Total Drama: Clash of the Titans – Episode 5: Greece's Pieces: The Sequel
"Last time on Total Drama: Clash of the Titans, Jasmine slayed Owen in the shortest sheep wrangling challenge of all time, eliminating everyone's favorite chubby buddy from the game. Then, our two teams split into even smaller teams to deliver sheep to the patron gods of the island. Sugar and Beth bonded, Duncan formed a new alliance with Lightning, Alejandro and Scott really hit if off. Hehe, get it. Hit. Because violence! But the main attraction was Heather's clutch idol find, which was ruined by Shawn, our resident snooper turned vigilante. With their break-up fake-up revealed, Heather and Alejandro plotted to save themselves with the Chef Idol, but a last minute vote split from the brain of Cody was the winning hand, sending Alejandro to the Underworld. Who's heading off into the sunset for good? Will Cody finally be respected in this game? And who will leave the island in the most dramatic ceremony yet? Find out right now, on Total… Drama… Clash of the Titans!"
It was early morning in the Greek Isles. The sun had yet to rise, so light was scarce apart from the traces of moonbeams shining through the clouds and the lanterns hanging from the walls of the housing complex. However, there was one person still awake and sitting down in the courtyard: Heather. With a nearly hopeless gaze, she stared out to the sea, picking up the smallest trace of light across the sloshing stretch of water.
Confessional
"This is the worst night of my since the last time Alejandro played an idol," Heather sighed, her eyes surrounded by enough bags to make the queen bee look like a big raccoon. "I don't even know what to do now. I've always thought I'd have it easy without that big jerk around being all distracting and crap, but now that he's out of the picture… I'm low key terrified. If I'd taken him out myself and earned some trust with the others I'd probably be ecstatic, but this? This is a nightmare. There are five people out to get me. Five. Those losers are going to vote me out without mercy, so we can't lose the next challenge. I'd try looking for the other idol or that pendant thing, but there's no way grungy old Chris didn't make the more powerful things harder to find. My only real chance is to win the challenge or convince a couple people I'm better to keep around than someone else. But after yesterday, I don't think anyone will even want to give me the time of day. So yeah. This sucks."
End Confessional
There was one other person still awake though: Shawn, who just happened to be walking through the woods with one of the lanterns swinging from his hand held high.
"Dodona grove, here I come," he said with a cocky tone. "For Jasmine."
Confessional
Shawn seemed totally awake and alert despite his lack of sleep as he spoke, waving his hands around to get his points across. "When Gwen and Sky said the Zeus shrine was in an oak grove a little ways off, I knew it was my best chance to find that Pendant. Where else would a dude that vain hide his own medallion, right?"
End Confessional
The zombie nut jumped the fence surrounding Zeus' shrine and walked by the sleeping sheep to reach the marble block with the god carved into its front face.
"If I was a pendant, where would I be?" he asked, tapping up and down the statue's body. After a few seconds of looking, he concluded there wasn't anything on the statue itself, nor around the sides. No holes, no obvious hiding places, no secret buttons, nothing. But he hadn't checked the top yet. Despite his best efforts, Shawn couldn't reach the top edge of the block, and with no stable limbs to jump from within range, he wasn't getting up top without help.
And then one of the sheep groggily waddled up to him and went "Baaaa..."
A grin formed on his face and the camera flashed a few seconds ahead to Shawn casually stacking one sheep on top of the other in front of the statue.
"Hope ya got some great balance, little guys," he said, jumping up to land on the top sheep's back. The animal buckled and wheezed, but held firm as Shawn looked up top with the lantern for anything suspicious. And there it was. A single scroll taped to the top of the shrine out of sight from anyone simply passing by.
Shawn wasted no time in grabbing it for himself and shouted to the heavens. "YEAH!"
Startled by the sudden exclamation of joy, the sheep freaked out and bolted in opposite directions, causing Shawn to fall to the ground with a short-winded scream. Groaning, he opened the scroll while laying on his back and read it aloud.
"Congrats, you found a… clue to the location of the Pendant of Zeus?" His expression turned sour and he rolled his eyes. "Awww, come on. You can't tell me there's a paper trail for this thing." He kept reading. "Greetings young traveler, for power you seek. To find the next clue, ascend to the peak. Making a golden choice, it's not for the meek." He paused to read it over again and his arms collapsed. "Riddles, huh? Man, Chris pulled out all the stops for this thing."
The sun finally hit the sky and the players were out and about for breakfast. At least a few of them were. Some were still asleep in their rooms, having no interest in more gruel this early in the day. Others were co-mingling so to speak.
"So how's it going?" Courtney asked Scott as they sat on the bed together. "And watch your boots. I don't want soil in my sheets."
Scott kicked his feet off the bed. "Well, I think we're in a good spot. Heather's doomed at least, so we should be able to make one more easy vote before things get all tricky."
"You think Sky and Shawn would vote with you at five? To like, you know, get the new school alliance rolling?"
Scott shrugged. "No clue. I do know those two are gettin' all buddy buddy with Gwen and Cody though." His face showed the slightest hint of stress and Courtney immediately noticed.
"Well… just… uh… don't lose too much?" she suggested.
The dirt farmer scoffed. "Yeah, great advice. Same goes for you since you're probably on the outs yourself."
Courtney's brow perked up. "Yeah, but I saved Duncan's life. Plus, I can sense Sugar and Beth are becoming way to close for comfort. He'd be a fool to not break that up before it gets dangerous. I'll talk to him about it soon and see what he thinks. You should just work on making sure Shawn and Sky know what's in store for them if they work with Gwen and Cody of all people."
Scott blinked. "Uh… a final four deal?"
Courtney incredulously groaned. "Nooooo. Being strung along until they get picked off like the rest of the new schoolers? Ring a bell? It's only the plan we cooked up from the start!"
"Shhh," Scott hissed. "Don't be so loud. If anyone overhears us, we're screwed. And let me tell ya, these walls are thin. I slept next to Owen's room for three days and I heard every noise that came outta that guy. All. Night. Long. Swore I was back on the farm sleeping outside the stables."
The CIT shriveled up and cringed. "Ew. Okay, I get it. We just can't be seen talking that much, especially in the same room like this. It's super sketchy."
"Agreed."
Confessional
Courtney took a deep breath and put her hands together in her lap. "This alliance with all the new schoolers is a mess, yeah. But right now, Scott and I don't have captain's immunity anymore and the numbers aren't in our favor for very long, if at all. I'll see if I can't work long-term with Duncan, at least until the numbers dwindle, so we can cut Beth ASAP. If all goes awell, Sugar, Lightning, and myself will make the merge, along with Scott, Shawn, and Sky. That leaves the likes of Beth, Duncan, Heather, Gwen, and Cody to be voted out next, preferably leaving Cody for last since he's not much of a threat. That gives us the numbers to swing whichever way we want, taking out the biggest threats right away and steamrolling to the endgame. Now, there's no guarantee I take Scott to the finale because he's got a chance to beat me if it's something weird or gross, but at this point I just want to make the merge, so that can be decided later."
(static)
"Workin' with Courtney's pretty great," Scott said, a little shocked at what came out of his mouth. "Yeah, turns out she's actually got some killer schemes in that pretty head of hers. The whole new school alliance didn't start off well once Jasmine got cut, so it's nice to see her bringing it back with a twist. But man, that whole Underworld thing really scares me. I don't need someone like Alejandro or Heather winning their way back in once we kick 'em out, because you know they ain't fond of me."
End Confessional
With an off-tune trumpet, Chef waltzed into the courtyard with a sack of… something. "Gather 'round, chumps. It's breakfast time!"
"Let me guess," Gwen gasped sarcastically. "More gruel?"
Beth sighed. "We know it's gonna be bad. Might as well just get it out of the way."
Chef rolled his eyes. "Why are you kids always thinkin' I'm some harbinger of sufferin' every time I show up?"
"Uh, because you are?" Scott snorted, having carefully emerged from Courtney's room moments earlier without detection.
Chef tossed the bag on the main table. "Well, today, Chris decided to give y'all some energy. It's gonna be a brutal physical challenge today and sloggy teens bombin' challenges ain't good for TV. So eat up." He untied the bag, revealing a massive stack of BBQ sandwiches.
"Wow!" Sky gasped. "These actually look... edible!"
"Well hot damn!" Sugar squealed. "Just like Mama used to make!"
"So… beautiful," Courtney sniffed, holding back a tear.
"You got thirty minutes to chow down," Chef said. "Then it's Underworld Battle time at the temple. Don't get used to this food though. Gruel is and will be your meals unless Chris or I say so."
"Don't care," Cody said, gazing lovingly at the stack of sandwiches with drool seeping from his mouth. "Just want... eat... in mouth."
Chef rolled his eyes and left the complex, but couldn't help but wonder why a certain someone hadn't been super invested in the idea of eating a shit ton of protein…
"Man, Lightning's gonna be so jealous," Sky huffed between bites. "Oh my god, that sauce is heavenly."
"Where is he anyways?" Courtney asked, looking around. "And Duncan too? Are they in the bathroom or something? They cannot miss out on this actual food when we need our team loaded up for the challenge."
"I'll go check!" Beth called out from across the table with a raised hand. "I'm not really a big BBQ girl when all I can think about is Big Bertha being served up." The mere thought of such a horrible thing brought her body to shudder. "Be right back!"
The camera flashed to the restrooms where Lightning and Duncan were showering in adjacent stalls.
"Dude, I'm not even hungry," Lightning said. "Sha-gruel? More like sha-drool. Chef lied about the protein in there. Ain't no protein. More like... More like, uh... No-tein!"
"I hear ya, man," the bad boy snorted. "Food situation's lamer than it was in prison. Not that this show couldn't qualify for a prison sentence sometimes."
"I just hope we keep up our winnin' streak," the jock said. "And Lightning needs a real victory, not one of them technical ones. He ain't forgot how Beth and Sugar cost us the challenge yesterday. If Shawn and Heather weren't gettin' dirty in the woods, we'd down down to four of us right now."
"We better win. It's not like we can afford to lose another member before the merge."
The door creaked open, but the showers drowned out the squeak. Beth poked her head in and was about to call out to the boys when she heard her name.
"Beth and Sugar though?" said Lightning. "They're a scary couple, dude. If we do lose, which ain't gonna be Lightning's fault, Lightning wouldn't mind sha-breaking 'em up."
"Ugh, same. Having two people so tightly aligned this early on a small team is just asking for trouble. If they team up later and get some allies, we're screwed."
"I'd love to see Sugar go sha-bye-bye across that ocean. Girl's been all up in Lightning's grill for the last few days and it sucks. And she fed me bra honey. Sha-nasty. Even if she's got some skills, they ain't skills we need."
Duncan stopped washing and stared across the stall at the jock. "She did what? You know, don't even explain. Anyways, I'm fine with Beth or Sugar going home. And honestly? Beth's the weaker one in challenges. Sugar's gross and weird, but at least she's randomly good in challenges when it counts."
The camera panned back to Beth, her eyes shrunken and her mouth agape.
Confessional
"Duncan wants me out?" Beth whimpered. "Me? His Action finale bestie? I don't get it! He and I voted together twice so far... Doesn't that count for anything?" She smacked her forehead and her glasses twisted weirdly on her face. Adjusting them, she shook her head. "I gotta tell Sugar about this. She's gotta know what's up so we can find a way to save ourselves."
End Confessional
One time skip later and the remaining 11 were seated in the amphitheater, awaiting the start of the Underworld challenge.
Beth leaned over to Sugar, who was just now stuffing a sandwich down her shirt to save for later, and whispered in her ear. "We need to talk later. Not in the open though. It's important."
Sugar raised an eyebrow, then nodded with a worried look on her face.
"Alright, top eleven," Chris began. "Now that you've all arrived, it's time for our next Underworld Battle, featuring Jasmine, the reigning champ, and Alejandro, our latest addition to the loser pile."
The two contenders walked through the large archway and noticed some large contraptions set up in the arena. On the far left side, there were two wooden towers made of two large beams each. Threaded through a hole on the top of each was a rope tied to what looked like a giant metal bar stamped with either Alejandro or Jasmine's name. Under the bars were two massive balloons, and even further down on the ground were two giant spikes glimmering in the morning light.
But the real main attraction was Alejandro's face, all covered in red lumps.
Heather winced. "Uh, what happened to you?"
Alejandro glared at Jasmine. "It appears someone left fruit peels under my cot and attracted a host of ants to attack me."
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Don't look at me, mate. Blame the big guy for not cleanin' up after himself last time."
"Well they weren't under the cot when I got there," he grumbled.
"Nah, you were just blinded by anger, Al."
Alejandro's eye twitched.
Confessional
"That was one of the worst nights of my life," Alejandro growled. "Not only did I get eliminated by contrived means, my gorgeous face was ruined by contrived means too! Thankfully this newfound anger has given me the perfect determination to crush Jasmine, return to the game, and win this season. I'm coming back, Heather. Don't you worry. We will be together soon."
(static)
Jasmine snorted out a laugh. "Guy's so easy to mess with, let me tell ya. Yeah, I might have sabotaged his cot, but it's every player for themselves in the Underworld and Alejandro's a known snake who's good at basically everything. And as someone with Bush experience, you never let a snake get close enough to bite ya. If I want to win this thing, I have to try out some dirty tricks and use my skills to my advantage. Is it mean? Yeah, I'd feel bad if the guy was allergic, but I'm not taking the nice route anymore. I have some revenge to get. Mostly on Sugar, but also Heather for how she treated my boyfriend according to what apparently went down yesterday. Not that I trust Alejandro's word about it, but... he sounded sincere when he told me the story."
End Confessional
"For today's challenge, you'll be righting the wrongs of Odysseus' selfish crew," Chris said, gesturing to the contraptions. "In the story, our main man was given a magical bag of bad wind that would let him reach his home, as the only wind left was in his favor. But just when they saw land, his men got antsy about what might be in the bag and opened it in a fit of greed, sending Odysseus allllllllllllllllllllll the way back to the start. Sucks to be that guy. But now you have a chance to keep your own bag of bad wind from busting in today's Underworld challenge. You'll grab your ropes and stand on the opposite side of the arena, and then I'll set the weights at the top of the towers loose. All you have to do is hold up your bag of wind longer than your opponent, and to make it fair, each weight is adjusted to match fifty percent of your body weight. Once that bag hits the spike and goes ka-pop, you're out. For good."
Jasmine nodded along with a smirk. "Strength-based, eh? I like it."
Alejandro smirked back. "Well you have more weight and you've been on that cursed island for longer, so I wouldn't say you've got this won just yet. Don't get so cocky."
The Aussie smirked back harder. "Well at least I don't have ant bite sores all over my hands."
Alejandro looked down at his hands. "Fair enough," he snorted.
One flash later and both competitors had their hands on their ropes and their feet braced against the dry earth.
Chris raised an arm. "Ready! Steady! Earn That Confetti! Go!"
Out of nowhere, Chef appeared from behind Sugar's massive bust, adorned in a Greek archer's uniform with a bow at the ready. All it took was one shot and two ropes holding up the weighted bars from behind snapped, dragging Alejandro and Jasmine forward a good six feet just from the initial drop.
"Oh crap!" Jasmine gasped, digging in to stop herself from sliding an inch further.
Alejandro let out a yelp and dug in as well, sliding just a foot past Jasmine.
Over in the peanut gallery, Heather watched Alejandro with hawk-like vision, pleading internally for him to survive this challenge with fingers crossed.
"This could be boring," Duncan mumbled. "Who wants to watch two people holding rope for an hour?"
Chris snickered. "Boring you say? Well, in case you were wondering, our challenge design team got the same vibe and decided to make things a little spicier."
The host pulled out a remote and both Jasmine and Al gasped. "NO!"
"YES!" Chris pushed a button and the ground between the two opened up. A long metal pole topped with a two sided bazooka popped out, aiming right at them.
"Oh, you are not gonna blast me with crap," Jasmine groaned, pulling her rope back to get out of the way.
"Agreed," Alejandro said through grit teeth, pulling back to pass her up. "This should be a test of strength with no interference."
Chris smirked. "Yeaaaaah, no."
With another button push, the bazooka started spinning rapidly and yellowish gunk shot out like water from a fire hydrant, coating both players in goop as they screamed.
Sugar sniffed the air. "Did we just hit up a movie theater? I smell-"
"Butter!" Chris cheered. "Slippery, and delicious. And before you ask, Sugar, no, you can't lick them clean. We already have enough weird advances from you this season and the HR department can only handle so many."
Off screen, the farmer chick was heard. "Aw dangit!"
Jasmine had successfully blocked the butter from slamming into her face by ducking her head down and using her hat as a butter shield, but Alejandro on the other hand got a face full of melted goodness.
"Disgusting," he growled. "This is horrible for my pores, Chris. You know that, don't you?"
"Typical pretty boy," Jasmine snorted. "Always blatherin' on about your looks."
Alejandro's eye twitched. Mostly from the bit of butter in it, but also because Jasmine was really pushing some buttons now. "Well at least I have looks. Between the bug bites, pit hair, and scars, your looks are nothing to write home about, I'm afraid. You're not unattractive, but next to me there's simply no competition."
"Hey!" Shawn screamed. "Those are battle scars, you knob! And don't diss the pit hair! It's angelic!"
"That's right, stand up for your woman!" cheered Sky. "You got this Jaz!"
Jasmine nodded and pulled, but her arms were tiring out fast and the butter made it impossible to hold on forever, so she couldn't help but slip forward inch by inch with Alejandro just inches behind her.
Heather didn't say a word. Her anxious yet fierce look said enough.
Both players managed to get a foothold as their balloons hovered just three feet above those spikes. Jasmine, clever as usual, turned around and slung the rope over her shoulder to use different muscles and give her back some say in the matter. Alejandro followed suit. Both grunted loudly as their faces turned blue from the strain.
"Oi!" she growled through the pain. "Real original pose you got there."
"It's called adapting," he shot back, snarling as his veins bulged in his arms and neck. "It's what all great players do."
Chris yawned and pushed another button.
Across the arena, where both players faced, two more bazookas shot up and blasted them face first with shot after shot of popcorn. When the dust settled, Alejandro's front side was coated in puffy treats from head to toe. Jasmine on the other hand, lowered her head yet again and let her hat take the direct hit. When her head was raised, the popcorn had clumped together on top of the hat to look like some Marie Antoinette hairdo. And it was heavy.
With the weight bearing down on her neck, she hit the ground with a knee and slid back a couple feet. "Whoa!"
"Ha!" Alejandro taunted. "Seems your lucky hat isn't so lucky after all."
Jasmine narrowed her eyes and glared at her enemy. "I ain't gonna lose this because of a stupid hat." Knowing it was do or die time, she took the rope in her teeth, strained every muscle in her neck, reached up for the popcorn crown, and yeeted that thing right into Alejandro's face.
With a terrified "Ahhhhh!" Alejandro got slammed, slipped in the butter, and his rope went flying from his hands. Jasmine gave him one last rope-filled smirk as the sound of a massive pop rang out behind them. Turning around, she saw her bag of wind still hovering just inches over her spike. Alejandro's on the other hand, was gone, replaced by a cloud of red fumes.
"And Jasmine wins her third battle in a row!" Chris announced. "Alejandro is Ale-done-zo!"
"What?" Alejandro gasped. "No! She threw her hat at me! That's interference."
"It's called adapting," Jasmine snorted back. "Enjoy the Playa, mate."
Over in the stands, there were mixed reactions. Heather looked dejected as hell. Absolutely bitter. Shawn was hooting and hollering like a feral animal. Sugar was sweating a little at the idea of Jasmine seriously winning every challenge. Gwen didn't really care. Beth nervously glanced to Duncan and Lightning. It was all over the place.
Alejandro starting scraping the sticky popcorn from his body and gave Jasmine a bitter look. "You may have beaten me today, but I still attest that I'm the better player. Challenges are only one aspect of this game, and given my threat level, I was-"
Suddenly a flock of gulls swooped in to shut him the hell up, plucking the popcorn off and replacing it with down and feathers. Alejandro screamed like a dying man throughout the entire process, amusing the Aussie whose mouth curled into a smug grin.
"Guess the birds aren't fans either."
"Oh my god, enough already!" Heather sighed, jumping down from the amphitheater and running to her boyfriend's side to shoo away those pesky gulls. "Alejandro, are you okay?"
Now covered in not just bug bites, but feathers, butter, peck marks, and bird shit, Alejandro shuddered. "I will survive. But I must admit… I feel disgraced. My family name has been tainted." His face turned dark and embittered, and he spoke quietly to his woman. "To think I lost so early. We were supposed to run the season, and alas, being pre-merge was my destiny. And I guess I have nothing else to blame but my pathetic strategy that got us into this mess... I hope you can win for us, mi amor."
"Trust me," Heather said. "I'll crush all of them." She kissed him, nearly pulling away at first due to the less than pleasant texture of the substances coating his face. But she couldn't help but finish up that kiss. If she had it her way, it'd be the last kiss they'd share until the finale.
Chris yawned. "Booooooring. Nobody cares about your weird, creepy relationship, guys. That's sooooo All-Stars, and nobody wants to remember that mess. Besides..." He whipped out his trusty remote. "I believe we have some handy-dandy C4 to detonate." He pushed a button and the giant Alejandro bust exploded, pelting the peanut gallery with rocky shards as they yelped and ducked for cover.
Alejandro sighed as the smoking remnants of his statue crumbled in place. Then he faced the remaining players with a snake-like glare. "To those who got me out, well done. It was a smart move. But don't think you've won. You'll soon come to regret the choice."
Cody gulped. Alejandro was glaring right at him.
Confessional
"Yeah, I'm proud," Cody said halfheartedly. "Getting revenge on Al's pretty sweet, but that sounded a lot like a pretty bad omen. But hey, at least people will take me seriously now, right? I think I've proven I deserved a spot on this season after all."
End Confessional
Alejandro left the temple, as did Jasmine, who blew a goodbye kiss to Shawn who swooned right into a brief coma. Cody helped him to his feet and was rewarded with a thumbs up. Meanwhile, Heather returned to her team and sat apart from the group, looking tired and salty as hell.
"And with that, we're down to 11 in-game contenders for the title," said Chris. "And we're about to make it 10, because it's time for another immunity challenge. And because I'm feeling a little nostalgic today with Al getting pwned by a girl, I figure it's time to revisit a Total Drama classic: the Olympics challenge from World Tour!"
"YES!" Sky jumped out her seat and fist-pumped so hard her shoulder almost popped out of its socket.
Confessional
"This is perfect," Sky said, looking so hyped she could barely stay seated. "A challenge built for me is exactly what the doctor ordered. Now I can totally impress my team and show them how tough I really am. I mean, mazes and sailing and building stuff is fine and we've still won those things, but this is the first time I get to show my real skills this season. Bring it on!"
(static)
"I'm happy," Gwen said all chill-like. "For Sky I mean. She's been begging for an athletic challenge all season. Now I just need Chris to come up with a dark poetry challenge and I can get in on the hype."
End Confessional
Chris waited for Sky to calm down before continuing. "Okay, so in our original run of this challenge, we had three events: Boar-bear hunting, Wrestling, and Hurdles. Plus a little Icarus tribute tiebreaker as Cody and Duncan clearly remember."
Duncan shot Cody a dull gaze. The geek awkwardly looked away, whistling a chipper tune.
"This season however, we're doing five events, and only one person per team can compete in each event without any repeats. First up, the javelin toss." Chris plucked a javelin out of thin air and yeeted it right between the two teams, striking a passing butterfly into the stone wall.
Beth gasped and whimpered. "Poor thing."
"Next, a good old wrestling match like in World Tour, only this time between two people and not four."
The Zombie Slayers looked between themselves and noticed the lack of raw muscle. Uh oh.
"Third up is the discus toss." Chris pulled a discus out of thin air and hurled it past the teams, hitting yet another passing butterfly.
"Not his brother," Beth whined.
"Fourth up is the hurdles. Second verse, same as the first."
"I call dibs!" Sky beamed, her hand shooting up like a rocket.
Chris narrowed his eyes. "As I was saying, the final event, if required to break a tie, is the chariot race, the most popular sport to watch in Ancient Greece. I think. I don't know, you're the ones with the books to read. You tell me."
"It was," Beth sighed, holding a couple butterfly wings in her palms.
"Awesome. Now remember, only one person can compete in each event, and you can't double up. The first team to three points in the form of gold medal wins, wins the challenge. Aaaand, since Team Undead Killers is up one person, one of them has to sit out."
"I guess that's me," Cody shrugged. "I'm the least athletic one here."
Chris smirked. "Buuuut to make things fun, the sit out gets immunity if you guys lose the challenge. Fun, right?!"
Heather gasped. "I'll sit out!"
"Oh I don't think so, honey," Scott sneered. "Fat chance of that."
"Logically, I'm the best choice to sit out," Cody said, his voice low.
"Yeah, I'm with Scott," Gwen said. "Heather is playing for her life this round. She's not sitting out."
"I'll do it," sighed Cody.
Sky nodded along with Gwen. "Yep, Heather's playing for sure. But who's gonna sit out instead?"
"I'll sit out!" Cody yelled, finally getting the attention of his team.
"Okay," Scott said with a roll of the eyes. "But I want that immunity too."
"Same," Shawn said. "Immunity sounds sweet!"
"Hey, I'm not that athletic either," Gwen argued. "I could use a day off too."
"But I need immunity," Heather growled.
"Yeah, that's why you aren't getting it," Gwen retorted.
Chris smirked. Mission: successful. "Okay, okay, since we can't come to a unanimous consensus, it appears I'll have to settle this with a little RNG." The host pulled out a bag and shook it around. "In this bag are six rocks. One is black. Five are white. Whoever draws the black rock sits out and gets immunity if the Slayers lose today. Got it?"
"Can Heather sit out of the rock draw?" Scott asked. "Knowing your love of BS drama you probably made the black one magnetic to bitches."
Heather shoved her way past Scott and grabbed into the bag. "Shut up, Dirt Face. Let's just let fate decide."
The rest of the team begrudgingly drew rocks and held out their closed fists.
"Aaaand reveal!"
Shawn opened his hand. White.
Cody and Gwen drew white.
Sky drew white.
That left Scott and Heather, side by side, glaring each other down. One had black. One had white. Both opened their hands and looked down at their rocks.
"And Heather draws black!" Chris cheered. "Heather is sit-out levels of safe..." He turned to the camera and winked. "And so are the ratings. Imagine losing Heather in episode five, right?"
"Yes!" roared the queen bee, turning to point at the rest of her team. "That's what I'm talking about! That's what you get for trying to take me out! Alejandro said you'd pay and look what happens! I'm untouchable!"
Scott tossed his rock down in a blind rage and it popped right back into his eye. "Ow!"
"Great," Gwen mumbled. "Now we have to win today."
Sky nodded along. "And I will."
Cody twiddled his thumbs and sighed.
Confessional
"Yeah, that's not good," Cody whined. "Me in a physical challenge is bad news for the team. And with Heather immune if we lose…" He lunged at the camera with crazy, desperate eyes. "I might be next!"
(static)
Heather carelessly filed her nails, wearing a smug look throughout the rest of the confessional. "Just goes to show why you should never count me out. Serves those dweebs right for tricking us last night. Now I can just sit back, watch us lose in glorious fashion, and rub it in someone's face when they go home instead of me. All thanks to a twist. Thanks, Chris. For once, you aren't half bad. Half though. Just half."
End Confessional
"So with that business out of the way, it's time to decide who's doing what. Remember, five events, five players, no repeats. Javelins, wrestling, discus, hurdles, and chariots in that order. You have five minutes."
Team Pantheon huddled up in a circle and got to work.
"Aight, so Lightning's gonna take the chariot," said the footballer. "I'm great at luggin' heavy stuff around, and if Chris makes me carry some weight, it's in the sha-bag!"
"No problem here," Duncan said. "I can take the javelins unless someone did that in high school or something."
"I'll take the hurdles then," Courtney added. "It's obvious that Sky will be my opponent and I'm the one with the best chance of beating her."
"Agreed," Sugar said. "Sky's a beast at them hurdles as I personally know. I can take the wrestlin' match easy-peasy. I mud wrestle with piggies all the time, so it's my thing. Well, that and singin, shootin' skeet, eatin' pies, modelin' for-"
"Aaand Beth does the discus," Lightning barked, cutting Sugar's speech short. "Sha-settled!"
Beth winced. "Uh… I've never done a discus thing before, but I can try?"
"Good enough for me," Duncan said. "And break!"
The Pantheons broke the huddle as the camera panned over to The Zombie Slayers.
"I'm doing hurdles," Sky said. "It's what I do for training every day. Consider it a locked gold."
"No issues there," Gwen said. "I guess I can take the javelins or the discus since I'm not really good at pulling chariots and can't beat half that team in a wrestling match."
"I'll do the javelins for sure!" Shawn piped up. "Spears are like the 3rd best defense against zombies in hand to hand combat, so I'm a pro at throwing 'em on target."
Gwen gave him a thumbs up. "Discus for me then."
"I'll pull the chariot," Scott offered. "Just because I know Cody probably can't do it."
"But that leaves me for the wrestling," the geek said. "I'll get creamed harder than anyone."
"Exactly," Sky said with a confident smile. "I was actually going to bring this up anyways."
"Uh, how so?"
"If we put our weakest player in the wrestling match and forfeit that point we would never win, it takes out one of their stronger physical players and gives us the upper hand in some of the other events since we don't have the weak link to worry about."
Gwen raised a brow, "Okay, that's a rude way to put it, but..."
"But it makes sense," Sky replied. "Why waste a solid, strong player in a match up we'd probably lose anyway? The rest of us can hold our own in the other matches, but-"
Cody sighed. "Fine. I'll take the L for the team. But I don't want to hear any 'Cody cost us the challenge' if we lose."
"Don't worry," Sky said. "We won't lose this. Not with an Olympian on the team."
Cody shot a nervous look to the far beefier Team Pantheon. "I sure hope you're right."
Chris led the teams down to beach where five zones had been cleared off for competition.
"First up, it's Duncan taking on Shawn in the javelin toss! Step on up, bros!"
The boys entered the first zone. It was a short stretch of beach with two wooden mannequins standing at the far end and two racks of three javelins on the near end. Each javelin was color coded with a band of team colored paint.
"The goal is simple," Chris said. "Hit your best shots on the dummies, and the highest total score wins. Head shots are worth 10 points, body shots are worth 5. And if you catch your dummies in the kiwis, count that as 15."
Shawn squinted at his dummy. "Aren't the dummies chicks though?"
"Hey, dude, you know what year it is," Chris said, leering at the shaggy boy. "Get with the times. And it's all they had in stock and Topher bailed on his cameo appearance for some reason so we lost our target. Now let those javelins fly!"
Duncan grabbed his first blue javelin and grinned. "Aww yeah, just like I'm back in juvie playing pipe toss." The bad boy leaned back, dashed forward, and let the spear fly towards his dummy. It landed square in the vitals, just inches under the neck.
"And that's a cool 5 points for the D-man!" Chris announced. "Shawn, you're up!"
"I don't like to throw stuff at ladies," Shawn sighed. "But I'm just gonna imagine she's a rabid muncher." He did the same motions Duncan did and sent his javelin flying with ease, landing… a head shot!
"Ooooh, and Shawn scores a 10, taking the lead!"
Duncan snorted. "Respect, man. But you're gonna have to keep it up to beat this!" He sent his javelin down the field and landed a perfect shot to the groin, landing the tip right in the small target zone.
"And Duncan puts his money where his mouth is to raise his total to 20! Any retorts Shawn?"
Shawn nodded. "Yeah, how about this?!" He fired off his second javelin with a loud "Hi-yah!" and landed it… right in the sand. "Crap! I missed the kiwis! Uh... don't air that or the zombies will know I can still miss a shot."
"It's okay, Shawn," Sky called out. "Just nail the next one."
"And that means Duncan is up with his final shot," Chris said. "He's at 20. Can he up his score even more?"
Duncan didn't even say a word. He stood back with his javelin raised, rushed forward, and hurled it towards the dummy. It hit. But it was only a body shot an inch above the kiwis zone. "25? Not bad."
"Shawn, you need a kiwis shot to tie it up," Chris said. "Anything less and the round goes to Duncan."
Shawn pulled his beanie backwards around his head and glared at the dummy. With a jolt of the arm, the javelin soared right into the perfect shot and nailed the kiwis.
"And he lands it! We're tied!"
Confessional
Shawn crossed his arms and smirked. "Yeah, I hit the dirt once. But a guy with a 66.6% perfect shot rate is better in the apocalypse than what a lot of what people could offer. Besides, my adrenaline didn't kick in like it would during a walker invasion, so I wasn't on my A-game."
End Confessional
Shawn and Duncan readied their fourth and final tiebreaker javelins.
"Alright, highest score here wins the round. If it's still a tie, we keep launching until we have a winner. Now let 'em fly!"
Both boys stood back, raised, ran, and launched. One hit the head. The other hit the neck and scored a measly body shot.
"And the winner is..."
…
…
…
…
…
"Shawn! With a clutch head shot when it counted!"
The Zombie Slayers let out a series of cheers and whoops as Shawn pumped a fist, grabbing a gold medal from Chris. "That's how it's done! Told ya I trained for this!"
Duncan sighed and brushed past his opponent. "Not bad, man. Good shots. You'd be a good fit for prison."
"And be trapped in a super confined space like that?" Shawn snorted. "No way, dude. Might as well put up a funnel for the zombies to walk through with an all you can eat brains buffet at the end. You can have that place all to yourself."
"Uh, whatever." Duncan gave the dude a weird look and returned to his team.
Confessional
"And just like that, we're down one point," Courtney grumbled. "I just hope rest of us can pull off some wins because I'm not really in the mood to return to that elimination ceremony yet. Or at all. Yeah, let's go with at all."
End Confessional
The next zone was a circular ring of elevated wood standing a foot off the ground.
"And next we have a wrestling match for the ages between..." Chris went to read the note and laughed. "Haha, Cody and Sugar!"
Every brow on Team Pantheon shot up.
"Cody?" Courtney asked. "They put up Cody for this one?"
"Pipsqueak's gonna go sha-splat," Lightning said with a smug look. "Get him, Gross Barn Girl!"
Sugar took her place on the platform as Cody not-so-eagerly joined her with legs trembling. "Don't worry, I ain't gonna lose this one," she boasted to her team before giving her "opponent" a curious eye. "Huh, they really thought you'd take this gold? Nuh uh! That gold is mine! And yer about to learn that the hard way, sucker! Prepare for one heck of a Sugarin' little guy."
Cody blinked. "Uh, can I just leave the ring so I don't break anything?"
"Nope!" Chris shouted. "No quitting allowed! First one out of the ring loses the gold. Now go!"
Sugar didn't even waste a second. Within the blink of an eye, she let out a high-pitched scream and barreled right into Cody shoulder first, sending him flying off the platform and burying him head first in a mound of sound.
Chris had to rub his eyes to make sure it was over. It was. "And uh… Yeah, Sugar wins the match. It's 1-1." He tossed the pageant queen a gold medal to make it official. "Not that it was even a fair fight, but hey, saves time in the episode for other stuff I guess."
Sugar's nose perked up as the gold hit her hands and she took a big bite out of it, wrapper and all. "Oooh, it's chocolate! Yummy!"
Duncan gasped. "Uh, that didn't cost us the point did it?"
Chris shrugged. "Nah, the gold's just for show. Your point still stands. Moving on!"
Confessional
Cody rubbed his head with an ice pack. Upon pulling away, a massive swollen knob was revealed. "I just hope my sacrifice was worth it. My heart says it was, but my head sure doesn't think so. What's left of it anyways."
End Confessional
As the teams moved to the next zone, Beth approached Sugar in the back of the pack and nudged her arm.
"Hey, remember that thing we needed to talk about?" she whispered.
Sugar nodded. "Oh yeah, what's up, farmie?"
Beth gulped and tapped her fingers together, unsure of how to break the bad news. "Well… Remember when I went to check on Lightning and Duncan this morning?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
Beth nodded. "Yeah, they um... They want to vote us out next."
Sugar shot her friend a confused look and leaned in close. "What? I thought you was about to say they were hookin' up in the shower. But oh crap that's bad..."
Beth kept nodding, choosing to ignore Sugar's hook up remark. "They said we're next because, I dunno, they think we're too close? I thought Courtney was next because she's been all schemey and stuff, but they're playing us hard and I'm scared if we lose this one."
Sugar put her thinking cap on and focused. "Well then. We just gotta find a way to win by any means ness... nessit... nessy..."
"Necessary?"
"Yeah, that one. Any means nessecary."
Confessional
"Them boys got a lotta gall comin' after me and Beth behind our backs," Sugar huffed. "Ain't cool, Duncan. I expected that crud from Football Guy, but after I saved your bee-hind, this is how I get repaid? Load of crud, that's what that is! And not the kind you can throw at the neighbor kids when they ride past ya on their fancy little dingy bikes either. Anyways, looks like Sugar's gotta get back on that saddle and mess with some minds."
End Confessional
Next up was zone three, which looked basically like the first zone, but without dummies. And instead of javelin racks, there were discus racks with three discs apiece.
"For the discus throw we have… Gwen vs Beth, which will hopefully be a better match up than our last round because neither girl seems like the type to actually be good at this."
"Hey, I'm not that lame," Gwen said, picking up one of the discs. "It's only like... one pound? I can totally handle it."
Beth picked up her disc with ease and smiled. "I do a lot of work on the farm, so my upper body strength might not be too bad for this one. Good luck, Gwen!"
"You too," the goth replied, getting into position. "May the best girl win."
"Alright, you each have three discs," Chris explained, standing just out of the zone. "Normally the goal is to launch your disc the farthest, but we've decided it would be more fair to add a target area instead." He gestured to the large pole sticking out of the sand. "The person who lands a disc closest to the pole takes the edible gold. The loser gets squat. Understood?"
"Gotcha," said both girls.
"Then let 'em fly, ladies!"
Gwen did a quick twirl and launched her first disc, colored red like her team's icon. It soared and soared and soared, only to land about six feet from the pole. She cringed. "Yeah, not a good shot. But hey, learning curve, right?"
Beth nodded. "Yeah. Now let's see how I do."
The farmgirl did some twirls. And then she kept twirling. And twirling. And twirling. Like a top that wouldn't stop. At random, she let her disc go flying, and thanks to her upper body strength, it basically launched like a bullet over the heads of the other players and soared into the woods, causing a flock of birds to erupt from the trees in a panic.
"Oops," she winced. "Sorry, birds!"
Chris blinked. "Uh… yeah. Maybe try spinning… a little less next time. Not that your contract wouldn't leave you liable for damages, but because I'd rather not deal with a decapitation this early in the season."
"Yeah, I'm out," Heather said, leaving the challenge site. "Beth can behead the rest of you, but not me."
Shawn immediately glared at the queen bee, but faced his team with a nervous expression. "And uh, I gotta take a mondo dump. You know, to stay light in case the zombies show up. I might be gone for awhile, so win this for me, okay?"
Gwen pointed her second disc at the two deserters. "Uh, where are they going? Are they allowed to leave?"
Chris shrugged. "I'd say they're playing it safe and smart. Plus they don't have anything else to do around here. If they don't wanna show team spirit, that's their call. Next shots please!"
Confessional
"So I don't really have to poop," Shawn said with a clever little smirk. "And I'm not gonna tail Heather either. I have to find the rest of those clues and get that Pendant while the team's distracted by the challenge. Jasmine nearly lost to Al today, and if the next person to go face her is super tough too, she'll need all the help she can get and I don't think her classic ant attraction method is gonna work a second time. Anyways, the clue said to ascend to the peak and talked about a golden choice, which is totally the voting booth, so that's the way to go!"
(static)
"Basically, I'm looking for the other idol," Heather explained. "Beth's power throws are seriously terrifying, but what's worse is going to another ceremony without protection, and I doubt there's gonna be a sit-out immunity every episode. Plus the Chris idol is the one still out there if it hasn't been found already. That one can protect me no matter what and I don't need anyone to play it for me. And hey, maybe if I'm lucky I'll find that stupid Pendant thing Chris told us about. No clue what it does, but a girl takes what she can get."
End Confessional
Gwen and Beth launched their second discs and both landed about three feet from the post.
"Closer," Gwen said. "Just need to get a better aim, which is nearly impossible when you're spinning. Wonderful design, Greeks."
Beth was a little dizzy and nearly fell into her discus rack. "One shot left. Gotta make it count."
"Come on, farmie!" Sugar hollered. "Make it count. Right down the middle!"
Sky chimed in even louder. "Don't give up, Gwen! Just focus and land the shot! You can do this! Win this round, and the hurdles are mine. We've got this!"
The pageant queen glared at her old rival and grumbled to herself. "Oh shut it, Miss Olympic. Beth's gonna crush you guys..."
Gwen primed her last shot, did a spin, and let it fly. The disc soared in what seemed to be slow motion before landing just a couple inches from the pole.
In a rare moment of hype, Gwen cheered. "Yes! Nailed it!"
"Way to go!" Sky cheered. "No way she beats that!"
Beth gulped and readied her final toss. "Gotta make it count," she whispered. "Sugar's counting on me, and I have to prove I can play hard..."
With a laser-focused eye for the pole, Beth spun around twice and hurled that disc towards the target. It hit the sand a couple feet from the pole and slid closer and closer until it made contact with Gwen's last disc, knocking it just slightly out of the way.
"Oooh! A photo finish!" Chris announced. "Chef, get the tape-measurer."
On cue, Chef emerged in a toga colored like a black and white referee uniform and pulled out a ruler, measuring from the pole to each disc. It was close. So close he needed a magnifying glass to determine the winner.
Standing up, the ref made his call. "By a distance of one millimeter, the winner is…
...
...
...
...
...
...
...wannabe farm girl!"
Beth fell to her knees and cheered with a loud "YAY!" as the other Pantheon members cheered along.
Gwen lazily kicked the sand and shook her head. "That close? Crap. I almost had it. Nice shooting though, Beth."
Sky sighed and went to Gwen's side. "You did great though. A little sloppy with the throws at first, but you got the hang of it. But don't worry, we still have two events to go. And we know we've got the hurdles in the bag, so it's not even close to over."
Gwen gave Sky a tired look. "Yeah. True."
Confessional
"Okay, Sky's pretty cocky about this," Gwen said. "I get she's trained for this since she was like, nine or whatever, but assuming we've won it before we even know who our opponent is? That's a little too much cockiness. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite her, or she might be punching a ticket across that creepy ferry if we can't boot Heather. Not that I want her gone, because I don't, but if the rest of the team wants her gone, then I don't think I could save her."
End Confessional
Shawn crept through the temple archway and scuffled over to the passage down to the voting booth. Once inside, he took a look around and lifted the Greek voting urn to find a tiny scroll taped underneath.
"Bingo! What's the update?" He opened it and read aloud. "One more stop is all it takes, your quest is nearly over. The power you seek is for safety's sake, is best found by Rover. Search inside the home-grown lake, where drunks dive to get sober."
It only took a couple seconds for everything to come together and dashed out of the booth. "Got it! Dig in the bottom of the well back at the house! Right under our noses the whole time! Hang on, Jasmine. I'm coming!"
On the other side of the things, Heather took a casual stroll through the woods, keeping her eyes open for anything shiny, any strange trees, and any zombie nuts lurking in the canopy.
Confessional
"Even if I'm immune should we lose, I need to think about how to advance my chances for the future," Heather said, slamming her fist into her palm. "Clearly Shawn hates me, so he'd be a logical target if we lose. But he won his challenge and the team likes him despite his... quirks. So that's a no go. Cody's weak and having him out would help us win more challenges, but even if he took out Alejandro, I still have some kind of relationship with him from World Tour. Same for Gwen. They might not love me, but we're on speaking terms. That leaves Sky and Scott. Both are fully lame and expendable to me, but I have more in common with Scott as a fellow villain than I do with Ms. Lead On. Plus Scott's one of our stronger players physically, so he's worth keeping around to counter all the muscle across team lines. Either way, I actually hope we lose so I can cut some fodder change this game up. And maybe rub it in a little. Immunity is such a sweet thing to have, honestly."
End Confessional
The remaining players approached the fourth zone, a long stretch of beach with two rows of 20 hurdles lined up. Sky stepped forward immediately and cracked some knuckles, did some stretches, and popped her back.
"Ready for hurdle duty."
Courtney stepped forward, did the same stretches, and awkwardly tried to pop her back, only for it not to crack. "Uh, same here. Hurdle time."
"Round for is Sky taking on Courtney in the hurdles race," Chris said. "It's pretty simple. First to clear the finish line wins. I'll give you girls another couple minutes to warm up, and then we'll get started. If Sky wins this, we go to the chariot race between Lightning and Scott. If Courtney wins, and that's a big if, the challenge is over and Team Pantheon wins it for a second time in a row."
"You got this," Gwen told Sky. "Just don't get confident and do a bunch of tricks. That's how Alejandro lost this one to Heather in my season. Just jump and do your thing."
"Right," the athlete replied before taking a quick trip over to the water to do some beach side stretches.
My time to shine. You got this. Time to prove all the haters wrong.
Over on Team Pantheon, Lightning was giving Courtney an awkward shoulder massage. "You got this, Bossy Girl! Sky's tough, but you're tougher. Tough as nails. Sha-solid as iron!"
"Thanks," she said. "I just hope I can seal the deal. She does this for a living. Of course she does."
"Well we can just hope she makes a mistake," Duncan said not so confidently. "One trip up on her part and it's your match to lose."
Meanwhile, Beth and Sugar convened off to the side, their backs turned to the others. Sugar reached into her bra and pulled out a secret weapon: a leftover sandwich from the morning's meal.
Beth cringed. "You kept that in there?"
"Yep. And now this B-B-Q is our ticket to the W-I-N."
"Uh… how?"
"Easy," Sugar whispered. "Alejandro's screams of agony as he was gettin' dive bombed by birds gave me an idea. All we gotta do is sneak this here sandwich into Sky's pocket and them gulls are gonna be after her like fat kids on a cotton candy machine. And I speak from experience."
Beth gasped and lent a supporting hand to Sugar's shoulder. "Aww, you're not fat. You're just curvy. All bodies are beautiful."
Sugar raised an eyebrow. "What? No. I mean I served cotton candy at the county fair last summer and all the fat kids swarmed me like a buncha buzzards. Anyways, ya gotta sneak it into her pocket. Sky ain't gonna let ol' Sugar get close like that. But she doesn't think you're a threat to her at all. She probably thinks you're all weak and stuff." She shoved the sandwich into Beth's hands. "Now go out there and sabotage Miss Olympic or we're hosed."
Beth gulped. "But isn't that… mean?"
"I guess if you're a goody-goody it is, but it's either this, or one of us goin' home. Besides, there ain't a rule about it. Chris lets this stuff fly all the time. Might as well exploit it."
"I guess… But I'd just feel bad if this took Sky down in her challenge. She's really excited to win this one. Plus I thought you agreed to be less mean?"
"And you agreed to play to win," Sugar said with a chipper tone. "This is just how it's done. Now get out there and make Sugar proud, farmie."
With a slap to the back from her friend, Beth stumbled over towards Sky as she did her last couple stretches by the water.
"Oh, hey, Beth," she said. "What's up? We… haven't talked much, have we?"
"N-no," she stammered, hiding the sandwich behind her back. "I just wanted to wish you good luck since this is… you know… your challenge and stuff. You seem really excited for it."
"Hey, no problem," Sky said. "Sorry I have to beat Courtney and make you guys do the tiebreaker when you're hungry for a big win, but it's just how it is."
"Y-yeah," Beth said. "Anyways, mind if we hug it out?"
Sky gave the wannabe a confused but amused look. "I... don't see why not."
And so they awkwardly hugged for a brief moment. Beth feigned a loss of balance and fell on top of Sky with a loud "Oof!" and quickly slipped the sandwich into her back pocket, leaving just enough sticking out to attract any nearby birds that caught sight of the white bread.
"S-sorry!" Beth pleaded. "I'm still a little wobbly from the disc thing."
Sky brushed herself off and groaned. "No, you're fine. Just… be careful next time. Okay?"
Chris' voice shut down the chat. "Times up, ladies! It's hurdle time!"
"And that's my cue," Sky said. "Thanks for the best wishes." Then she looked over Beth's shoulder and saw Sugar watching intensely from afar. "Get a life, Sugar," she mumbled.
Beth waved goodbye and hurried back to her team alongside Sugar, who gave her an appreciate pat on the back. "Good job, farmie. You just won us this one, I promise."
Confessional
"I feel like pig slop," Beth whimpered. "But… Sugar's right. If we don't win this challenge, we could go home back to back if Duncan's serious about voting us out. I hate playing dirty, but I want to prove I deserved to be a finalist then and be one again this season. If this is how you play hard and play to win, then I guess it couldn't hurt to play a little dirty, right? Besides, Sky's like... kinda mean too, right? Maybe this is just karma?"
(static)
"That Beth is one great student," Sugar said, wiping a happy tear from her eye. "I'm so dang proud of her. She's got a long way to go until she's at my level, and I doubt she'll ever reach it because my level's so dang high, but she's on her way. Oh, and Sky still sucks eggs, so this is gonna be goooood."
End Confessional
Sky and Courtney readied themselves by the starting line, their eyes locked on the 20 hurdles and the finish line banner ahead of them. This was it. Sky could save her team. Courtney could win it for hers. It was a do-or-die hurdles race like never before.
Chris raised a hand at the finish line. "Ready! Steady! Palms Sweaty! Mom's Spaghetti! And GO!"
Sky bolted off to a quick start and leapt over the first couple hurdles with grace, almost as if she was flying over them with wings. Courtney was just a few feet behind her, failing to get the same graceful leaps but managing to clear the hurdles with brute force every time.
Unfortunately for Sky, the universe had other plans. Out of nowhere, a gull dived down and smacked Sky in the face, causing her to lose her concentration and trip over a hurdle at the halfway point.
"What the heck was that?!" she yelped.
Looking up the sky, she saw it turn dark as a flock, no, a swarm of gulls descended from the sky like locusts on a field. And they had one goal in mind: getting into her pants.
"Oh shit!" Sky swatted away gull after gull, attempting to jump over the last few hurdles, but the sheer force of gull impact was too much and she tripped, slamming face first into the sand as the birds pecked at her pocket and cleaned up any traces of the sandwich in seconds. Piranhas of the sky, those gulls were. And after their attack, no evidence remained.
Courtney didn't even question it. She just bolted past Sky at the last second and collapsed to her knees across the finish line. "Yes! Victory!" The rest of the team hooted and hollered as Courtney was lifted to her feet and given so many pats on the back that she'd classify it as a massage.
On the other hand, Scott, Gwen, and Cody looked shocked beyond belief.
Chris couldn't even believe his eyes. He picked his jaw off the floor and made one last announcement. "Um, Sky gets Hitchcockblocked by the birds and Courtney snags the win for Team Pantheon! Who could have seen that one coming?!"
Sugar gave the camera a smug look.
Sky scraped herself off the sand and groaned, spitting out feathers and wiping the dirt off her face. "I-I don't understand," she mumbled, shaken to her core. "I… But the hurdles… The birds, they… I… I lost?"
"Yep," Chris said. "You flopped. And in your challenge. Guess you still need to hone your hurdling skills, huh? Anyways, see you losers at tonight's ceremony. And tell Heather and Shawn about it too. We don't want them missing out on what I'm sure will be an uber-dramatic elimination, now do we?"
Sky just stared into the distance, lost for words. "B-but… This was… This… My challenge… The birds… I… What..."
Gwen awkwardly approached the stunned athlete, cringing as she planned words very carefully. "Uh… so that happened."
"Yeah, those birds just attacked you out of nowhere," Scott said. "And as a guy who's been mauled by bunnies, I know the feeling."
Cody didn't even have anything to say. He just knew he felt 0% safe that night, even with Sky's big failure looming large.
Confessional
"So that sucked," Gwen said. "Sky swore she had the gold in her hands all day and then she blows it. Kinda peeved about that, but I guess I have to blame the birds for the loss. I just don't know why they dive-bombed her like that. Did she offend the gods or something? Because that was a full on assault."
(static)
Sky gulped, still staring into space. "W-what… happened? I had it. I-I had it. That was my challenge. Mine! I do hurdles every day! Why did… W-why? Why the birds a-and the… I'm so confused!"
End Confessional
As the sun began to makes it way towards the western horizon, Team Pantheon enjoyed the evening off. The Zombie Slayers on the other hand couldn't find a single moment of peace. Well, Heather could. She was straight up enjoying the impending bloodbath from her lone seat in the courtyard as the rest of her team hashed it out around the main camp area. Watching them panicking to and fro like mice brought some joy to her Alejandro-free life. She was going to revel in it. And make it count.
"Okay," Gwen said to Cody. "I have no idea who to vote for. I get along with everyone here to some degree, even Scott believe it or not, who's not even that bad this season."
"Yeah, it's a hard choice," Cody sighed. "I feel like I'm doomed though. And I hate it."
"Don't say that. You're gonna be fine. Nobody is going to be cruel enough to vote you out based on a challenge performance we knew would be bad. It was just a team strategy that didn't pay off. That's all there is to it. Don't blame yourself."
Cody scooped a bit of late evening gruel into his mouth and choked it down. "Easy for you to say. At least you came close to winning your round. I lasted like two seconds. Maybe not even that. Plus I'm the one weak person on the team. I stick out like a sore thumb. Even after I outsmarted Al and Heather, it's like nobody sees me as anything but a walking pencil."
"Well… you should go talk to the others," Gwen said. "You've got me on your side, but we still need another vote to make it 3 and one more to have the majority. Sky and Shawn should be on our side and vote for Scott, I guess. But I don't know. Nobody talked game until now because we all thought Heather would be toast. Turns out the universe had other plans. Stupid Chris..."
Cody nodded. "Yeah, good idea. I'm gonna hit up Shawn and see what he thinks."
Confessional
"Truth?" Cody asked the viewer at home. "I want Sky out. She's super close to Gwen and I don't wanna sound like some jealous simp, but Gwen's supposed to be my number one out there. And she is. But lately, she's just been really close with Sky. Like… new best friends level close. I doubt she'd ever back me up and vote Sky out though, so I shouldn't even bother pushing for that option, huh?"
End Confessional
"We need Cody out," Sky told Shawn as they huddled on the edge of the forest. "He's useless in these physical challenges, and you saw how strategic he was about getting Alejandro out with that vote split thing, which could easily be used on us down the line. He's a nice guy, but he offers no pros and a lot of cons. What do you think? I know you've hung out here and there, but..."
Shawn rolled his eyes. "Sorry, sis. Not gonna happen. My guy Cody got a raw deal, and we said we wouldn't hold this loss against him since we purposely set him up to fail. If anything, he did his part better than you and Gwen if you think about it."
Sky blinked. "I get that, but this isn't about this loss. It's about other losses. Future losses. If we take him further, he's going to cost us wins when we need them and if he makes the merge, nobody would bother voting him out because he's such a non-threat. He'd basically be locked for the finals and take up a space for me, or you, or someone who deserves to be here more. Like Jasmine if she comes back perhaps."
Shawn sighed and left the scene. "I hear ya, but I'm voting my own way, lone wolf style. I can't bring myself to put his coin in the jar. Not after the sick gaming talk we had." And then he was gone like a ghost in the evening haze.
Sky pinched her forehead. "This is frustrating. This whole freaking day."
And that's when Gwen appeared with a "Hey, mind if we talk?"
"No problem," she said. "Who are you voting for?"
Gwen shrugged. "No clue. Maybe Scott because I trust him the least, but-"
"We need him in challenges?" Sky proposed as an end to Gwen's sentence.
"Exactly. Who did you want out?"
Sky bit her lip. "Well… Don't kill me when I say this, but I say we cut Cody."
Gwen immediately got stern and dropped her chillness on the spot. "I thought we weren't going to vote him out over the loss. You pushed for him to wrestle knowing he'd lose, so don't try and use it against him. I thought you were about fairness and stuff."
Sky raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. "I'm just trying to do what's best for the team. And Cody is the weakest player by far. He's going to cost us challenges down the road. You know he will. Don't think of it like we're punishing him for this one loss. We're doing what's best for the team as a whole."
"He was capable on Team Amazon and wasn't shabby on the Gophers," Gwen argued, trying not to sound mad. "He's not super physical, but he's not some loser with no skills."
Sky rolled her eyes and walked past Gwen. "I get it, you don't want to vote for him. I just want our team to be strong, so if you want to throw a vote out there in random direction, go ahead. The rest of us will do the job and you don't get blood on your hands. Your conscience will be clean, I swear."
Gwen stopped Sky with a grasp on her wrist. The athlete shuddered in shock. "Uh, I mean I don't want him to go home at all. I'm not voting him out, even if he can be a little aggravatingly desperate from time to time. He and I have a solid history, and we really trust each other. Sorry if you can't see that, but that's how it is. And we're not turning on each other. You vote him out and that's a vote against me."
Sky listened to Gwen's words and eventually broke free of her grasp. "Okay. I know what you mean. But I'm still voting for him. I'm sorry, Gwen. I know it's hard to hear, but this team doesn't need to go on a losing streak. The team has to be strong… I just wish Heather didn't get that immunity. This would be so much easier if she didn't. So much easier. I'm going to tell Scott and Heather the plan."
Gwen let go of Sky's wrist and let out a frustrated sigh. "Just… do your thing. Yeah."
The two parted ways as the sun crept even closer to the horizon.
Confessional
"I don't want Cody gone," Gwen said, looking bluer than usual. "And for what reason? Because he lost a challenge that Sky made him do after promising she wouldn't blame him for the loss? Look, Sky's cool and all, and I really feel for her with the crazy fans coming after her for some boy drama, but between that Cody crap and her shutting down alliance talk the other day, she… might not be the right person to go to the merge with after all. We're just not playing compatible games, and I hope she can respect that."
(static)
"I wish Gwen wasn't so attached to her old friends," Sky sighed. "I get it. Cody's there for her and supports her and… does nice things for her when there's no chance of them working out. But he's not going to help her win this thing. He just won't. Odds are he'd be evacuated for some random injury before he actually won anything super physical, and Total Drama gets super physical at the end every season. If Gwen can't see that, then that's her issue. I can't lose focus though. I trust Gwen, but I trust myself even more. And my gut's telling me that Cody's our best choice to vote off as unfair as Gwen thinks it is."
End Confessional
As Gwen was about to sneak back into the courtyard, Heather emerged from the woods and waved her down like a hitchhiker.
"Hey, I know I'm not the person you wanted to talk to."
Gwen glared at the queen bee. "You got that right."
"Buuuut I want to talk game," Heather finished, sounding more relaxed than usual. "Just because I'm safe tonight doesn't mean I don't have a vote. And besides, you can't hate me forever. Sure, I lied about Alejandro and I breaking up and tried to use it strategically against you, but you're a smart girl. You know it's not that serious. It's just a game move."
"Uh, and all the other times you made personally me feel like crap weren't?"
"Look," Heather said. "You said it best on the first day here. Some stuff should be left in the past and some hatchets should be buried. This is a new game, and right now, you could have a chance to shake things up if you let go of our drama."
Gwen narrowed her eyes. "What is it? Just get it over with so I can so lay in bed and feel like dying."
Heather was taken aback by how dark the goth's rhetoric got, but kept talking. "Well, I did some thinking and I think I've figured out the best option to vote for tonight. I know you're close with Cody and I honestly respect the guy, so it's not him. Shawn and Scott hate my guts, but we need some strong boys on the team to counter Lightning and Duncan, so not them either. I have no intentions of voting you out this early because us OG Gopher girls need to support each other, so it's not you either. That leaves-"
Gwen shook her head and attempted to walk away. "Sky? Nope. Try again."
Heather stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Think about it this way. Jasmine is currently beating anyone and everyone we send to battle her. Zoey. Owen. Alejandro. All three got crushed because Jasmine is a monster in these challenges."
Gwen's eyes perked up. "Right, but..."
"Soooo why not send Sky there to take her out? Because if Jasmine comes back in from the Underworld, we're all screwed. She's unbeatable. There's no way any of us could take her down unless we hit her while she's weak, which is right now. Right?"
"I-I guess so."
"Shawn would probably quit to let her advance. Scott's not bad in challenges, but she's on a whole other level. We'd stand no chance, and neither would Cody unless it was a 'Build Gwen's Face' challenge. Sky on the other hand, has beaten her before. She's an athlete. Jasmine isn't trained like she is. Sky could beat her and save us all the trouble. Plus it breaks up Shawn and Sky who are a tight duo, and if Jasmine gets back in that's a tight trio. Strategically, voting out Sky is the best move. You can't deny it."
Gwen took a deep breath. "I understand, but I don't want to betray her like that."
"Why? Are you in some dumb second place alliance?"
No. They weren't, were they?
"I... Um... I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going to find Cody and talk it out with him. Just… vote how you want. You're safe anyways, Heather."
Heather watched Gwen leave. Even with immunity, she was still nervous despite not showing it.
And Gwen, conflicted and confused, tossed around the possibilities in her mind like a juggling act. And she was looking like the clown at that point.
The six Zombie Slayers trudged into the elimination amphitheater and took their seats. Cody looked nervous as hell. Scott looked peeved. Sky looked exhausted. Heather looked smug. Gwen looked conflicted. Shawn looked dirty. Nothing unusual there.
"Well, well, well, welcome back, Walker Wallopers!" Chris said, spinning a platter of kabobs on his finger. "I'm low-key coming around to your name if only because I have a blast making puns about it."
"Hey, don't insult the name," Shawn barked. "I spent like... thirty seconds coming up with it."
"Yeah, whatever. Anyways, the coins have been dropped and it's time to say bon voyage to another big loser and send 'em on their way to Jasmine Island. And I have to say, I can't imagine anyone being totally safe tonight. Except Heather, because she had the RNG gods on her side." He tossed the first kabob to Heather, who caught it with confidence.
Shawn rolled his eyes, then opened them wide when another kabob came his way.
"Zombie boy, eat up," Chris said. "Goth girl, you too."
Gwen caught her kabob and couldn't even bring herself to eat it. Not that she would've wanted to on another night because they were nasty, but this time…
"That leaves Scott, Sky, and Cody as our bottom three. Scott, you've been annoying people lately and everyone knows you're a sneaky snakey saboteur."
Scott glared at the host. "I haven't sabotaged anyone this season, man. Stop bringing it up already."
Chris moved on to Sky. "Hurdle Queen! More like Hurt-le Queen, right? You bombed the challenge basically designed for you and cost your team the win when they needed it most. Blame the birds all you want, but they weren't competing for the gold."
Sky glared at Chris as well. "I would've won if the birds didn't attack me. I was like ten feet away from the finish line and-"
"And Cody, who lasted all of two seconds in a match against Sugar, which is just really embarrassing no matter how you slice it. Laaaame, dude."
Cody didn't even make a remark. He just slouched forward and sighed.
"But I can confirm that… Scott is safe!" He tossed a kabob at the dirt farmer and turned to Sky and Cody.
"One kabob left. Who's gonna get it. The person whose shitty performance was expected, or the person whose shitty performance shocked us all?"
Cody and Sky looked on with two completely different faces. Cody's was limp and tired. Sky's was intense and annoyed.
"And the last kabob goes to..."
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"The Codemeister!"
Sky's jaw dropped. Cody smiled. Heather smirked. Shawn yelped. Scott gasped. Gwen buried her pale face in her pale hands. All the while, Chris slurped up that dramatic fallout live.
Sky lurched around to face the rest of her team. "Who voted for me?!"
Shawn and Scott's surprised reactions made it clear they were innocent. Cody, Heather, and Gwen on the other hand…
"Gwen?" Sky asked, choking up a little. "D-did…"
Gwen raised her head, revealing a face torn apart by regret and remorse. "I'm sorry, Sky. But..."
"But what?" Sky snapped, stomping her foot not unlike a tantrum-throwing child. "Because I tried to vote out Cody? I'm here to play for our team! You think I wanted to send anyone home? I thought you were a friend I could actually trust, but you're just... Just another Heather!"
"Honestly?" Heather said. "Take that as a compliment."
Gwen's heart sank. There it was again: the New Heather label. The thing she thought she shredded to pieces back in All-Stars. And now it was back for more. And coming from someone she thought was a friend? Absolutely gut-wrenching.
"H-hey," Cody said, awkwardly standing beside Gwen. "She can vote however she wants. Don't try and make her feel bad about it when-"
"She stabbed me in the back, Cody! I trusted her!" Sky turned to Gwen with faint tears in her eyes. "Did any of the stuff we talked about on the boat mean anything to you? Did you even give a crap about me or my feelings? Or was this just some big scheme? Tell me!"
Gwen looked up and shook her head, wincing at every word that punched her in the gut. "I still like you, Sky. And I do care, even if we've only known each other for a few days. But… I came here to win this time and… this was what my gut told me to do. You tried to go back on your word and vote Cody out and I couldn't let it happen. I'm sorry."
"You're lying," Sky huffed, finally standing up to tower over the sitting goth. "We had a connection because I let my guard down. I thought 'Oh, I won't have to worry about another person letting me dwon' but it turns out I was wrong! I thought this time would be different even when every fiber in my body said it wouldn't, and I was wrong! I opened up to you and got stomped on!"
Gwen couldn't even speak anymore. She wanted to throw up, plain and simple.
Before anyone could interject, Sky stormed off with a exasperated, bitter growl and left the temple, heading right for the dark ocean where Charon's ferry would be waiting to take her to the Underworld.
"Uh… what just happened?!" Shawn asked, his face still frozen in horror.
Gwen's face returned to her palms and she let out a frustrated groan. She wouldn't sleep that night.
All the while, Heather smirked, the machinations of luck and strategy having carved a nice, wide crack in this stupid team.
Perfect.
Jasmine sat in the bungalow with a platter of Greek fruits, enjoying the island life despite looking like a homeless woman in a hat. Even if she wasn't technically in the game, she was still living it up and enjoying her stay if only because beating three people in a row was fun as hell and gave her quite the resume to show off.
And then Sky showed up. The mood instantly sank like lead.
Jasmine looked up and gasped upon seeing her friend pouring tears. "Holy crap! Are you alright?!"
Sky plopped down on the other cot. "No."
"What happened?" Jasmine asked sternly, almost motherly even. "I need to know."
There was only one name that could escape those trembling, furious lips.
"Gwen..."
Voting Confessionals
Sky dropped Cody's coin in the urn and sighed. "It sucks, but it's best for the team. I just hope Gwen won't be all bitter about it. She'll understand eventually."
Shawn dropped Scott's shiny face into the urn next. "Would've been sweet to cut Heather, but I'll settle for Scott. Too bad my guy Cody's probably screwed though. Dude's super cool for a wimpy little zombie snack."
Cody voted for Sky. "If Gwen and Heather are on board… I guess Sky's the vote? I'm still shaky about it, but do I have a choice here?"
Heather dropped a Sky coin in the urn and smirked. "If all goes to plan, Sky takes flight right into the sun. Gwen better vote with me though. It's just the smart thing to do, and she's a smart cookie. Well, relative to the others."
Scott casually dropped Cody's coin in the slot. "Sorry, runt. We need to keep the team strong and you're old school. Courtney might want you around for later, but I'll take what I can get and keep us new schoolers safe."
Gwen held Sky's coin over the slot… and finally dropped it in with a shameful sigh. "I… Just… I'm sorry. If you want to get Cody out after giving him your word and pretending it's some honorable move, I can't work with you in this game. We can still be friends and I'm glad we talked about your issues heart to heart, but... I can't do Cody dirty. Hope you understand."
Eliminated: Mike, Zoey, Owen, Alejandro
In the Underworld: Jasmine, Sky
Remaining:
Team Pantheon: Beth, Courtney, Duncan, Lightning, Sugar
The Zombie Slayers: Cody, Gwen, Heather, Scott, Shawn
Reasoning for Elimination: I knew Alejandro was going to be a tough character to place in the boot order because he's such a massive threat in every way and everyone knows it, but he's got the skills to do well so he could survive a long time. Unfortunately, we've never seen Heather without Alejandro around, so he had to take the early fall instead of her for a change. I had a blast writing a suave, articulate villain even if his strategies admittedly weren't top tier, but like I said, in this cast he's got his work cut out for him and everyone knows what he's about. As for Sky's blindside… Yeah, that should shake things up real nice.
A/N: So this episode got changed from the original plan. Originally, all five rounds were played. The winners and the boot didn't change though. I first had it where Scott got immunity, but Heather was able to save herself by exposing the New School alliance after overhearing Courtney and Scott in the woods. Gwen and Cody would side with her, vote for Sky who would come off as sketchy by "joining" said New School alliance. But Cody would do another split vote plan where Heather would pretend to have the other idol and Cody would be a backup target, making it a 3-2-1 vote just like this one, but with Heather getting the lone vote instead of Scott. So yeah, not a huge change in the results, but one I'm happy with since this drama is waaaay juicier and less chaotic strategically in favor of some messy personal chaos. Plus we already did the "alliance gets revealed by an eavesdropper" last episode with Shawn spying on Aleheather, so doing it again would have been overkill and boring.