Total Drama: Clash of the Titans Chapter 3: Dude, Where's My Fleece?, a total drama series fanfic

Total Drama: Clash of the Titans – Episode 3: Dude, Where's My Fleece?

"Last time on Total Drama: Clash of the Titans, it was a tale of two lovers as Mike and Zoey clashed in the first Underworld battle of the season. Or it would have been a clash had Mike not fallen on his arrows for his girlfriend. Probably got him more than a kiss, but definitely not the money. Then, in a Trojan Horse inspired round of supersized arts and crafts, Duncan and Gwen buried the hatchet, Sugar and Beth bonded over boys, and Courtney went to town trying to get her past enemies taken out. Jasmine's avant-garde design choice nearly snagged Team Pantheon the win, but in the end, The Zombie Slayer's sick Pegasus design won out, sparing a falsely feudal Alejandro and Heather from facing danger. And at the elimination ceremony, it came down to swing vote Sugar flipping her vote after Blabby Beth spilled the beans, blindsiding Jasmine and causing a massive blow up that outed Courtney's entire plan! What drama is in store for the fallout? Can Courtney manage to recover from such a devastating blunder? Will Sugar actually find a man who can stand to be around her for more than five minutes? Find out those answers, here on Total Drama: Clash of the Titans!"

As the earliest glimmer of pink crept up from the horizon, Courtney ran through the Greek forest, hightailing it through the trees and shrubbery while keeping an eye out for anything that looked suspiciously "off" for the location. She was tired as hell and the skin around her eyes was basically 90% bags at this point, but her legs weren't stopping. They couldn't stop. She wouldn't let them stop.

Confessional

"That was one of the worst nights in five seasons of Total Drama," Courtney sighed, nearly dosing off in the library. She slapped both hands over her face and rubbed downwards. "It was just a total mess. I had this big, fancy plan to get Duncan out of here and then somehow Jasmine goes home instead. We didn't really get to talk much after the ceremony because everyone just went to bed and let things cool down, but I couldn't even sleep from the stress! So I decided to go out into the woods to see if I couldn't find one of those idols or the pendant or whatever I can find. With Duncan having all the power and me in the hot seat, I'll probably need all three of those to be honest."

End Confessional

It wasn't long before she caught a glimpse of something white creeping through the bushes. Courtney screeched to a halt and found just the person she needed to talk to.

"Scott!"

The dirt farmer screamed and bumbled his way out of the log his torso was crammed in. Courtney rushed to his side and brushed the soil and cobwebs off his face.

"Sorry for scaring you, but we have to talk. Now!"

Scott spit out a couple bugs and rubbed his sore head. "Is it about the last vote? Because I'm worried too, you know. What do you think I'm doing out here? Looking for grub?"

Courtney plopped down on the rotting log and sighed, finally resting her body for the first time in over a day. "Well if you find one of the statues, let me know. I might need it soon. Duncan probably wants me dead for putting his coin in the urn last night and he totally has the numbers to finish the job."

Scott started picking at the dirt to find the most delectable morsels of soil for his pre-breakfast breakfast. "Well there's a lot of island to search. I'm not just gonna find one on a morning stroll to the shower or something. So just… give me some time." He popped a bit of dirt into his mouth and Courtney grimaced.

"I can't believe I kissed that mouth," she groaned. "But you have no clue how much danger we're in. Duncan, Beth, and Owen are tight. Sugar is somehow friends with Beth and I'm like 90% sure she flipped on us, and Lightning is… Lightning. Even if he's a huge dumbass, he's the strongest person on the team now that Jasmine is left. So that leaves me: the poor, little sitting duck with nowhere to hide. And if I go home, you're in danger once your immunity is up. All because Sugar flipped for no reason!"

Scott blinked. "Well I'm not giving you my immunity if you're gonna ask for it."

"I wasn't going to!"

"Good, because Scotty Boy's gotta stay safe too. But I might be able to wrangle some power on my team, so you just need to give it your all in the challenge today and hope you don't lose."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "How do you know? You haven't had to vote yet."

"Yeah, but Heather and Alejandro are really pissing people off with their weird breakup drama," Scott explained. "Turning the others against them should be easy."

"Well that's great, but I don't see how that helps my position."

Scott took another bite of soil. "Uh, it doesn't. But just go out there and crush it today and you'll be fine."

Courtney perked up with the tiniest bit of hope. "So… Would you throw the challenge today? For my sake?"

Scott just stared at Courtney, caught in a tough dilemma. "I can think about it… But we're a stacked team so it might be tough. Plus I don't wanna get busted for sabotage even with immunity. My reputation's already dirty as it is. Just... kick butt today. Let's leave it at that."

Confessional

Scott rolled his eyes. "I knew teaming up with Courtney would be a mixed bag. The lady is hot and totally my type, but she's so demanding and it's kinda annoying. But I need allies this season and she's the only one I have, so I gotta keep her happy. Happy wife, happy life." His expression suddenly shifted to panic and he threw his hands to the camera, shaking them furiously. "No! It's an expression! She's not my- Don't air this, Chris! Please! She'll never let me live it down!"

(static)

Now it was Courtney's turn to roll her eyes. "Scott's not much help right now, but whatever. I shouldn't have expected a dirt-eating slob to much help anyways... even if he's cute. But I can get by without his help even if I have to single-handedly win every challenge until the final two, because I refuse to be defeated this early."

End Confessional

As the cast gathered for their morning gruel, tensions were high on Team Pantheon, so much so that The Zombie Slayers couldn't even enjoy the high of their recent win on account of the negative vibes flowing through the courtyard. Sky was obviously sad to see Jasmine go, but felt more confident in her chances of winning without her biggest physical rival in the main game, so she casually ate her breakfast with a conflicted pout. Scott knew all about what went down and just enjoyed his gruel, not wanting to seem too invested in the goings on of the other team. Gwen and Cody were relaxed for the most part, but the presence of a pissed off, moody Duncan sitting nearby and giving snide looks to Courtney was enough to make things awkward. Heather and Alejandro seemed to be the only Zombie Slayers not fazed by the tension. Both of them sat on opposite ends of the courtyard, playing a little game of the fake silent treatment. Overall, things were quiet.

And then Shawn showed up from his night in the woods.

Walking in with a burlap bag and mud on his face, Shawn strolled into the complex with a confident gait. "Guess what, everybody? I found some berries this morning to spice up that gruel, so treat your tastebuds to-"

And then he froze. He could tell something was wrong right away. There was something missing. Something familiar. Taking a quick head count was all he needed to confirm the worst case scenario, and with a dramatic, slow-motion fall, he collapsed to his knees and screamed to Olympus.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Courtney slowly sunk under the table, leaving only her beady little eyes peeking over the edge. On the other hand, Sugar smirked to the camera, giving it the ol' Dreamworks Face.

"Who did it?!" the prepper shrieked to the other 12 players. "Who voted Jasmine out?! I want answers or I'll… or I'll… I'll lock you all out of my bunker when the first lurcher wave hits!" He leapt up like a spring and vaulted onto the table just inches from Courtney's face. "Was it you?!"

"Shawn, calm down!" Sky pleaded. "It's not the end of the world."

"Yeah, but if the end of the world does hit, I don't want Jasmine trapped on some weird far off island without protection!" With sharp fury, he pointed a finger down at all six Pantheon members. "I want names! Who voted her off?! Spill the guts!"

"I did," said Duncan, now standing just inches behind Shawn. As soon as the zombie nut turned around, his collar was grabbed and he was lifted off the table by the bad boy. And just like that, his anger turned to dread. "And if you want to make a scene, go ahead and make one. But I promise you I'm not in the mood for this crap." His fist released Shawn's collar and he fell to the ground. "Just be glad you're still here and eat your breakfast. And take a shower while you're at it. You stink, dude."

On the way out, Duncan grabbed his bowl of gruel and scarfed down the last bit before tossing it in the trash bin nearby. And then he was gone, leaving Shawn a broken mess on the ground.

"J-Jasmine," he sniffed. "I wish I could have stopped them."

Beth and Sugar looked down at Shawn with two totally different expressions.

Confessional

Beth tapped her fingers together anxiously, staring off to the side of the library as to not give the camera direct eye contact. "I feel kinda bad for Shawn. I know how hard it is to lose the person you love and those two were like peanut butter and jelly: super sweet and also super sticky from being outside in the woods all the time. But still, they were sweet. I just hope he doesn't hate me or anything, because I don't want my neck snapped in the middle of the night. Would he do that though? I think he knows how to do, but only on zombies. But zombies are just dead people, so… Does he already consider me a dead woman walking?"

(static)

Sugar let out a goofy, obnoxious laugh. "Haw haw haw! Man, this is too good! I got to see Jasmine ornerier than a fox snapped up in a bear trap, and now I get to see Shawn madder than my granny after losin' a poker game to her donkey? Why, that's two Sugarin's for the price of one!"

End Confessional

Cody put a hand on Shawn's shoulder as he laid half-dead against the table. "Come on, buddy. We need to go see the Underworld battle. You can talk to Jasmine there, remember?"

Shawn wobbled to his feet with Cody's help. "Yeah, that's true. I just hope she's not suffering out there on that island. She's a super talented survivalist, but I have no clue how bad Chris made it out there. What if she's strapped to rack and getting flayed alive?!"

Gwen walked past them on the way out. "Uh, I don't think so. I'm sure she's fine. Now let's go and get this over with."

Shawn gained his composure, or what was left of it, and left with the rest of his team, including Alejandro and Heather who refused to make eye contact with each other until they were the last two left. Then they shared a devilish smirk, winked, and joined the group.

Over on the Underworld, Zoey ran through the thick jungle looking for Jasmine. It wasn't long before she found the Aussie hanging from a durable branch 20 feet in the air, doing pull ups with just one arm.

"Uh, Jasmine," the indie chick said. "We need to get going. The boat's here and we've got our challenge in like fifteen minutes."

"Alright," Jasmine sighed, dropping down with a massive thud which shook a frightened Zoey to the bones. "Just needed to get in last minute run on the island obstacle course before we headed off."

Zoey blinked. "Obstacle course? Is that where you were all night?"

Jasmine wiped the sweat from her brow and joined Zoey in returning to the beach. "Well the little cot they gave us was a little small for me. Okay, a lot small. So I had to find a way to get a good night's rest so I can crush this challenge, and into the trees I went. But you know, along the way I found a nice little trail with some good workout spots and decided to do some training. You got your pull ups, your army crawl, your parkour, your climbing, and even a little termite snack at the end." She pulled a handful of the bugs out of her cargo shorts pocket and popped them in her mouth. "I'd let you have some, but you know, I can't afford to support my competition right now. But if you win, you know where to find 'em."

All Zoey could do was casually say "Thanks" and stare ahead with a slight twinge of fear on her face.

Underworld Confessional

Zoey gulped again. "Yeah, this is scary. I promised Mike I would win for us though, so if I have to beat Jasmine, I'll go out and beat her. But it's hard to feel confident when she's way taller and way buffer than I am. Plus she literally found a way to make a gym out here! Who does that on a deserted island instead of like... I dunno, literally anything else?"

(static)

"Zoey's a tough competitor, but I can take her," Jasmine explained. "Livin' out here on the edge is my thing, so I'm more than ready to crush it, take her out, take out everyone else who comes here, and get back in to fight another day." And then Jasmine got serious. "But when I get to that arena, I have some questions for some people. I might be taking the elements nicely, but the blindside is another matter, and I'm gettin' some answers or some revenge… or both."

End Underworld Confessional

With the power of editing, Jasmine and Zoey walked up through the temple's archway and saw the other 13 contestants as well as Chris waiting in the amphitheater.

"Welcome, girls!" announced the host. "Ready for today's do-or-die challenge?"

Jasmine glared into the crowd, laser-focused on one person in particular. "Yeah, I am. But it's not the only reason I'm here."

"Proceed," said a smirking Chris, clearly hyped for the impending TV gold.

Zoey cringed. She knew what was coming, and drama wasn't really her specialty. She'd always loved to enjoy the more chill aspects of life and stayed far, far away from all the toxicity, but now she was smack dab in the middle of it with nowhere to go and all eyes on her. But she had to remain calm and focus on the task at hand. Jasmine was a tough beast in challenges and trained her ass off all night, but she was off her mental game. That was her one weakness and Zoey would have to take advantage of it.

So Jasmine began.

"Well first of all, I'd just like to call out the kooky wombats who thought votin' out their strongest player and the MVP of the challenge was a good idea." She was still locked on Courtney as the words spilled out with a venomous edge. "I don't know why it was me or who planned this crap, but I just want to name some names right now. Courtney, you lied to my face yesterday and said we were good. If that's your game, then I hope you're happy with yourself because your goose is cooked, mate. Stupid, stupid move."

With nowhere to hide, Courtney just winced as the flames came her way, taking every tongue lashing with full force.

"For the rest of the game, all anybody'll see you as is a dirty, spineless flipper. I was willing to go along with your plan even if I wasn't sure about trustin' ya, but I should've listened to my gut because now look at me! First voted out, stuck on some deserted island with a literal Odyssey ahead of me to get back in! All because I gave you a chance and it bit me!" So with her throat getting sore, she faced the other players, especially Shawn, who looked sad and miserable listening to her speech. "So you know what y'all should do? Never listen to a word Courtney says! If she wants you to vote with her, tell her to buzz off and vote her ass out ASAP so I can crush her myself! Alright, I'm done. Shawn, I love you, and good luck. Zoey, anything you want to say?"

Zoey blinked. "Um… not really. Kinda hard to top that."

"Good," Jasmine said, crossing her arms defiantly as she eyed a petrified Courtney. "Let's end this, shall we?"

But Courtney wasn't petrified for long. She put a trembling finger up and said "Can I respond?"

The Aussie giant rolled her eyes. "As if there's anything you could say right now. Just zip it."

"But I didn't vote you off," Courtney pleaded. "You have it all wrong! It wasn't me!"

"Then who was it?" Jasmine asked, leaning towards the type-A with a mean glint in her eyes.

"It was..." Courtney looked at the rest of her team. Who was the most likely flipper. "It had to have been Sugar!"

And that's when Jasmine's face dropped. "Wait... Sugar?"

Sugar simply shrugged. "I didn't like being talked down to like one of them cats that peed on the carpet and voted how I felt."

Jasmine's anger suddenly surged again. "So I spent all night raging about cutting Courtney's throat when I should have been thinkin' about cutting yours?!"

"Sounds about right," Sugar said with carefree smile. "I mean, it ain't like we're friends or anything' right? I never promised you nothin' yesterday, so I dunno why you're so upset. Suck it up!"

Courtney took the chance to make a splash, so she stood up, pointed in Sugar's face, and made an even bigger scene. "See! See! I told you I wasn't the liar! Sugar's the one who flipped, not me! I'm innocent, so I'm totally trustworthy!"

Then Duncan stood up, pushed his way past a terrified Owen and Beth, and met with Courtney right in front of Lightning. "Well you still went behind my back to vote me off! If anything I should be thanking Sugar right now for keeping me safe!"

"But she's a certified liar!" Courtney argued back, nearing swatting Lightning in the face with her exaggerated hand-talking. "I never said we were good so you shouldn't be upset about me gunning for you!"

"But I thought we were cool!" Duncan shot back, stepping on Lightning's foot and causing the jock to gasp in pain. "If you had a problem with me you should have just been real with me instead of trying this stupid scheme, which backfired miserably by the way! I don't even know why I was the target!"

"Because I didn't trust you!" Courtney yelled, managing to smack Lightning in the face this time. "You should've come to me before I made the choice! And you shouldn't have gone off scheming with Gwen to get me out! That's why you were the target!"

Across the amphitheater, Gwen blinked. "Uh, when did we do that?"

"You mean that time Gwen and I made up in like five minutes?" Duncan asked the fuming CIT, stepping on Lightning's other foot. "You thought we were plotting against you? Courtney, this is why you never win this stupid show! You just flip out over nothing and overplay!"

Lightning had enough of the fighting a minute ago and jumped to his feet to finally put a stop to it, pushing both Islanders away by their chests. "Sha-shut it! The Lightning doesn't wanna hear your crap! If y'all wanna blow up on each other, get a room!"

Gwen raised a brow. "In... a perfectly wholesome sense."

The sudden entrance of a relatively rational mind into the fray cooled things immediately. Courtney returned to her seat cursing under her breath and Duncan flipped her off on the way back to his. But the damage was already done. Owen and Beth were scared to death of both of them. Gwen just wanted to roll up into a ball and die. Sky looked like she wanted to die too. Even Jasmine, who spent a good couple minutes chewing out Courtney, was stunned by how it only took a couple minutes more for her rant to get totally overshadowed. And then poor little Zoey didn't even know if she wanted to get back into the game after that mess. But Chris enjoyed it. And that's what mattered.

"Well that was certainly eventful," the host said with a smile. "But we still have an Underworld challenge to get to, so Zoey and Jasmine, take your places."

Confessional

"Yeah, I'm hosed," Courtney said, her glazed eyes staring into the audience's souls. "There's no coming back from that mess."

(static)

Duncan growled and tossed a book across the library. "Courtney is such a pain, man! It's like pulling a molar every time you deal with some of her BS, only the molar keeps growing back every season!"

(static)

"Well that sucked," Gwen sighed. "If Courtney had a problem with Duncan and I talking for five minutes, she probably has an issue with me too, so it looks like I might have another hatchet to bury… if I even want to deal with her right now. If I'm lucky, she'll just implode out of the game today, lose the next Underworld challenge, and I won't have to put up with her again. Even if we get along sometimes and tried to make things work, she always finds a way to ruin it."

End Confessional

Once again, the power of editing prevailed as the challenge was set up and ready to commence. On one end of the arena, two crash test dummies decked out in heavy bronze armor on the chest and head, hung on hooks. On the other end, Zoey and Jasmine readied themselves. And between it all, a short obstacle course awaited them.

"Now," Chris began. "According to the story of Odysseus, one of the first obstacles he encountered on his way home was the island of the Lazy Lotus Eaters. Think of them as the stoners of the ancient world who got super wasted on fruit and did nothing with their lives. For today's challenge, you'll have to traverse this obstacle course to rescue a wasted crew member from a trippy, lackadaisical doom and get them back to the starting line to win. Along the way you'll have three obstacles: an eight foot incline to start, a mid-air net crawl, and finally a trench of sticky, sticky honey that will slow your progress."

"Well that doesn't seem that hard," said Jasmine, already cocky about her chances.

"You might think that," Chris said with a chuckle. "But to make it more interesting, one of the Lotus Eaters, played by none other than Chef, will be firing down on you with a Lotus Blaster." The host gestured to Chef as he exited the amphitheater tunnel, dressed in a stereotypical tropical Islander grass skirt and bearing his traditional spaghetti bazooka on his back. "However, since we can't legally pump you full of opium to simulate the effects of the lotus fruit, Chef will be shooting you with tranq-bombs which will explode on impact and disable the use of any limb it hits, which makes it way harder to traverse the course. Anyways, the first person to get their dummy over the line stays in the game."

Jasmine's cocky attitude dissolved as if Chris poured acid all over it. This was… not her challenge anymore.

Confessional

Shawn covered his face with his beanie and screamed. "Ahhhh! Jasmine's body is a way bigger target for those bombs! I wish I could just… take her place or something and crush it in her name because this is exactly the kind of dodge-and-grab challenge my training prepared me for!" He stood up to leave the library with his beanie still over his head and smacked his head straight into the camera, causing it to flash to static.

End Confessional

Chris counted the two girls down as both readied up by leaning forward. "Ready… Steady… Palms sweaty... Mom's spaghetti… And GO!"

Jasmine bolted past Zoey to gain an early lead and vaulted over the eight foot incline without any issues, but Chef was waiting for her at the end the course and took aim, firing an orange-sized ball of purple powder right into her chest. Her upper body went limp for a brief second and she collapsed down the opposite side of the incline, smacking her face into the dirt.

Shawn leapt up and screamed "JASMINE!" so loud that Heather fell out of her seat and right into Alejandro's lap. They briefly enjoyed the embrace, but remembered the ruse and shoved each other away.

Zoey on the other hand hid on the safe side of the wall and waited for Chef to reload before taking the lead, sliding past a downed Jasmine seconds before she recovered and shook some sense back into her body.

The indie chick jumped head first into the tube of mesh netting hanging five feet off the ground and struggled to push her way through, feeling more like she was trapped in zero gravity than in some netting. It was then that Chef finally got another few rounds ready to fire and blasted Zoey's way, as Jasmine wisely chose to avoid entering the tunnel until the coast was clear.

With the impending shots zooming her way, Zoey knew she had to make a move and leaned into the left side of the tunnel with all her strength, pushing the netting to one side as the balls harmlessly impacted behind her.

"Yes!" she cheered. "Take that, Lotus-muncher!"

Chef growled and fired again. Zoey leaned to the opposite side of the arena, but quickly realized that Chef knew what was up and had intentionally fired a little to the right. With his read and aim dead on, Zoey was blasted by one of the balls, taking out her left arm which fell hopelessly to her side from its defending position.

"Ah! Crap!" she groaned. The net suddenly shook as Jasmine entered behind her, pushing through inch by inch with her big, oversized frame. Zoey struggled to forge ahead to keep up her lead, but Jasmine made up ground despite her stunned chest and abdomen. It was awkward, but Jasmine was getting the job done.

"Block the way, Zoey!" Gwen shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth. "Don't let her through!"

Shawn stood in front of Gwen and shouted even louder. "Go for it Jas! Use her as a human shield!"

Zoey gasped as Shawn's idea became a reality. She felt a couple big hands grab under her arms and push her forward, right into the path of Chef's next barrage of balls. She fought as hard as she could to break out of Jasmine's grasp, but her Amazonian-level strength was too much for even Zoey and the balls landed, taking out her sides and abdomen and barely missing her legs thanks to a well timed block by her already defunct left arm.

Jasmine pushed Zoey's body out the other side of the course and bolted past her towards the moat of honey, but Zoey wasn't done yet.

"Way to play dirty," Zoey growled. "Low blow, Jasmine!" She got to her feet and bolted towards the honey as well, just as Chef loaded up again and opened fire.

Both girls dodged most of the shots, and any that landed on Zoey were taken by her already paralyzed arm which proved to be the best shield a girl could ask for. When both reached the moat, it was game on and neck and neck. The moat itself was 20 feet across and when both girls jumped in, they found themselves up to their waists in sticky honey.

"Ugh!" Zoey groaned, forcing one foot in front of the other. "Chris, this is the worst!"

Jasmine on the other hand was aided by her height and found it far easier to move, and finally took the lead over Zoey. But it wasn't long before Chef's next barrage came. Both girls were sitting ducks and Chef managed to land shots on both of them. Zoey tried to block it but took a hit square in the face and Jasmine took a hit on her right shoulder.

"Gutaaa tahnk fist," Zoey mumbled, unable to form a coherent sentence anymore. But words weren't worth anything in this challenge. Gotta think fast was right, and Zoey thought fast, grabbing a glob of honey and taking aim with her one good arm. Chef raised his bazooka to fire again, but was met with a smack of sticky honey right in the face.

"Huve uh tost uh yon medthine!" she slurred, pushing forward as Jasmine lobbed more globs of honey at their assailant.

"Nice work, Zoey, but I still gotta beat ya!"

Jasmine crawled out of the moat and unhooked her armored dummy seconds before Zoey, but the sheer weight of the things combined with their already weakened arms and torsos made it almost impossible to carry them overhead.

"Crap!" Jasmine cursed, kicking her dummy. "Chris, can we take the armor off first!"

"Yuh," Zoey said, trying to drag her dummy back to the moat. "Thas us nerluh ibpothibale!"

Chris tapped his chin. "Well I guess I never said you had to get the armor across the finish line, but… Now I will! If that armor gets left behind, so do your chances at the money!"

Both girls groaned in agony as Chris just smiled. What fun.

Zoey managed to drag her dummy into the moat with one hand, only to have it sink to the bottom immediately. "Uh crap!" But hey, at least she got one word out!

Jasmine saw it happen and decided to go for broke. This was the one chance she had and she wasn't about to have it ruined because her dummy got stuck in honey. So she plopped the dummy on the ground and stripped it of its chest plate and helmet.

"Jasmine, he just said you had to get the armor back!" Shawn yelped from the amphitheater. "Are you crazy?!"

"Yeah," she said, strapping the armor to her own body. "Maybe I am."

Zoey looked up from trying to free her dummy and gasped. "Ah cam un! Yuh cont buh seraus!"

Jasmine heaved her light dummy over her good shoulder and jumped back in the honey, quickly passing Zoey along the way. "Sorry, Sheila, but I gotta take it home."

Zoey saw Jasmine leave the honey and head for the net, and so did a now clear-eyed Chef who took aim and fired at the Aussie Amazon… only for his balls to do nothing against her armored back.

"Nice try," she gloated, flipping around to mock the co-host. "But looks like the target on my back just got a little smaller!"

Zoey heard the gloating and felt immense passion flowing through her body. She promised Mike she would win the whole thing for both of them, and a little honey wasn't going to stand in the way of that dream. She she heaved and heaved and heaved until the dummy rose from the goop and hit dry land. Exhausted, Zoey dropped to her knees and dragged the dummy along inch by inch, but with every passing second, Jasmine moved closer and closer to the finish line. She passed through the cargo net tunnel with ease and tossed the lightweight dummy over the incline, leaving just herself to get over before the win was in her hands.

But she didn't count on Chef aiming low. A couple shots and Chef's cackle rang through the air and Jasmine felt her legs fall out from under her, and she plopped into the ground with a heavy clang from the armor.

"Nooooooooo!" screamed Shawn, once again startling everyone on his team with a sudden outburst.

"Oh my god. Cool it," Gwen groaned.

But Shawn didn't heed the goth's warning. All he could do was bit his nails and panic. "She's gonna lose, I can feel it! Jasmine, climb for your life!"

Jasmine reached up towards the incline and tried to pull herself up with her one good arm, but the armor that had once protected her was now her downfall, literally. Every inch she progressed was just an inch back down… and Zoey was closing in little by little.

Through the mesh the indie chick crawled with dummy in tow, and eventually she caught up to Jasmine, blocking Chef's last shots at her legs with the dummy's body.

"Not like this! Please!" Jasmine begged, falling yet again short of the incline's peak and sitting there hopelessly.

"Sowwy, Shwiluh," Zoey said mockingly. "But ah gutha wan thus." She gathered all her strength and clearly pronounced one two word phrase. "For Mike." So Zoey began the slow process of climbing the incline so that she could pull the dummy over and take the win.

It all seemed to be over. But then Jasmine flashed back to the rules. The rules of the challenge that Chris clearly stated...

The first person to get their dummy over the line stays in the game… If that armor gets left behind, so do your chances at the money!

That was it! Jasmine saw Zoey pulling the dummy up and over and knew she had only a few seconds left until it was over. With her one good arm, she pulled her chest plate and helmet off and yeeted them over the top of the incline, passing just by Zoey's head. The indie chicked gasped and looked back to see the worst possible sight: Jasmine's dummy and its armor sitting inches over the finish line.

"And Jasmine snatches victory from the jaws of defeat!" Chris announced. "Zoey is out!"

"YES!" Jasmine threw her arms to the sky and collapsed, smiling and almost laughing to herself. It was the toughest challenge of her TD career and she'd won it. Her first of hopefully many wins.

"Oh thank you!" Shawn shouted to the heavens. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Heather blinked. "Please tell me you won't be like this at every battle match. Please."

And once again, Shawn didn't care. His girl was safe for another day and that's all he needed.

"B-but Jashmun dan't guh ove the linh!" Zoey said, the dread of losing clear on her pale, dirty face.

"Well according to the rules I clearly stated, only the dummy and its armor had to cross the line," said Chris, walking over to Jasmine's dummy and pointing clearly at the few inches between them. "Jasmine might not have made it, but the goal was completed fair and square. Which means you're out fair and square!"

Zoey started to cry and buried her face in her hands. "Uh muh gad, nooooo… Mike uh twied!"

Jasmine saw how upset Zoey was and called out to her from the ground. "Oi, Zoey! Don't be hard on yourself! You did great and your boyfriend will be so proud you! Even if he won't be able to clearly understand you for a good few hours. You came in as a winner and that's something only a handful of people have under their belts. Good on ya, mate!"

Zoey wiped the tears away, but couldn't smile. "Thunks, Jashmun."

"And with that, Zoey's dreams of winning again come to an end," Chris said. "Zoey, the Playa awaits, so head on out. Jasmine, you know where to go. Time to wait for your next challenger, and don't worry, the tranquilizers will wear off by the end of the day."

"Awesome," Jasmine sighed. "But I might need some help gettin' back."

Chris snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! Chef, some assistance please!"

Chef walked down to Jasmine and scooped her up off the ground, straining to carry her massive weight. "Girl, you need to lay off the weight training. Would it kill you to just be a normal human being?"

"Probably, yeah," replied a happy Jasmine. She was one step closer to the money and wasn't going to stop until she had it in her hands. Revenge against Sugar would have to wait and it wasn't even on her mind. She was just… happy.

Zoey left the arena as well, wiping away a few tears so that nobody would think she was some weakling.

"Take care, Zoey," Gwen sighed. "You kicked butt even if you didn't make it far."

"Yeah," Shawn said, still fluttery from all the hype of the win. "Even if Jasmine whooped your butt, I still hate to see you go out like this. You seem like a cool girl who'd totally kick some undead ass!"

"And you're a winner," Duncan said. "From one winner to another, take care."

The few nice comments made Zoey smile. Even if she failed, she still felt the love and that was all that really mattered. And on the bright side, she'd get to spend the next however many weeks with Mike, hanging out on a pre-marriage honeymoon in the Greek Islands. It was a pretty sweet deal really. And she could always go back to her original winnings if she needed the money that badly. So yeah, she was okay. Disappointed for sure, but… still okay. And with that, Zoey was gone, leaving the 13 in-game players to see who would get the next chance to take on Jasmine.

Chris gestured to the archway and left the building. "Alright, everyone. With that intense showdown out of the way, meet me at the beach for the next challenge, pronto! We've got some work to do today!"

Everyone left the amphitheater and followed behind Chris, except for Sugar and Owen who took a detour to scoop some of that honey for themselves.

Sensing this could be her moment to woo Owen to her side and gain the mythical "relationship advantage" all winners have, she leaned over to the OG winner and nudged his arm with her own. "Hey, big guy. Can't let good sweets go to waste, am I right?"

"Haha, yeah," Owen giggled back, stuffing his cheeks with the nectar. "Chris is really delivering with the goods this season. Yogurt and now honey? The dude's totally seeing me this year."

Sugar giggled back, putting on an overly cordial smile and posing all romantic-like. "Well, I like a man who can eat his weight in honey and come back for more. You're fine in my book, big boy."

Owen sucked another glob of honey off his hand and spat out a long red hair. "Really?"

Sugar batted her lashes. "Oh yeah, most boys back in the farmland can't eat a jar without feelin' queasy. You're a honey hero!"

Owen chuckled to himself. "Heh, honey hero. That'd make a great comic book though! You should ask Cody about copyrighting that. I hear he wants to go into the comic business."

Sugar's face dropped. "Say what now?"

"Oh yeah," Owen continued, blissfully unaware of Sugar's clear intentions. "Dude's really into digital art or something. He doesn't talk to anyone about it but his social media has a lot of that stuff on it. I think the Honey Hero would be a hit!"

Sugar blinked.

Confessional

"Okay, he's definitely a fixer-upper," Sugar sighed. "But darn it, I ain't givin' up on him yet! I just gotta work my magic in today's challenge and by the end of the day, he'll be sucking honey off my hand like a trained armadillo!"

End Confessional

Once everyone, honey suckers included, made it to the beach, they saw two Greek sailing vessels waiting for them. Each one was about 100 feet long and 20 feet wide, armed with two big oars on each side of each ship. In the center of both decks were masts and sails perfect for a trip across the breezy Aegean Sea. Both most interestingly, each ship was clearly designed for a respective team. Team Pantheon's ship was highlighted in blue and led by a buff, androgynous god-like figurehead flexing on the bow. The Zombie Slayers' ship was highlighted in red and led by what appeared to be a Shawn-looking figurehead covered in blood and brandishing a chainsaw.

"Gnarly!" Shawn gasped, looking at his ship's figurehead. "This is the best ship ever made. Please don't blow it up! I need to take this home!"

Chris smacked his forehead. "Crap! I knew I was forgetting something!" He reached into his pockets and found the remote. "Just give me a second." He pressed a button and a loud boom erupted from the temple at the island's peak. "Forgot to send off Zoey in style, hehe. Gotta get my money's worth out of those statues. Anyways-"

BOOM!

Before Chris could even get to the challenge, Zoey's stone face fell on the beach, barely missing Chris who sidestepped the impending shadow just in time.

"Okay," he said slowly, looking at the terrified players. "Remind me to do that in the temple next time. And maybe build a blast shield. As I was saying, today you'll be competing in an epic tribute to the classic myth of Jason and the Argonauts!"

Confessional

"Aw crap," Beth groaned. "If we'd called ourselves the Argonauts, we'd have this one in the bag for sure! But we could've Team Victory'd ourselves too, so maybe it'll all work out in the end."

End Confessional

"For today's challenge, you'll be sailing to the far away land of Colchis, aka an island about an hour away we're calling Colchis for the sake of the challenge, to retrieve the mythical Golden Fleece. The first person to snag the fleece wins for their team. No need to get it back to the beach, because as you'll know if you've read the story like good boys and girls, getting close enough to grab it is enough of a challenge."

"Well that ain't fair," Sugar mumbled. "How am I supposed to know the story if I can't read all that fancy word stuff?"

"Don't worry, Sugar," Chris replied. "Reading was not a requirement, but knowing the story can prepare you for what's to come."

"Which I did," Beth said proudly. "Twice actually! Once for class and once in the library! I'll tell you guys on the ride over," she told her team, drawing an inquisitive look from The Zombie Slayers, who didn't expect Beth of all people to be the MVP in the making.

"Fantastic," Chris said. "Now, your boats await. Get to it and happy sailing!"

The two teams ran to their boats and boarded via the side ladders. A few seconds passed as the strongest members of each team grabbed the oars and heaved off, and the race for the Golden Fleece was on! And by on, meaning incredibly slow and quite a drag because a few teens could only make a big-ass boat go so fast until the wind caught the sails

"Well this is going to suck," Sky grunted, rowing one stroke with all her might. "How far away is it again?"

"An hour," Shawn grunted alongside her, dealing with his own oar. "But once we catch the breeze we can relax and sail our way to victory!"

"Amigos," Alejandro added with a third grunt. "Did Chris not tell us where the island is? That seems like valuable information."

"Hold on," Gwen said, catching a glimpse of something nailed to the mast. "Here's a map! Looks like we need to sail… East! Which is..." She paused to get her bearings. "Towards where the sun rises every morning! We need to turn a little to the right!"

"On it!" Scott shouted. "Shawn, Sky, get your oars out of the water! We're turning!"

Together, Alejandro and Scott turned the boat starboard with a couple mighty rows. However, Team Pantheon was just a few feet behind.

"They're turning right! We need to go right!" Courtney shouted to the other three rowers: Duncan, Lightning, and Sugar.

"Uh, we have eyes!" Lightning shouted back.

"Well I'm trying to make sure we win," Courtney argued back. "Excuse me for caring about our team."

"You only care because you're on the bottom," Beth said as she chilled on the deck. "If Duncan went home last night, you'd totally be trying to lose so you could vote me off next."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I get it. You're all mad at me. But this isn't the time to make it personal. We have a challenge to win. Now stroke, people! Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!"

Team Pantheon rowed hard to catch up to The Zombie Slayers and both teams were neck and neck heading into open water where the breeze finally caught their sails.

"So we don't gotta row now or what?" Sugar asked, her flabby arms already tired as she looked up at the puffed out sail.

"Not unless we get blown off course," Duncan explained. "So just be ready to steer us back on track if we do, or if the wind dies down."

"Wow, look at you, Duncan," Owen said. "Mr. Sailing Expert over here, hehe."

Duncan shrugged off the compliment. "What can I say? Escaping juvie on a raft is one way to learn the ropes."

"Wait, we gotta use ropes?" Sugar chimed in from her station, earning a few eye rolls from the rest of the team.

Over on the red boat, things were pretty chill despite the rough opener. The open sea was calm and a nice ocean breeze kept things cool and comfortable, and with no signs of the winds changing, the team decided to relax and hang out on various parts of the deck.

"So you and Heather really split, huh?" Gwen asked Alejandro with the slightest bit of suspicion to her voice. "Bad break up?"

Alejandro sighed and kicked back against the side of the ship. "Alas, we were not meant to be. Two people of our type just cannot survive together without tensions rising. And thus, our legacy of fighting began and carried over to this game."

"And by your type you mean...?"

"Conniving players who seek every advantage possible?" Scott sneered as he walked by on his way to the back of the boat to take a quick leak. "Sounds about right. And it takes one to know one, Ale-handjob."

The Spaniard glared at the dirt farmer for that insult, but let it go to keep his already shaky reputation intact. "Precisely. But as I was saying, Gwen, Heather is simply distraught and not in the right head space. I'd suggest keeping her around as an easy target down the line despite the tension between us making things difficult. I'd be more than happy to work with you to take her down for old times sake once we merge."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Uh… okay then. Kinda weird for you to throw some strat-talk in there out of nowhere, but... I'll think about it."

She went back to hanging out with Shawn and Cody who were talking about nerd stuff as Heather glared at Alejandro from across the deck. He glared back.

Confessional

Alejandro kicked back and rested his eyes. "Last night, Heather and I had a little midnight rendezvous to discuss our plans moving forward. She's not exactly pleased with her being the fall woman between the two of us and asked for me to take a bullet for a change, and to a degree she is correct. Tanking her game alone is brash, but as I said before, she has the connections and trust to rebuild while I gain the sympathies of the others who didn't trust me at the start. It has its holes, yes, but I believe in our plan. However, we did decide to change it up a small bit."

(static)

Heather flipped her hair out of her eyes and looked into the camera with her arms crossed. "Alejandro is still thinking this dumb plan to make me look bad is going to work, but the man's still nuts if he thinks it'll work long term. I can sense people are getting fed up with our arguing, so last night, I proposed a little 'update' to our plan. From now on, we've agreed to focus more on the emotional elements of the plan instead of the fighting, though for some reason I think he just has a thing for getting yelled at by me, like it's some weird fetish for him. But as long as he's worshiping at my altar at the end of the day, I'm fine with it. But if he gets us voted off because we wasted the first two days fighting to sell the act, he's dead when we get back home."

End Confessional

Over on Team Pantheon's boat, Beth told the group the story of Jason. All of it. Like, the entire thing from start to finish. Not just the part about the Golden Fleece and the fact that it was guarded by a dragon and skeleton warriors that appeared when you buried its teeth, but about his murderous witch wife and all the other stuff he did before the Argonauts thing happened, aka the stuff nobody cared about.

"So a board fell off his ship, hit his head, and he died?" Duncan mumbled. "That's it? That's literally how it ends? Pfft. Lame."

"I know," Beth said. "It's a real downer ending but sometimes you have to have sad endings so the happy ones are that much happier."

Lightning just scoffed. "Pfft, dude still went out like a total sha-loser. If Lightning was writing the story, Jason would make that woman pay and live as the greatest hero of all time, second to Lightning!"

"And would he also be named Lightning be any chance?" Duncan said with a playful nudge.

"Nah, Lightning would be a god in the story," the jock said. "The god of football and badassery!"

Not wanting to deal with more of Lightning's showboating, Sugar tapped Owen on the shoulder and led him to the boat's stern for a chat.

Rubbing the back of his head, the chubby boy curiously played along. "What's up, Sugar? Did you save some of that honey for the road or something?"

Sugar winked. "Well as a matter of fact, I did!" She stuffed her hand down into her top and pulled out a glob of sweet goo. "Wanna lick?"

Owen cringed and cowered in place at the sight. "Uh, you know, I'm good. Thanks for the offer but I'm not really in the mood for honey right now. Sorry."

Sugar narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm just not hungry. Sea sickness, ya know. Nasty stuff."

Sugar kept her eyes locked on Owen. "Well ya don't look sick to me. You ain't green yet."

Owen shook his head, desperate to get out of there. "Nah, I'm really sea sick when I eat honey though. It makes me puke my guts up like you wouldn't believe. Funny story though! One time my uncle and I went out deep sea fishing for halibut and we were out of chum, so he stuffed my mouth full of honey and had me vomit all over the place to attract the fish. Funny, right?"

Sugar rolled her eyes. "I will admit that's a mighty funny tale, big guy, but this ain't the time for denyin' a girl's gift! Eat up!" She shoved the honey towards Owen's mouth and he ducked out of the way. "Come on, stop fightin' it! This honey was for you!"

Owen dodged again and backed off. "I swear, I'm not hungry!"

Suddenly Lightning walked by, sniffing the air. "She-dang! That's one sweet sha-roma." His eyes locked onto the honey coating Sugar's meaty hand. "Oh wow, is that free honey! You gonna eat that? The Lightning needs a boost of energy to get through this challenge!"

Sugar could only get out an "Uh" before Lightning wiped a glop off with his fingers and sucked it down, much to Owen's horror and Sugar's annoyance.

"Mmmm!" Lightning moaned. "That is some good honey. Weird flavor though, but the Lightning's always down to try new things! Thanks for the pick-me-up, weird girl with bad taste in movies."

And then Lightning left, leaving both Sugar and Owen stunned.

Confessional

"Stupid Lightning!" Sugar roared. "Stealin' bra honey is a criminal offense where I come from, but this ain't my jurisdiction. Anyways, Owen's really makin' this hard on me. Why kinda guy doesn't love free bra honey?! It's like the nectar of the gods in Alberta!"

(static)

Owen shuddered. "If I don't want to eat something, you know you've got some rank stuff on your hands… literally!"

(static)

Lightning rubbed his belly and moaned. "Mmmmm, sha-licious! I gotta get me some more of that honey sometime! Lightning's head ain't always in the game but that stuff just woke him right up!"

End Confessional

On The Zombie Slayers, Sky was sitting notably all alone. She seemed to gravitate the most towards Shawn, but he was too distraught about Jasmine's security in the game to be worth talking to about anything else at the moment. Plus she just didn't want to deal with him and his weird antics right now, which was understandable. But it didn't mean her downer mood went unnoticed.

"Hey, you okay?" Gwen asked. "Mind if I sit here?"

Sky looked up and shrugged. "Go for it. And yeah, I'm fine."

Gwen sat down and leaned against the side of the ship, resting her head on her hands behind her. "Well you don't seem fine. You've looked like this for the whole season so far and it's kinda worrying me." The gymnast gave the goth a dismissive glance and looked back down at the deck. Not wanting to push things, Gwen decided to take it slow. "I just wanted to check up on you, even if we don't really know each other that much. Everyone's just kinda sticking with the ones they know and you… don't really have anyone except Shawn, who's not the best conversationalist. Well, unless it's about eating bark."

Sky snorted the tiniest little laugh from her nose. "Yeah, you got that right."

The two girls sat in silence for a good minute, letting the breeze blow through their hair as they stared up at the gulls flying overhead.

"Did you ever have any problems with the fans?" Sky asked out of the blue. "Like, people being mean to you after your seasons?"

"Only all the time," Gwen said. "That's what has you feeling bad?"

"It's part of it," Sky said, slumping over. "I always thought Total Drama would be a fun experience and once it was over, I'd be able to go back to my old life with some money. But… But then it just got worse."

"Was it about the Dave stuff?" Gwen asked. "Because I've had a lot of heat thrown my way over boy drama and let me tell you, those people have no clue what they're talking about. They're just a bunch of repressed losers with no lives trying to ruin yours."

Sky sighed and looked Gwen in the eye. "Well I guess you're just stronger than I am. The things they told me were… They were just awful. So many people think I'm some huge bitch who led a guy on and broke his heart, and they said I should've died in that avalanche or blown up on the island and it's just… a lot of crap to deal with." And then Sky started to leak a couple tears.

Gwen put a comforting hand on Sky's shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. If you don't want to tell me everything, you don't have to. But if you ever want to chat about this stuff, I'm all ears. I've got the experience to help you through it if you need it."

Sky smiled. "Thanks. I just don't like talking about it because literally nobody on my season understands why I feel the way I do. Most people on Total Drama have a lot of fans to support them, but after my season, I barely had any that weren't trying to hype me up as some man-eater queen who eats douches for breakfast, which is not me at all. And then you had the weird guys trying to call me the worst person ever and the ones that tried asking me for weird pictures of my feet and it was just… a lot to take in. And it still is. I wanted to just focus on the game and win this season because I'm not satisfied with second place, but it's hard to focus when all the fighting going on is just sending me back to those times when I wanted to lay down and just… give up."

"Well you're a tough person," Gwen said, admiring Sky's resolve and openness. "I know when I first got the hate messages, it felt like my life was going to be ruined, but now I've moved past it and found a lot of people who really like me and want to see me happy, and it feels great. You'll get there too, someday. But you just have to move forward and not get all dragged down in the drama, ya know. Find your people and let them know the real you, ya know?"

"Well it's hard not to to dragged into the drama with all the fighting going on," said Sky, her voice lowering. "Alejandro and Heather were bad enough, but all that stuff in the temple with Jasmine and Courtney and Duncan? That was the worst. And for one of my friends to be involved? That just sucks even more."

Gwen almost responded with more comforting words, but Heather strolled up alongside them and gazed down. "Having an emotional heart to heart? I could probably use one of those right now."

Sky and Gwen shared an anxious look and Gwen told her off. "Uh, maybe later, Heather. This is kind of a two person thing."

"Oh," Heather said, boiling inside as her plan failed miserably. "Well I'll leave you to that."

Heather was gone as soon as she appeared, leaving Sky and Gwen to playfully roll their eyes together as if they'd been friends for years and knew what was up.

Confessional

For the first time in a while, Sky actually smiled. It wasn't much, but it was something. "It feels so good to have someone around who understands you and actually cares about your feelings. When I broke up with Keith, things were bad. Really bad. And I just haven't felt like my usual self since. But Gwen's awesome. Really awesome. But I'm still here to win, and letting my emotions get the better of me again is only going to cost me. Eye on the prize, right?"

End Confessional

On Team Pantheon's boat, Courtney had her hands locked on her oar and hadn't let go since they hit the ocean breeze. With one eye on the rival ship and the other on the target island looming in the distance, she was laser focused on victory and had to be ready for anything. Every advantage she could find, she wanted and needed and took. Unfortunately for her, the boat ride over to "Colchis" was incredibly uneventful so there was basically no advantage to be had. Both ships were about even, the wind was perfect, there was no way to sabotage the other team, and it was clearly coming down to the race to the fleece rather than sailing skills. So in short, the CIT was wasting her time.

"Practicing for your audition as a Greek statue?" Beth asked with some sass, sitting a few feet behind her. "You've been still so long I thought you might have fused to the oar."

Courtney snorted once. "No. I'm focusing. Because if we lose, I'm going home, and I will not let that happen."

Beth shrugged. "Well maybe if you talked to people instead of playing lone wolf, you might be able to change some minds."

Courtney's brow perked up. "So you'd change your mind if I had some heart to heart bonding session with you?" she asked, not believing it for a second.

"No," Beth said flatly.

The CIT rolled her eyes and returned to her position. "Then why bring it up in the first place? So you can torment me on my way out?"

"No, I'm just telling you the hard truth," the wannabe explained. "I'm just saying if you treated people like, well, people instead of chess pieces, maybe more people would like you."

"Plenty of people like me," Courtney shot back. "Just... not many on this season, but I have a ton of friends back home." She looked over to the stern and saw Duncan watching them talk. He caught her gazing his way and returned to staring out to sea at the island on the horizon. "But trust me," she said, returning her attention to Beth. "It doesn't matter how many friends you have on this show. It matters how you play the game."

"But that is the game," Beth sighed, frustrated at Courtney's stubborn tone. "If people like you, you don't get voted off. I mean, sure you have some mean people that nobody likes make it far because they're super smart or win a ton of challenges, but that's not everything."

"Well people liked Jasmine, she was smart, and she was great in challenges" Courtney argued. "And she still went home. So I don't want to hear anything about what makes someone a good player. Just… Just let me win this!" A few seconds passed until the pain in her bladder became unbearable. "After I pee. Could you hold the oar real quick?"

Beth rolled her eyes. "Sure."

The two girls switched and Courtney ran to the back of the ship to hang her rear off the edge. After the speed-run record of taking a leak on a Greek ship was set, Courtney returned to claim her spot at an oar only to find Sugar, Beth, Lightning, and Owen commanding all four of them.

"Uh, can I have my spot back please? Anybody?"

"Sorry, Courtney," Owen said. "Duncan said not to let you have an oar because you're a loose cannon."

The CIT's eyes glowed red and she stormed past everyone else to reach Duncan, smirking at the bow.

"What's the big deal?!" she growled in his face. "Are you trying to throw this challenge to get me out or something? I had it handled!"

"You're losing your mind," Duncan huffed dismissively. "There's literally nothing to do out here until we get to the island but your uptight butt keeps stressing me out. Chill for a change."

"Pig," Courtney spat. "You know, I'm glad I voted for you last night. It's what you deserve."

Duncan chuckled. "Is this your plan to get back in our good graces? Seems more like your plan to make it the shortest, least suspenseful elimination ceremony ever."

Courtney crossed her arms and stuck her face in his. "Well it doesn't matter what I do. Even if I play nice, I'm still going home if we lose. So I might as well use every bit of energy have to get the win, and that means bringing out my competitive side."

"You mean the competitive side that makes you lose every season?" Duncan snorted. "Yeah, that'll save you."

Courtney prodded Duncan in the chest. "Don't even think about bringing up my past seasons, Duncan. I'm tired of dealing with that crap."

Confessional

"It's so fun to push Courts' buttons," Duncan said with a wink. "I might be mad as hell, but it's always a little therapeutic to really dig into her."

End Confessional

"Oh, like the time you went psycho in Action and had like no social game? Or what about that time you went nuts in World Tour and launched a petty revenge quest on Gwen? Or how about the-"

Courtney gasped. "Don't say it!"

"The-"

"Duncan!"

"The chart?"

"Agggghhhhh!"

Across the deck, Sugar watched with a grin. Beth watched with an awkward glance. Owen looked plain uncomfortable. Lightning just raised an eyebrow. It was a mess.

"I can't believe I ever dated you!" Courtney whined. "I can't believe I liked you! I-I can't believe I helped you win a million bucks!"

Duncan wasn't even pressed enough to yell back. This was just funny to him at this point. "Well keep on screaming and the other team will hear you if they haven't already. I'm sure they'd love the boat-in showing of CIT Off Her Rocker 5: Uncut."

Courtney stormed off with another scream and went off to stew on the stern. Duncan kept smiling as he gave the camera a sly little wink.

Confessional

"What's wrong with me?" Courtney groaned, slumped over in the seat with her hands covering her face. "Why can't I just get it together? Every time Duncan pushes my buttons while I'm down, I just lose it and ruin my chances even more. I know I'm competitive, maybe too much for my own good, but I can't just become a 'new' Courtney. No matter what I try to do, I'm always going to be the girl who wants to win. It's in my blood." She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes dry. "But I really wish I could change." And then her mood changed. Her eyes started to well up with tears even more until she was full on crying. "I just wish for once I could hold onto a friend or a boyfriend or anyone. And I had a chance to fix things this season, and now I ruined it. There's no way Duncan will forgive me, and there's no way Gwen will want anything to do with me. And with all the fighting I've done, they probably all hate me, even Scott! If I survive today's challenge, I have to at least try to make things better I guess." She sniffed and wiped her nose. "I just have to win this for the team and hope I can buy myself enough time."

End Confessional

It wasn't long before both boats reached the shore of "Colchis" and saw the golden glimmer of the fleece atop a dead tree sitting on a cliff side on the northern side of the island.

"I see it!" Heather called out. "Beach the boat, now!"

"Hold on," Alejandro grunted, heaving this oar up, down, and around. "We can only row so fast."

"Remember," Beth said to the Pantheon members. "The first person to grab the fleece wins, so Lightning should run ahead and get ready to fight the dragon or the warriors or whatever Chris threw in there for us."

"Right!" shouted her team in agreement with the exception of Courtney, who was determined to beat Lightning to the fleece herself.

Both boats hit the sand at the same time and it was a mad dash up to the cliff. Lightning took the lead from Team Pantheon, but The Zombie Slayers sent a rejuvenated Sky ahead to give him some competition with Alejandro, Shawn, and Heather following behind. However, Courtney managed to push ahead of everyone and even usurped Lightning for the lead.

"Hey! When'd you get so sha-fast?!" Lightning gasped, nearly falling over when Courtney pushed by. "This ain't the plan, girl!"

"The plan is to win and I'm making it happen!" Courtney shouted back.

"She's gonna get it first," Heather told Sky. "Faster!"

But Courtney's lead soon evaporated when she reached the steep, rocky hillside leading up to the cliff. Required to get on all fours and climb foot by foot at an awkward 60 degree angle, she found herself struggling against Lightning and Sky who regained their lead within seconds.

"No!" the CIT shouted, grabbing at Sky's leg and yanking her back. "I'm not losing this challenge!"

"Ugh, let go of me, you nut bag," Sky grunted, shaking Courtney's hand loose with a swift kick and continuing the climb upwards.

By now the rest of the players had reached the hill and joined the frontrunners in the climb to the fleece, but it would be Lightning and Sky who reached the top first almost side by side.

"From one star athlete to another, good luck," Sky told Lightning.

"Right back atcha, girl," Lightning said, fist bumping her for the sake of a preemptive GG.

And there it was: the mythical Golden Fleece. Hanging about 20 feet off the ground in a dead tree, the shiny wool flowed gently in the breeze as the lone beacon on the deserted island of grass and shrubs.

Both Lightning and Sky made a run for the tree as Courtney crawled up behind them, and that's when the ground started to shake and the sound of a helicopter rained down on the players.

"You didn't think the fleece would be that easy to get, did you?" came Chris' voice from the chopper. "Say hello to an old friend a few of you might recognize, hehe!"

Lightning and Sky froze as a massive green hand with orange freckles reached up over the edge of the cliff, followed by another equally massive hand. And then the rest of the beast showed itself: a towering green face highlighted with orange fins crept over the cliff side, blocking out the sun and ceasing the fleece's glittering. By now, everyone reached the top to see the menace waiting for them.

Sky and Lightning felt their jaws drop and the both let out a scream together as the beast stared them down with a massive toothy grin.

"AHHHHHH!"

Confessional

"Really?!" Sky gasped. "Of all the TD classic throwbacks to make, you go with the giant monster from Season 2? How did they even ship it out here? I didn't know they made crates that big!"

(static)

"Yeah, seeing old ugly back? Not cool, McLame," Duncan said, glaring at the camera.

(static)

Owen merely sucked his thumb and cried in the fetal position.

End Confessional

The monster slowly pulled itself up over the edge and stood tall on the cliff, blocking off access to the fleece with its massive feet. It let out a roar that flattened the grass and shook the cast to their bones.

Lightning scoffed. "Hah, as if a dumb lizard is gonna stop the Lightning! He ain't scared no more! Bring it on, scaly! You about to face the thunder and the Lightning!"

The ultra jock charged ahead with a war cry and punched the monster in the foot, only to feel his bones crack. Pulling his arm back with a whine, he saw his hand all mangled and twisted. "Sha-owwwwww!"

With one stroke of its foot, the monster kicked Lightning back over the hill and sent him rolling back down to the bottom like a rolling barrel. And then it set its eyes on Sky.

"Uh, nice monster!" she pleaded. "We just want to borrow the fleece for a minute! Just one little touch, okay?!"

The monster let out a massive roar in her face and blew her hair back straight.

"Huh… So that's how it felt when I burped on Dave… Not pleasant."

"Charge!" Courtney cheered, rallying the other four teammates for battle. "He can't stop all of us!"

Beth ducked back down, Sugar followed suit and only her blonde bun could be seen peeking over the edge, Owen let out an anxiety fart, and Duncan… actually stepped up for the challenge.

"Not so fast!" Heather said, grabbing her man by the shirt. "Alejandro, get in there and woo that monster with your sexy charm!"

The arch-villain raised an eye brow in a curious manner and purred. "Hmmm, you think my charm is sexy? Even though we're no longer together? I see you still long for my-"

"Nobody cares!" Gwen said, shoving past both villains. "Shawn, that monster was dead last I knew, but I guess it's now technically a zombie monster."

Shawn's pupils dilated and his jaw dropped.

Confessional

"Giant monsters are bad enough," the zombie killer explained. "But a zombified giant monster? That's just about the biggest brain-muncher you'll ever find! It'd take a lotta brains to satisfy that thing's hunger though, so unless we want the world to fall into brainless, giant zombie monster chaos, I gotta take this thing down!"

End Confessional

"For The Zombie Slayers!" Shawn cried, marking his face with dirt and dashing out past the rest of the players, including Duncan and Courtney who dodged out of the way. Leaping up onto the big scaly trunk of a leg, Shawn rocketed up the monster's hide like a squirrel on a tree and climbed around its back. The monster didn't take the assault lightly and swatted at Shawn, but his speed was too much to handle, giving the rest of the players the perfect distraction.

Gwen pointed between the giant pair of green legs. "Guys, the fleece! GO!"

Cody and Scott covered their heads and joined Gwen and Sky in the assault as Alejandro and Heather continued to fight on the side of the hill over whether or not Alejandro's hot body made Heather squirm in passion or not. Not helpful, guys. Not helpful.

But Team Pantheon wasn't about to let their rivals claim victory that easily.

"Move it!" Courtney barked at her cowardly teammates as she and Duncan chased after The Zombie Slayers. "Do you want to be seen as chickens for the rest of your lives or what?!"

Sugar slapped her cheeks and growled. "Oh hell naw I don't! Time to show this here monster what for!"

"Yeah! Let's get our inner Jasons on and kick some dragon butt!" Beth did a cheesy warrior pose and followed her farmer friend into battle as well with both of them letting out goofy war cries.

Owen however resigned himself to chilling behind the hill. "Uh, you guys have fun with that. Giant monsters and I don't get along very well!"

"Move it, big boy!" Sugar screamed back with the voice of a harpy.

Owen didn't listen. He just cringed and sunk even lower down the hill as Lightning pushed his way back up with a giant knob on his head.

"Time for round number two! Get ready giant monster, cause the Lightning's about to give you the shock of- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Owen ducked down and watched Lightning get flung overhead yet again, wincing as the sounds of groans and grunts emitted from his rolling body.

Confessional

Owen tapped his meaty fingers together, looking guilty. "Man, I hate to be all cowardly and stuff around that monster, but I just know it's worked out since we last met and could totally pick me up now! No way am I risking being monster chow this time! No way!"

End Confessional

As the ground team made a run for the fleece, Shawn scaled the scaly beast and climbed up to its head, finding a path inside through where the reptilian titan's ear would be. "Alright you undead freak! If you like eating brains so much, how about I take a bite outta your brains for a change!"

The dark passageway gave birth to Shawn as he plopped down inside the control room, where a dark figure wrapped in a mo-cap suit stood watching the action below via a handy set of screens. Shawn watched as the monster's foot slammed down near Gwen and Cody, who barely dodged out of the way and were forced to retreat. On another screen, Sugar and Beth reached the tree and got smacked back with a swing of the lumbering tail. And on another screen, Shawn saw Courtney and Duncan running from the monster's grasping hands with dread on their faces.

"What's going on in here?!" Shawn exclaimed, approaching the mysterious figure with fists raised for a fight.

The figure turned around and laughed. "Oh hey, Shawn! Funny seeing you here! Big fan!"

It was none other than classic Total Drama competitor and cameo of the week... Izzy! Shawn gasped and felt his entire world change in the moment.

Confessional

Shawn's jaw was practically on the floor as he grabbed his head and panicked. "So Izzy was behind the zombie plague the whole time? Or do I have it wrong and Izzy is the zombie virus?! Do walkers have little Izzys in their brains or something? Is that why they eat brains, to collect all the little Izzys until they can form one huge super Izzy?! Man, this just raises so many questions!"

(static)

Izzy looked around the library, taking in all the sights. "Oooh wow, so many books! Izzy likes! Anyways, I'd just like to thank Chris for letting me pilot my ex-boyfriend for a day. That monster and I weren't a good match, but he is soooooooo fun to be inside if you know what I mean." She ended with a sly wink and the camera flashed to static again.

End Confessional

As the crowd scrambled like roaches to avoid the monster's feet, hands, and tail, Heather and Alejandro finally decided to enter the fray.

"Our team seems to be faltering," Alejandro said as he ran, noticing Cody being flung through the air as he clung to the monster's claw, screaming like a child. "But the beast is distracted, and now is the chance to claim victory!"

Gwen saw the two villains run by and almost tried to warn them, but had to focus on not getting crushed by the tail as it swung by, knocking right into Al and Heather with full force. Both of them yelled as they soared through the air, but thankfully, Heather managed to land on the tree just a short climb away from the fleece.

"Well hello there," she said to the golden artifact, reaching up to grab the next branch.

Alejandro on the other hand wasn't so lucky and went rolling off the cliff side, but managed to grab on to one of the tree's roots that jutted out a couple feet below the edge.

"Uh, Heather, a little help, por favor?!"

Heather looked down at Alejandro and smirked.

Confessional

"You know," Heather said with a devious, competitive look. "If Alejandro wants me to look like a selfish bitch for the sake of making him look better, what better way to accomplish that than letting him dangle off a cliff for a minute while I snatch victory for the team?"

End Confessional

"Sorry!" Heather called down to her boyfriend. "But I have a challenge to win!"

"Not so fast!" shouted Courtney from below.

Heather gazed down with a "Huh?" and gasped as Courtney grabbed her foot. "Hey, let go, Courtney!"

"Fat chance, Heather!" the CIT yelled, pulling herself up towards the fleece by using the queen bee's body as a human ladder.

At the same time, Duncan snuck his way past the monster's feet and arrived at the tree as well, noticing both the scuffle between the girls and the monster's… odd behavior. It was if the monster was dizzy and stumbling all over the place after a bad night at the bar.

"Leave them alone, Zombie Queen!" Shawn yelled, flipping Izzy over with a somersault and pushing her into the ground. "No brains for you today on my watch!"

Izzy cackled and gave Shawn a seductive look. "Oooh, I love getting pinned! But Izzy doesn't shy away from a fight! En gaaaarde!"

With a swift kick, Shawn's kiwis got blasted into another dimension and the zombie boy fell over clutching his crotch, allowing Izzy to climb on top of him and take the upper hand. But Shawn had trained for this moment. Crotch-kicking zombies were a rarity, but not unheard of in the lore. With his remaining strength, he locked hands with Izzy and rolled around until both rose to the standing position, bathed in the ambient lighting of the screen and control panel.

Back outside, the monster collapsed to the ground as everyone not involved with the tree or hiding down the hill ran for their lives. Then it stood up, leaving a crack in the cliff that grew wider with every body slam into the ground.

"Uh, guys! The cliff's gonna collapse!" Cody yelled. "We have to go!"

Alejandro pulled himself back up with a scowl on his face, only to have it twist into a shocked grimace as the cracking earth approached him. "Oh no..."

Heather and Courtney reached up for the fleece side by side with Duncan and even Sky joining in on the action below. The rest of the players had evacuated the area and returned to join Owen and a woozy Lightning where it was safe. The monster still raged, falling and tripping over itself, spinning in circles, kicking and punching the air, and doing some culturally appropriated karate moves.

Scott ducked under the swinging tail and landed safely next to his team on the hillside, albeit with a nasty sounding grunt when he landed on a rock. Gwen ran past the groaning farmer and called out to the teammates left on the cliff.

"Heather, Sky, Alejandro! The cliff's about to give! Forget the fleece and run!"

"You guys too!" Beth called to Courtney and Duncan.

"Not a chance," Courtney growled, reaching past Heather and climbing to the next branch. "This is my challenge. Mine."

The cracking in the earth reached the tree and it suddenly started turning horizontal little by little as the four players reached higher and higher. Below, Alejandro saw the fleece coming his way and smirked, climbing up all the way and standing on his toes to reach for it, being careful not to step on the cracks.

Sky pushed past Duncan and Heather to join Courtney in the last stretch. "Just a little more..."

Courtney pushed Heather down and reached as far as her arm could stretch. "Just another foot..."

And then the monster finally went down, crashing straight into the tree and shattering the cliff in half. What was once a flat, grassy platform was now a sharp drop down to the water, slanted at just the right angle to make holding on possible but only for so long. The tree now stood totally horizontal, dangling the fleece over the water like the arm of some crocodile feeder holding out a treat. As the dust cleared, the monster laid there on safely, incapacitated inside and out. But for the five contestants in contention for the fleece, things weren't so relaxed.

Heather managed to land near the monster's side away from the edge, rubbing her sore head. She was fine. Alejandro managed to grab onto the slanted side of the cliff, holding onto a few rocks to keep himself from falling. He'd felt better about his chances of survival, but it wasn't too bad. Duncan on the other hand had been flung out to the far end of the tree, barely holding onto a branch as he dangled over the raging sea below. That sucked.

And then there stood Sky and Courtney, hanging onto the tree's exposed roots away from the edge.

Courtney rubbed her eyes free of dust and saw the fleece hanging a few meters down the creaking tree. Sky saw it as well and they locked eyes. This was it: the final stretch for immunity. Sky wanted it. But Courtney needed it.

And then Duncan groaned. "Uh guys! A little help here?! My fingers are gonna slip!"

Courtney pushed past Sky to run down the unstable trunk and Sky didn't take it lightly, shoving past her and knocking them both down. The tree rattled and Duncan growled.

"Hey, would you two knock it off and get me up!"

Courtney gave Duncan a dismissive look. "Not until I get the fleece! I need to win this!"

Sky grabbed Courtney by the shoulders and tossed her back. "Well that's not happening!"

On the way down, Courtney grabbed the athlete's ankle and tripped her up, sending them both back down and shaking the tree even more, particularly the branch Duncan was barely attached to by his sweaty hands.

The punk couldn't even be mad anymore. Now he was just scared. "Uh… I'm serious. I can't hold on forever!"

Both girls ignored Duncan's plea and continued their push towards the fleece, passing him by to reach the last few feet.

Meanwhile, Alejandro yanked himself back into safe territory and collapsed next to Heather.

"I should break up with you for real for doing that to me," Alejandro hissed lowly.

Heather rolled her eyes and groaned. "Can't talk. Too much headache..."

"Look!" Duncan said, now begging as finger after finger slipped. "I'm sorry I blew up at you and pushed your buttons! I should've been more mature about it, but I can't apologize in full unless you don't let me drop to my death!"

And then Courtney froze.

Death.

Her intense competitive drive waned for a brief moment and she looked back at her ex, hopelessly dangling by a thread. So many memories rushed through her brain at once. Good ones. Bad ones. Better ones. Worse ones. Happy ones. Sad ones. So many memories. She looked back at Sky inching her way down the tree, closer and closer to the fleece. She could see herself holding it high and proud and surviving the night. She could see herself riding that momentum all the way to the finale. She could see everything she hoped for manifesting in that golden sheen.

Death...

And then she looked back at Duncan. A couple more fingers had slipped off. And she saw his eyes, wide and scared like they'd never been before. But she had seen that look before, a long time ago in a group of people hanging from a hot air balloon over the wilderness of Wawanakwa. And even further back... She was a CIT, a counselor-in-training, and it was her job to make sure all campers were safe and protected from threats. It was the code to live by…

Duncan felt his last fingers slip and he closed his eyes, but he didn't fall.

"I got you!" Courtney grunted, holding onto his arm with all her might.

"Y-you came back for me?" Duncan gasped. "After everything I said?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "I don't particularly like you, but I'm not cold enough to just let someone I used to love die like this!"

Duncan reached for the tree and pulled himself up, and both Islanders collapsed on the trunk together in a pile of awkward relief.

Then Chris' voice boomed from the chopper overhead. "And The Zombie Slayers take the win!"

Courtney gave Sky a quick look and saw her waving the Golden Fleece proudly through the air, poised like a master of balance at the end of the tree.

"And that's how it's done!" she cheered. "Woo hoo!"

Courtney sighed and buried her face yet again. She was officially doomed, but at least she could go home with her dignity intact.

Confessional

The CIT shook her head, looking miserable. "I can't believe I gave up the win like that, but… I couldn't stand to see someone die on my watch. It just wasn't in my blood. I guess four seasons of losing has made me a little soft in the end, huh?"

End Confessional

Back on the main island, Chef escorted a bruised and beaten Izzy off the set as the players stood on the beach. She turned around and glared at Shawn with a wicked, murderous grin and the zombie nut glared right back, flipping two fingers from his eyes to hers. Meanwhile, Chris talked with the teams.

"Well thanks to some loopholes, my medical bills are gonna skyrocket because someone forgot to add a cameo clause to the waivers. Two cameos, and both got hurt. Pathetic. Contestants only my butt. Anyways, The Zombie Slayers slayed again and get the night off once more."

Sky felt the love as her team patted her on the back and cheered for their collective victory.

"As for Team Pantheon, you might as well call yourselves Team Can't-Win-Theon because you're voting someone off tonight and sending them to face Jasmine in tomorrow's Underworld challenge. You have a couple hours to make plans while I'll be drafting up a new contract for the rest of our cameos. Ciao."

Everyone except the six Pantheon members remained on the beach. It was an awkward loss, mostly because Courtney was the target of every pair of eyes there for one reason or another. But it didn't last for long once everyone split up to go do whatever they wanted to do with their two hours.

"You hungry yet?" Sugar asked Owen, who recoiled in disgust.

"Uhhhh, not really. I got my fill of danger for today."

"Woooow, what a co-inky-dink." Sugar narrowed her eyes and left with Owen, Beth, and Lightning for the bathhouses.

That left Courtney and Duncan to wander alone down the beach.

"So thanks again for saving my bacon I guess," Duncan sighed, kicking a shell through the sand. "Sorry for all the fighting. But you know why I'm mad at you and one little good Samaritan act won't make up for it, just so we're clear."

"I know," Courtney groaned, not wanting to look Duncan in the eye. "But I swear, if you don't vote me out, I promise I'll make it up to you. I just don't want to go home like this. I could have won the challenge and I just… couldn't. Not with a life on the line."

Duncan smiled. "Well, I'm glad I'm still alive, so yeah, props for having a heart again. Been a while, to be honest."

"Since I've saved a life?" she asked, confused.

"No, since you acted like a normal person instead of this crazy comp beast," Duncan clarified.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Courtney had to at least try something. "But can we talk game real quick? I know you're probably voting me off and-"

"I never said I was, but go ahead."

Courtney blinked. "Um, well… I think we should vote out Sugar since she's the one who caused all the drama in the first place."

Duncan shook his head. "Well she's another reason I'm still on this island, so try again."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Then how about Lightning? He voted against you too, right?"

"Nah, we need him for the challenges. Dude's dumb but he's ripped, and on a losing streak that's basically worth its weight in gold."

"Beth?"

"Nope."

"Then I guess Owen's the only chance I have?"

Duncan sighed. "I don't want to vote him out either, but he did flop in the challenge today. Dude basically wimped out hardcore, and you did almost get us the win."

"Aaaand I saved your life," Courtney added with a slight smile.

Duncan thought it over and groaned. "Fine, I'll talk to the others and see if they'll vote out Owen. I hate to vote the dude out, but we're on a losing streak and we need strong players. But I can't make any promises. Just prepare to go home and hope for the best, okay?"

"Really?!" Courtney beamed. "So there is hope?!"

"Ah ah ah," Duncan prodded back. "I said I'd try but that's not a guarantee. If Sugar, Beth, and Lightning say no, then you're still toast and I'll vote you out too. But I promise I'll try my best to save you. But only for this round. If you survive tonight, you're on your own. No more lifelines."

Courtney was bummed but it was better than nothing. "Okay," she said, a little more at peace with the situation than she expected to be. "Thank you, Duncan."

"No problem."

As Team Pantheon walked up the mountain to the temple, Heather peeked around the corner of the housing complex and snuck into Alejandro's room, where she found her man laying on the bed staring at the ceiling with a tired look on his face.

"We need to talk," she said sternly. "About the plan. Because it's flopping."

"Oh?" Alejandro hummed. "What makes you say that?"

"Uh, because people aren't taking the bait," Heather explained arrogantly. "I tried to have an emotional heart to heart today and got totally no-sold. That's not good."

"And you think we should do what? Reveal our break up was a hoax? Stage a rekindling of our romance for the rest to see?"

"Find one of those statues," Heather said, crossing her arms and sitting at the foot of the bed. "If we lose, I'm getting the vibe we might be in trouble. All the stupid fighting we had to do to sell the ruse went too far and nobody wants to talk to me."

Alejandro sighed, remembering his awkward conversation with Gwen on the boat. Heather was indeed correct. The plan wasn't working. If anything it was self-sabotage. "Fine, we can look for an idol. Though without a clue to their locations, it might be difficult unless we comb every inch of the island."

"Which we might have to do," Heather said. "But there are three of those things out there. How hard could it be to just find one?"

"We do have a knack for finding them," Alejandro said slyly.

Heather glared back. "Or at least I do. You just have a knack for stealing them."

Alejandro smiled, admiring Heather's beautiful scowl. "You know I love you when you get angry."

Heather just kept glaring, even though she appreciated the compliment. "Yeah. Charming."

The sun set on the Aegean. Team Pantheon lined up in the amphitheater and watched Chris return from counting the votes with a platter of kabobs in hand.

"Alright, losers. Not the best showing today, but I've seen worse."

"Just get to the ceremony!" Courtney barked.

Chris narrowed his eyes. "Alright then. The first kabob goes… to Lightning."

The jock reached for the kabob but he was still dazed after the beating he took and missed the catch, allowing the kabob to poke him in the eye.

"Sha-AHHH!"

"Beth, you're safe!"

The wannabe caught her kabob with a smile.

Chris raised a third and fourth kabob. "Duncan and Sugar, eat up!"

"Yay!" Sugar cheered, catching the kabob horizontally in her mouth and ripping into it like a dog.

Duncan simply caught his and took a bite.

And then there were two. Courtney rolled her eyes, ready to get it over with while Owen sat there nervously, as he didn't really expect to get any votes that night with how much drama others were causing.

Chris raised the final kabob. "One tasty meat stick left, and two losers left. Courtney, you're on the chopping block for… well… basically everything that's happened in the past 24 hours."

The CIT rolled her eyes again. "I get it, I suck."

"And Owen, you're on the block for wussing out of the challenge when your team needed you."

"It was a giant monster controlled by Izzy!" Owen argued back, still terrified of just the thought of that thing. "If you're not scared to death of that combo, you're nuts!"

"Yeah, don't care. The last kabob goes to..."

…

"Courtney! Owen, the Underworld awaits!"

Owen gasped and almost yanked his hair out. "WHAT?!"

Courtney caught her kabob and shook her head in disbelief. "Oh my god..."

"Sorry, big guy," Duncan said, putting a hand on his buddy's shoulder. "But we gotta win some challenges and Courtney kinda saved my bacon today so… tough luck."

"Yeah, it was a tough choice," Beth said, giving Big O a hug.

"Sorry," Sugar said with a shrug. "You should've accepted my free bra honey when ya had the chance. We could've gone places."

Lightning gave the pageant queen a stunned look. "Uh, sha-come again? What honey?"

Owen sighed. He was sad to be out of course, but he'd felt the sting of loss before and knew how to take his L like a man. "Yeah, I get it. I screwed up and it's what I deserve, but I can I still get a kabob for the road?"

"Nope," said Chris.

"Awww," he whined, walking off towards the archway. "You guys better win some challenges then! I'm rooting for you! Well maybe not all of you, but most of you! Win it for me!"

The team waved Owen goodbye even though they knew he'd be back in a few hours for the Underworld challenge, but nobody had any faith he'd win against Jasmine so this was pretty much a final send off in their minds.

When the ceremony finally ended, Courtney looked Duncan in the eye and gave him a little nod. "Thank you."

Duncan winked her way. "We can talk later," he mouthed.

She smiled back and nodded again. It wasn't like she'd locked down the win or anything, but she was safe for another night against all odds and had a chance to redeem herself further. She just couldn't blow it again like she always did. As they always said, fifth time's the charm.

Underworld Island was dark and misty when Owen arrived at the beachside bungalow. Jasmine sat there on the deck with her eyes shut, still a little numb from the tranquilizers but able to move just fine.

"Hey," Owen said anxiously, tip toeing over what looked like a trip wire across the entry way. "Funny seeing you here, Jasmine, hehe. You're not mad about the whole voting you off thing, right?"

Jasmine's eyes opened up and her head tilted towards the recent bootee. "Nah, I ain't after your scalp, Owen. You just did what you were told to do and I can't blame ya for it. Sugar on the other hand? Oh she's got it comin' good if I have my way about things." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a couple grubs, which she casually popped into her mouth like candy. "And I hope you're ready to be hungry because there ain't much out here in the way of food."

Owen let out a miserable sigh and sat on the cot, and it immediately shattered under his weight. "So much for having a bed too."

"Trust me, the deck is so much more comfortable." Jasmine smiled and closed her eyes again. If this was her opponent, tomorrow would be a cake walk. Or at least one easy step on a long road to redemption.

Voting Confessionals

Courtney dropped Owen's coin in the urn and prayed to the gods. "Please please please please please."

Duncan cast his vote for Owen with a frustrated sigh. "This better not come back to bite my ass, but you saved my life so I guess I owe you a solid."

Sugar held Courtney and Owen's coins in her hand. "Courtney should be goin' home, but Duncan talked a mighty fine argument today. And besides, any man who rejects free sweets ain't the man for me." She voted for Owen.

Beth adjusted her glasses to make sure she voted correctly. "I was really hoping to vote off Courtney, but Duncan's right. She's going to fight hard to win for the team and Owen won't. I like Owen, but it's… It's just really hard." In the end, she reluctantly voted for Owen.

Lightning rummaged through the coins as his head pounded. "Sha-ugh, Lightning don't feel too good after that monster beat him up. But my girl Courtney was a team player today and tubby boy did nothing so, sha-bye-bye!" He dropped Owen's coin in the urn and stumbled out of the room.

Owen happily dropped Courtney's coin in the urn. "Man, it sucks to vote her off when she saved Duncan's life, but she's scary and mean so… Yeah, I won't lose sleep. I just wonder why nobody talked strategy with me after the challenge, but maybe they were just tired... Oh well."

Eliminated: Mike, Zoey

In the Underworld: Jasmine, Owen

Remaining:

Team Pantheon: Beth, Courtney, Duncan, Lightning, Sugar

The Zombie Slayers: Alejandro, Cody, Gwen, Heather, Scott, Shawn, Sky

Reasoning for Elimination: Zoey officially falls, earlier than some might have expected. There was definitely some build up for a Zoey underdog story in there, but ultimately that was to make the challenge against Jasmine more suspenseful so both of them would have a legit reason to win plot-wise. I had fun making her a more developed fodder character who actually had goals, but as with Mike, I had her marked as an early boot as soon as the cast was decided and stuck to it. As for Owen, he's got an uphill battle in front of him, facing off against arguably the best challenge beast in the season to stay in it. But you never know. The dude's pulled off some clutch wins before...

A/N: And that's Chapter 3. Writing these two challenges was a ton of fun and I'm hoping everyone enjoyed the suspense of both, even if the immunity challenge was 75% character development on boats which needed to happen because some plots are moving forward. But hopefully the giant monster/Izzy cameo spiced it up a bit and made up for any slow parts. I know these chapters are long as hell, but there's a lot of ground to cover and the Underworld challenges take a lot of words, so I don't know how they could be much shorter haha.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed. Favorite, follow, and review if you like what you see, and take care!