.

"Right, sorry. So what are we supposed to do? I never got training in what to do if somebody plummets into an endless hole in the ground."

Alejandro rubbed his chin in thought, his vibrant green eyes narrowing. He punched his palm in resolve, "We go in after him."

Scott looked at the Latino like he was crazy, "What? I'm not going in there. I have a rule about putting myself in danger for others, you know."

Alejandro rolled his eyes and pursed his lips at the manipulative farmer, "Chef already told me and Zeke that he and Chris weren't going to be around for today. It's a non-challenge day. We won't get any serious help any time soon, and we need to go down there now to make sure Zeke isn't seriously hurt."

Scott gulped, fidgeting his fingers together nervously. He didn't do well in dark holes. He knew that from previous experience.

"Uhhh, how about you go in to make sure he's alright and I stay up here for moral support?" He gave Alejandro an innocent and hopeful smile as he leaned over the hole.

Alejandro, much to his surprise, began nodding and snapping his fingers.

"Yes Scott, this is a glorious plan, truly. Say, could you tell me which way is east from where we currently are? It might help when I'm down in the mines."

Scott confusedly looked up to the Sun, "Uhh, let's see. I think it rises from the left, so east must be-AHHHHHHHHHH!" As Scott puzzled over which way was east, a tanned hand had firmly shoved him forward into the dark hole in the ground.

The camera zoomed in on said hand before it was revealed to belong to Alejandro. The Latino sighed and then stood up, getting into a diving position.

"Sorry Scottttttttttttt," he called out as he leapt into the same hole that Scott had disappeared into a few seconds earlier.

To Alejandro, it had looked like a short drop. But then again, he hadn't really been able to see anything on the inside of it.

He soon learned that the drop was anything but short.

Parts of exposed weed roots and rough rocks rubbed against him as he plummeted downward, the hole winding in a few parts for several minutes before dumping him unceremoniously at the bottom. He immediately noticed that he had fallen onto something that was lumpy and that was groaning.

"Owwwwwww. Did I just land on keys?"

A reply came from underneath Scott, "Actually, yeah, eh. Chef gave me his key ring so'o that I could get int'a his kitchen t'a get the grub."

Scott groaned once again, this time more in exasperation than in pain, "Of course he did."

Alejandro hopped off of the top of the pile, his eyes gradually adjusting to the dark rocky walls around him. He scanned the walls as Scott slowly stood up and Ezekiel followed. His eyes caught sight of a shelf on the wall full of pure white gear.

"Gracias! We'll be out of here in no time, men!"

The Latino opened the cabinet and grabbed several white flashlights that were inside, as well as goggles and hard-hats. Each item was stamped with a company logo and labelled "Toxic Waste Removal and Disposal". He turned one of the flashlights on with a grin and tossed one to Scott and then to Ezekiel.

Scott glared at Alejandro and flicked his flashlight on, "We'd better be. I don't plan on wasting my free day in this god forsaken mine."

Ezekiel looked pale as his eyes fearfully darted over the rocky walls. The prairie boy looked like he was going to throw up.

(The Screaming Bears Cabin: Boys Side)

"C'mon smart guy! It's sha-time to go! Lightning don't like wasting precious work-out time!"

Noah rolled over onto his other side, one of his eyes crankily cracking open and gazing at Lightning, "What are you babbling about?"

Lightning put his hands on his hips and shot Noah an unimpressed look, "It's time for a work-out! You told Lightning that you always like to begin the day with a nice run."

Noah grunted, remembering the lies he had told Lightning now. Nonetheless, the bookworm closed his eyes and wiggled in his blankets to get comfortable again, "Yeah, yeah. Just give me two more hours and I'll happily join you then."

Lightning scratched his head for a moment, looking confused. After a few second, however, his eyes lit up and he pumped his fists in the air, "Lightning gets it now! You're making a sha-joke! No worries smart guy, Lightning will wait outside for you while you get ready!"

The athlete jogged outside of the cabin energetically, slamming the door so hard that the cabin shook. His last word as he left was, of course, "Sha-bam!"

The ensuing mini-earthquake in the cabin caused the rolled-over Noah to tip out of his bunk and faceplant onto the wooden cabin floor.

Noah just sighed and struggled to do a push-up and get off of the ground. Once he was standing, he unenthusiastically began rummaging through his bag for a change of clothes.

The egghead heard a long yawn as he began changing. He raised an eyebrow and took a quick look around the cabin.

The culprit was Harold, who was now sitting up in his bunkbed and rubbing his eyes underneath his green glasses. He glanced at Noah once he realized he was being watched.

"Nice to see I'm not the only one who lost some sleep because of the motivational speaker out there," Noah hooked a thumb at the door of the cabin where Lightning was waiting just outside.

Harold hopped out of his bunk and began changing clothes as well, "I don't know. I'm glad to see you're taking some initiative out there. It's always good to get some exercise."

Noah's lips twisted and he looked back to Harold, "You mean you believe in that? You're as scrawny as I am."

Harold rolled his eyes and scoffed offendedly, flexing one of his skinny biceps proudly, "I work-out. I just prefer to do so in more creative and historically-rich ways, like kar-ate and surfing."

Noah had a bored look on his face as he walked toward the cabin door, now fully-dressed. He slipped his hand on the knob and cracked the door open. Lightning, who was leaning against the front of the cabin leisurely, immediately straightened his spine.

Harold hastily pulled on his signature blue shirt and rushed to the door, "Can I come with?"

Noah studied him with his usual neutral expression before turning to Lightning.

"What do you think, coach?"

Lightning frowned and squinted his eyes at Harold, who did a flexing pose to make himself look more impressive and strong. Still, no bumps came up onto his lanky arms.

After about 30 seconds of studying the nerd, Lightning nodded his head in approval, "Lightning approves. After all, what kind of a role model would Lightning be if he shunned the sha-weak? It's not your fault that you were born without muscles."

CONFESSIONAL:

Harold: The nerd had his arms crossed and his eyebrows were slanted in offense, "Yeah, I know that I don't look like much, but that's the strategy. People underestimate me a lot, but I know how to fight. I'm like a venus fly trap, luring in victims with my looks and then going on the offensive!" Harold made a clamping motion with both of his hands as he explained the last part.

(?)

All around, only pink could be seen. The walls, the ground, etc. There was no visible ceiling in this place. In fact, everything looked somewhat gummy in texture. This simplicity made four figures very distinct in the distance. They all seemed to be in a huddle, discussing something important.

"Anoth'a failure! Just what is it gonna take ta get those wallabies to kick him off?" The figure wearing a beige hat spoke first, his teal shirt hugging his scrawny body tightly. Curiously enough, all three of the other figures wore similar outfits, sans the hat, of course.

One of his companions, who wasn't wearing a shirt and who had hair that looked to be gelled back, clenched his fists, "I don't know, but we better think of something bett'a, and pronto. The Vito's startin' to get paler in here! How am I gonna attract the chicks if I ain't got no tan?" He had a distinct accent that sounded somewhat Italian.

One of them who was wearing lipstick and had longer eyelashes than the others now rolled her eyes and spoke in a Russian accent, "Svetlana thinks that perhaps you boys don't have what it takes. She could be taking care of it!"

The one of the group that was hunched over peered at them all with one eye and waved a wooden cane around, "You young knuckleheads can't do anything right! First the economy and now this!"

Vito pursed his lips and slanted his eyes at the old man, "What are ya even talkin' about, Chester? Ya can't even walk without that stick in your hand."

A loud whacking noise sounded throughout the odd pink place as Chester brought his cane down hard on Vito's head. Vito yelped and glared at the old man while rubbing the sore spot.

"Oww, what the heck was that for?"

Chester's one visible eye squinted at the boy, his wrinkles scrunching up frustratedly, "Shut yer yapper. I'm tired of your complaining. Back in my day, we did something about our problems!"

Svetlana narrowed her eyes at the old man, "Oh how rich. Ze old bag who does nothing but complain is lecturing us! All that you boys do is whine!"

Manitoba Smith looked surprised for a moment, before an offended look overtook his face. The explorer crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the gymnast.

"And what is exactly wrong with being a man, sheila? Last I checked, men were responsible for most 'a the discoveries of the world."

"Oh please! You men are also responsible for all of the world's wars!"

Vito smirked and wiggled his eyebrows, "And what's wrong with war, twinkle toes? It's the best way to solve any problem."

Chester scoffed, waving his fist in the air, "And what do you know about war, ya hooligan? I actually went to war!"

Manitoba Smith and Svetlana both rolled their eyes. Vito did so too, but he couldn't help making a snarky comment.

"Ey, you didn't go to war, Chester. First off, ya ain't a real person, and second, I doubt ya were ever young if ya are!"

Chester growled and whacked Vito with his cane once again. Vito rubbed his throbbing head and glared at him, "Ya better be careful. The Vito doesn't take too kindly t'a getting whacked."

Chester's one open eye just stared at him unwieldingly, "You keep saying stupid things and I'll keep hitting you, ya salami head."

Manitoba smirked, "If ya ask me, it's an improvement there, Vito. Maybe it'll knock them circuits back int'a place."

Chester snapped at him, "Don't be agreeing with me! I don't need your help, ya whippersnapper."

Svetlana placed a forceful hand on Chester's shoulder, causing the old man to look back at her.

"Svetlana is getting tired of your nagging. Honestly, why am I stuck with all of you?"

Manitoba cut in, "And I'm so tired of your bragging, sheila."

"Without me, this body would have no brain!"

"Ey yo, I'm smarter than I get credit for ov'a here! I don't need you losas!"

Manitoba Smith brought out his whip, his eyes narrowing at the others. Vito held his fists up like a boxer, scowling at the others. Chester got his cane into whacking position, and Svetlana held an acrobatic pose.

"It's time t'a see who's the strongest bloke in this brain!"

"I couldn't agree more. Don't worry, The Vito will let you suckas out every now and then when I'm in charge!"

"I'm tired of you punks! Always with the slang and the violence! I'll show you what for!"

"Svetlana will show all of you idiot men how this mind should be ran! She is tired of your whining!"

With that, they all proceeded to tackle each other into one giant fight on the ground. Their bodies tangled together painfully as they all began duking it out.

Then, something strange happened. An ominous voice echoed all around them.

"I'm not usually one to break up a fight with the potential to get bloody, but you've failed because you're missing something...important."

Immediately, the four personalities froze in place, tangled in various uncomfortable-looking ways on the ground. Vito, whose fist was just inches from Chester's old face, looked around confusedly. Svetlana, who had her arms wrapped around Manitoba and her legs wrapped around Vito, looked scared. Chester, who had been whacking the others blindly with his cane, failed to convey much. Manitoba Smith, having been pulling Vito's greasy hair, gulped as his eyes darted around aimlessly.

"Wh-what was that, mates? Was it Mike?"

A dark laugh echoed all around them, chilling to the bone.

"Mike? Oh no no no no no. I'm not that fool. Be careful, you only have one guess left, and you don't want to know what happens if you get it wrong again."

The personalities scrambled apart fearfully, shooting side-glances at each other. There was only one other possibility.

But...it couldn't be...or at least that's what they wanted to believe.

"Mal," they whispered solemnly in unison.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to cause trouble. In fact, I've come to help you, peons."

(The Killer Sharks Cabin: Boys Side)

"AHHHHHH!"

Mike sat up rapidly, feeling slightly sweaty and out-of-breath. His bugged-out eyes quickly scanned the room around him. He saw a bunch of empty bunks and, curiously enough, a concerned Zoey kneeling next to his bunk.

Zoey's brown eyes lit up slightly. She quickly pulled Mike into a tight hug, "Mike! Thank goodness you're finally up! You were acting like you were possessed."

Mike's eyes widened as he took this all in. He gulped slightly and then wrapped his arms around Zoey. Moments later, they released each other, Zoey now with a wide smile on her face.

Mike's mind blanked. He was still feeling a bit groggy, so he was struggling to find anything to say.

He settled on something simple, "Uhhh, so why isn't anyone else here, Zoey? I mean, I love the idea of having some alone time with you, but shouldn't someone have woken me earlier so that I could get ready for the challenge?" He began rubbing his eyes.

Zoey's already-wide smile overtook her cheeks, "Chris announced over the intercoms earlier that there won't be a challenge today. That means we can just spend the day together! Isn't it great?"

Mike smiled weakly, taking one of Zoey's hand in his, "Of course. That sounds great. Maybe we can stroll around the island after I get all cleaned up."

"Great! I'll go ahead and grab you some breakfast so that we can take off right after you're ready. Just make sure to hurry up, sleepyhead. You owe me a full day of romance," she jokingly said, playfully slugging him in his scrawny arm. He gave her a light peck on the lips before getting up and rummaging through his bag for his morning stuff.

CONFESSIONAL:

Mike: He fidgeted nervously, "I don't know what's been going on lately, but I feel like something is very wrong. I'm just a bit worried that Zoey will notice."

He sighed and ran a hand through his spiky hair before glancing back at the camera with apprehension, "She shouldn't have to be dealing with this. I can take care of it myself." Despite the resolution in his words, he didn't look all that confident.

(The Killer Sharks Cabin: Girls Side)

Leshawna leaned onto her bunk, strapping her shoes handily before standing up straight with her hands resting on her hips. The camera panned over to the other side of the room, where Eva stood by the door of the cabin. The fitness buff opened the door and looked back at the other girl impatiently.

Eva began tapping her foot loudly, "You ready yet? I've been waiting for awhile now. I'm starting to wonder if you were serious about wanting to exercise at all."

Leshawna sounded somewhat quiet and downcast when she replied, "Sorry girl, I'm just still sort of trying to make sense of last night."

Eva sported a confused look on her face as she pondered the situation.

CONFESSIONAL:

Eva: Eva looked very confused as she rested her hands on her knees, "Alright, so I don't really know how to comfort people. I guess you could say that I'm usually a bit harsh."

She scratched the back of her head sheepishly, "It reminds me of that time that I launched a basketball at a boy who cheated on my friend in 5th grade to cheer her up. I mean," she threw her hands up now, "how was I supposed to know that that it would make him go deaf in his left ear?"

Her eyes began to narrow as she brought her left fist down onto her open right palm, "I'll just have to do what my parents did for me."

Eva's facial expression turned stoic at the drop of a hat. The fitness buff then proceeded to cross her arms and spread her legs authoritatively. Leshawna cocked an eyebrow at the rapid change in demeanor.

"Your friend was kicked off yesterday, and that's made you upset, right?"

Leshawna blinked one time before slowly nodding, looking a bit skeptical of Eva.

Eva now began walking closer to Leshawna, her voice maintaining a calm and even tone, "And today might be the only off-day that you have for a long time on this island, right?"

Leshawna took one slight step back as Eva got closer before nodding once again.

Eva narrowed her eyes angrily as she finally stood right in front of Leshawna. There was only a slight distance between the two girls faces.

"Then you need to get over this sadness quickly! And there is no better way to do that than through exercise!" Eva grabbed Leshawna's arms and pushed the black girl forward before sliding in behind her. With her hands firmly on Leshawna's back, she began pushing her and beginning a modest jogging pace. To encourage Leshawna to get moving herself, Eva made sure to step on the back of her sandals each time her feet touched the ground.

Leshawna yelped as she ran out of the door, trying desperately to get away from the enraged drill sergeant behind her, "Ow! What's your problem, girl?"

"Some exercise will do you good, pal!"

(The Borders of Camp)

"So what's a nice girl like you doing out here all alone?"

Heather looked up from her sitting position on the ground, her expression somewhat irritated.

"I don't know, what's a twerp like you doing out here with someone like me?"

"What can I say? I'm a geek; we're usually sympathetic people."

Heather pursed her lips as Cody plopped down in the spot next to her, gazing at her from the side and leaning back on a long tree trunk.

They both looked ahead in silence for a few seconds before the tech geek began speaking.

"So seriously, what are you doing out here all alone? The others were talking about hanging out and playing some games at the field."

Heather scoffed and leaned further back, "You think I want to hang out with that pack of weirdos? No thank you; not on my off-day."

Cody looked visibly disappointed, "Now come on. I thought you wanted to bury the hatchet with everyone. I mean, you seemed to love it when everyone was rooting for you in season 3."

Heather gazed at the ground, her head looking to be swimming in thought to Cody.

After a few seconds, she quietly answered him, "Yeah...it felt good. But everyone else seems to have forgotten about that. And they weren't rooting for me...….they were rooting against him."

Cody hesitated, "I mean, I was rooting for you. And I'm sure that lots of the others were too. You just have to be a bit nicer to them."

"And what good would that do?"

"Well, Alejandro has been forgiven for what he did, so I would think that-"

Heather interrupted him by growling, "And he shouldn't be. I can see right through his little act. Always acting so righteous and cocky; I don't know why nobody sees that he's just repeating his old strategy." She began trailing off at the end.

Cody stood up and held his hand out to the sulking girl, "Alright, no more sulking! You need some social interaction! Codemeister's orders!"

Heather looked up defiantly at him, studying the outstretched hand with reluctant eyes. After a bit less than a minute though, the queen bee sighed and took it. Cody helped to pull her to her feet and then began leading her to the field.

(Somewhere in the Forest)

Mike clasped his hand tightly to Zoey's, feeling sweat run down his neck as she continued talking about how nice it was to be alone together at last.

He desperately hoped that today could be that way, but in order for that to be so, he had to keep a close watch on his surroundings. All it would take would be the slightest stuck-out branch or thorn to mess with his shirt and bring Vito out. Or even the smallest rock or root to trip him and call Chester to take control of his mind.

He really wanted to tell Zoey that going into the woods wasn't comfortable for him right now, considering the events of recent days. He had messed up several challenges for his team so far because he couldn't keep tight control of his mind.

He could hear that Zoey was talking earnestly to him, but he had a hard time paying attention. He just kept sputtering out "yeah" and "true" and "that was great" for awhile, something that noticeably took some of the pep out of Zoey's step.

What they would see up ahead would be far more shocking, however.

Zoey was busy thinking about what could possibly be eating at Mike when she saw the carnage up ahead of them. She quickly tugged on Mike's arm, which startled the boy greatly.

"What!? What's going on?"

He looked down at Zoey, who looked worried as her brown eyes gazed ahead. Mike followed her gaze and winced.

Many of the trees up ahead of them had been downed onto the simple dirt path, large chunks of them torn from the stump, leaving nasty bite marks all over the trunks. Even the large squirrely tree roots had been chewed on.

Zoey whispered under her breath as she clung to Mike, "Good lord...What kind of animal could do something like that?"

Mike's eyes were still widened as he studied the destruction. He looked down at Zoey and brought her closer to himself, "I-I don't know, Zoey. Maybe we should head back to camp."

Zoey smiled, realizing that her head was resting against Mike's chest. She kept her arms around him as he began walking away from the tree massacre. He had no choice but to follow her, "Oh Mike, I don't care where we are. As long as we're together, I'm happy."

Mike finally put his nerves aside and fully focused on Zoey. The quirky boy smiled, showing his tooth gap, and snuggled his girlfriend as they walked together.

CONFESSIONAL:

Zoey: She looked very confused, "Mike didn't seem that focused when we were walking together at first. It almost seemed like he was really worried about something. I wish he would just tell me these things, but he always thinks that he's being a burden." She slouched over and sighed sadly.

Her face then took on more of a hopeful expression, "But he did open up once we began walking back to camp, so maybe it was nothing. Hopefully, it was nothing. I really want him to have a better time on the show this time, without," her face became angry, "Scott there to mess everything up."

Chris: The host had a disgusted look on his face as he held his throat with both hands. He quickly replicated some wretch noises before beginning to speak.

"They could've at least made-out! At least that would bring some ratings! I'm feel like I'm running the Hallmark channel over here!" He threw his hands to the side in exasperation.

The host began rubbing his chin now, "Hmmm, I wonder what was up with those trees that they saw."

"Ah well, probably isn't important."

(The Mines)

Alejandro is seen peeking around a corner cautiously, a hard hat on his head and a flashlight in his hand. He quickly cranes his head to the left and then to the right to check for anything around before nodding to his left. He came out from behind the corner and motioned to the other two to follow him.

Scott rolled his eyes dramatically as he slowly followed the Latino.

"Woooow Alejandro, you look just like one of those guys from the movies." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Alejandro didn't turn around, but the Latino did respond in a cheerful voice.

"Why thank you, Scott. It's always nice to hear that others think that I'm handsome."

The farm boy turned red and began stuttering uncomfortably as Alejandro kept leading them through the endless tunnels.

"T-that wasn't what I meant! I like chicks! I swear!"

Alejandro just began quietly laughing, leading Scott to get a worried look on his face. He looked down at his himself, examining his biceps first and then grabbing his white shirt.

"Is my shirt not stained enough?" He turned his head to face behind him as he continued walking forward.

"Hey Zeke, you think that I'm manly, right?"

A few seconds of silence permeated before Scott frowned and squinted his eyes to see Zeke more clearly in the blackness all around them.

What he saw was a shivering, nervous wreck. The homeschooler was deathly pale, even more so than usual. His gray eyes were widened in terror, and his arms were wrapped tightly around himself in a self-hug. No sound came from him except for the chatter of his teeth.

Scott slowed down a bit so that he was walking level with Zeke before slinging an arm around him. Ezekiel casted a sideways glance at the farm boy as Scott gave him a smile and cocked an eyebrow at him, "Ey Zeke, what's biting ya?"

Ezekiel pulled his toque down, partially obscuring his eyes as he kept taking slow steps through the rocky tunnels.

"T-the Zeke just...'members too much 'a these halls, eh..." He trailed off quietly.

Scott bit his lip and pondered what to do about this. What had pappy done to comfort him when he was down?

(Flashback: Scott's Family Farmhouse)

An old man could be seen walking over to some horse stables, a small handful of hay in one hand and a bucket of milk in the other. He was wearing a heavily stained wife beater shirt that was white in color. Blue denim overalls covered the entirety of his legs and strapped his tall, narrow shoulders. He dropped his bucket onto the ground next to his tall black work-boots and began feeding some of the hay in his right hand to the horses.

"I tell ya, that kid is always late. Back in my day, everyone pulled their weight on this farm, and I wasn't even allowed to go to school! Them were the good days, eh Mustang?" He began gently petting the head of an elderly brown horse in one of the stables. The old horse neighed in satisfaction, which the old man took to be agreement.

The old man sighed and pulled his sagging overalls back up to his waistline, moving onto the last horse in the stable-line and beginning to feed it the last of the hay in his hand.

"This younger generation just doesn't know how good they have it. I used to have to sleep out here when I was a kid, just so I would always feed the animals first thing in the morning."

The last horse, a black-furred chunky stallion, neighed quietly as it chewed on its share of hay. The old man stood there for several minutes afterwards, stuck in his thoughts.

After a short period of time, the barn doors opened up slowly and quietly. The old man snapped out of his thoughts and glared as a small redheaded boy in a white wife beater and blue jeans tried to silently sneak in, a moderate amount of hay sticking out of his pockets.

The small boy froze as he saw the old farmer standing next to the horse stables. He gulped loudly and tapped his foot nervously.

"...Sooooo pappy, what are you doing out here?"

The old farmer continued glaring at the young boy, now putting his hands on his hips in a stern manner, "Scotty, don't be trying to sweet-talk me with that hogwash you learn at school. Why are you so late getting home today? These horses were s'pposed to be fed an hour ago!"

The boy, now identified as Scotty, gave a downcast look to the wooden barn floor and spoke in a sullen tone, "I meant to get here on-time pappy. It's just that those other boys were picking on me again...Kept saying that I'm a good-for-nothing and that our farm is the laughingstock of the province." Scott's gray eyes looked weak and vulnerable as he stared at the ground.

Pappy walked up to Scott and put a hand onto the boy's shoulder, prompting Scott to look up at the old man with confusion and hope in his eyes.

All hope was crushed with what Pappy would say.

"Man up, Scotty. No kin of mine will be crying and laying down to die like this. It's embarrassing. Now you take care of those boys, ya hear? I don't want to see ya getting home late again, alright?"

Young Scott frowned deeply, "B-but Pappy, they-"

Pappy shushed him firmly, "You need to man up, kid. Take care of the problem. I don't care how ya do it. Now go put that hay up and meet me out in the fields. I already fed the horses for today."

Scott floated back to reality, his eyebrows slanting downward. He took a quick glance back at the terrified Ezekiel and slugged him in the arm. The homeschooler looked both confused and surprised as he rubbed his arm, his gray eyes on Scott.

"You need to man up, Zeke. It's embarrassing to see you like this."

Ezekiel gulped and slowly straightened his spine as he glanced at Scott anxiously.

"I'll try, eh," he stammered hesitantly.

Scott nodded his head in satisfaction before trekking forward again. Alejandro had gotten a bit ahead of them, but he was still easily within view.

He felt proud of himself. He had successfully taken care of that situation. He was sure that even pappy himself would be-

He heard chattering again.

The farm boy turned his head back to look at Ezekiel in exasperation. The prairie boy's eyes were darting along the walls now, seeming to be filled with fearful recognition.

Scott sighed as Ezekiel's eyes landed on him, looking like those of a kicked puppy. The farm boy reluctantly held his left hand out to the homeschooler. Ezekiel easily put his shaking hand into Scott's and they both began walking together. This seemed to ease some of Ezekiel's anxiety.

Scott whispered to the homeschooler as they walked, "Don't tell anyone about this, okay? Especially Indiana Jones up there," he hooked a finger ahead of them at Alejandro. Ezekiel silently nodded his head in agreement.

Up ahead, Alejandro gave a knowing smile.

(The Football Field)

"I already told you no. Hell no. I'm NOT playing football. It's a game for Neanderthals and those who want brain damage."

"Lightning doesn't know what that means, but c'mon smart guy! Lightning is starting to have football withdrawals! I need to get some sha-practice unless I want to get creamed when I get back home. And Lightning doesn't lose, ever! It's my rule."

Noah scowled at Lightning, his hands firmly on his hips and the front of his hair already caked in sweat, "And I have a rule against humiliating myself on national television. I guess we're both breaking the rules today."

Harold interjected from the side, "Actually Noah, Total Drama is aired internationally."

Noah snapped at him, "You're not helping, Harold! And I'm not playing. Nada. Never. Why don't you pick a less dangerous game, like thermonuclear war or something?"

"Lightning only found a football! It's this or some made-up game!"

The two boys were standing at the front of the large field near the campground, arguing about what to do. Harold was standing awkwardly next to the dispute, listening in and occasionally nitpicking at tiny factual errors that each boy made. Many of the other contestants were sitting in the bleachers behind them, either spectating the argument or ignoring it.

Trent walked up to the second row on the bleachers, his eyes on the feud going on as he prepared to sit down.

Lindsay quickly spotted him from her spot at the top next to Courtney. She quickly stood up, almost losing her balance with how quick she had jumped up from her seat. She put her hands up, "Trent! Over here!" She patted the spot next to her with a smile. Trent noticed her, glanced over her and Courtney for a few seconds, and then gave an easygoing smile as he approached their bleacher section.

Courtney scowled and whispered to Lindsay, "What was that?! He's on the other team! We can't 'hang out' with him. He'll be constantly probing for our weaknesses!"

Lindsay answered back at a normal volume, patting Courtney's left hand reassuringly, "Don't worry about that. Trent's a nice guy. Plus, he makes, like, awesome music."

Courtney narrowed her eyes silently and argued back in a whisper, "That's what I'm worried about. You don't even suspect him at all. He's going to use his nosy nice guy skills on your weak mind."

Lindsay immediately brought both of her hands to her head in worry, "No! Not my mind! I only have one of these!"

Neither of them noticed that Trent was now right next to them, shooting both girls a confused look as he stood there.

"Uhhh, I don't know what you're talking about there, but can I sit down?"

Courtney closed her eyes, "I'm sorry Trent, but-"

Lindsay enthusiastically cut the CIT off, "Of course you can!"

Trent charmingly smiled at the blonde and sat down, leaning against the back rails and shifting his green eyes to the field. He let out a slight laugh upon seeing Noah dragged out onto the field with Lightning and Harold, having lost their verbal battle.

"Seems like Noah finally met his match, eh?"

Lindsay laughed along with him in agreement as Courtney huffed and crossed her arms in irritation.

Suddenly, Heather and Cody showed up. The two glanced out at the field where Lightning was explaining to Noah how to play football and began walking toward the bleachers. Heather tried to stop at the first row, which was empty, until Cody gave her a stern glance and motioned for her to keep climbing the steps. Heather scowled, but obeyed.

The queen bee prompted to sit in the middle of the second row. At the end of this row sat Mike and Zoey, who were lovingly gazing into each other's eyes and catching up about their experiences on the island so far. Heather rolled her eyes as she heard their sickeningly-sweet conversation. Trent, after meeting Cody's eyes, decided to leave over and talk to the mean girl. Heather, in turn, awkwardly began responding to the musician

Courtney scoffed and crossed her arms as Trent began talking to Heather. She turned to Lindsay and whispered to her, "You know, I'm starting to see why you like him. Anyone who can be nice to Heather without being on a team with her must be good boyfriend material."

CONFESSIONAL:

Lindsay: The blonde twiddled her thumbs, "Was it that obvious? I always thought I was more subtle."

She looked down and clasped her hands together, "I loooove the Drama Brothers. And Trent is just so nice. I mean, everyone seems to like him, even Courtney!"

Noah: The bookworm is rubbing his temples with his eyes clamped shut. He seemed to be lost in his own little world.

"It's just for a few weeks, Noah. It's just for a few weeks. You can do it. You can do it."

(The Mines)

"Uh, amigos? I think that I see a big opening up ahead. It might lead to a way out of here."

Scott's eyes lit up. He quickly let go of Ezekiel's hand and rushed ahead, where Alejandro stood reluctantly, trying to gauge what his comrades thought.

As Scott approached the large opening, Ezekiel's eyes widened, "No, wait!" He tried to catch up to Scott, to no avail. The farm boy ran right through the opening. Alejandro, who had an anxious look on his face now as he looked all around him, followed the homeschooler.

Scott squinted, placing a hand above his eyes and flashing his flashlight in random directions.

"I don't see anything here."

He sighed, "Is this a dud? Should've known not to get my hopes up."

Something squirmed around in the darkness. Ezekiel and Alejandro ran inside of the massive mine pocket as something tackled Scott to the ground. The ginger began screaming as the creature began moaning in a high-pitched frequency and scratching him all over his body.

Alejandro stopped right in front of the ongoing attack, fidgeting nervously and looking conflicted on what to do. He couldn't take out something that was this big!

Behind him, Ezekiel flashed his flashlight onto the creature, revealing filthy pink skin and only a half-exposed body. The creature's bottom half was apparently dug into the ground as it assaulted Scott with its long claws. Its eyes were scrunched shut and its teeth were giant. It let out a banshee scream as the light touched its face. The thing quickly retreated into the corner of the room, leaving Alejandro to rush over to Scott and check to see if he was alright.

"Scott! Amigo, are you alright?"

Scott's eyes rolled in random directions, unable to focus on anything around him, "Pappy? Is it dinner time already?"

Alejandro's eyes widened. He looked back to Ezekiel, who stood uneasily glancing in the direction that the creature had went.

"Zeke, Scott is all banged up. We need to get him out of here ASAP."

Ezekiel looked into Alejandro's worried eyes for a few seconds before he sighed. He flashed his flashlight onto the corner of the room where the creature had retreated. The light illuminated a wooden throne that sat on top of a rock platform with stairs carved up to it. A bunch of fragments of an animal skeleton sat in the corner next to the throne.

The creature that attacked Scott sat next to the throne, hissing shrilly and flailing its claws out. The creature was one of the mutant gophers that had inhabited the mine last season, Ezekiel realized. This was his old throne room.

Alejandro craned his head to the side once he heard other noises, especially since it sounded like other creatures were approaching them. He quickly slung Scott's left arm over his own shoulder and stood up, holding the delirious farm boy up.

Dirt was strung up on the ground as erratic lines could be seen leading into the throne room. Once they reached the front of the wooden throne, an army of gophers popped up out of the ground, these ones being normal. The mutant gopher in the room squealed in the direction of Alejandro, Ezekiel, and Scott.

Scott, who was still hanging onto Alejandro, glared at the Latino, "No mutants left, eh?"

Alejandro put his hands up defensively, which led to him accidentally dropping Scott onto the ground. The farm boy groaned and stood himself up unsteadily.

Alejandro closed his eyes, "I am deeply sorry that I, someone who just arrived on this island this week, didn't know about a mutant left on the island that even the Canadian authorities didn't know of. I'm veryyyyy sorry."

Scott rubbed his scratched-up arms, "Apology accepted."

Alejandro just rolled his eyes in response.

Ezekiel just stared as the gophers assembled around the throne. Their beady black eyes stared deep into him, even though they all remained silent, save for the mutant gopher, which kept squealing loudly.

Alejandro noticed it too, "...I think that they want you to be their king again, amigo."

Scott grumbled, crossing his arms, "Then why did they attack one of the king's friends?" He seemed to come to a realization after saying it, "Hey! Wait a minute! They must've tunneled that hole that brought us down here!"

Alejandro looked to them, some of the gophers seemed to be nodding. He turned his gaze to Ezekiel, who looked conflicted.

"They did it purposefully," he said, his green eyes wide with surprise.

"We were meant to fall down here. Or, at least, Zeke was."

One of the gophers took this moment to pat the throne, its eyes squarely focused onto Ezekiel. The homeschooler took a quick glance at his friends before walking over to the throne and caressing it with his hand.

He looked down at the gophers before turning his gaze to the mutant gopher among them. He petted it remorsefully, "The Zeke can't stay here, guys. That wasn't him that led ya before."

The gophers glanced between each other, some of them stomping their feet lightly. Some of them squeaked at him accusingly, pointing to the throne.

Scott observed all of this worriedly beforee whispering quietly to Alejandro, "What are the rats saying?"

Alejandro just kept watching the exchange, "You think that I speak gopher?"

"Well I don't know. There was at least a decent chance!"

Ezekiel now looked at the group of gophers with resolution, "Alright, fine...that was me. I'll admit that, eh. But the Zeke is a loser now. He ain't who ya remember."

"Ya guys need to sho'ow us the way out of here. I'm not your leader anymore, eh."

Some of the gophers slumped down, and others shot sharp looks up at the homeschooler. After a few moments, however, one of them reluctantly jumped off of the stone platform and began trotting down some train tracks in the corner. All three boys moved cautiously to follow the gopher as the others solemnly watched them. As they progressed, light could be seen in the distance.

A single tear escaped from Scott's eye as the light became stronger. He wiped it away with his left arm, "It's...so beautiful."

Alejandro cocked an eyebrow at the farm boy, "Are you crying, friend?"

Scott glared at the Latino and pointed an accusatory finger at him, "Always trying to demean me, eh? Crying is manly when a manly man like me does it! Right, Zeke?"

Both of the other boys turned their gazes to Ezekiel. The prairie boy just scratched his head as they kept following the gopher.

"Uhhh...'Tis not in the Zeke's area of expertise, eh."

Scott grumbled and hung his head lower, "Some help you are."

(The Infirmary)

"Uggghhhh, what am I supposed to do? Chef isn't even here!"

Alejandro rolled his eyes. Scott was sooooo dramatic. I mean, c'mon, it was just a few scratches.

"I'll go in there and grab something for your scratches. You just wait here."

The Latino walked briskly over to Chef's desk to grab some bandages. He then ran back outside of the infirmary and handed the box to Scott quickly, "This is the best that I can do, Scott. I'm not a doctor."

Scott scowled at him, "I know that. Doctors don't push people into deep dark holes!"

Alejandro just smiled innocently at him and put a hand on his shoulder, Scott shrugged it off angrily.

"Ah, Scott, always focusing on the negative aspect of things. You made some real progress today, comforting Ezekiel in that mine."

"T-that never happened! I'm not one of those softies. I'm one of the biggest threats on this show!"

Alejandro rolled his eyes exasperatedly, placing a palm to his forehead. Scott was honestly like a child.

"Sure thing. I believe you, friend. Now I'm going to return Chef's keys really quickly. Care to come to the field with me afterwards?"

Scott immediately began walking away, "Nah, I'll pass on the 'community event'. I'm going to look for that idol now that I'm free from your forced excursion. I gots to play smarter than everyone else here."

Alejandro watched him disappear into the forest before turning back to the tent.

It was a good thing that Scott was so predictable, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to shake him so easily. He had something here that he wanted to investigate, while he still had the chance.

After walking back inside of the infirmary, Alejandro took Chef's key ring out of his pocket and was about to lay it down on Chef's desk in the corner of the infirmary tent. However, he hesitated in the last second as his eyes caught Chef's secret drawer. The cook had been very defensive of his drawer when Heather had been laid up in here just a few days ago, and it had made the Latino curious.

Very curious.

Alejandro quickly glanced back to make sure that Scott was gone before trying one of the keys out in the drawer's lock. It was a close fit, but no dice.

He fidgeted around with the ring and quickly selected another key, trying it in the lock as he glanced behind him to make sure that nobody was walking in on him. It was unlikely to happen, but he would get into trouble if he was seen.

The second key didn't fit either. He cursed quietly under his breath and moved to another.

This one, as it turned out, was the correct key. Alejandro turned it with ease until he heard a click. The drawer popped open, revealing a rather unexpected mixture of contents.

Alejandro's green eyes widened in shock at one of the objects inside.

"Dios mio. After all this time..."

After almost a whole minute of staring at the aforementioned object in wonder, the Latino broke out of his daze, stuffed it into his pocket, and closed the drawer back up. He laid the key ring onto the desk and slipped out of the infirmary.

(The Football Field)

Alejandro walked up to the bleachers, watching the ongoing game for several seconds before meandering over to sit down with Heather, Courtney, and Lindsay.

Cody and Trent had joined Harold, Justin, Lightning, and Noah out on the field after some prodding and extreme bragging by Lightning that he could take all of them down alone. Ezekiel, who had arrived shortly before the Latino, had also been cajoled out onto the field.

So far though, Lightning was really showing all of them up.

As Alejandro sat down, he saw Trent frantically scampering to one side of the field, the ball in his hands as Lightning tailed him.

"Sorry music guy, but Lightning can't let anyone score against him!"

Justin ran up on the side of the field, his knees bent as he watched Lightning gain on Trent. The model's eyes widened as Lightning tackled the musician to the ground roughly, sending a cloud of dust up around them.

Justin ran up to the human pile on the ground worriedly. When the dust cleared, the model saw Lightning holding the football victoriously as he laid on top of Trent, his elbow pushing the musician's face into the ground.

The athlete quickly jumped to his feet and threw up victory signs with his hands. He began taking a lap around the field as Justin helped Trent up. The musician's right arm wrapped around the male model's neck deliriously as Justin led him off of the field and toward the bleachers.

As Justin ran back to the field, having laid Trent to rest on the bleachers, Noah complained.

"Now hold on here. Why does he get to sit out?"

Alejandro turned his head away from the game, taking a moment to look at everyone who was sitting near him. His eyes landed on Heather almost immediately. She was turned away from him.

"My, my, Heather. I never expected to see you being so...social."

Heather pointedly ignored him, turning her head further away from the charming Latino.

Alejandro's eyes widened a bit. Heather wasn't usually one to let something go.

He tried again, leaning over to get closer to Heather, "Mi amor...it is certainly nice to see you letting go of your anger. It is much more becoming of such a talented woman."

Heather craned her head to face him this time. She spoke with a harsh tone, "Why can't you just take the hint and go away?"

Courtney, who was sitting in the same row with the two, put her hands on her hips.

"He wasn't doing anything bad, Heather. You need to grow some thicker skin."

Heather turned her glare to the CIT, who returned the look with equal intensity.

"Why do you care how I talk to him? Are you best friends now?"

Courtney narrowed her eyes at the queen bee before pointing to Lindsay. The blonde looked confused about the whole situation.

Lindsay looked to Heather, "Why are you being so mean to Alejandro?"

Courtney nodded her head, "Your negative attitude is ruining our free day."

Heather turned bright red with rage. She grinded her teeth together until she just couldn't hold it in anymore.

She exploded.

"Oh, my negativity is ruining your day?! Well whoopty freaking doo! You're one to talk about negativity, Courtney! When your jailbird boyfriend cheated on you, you became a raging psychopath!"

Everyone in the bleachers took notice of the screaming. Everyone turned their heads toward Heather as she raged. Some of the boys on the field also took notice and stopped in their places, confused about what had set Heather off.

Courtney's tanned cheeks reddened a bit in a mixture of embarrassment and anger. She looked like she was about to retort against Heather before the queen bee suddenly turned her eyes to Alejandro.

Alejandro's green eyes widened as Heather aggressively poked a finger into his slightly-exposed chest, "And youuuuu. Yoouuuuu just can't leave me alone!"

She threw her hands up in the air in outrage, "You just have to stick your giant nose into my business at every turn!"

Alejandro slowly lifted his hands to feel his nose, "You think that my nose is giant?"

Heather clenched her fists tightly, "There you go again, acting all innocent!"

She turned to face everyone in the bleachers and on the field. All of them were watching the scene in awe.

"And everyone here is gullible enough to believe your lies! All you do is compliment them and they fall right at your feet like ignorant whelps! Which, by the way, I can see from a mile away! Maybe try a new 'nice guy' strategy next year!"

Heather panted a bit as she looked around, noticing that everyone was no either wincing, staring in surprise, or glaring at her. She quickly stormed off away from the bleachers, passing both Eva and Leshawna, who had just trudged next to the bleachers, as she went.

Leshawn tskked after Heather was out of sight, "Yeesh, that girl is so hormonal. I guess that's normal when you're in love with Dracula, though." Her eyes drifted over Alejandro, who had sat down in shock.

Eva shrugged, "I admire the anger, even if she is a bitch. Probably a 5 on the anger scale. Certainly impressive for such a prim little princess."

Out on the field, the players were beginning to recover from some of their shock. Lightning, in particular, clapped his hands and began jogging around. He slapped Justin lightly, "C'mon men, we've gotta get back to the sha-game!"

Justin brought his hands to his face quickly before taking a small mirror out of his back pocket and examining himself in it desperately. After finding no visible marks, he glared at Lightning, "Hey, don't be damaging the merchandise over here."

On the other side of the field, Cody had a look of horror. That had really not gone the way that he had hoped.

He was broken out of his thoughts when Noah came up behind him and patted him on the back, "Well, that was a horrific failure. Maybe you want to ditch the game and go after your girlfriend?"

Cody was about to respond when Eva stomped out onto the field. She stopped in the middle, looking determined and slightly angry.

"Whose team am I on?"

Lightning jogged and skidded over to her, wagging a finger in disagreement.

"Sorry, angry girl, but Lightning does not let girls play football with him."

Eva quickly grabbed the athlete by the front of his shirt, staring him in the eyes.

"And why is that, huh!?"

Lightning began stammering, "L-Lightning just don't think it's fair, what with girls having longer legs and all."

Cody raised an eyebrow at this, and Noah slapped his forehead. Trent began laughing at Lightning's explanation, and elbowed Harold, who was standing next to him. Harold shot a wicked grin back at the musician.

Eva turned her eyes to another victim as Justin walked up to her, his hands up in surrender.

He focused his gaze on Lightning, who was still being gripped by Eva, "C'mon man, Eva is probably more of a man than any of us."

The male model then shot a charming look at Eva, flexing his arms over his head at the same time.

He unveiled a handsome smile in an attempt to mesmerize her, "Isn't that right, beautiful?"

Eva slowly felt her anger fading, her eyes stuck on the sight of Justin. However, she soon realized that she was falling into his trap, and promptly covered her eyes.

She pointed a shaky finger at Justin, refusing to look at him, "You'd better watch your mouth out there, handsome. I'm not a man, but I will ruin those hands of yours if you compare me to one again. Photographers won't even be able to bear the sight of you once I'm done."

Justin whimpered, holding his hands preciously close to him as he began stepping back, "Yeah, I think that I'm just going to get out of your way then."

Eva let go of Lightning now, glaring at him and pointing a finger at him, "I'm on whichever team that you aren't on. Now let's get going!"

Eva jogged over to get into position. Lightning did the same after a second. However, he couldn't resist whispering to Noah, "I get it now. That Eva guy got mad because I mistook him for a girl. I mean, it ain't Lightning's fault that Eva's got a ponytail!"

Noah just shook his head and smirked, "That's the most sense you've made all day, you know that?"

Across the field, Eva smirked maliciously at them as the next play began.

(The Bleachers)

Up above, those in the bleachers watched the new events on the field with mixed emotions.

Lindsay, in particular looked worried.

The blonde stood up and gripped the handrails in front of her, her baby blue eyes glancing over at the field as the game began again. Already, Eva was making the field into a warzone.

Lindsay turned her head to Courtney, who had a neutral look on her freckled face.

"Should we do anything to stop Eva from murdering anyone out there?"

Courtney cocked an eyebrow at the blonde and sat back on the bench, crossing her arms.

"Why should we? I'm not Eva's handler. Serves those boys right for not fleeing when they had the chance."

Nearby, Noah crawled over to the bleachers, his body bruised and his clothes dirty. He made his way over to the spot next to where Mike and Zoey were sitting.

Neither noticed the know-it-all until he loudly cleared his throat, "Um, sorry to ruin the romantic moment here, but the poor souls out there need another meat shield to balance the pain."

Mike glanced down at the egghead before turning his gaze to the field, where Eva, who had the football tucked closely into her chesr, slammed into Trent as she ran toward the end zone. The musician was sent flying to the side until he crashed into Harold. They both groaned in pain.

Trent slowly crawled off of Harold, "Why, oh why, did I come back out here?"

Eva finally reached the end zone, scoring another touchdown for her team. Lightning, who had tackled the ground right behind her in futility, hit the ground with his fists.

"Lightning calls foul! Eva must be on steroids!"

After surveilling the scene, Mike looked back at Noah, who was still laying on the ground.

As it turned out, this was a bad decision.

If Mike had kept looking at the field, he would've noticed that Eva had thrown the football at the ground in victory. The ball, as balls do when thrown into something, bounced up and sailed right at Mike, hitting him directly in the face.

Zoey crouched down worriedly over Mike, who had been taken off of his feet by the ball.

"Oh no! Mike, are you alright?"

Mike could be heard groaning as he slowly sat up on the ground. His black hair had fallen down and was currently hanging over his face, obscuring it from view. He quickly brushed the hair from his face, only to reveal a large smile.

Zoey looked slightly surprised at the happy look on his face.

Mike jumped up onto his feet and smiled down at Noah. He slapped the boy on the back, "Of course! I love American football!"

A loud crack was heard after Mike slapped Noah. The bookworm faceplanted seconds later.

The quirky boy looked ready to jog out onto the field before Zoey hugged him from behind.

"What do you want?" A deeper voice than was usual came from Mike, with a harsher and more indifferent tone than he ordinarily used.

Zoey didn't notice this change in tone, however, and simply leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. She let him go, "Have fun out there, Mike! And be careful!"

Mike jogged away onto the field, chuckling quietly, "Oh, I always am."

CONFESSIONAL:

"Mike": "Mike" looked indifferent as he studied his nails, "I'm simply wasting time at the moment as an observer. After all, not much can be done in a ridiculous game like American football."

His hair fell into his face once again. He let out an annoyed grunt and pushed it back up into a spiky position, "I would advise that you watch closely though, because things will be getting a bit rockier from now on." He began whistling as he opened the confession cam door.

Zoey watched Mike singularly as the game began to unfold. He certainly did look like he knew what he was doing, but he also seemed to be playing a bit roughly. Zoey certainly hadn't been expecting that kind of style from her boyfriend.

Noah, who was now sitting next to her, noticed it too.

"Your boyfriend is acting strangely lately, right?"

Zoey immediately craned her head to look at the bookworm. He looked slightly uncaring as he continued, "You know, I've been seeing him around Alejandro quite a bit lately. I think the eel might be manipulating him."

Zoey furrowed her eyebrows in puzzlement, "And what makes you think that? I mean, sure, Mike has been acting a bit strangely lately, but Alejandro hasn't done anything this year."

Noah rolled his eyes and offered her his hand, "We both know that his recent personality change might not be legitimate. You can keep letting him get closer to your boyfriend. That is, if you're willing to take that chance. I can help you get rid of the eel, if you'll trust me."

Zoey looked unsure as she glanced down at his hand. She bit her lip and all of her anxieties about the situation swirled around her mind. After a few seconds, she took Noah's hand into her own and shook it.

She then met his eyes once again, "Why should I trust you?"

Noah answered in a flat tone, "I don't sugarcoat things. Plus, I would think that I'm the safer bet any day over Alejerkdro. It's like choosing a cigarette over rat poison."

Zoey still looked slightly conflicted as he began walking away.

"Who did you want me to vote for next time we lose?"

Without turning around, he answered, "I think that you already know the answer to that question."

(The Middle of the Campground)

Noah stood in line outside of the communal bathroom building, a blue hardcover book in one hand and a towel and change of clothes tossed over his left shoulder.

He was reading peacefully, waiting for the shower to open up inside before it was all ruined.

A loud voice boomed all over the camp, "Hello campers! Miss me?!"

Silence reigned as Noah rolled his eyes and kept reading.

"...Glad to hear it! And I'm sure that you'll be glad to hear who is the lucky team up for elimination tonight!"

Noah's eyes widened and he almost dropped his book. He looked up at the nearest speaker, "I thought that today was a free day!"

A laugh came out of the speaker. Chris's voice was once again magnified out of it.

"Yep, I tricked you all! I've been watching allllll day, and let me tell you, some of you were quite disappointing in your improv performances!"

"Anyway, I'll be seeing...The Screaming Bears at the campfire pit tonight! You were a lot less interesting to watch. I mean, spice it up, people! You should know that you're always on camera by now!"

Noah quietly cursed under his breath. This threw a giant wrench into his plans. First, he had been beaten to death over and over again on a football field, and now he had to set up an elimination?

It seemed that Chris wasn't quite done ragging, though, "Meet me at the campfire at the usual time. I'll be waiting!"

A click was heard, indicating that Chris was done. Noah wracked his brain with all of this new information.

A few minutes later, he heard someone walking up behind him. He turned around to see Justin, who also had a towel and a set of clothes with him.

Noah pursed his lips. He had never liked talking to the model before, and that was before they were vying over control of their team this season.

"So I assume that you heard about the ceremony, anti-me?"

Justin scowled, "Of course I did. Fortunately, the announcement ended that terrible football game. I can only take being manhandled for so long. Eva is a monster, and Lightning is a brute. Even that Mike guy is someone to watch out for."

Noah didn't blink as he questioned him again, "I assume that you kept playing to get onto Lightning's good side?"

Justin paused for a few moments before closing his eyes and shrugging, "No point in hiding it, I guess. It's always good to have contingency plans to lean back on."

"Mhm, and you're going to go along with the psychopath-in-training's elimination plan tonight?"

Justin frowned, his blue eyes looking slightly conflicted and uncomfortable, "I don't know if I would say that."

Noah finally looked interested. He nodded and looked ahead, "Interesting. So you don't want Harold to go?"

Justin shook his head, "Definitely not. He's a good friend of mine."

"I think we both know who should go instead, then."

The male model reluctantly held out one of his hands, "Truce?"

Noah nodded, shaking Justin's hand softly, "Truce."

CONFESSIONAL:

Justin: The male model glanced up at the camera with apprehension, "Yeah, I'm probably going to pay for this big time once Courtney finds out, but I just can't do it. Not right now, at least."

Noah: The bookworm is rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "I've gotta say, I was pretty surprised by Justin's proposal. Still not sure whether I can trust him with this, but hey," Noah shrugged, "the worst thing that could happen is a tie if he did lie to me."

Zoey: The indie chick looked extremely uncomfortable, "Well...Noah did promise to help me with the whole Alejandro situation. And Heather did kind of freak out earlier," her head tilted to the side as she mulled over her options.

Heather: The queen bee looked a bit downcast as she leaned against the wall of the confession cam, "Yeah, so I messed up earlier. A lot. He just gets under my skin so well."

She grew an angry look and clenched her fists in resolve at the thought of Alejandro, "But nobody leaves me high and dry like that! If Courtney can help me survive tonight, Alejandro is going to pay!"

Courtney: The CIT looked overjoyed with a wide smile across her freckled cheeks, "Heather's blunder earlier has set things up perfectly! I knew she would do anything to save herself, so I told her to vote for dear old Harold."

She then scowled, "Of course, Heather will probably go next. Nobody talks to me the way that she did earlier."

(The Campfire Pit)

"Well well, we find ourselves here once again, eh Bears? Gotta say, I really thought you guys were going to pull the win out at the beginning of today! You lost me $20!"

Some of the Bears scowled at Chris from their log-seats.

Heather crossed her arms and glared at the host, "What are you complaining about, Chris? We lost a challenge that you didn't even announce!"

Chris pouted from behind his podium, "Classic Heather. Unable to think of anyone but yourself. Now Chef's gonna get all cocky on me! That's the true tragedy of the day."

When he was met with angry stares, he whistled nonchalantly and pulled out a notecard, "Alright yeesh! Go ahead and be babies about it. I was just trying to voice my complaint. Labor unions do it all the time and nobody gives them this kind of treatment."

"Labor unions are ran by actual people!"

Chris's eyes widened and he looked offended. His eyebrows slanted downward as he picked up the plate of marshmallows, "Wooooow. So I'm not a person anymore? I'm more of a person than you teenagers will ever be. Teenagers are like animals!"

From behind Chris, Chef shook his head in disagreement, "Animals didn't try to bomb me out in the field."

Chris looked uncomfortable, "Yeaaaaahhhhh, I'm gonna go ahead and start the ceremony."

His face grew dramatic as music began to play in the background, "Alright Screaming Bears, I have 7 marshmallows on my plate. There are 8 of you here tonight."

"You lost today's challenge because the Killer Sharks, frankly, provided more natural drama than you did, in my and Chef's humble opinion."

Chris grimaced, "I mean, three of their members trekked through the abandoned mine! Alejandro caused Heather to go ballistic on everyone! And..."

He whispered annoyedly, "I can't tell you the last few bits. Would ruin a few future surprises."

"Anyway, when I call your name, come up and get your marshmallow. The camper whose name is not called tonight will be eliminated." Chris took a quick glance at all of their faces, his eyebrows slanted downward to preserve some suspense.

"Whoever is eliminated will have to take a walk down the Dock of Shame and take a ride on the Boat of Losers. Meaning you are out of the contest."

The host began speaking rapidly, "And you can't come back. Eveerrrrrr!"

He was met with some weird looks from the campers.

He shrugged, "I didn't want to take the risk of you interrupting me. It's been a rough day."

Chef agreed, "Yeah, staying in that bunker all day. The signal is terrible, and my food wasn't heated as quickly."

"Talk about being detached from reality," Noah muttered under his breath.

Chris straightened up and smiled widely, holding the plate of marshmallows mockingly out in front of the Bears, "Now for my favorite part."

His eyes scanned all of the Bears, some of them looking more confident than others.

"Justin. Noah. Lindsay. You're all safe."

Justin and Noah shared a glance as they both walked up to claim their marshmallows. Lindsay looked happy as she picked hers up and stood by them.

"Courtney. Zoey."

Courtney smirked and strutted up to the other safe Bears, shooting a slight glare at Harold. Zoey smiled and looked anxiously at the three remaining Bears without marshmallows.

Chris let out a sigh and rolled his eyes as he announced the next safe camper, "Lightning, despite being excruciatingly annoying, you are safe once again."

Lightning pumped his fists and ran over to join his safe teammates, "Sha-Lightning!"

Chris muttered something under his breath before smirking evilly at Harold and Heather, who both now looked nervous.

Chris tossed his plate up and caught it, "Well, it seems like one of you two is going tonight. Honestly, I won't be that sad either way.

Heather sneered at Chris and Harold just looked miffed. Chris's eyes shifted from one to the other several times, obviously enjoying the moment.

"The last marshmallow of the night goes to..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Harold's eyes went nervously from side to side as he hunched in his seat anxiously. Heather gulped loudly, her hands tightly gripping the edges of her log seat to help her keep her composure.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Harold."

"Yessss," Harold pumped his fist and ran up to grab his marshmallow.

Chris granted a small smile to Harold before turning a sadistic grin back onto Heather. The queen bee looked disappointed and saddened. She didn't, however, look all that surprised.

Chris popped up next to her, looking gleeful as he poked her shoulder, "Oh Heeeaaattthhheerrr. Looks like you've got a boat to catch. Best to not keep it waiting."

Heather mustered a weak glare at the host before pushing him back, "I get it. You don't have to remind me." Her tone sounded remarkably calm.

Chris frowned and slouched over in disappointment, "Dangit, you were supposed to majorly freak out. It was going to be great for ratings!"

Chef Hatchet, standing back far in the background, looked sheepish as he tucked a large dart gun back into his pocket.

She stood up shakily before beginning to walk slowly toward the Dock of Shame. Most of her teammates watched her go passively.

Except for Lindsay, who greeted Heather sympathetically by the dock.

"Don't be sad, Heather. I mean, you already won once, right?!" The blonde said this all in a consoling tone, but the expression on Heather's face didn't change.

The queen bee gave a weak smile to Lindsay and patted her on the shoulder before beginning her walk down the Dock of Shame. Her teammates silently watched as she made her long trek down the creaky dock, eventually stepping onto the Boat of Losers. She looked back at them with emotionless eyes as the boat began pulling away from the dock.

Chris watched it with a wide grin, his hands clasped proudly behind his back. Once the Boat of Losers had sailed out of view, the host cheerfully turned back to the Screaming Bears.

"Screaming Bears! You have once again proved that even the most high-profile of eliminations can be a snooze-fest! I would be mad at all of you if I wasn't so glad to see Heather go."

He then pointed authoritatively to the campground, "Now get your losing butts back to your cabin. And please try to win tomorrow. You're all safe. For tonight." His white grin glinted in the moonlight.

CONFESSIONAL:

Courtney: The CIT aggressively clenched her fists, her eyes narrowed threateningly, "There's no possible way that this could have happened! It should have been a tie at the least!"

She pointed one of her index fingers at the camera, "Justin had better watch out. If he tries to double-cross me like this again, I'll give him the same treatment I did back in season 2!"

Noah: His arms are crossed in satisfaction, "Yeah, that went about as well as it possibly could have."

Justin: The model shot a dazzling smile to the camera, his hands comfortably braced behind his head as he leaned against the wall of the confession cam.

"Yeah, that went exactly according to plan! Who's a genius? That's right, it's me!" He tapped his chin in thought, "The only downside might be how Courtney takes all of this. I hope she keeps her cool like she has been lately."

Courtney: She is seen aggressively punching the wall of the confession cam multiple times with extreme angry rigor, causing the tiny outhouse to quake from side to side.

Noah: "Hopefully Justin is as dumb as he looks. Maybe I can take advantage of this temporary truce and begin setting things up against him?" The bookworm pursed his lips and glanced at the ceiling in thought.

Justin: "Noah underestimates the power of my beautiful mind," he gestured to his forehead with a grin, "but he's got a rude awakening coming. I'm more popular than him, I'm more cool than him, and I'm more handsome than him."

Noah: He gazed monotonously at the camera, "But make no mistake-"

Justin: Justin's eyes were narrowed and he looked hunched over, "This truce is-"

Noah: "Over. But he doesn't have to know that. yet." He folded his arms across his chest and sat up straight.

(The Top of the Cliff)

Alejandro solemnly watched the Boat of Losers drift further and further away from Wawanakwa, his hands snugly tucked into his pockets.

Once the boat was out of sight, his head tilted up to glance at the vibrant moon for several seconds. Once he was done, he turned around and looked at the camera, his eyes a curious mixture of sadness and victory.

He held his head up high as he spoke directly to the camera, "Sacrificing Heather was unfortunate, but at least we are even now for what happened in Hawaii. And maybe, just maybe, she'll find it in her heart to forgive me after I've won this little game."

Having said this, he nodded at the camera and began making the long trek back to the Killer Sharks cabin, his figure becoming shadowy as he moved further into the distance.

(The Boat of Losers)

Heather sighed heavily as she watched the island become a dot in the distance. Well, there went another shot at the money.

Honestly, she didn't feel that bad about this. She had already won before, and she hadn't even gotten to touch her money for a full minute before it was cruelly snatched from her. There was no doubt in her mind that fate would manufacture some new way to take her prize again if she somehow had won.

Well, some people called that karma, but Heather didn't believe in such things. Or at least she preferred not to. If it was real, she was practically screwed for life.

Honestly, it was such a double standard. She merely let out some anger and she had gotten voted off for it. Alejandro had incited her gleefully, and he was still seen as a great guy.

It made her blood boil.

She glanced at the crystal clear water, the moonlight reflecting off of it like it would silver. She had meant what she had said. If only she knew for sure if he had meant what he had said.

Chris McLean is seen standing on the Dock of Shame, half of his face enshrined in shadows and the other half illuminated by the moonlight. He grinned widely, waving at the camera with glee.

"Hello viewers! My my, that was a great idea, if I do say so myself! So much drama, and so much delicious pain both in the mines and out on that field! I figured we would get some natural tension if the campers thought that the cameras weren't rolling!"

The host held his sides as he began wildly laughing. After a few seconds, he wiped a tear from his eyes and stood up straight once more, "Perhaps the person who came up with such a wonderful and cheap challenge idea should be given a raise," he whispered to the camera nonchalantly while motioning discreetly to himself.

"We saw Mike continue to look more suspicious! We saw Ezekiel, Scott, and Alejandro take a deep tumble down the rabbit hole! And we saw Heather go off in a blood-boiling temper tantrum! Overall, I'd say that today was a really great day! Well, at least for some people," he rolled his eyes a bit and motioned with his head to the direction of the campers' cabins.

"Now if only I'd thought to bring popcorn down into my bunker. What a shame," he snapped his fingers in disappointment.

He snapped out of this a mere second later, redirecting his gaze to the camera with a simple evil grin.

"Oh ho ho, just wait until you see what we've got in store for them next! They'll be begging for another challenge like this!"

The host cackled and threw his hands up in the air, "But we'll save that for your viewing pleasure next week!"

His head twisted to the left dramatically, the camera now zeroed in on his head alone.

"Can Alejandro still claim to be innocent and reformed after everything that happened today?! Unlikely."

"Can Noah's weak body physically maintain the beating that Lightning is putting it through?! Also unlikely."

"Will Justin be publicly hanged for defying Courtney? I've got five bucks that it happens early in the morning!"

The host stared straight into the camera now, a smirk on his face as he snapped his fingers.

"I promise you that we'll film it all! All of it! We'll see what shenanigans our crazy teenagers get up to next time on TOTAL. DRAMA WARS!"

Votes:

Justin: Heather

Noah: Heather

Zoey: Heather

Harold: Heather

Lightning: Heather

Lindsay: Harold

Courtney: Harold

Heather: Harold

Vote Tally:

Heather: 5 Votes

Harold: 3 Votes

The Killer Sharks: Alejandro, Scott, Cody, Trent, Ezekiel, Mike, Leshawna, and Eva

The Screaming Bears: Lightning, Zoey, Courtney, Justin, Noah, Lindsay, and Harold

Elimination Order: Jo, Duncan, Brick, Gwen, Heather, ?

BOOM! Chapter 10! I hope you all liked it and the changes it hath brought! The plan was to eventually phase out the follow-up challenges to make elimination ceremonies more interesting and to give more weight to main challenges. I decided to just go ahead and do it based on the reviews of Mark Levins, who, by the way, is writing his own AMAZING competition fic! Check it out. He reviews this fic, so you could click on this story's reviews to find his profile.

Of course, it would be convenient to do this after posting your own review for this chapter ;)

Which reminds me, please Review or Follow/Favorite the story if you like it! It tells me whether I'm going in the right direction with how I'm writing and even the simplest of reviews can give me some energy to write quicker. Just saying. Shills gonna shill.

Do you think Justin will fall back in line with Courtney? Will Justin get the upper hand over Noah, or vice versa?

What do you think is going to happen with Mal running around now?

How did you like the Heather/Alejandro in the chapter?

Any thoughts about any scenes as a whole? Favorite characters?

This is WhatTheHeck23, signing off!