Total Drama: Clash of the Titans – Episode 4: Rise and Shrine!
"Last time on Total Drama: Clash of the Titans, it was an episode packed full of fights! Jasmine blew up on Courtney, then blew up on Sugar. Courtney blew up on Duncan. Duncan blew up on Courtney. Courtney blew up on Duncan again! And in a dramatic showdown, Jasmine defeated Zoey to stay in the game. Meanwhile, Sugar made moves on Owen, Heather and Alejandro changed their fake-up-break-up scheme, Sky and Gwen shared a heartfelt connection over toxicity in their lives, and Izzy returned as the giant monster to wreck havoc yet again! In the end, Courtney sacrificed her precious victory to save Duncan's life, and with that selfless gesture, managed to thaw their relations and evaded elimination when Owen was blindsided by Team Pantheon. Will Courtney be able to rebound completely? Will Owen or Jasmine be leaving the game for good? How will Alejandro and Heather's scheme progress? Find out all those answers here, on Total… Drama… Clash of the Titans!"
The sun gave the Aegean Sea a wake up call as a lizard crept across a branch, licking up a bug along its way to the trunk. It blinked and turned its head as a massive, pale shape emerged ahead of it. Drool hit the ground and the sound of desperate growling rattled the little guy to his core. A long, slippery tongue lowered from the thing's mouth towards the reptile and teeth were bared.
"Sorry, little guy," Owen sighed. "But I'm just so hungry and I've heard you taste like chicken. No offense, I hope."
The lizard licked its eye.
Owen reached down for it, but couldn't bring himself to pick it up and take a bite. It was just too cute and innocent.
"The Naturalist… respects wildlife. Said as he reminiscences about his many hot dog eating contests and love of all things meaty, of course, but taking the life of a tiny gecko for a meager bit of protein is not his way."
Suddenly a dark hand reached past Owen's cheek and snatched the lizard off the branch, much to Owen's shock.
"Gotcha!" Jasmine huffed, now covered in dirt and sweat after a couple nasty days without a shower. "You've been evadin' my pouch for quite a while." With a satisfied smile, she dropped the lizard in a makeshift net and moved on with Owen in tow.
"So..." he started, unsure of what to actually say to the tall Aussie as he kicked rocks along the path. "I'm guessing we're not doing sharesies?"
Jasmine didn't even flinch. "Nope. Out here, it's every person for themselves. And that goes for food. If you can't bring yourself to whip up some grub off the land, ya ain't eatin' a bite, mate. It's a game more than ever and food is fuel, even little lizards and ants and grubs and all the stuff your average person overlooks."
"Oh," said a disappointed Owen, hanging his head in sorrow as his stomach caved in on itself.
Underworld Confessional
"This blows," the chubby boy whimpered. "First I get blindsided and now we don't have any food?! It's like the universe came down and gave me the biggest wedgie ever! And the worst part is Jasmine's finding food everywhere and not even sharing it! Last night she went and picked all the peaches off the only peach tree on the island and hid them somewhere! I mean, I get why, but it's gotta be illegal to starve a guy with a gut like mine, ya know!"
(static)
"Owen's dramatic," Jasmine said with a playful eye roll. "A good guy at heart, easily the most kind person here by a mile, but the guy was gonna fill himself up on everything here if I didn't take drastic actions. And besides, he's only been here for a few hours and he's already at wit's end. Try lastin' a month in the Bush with only the blood of companion cow as your food and water source. It ain't pretty."
End Underworld Confessional
"I wonder when the challenge is gonna be," Owen said. "It's been so long and I just want to see if my team snuck me some breakfast this morning."
"Well you could always just surrender and go to the Playa," Jasmine said, picking a bunch of termites from a mound and chomping down. "You have won before so it's not like you need another victory, and I don't reckon you'd be able to win that many challenges in a row against so many tough competitors."
Owen pouted. "So you don't think I have a chance?"
"Of beating me?"
"Yeah."
"I mean, there's always a chance."
Underworld Confessional
Jasmine stared into the camera totally unimpressed. "He doesn't stand a chance."
End Underworld Confessional
Back on the main island, almost everyone was still dead asleep in their own rooms, but also as usual, one room was still noticeably empty: Shawn's. The zombie freak didn't like confined spaces, especially with so many other potential zombies nearby, and chose to sleep in the trees whenever possible. On the downside, it made him more of a social pariah who couldn't really bond with others in their living spaces. But on the upside, it made him more than aware of his surroundings, especially when it came to searching for any useful boons that might be hiding in the woods.
So there Shawn stood on a thick branch, reaching into an owl's nest for anything hard and wooden. "Come on, man. It's gotta be somewhere out here. You can't tell me it's not." After another few seconds of searching, he felt something soft and an owl popped out and hissed right in his face.
"AHHHH!"
Shawn fell back and grabbed onto the branch to stop himself from taking the long, hard, and bruising way to the ground. "Heh, sorry, little guy. Or girl."
Brushing himself off, he stared into the sea and saw an island a couple miles off. On its beach: a faint light.
Confessional
"Oh Jasmine," he sighed. "I feel so bad for her out there on the Underworld, even though I know she's fine. I'm just worried about all these challenges. She's tough, but she's not invincible. Anyways, Chris said the Pendant of Zeus plays a role in that twist, so I've been up all night trying to find that thing. But uh, easier said than done. It's one little medallion on one huge island, so basically a living human in a mass horde of walkers to put in layman's terms. I don't know what it does, but if it'll help Jasmine get back into the fight with me, I'm finding it!"
End Confessional
Shawn braced himself for the climb down, but the sound of rustling and the sight of a couple shadows creeping through the forest below stopped him as he clung from the branch with his feet dangling.
"Anything?" said one figure to the other.
"Unfortunately not," it replied. "But we must keep looking before breakfast is called. We wouldn't want anyone to wonder where we're at."
Shawn squinted and dropped down to the next branch to see just who was chatting it up. In the pale light of dawn, he spotted them. Heather and Alejandro.
"If we can't find one," Heather said. "We should at least work on throwing one of the others under the bus as much as possible in case we lose."
"I agree," Alejandro said, rummaging through leaves at the base of Shawn's tree before moving on. "We only need two more votes, so I suggest we split our efforts. One of us should appeal to..."
And then they were out of sight. Shawn's eyes narrowed and he flipped down to ground level with a flawless descent.
"Well that sure was interesting..."
Confessional
"Well crap," Shawn groaned, slapping his head. "I'm not the only one looking for magic sticks out here anymore. And to make it worse, it looks like those two are pulling the wool over all our eyes harder than the CIA, Area 51, and NASA combined! Luckily they didn't know there was a fly on the wall," he said with a smirk. "Shawn, you might not have the Pendant, but you found some new ammo!"
End Confessional
With the sun up and everyone out of their beds, breakfast was served for both teams with all members present. Upon seeing Courtney still standing there, a few of the Zombie Slayers were taken by surprise.
"So… This is awkward," Gwen whispered to Heather.
"You're telling me," she groaned. "Why can't she just go home early for once and save us all some trouble?"
Scott on the other hand, and at another table, breathed a sigh of relief and took a bite of gruel, topped with some nice, dark, moist soil as a garnish.
"How do you even eat like that?" Sky said, cringing across the table. "You know that dirt's full of like… bacteria and stuff, right? And animals poop in there too."
"Ha!" the ginger snorted back. "I've been dirt-fed since I could walk. Built up quite the immune system from it. Pops took me to the doc once and the guy said I was strong as a horse in the guts. He'd never seen anything like it."
"And about as smart as one too," Alejandro snickered, taking a seat next to the farmer. "Though I must congratulate you on achieving health through such an… unexpected means."
Scott glared at his antagonizer and downed another scoop of dirty gruel. "Wow, thanks. Doctors just hate me, huh?"
Heather gave Alejandro a mean, admonishing glare from behind Scott. Alejandro blinked, got the memo, and sighed.
"I apologize for my rude comment, amigo. I simply wished to strike back for the less-than-complimentary insults you made during the last challenge. I hope we can move forward as teammates like a well-oiled machine on the path to victory." He extended a hand to Scott, who just looked at Alejandro like he had two heads.
Confessional
"Okay, what's up with Alejandro today?" Scott said with disgust. "Normally the dude's just slimy and weaselly, but now he's trying to be all nice with me out of nowhere? Smells like a rat if you ask me, and if anyone knows what a rat smells like, it's me. Seriously, I've cooked dozens of those things on the grill. What else do you do with the ones you smack in the kitchen? Anyways, if he wants to be all nice, I'm gonna hit back harder than before and send him a message: Scott ain't here for it."
(static)
"Scott is an, ahem, less than ideal ally," Alejandro explained as he read a book from the library. "But since he still has his captain's immunity until we lose, it's best to get on his good side and court his favor before others can turn him against Heather and I. But rest assured. He will be going home eventually. Perhaps very soon."
End Confessional
"Uh, sure thing, man," Scott said, reluctantly shaking the hand with a wary expression plastered on his face. "We're even."
"Well I'm glad we put that behind us," Alejandro said, now turning his attention to Sky. "As for you, I don't believe I properly congratulated you on winning yesterday's challenge for us."
Sky almost choked on her gruel, and not because of the awful texture. "Uh, what? I mean, uh, I didn't really need anyone to-"
"No, I insist," he said with a hand over his heart. "I noticed you were having a rough day yesterday so I assume the win served to boost your spirits?"
"I mean, I guess it did," she replied, feeling more or less uncomfortable with this sudden personality shift of his. "But the only win that matters is the one in the finale at the end of the day."
As Alejandro continued to "work" his magic, Team Pantheon was actually in higher spirits than expected.
"Thanks for them vittles," Sugar told Chef as he walked by, her bowl totally empty aside from the spit left from her licking spree. "Got any more? A girl's gotta eat!"
Chef released a frustrated grumble and shook his head. "Girl, you already ate three plates of that stuff. I ain't feedin' you til ya pop. If ya want more, ask your team."
"You want mine?" Beth asked, showing her new friend the last couple spoonfuls left in her bowl. "I'm not really hungry anymore and-"
Sugar didn't even wait for Beth to finish. Her lips extended like a vacuum and sucked up all the gruel from the bowl with a loud sucking noise, much to Beth's shock.
Lightning shuddered at the display. "Uh… that noise should not be comin' out your mouth girl."
"Oh puh-lease," Sugar growled back with a bit of gruel still on her lip. "I bet you make grosser noises every damn day."
"Nuh uh," the jock shot back. "Lightning's a gentleman through and through. He eats like a lord. You eat like you were raised in a barn!"
"Well I was, and I'm proud!"
"Well you know what I think?" Duncan said with a tired yawn. "I think both of you need to cut it out and let everyone eat their sludge in peace."
Lightning and Sugar shared a quick glance and looked back at Duncan. "Fine," they said stubbornly.
Confessional
"Ohhhh, that Lightning," Sugar groaned. "He thinks he's all Mister Perfect, but he's dumber than a bag of hammers and ruder than a hawk with a hit list... if that makes sense, I guess. If we weren't on this here team together, I'd love to beat him head to head for all the marbles. But if we don't tolerate each other, I ain't gonna win."
(static)
"Sugar's sha-crazy," Lightning said, his head popping up into frame every few seconds during his push up workout. Lightning has no clue how she's a pageant star, but all I know is pageants ain't real sports. Ain't no balls or touchdowns within ten miles of one of those things." He finished his workout and jumped up. "I mean, I guess they have audiences, and scores, and fancy outfits, but come on now. Football rules over girly dumb pageants any day of the week."
End Confessional
As the two egomaniacs simmered down, Courtney sat at the end of the table away from the others, eating her crappy breakfast quietly. Even if she'd survived by a miracle, she still felt like she was on the outs. In fact, the vibe she got from the rest of the team, aside from Duncan of course, was that her survival wasn't due to her being respected or valued as a person, but because Owen was a liability who didn't offer anything in the last challenge and would have helped continue their losing streak had he stayed. Her and Sugar weren't particularly warm, not that Courtney wanted to know someone so gross, abrasive, and weird. Her and Beth still had some bad blood and remained giving each other cold shoulders. And Lightning, while appearing to be the only person who didn't have anything bad to say about her, was still willing to keep his distance to avoid guilt by association after her new school alliance idea flopped. Or at least that was Courtney's read on the team. But for the moment, she was grateful to still be on the team even though she prayed for some kind of swap soon.
But on the other hand, it wasn't as if the other team was a match for her either. Heather and Gwen were enemies, Shawn hating her for all the Jasmine drama wasn't out of the question even if the air had been cleared since Shawn wasn't all there, she hadn't been easy on Sky the day before and that girl was a competitive beast, and Alejandro and Cody had never really taken that much of a liking to her outside of Alejandro's flirtation in the past, which was clearly game-related and left a bad taste in her mouth. Her only hope on that team was Scott: not a great ally, but an ally nonetheless, which is more than she had going for her on Team Pantheon. Plus The Zombie Slayers had dominated two challenges and had a stacked team. Team Pantheon was 0 for 2 and clearly had less brains despite their brawn. The stronger team was clear as day. But there wasn't much more time for Courtney to ponder his place in the game because...
"Attention, contestants!" boomed Chris over the loudspeakers. "You know what time it is! Get your butts to temple pronto for another epic Underworld challenge!"
The top 12 walked through the temple to the amphitheater, finding it impossible to ignore that the arena had been fenced off and filled with about fifty or so fluffy sheep.
Sugar leaned up to the railing and squealed. "YEEEEEE! I love me some sheep! All fluffy and with them weird eye slits and stuff! This is my day, I can feel it!"
"Move on, Little Bo Poop," Chris sighed, pushing Sugar away from the pen. "You'll have plenty of time to do weird farm stuff with the sheep later."
It wasn't long before all of them were seated and the two competitors, Jasmine and Owen, entered the temple as well.
"Morning, Jasmine!" Shawn shouted with a wave. "How'd ya sleep?!"
Jasmine shrugged with a cheeky smile. "Good as a gal can when she's survivin' in the elements."
"And when she's eating like a queen," Owen added, feeling a rumble in his tummy. "Man, I'm so hungry I'd eat a whole sheep. Without barbecue sauce!"
Duncan gasped. "Oh damn. He's serious."
Chris put a hand on Owen's shoulder. "Owen my man, sorry, but these sheep are not for eating. They're for catching in today's Odyssey-inspired challenge. Following his encounter with the Lotus Eaters, our dude sailed to the Island of the Cyclops, a big, scary, one-eyed dude who herded sheep for a living. After being trapped in a cave with him, Odysseus used a flaming torch to blind the monster and escaped by clinging to the bottom of his sheep. However, because we're not allowed to poke out eyes and because having Jasmine and Owen hanging under a bunch of sheep would definitely break some animal rights laws, we're taking our own spin on the story."
"Delightful," Jasmine mumbled.
"To win, all you have to do is find the sheep labeled with the Total Drama logo and bring it back to yours truly, who will be standing at the gate. No shaving, scissors, or shaving required though, because Chef conveniently painted the logo on its belly with paint cleared by our animal advisor as totally safe." He turned to the camera and glared. "I hope you're happy out there, tree huggers."
Jasmine nodded confidently. "Alright, sounds pretty easy. Just get the sheep and bring it back?"
"Yeah, what's the catch?" Owen asked, knowing something horrible was coming.
"Glad you asked," Chris said. "To make things accurate to the story and just more interesting, we've invited another classic Total Drama competitor to act as our cyclops for the day." He gestured to the passage in the middle of the amphitheater. "Introducing… Eva!"
On cue, the buff, brawny woman stomped out of the tunnel with that same old determined, angry glare on her face, not unlike a bull leaving her pen during a rodeo. However, she wasn't dressed like her old self. Instead, she wore a leather top, leather shorts, and a fur coat that wrapped over her shoulders like a cape. On her forehead was a crudely drawn third eye about the size of a golf ball.
A few of the players, those who knew her at least, gasped in fear having never expected to see her again. Owen and Jasmine certainly didn't like what they saw. Others like Sky, and only Sky, beamed with hype that couldn't be contained.
Confessional
"This is so cool!" Sky squealed. "Eva was a huge inspiration for me to do this show in the first place! She proved a tough, athletic girl could actually make it on and be a physical beast. I mean, sure she only lasted like three episodes and only survived one vote and never returned to play again, but still, it's like I'm meeting one of my heroes in the flesh!"
End Confessional
"So what do I get for this again?" Eva asked Chris with a low growl.
"A small paycheck and maybe an appearance on the next season," he told her.
Eva snorted. "Yeah, well you better keep your word, McLean. Now what do I have to do?"
"Beat the crap out of those two," he told her, throwing a thumb over his shoulder towards the two challengers, who gulped in fear.
Eva eyed both Owen and Jasmine and smiled. "Sounds fun."
"Well not for us," Owen whined, hiding behind the Aussie.
"Yeah," Jasmine said with a nervous tick. "I suddenly don't feel as confident as I did this mornin'..."
Eva pulled a wooden club out from behind her back and smacked it on her other palm.
"Scratch that," the survival queen whimpered. "I'm scared."
With a flicker of the screen, both Jasmine and Owen were poised and totally not ready to begin at the gate. Eva stood in the middle of the flock, her gaze locked firmly on her challengers and her club at the ready for a good smacking over the head.
"First one to nab the marked sheep and return to the gate wins," explained Chris one more time. "The loser goes home for good."
And then he opened the gate. The challenge had begun. Owen and Jasmine ran inside and immediately started grabbing sheep by their back legs and lifting them up to check their bellies. And Eva immediately made a move by stomping towards Owen with her club held high.
"You voted me off! You're dead!" she screamed in a blind rage, ironic considering her third eye and all.
Owen screamed and ran for his life. "When did I do that?! I never voted you off!"
Eva quickly caught up and swung, but Owen dodged. "When I came back at the merge, I know you said my name! Chris didn't air it, but I know you said it! Get ready for a body bag!"
With a mad scream, Owen ran around the edge of the fence with Eva in hot pursuit.
"Come back here and take it!" Eva boomed. "I want my revenge!"
Owen almost got out of her reach, but a hapless sheep tripped him up and he fell flat on his face, allowing Eva to hover over him with the club raised.
And then the fun stopped.
"And Jasmine wins!"
Eva and Owen both gasped and looked back to see Jasmine already holding the marked sheep in the air by the gate.
"Yes!" she cheered, noticing Shawn fist pumping like there was no tomorrow in the amphitheater. "Record time!"
"What?!" Eva yelled, her veins in her head bulging. "That's it?! I get brought back for a stupid ten second challenge?! Are you kidding me?!"
Owen didn't even care that he'd lost. He figured it would happen and adjusted his expectations accordingly. Al he could do was just creep out of the way and climb over the fence to hide from the rage-a-holic before she exploded on the nearest human.
"Easy, easy, easy," Chris told her with palms out front. "I wasn't counting on it being that fast and honestly, that anticlimactic. So don't worry, we're getting our money's worth of out you so stick around for a minute and don't like... kill anything."
Eva lowered her club and crossed her arms. "That's right. You better give me my due."
Jasmine dropped the marked sheep and pet its head. "There ya go, you little bugger. Thanks for the win. Run off now."
The sheep happily went "Baaaa" and trotted off back into the herd.
"And before I forget this time," Chris said, pulling out his remote with an air of annoyance. With the push of a button, Owen's massive bust exploded, pelting the amphitheater with pebbles and debris, causing everyone to yelp and duck for cover.
"Awww man," Owen whined, approaching the host with slumped shoulders and a pout. "I figured I'd at least get to go down with a fight."
"Well thanks to Jasmine McNaturepants, you went out with a boom instead," the host retorted, happy that he could at least make one iconic joke despite the challenge being a total flop. "You know where to go."
Owen didn't even need to say much. A quick "See you guys!" was all he got out before leaving the temple.
Chris prodded Jasmine's arm with a thumb. "As for you, congrats on the second win in a row. Head on back to the Underworld and await your next challenger, who will hopefully be more of a match than Owen was."
"Awesome. See ya for the next one." Jasmine walked confidently out of the temple after blowing a kiss Shawn's way, causing the boy to blush and swoon.
That left Eva standing there, awkwardly simmering as the herd of sheep bumped around her legs. "So… What about me?"
"First, everyone meet me down here," Chris instructed the peanut gallery. Once everyone met at the gate, as far away from Eva as possible with the exception of Sky, Chris jumped right into it. "Since the Underworld challenge was super lame and guaranteed to cost us some ratings, I figure it's only fair to make your next immunity challenge that much harder to make up for it."
The entire cast groaned at the news, but Eva smiled.
"And that's where I come in?" she asked, sounding quite sinister.
"Exactly," Chris said. "Now for today's challenge. Back in the old days of Greece, the people often worshiped the gods and goddesses with sacrifices so they wouldn't go nuts and destroy the world in a blind rage, much like Eva's blind rage over here. So for today's challenge, you'll be offering up sacrifices to three shrines located around this island. One for Zeus, one for Poseidon, and one for Hades. And let me tell you, these dudes are huge fans of animals, so your sacrifices will be some special sheep marked with your team emblems."
"We have to slaughter the sheep?!" Beth shrieked. "I can't do that! They're so innocent!"
"I can!" Sugar said, almost volunteering for it. "We slaughter animals all the time back home. It ain't that bad. You just gotta suck it up and appreciate the circle of life.. Or is it the oval of life? Maybe more of a square shaped thing."
"Zip. It. The lawyers said no slaughtering allowed!" Chris stressed. "So don't worry. All you have to do is get three sheep in the shrines, which are fenced off so they can't escape and cost you the win. The first team to get all three ships in the shrines and meet back up in the housing complex together wins immunity. As for the losers? You know what's up by now."
Heather raised a finger. "When you say meet back up..."
"Oh yeah, you'll also be required to split up into three groups however you want. Each group gets a sheep assigned to one shrine and it's up to them to figure out where the shrine is. No maps, no compasses, no GPS, no crystal ball, nothing. It's a physical and mental challenge today! So figure out what groups you'll be in, pronto."
Team Pantheon was quick to divide up.
"I'm goin' with my farmie here," Sugar said, hugging Beth with one arm around the shoulder.
"I can go with Lightning," Duncan said. "You fine with being on your own, Courtney?"
"Uh, I guess," she mumbled.
Confessional
"Not surprised," Courtney said, tapping her fingers on the seat. "But at least this way I'm not going to be distracted by anyone fighting with me or pissing me off. It's just me and a sheep and getting stuff done." Her eyes shot open and she glared into the lens. "And get your minds out of the gutter out there! You know who you are."
End Confessional
The Zombie Slayers on the other hand were not so diplomatic in their split.
"I'll go with Gwen," Sky said immediately. "We'll crush it."
"Cool," the goth replied.
"And me too," Cody said, joining alongside side the two runner ups.
And that's when things got awkward.
"Uh… I was just hoping for me and Gwen," Sky mumbled. "Sorry."
"Yeah, not gonna lie, a girls day sounds pretty good right about now," Gwen told him. "Sorry, Cody. Next time for sure though."
Cody blinked. "But… I thought we-" An arm shot around his shoulder and pulled him in, ending his rebuttal.
"You can team up with me, man," Shawn said excitedly. "I gotta ask you about some of those power ups in Deceased at Twilight, so we can nerd out all day and plan our undead defense system together."
Cody looked between Shawn and Gwen and sighed. "Fine."
That left Alejandro, Heather, and Scott.
"I can go alone," Scott said. "Back on the farm, I-"
"Well I'm not working with this loser," Heather said stubbornly. "So..." She shoved his boyfriend towards the dirt farmer and nearly knocked them both over. "Take him with you!"
"Hey!" Scott protested. "Why do I have to work with him?"
"I agree," Alejandro said. "Scott and I are quite… at odds despite making up this morning. Would that not hinder our team should our connection falter?"
"Consider it a little bonus bonding session," Heather scoffed, joining Cody and Shawn. "Mind if I join you guys?"
"Uh, not really," Cody said. "Bringing back those World Tour vibes, huh?"
"Not a chance," Shawn said, his eyes narrowed so hard they were almost closed shut.
Heather raised an eyebrow at the zombie nut's attitude. "Well... I say yes, and that's 2 votes to 1, so I'm coming with you. No buts about it."
Shawn rolled his eyes. "Fine. But only because we have to have three teams. But don't get all cheeky or you're getting tossed to the horde first."
Confessional
Heather flipped some hair out of her eyes. "Obviously I couldn't work with Alejandro. Not only would it make everyone suspicious of us, but we can cover way more ground looking for those idols working separately than we could as a duo. It's just common sense, and all these chumps will see just how far down over their eyes we've pulled the wool when this airs."
(static)
Shawn scowled. "Heather? Don't like her. She's a total snake and she's totally still together with Alejandro. I see right through their little act just like I see through the Canadian government's plans to cover up their creation of the Z-virus. And the best part? She doesn't even know that I know! I just wish she didn't tag along so I could let Cody in on the sweet deets, but I got time. And hey, maybe I can actually find that pendant today! Kill two zombies with one arrow, ya know?"
End Confessional
"AHEM!" Eva yelled. Yep. She straight up yelled "Ahem."
Chris jumped a little and shook the jitters out. "Oh right, Eva. Sorry. I almost forgot about you."
"Wouldn't be the first time either," she growled.
"Riiiiiiight. Anyways, your job is to make things harder for the rest of the players. They've stolen your prized sheep to sacrifice them to the gods and you're not having it. So… have at it I guess. Not really much else to say."
Eva blinked. "That's it?"
"Yep."
"I see."
"Uh huh."
Eva didn't say another word. She picked up her club and stomped out the temple peacefully.
"Well that was creepy," Heather said, shuddering. "Why do I feel like she's going to actually kill us now?"
"Because she will," said an aggravated Duncan. "Dude, this bites."
By then, Chef walked out herding six sheep, each wearing a red or blue bandanna around its neck. On each bandanna were two emblems, one for the team and one for the god it was assigned to. Those with the lightning bolts were for Zeus. Those with the water droplets were for Poseidon. And those with the spoopy looking ghosts were for Hades.
"Alright, you have your sheep," Chris said as Chef gave each mini-team an animal. "You have the rest of the day to find those shrines and get your team the win. And beware… you're not alone out there, hehe."
"Charming," Heather groaned. "Can you at least guarantee she's not going to kill us?"
Chris shrugged. "Up to her. The good thing about my lawyers is that they come up with clauses for everything, getting killed by a raging former contestant wielding a club included."
"I… don't think that's legal," said Cody. "Though somehow I don't doubt you found a way around it."
Chris winked. "I have my ways. Now get moving!"
Sugar immediately hoisted her and Beth's sheep on her back. "Come on, sheepy! Let's go find us a shrine!"
The sheep gulped and gave the camera a mortified stare before it was whooshed out of frame.
"I can do that," Scott scoffed, picking up his and Alejandro's sheep and carrying it like a big, woolly baby. "See? Farm skills comin' in clutch."
"Well you can cradle her to the shrine," said Alejandro. "And deal with the unfortunate messes along the way."
The two villains walked off and Scott blinked. "Huh? Oh come on!"
The rest of the cast rolled out as well, splitting up to get the job done and secure immunity ASAP. Team Pantheon had no interest in losing and The Zombie Slayers had no interest in giving up their winning streak.
A few minutes and a camera cut later, Shawn, Cody, and Heather walked through the Greek forest, pushing their way through shrubbery and branches with their sheep following behind on a rope.
"Come on, little guy," Cody said to the animal with an encouraging tone. "We'll find that shrine in no time."
"Where even would it be though?" Shawn asked.
"Well since our sheep has the Hades symbol, it only makes sense for the shrine to be somewhere dark, miserable, and gloomy," Heather said matter-of-factly. "Other than Alejandro's head of course."
"So a cave?" Cody suggested. "Or maybe the maze?"
"Exactly," Heather said. "Smart thinking, Cody. You're super smart."
Cody rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. "Wow, thanks for the compliment. I didn't think you'd be down to dish some out with all the Alejandro drama going on."
Shawn narrowed his eyes. "Yeah..."
Heather caught the suspicious tone in Shawn's voice, but kept looking straight ahead with one eye on the lookout for statues. "Well I'm just trying to get that jerk out of my mind, and the best way to do that is to focus on winning the challenge and boosting morale."
"Agreed," Cody said. "Just like I'm trying to..." He stopped and bit his tongue. "Never mind."
"What?" Heather asked. "Thinking about Gwen and Sky together? Bonding. Over girl stuff. Without you. That it?"
"Y-yeah," Cody groaned, unable to tell a good lie to cover his true feelings. "It's super pathetic, I know."
"Nah," Shawn scoffed, wrapping an arm around his fellow geek's body. "You're in better hands here, bud. It's not like Gwen would've talked about your hobbies or anything. And besides, you never really talked to anyone but her since we got here. Time for you to branch out your connections."
All Cody could smell was unwashed pits. But he still chuckled through the misery. "Hehe, good point."
Confessional
Cody threw up in a bucket and recoiled with a shudder. "That was worse than Sierra's pit stink! And I've tasted that!"
(static)
"Without Jasmine around, I'm a total mess," Shawn said, oddly proud of that statement. "But it doesn't mean I can't forge new bonds with people who deserve to live through the walker infestation with me! And Cody is A-Okay in my book! Heather on the other hand can get her brains served up on a silver platter! But I just gotta wait for the right time to break the news to Cody. And with Heather sticking to us like glue it's hard to get some alone time unless we have a pee break."
End Confessional
Sugar cuddled her sheep, nearly popping its eyes out of their sockets with her mighty grip as she walked with Beth down the beach, hoping to find Poseidon's shrine near water. "Oh sheepy-poo, I love you already! I can't wait to get home and doll you up good! Or just fry ya up. Either one works for me."
"Yeah… sheep are the best," said Beth without a single gram of gusto, not really keen on the whole "eating your new sheep friend" idea.
Sugar loosened her grip on the sheep and gave Beth a concerned look. "What's wrong, farmie? Feelin' glum? Ain't no reason to feel glum when we got a fluffy, woolly, sheep to play with. She's basically a stuffed animal come to life!"
Beth smiled weakly. "Yeah, but… I don't know. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure thing," Sugar said, blissfully returning to hugging the offering.
Beth tapped her finger tips together. "Um… Do you ever feel bad about voting people off?"
"Not really. Ain't somethin' I put much thought into. I vote ya out, and that's all she wrote. Easier than sliding down a slip and slide butt naked and drenched in lard."
Charmed by the surprisingly relatable metaphor, Beth snorted a little, but quickly lost that energy. "Well, I just feel bad about the last two eliminations."
"What for? You're still around and there ain't no target on ya. Ain't that good news?"
"I mean, yeah, I'm still here, but… I just hate seeing people get their feelings hurt. And… I don't want to blame you, but you were the one who got Jasmine out and started all the fighting in the first place. It's just kinda… mean?"
Sugar narrowed her eyes and that sweet sugary outside coating dissolved. "You think I'm mean? Ain't nothin' mean about how I play. It's a doggy-dog world out here and if you ain't first, you're last. And Sugar ain't no last placer, ya hear?"
Beth cringed at the bad attitude seeping from Sugar's words like blood from a wound. It was like the friend she'd made just vanished and got replaced by someone totally new. "Well… Gloating about stuff like that isn't very nice. Doing it I get, but you don't need to make other people feel bad too."
Sugar rolled her eyes. "Farmie, I like ya. So let me educate ya on some things. When you're in a pageant, you ain't got time for bein' all nicey-nice when glory is on the line. You gotta be tough! Suck it up! Shoot for the top! And this game ain't much different. You just gotta beat the rest and get the money at the end. Shoot your way out if you gotta. That's all there is to it. That's what Mama and Granny said. Granted, I'm pretty sure Granny's mama robbed a bank or somethin' in her day, but still, words to live by. And you gotta learn 'em good 'cause ya never know when they'll come in handy."
Beth looked down at her feet trudging through the sand. "So... I should be a more cutthroat person if I want to win? But I almost won last time by being nice and focusing on my friends though. Why would I want to change that?"
Sugar rushed to Beth's side and put a finger to her lips. "Key word: almost. You still lost. And that means ya tied for last. Ain't no pride in second place. Just means you wasted more time gettin' your hopes up only for some big ol' anvil to fall outta the sky and crush 'em like grapes under my cousin's feet at the county fair. Might as well be out first and get the free vacation with the fancy flush toilets and junk."
"I kinda get it," Beth said, totally unsure of half of what Sugar just said. "But I can still have friends, right?"
Sugar shrugged. "Yeah. You just can't let 'em stand in the way of the prize."
And then, for a change, Beth actually seemed a little hopeful. "Okay… So I can play harder and make moves… without hurting people?"
"I guess if that's yer style," Sugar replied, giving the anxious sheep some forceful head pats.
"Then… can you teach me how to play harder?"
Sugar beamed to life, her pupils dilating and her mouth gaping wide with a gasp. "I'd love to! I'm gonna whip ya into shape faster than a jackrabbit on a jet plane!"
But Beth wasn't done. She pointed a finger at Sugar and smirked. "Good, but only if I can teach you how to be nicer to people."
"Aww crud," Sugar groaned. "I should've seen a catch comin' from a mile away. But hey, that's yer first lesson done: cut deals to get what ya want! Well done, farmie!"
Beth smiled confidently. "Thanks. I guess I might be pretty good at this stuff after all."
Across the island, Gwen and Sky coaxed their sheep along trying to find the shrine of Zeus.
"So what's Zeus all about?" Gwen asked. "God of thunder, god of cheating on his wife… That's all I know."
"Yeah, that's about it," Sky sighed, giving her sheep a head pat to cheer herself up. "I wish I'd actually read from the library about this stuff but I didn't think Chris would be serious about that."
"Well I've been shirking my reading too so we're in the same boat," Gwen said with a chill, friendly tone. "Not that I hate reading. I just don't want to-"
"Read Chris' selection?"
"Exactly," the goth finished. "Plus I don't know if he rigged some of those books with traps or something. If I open one and get blown up, I'm done."
"Sounds like a Chris thing to do."
"Yep."
Dead silence.
"So..." Sky started again before immediately running out of words to say.
"What? Got an idea of where the shrine might be?"
Sky shook her head. "Nah, just wanted to talk. But I can't really think of anything else to talk about. You know what I mean?"
Gwen smiled. "Considering I went weeks without talking to people before, yeah. Totally."
The sudden rustling of leaves to their left in the forest caused the girls to freeze and go back to back.
"What was that?" Sky whispered. "You think it's Eva?"
The rustling happened again.
"Maybe," Gwen whispered back. "You think you can take her?"
"Nope."
"Great."
The rustling grew louder and close until the source revealed itself… a cute little rabbit creeping out of the bush with a hop.
The girls immediately relaxed and chuckled to themselves.
"I can't believe we got scared by that," Sky said, moving on from the area.
Gwen followed behind, but the camera lingered on the rabbit. Another louder rustle spooked it back into the bushes and a massive foot emerged in frame. Panning up, the camera showed Eva standing tall in the shadows. However, she didn't make a move on the girls. She just moved on, her eyes set on the forest ahead...
Meanwhile, Scott and Alejandro trekked through the underbrush in search of Poseidon's shrine with their sheep walking between them. Instead of aiming for the sea, they aimed for an inland source of water as Poseidon was usually associated with the flowing spring as well as the sea. Were they enjoying it? Oh no, not at all.
"Ow!" Scott yelped.
Alejandro turned just in time to see Scott holding his nose and duck under a swinging branch. "Apologies, amigo. I assumed you had kept a safe distance. It is the fifth time this has happened after all."
"Yeah, because you're doing it on purpose!" the farmer growled back. "I can tell from the smirk on your face."
Alejandro was indeed smirking and quickly dropped his lips into a neutral frown. "Though I apologize for the smirk, blaming me for your mishaps will not get us to the shrine faster. In fact, it might draw Eva's attention. So I suggest we proceed quietly and calmly."
Scott rolled his eyes. "So much for Mr. Nice Al I guess."
Alejandro flinched and stopped. "Okay, well, how about you take the lead. That way, I can no longer smack your face with branches. Does that sound like a better arrangement?"
Scott smirked deviously and quickly bolted ahead of the arch villain. "You bet it does." Within seconds, Alejandro had already been smacked by a branch he didn't even see coming and fell back with a loud "oof!"
Confessional
Alejandro sighed. "Scott is impossible to work with without degrading myself, but I need his allegiance and trust. So some… sacrifices must be made." He touched his slightly scratched up face and sighed even louder. "My face, unfortunately."
End Confessional
Courtney, with her sheep draped over her back, paced through the woods towards the entrance to the maze, figuring the Hades shrine would be somewhere under the soil. And unless there was some other underground complex on the island, the maze was the only option. She didn't particularly like going down there, but she was here to win this challenge and she was all on her own. If she failed, she'd be solely blamed for the loss and given the boot. Wasn't gonna happen on her watch.
"Come on," she huffed, struggling to keep the animal her back for much longer. "The maze has to be close by now. Ugh, this island is so big though. Could be another… Nope, gonna think positive thoughts. Like winning the million, and singing a great remix of my World Tour hits, and rubbing Duncan's face in my success. Yeah, positive thoughts!"
Speaking of Duncan, he and Lightning were busy figuring out where the Shrine of Zeus could possibly be and getting nowhere fast.
"You sure we shouldn't go back to the peak?" Duncan asked the jock. "Because if the dude's the god of thunder, you'd think he'd like to be close to the clouds. What if the shrine was in the temple and we just missed it?"
"Nuh-uh," Lightning said, jogging along with the sheep scared to death under his arm like a big fluffy football. "Lightning knows Chris like the back of his foot and Chris ain't gonna put the shrine at the start of the course. He's gonna make us work for it."
Duncan shrugged. "Well Poseidon's shrine is probably in the water and Hades probably has his in the maze, so I feel like it's an obvious location."
The jock just kept on jogging. But he couldn't help but feel like Duncan might have a point. But he was far too proud to admit it. They'd already covered quite a bit of land and going back to the temple would waste time. Even Lightning knew that.
"Did you do any of that reading?" Lightning asked him. "Wonder if Chris left any clues in those books..."
"As if I'd read that stuff for fun," Duncan scoffed. "The only book I ever opened in juvie was the one my buds snuck in. And I only opened it to get the lighter they smuggled in for me. Stupid guards didn't even check the thing."
"Sha-dang, that's lucky. Lightning tried to get his friend to deflate some balls during a big game so we'd clutch a win but he got busted big time. They didn't sell out the Lightning though, and that's what counts."
Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Didn't take you for a cheater, dude. Impressive moves."
"Sha-desperate times call for sha-desperate measures," Lightning said with a one-armed shrug. "When the big game's ridin' on it, you gotta play to win at all costs."
"Me and you could pull some major shit," Duncan told him slyly. "I wish I had you in prison with me, man. We could've busted out of there so fast they wouldn't even notice we were gone until the next day's dinner service."
"Lightning in prison?" the jock gasped. "No way, dude. Lightning ain't ever gettin' put behind bars. He's got a lot ridin' on his football career and prison would ruin it. Ain't nobody draftin' a criminal for their team unless they want trouble. Besides, Lightning's a hero, man. Kids gotta have someone to look up to and heroes don't go to jail."
Duncan didn't really expect that many words to come out of Lightning's mouth, especially the ones about wanting a good future with a solid reputation, but hey, the dude had dreams. Respect.
"Aw man. Well you're still a pretty cool guy. I guess I had you all wrong after All-Stars."
"No prob, Bob. Lightning forgives you. Even if you voted me out."
Duncan smirked. "Well then, how would you feel about an alliance? Just two dudes who made the final two once working together to get to the final two again. With a lot of big players going home early, I think we might need each other to stay safe."
Lightning skidded to a stop and smiled. "Sha-lliance? With the Lightning? I like the sound of that. Should we come up with a sha-sick alliance name?"
Duncan raised an eyebrow. "Uh… just an alliance is fine."
"Nah, we gotta make it official. Something like… Uh..."
"We can think of one later," Duncan said as he walked past his new partner. "We just need to find that shrine. But if we lose, just know I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine."
A lightbulb flashed over Lightning's head and he gasped. "That's it! The Back Scratchers!"
"Nope."
Confessional
"Sha-sweet!" Lightning boomed. "An alliance with Duncan is just what the Lightning ordered. First time I've ever been asked man to man too, meanin' I'm playing my best game yet against the best of the best. The future's lookin' sha-bright for the Lightning."
(static)
"It's not like Lightning's my best bud or anything," Duncan explained with a strategic glimmer in his eye. "But with Courtney on the outs and Sugar and Beth being close, I needed an ally I can work with on this stupid team. If we boot Courtney next, Sugar and Beth are just going to target us and take control. So consider this alliance my way of taking precautions in case our losing streak continues. Which raises a good question: do we save Courtney again and just take down the freaky farmers next? Tough call."
End Confessional
Heather, Cody, and Shawn walked through the old maze with a lone torch in Shawn's hand as Cody led their sheep along. Having done the maze before, it wasn't much longer until they reached the center and found exactly what they hoped to find: the Shrine of Hades in the heart of the complex. It was a rectangular structure about eight feet tall with the statue of the god himself poised in the hollow center. Around the shrine was a wooden fence with a small gate lying under Hades' gaze.
"Thank god!" Heather gasped, nearly falling to her knees. "Quick, Cody! Get the sheep in the pen before roid girl shows up and costs us the lead!"
"You mean Eva?" Cody asked.
"Yeah, whatever. Just hurry!"
Shawn opened the door to the shrine and Cody led their cute little sheep inside.
Seconds later, Chris' voices boomed on the speakers. "And just like that, Team Zombie Slayers takes the lead with Cody, Shawn, and Heather offering Hades a nice sacrifice! 1-0 for the Slayers! Better get moving Team Pantheon! You don't want a third loss in a row, do you? McLean, out!"
"Nice!" Shawn said, offering Cody a high five. "Now we just have to hope the others had it just as easy and we'll win this in no time."
As if on cue, Courtney strolled into the maze's center with her sheep and smugly laughed. "Haha, make that 1-1, Chris!"
"Crap!" Heather groaned. "Did you follow us here or something?"
"Well yes, but also not entirely," the CIT said as her sheep wobbled into the cage. "I just used my head and figured a god of the underworld would prefer a shrine under the world itself. Easy peasy."
"Scratch that!" came Chris again. "Courtney ties it up 1 to 1 and pisses off Heather in the process! It's still anyone's game!"
Shawn slapped his forehead. "Ahhh crud. Well, the lead was fun while it lasted."
"Yeah, I'm going back to the house," Heather grumbled, not even giving Courtney the time of day.
"Sounds good to me," Cody said. "Wanna come chill?" he asked Shawn.
"Since we have to all be there to win, I don't think I have a choice," the zombie nut said with a chuckle.
Courtney hummed a little victory tune to herself as the Zombie Slayers led the way out.
"Shawn never uses soap, and Heather's so lame there's just no ho-o-o-o-ope."
Confessional
"Well this blows," Heather sighed angrily, kicking the table leg. "Of course we get the easiest shrine and spend more time in a tunnel than in the woods where the immunity idols would be hidden. Granted, it wasn't like I was going to be able to grab an idol with the boys watching me like hawks, but I could have covered more ground at least!"
(static)
"Now that I finished the challenge first, I'm pretty confident I'm safe if we lose," Courtney said, still humming that song at the start of her confessional. "I've proven I'm the clear MVP of this team and if they vote me off now, they're just asking to be totally decimated by the merge." Then her confidence waned every so slightly. "But still, with complete imbeciles like Lightning and Sugar handling the rest of the challenge for us, I don't exactly have much confidence."
End Confessional
"Here, Shriney-Shrine!" Sugar called out with her hands cupped to the sky. "Come to Sugar!"
"I don't think shrines can hear," Beth said. "Or talk. Or think."
"Well maybe it's just shy."
"I hope we didn't go the wrong way though," Beth nervously grumbled. "We've combed almost the whole beach and haven't seen anything. What if Poseidon's shrine isn't by the sea?"
"It's gotta be," Sugar said. "Ain't no reason to assume it ain't."
"Okay, but I'm still worried."
"Chin up, farmie," Sugar told her friend, patting her on the back with a slap. "We're winnin' this. It's in the bag."
As Beth and Sugar moved further down the beach, the camera stopped on the forest behind them. Eva stepped out, beating her club into her meaty, callused hand. But once again, she retreated instead of attacking. The heck was up that that, yo?
With the sun beginning its shift towards the horizon, Courtney, Shawn, Cody, and Heather returned to the housing complex and took their seats at the tables in the courtyard. Or at least everyone but Courtney did. She elected to get some rest in her upstairs room instead of stressing out with Heather around.
"Well that's a load off," Cody sighed happily, kicking back at the table. "I'm glad we got the easy one."
"Truth," Shawn said.
Heather took one look at the nerds and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well it doesn't matter how well we did if the others don't finish the job." Then she stood up and walked back to the entrance. "I need to pee though, so you guys just… I don't know, just don't burn the place down."
Once Heather was gone, Cody looked to Shawn and opened his mouth to ask about his favorite games, but Shawn quickly shoved his face into Cody's and screamed.
"I gotta tell ya something!"
Cody yelped and fell back. "Dude! What the hell?"
"Sorry," Shawn said, panicking like he'd just seen a ghost. "But I gotta tell you before she gets back. Heather and Alejandro are working together. I've seen it with my own two eyes, man! And I think they're idol hunting hardcore now! As in right now because I don't think Heather's out there to relieve her bladder! You got all that?"
Cody blinked. "Um… I don't know?"
Shawn grabbed Cody by the shoulders and pulled him in close. "This morning, I was looking for the Pendant of Zeus to help Jasmine out, and I saw those two working together to look for an idol! They're totally lying to us about the breakup! They've got us all duped, man!"
Cody blinked again. "Uh… does it matter? They're already on the outs."
Now it was Shawn's turn to blink. "Uh, yes!"
"Yeah," Cody said, gently pushing Shawn a few inches away so he didn't have to smell his stench. "I mean, I think this could be low key good for us though. They were already huge targets and now they're even bigger ones. I don't know why you're freaking out. And now that I think about it, it was pretty obvious."
Shawn slapped his head. "Dude, we gotta spread the word about this!"
"About what?" said Gwen, who just magically appeared next to the boys with Sky and their sheep by her side.
"AHHHHH!" Shawn screamed in horror and dove under the table at the goth's sudden appearance.
"Wait, did you guys find the shrine?" Cody asked with a hopeful tone despite their sheep in plain view.
"Nope," Sky said. "We came back to the library to do a little research on Zeus. Turns out his favorite tree was the oak and he had a grove of them called Dodona. We think the shrine might be in a place like that and we wanted to know if you guys saw any place like that."
Before Cody could answer, Shawn burst out from the other side of the table and let out a panicked mess of words. "AlejandroandHeatherarestilltogetherandlookingforidolswegottadosomethingaboutitfast!"
Gwen and Sky jumped back in shock and gave each other awkward glances.
"Uh… come again?" Gwen asked.
Cody sighed, not exactly happy about being Shawn's Nutcase-to-English translator. "He said Alejandro and Heather are still dating and faked their break up. And they're looking for idols. That's literally it."
"Yeah," Gwen said with a shrug. "That's not surprising whatsoever. They did a bad job of hiding it, but like, props for trying I guess."
"Agreed," said Sky.
"Are you guys seriously not worried?" Shawn whined. "What if they find one of those statues and take over the team?"
"I'm sure we're fine," Sky chuckled. "The island is huge. It'll take ages to find a statue out there unless you have a hint or something. Speaking of Heather..."
"She went to pee," Cody said.
"Yeah right," Shawn snorted arrogantly. "She's probably out there looking for idols as we speak. Hell, she might actually have one by now and is plotting how to get us all out!"
Gwen gave Shawn an annoyed glare. "Uh yeah, we just want to know if you've seen an oak grove so we can win this challenge."
Shawn rolled his eyes. "Fine! I think I saw one about a mile from here, just past the temple."
"Awesome," Sky said. "Let's go!"
As the girls left, Shawn growled and stood up as well. "I'm gonna see what Heather's up to. If she finds that idol, we're all doomed."
That left poor Cody all alone unless he wanted to go upstairs and chat up Courtney. So yeah, he was definitely alone.
Confessional
"Shawn's a cool dude," Cody said. "But he can be super intense sometimes, like a male Sierra. Only instead of obsessing over me he obsesses over like 20 other things. But mostly zombies. And the government chipping him. And... Yeah. Anyways, it's pretty obvious Heather and Alejandro are going home if we lose and that's cool with me."
End Confessional
Scott and Alejandro searched in vain for any inland water sources and eventually turned their searching to the beach. Did it relieve the tension between them? Nope.
"I swear, if Chris hid this shrine in the showers, I'm gonna lose it," Scott grunted, dragging the sheep down the sandy stretch. "You know he'd do it because it'd be stupid and obvious!"
"Perhaps," Alejandro replied, tending to his sore, branch-whacked face with a gentle touch and a snide glare. "But the score is still 1-1 so our opponents have yet to find the Poseidon or Zeus shrines. I'd advise you to keep your voice down to avoid alerting the other team to our presence though."
"The only thing I'm trying to keep down is my blood pressure," Scott said, tugging the sheep a few more inches forward as it dug its hooves into the sand. "I swear this thing hates me and no, I'm not picking it so it can bite my chin again. You wanna sheep-sit?"
Alejandro waved Scott off and cast a careful eye across the beach looking for anything idol-y. "No thank you. I'm good. I must conserve my energy and you did volunteer to handle the animal based on your farm background, no?"
The dirt farmer grumbled to himself and carried on. "Fine."
Gwen and Sky eventually found their way to the oak grove, a large, more open area filled with suspiciously out of place oak trees, as if they'd been planted there.
"Alright, shrine time," Sky said with a confident bravado. "It's gotta be somewhere around here."
"It'd better be," Gwen groaned, rubbing her sore calves. "I need to sit down for like, a whole day after this. You're probably good to run all day though, huh?"
Sky led the duo through the grove with the sheep calmly walking by her side. "Yeah, I mean, I trained with 5 kilometer runs every day when I got the call for this season. Anything less and I couldn't call myself prepared."
"Well maybe you can offer me some workout tips sometime," Gwen sighed, walking through the swells of pain. "Hopefully for an indoor workout because running through a muggy forest isn't what I'd call fun."
Sky snorted out a little chuckle and smiled. "You have a treadmill at home? That's the best way for someone to get off the couch since it's usually like, ten steps from the couch."
"Nope," Gwen said. "I literally never bought exercise equipment before. I did gym classes in high school and stuff, but gym memberships and dropping hundreds of bucks on a machine that milks the sweat out of me isn't appealing. I'd rather spent my time writing, drawing, hanging out with friends, stuff like that."
Sky shrugged. "Well you can still enjoy those things and get your heart rate up. I have a friend who does graphic design projects as she power walks on her treadmill. She says it really gets the brain juices flowing and doubles her productivity. But I'm not really an artist so..."
"Well my time is usually about popping in some earbuds, chilling with some music in my room, and just… letting my hand do what it wants." The goth suddenly shuddered. "I mean with writing and art and stuff, not-"
"Oh, I get it," Sky chuckled. "I know what you mean."
"Good," Gwen sighed. "And uh, hey, mind if I ask you something?"
"Sure. Hit me with it."
Gwen made her case with a chill, stress-free resolve. "I mean, since we're hitting it off, I was thinking about like, I don't know, maybe getting an alliance together? Just the two of us? Runner ups to the end? And since he'll want in because I'm involved, including Cody?"
Sky stopped in her tracks.
Confessional
"Look, I like Gwen a lot because she gets me," Sky sighed. "But… I don't know about alliances this time. Last time I did really well by just focusing on myself and not letting anyone rope me into some tough situations, and whenever I was attached to the hip with someone like Dave or Jasmine, things just got way out of hand. So I said-"
End Confessional
"I… don't know," Sky said with a sheepish look to the side. "I'd rather not do something super formal and strategic like that. Sorry, but it's just… not how I'm playing this season."
Gwen looked a little stunned and raised an eyebrow. "Uh, okay then. No big deal."
Confessional
"Okay," Gwen said, crossing her arms and staring into the camera with a suspicious eye. "Who says no to an alliance with a person they really seem to get along with? I mean, it's just common sense to say yes even if you're not interested just so people trust you. I get that Sky's still dealing with some serious baggage from last season, but I… really thought she'd be down to work together. Probably not worth looking into, but still… Totally freakin' weird. Makes you think at least."
End Confessional
Sky was about to keep the conversation moving further down the track of cringe when a glimmering white shine caught her eye. "Oh look, the shrine!" she called out, quickly crushing any awkwardness on the spot. "Let's finish this up!"
"Finally," Gwen sighed happily.
Just as the two girls approached the shrine of Zeus, which appeared just like the shrine of Hades but with a different statue, the sound of footsteps echoed through the grove and both girls jerked their bodies around to see Duncan and Lightning arrive just seconds later.
"Sha-booyah!" Lightning cheered, launching his scared to death sheep over the fence where it landed face first and gave what could only be described as a sheep version of a thumbs up. "Touchdown for the Lightning! See that, ladies? I'm the hero!" He proceeded to kiss his biceps as Duncan walked by, rolling his eyes.
Gwen, letting their own sheep into the pen seconds later, gave Duncan a smirk as Chris made another PA announcement.
"This just in, Duncan and Lightning score, followed by Sky and Gwen! It's 2-2! One shrine left to find, campers! Ya better pick up the pace!"
"Tie game again, huh?" Gwen said to the bad boy with a sly grin.
Duncan smirked right back. "Heh, yeah. I guess so. So how's it hangin?"
"I mean, my calves are on fire, but I've felt worse," the goth shot back, noticing Duncan's legs wobbling from exhaustion as well. "Let me guess, Lightning put you on a workout routine?"
"Dude's a beast," the punk panted, doing some quick stretches. "Led us all over the island before we found this place by dumb luck, but hey, I'll take dumb luck over no luck."
"Well Sky put me through a workout too, and it was her idea to research our god instead of jogging around for hours, so I think our beast outranks yours. Brawn and brains."
The camera panned over to Lightning still making out with his own arms. "Aww yeah, Lightning's the hero! Sha-victory in the bag! Sha-sweet! Sha-boom! Sha-bam!"
Duncan blinked. "Yeah, caaaan't disagree there."
Sky, awkwardly stuck between the two friendly exes, piped up. "Well, I think we should head on back before we cost our team the win. Right, Gwen?"
"Oh yeah, that's right, we should totally head back." The goth rubbed her sore muscles once more and led the group back towards the house. "More walking. Yay."
Across the island, Heather pushed her way through bush after bush, hoping to find even the slightest hint of an idol's presence. Little did she know she was being watched from above.
"That's right, you look for that statue," Shawn angrily mumbled from the canopy.
Heather, out of breath, kicked a tree with her heel. "Ugh! I hate this island… so much. Chris better not be joking about those idols or he's gonna hear it from me."
Shawn followed along, silently and confidently moving from branch to branch. "Just like stalking a walker."
The queen bee moved on to look at a few more trees, keeping an eye out for any trees with noticeable holes in them that could fit a statue of that size and shape. "Everything looks the same," she mumbled. "There's gotta be a clue. What did Chris say about them before? Anything useful? Nope!"
"Long pee break, huh, Heather?" Shawn whispered to himself. Man, he wast just on a roll with this spying business today!
Moving through another section of bushes, Heather came upon a large, dead tree filled with holes and smiled. "Now that's a place to hide an immunity idol if I've ever seen one."
Shawn watched her search hole after hole to no avail until he spotted something out of place near the top of the tree, lodged in one of the highest holes. It was a bright, shiny green blob clearly visible from Shawn's altitude but totally invisible from Heather's.
The zombie nut gasped and slapped his hands over his face.
Confessional
Shawn shook in his seat like a kid loaded with sugar. "I don't care what that is! It's shiny and I gotta have it! But I gotta get it before Heather! That's the plan!"
End Confessional
"Okay, well clearly it's not in this tree," Heather sighed, checking the last hole within an arm's reach. And then she looked up to the higher levels. "Unless..."
Shawn gasped again. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap..."
With vigor, Heather boosted herself up branch after branch, climbing around the tree to check in the higher holes one by one. "This is the only tree I've seen that stands out like this. Something's gotta be here or Chris is just plain unfair." She stopped searching and her face went flat. "More than usual."
Shawn saw Heather climbing closer and closer to the green thing and started biting his nails. "Oh man, what do I do? Do I go for it? Or do I… I… I gotta get it! For Jasmine!"
Heather perked up at the sound of his voice and looked back in time to see Shawn's dirty body sailing towards the tree like a flying squirrel.
"Hands off the idol!" he yelled, landing just a few inches below her and climbing fast.
"Oh crap! It's here?!" Heather kicked down with her wedges and nailed Shawn in the face. "Nice try, nerd face! But this idol is mine!" With one long reach, she snagged the green blob and yanked it out of the tree, revealing it to be a little green pouch tied with golden thread. "Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes!"
Shawn lost his grip and fell down the length of the tree, slamming into every branch possible on the way down. "No-oh-o-ow-o-off-ooo!"
The queen bee quickly untied the package and pulled the mystical Chef Hatchet Idol out for the camera to see. "Well, not ideal. But an idol's an idol."
"Yeah," Shawn yelled from below. "And I know all about it!"
Heather rolled her eyes and pocketed the idol. "Well you don't have it so I consider this a victory. See ya back at camp, loser!" Jumping down branch by branch, she landed right on Shawn's stomach to cushion her last fall.
But the zombie nut wasn't so easily deterred. With a free hand, he reached for her leg and yanked her out from under herself, causing the idol to spill out from her pocket and land in the tall grass.
"Get off me, you gross freak!" she cried out, only to notice her empty pocket. "Ahhh! No! My idol!" With another slam of her wedge into Shawn's face, she bolted into the grass to find it before Shawn could make use of her big fumble.
"Not your idol anymore, huh?" he taunted, pouncing into the grass alongside her and shaking every stalk as they rolled around in the dirt together.
"Come on," Sugar said, full on jogging down the beach with the sheep cradled like a big, fluffy baby as Beth struggled to keep up. "You heard Chris! It's a tie game and we gotta win this here contest!"
Beth panted like a dying dog. "I'm trying, Sugar. Just give me a minute to catch my… my breath."
Sugar skid to a halt and looked back. "Yeah, I could use a break too. B-but only for a minute, okay? If those boys find the shrine first, one of us is probably goin' home."
"You really think so?" Beth asked, dragging her feet to finally catch up. "Even with Courtney on the bottom?"
"She was the first one done on our team," Sugar argued. "Ain't no reason to think they'll cut her as easily, especially if Duncan's still all sappy about that life savin' business last time."
"That's a good point," Beth groaned, almost collapsing to the ground. "I don't think Duncan would turn on me though. Or you. He's not like that."
"If Mr. Mohawk turned on Owen, he'll turn on anyone he pleases. Which is why we gotta move!"
Sugar took off again and Beth loudly groaned. More running. Oh joy.
Alejandro pointed out to sea at a floating block of white marble on a platform about 100 meters out. "Is that it?!"
Scott blocked the sun with a dirty hand and squinted. "Looks like the shrine to me! Of course Chris is gonna make us swim out there to get it."
"Well at least it's not in the bathrooms," Alejandro shot back, taking the sheep for himself. "Allow me to take the win for the team with my exceptional swimming abilities."
"Wow, how kind of you," the farmer said with blatant snark.
Alejandro casually turned the other cheek, picked up the sheep, and carried it into the surf. "Fret not, little one. I shall protect you from the ravenous ocean."
Scott laid down in the sand, grabbed a glob of it, and popped it in his mouth. Immediate regret was the only look his face could muster.
Confessional
Scott furiously scraped his tongue with a rock. "Ugh! Stupid sand! You'd think something so pretty would at least taste better. I should've brought a couple gourmet clods for the road. Anyways, Alejandro sucks!"
End Confessional
Scott closed his eyes and focused on getting that awful texture out of his mouth when he heard the worst noise possible next to Alejandro's voice: Sugar's voice.
"BOOM! We're still in it farmie!" the pageant queen cheered, bolting past Scott to chase after Alejandro, who was already halfway to the platform. Her furious steps churned up a load of sand and almost buried the devious dirt eater before he could roll out of the way.
Beth dragged her tired self up to the scene and cheered on her team mate. "Go, Sugar! Kick his hot, tanned, young, handsome butt! Which I can say without feeling bad because I don't have a boyfriend at the moment!"
Alejandro turned around just in time to see Sugar in hot pursuit with the blue-bandanna wearing sheep hanging onto her hairdo for dear life as she doggy paddled out to sea. "I appreciate the compliment, chica!" he called back to Beth. "Just what I needed to push me across the finish line!"
"Not so fast, pretty boy!" Sugar yelled as she slowly ripped through the water. "There's only room for one winner, and that's Sugar!"
"Again, nice compliment," Alejandro sighed happily with a playfully roll of the eyes. "You'd think your insults would be a little more hurtful."
By now, he'd reached the platform and coaxed his sheep up to the fence. Afraid of the water, the little animal kicked and pushed its way over the top, scoring the third and final point for The Zombie Slayers, but not without delivering a brutal kick to Alejandro's face.
"OW!" he shrieked, cupping his hurting eye. "Now that was an insult!"
"Not as much of an insult as losin's gonna be!" Sugar called out, grabbing the sheep off her head and giving it a big, wet kiss on the nose. "They say pigs ain't gonna fly, but I know you can! Go get 'em Sheepy-Poo!"
With one massive heave, Sugar launched the screaming sheep towards the platform, bounced it off Alejandro's head, and landed it just barely on top of the fence. The critter teetered back and forth until it finally fell into the pen with a confused stumble.
The pageant queen let out a victorious cheer. "HA! Get Sugared, Al!" With a strong series of strokes, she paddled her way back to shore. "Beth, go! We gotta beat the boys back to camp!"
Alejandro gasped. "B-but we got our sheep in first!"
"Tsk tsk tsk!" came the sound of Chris through the air. "Need I remind you that all members must make it back to the housing complex to win? Might wanna get a move on! And that goes for anyone not in the complex right now, just FYI!"
A dirty and bruised Heather bolted the forest at a full on jog, struggling to run at full speed with the weight of something heavy in her pants pocket.
"Not so fast!" Shawn cried out, diving down from the branches above and tackling her to the ground. "No way am I lettin' ya get in the way of me helping Jasmine!"
Heather pushed him off and kept on running, checking her pocket to confirm he hadn't pickpocketed her in the scuffle. "Buzz! Off!"
Confessional
Heather glared into the camera with her arms crossed. "Yeah. Shawn's a pain. The day he goes home will be glorious."
End Confessional
The last remaining teams booked it for the house's courtyard as fast as they could go. Alejandro clearly held the lead with Scott and Sugar trailing and Beth really trailing. Just a few hundred yards left…
"Come on, Beth!" Sugar cried out. "We can beat 'em if ya push it to the limit!"
"Fat chance, honey," Scott snickered, sticking out a foot to trip her up. But Sugar was a fellow trickster. She knew how that game was played and jumped over Scott's foot swipe.
"Nice try, Scoot!" Sugar whooped, chopping him in the face and knocking him back. "Ain't nobody gettin' one over on me that easy!"
Scott watched as Beth passed him by and started to panic. "No no no! Get outta the way!"
Beth couldn't keep up and once again fell behind. "S-Sugar! I can't make it!"
Sugar looked back. "We just gotta beat one of 'em to the courtyard! Remember what I taught ya!"
Beth thought back to that morning. What did Sugar say again?
When you're in a pageant, you ain't got time for bein' all nicey-nice when glory is on the line. You gotta be tough! Suck it up! Shoot for the top!
"Shoot… for the top..." Beth gasped. That was it! That's how she could win this! But she had to think fast! Grabbing a rock off the ground, she leaned back, aimed right for Scott's head, and called out to him. "Hey, Scott! Heads up!"
The dirt farmer gazed back. "What is it n-OH CRAP!"
Beth launched the rock with full force and sent it flying towards her target.
"YEAH!" Sugar cheered.
"NOOO!" Alejandro screamed.
"AHHH!" Scott shrieked.
The rock landed harmlessly a few feet short. Scott blinked. Alejandro blinked. Sugar blinked. Beth blinked.
Confessional
"Welp," Sugar sighed with a shrug. "Guess I should've taught her how to throw too. My bad I guess. Time to add cornhole practice to the trainin' schedule."
End Confessional
And that was it. Alejandro entered the courtyard with Sugar on his tail, followed by Scott and a tired Beth, much to the chagrin of a tired Duncan, a bitter Lightning, and a pissed off Courtney, and to the eternal joy of The Zombie Slayers who were present.
"Victory is ours!" Alejandro cheered alongside his team.
"Sorry," Beth sighed on the verge of tears. "I just… couldn't keep up."
"Crud," Sugar grumbled. "Stupid Scott. Stupid Al. Stupid… uh… somethin' else."
"And with that," Chris announced as he walked through the entrance to the complex. "We have our winners!" He took a brief pause to really let the tension sink in. "Team Pantheon!"
Lightning, Duncan, Sugar, and Courtney took their turn to cheer, and man did they cheer loudly. They were confused. But they cheered nonetheless.
Alejandro's smirk dropped like a bag of bricks. "QUE!?"
"What?!" Beth gasped. "How did we win? I came in last!"
Chris laughed to himself. "Haha, well, let's just say not all the Zombie Slayers are present. Seems like you're missing a couple winners, doesn't it?"
Cody looked around and noticed his two partners failed to make it back after the longest pee break in history. "Oh my god, Heather and Shawn!"
As if on cue, Heather burst into the courtyard covered in mud and twigs. "I'm back!"
And then Shawn skid in right after her and pointed a big, fat finger in her big, fat face. "HeatherfoundtheChefIdolinatreeandItriedtostopherbutI'msorry!"
Chris blinked. "Not sure what you just said, Shawn. But you guys just cost your team the win despite being done all day so… happy voting, Slayers!"
As Team Pantheon walked off to celebrate their first win, both muddy Zombie Slayers were met with glares from their five teammates. Gwen, Sky, Scott, and Cody were clearly pissed at Heather. Alejandro on the other hand glared daggers at Shawn.
But the awkwardness couldn't withstand Chris interrupting the tension. "Oh, and I have to ask, did anyone see Eva out there today? Apparently she went AWOL and didn't punish you guys, and I'd like to know why, because we wanted a cameo and she's by far the biggest flop in cameo history at this point."
"Uh, nope," Cody said.
Lightning shrugged. "Don't know her."
"Not even a sighting," Sky told the host.
Chris blinked. "Okay then. Kinda weird. But needless to say-"
"Chris, come in, Chris!"
The host reached for his walkie-talkie to respond to Chef's call. "McLean here. You got any updates, Chef?"
"Uh… I don't think you're gonna wanna see this, man..."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
Then the radio blared with angry screams and sounds of smashing glass.
A quick cut showed Eva going to town on Chris' private bungalow across the island with Chef hiding behind a large, busted out window outside the place.
"That's for not inviting me back for four freaking seasons, McLean! You want a cameo? I'll give you a cameo you'll never forget!" The bully grabbed a painting of the host and broke it over her knee before tossing it in the fireplace. "Burn! How's THIS for ratings?!"
"Help," Chef whined into the tiny walkie-talkie right before Eva's beefy arm reached down and yanked him into the bungalow.
"GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!" she bellowed. "YOU'RE NOT INNOCENT EITHER!"
Confessional
Alejandro shook his head and groaned. "Imposible… How did we lose?! Heather's plan to look for the idol cost us I suppose, though I must blame Shawn as well if not entirely for sabotaging her search and wasting time. But needless to say, having an idol going into tonight's ceremony makes things more interesting." He ended with a devious smirk. "We might be exposed, but we're not going down without a fight."
(static)
"Am I sad I cost us a win?" Shawn asked. "Nah, we need to break that power couple up and now's the time to do it." His mood suddenly took a turn for the blue. "But with that idol, we're basically hosed. If they play it on the right one of them, one of us, and probably me, is gettin' a one way ticket to Jasmine Island. And even though I love that woman, we can't afford to be on that island together unless it's in the final two!"
(static)
Scott sneered at the camera. "Heather and Shawn cost us the win big time, and it would be easy to just send Heather home tonight, but with the idol in play, she basically cock blocks anything I'd call the 'easy' vote. Thankfully I've still got my captain's immunity tonight, so I ain't goin' anywhere, just like a kitchen rat crawling through the walls."
End Confessional
Heather pulled Alejandro into her upstairs room and slammed the door. "What do we do?" she immediately asked him with a savage snarl. "They're voting one of us off for sure and we only have one idol!"
Alejandro tapped his soul patch and took a seat on Heather's bed. "It depends. Because the idol can't be played for yourself unless I'm the one to possess it, and assuming they're voting for you, perhaps you should let me have it."
Heather's eyes went wide. "Like I'd let you have this thing again. I'm not here for an All-Stars redux, Alejandro."
"Relax, mi amor," the mastermind said more calm than before. "I assure you there is no way for me to use the idol against you in this scenario. I cannot play it on myself and I know nobody else would willingly do so either, so this is officially our idol only. Now, we must think ahead of the others. If they assume you're handing it to me to play it on you, they'll just vote for me. But if they think that we think that, they'll vote for you and expect me to be saved. It's all about predicting their move, and with five people making one choice, I can't say it'll be simple for them to reach a conclusion without revealing at least a few of their cards."
Heather sat next to her boyfriend and sighed. "Okay, just… Don't do anything stupid." She reluctantly handed him the idol and they both gripped Chef's wooden face as they kissed.
Down below in the courtyard, the other five Zombie Slayers were hard at work scheming up a plan for the ceremony.
"So what, we just throw our votes on one of those two and hope the idol gets played on the other?" Gwen groaned. "It's so stressful."
"It's our only option," Scott grumbled. "At least you know you're probably safe unlike Brains Buffet over here." He jabbed a thumb Shawn's way and the nutcase didn't take it lightly.
"Hey, I almost found the idol myself," he argued. "I almost saved the situation, so cool it with the dopey nicknames, man!"
Sky rolled her eyes. "I just wish we could vote for both of them. Then we'd have it so easy."
Cody went from tapping the table to perking up at Sky's words. "What? Say that again!"
Sky raised an eyebrow. "You mean… vote for both of them?"
Cody nodded. "Yeah, I mean… it's possible to split our votes if we're all on the same page, right? Two of us vote for one, three vote for the other, and at worst it's a tie?"
Gwen nodded along with Cody's plan. "Huh… that actually makes sense. But we'd need to make sure Shawn's ready for a tie breaker since he's probably their target."
"Pfft, I'm always ready," Shawn bragged. "Plus taking down those chumps myself would feel so good, like bashing in some lurker's skull with a lead pipe!"
Sky gave Shawn a strange look. "Uh… okay then."
"But who do we put the three votes on?" Scott asked.
Cody tapped his chin. "Uh… I think we should..." He leaned into Scott's ear and whispered a name just in case the targets were listening in above.
Confessional
Cody prayed to the gods above, pleading. "Please work, please work, please work!"
End Confessional
"Aight," a tired and clearly pissed Chris said to The Zombie Slayers as they sat in the amphitheater with nerves a'flowing. "We got six nice, juicy kabobs and only seven losers. Who's gonna be safe another day? Who's going to the Underworld on a boat ride featuring a sedated Eva? You've all voted and it's time to find out! The first kabob goes to-"
"Hold up!" Heather said, standing up and reaching into her pocket. "I'd like to make a little announcement before we begin handing out the appetizers!"
Chris set his first kabob back on the plate. "Proceed."
The queen bee walked up to the host and pulled out the Chef Idol. "I'd like to..."
Alejandro smirked as the other five leaned in with eyes wide.
"Let Alejandro handle this."
With a skip in his step, Alejandro smugly waltzed up to the podium and took the idol out of Heather's hands, gazing back to read the five anxious faces. "I'd be honored to play this Chef Idol for my dear Heather here."
Chris took the idol from Al's hand and set it on his plate with the kabobs. "Well played, my dude. With that, Heather is now safe and anyone who voted for her should really be sweating because some of you definitely did."
"Yes!" Heather cheered, directing her gaze directly at Shawn, who nervously gulped. "Suck it, losers!"
Chris tossed Heather the first kabob. Then tossed one to Scott. "Heather and Scott, you're both immune this round, so free kabobs for you."
Shawn hid his face with his beanie, pulling it down over his chin. He couldn't hide his teeth chattering though.
Gwen, Cody, Sky, and Scott blinked.
"Gwen," Chris said. "You may or may not get a kabob… and you will!"
The goth caught her safety and held it at arm's length upon noticing the odd smell. "Uh, how long were these out?"
"You're not the first to ask and you won't be the last," Chris said, tossing another kabob at Cody. "Code-meister, you're safe too."
Sky watched the kabobs fly out, including one for her.
"Miss Olympic, eat up."
And then there were two.
"One kabob left, and two big losers. Shawn, you cost your team the win by stalling Heather during her idol search. Plus your girl's been killing it off the island. And you stink, dude. Pretty good reasons to send you packing."
Shawn uncovered his mouth. "Gah!"
"And Alejandro. You got exposed as a villainous liar and manipulator, which is pretty par for the course and surprised nobody, let's be honest. Wouldn't be out of the question to send you home either, would it?"
Alejandro rolled his eyes.
"Anywaaaays, the last kabob goes to…"
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
"Shawn!"
"OhthankZeus!" Shawn gasped, opening his mouth just long enough for the kabob to jam itself down his gullet.
"WHAT?!" screamed Alejandro and Heather simultaneously. "HOW?!"
"You said they voted for me!" Heather yelled in Chris' face. "How is Alejandro going home?!"
Alejandro shot a glare Shawn's way. "Did he rig the votes? He rigged the votes, didn't he?"
Chris snickered. "Weeeeell, I never said every vote was for Heather, now did I? Turns out only two people voted for her. Three of them on the other hand..."
Alejandro's face went numb. He realized it: he got played into idoling himself out. Falling to his knees, he balled his fists and shook them to the night sky. "Noooooooooooooo!"
"Pretty cool vote split, huh? See ya tomorrow, Al," Cody boasted, followed by a nervous laugh when both villains shot him a pair of sinister, soul-piercing glares.
Confessional
"Well, I'd call that an All-Star level plan," Cody said, wiping his hands clean. "Turns out Alejandro's biggest weakness wasn't his hard on for Heather at all. Turns out it was basic math. Woo hoo, score one for Cody."
(static)
"This… is an outrage!" Heather growled from deep within her throat. "Obviously I'm glad to still be here, but now I've got nothing up my sleeve. My game's up in flames, my idol and boyfriend are gone, and I'm totally exposed! Ugh! I can't believe I got big-brained by Cody of all people! Just… WHAT?!"
End Confessional
Alejandro joined a sedated and restrained Eva in Charon's ferry gondola and turned back to his team. "This isn't the end of Alejandro Burromuerto! I'll be coming back into the game and ending the million dollar dreams of every single person who voted for me tonight!" He took one look at Shawn. "You can count on that. And Heather… good luck, mi amor."
Heather just blinked. "Wow, thanks."
Chef kicked the gondola out to sea and stood by Chris as the host sized up the six remaining Zombie Slayers. "Well, after that day of… whatever that was, another has left the game for the Underworld. Enjoy a nice night of sleep if you can, because tomorrow will be B-R-U-T-A-L."
"At least we don't have to worry about our next vote," Gwen said, giving Heather a sly little gaze from across the line up.
The queen bee's jaw dropped, but she didn't even speak. She just shut up and turned the other cheek. This was a nightmare, but she couldn't go off on the rest of the team just yet. It was still a game after all. And she was here to win, boyfriend or no boyfriend. She knew how to play, but... was there even room to play on this team anymore? Only time would tell. And she didn't have much time.
Alejandro approached the dimly lit bungalow and took a seat across from a snoozing Jasmine, not saying a word. The squeak of the cot alerted her senses and her eyes shot open.
"Oh, just you," she yawned. "How goes it, Al?"
Alejandro's eye twitched. "I'm pissed."
Jasmine nodded to herself and flashed a smug look. "Alright then." Then she went back to sleep.
The latest boot laid there, staring angrily at the bungalow's ceiling with a rage boiling beneath his eyes. All he wanted to do was crush Jasmine and anyone else who showed up on this cursed little island so he could return to Heather and help annihilate those who ended his game pre-maturely. Jasmine might have defeated a couple players so far, but she was still human and all humans had their weaknesses. And Alejandro was going to sniff out her weakness and exploit the hell out of it overnight. He was down, but not out. In fact, he liked to think this was merely the beginning of a long journey to the end.
Voting Confessionals
Gwen dropped Alejandro's coin in the urn with a nervous breath. "Let's just hope Cody's plan works and nobody goes off script for this one. And like, that those evil lovebirds don't put their votes on me. Me and tiebreakers don't have the best history."
Sky voted for Heather and smiled. "Feels good to root out some schemers. Now we just have to brace for that idol and hope Alejandro is the one playing it on her and we should be good."
Scott happily dropped Alejandro's coin in the urn. "Nice try with the fake nice act, Al, but you gotta wake up pretty early to fool me. See ya never!"
Shawn voted for Heather, angrily slamming her coin into the urn. "If you knock on my bunker during a zombie chase, you're getting locked out. Ha, top tier insult!"
Cody dropped Alejandro's coin through the slot and wiped his hands clean. "Well, hopefully this vote split plan I came up with works its magic. As long as everyone votes how we decided, it's gonna be a tie at worst and I feel like Shawn's got this. But the thing is… did they vote for Shawn?"
Heather voted for Shawn. "Not exactly a hard vote. Shawn's seriously lame on every level. I just hope we get the idol played right or… I'm just going to say we better get it right."
Alejandro cast his vote for Shawn. "Poor Shawn really put the target on his back, no? How sad, but how poetic is it that his dedication to stopping us from finding the idol will result in him being idoled out of the game in the same day? Truly chef's kiss worthy indeed."
Eliminated: Mike, Zoey, Owen
In the Underworld: Jasmine, Alejandro
Remaining:
Team Pantheon: Beth, Courtney, Duncan, Lightning, Sugar
The Zombie Slayers: Cody, Gwen, Heather, Scott, Shawn, Sky
Reasoning for Elimination: Owen didn't have many reasons to go far this season. It's nice to have some comic relief in the mix, but with other characters giving me better ideas for jokes and filling similar roles with more plot potential, I have to think he's a better choice for an early elimination and I doubt it'll be that controversial. I knew he'd be fodder from the start though, it was just a matter of where he fell pre-merge and it's hard to justify him staying longer than this. As for Alejandro's big blindside, I did consider having a 2-2-0 tie, but I figured the chapter was already long enough and didn't need to be drawn out for the same result.
A/N: So that was Episode 4. I can't say the challenge was my favorite to write and it took me a whole month and a half to get through it at the time, and I honestly wish I'd have done a different challenge or at least another take on the idea, but it is what it is and I'm happy with the character development and fun game moments I cooked up. Plus it's always fun to have Eva show up and dish out some pain.
I can imagine people might be disappointed that Alejandro and Heather's fake breakup scheme failed miserably, but when I planned out their story, I didn't want to write everyone else to be absolute idiots who blindly believed their BS and allowed them to go far together. This cast would never realistically allow it since it's the best of the best, especially their own team of pretty smart, cunning people. Instead, I wrote the situation as them knowing they're screwed from the start given their reputations, trying something ballsy for the sake of it, realizing they screwed up, trying to salvage it, getting too cocky, and being bested the second they lost a challenge even with an idol in hand. And now Heather's on her own without Alejandro for the time being, which we haven't seen since World Tour and opens up new possibilities moving forward. So yeah, maybe an arc that didn't live up to everyone's hopes, but one I had fun with knowing how early one of them would be voted out.
Next time: the fallout of this elimination, another Underworld battle, and another player biting the dust in a throwback episode.