Total Drama: Clash of the Titans – Episode 6: Greek Yog-Hurt

"Last time on Total Drama: Clash of the Titans, Jasmine and Alejandro battled for safety, with Jasmine's adaptability pushing her to a third win in a row. Then, in a throwback to our Greek visit in World Tour, the contestants vied for gold in an Olympic showdown! Heather won a lucky sit-out immunity for the episode, pissing off her team even more and pulling her out of her Al-free slump. Shawn beat Duncan, giving The Zombie Slayers the early lead, but back to back domination by Sugar and Beth put Team Pantheon in striking distance of the big W. Sugar, hearing from a little birdie that Duncan and Lightning were planning to turn on her and Beth, staged some underhanded play. Sky got played, The Zombie Slayers were dismayed, and big moves were made! Sky gunned for Cody, much to Gwen's chagrin, forcing her to cut her new friend to protect her old one in yet another epic blindside. With Sky a mess, will she be able to topple Jasmine? Will Heather manage to escape elimination again? Will our booked cameo player actually show up? Find out on tonight's episode of... Total… Drama… Clash of the Titans!"

Unlike most nights, this night was rather stormy. Rain poured down upon the Greek Isles far heavier than any tears shed following the previous elimination ceremony. The remaining players remained secluded in their rooms apart from Shawn, who used the cover of the storm to dive down into the well when nobody could see him make his move. It was a long drop and a longer swim, but he eventually reached the bottom and started digging through the soil, aided only by a jar full of fireflies as his light source.

Confessional

"The clue was pretty simple," a totally drenched Shawn explained. "A home grown lake is obviously the well, and Rover's a name for a dog, dogs like to dig, Lassie rescues people who fall in wells, and boom!" He whipped out a shiny package like the one the Chef Idol was hidden in. "One Pendant of Zeus for me!" Opening it up, he revealed the treasure in its full glory: a shiny, polished medal with a lightning bolt design on the front. With it came a slip of paper. "Congrats, you've found the one and only Pendant of Zeus! This power can be used to..." He kept reading and gasped as his eyes beamed with stars. "Just what I needed! Jasmine's gonna love this! I just hope she's holding up with the rain though. The Underworld's gotta be one tough place."

End Confessional

Over on Underworld Island, Jasmine and Sky sat on their cots as the rain shimmered in first light. The Aussie dumped a load of fresh fruit on the table between them and wrung her hat dry before awkwardly plopping the floppy thing back on. "Gotcha some goodies if you want to eat before the challenge. I'd normally not feed the enemy like this, but you're an exception. Plus you kinda need a pick-me-up after last night."

Sky grabbed a peach and took a bite, but struggled to get it down. "I'm... not hungry."

Jasmine grabbed a peach of her own. "Well, if you ever feel up to it, dig in. You gotta keep your energy up."

Sky nodded. "I guess. I don't even know if I want to be here anymore. I shouldn't have even come back to be honest. All it got me was another mess I didn't ask for."

"Hold up, mate. Don't say that. You're still in it. Sure, the conditions are bad and you got stabbed in the back, but you've got a chance to get back in and get some revenge. Same with me. We're in the same boat believe it or not. We're both underdogs and we got some fight in us yet."

Sky tossed her peach on the table and laid down facing away for some shut-eye. Or at least that's what she wanted it to look like while she tried not to cry. Jasmine gave her a concerned look.

Confessional

"That wasn't cool of Gwen at all," Jasmine said with a leer. "Or at least if Sky's version of the story was accurate. But I have no reason to doubt her. Sky's a friend, and if you come after my friends, you come after me. Sky laid her heart out for the girl and she went and stomped on it. I get playing to win, but it just sounds so cruel. It just ain't right, and if I get back into the game, you can go ahead and add Gwen to my hit list. Right next to Sugar." Her leer faded into a sad look. "I just hope Sky's okay in the end. I've never seen her that broken up about anything before. Guess those nasty fans did a number on her, huh? I mean, and Gwen obviously."

(static)

Sky leaned hopelessly against a rock as the waves poured in behind her. "I told myself I wouldn't let my feelings take charge this season and cost me another win, but lo and behold… they did." She wiped a couple tears away and blew her nose on a leaf which she casually tossed off screen. "Now all the nastiness is just going to get worse because of course they'll take her side. She's the fan favorite with five seasons under her belt. I'm just the girl who ruins boys' lives and deserves to suffer, right? Is that how it goes? Yeah. That's always how it goes." She took a minute to calm herself. "And now I have to stay out here in the middle of nowhere, eating a hundred calories a day and beating all these strong players one by one? Just to have a chance to come back for revenge with a target on my back? I should've just stayed home and worked on my training, but… Stupid me said yes to another season. Stupid, stupid me."

End Confessional

"It's a shame only one of us can survive today," Jasmine said, noticing that Sky definitely wasn't asleep. "I'd love to play to the final two together, but it wasn't meant to be. But hey, we'll give the rest of 'em a good old walloping either way. Right?"

Sky turned over and flashed a quick smile. "Yeah. I guess so."

Jasmine smiled back. "I'm glad we got to play again. Even if things didn't go as planned, we still kicked butt and can still kick a lot more."

"Uh huh."

"And when we get back home, you, me, and Shawn can go hang out in Australia for a month. I'll pay for the tickets. My treat. I even have a couple friends in Olympics training who can set you up for some tips if you'd like."

"I'd rather not talk about Olympics stuff right now..."

"Oh, right. Sorry. But the offer's on the table regardless of how today goes."

"I know. Thanks."

Jasmine smiled. Her friend was still in there after all. She just needed time to process things. But in a game moving as fast as this one, that was... tricky to say the least.

Once again, Chef delivered breakfast in an unusual form. Every single player in the top ten got a plastic container full of plain yogurt.

"That's right," Chef said, handing the final cup to Sugar. "No toppings, no sweetener, no nothin. Just plain ol' Greek yogurt from my fridge to your guts. Now eat up!"

Cody took a bite and nearly hurled. "Ugh, how do people eat this stuff? It's disgusting on its own!"

Scott added some dirt to his cup and stirred it around. "Not if you get creative. There's toppings everywhere if you know where to look."

"Um... I'll pass," Cody said, wincing as the crunch of sand in Scott's mouth made his own yogurt come back up the tube.

Across the yard, Lightning and Sugar scarfed down their yogurt in record time and belched, slamming the cups on the table and shouting "Done!"

"Ewwww," Courtney groaned. "At least have some manners if you're going to enjoy this gross gunk."

"Hey, don't diss the protein, Bossy Girl," Lightning snorted, pointing a finger pistol her way. "Yogurt's a superfood. Like some kinda creamy protein shake with a weird taste."

Sugar didn't care for Lightning's logic and shrugged. "Well, I just like to eat, I guess."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Well at least you have that in common." She walked off, leaving the two ex-villains to glare at each other.

"Just 'cause I saved us from goin' out first don't mean you get to out-eat me," Sugar mumbled.

"Sha-ha! Lightning could out-eat you in a lot of things. Like steak. Ever blended up a whole t-bone and chugged that stuff straight? Because the Lightning has. Top that!"

Sugar smirked. "Easy. I can eat a whole two dozens eggs in a minute or less. Shells and all. How's that for protein?"

"Not bad, not bad. But Lightning can eat a whole… a whole..." He stopped to tap his chin. "A whooooole cow! Yeah, a whole cow! Raw! In the field! Sha-moo!"

Sugar just gave Lightning a weird look.

Confessional

"If I didn't know any better," she said, stroking an invisible beard. "I'd think ol' Lightnin's trying to impress me. And he ain't doing a good job of it. I mean, a whole cow? I ain't all smart with technology or readin' fancy stuff, but I'm farm-smart. Ain't nobody gonna down a whole cow, hooves and all. It just ain't possible. You wanna know what's possible though? The Skunkman! Big stinky monster up in Alberta! I've seen him too, with my own couple a' eyes! It was either that... or a homeless guy in a bear suit. Either way, I know what I saw!"

(static)

"Sha-Sugar's sha-nuts," Lightning snorted. "But even if we ain't getting along all day every day, Lightning respects a girl who can chug protein like a pro. A real pro-tein if you know what I mean. Hehe, pro-tein. Sha-dum-tish! Someone needs to write this stuff down. If Lightning ever gets injured out of football season, sign him up for stand-up!"

End Confessional

"So?" Cody asked, sitting next to a gloomier than usual Gwen. "How do you feel after a night of sleep? Better?"

She gave her friend an unblinking look. "I didn't sleep."

"Oh. Sorry."

"I... should've just voted for Scott. Sky would still be here, she wouldn't be melting down across the ocean, and I'd feel soooo much better about myself and not like karma's gonna send a laser guided missile at me. But I just… got emotional when she went back on her word to vote you off. It just didn't sit right. I thought cutting her loose was the smart play, but… I don't think it was."

Cody slumped forward and put his elbows on the table. "At least we're still here together. That's good, right? I got your back, Gwen. To the end. And not in a jealous obsessed way... heh."

Gwen smiled for a brief second. "And I really appreciate that. I just… want to let the dust settle today, okay? Maybe we can move on and it won't be that ugly."

Heather sat alone as usual, watching Gwen and Cody talk.

Confessional

"So Sky going home was amazing," Heather said, filing her nails. "Now I'm the toughest girl on the team, Gwen and Cody have at least some trust with me, and I made top ten. Sure, I needed some stupid immunity to get here, but that's the game and they've got to live with it. Now I just need to make sure Gwen and Cody don't defect from our little truce if we lose another challenge. Shawn and Scott both hate my guts, so if I can get one of them out next, I'll be moving up the stairway to millionaire heaven as a two time winner."

(static)

"Trusting Heather was a huge mistake," Gwen said, rolling her eyes. "As usual. I thought I was making a smart choice. I really, really did. Sky was acting sketchy and didn't care about what I wanted to do, and then she tried to get Cody out for something she made him do. I was just so turned off by it and if I had another night to sleep on it, I probably wouldn't have pulled the trigger. Now Sky probably hates me, the team probably thinks I'm the 'New Heather" again, and I'm probably never sleeping again this season. Juuuust great."

(static)

"Dude," Cody groaned. "I thought taking Sky out would be super dope, but it turns out it just made things awkward. I wanted Gwen and me to get closer out here and Sky was totally getting in the way, but if Gwen's not happy, then I'm not happy." He sighed and face planted into a book. "This is a mess."

End Confessional

Scott flushed the toilet and just left the bathhouse when a tan hand shot out from behind the corner and dragged him back with a yelp.

"What's the big idea?!" he hissed at Courtney.

She quickly covered his mouth. "Quiet. We can't be seen strategizing together. I just want to know what the heck happened to get Sky voted out considering we planned to work with her at the merge. She didn't just bomb the challenge, right?"

Scott pushed Courtney's hand off his face. "Hey, I didn't have a say. I wanted that scrawny pipsqueak out and so did she, but Gwen went all backstabby on her with Heather and Cody. If I wasn't blindsided by it, I'd totally respect the move though. Never knew Gwen was so hardcore."

Courtney blinked. "What? You mean… old school stuck together? You're joking."

He shrugged. "I don't know. Shawn tried to vote me out so clearly our little new school pack has some lone wolves in the mix. And Gwen seems super down about the whole thing so she probably regrets it. Sounds like it's not cut and dry if you ask me." He broke free and peeked around the corner. "Now if you'll excuse me, we have a challenge to attend and I don't wanna be late."

"Fine, but just keep in mind that old school's gotta go now before we get totally outnumbered. If Heather, Gwen, and Cody are actually a long term thing, there's a chance Duncan and Beth get pulled in too. Those five would be unstoppable at the merge and come after us big time unless we break them up ASAP. You get it?"

"Yeah, I get it," Scott mumbled. "We don't need to keep having these meetings though. Eventually someone's going to spot us hanging out and bust our little alliance before it can actually do some damage. Just work on laying low and making people comfortable."

Courtney admitted defeat and nodded. "You're right. But... we're still going to need some targets gone soon. Feed them to Jasmine while we're at it. Let her eat them alive in the Underworld."

Confessional

"Courtney knows how to make a plan," Scott said. "But the thing is, I don't feel safe at all with new school or old school. I still got a vote from Shawn, and I have a gut feeling Gwen and Cody could have easily swung to give me the boot. If Courtney wants to team up with new school, she's still outnumbered. And besides, wasn't the goal to build bonds with that side because everyone else from her seasons hated her? Because I feel like she's not doing enough work on that and it's gonna bite her in the butt, which means my butt gets bitten too. We're basically sharing a butt right now."

(static)

Courtney opened a book to do a little studying up on potential challenges. "Scott has a point. If he and I got spotted, we'd be exposed if the peeper was savvy enough to catch on. And this is a season of the best. We're all game savvy in some way. Except like… Lightning and Sugar, I guess? But they're dumb enough to believe random conspiracy theories about aliens snatching our bodies mid-season and taking us to some clone factory, so they'd believe anyone who says Scott and I are still a thing. You think I'm joking? You clearly didn't hear Sugar ranting about gun stealing drones in her sleep among other things."

End Confessional

Just as Courtney set foot around the corner, she bumped into Duncan.

"Whoa! Sorry, Court," he said. "My bad."

"Watch it," she huffed. "You almost knocked me over! I mean… yeah, my bad too." Don't be a bitch, she thought. Just don't be a bitch. You need him on your side.

Duncan rolled his eyes at that "save" she pulled. "Hey, I actually wanted to talk real quick. Got a sec?"

Courtney looked around to make sure they weren't being spied on. "What's up? Good news or bad news?"

"Just an offer, and I'll make it quick. I've been thinking, and… I think we should cut Sugar and Beth next. They're always hanging out and they'll be the final two before we know it. I know it's kinda out of the blue, but I know you want a spot in the game and this is one on a silver platter. I've talked to Lightning and he's down for it too. Us three could run this team."

The CIT narrowed her eyes. "I'm intrigued, but I want to know I can trust what I'm hearing. I don't want to get screwed again."

"Uh, okay, well I can't prove I'm telling the truth until we vote one of them out, so you'll have to trust me on this one. You saved my life, Courtney. I said I'd be honest with you from now on. So yeah, take it or leave it. It's the best I can do until another ceremony."

"Well... okay then, I trust you." She offered a hesitant handshake. "But if three or more coins with my face on them land in that urn, you're gonna get it from me. Understand?"

Duncan smirked. "Pfft, like I haven't gotten it from you before. Good times though."

Confessional

"Talk about silver platters," Courtney sighed with pride. "If Duncan's legit with his promise, I might have just bought myself a spot in the final three. And what's funny is I wanted to make this same alliance yesterday and never got the chance. So him coming to me instead is perfect. Granted, I still want Duncan out sooner rather than later, especially if he's all buddy-buddy with Gwen on the side. But until I have to send him home, he's worth holding onto for now."

(static)

"Man, I hope Court's not just playing me," Duncan groaned. "She sounded pretty suspicious about our little deal, not that I'd blame her. Chick was on the outs and almost went home. She has a right to feel weird about random deals falling into her lap like that. But I swear, if she gets paranoid and tells the freaky farmers about this, I'm F'd in the B, man. That'd suck so hard."

End Confessional

Another day, another duel in the temple as they always say. The combatants this time? A pumped up Jasmine and a downtrodden looking Sky, standing in front of a muddy maze of ropes and rocks. At the far end stood a wooden platform a few inches off the ground. And on that platform was a pedestal topped with a glass of mysterious blue liquid.

"Welcome, ladies," Chris said, "to duel number five, Pahkitew Island edition. Anything you want to say to each other before we get started? Or… you know… anything to the people who voted your butts off?"

Gwen cringed and shot Sky an apologetic look, but the athlete rolled her eyes and stubbornly looked down. Jasmine on the other hand locked eyes with Gwen and glared at her like a hungry croc from under the brim of her hat.

"Yeah," she said. "I'd like to let a certain goth know how utterly hurt my friend is from last night's backstabbery."

Now it was Gwen's turn to look down. Making eye contact with an Amazonian Aussie who'd slayed everyone she set out to destroy wasn't exactly on her to-do list, especially when they'd never spoken before.

"Don't let her get to you," Cody whispered. "She's not even in the game anymore. She can't do anything."

"For now," Gwen sighed.

Behind the whisperers, Shawn bounced in his seat, ready to make his move at the appropriate time.

"Really?" Chris yawned. "Boooring. You're telling me we had a full on meltdown of a blindside, and all we get in the aftermath is some awkward silence? Where's the drama?"

"There won't be any," Sky grumbled, clenching her fists. "I'm sick of drama. Just… get on with the challenge so Jasmine can add my spine to her collection."

Jasmine snorted out a little chuckle. "A little dark there, no?"

Sky didn't bother to respond. Awkward.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Fine, if you want to rob this moment of all the juicy ratings-drawing glory it could have had, be my guest. Anyways, Jasmine and Sky, for today's Underworld challenge, you'll be-"

"WAIT A MINUTE!"

Everyone looked at Shawn, now standing high and mighty in the amphitheater. The zombie freak whipped out a small package and revealed it: the Pendant of Zeus! Every mouth in the area dropped and a flood of gasps surged through the morning air.

"Behold! The mighty Pendant of Zeus! And I'm playing it, Chris! For Jasmine!" He yeeted that shiny pendant towards the host, who snatched it out of the air and shot a finger pistol at Shawn.

"Nice move,dude! Well played!"

Jasmine covered her mouth and blushed. "Shawn?! You pulled through! I mean, I don't know what it does, but… thank you!"

Sky didn't even budge. She was ready to accept her fate.

Chris stood between the two girls. "What it does shall no longer remain a mystery." He placed the pendant around Jasmine's neck, forcing her to lean down so he could actually reach. "As the wearer of the Pendant, Jasmine is hereby out of the Underworld and back in the game, no duel required!"

Another flood of gasps, louder than the first, echoed.

Jasmine nearly fell over from the hype. "What?! You serious?"

"What?!" growled Duncan. "How is that fair? Her boyfriend finds a magic necklace and she's back in just like that? That's OP as hell!"

"You can say that again," Heather said, glaring at Chris. "This is so broken! She should have to find it herself at least!"

"Suck it," Shawn taunted, doing a little jig. "Haha, Jasmine's back in the game! Because of me! And now everyone who voted her off is gonna pay! She's gonna bust some zombie skulls by my side! Because everyone who gave her the boot is uh… a zombie! Yeah! Mindless fools!"

Sky ignored all the drama in the amphitheater and sighed. "Does this mean I'm going home? Is it over? Can I leave now?"

Chris snickered. "Hehe, noooope! Just because Jasmine's poor, unfortunate soul is out of the Underworld doesn't mean the twist is over."

Jasmine narrowed an eye, feeling a little uneasy about the sudden twist on a twist thing. "Explain."

"Well, the twist is designed to last until the merge, spoiler alert, and since that's still a certain number of episodes away, we can't just drop it on the spot without totally screwing up the perfectly organized and not made up as we go schedule. So according to the rules, which Shawn found with the Pendant, someone's gotta take Jasmine's place! And the best part? It's totally random! Why? Because the gods were super duper cruel back in the day and loved breaking mortal hearts… Kinda like me."

Now the gasps were so loud, it was basically a gasp choir.

But the biggest gasp was clearly from Heather.

"WHAT?! You mean one of us is about to be hosed by RNG? You've got to be kidding!"

Scott snorted. "Please, you got saved by luck yesterday, so shut it and take it on the chin."

Heather glared back at the dirt farmer and grumbled to herself. "Stupid hick..."

"Hold on," Shawn said, desperately pulling out the paper that came with the pendant. "Where did it say that?"

"Uh, the fine print, dude?" Chris replied. "Look closely maybe."

Shawn squinted over the page and realized in his rush of Jasmine-saving hype, he'd completely missed the tiny, tiny font at the bottom that clearly said: Warning: Using this Pendant to save someone from the Underworld will require someone to take their place by random draw. Have fun :D - Chris

"Oh come on! That's barely readable in the dark!"

Chris shrugged. "They call it fine print for a reason. Anyways, who's ready to see which unlucky loser the RNG gods and goddesses have chosen to face off against Sky?"

Jasmine covered her face with her hat. "Oh god, please no. I can't go back there."

"No need to worry," Chris said. "Jasmine's the only person not in the running for elimination, so she's a hundred percent safe. For now. Anywaaays, let's break a heart." Chris pulled out a bag full of coins and shook it around. "In here are tokens representing all ten eligible victims. Jasmine, you'll be drawing one of them and revealing today's unlucky loser. Step on up!"

Jasmine returned her hat to its rightful place and gave Shawn one last anxious look before reaching for the bag. Rummaging through the coins, she hesitated to grab one, instead offering a glance across the final ten. Who did she want to pick? Sugar or even Gwen, obviously. But who else? Duncan and Beth voted her out too, but they were just defending their side. That was honorable in some regard. But apart from Shawn, the others were total middle of the road picks, and at the end of the day, as long as it wasn't Shawn and the person picked lost to Sky, she was happy. So she picked out a coin, looked at the face stamped on it, and nearly had a heart attack.

Chris gave her a few seconds to speak, but her stunned, silent glare wouldn't cease. So he just decided to sneak and peak at the coin. "Oh… Yikes. That is… very unfortunate…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Shawn, you're out!"

The rest of the cast released a collection of gasps and sighs as Shawn, who'd been hiding in his beanie, fell forward with a yelp. "Nooooooo!"

"Shawn, I-I'm sorry!" Jasmine pleaded. "I didn't mean to! It was just bad luck, I swear! I-I didn't-"

The zombie freak bolted down to Chris and tugged at his shirt, his eyes bulging with fear. "Listen, man! You gotta let her draw again! I can't go out like this! I can't! I don't wanna go to the Underworld! It's all full of the undead by design!"

Chris pushed Shawn off and dusted his clothes free of the dirt and sweaty loser grease. "Uh, no, because this is hilarious. Imagine the ratings. Shawn devotes his whole game to saving Jasmine, only to be hoisted by his own petard. It's gold, Shawn. Gold!"

Elsewhere across the world, Josee jolted awake in the middle of the night. "I sense... a disturbance. As if a massive amount of gold emerged into existence!"

"No it's not!" Jasmine whined, giving Shawn a defensive hug as if to say "He's not going with you, you sick bastard!"

"I'm fine with it," Heather said, drawing every set of angry eyes to her. "What? Come on, we're all thinking it. Would you rather have it be you?"

"It's not your fault," Shawn said to his girlfriend with a sad sniffle. "I'll fight and win my way back in, and then we can crush 'em all together like we planned. It's gonna happen. I swear on my bunker!"

"I know you can," she said, solemnly kissing him on the lips. "You can survive on the island just fine. Just win the challenges and I'll see ya soon, mate. I promise."

Sky watched the whole process go down. Her morose pouting gradually lightened until she was almost… smiling.

Confessional

"I wasn't confident at all against Jasmine," Sky explained. "I had no chance and honestly, she deserved a spot back in the game more than I did… But now that Shawn's my opponent? I feel like I have to win this. I can win this. He beat me for the million last season and utterly wasted it, so now's the time to take him out and get my head back in the game. This... could be my moment."

(static)

Shawn almost cried as he covered his face with the beanie again. "I put all my energy into saving Jasmine and this is what I get? I should have just played it safe and waited until I got voted out to use it, but Jasmine could have lost her streak any day! I followed my heart like a zombie following the scent of brains, and it screwed me!" He bashed his head against the table. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

(static)

Jasmine gripped her head in a blind panic. "Oh nooo, this is bad. I thought I wouldn't pick Shawn because the odds were only one in ten, but the universe just went and slapped us across the face! I love that I'm back in with a second chance at the money, but without Shawn in here with me, I have nobody left to trust and he's stuck competing for his life until the merge! I should have just refused to be saved and beat Sky while she was off her game. I should have! I feel it in my bones. But… that's not what happened, and we gotta roll with it. We're down, but not out. But…" She slumped forward, covering her eyes with the brim of her hat. "I guess this is karma for how cocky I got out there, thinking it was a done deal, starvin' Owen, sabotaging Alejandro…"

End Confessional

Chris shooed Jasmine back to the amphitheater, leaving a serious looking Sky and a terrified, in shambles Shawn standing at his side. "Shawn vs Sky, the rematch of all rematches, is on." He gestured to the muddy obstacle course behind them. "For your Odyssey inspired challenge, you'll be reliving the nightmarish experience of Odysseus on the island of Aeaea where he and his men met the witch Circe, who turned them in pigs. The only way to save his crew was for Odysseus to live with her for a whole year and do the nasty with the witch. Once she was satisfied, she returned the crew to human form and the journey continued. Today, you'll be turned into pigs and run this muddy field to reach the blue healing potion at the end. And to help us achieve the transformation aspect of the challenge, we've invited a special guest. Oh wiiiiitch, time to make your debut!"

All eyes shot to the corridor in the middle of the amphitheater. A gnarly looking shadow appeared in the hall, but when the figure entered the light, the reveal was just eye-brow raising.

"Huzzah!" Leonard cried out, throwing his hands to the sky. His appearance was barely changed. Instead of a robe, he wore a puke green toga. His fake beard was swapped out for a fake wig of dark brown curly hair. Instead of a little wand, he carried a sizable magic staff.

Sugar's sneered as Kill Bill sirens went off in her head. "Wizard."

The LARPer glanced up at his ex and waved. "Oh, hey, Sugar. Long time no see."

She remained silent, refusing to even look at the pathetic little wimp.

"Yep," Chris said. "Leonard is back, playing the role of Circe the witch in today's challenge. Not exactly the most ratings-drawing player, but hey, we liked him enough to give him a cameo this season."

"You shouldn't reward cheaters," Beth said. "He broke Sugar's heart!"

Cody nearly fell out of his seat. "What?! Sugar dated Leonard! That's… actually making a lot of sense right now. Nevermind."

"Yeah," Sugar growled. "Then he treated me like dirt and dated some dumb dumb Vikin' gal behind my back. And he ain't even a real wizard! He's a liar and a cheat!"

"Rich coming from you," Jasmine mumbled to herself.

Leonard blinked, then waved his staff around in her direction. "Amnesious Forgetticus!"

"Oh don't even try that," she huffed. "I ain't fallin' for yer tricks a forty... Uh, third time."

Chris rolled his eyes. "I'd love to hone in on this drama, but it's a half hour show and we've already wasted enough time on Shawn's epic downfall that's bound to unleash the rage of a million fans on social media because of how unfair yet poetic it was. So Sugar, shut up or you're swapping places with Shawn. Leonard, stop taunting Sugar and turn these two former Maskwaks into pigs, would you?"

Leonard shot Sugar one last mean look before swirling his staff overhead. "Porcinicus Transformicussssss!"

With a bright flash of post-production effects, Sky and Shawn were switched into goofy pig onesies with big googly eyes on the hoods.

"This is embarrassing," Sky said, tapping her foot. "But I'm still gonna win."

"Come on, man," Shawn groaned. "You're really gonna make me into bacon right now? Now I'm doubly delicious to walkers!"

"Don't care. For the challenge, Circe will be lobbing spells at you from her platform in the form of some of those doom balloons from the challenge you both competed in last season. The costumes are going to make it a little harder to dodge because they're not exactly the most athletic gear, so should you get hit, a random status effect will occur, as you're both very familiar with. Sky more so than Shawn since he never got hit last season, but whatever. The first person to reach the end of the course and grab the blue healing potion stays alive while the loser gets a one way ticket to the Playa. Now take your positions!"

"You got this, Shawn!" Jasmine desperately shouted. "Just focus on the potion and dodging the balloons! It's easy!"

Shawn gave her a shaky thumbs up. "Right on, babe!"

"Wow, nice to have some support from the peanut gallery," Sky grumbled, casting a nasty glance at Gwen. The goth looked down and sighed.

"Man, this takes me back though," Shawn told her. "You and me, competing in the finale, dodging all shorts of crazy stuff… Good times, huh? So uh, any way you'd throw this one to me so I can get back in with Jasmine? I'd owe you big time."

Sky glared sternly at her opponent. "No."

Shawn's slight smile faded. "Oh. Okay. Um. Good luck, I guess."

Chris blew his air horn. "And go! Run, piggies! Run!"

Sky didn't even bother giving Shawn the time of day. Not even a glance. She simply bolted into the muddy battlefield and ducked behind the closest boulder as Shawn charged into the oncoming barrage.

"That's right, take the hits for me," she whispered.

Leonard reached behind the potion's pedestal and whipped out a pair of doom balloons. Conveniently, each one was labeled with its contents to give him a little inspiration for his spells. First up?

"Wibbly Bee! Wobbly Wasp! Sting the piggy! Make him flop!" And with that non-rhyme, he yeeted both balloons at the charging Shawn.

With a duck and a jump, Shawn avoided both projectiles. Unfortunately dodging these particular shots wasn't enough to get away unharmed. Both balloons popped and unleashed two swarms of similar insects on the zombie nut.

Swinging and swatting like a madman, Shawn bolted back and forth, rolling in the mud as he went to cover himself in a protective layer of ick. "Ahhhhh! Bees! Wasps! Bees! Wasps!"

Sky rolled her eyes and leaped over the rock, making her first approach. Leonard spotted her and grabbed another balloon.

"From the forges of Hephaestus!" he shrieked. "Taramicus MakeSkyStickius!"

Sky stopped and prepared to catch the balloon given Leonard's weak-ass throws, but it was a big mistake. Upon touching the balloon, it exploded, covering her in a sticky tar that stuck her fingers together and locked her left arm to her side.

"Crap!" She retreated to the nearest rocky cover as Shawn rocketed passed her, still being chased by bees and wasps as his skin festered with plump red mounds.

"Here I come, potion!" he cried out. "And JASMINE!"

"Halt, you fool!" Leonard chanted, launching another balloon. "Curse of Itching, sail away! Keep the bacon-y boy at bay!"

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "More itching? No thanks!" He jumped over the balloon as it hit the ground again, but the impact sent a cloud of power soaring up around him as he screamed. When the dust cleared, he was on the ground scratching and picking at his face as the bees and wasps invaded his loose onesie and unleashed their full fury.

Leonard was about to fire on Shawn one last time, but then he caught a glimpse of Sky sneaking around the side, going for a left flank on Circe's platform. "Wobbly Woo, Wobbly Wee! Begone with thee!"

Sky got smacked in the face and stumbled into a web of tangled ropes as the balloon exploded. From it came a nuclear bomb level blast of confetti that clung to her tarred onesie, leaving her a hanging disco pig in the winding ropes.

"No!" she cried. "No! No! No!"

"Shawn, go for it! She's down!" Jasmine cried out.

Her boyfriend, miserable and cowering on the ground, was done. He couldn't even muster to move a finger through the sheer pain of the stings. That is, until he heard Jasmine's pleas. As the swarm kept up their attack, he swatted them away and braced himself against the ground with a clenched fist, heaving himself back to his feet. He could barely see through his swollen eyelids, but he could barely make out the bright blue potion a few meters down the course. Trudging ahead, he pressed onward through balloon after balloon.

Jasmine gasped. "That's it! Get it! Get it!"

Sky finally broke free of the ropes, nearly tearing her suit off in the process. But she was free. Barely mobile and blinded by confetti and tar, but free. Like Shawn, the blue glimmer in the distance was her only guide.

Leonard saw two more balloons left in the bin and raised them high. "Behold! Your last trial! Face the ultimate power of I, Circe the witch of Aeaea! Finalithicus... Attackimus!"

Just as the pair reached the platform, Leonard lobbed the balloons at point blank range. One at Sky. One at Shawn. Both exploded in their faces, releasing two massive smoke clouds that blew Leonard's wig clean off and covered the platform in a thick haze.

Chris and the rest of the cast leaned in close to see who would reach the potion first. Jasmine of course looked the hardest, hoping to relive that powerful moment of watching Shawn's frigid hand emerge from snow carrying a flower in the finale. Only this time, she wanted to see that potion held high.

The dust started to settle and the potion was in fact held high. Little by little, the smoke sunk, revealing a figure holding it overhead. The winner, towering over the collapsed loser and a dizzy Leonard…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

was Sky.

"And that's a wrap!" Chris announced. "Sky advances and Shawn is out!"

"No!" Jasmine gasped, slamming her hands over her mouth.

"Payback," Sky huffed under her faint breath. "One down, a lot more to go."

Her victory celebration, if it could even be called that, was short lived. Jasmine bolted past her, knocking her over with a burst of wind, and scooped Shawn's body off the ground, holding him limp in her arms just as she did after his epic finale victory. Only this time, it was far less satisfactory.

"D-did I lose?" Shawn asked.

Jasmine sighed. "Yeah. I'm pissed as hell about it, but I'm just glad you're okay. You took quite a beating out there."

Shawn went even more limp as he dozed off from the pain. "I sacrificed myself for you, Jaz. You gotta win this thing... for us. Beat them all, get the cash, and make me proud. I already won my million. It's your second chance now… Your turn..."

Shawn finally passed out as Jasmine hit the platform knees first. With a solemn sigh, she looked back at the cast watching her display of love with a variety of expressions. She only had one thought. How the hell was she going to beat all these people now?

"Nice epic sendoff there, lovebirds," Chris said. "But Jasmine, as our resident Underworld champion, you know this better than anyone. Time to send your man home." He pulled out his remote and nearly pushed the button, but Jasmine stopped him with tears in her eyes. "Wait! I… I wanna press it. He's my boyfriend. I'll do it."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Uh, he's not dead. He just passed out from the stings. Not exactly Old Yeller up in here, dude. Or like... whatever sad dog story they have in Australia. Besides, I paid out of pocket for these explosions. I'm gonna enjoy 'em myself."

With a button push, Shawn's giant bust was obliterated and the cast was pelted with shattered remains. Jasmine couldn't bear to look. Just ten minutes ago, they were both safe in the game and destined to dominate. And now Shawn was out. Just like that. No vote. Just a twist, a challenge... and a tragedy.

"Sky," Chris said. "I know you're not exactly mobile right now, but it's another night in the Underworld for you. Chef'll take you to the boat if you're not up to the task."

Sky tried to stand up, but between the exhaustion, the tar, and the caked confetti, she wasn't going anywhere. "Yes please."

On cue, Chef arrived, threw Shawn and Sky over his shoulders, and headed down the mountain towards the beach. It was over. A new game had begun.

Confessional

"To lose Shawn like this is heartbreaking," Jasmine sighed. "But... I'm still in the game and I have a second chance at redemption, so he didn't go out in vain. Now I just have to win the challenges, keep winning the challenges, make some allies, make the merge, make the final two, and swipe the cash for both of us. It's a tall order, but I'm tall too so it kinda evens out." She almost smirked, but couldn't bring herself to feel totally optimistic.

(static)

"Well that's a relief," Heather said, filing her nails. "Now that zombie boy is out, that's one less enemy coming after me. Plus Jasmine's easy to scoop up as a last minute ally since she's clearly out of the loop and an easy target right now, so yeah, the last couple days, I've been eating good in this game."

(static)

Cody hanged his head between his hands and cast a dejected look to the camera. "Shawn leaving like that is awful. Nobody deserves to be eliminated by random draw. Not even Heather. I'll miss talking about geeky stuff with him, but hey, I guess a guy can't be mad about making it one place further without even doing anything, right?"

End Confessional

Jasmine brushed the mud off her arms and sighed, resigning herself to the struggles ahead. "So what team am I on? Do I go back to the Pantheons for old times sake?"

"Funny you should ask that," Chris said. "Because there's one more part of this twist I didn't reveal in the fine print."

"Go figure," Beth groaned. "I hope it's not another random elimination."

"Nope. From here on out, all eliminations will be done by votes or by challenges. No more RNG Gods meddling with the game. But since Jasmine is without a team, I think it's a perfect time to mix things up. These teams… are no more!"

"We're merging!" Courtney cheered. "Yes!"

"Five merges in a row?" Duncan snorted. "Not a bad score if I do say so myself."

"Finally. Now I can leave this wasteland of a team," Heather mumbled, drawing annoyed looks from Gwen, Cody, and Scott.

"Hold on," Chris said. "Did I say you were merging? Well sit your butts down because you aren't. Not yet anyways. While it's true these teams are no more, the ones you're about to create are about to become reality."

"Oh, a switch?" Beth asked, glancing over to Duncan and Lightning who looked a little nervous. "I'll take it!"

"Yeah, still not bad," Heather mumbled quieter than before.

"Yep, it's switcheroo time!" Chris said, holding out another bag of tokens. "Only this time, it's not a simple this-for-that switch with one or two people jumping ship. It's the whole cast getting rearranged at random. Two new teams of five will be formed, keeping the old team names intact because we honestly thought they were epic. If you draw a red coin, you're a new Zombie Slayer despite the namesake being on route to the Playa as we speak. Draw a blue coin, and you join the new Team Pantheon. Jasmine, since you're right next to me and just got back in, you have the honor of drawing first."

Jasmine stuck her hand in the bag. "Yeah, not a fan of drawing coins outta bags today." She pulled out a coin and nodded. "Back on blue. Nice."

Chris motioned for the rest to come down and draw coins. One by one, coin by coin, the new teams formed. Lightning drew blue and joined Jasmine, as did Beth. Scott and Gwen drew red. Sugar drew blue and jumped for joy as she joined her friend… only to wince upon realizing Lightning and Jasmine were right behind her looking unimpressed. Cody and Courtney drew red, joining Gwen and Scott. Courtney, paranoid as always, hated the thought of Gwen being on her team this early, but wouldn't show it on her face. Last up were Duncan and Heather, the last two winners left in the game. Duncan drew red. Heather drew blue. Done.

"Let's see what we've got here," Chris said. "On the new Team Pantheon, we've got Jasmine, Beth, Sugar, Lightning, and Heather as the lone ex-Slayer on the team. Interesting breakdown."

Sugar and Beth high-fived. Jasmine nodded along, keeping an eye on the high-fiving ladies. Lightning looked confident, but wasn't sure about having four girls on his team. Not that he wasn't a total ladies man in his head, but because he needed his dude time, yo. And lastly, Heather looked as if she was about to pop an artery with rage.

Confessional

"Are you kidding me?" Heather groaned. "Of all the team combos, I get the one with four people from the other team and none of my allies?! Seriously? That's..." She paused. What if… Yeah… Maybe… "It's not that bad? I mean, clearly Beth and I aren't going to get along, but Sugar's a gross wannabe version of me, Lightning and I were on a team together in All-Stars, and Jasmine's probably desperate for someone to carry her weakened husk to the merge since she's the obvious big threat. So… Yeah, maybe I could have done worse. And honestly, I would have hated any team I was on unless Gwen and Cody were there. And even then it's still mildly lame."

End Confessional

"And on the new Zombie Slayers," Chris said, pointing at each player as he went along. "We've got Duncan and Courtney from the OG Pantheons, plus Gwen, Scott, and Cody still hanging tight on team red. Interestingly enough, four of you guys had quite the dramatic upheaval in World Tour. Wonder if that might come into play, huh?"

"It won't," Gwen said curtly.

"Definitely not, McLean," Duncan snorted.

Cody sighed.

Scott blinked. "What?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "It's been four seasons. Let it go already."

Confessional

"Honestly, this team isn't half bad," Courtney said with a smirk. "I have Scott and Duncan on my side, so that's two people who shouldn't put my coin in the urn. Cody's just there as fodder, but Gwen? She's going to be the one possible problem. Clearly she's been plotting behind my back this season even if she's denied it, and if she's really working with Duncan like I suspect, then I could have my work cut out for me. But hey, I've been through worse teams and survived."

(static)

"So. This is awkward," Gwen said. "Courtney and I haven't really talked this season… at all. And she's been steering clear of me from the start outside of accusing me and Duncan of plotting together, so… I think she's got it out for me? I hope not, because I want this season to be a fresh game and making things right with her for real wouldn't be a bad goal to have. But you know her, always plotting behind my back with her stupid charts and stuff. If she's not willing to own her game and start fresh, it's on her. But I will give her a chance. I'd... honestly be a hypocrite if I didn't after last night."

End Confessional

Chris led the top ten in their new formations down to the typical challenge beach where a giant spinning wheel went "brrrrrr" as all good wheels do, spun by Chef in an ancient Greek fisherman's outfit consisting of a light blue toga, a trident in one hand, and a large throw net cast over his shoulder with the other. Near the wheel were two long, five person tables with five chairs behind each, as well as a collection of mysterious plastic tubs in a standing pantry with its doors open. Also near the wheel was an ominously lurking, clearly used blender and a table with two milkshake glasses.

"Welcome one and all to your next team challenge," Chris said, reaching for a cup of yogurt hidden behind the pantry. "Hopefully you all enjoyed the free samples of Greek yogurt we served you this morning, because that was a poetic tease for this doozy of a challenge we cooked up during a late night brainstorming session. I call it… Greek Yog-Hurt. Get it? Because there's yogurt! And it's Greek! And you'll all be hurting! Big time!"

"An eating challenge!" Sugar whooped, pointing viciously at the new Slayers as Lightning smugly nodded along. "That's what I'm talkin' about! Y'all gonna get Sugared good!"

Cody just went limp at the thought of more yogurt. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Come on. It's like you forget I'm just as picky of an eater as Sugar. And that's not picky at all. Just let me beast mode this one like a pro."

Chris snickered. "Weeeeell I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you, because we got some rules to explain. Today is in fact the dreaded eating challenge, and here's how it works. Each round, one member of each team will step up to the wheel. Chef will give it a nice spin, and whatever it lands on is the flavor of Greek yogurt you losers have to eat. The first to finish their glass wins a point, and the first to six points wins the challenge and immunity. Should both teams tie at five points each, a tie breaker round will decide the winners. But keep in mind, every player has to eat before anyone comes back for seconds, so you can't just spam your big eaters every round to sweep. So to keep it simple, with 10 rounds, everyone will go twice, and only in the tiebreaker can someone eat a third time. Any questions, or is it lunch time?"

Courtney cleared her voice and raised a hand, looking annoyed. "Yes, Chris. Might we know what flavors we'll be forced to consume today?"

Chef cackled. "Oh, I can answer that. The Greeks were big on fishin' with the whole island thing, so y'all gonna eat a nice blend of seafood flavors. With chunks. And just to make sure the taste is strong, I left my catch sittin' in the hot sun for a few hours. Really brings out the flavor."

Cody retched and shook his head. "No! No no no! I can't do this! I hate plain yogurt enough. This is torture!"

"Agreed," Beth said with a shiver. "We're gonna be totally poisoned."

Sugar gave her buddy a back pat. "Don't ya worry about that, farmie. I eat roadkill stew all the time and I ain't keeled over dead yet."

Lightning let out a solitary and obnoxious "Ha!" and said, "Yeah, and that's why we're gonna win! We got three big eaters on this new team. No way we lose."

Jasmine tugged at her collar. "I mean, I guess so. Can't say I've ever eaten something like this before though."

"Oh please," Heather mumbled. "You probably drink your own piss to survive in the Outback. You'll be fine. Now let's just beast this and get a win." Under her breath she whispered, "God knows I need one already."

Jasmine was about to get angry, but just winced. "Well... you're not wrong there."

Lightning's smirk dropped as a horrid image filled his mind. "Sha-what are you drinkin', tall girl?"

Over on the new Slayers, Scott gave Cody a surprisingly kind pat the back. "Don't worry about it, kid. Even if you flop, I'll get us some points."

"Same," Duncan said. "I've eaten prison food worse than this, Gwen chugged toilet punch, and Courtney gorged on gross Chinese food back in World Tour for Al, so she's not half bad herself. Besides, it's not like Chris is serving us bird vomit coal sundaes."

Courtney elbowed Duncan in the side. "I swear, if I hear about that episode one more time..."

"And I'll stomach it," Gwen wrapped up. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just get the W and not fall apart ten minutes into a new phase, okay?"

Courtney begrudgingly nodded along with Duncan.

Confessional

"So we're the underdogs here with Sugar, Lightning, and Jasmine to contend with," Duncan said. "Eh, whatever. If we lose, I still have Courtney and Gwen on board with me as long as those two chickens don't get into a big, prissy, cock fight and gun for each other like idiots. Then we can simply boot Cody or Scott, simply win the rest of the challenges, and simply keep this train rolling to the merge." He gave the camera a confident smirk. "Simple as that."

End Confessional

"First up!" Chris called out. "Select your eaters. By random coin flip, Team Pantheon will pick first."

Sugar stepped forward for Team Pantheon. "Start us off strong. I'm up!"

"Sha-cool," Lightning said.

The other agreed with thumbs up.

The Slayers all looked to Scott, who looked to Cody, who looked to his feet.

"Hey," the dirt farmer said. "I'm just saying our best move is to put Cody up and let him take the L against their best player since none of us can crush her."

"And that's what cost us the last challenge and sent Sky home," Cody argued. "Come on, just let me take on Beth. I doubt I could steamroll her, but at least there's a slim chance I'd win the point. Against Sugar I wouldn't even have a chance."

Scott noticed the others still looking at him with questionable gazes, so he threw his hands up. "Ugh, fine. I'll do it."

Sugar and Scott gathered around the wheel and Chef gave it a spin. Each of the eleven sections was home to a numbered card containing a flavor, and the players could only imagine what some of them could be. Imagining alone was bad enough. But the vague odor of fish made those images more potent.

The wheel finally stopped and Chris read the card. "Oh wow, nice. You guys are eating octopus flavor. Mmmm, inky!"

Chef opened a tub of octopus yogurt, marked with a number corresponding to the number on the card. With a ladle, he dropped some clumpy chunks of blackish goop into both glasses until both were filled to the brim. "Enjoy," he snickered, handing them to Sugar and Scott who seemed unfazed by the grossness.

The two rednecks clinked their glasses together and Chris blew a whistle, signaling for them to start.

It was over in seconds. Sugar and Scott both chugged like hell, but between the two, the winner was clear. While Scott was taking a little time to chew the octopus, Sugar basically sucked the yogurt down like a vacuum cleaner, even taking a couple seconds to stick her long, thick tongue into the glass to lick it clean.

Scott set his glass down and showed an empty mouth. "Doooo-oh crap..."

Sugar gave him a little wink. "Done."

"And Sugar scores!" Chris said. "That's 1-0, Pantheon. Slayers, select your next pick."

Scott returned to his team looking dejected. "Well, I tried. That girl isn't human. She's a freakin' animal. Did you see how long that tongue was!?"

"Meh, not surprised," Duncan said. "Anyways, I'm up. Might as well get it out of the way early."

The Pantheons saw Duncan step up and huddled, deciding upon their tribute rather easily. The pick slid up to the wheel with style.

"Sha-Lightning!"

"Alright, round two is Duncan vs Lightning," Chris said. "Chef, give her a spin."

Once the wheel stopped, Chris read the card as usual. "Hmm, interesting combo, guys. Ever wondered how Greek yogurt and fish guts taste together?"

Duncan shivered. "Uh, no."

"Protein!" Lightning cheered. "Bring it on, Chris. Gimme that protein. The Lightning sha-mands it!"

Chef cleaned out the used glasses and filled them with the next concoction of misery. It looked like strawberry at first glance with streaks of pink and red blended through the mix, but the smell? Oh the smell was anything but fruity.

Lightning cracked his neck and raised his glass. Duncan sighed and readied himself for a loss. Dude knew his opponent, his ally, his fellow Backscratcher or whatever name Lightning forced in there, was going to win this.

Confessional

"Honestly?" Duncan asked himself. "Should I even try this round? If I chug that crap, I'll just upset my stomach and waste my gross yogurt virginity on a point that isn't going to be mine anyways. If it was someone weaker, I'd be like, yeah, whatever, I'll do it. But against Mr. Protein himself? Fat chance."

End Confessional

Chris blew his whistle and Duncan put the glass to his lips, not drinking, but waiting to see how Lightning would handle the yogurt first. If he struggled and his cockiness was all for show, then Duncan could swoop in for the kill. If he nailed it, well, he made a smart move.

And nailed it Lightning did. In just a few seconds, the glass was empty and a putrid mustache was left on his upper lip. "Sha-done!"

Duncan smirked. Bingo. "Nice job, man." He handed Chef the full glass and the co-host glared at it suspiciously. And so did the rest of the Slayers.

"What the hell was that?" Scott asked the delinquent. "Did you even try?"

"I knew I wasn't beating him," Duncan explained with a weak shrug. "Why get nauseous early for no reason?"

Gwen gave her ex a thumbs up. "Not a bad strat."

Courtney bit her lower lip. "Well, I hope it pays off."

Cody on the other hand went even more limp than ever.

Confessional

"Really?" Cody asked. "Duncan didn't even try to win and Gwen's praising him? I'm trying not to be some whiny, jealous simp over here, but… Sometimes it's hard when your favorite person is just so naturally drawn to a person you low-key hate."

End Confessional

For round three, the Pantheons offered Jasmine as their representative while Courtney stepped up for the Zombie Slayers. After a spin of the wheel, Chris read the card. "Oh, another good one. Hope you girls like the taste of sea water, because this one's a brine flavor."

Jasmine recoiled. "B-but… You're not supposed to drink sea water..."

"Yeah," Courtney groaned, sounding offended. "Have you never heard the saying 'Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink' from Rime of the Ancient Mariner before? We'll get sick!"

"Relax," Chef said. "It's only a little bit of sea water. The flavor goes a long ways though." He ended with another evil cackle. "We're so mean. I loooove it."

Both girls stared into their glasses, filled to the brim with not a chunky mix, but a super runny one. The crashing echoes of salty waves nearby did nothing to help them out.

"Win it, Jasmine!" Sugar barked. "Just do it for Shawn and suck it up! Or... Down! Suck it down!"

"Coming from you, it ain't much support," Jasmine hissed under her breath. "Well, bottoms up."

"Y-yeah," Courtney mumbled. "B-bottoms up."

The whistle blew and both girls chugged. It was even race to the bitter end, but one empty mouth opened slightly before the other.

"And Jasmine… loses the first point for Pantheon. It's 2-1 now. Evening up, but still not quite a tie."

The Slayers cheered for their first victor. Even Gwen was feeling super supportive. Too bad Courtney was too busy barfing off to the side with Jasmine to see it.

Confessional

"Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine," the Aussie sighed. "You betray the number one oceanic survival rule and you can't even get the point. I just hope my team doesn't hold that against me. I did my best, but.. every fiber of my being told me it was wrong. Not that Sugar cheering like a crazed kookaburra in the background helped me get into the zone. Ugh."

End Confessional

Round four was between the Slayers nominee Gwen and Team Pantheon's challenger Heather.

"Ooh, a classic match up," Chris said. "Quite a bit of history between you two, huh?"

"You can say that again," Heather said.

"Agreed," Gwen added.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Sure, don't play up the epic rivalry the viewers want. It's like you're both ratings-phobic right now. Jeez. Anywaaaays, your flavor is..." He waited for the wheel to stop and grabbed the card. "McLean's choice! Dope! Serves you right."

Heather's eyes went wide. "Uh, what?"

"Yeah, double what?" Gwen asked with a slight panic.

"It means I can serve you whatever I want, and given the brine made the last pair hurl, I think we'll have a little of that." Chef poured some more brine yogurt into the glasses, but Chris stopped him halfway. "But what about a little mixology action up in here? Give 'em some fish guts, Chef. And top it off with a little seaweed garnish to tie it together."

Chef finished up both glasses as the girls gradually looked more disgusted and done with living by the second. They reluctantly took the chilled glasses in hand and shared a nervous look.

Then Heather looked at the yogurt again. Fuck that.

Confessional

"So yogurt isn't my thing," Heather said. "At all. Just falling into a pit of it was the worst thing ever. Well, until Alejandro got voted out. That was bad too. But the yogurt? Yeah, super bad. So I might have to play mind games here to make sure Team Pantheon keeps the lead."

End Confessional

Just as the whistle sounded, Heather let out the most obnoxious sigh ever. "Sure is a shame karma came back to bite you for betraying Sky like that. I mean, getting stuck eating this gunk? Talk about laser-guided."

Gwen stopped mid gulp and nearly did a spit take. Heather saw her moment of weakness and chugged for her life. Gwen was too rattled to keep up the pace and fell a couple seconds behind, but two could play at that game.

"Well, you're the one who started the plan to get rid of her," Gwen said before heading back for more slimy misery.

"And you took the bait, weird goth girl."

"Oh wow, a season one insult. How original."

"And effective."

Back on Team Pantheon, Beth watched the girls nearly vomit as they squabbled. "So uh… anyone want mine if I don't finish?"

"Oh me! Me me me!" Sugar squealed.

"Sha-nope!" came Lightning, earning another mean look from the pageant queen. "I gotta get my protein allotment in for the day and two cups of that ain't nearly enough. I'll drink it."

Before Sugar could launch another retort, Chris blew the whistle. "And Gwen ties it up, 2-2!"

Heather returned to her team looking green. "Don't. Talk. To. Me."

Gwen went to vomit in the sand before returning to her team. "Well, the toilet slurping paid off."

"Good job, Gwen," Cody said. "Maybe I can beat Beth and get us the lead." His eyes slowly drifted to the wall of flavors as he spoke. "I hope."

"Just focus on the cash at the end, dude," Duncan said dismissively. "It's more than a million, remember? Just lean back, chug, and don't think about what you're eating."

Cody rolled his eyes. "Easy for you to say when you didn't even try."

"It's called strats, man. And right now, your best strat is go for the point."

Cody didn't bother answering. He just walked to the wheel where an equally nervous Beth was waiting.

"Good luck," she said. "I know we're probably both struggling with this, so… Yeah, good luck."

"T-thanks. You too. And hey, if we can handle Chef's living cafeteria food, we can handle this, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. We got this!"

Chef spun the wheel, Chris read the card, and the players wanted to die.

"Fish eyes!"

Cody almost vomited on the spot. Beth wasn't too far behind.

The yogurt itself was by far the nastiest looking. While it wasn't runny like the brine flavor, staring down into an abyss full of eye juices and shimmering orbs staring back wasn't appetizing at all. Even from the side, fish eyes pressed against the glass in an unblinking stare.

"Whoever finishes first takes the lead going into the second cycle," Chris said. "And chug!"

The whistle blew and both geeks threw it back, devoted to winning that crucial point. Yet both took it slow, not that chugging fish eyes down with the creamy yogurt was easy. The misery of stopping to chew, of letting that strange texture and horrible fluid squirt out like fishy gushers, was the worst part. And it wasn't easier for the teams watching either. Since both Beth and Cody were slow to chug and dead even, it was impossible to tell who the leader was. For one second it was Cody, then Beth seemed to get a big gulp down, and then Cody would hit a streak and down a big chunk. This back and forth continued for a couple minutes until Cody slammed his glass on the table and gasped for air.

"Done!"

Chris looked in Cody's mouth just as Beth finished up. Empty as the host's own dark heart.

"And Cody sneaks a clutch point! Who could've seen that one coming?"

Gwen cheered the loudest out of the new Slayers, though all were impressed by Cody's last minute power chugging even if the likes of Duncan and Scott wouldn't say it to his face.

"I knew you could do it," Gwen told him with a little head pat on the side that made his heart flutter.

Confessional

The Code-meister let out a sigh of joy and relief. "Feels good to finally win something for the team. Sure, my guts hate me and I'm probably gonna throw up in the next five minutes, but hey, I contributed! Suck on that, Duncan! Woo!" On cue, his face turned green and the camera cut.

End Confessional

"Alright, so with the first five rounds out of the way, we're at 3-2, Slayers. Now it's time for the second cycle, so hopefully you guys saved room for seconds. Slayers, who are you putting up?"

The Slayers huddled together.

"Should we do Duncan now?" Cody groaned, clutching his frail little gut.

"Actually, I was thinking you should go in again," Duncan said.

The geek winced. "Wait, what? No!"

"I know it sounds lame, but hear me out. If we put in any of our top eaters, they're just going to throw Sugar and Lightning at us immediately and block us from these points. But if we put you in, there's no way they waste them that early. They'll probably throw Beth or Heather in against you, and you can beat Beth again."

"Aw, come on, I feel like I'm going to throw up," Cody whined. "Have I not suffered enough?"

"Dude, everyone has to eat twice," Scott said. "Might as well get it out of the way now."

"Sorry, Cody," Gwen said regretfully. "But they have a point. If we put in Scott or Duncan, we kinda lose the point automatically. You got this though. I believe in you."

Cody, as usual, sighed, stepped forward, and prepared to suffer.

From Team Pantheon, a brief whispering session led to Beth walking out to face him at the wheel. Only this time, she looked pale green.

"So uh, deja vu, huh?" she grunted, her hands over her stomach.

"Y-yeah," Cody whimpered, trying not to breathe with all that awful fishy odor lingering nearby.

Chef spun the wheel and Chris read the card, you know the drill.

"Sea urchin! Nice for a little tingling sensation."

Chef poured their yogurt, revealing the mixture to be a Halloween colored orange and black swirl with shards of sea urchin spine jutting out in random places.

"Oh no," Cody said with a light retch. "What happens if one of us hurls before we finish it?"

"Then the first hurler loses," Chris said with a shrug. "I mean, unless you're down to lick vomit off the sand like some kinda dog that is."

Now it was Beth's turn to retch. But she held firm. "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this."

Chris blew the whistle and both raised their glasses. Only neither of them took a drink. It was a battle of will at that point. Neither Beth nor Cody had any desire to drink that blend. Hell, they weren't even sure it was safe in the first place. But the hooting and hollering of their teams pushed them to attempt it.

Cody was the first to taste it. The second the yogurt hit his tongue, his face puffed up and a stream of vomit soared across the wheel, splattering it with vileness. Beth, who carefully waited to taste it with the hope of Cody losing his lunch, was triggered into her own vomiting frenzy by Cody's expulsion, coating the wheel even more.

"Oh, groooo-o-o-oss!" Chris cackled. "Not happy about the wheel getting vommed on, buuuut the ratings love a good puke fest so hey, I'll take it. Chef, hose it down, will ya?"

Chef rolled his eyes and sprayed the green juices off the wheel as Cody returned to his team, nearly passing out upon arrival.

"Well that was lame," Scott groaned. "Way to cost us the point."

"Hey," Gwen said, halting Cody from falling over with a hand to the shoulder. "He tried. Plus he already won us a point in the last round, so he did his part. We still have four rounds left anyways."

Cody himself was in no position to speak. He just wobbled back and forth in silence, looking greener than ever. Gwen gave him a friendly pat on the back that in no way could be interpreted as anything romantic but totally would in Cody's eyes, automatically bringing some peachy color back to his face.

On Team Pantheon, it was time to nominate another tribute. Beth, having just tied it up 3-3, was down for the count. No way she was winning again, so her team gladly let her step aside and vomit in peace while Sugar was chosen to eat next.

"We need to take the lead," Jasmine whispered as the farm girl approached the table with a few knuckle cracks for intimidation's sake. "This should do it. No matter who they put up, we got this."

The Slayers saw their big eater opponent step up and huddled together.

Courtney kicked it off with an annoyed eye roll. "Ugh, should we even bother? We lose this round no matter what unless she just drops dead."

"I'll take her on," Scott said. "I want some redemption."

"Uh, you'll still lose," Gwen said. "Besides, we need you for later matches. Like against Lightning and Jasmine. I'll go up for us, let her get the easypoint, and save our heavy hitters for when it matters."

One editing trick later and Gwen and Sugar had their full glasses at the ready.

"You know," Chris said, "I didn't expect the lion fish yogurt to come out so well, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Hope your tongues are ready to get numbed to Hades and back."

"Which is why I will not be drinking," Gwen mumbled with a smirk.

Sugar licked her chops. "Oh boy! I love the look of this one Chris! Y'all gotta get in the business of this stuff if the show gets canceled and replaced by some kinda show about a daycare or somethin'."

Chris' smirk faded. "Uh… How about we not put that out in the universe, Sugar. Just chug!"

Gwen watched Sugar down the yogurt in one gulp. No contest.

"And Sugar dominates another round," Chris said. "Not that she had any competition with No-Slurp Gwen over here basically forfeiting, but I honestly can't blame her."

Sugar attempted to talk smack, but the toxins in the yogurt immediately went to work and, in their lessened state, left the farm girl blathering like an idiot.

"Yuh, wuh ya din ebe ty!"

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "Yeeeeah, I think I made the right choice."

Confessional

Sugar continued blabbering away. "Thuh buttah buh glid uh cuh ony pluh un tuh ruhnds. Uh wuhduh Shugahd ah thuhs tuhkies! Buhk tuh buhk!"

Chef suddenly poked his head in the library off screen and whistled her way. "Hey, Chris said to cut the confessionals if you ain't gonna make no sense. We ain't got a subtitle budget and we ain't startin' today just so you can have another five seconds of fame!"

Sugar glared off screen. "Uh bazz uhf!"

End Confessional

The next round was an old rivalry: Courtney for the Slayers, and Heather for Team Pantheon.

"Tell me why we didn't just send Lightning in again?" Beth asked groggily. "He'd totally crush Courtney."

Jasmine nodded along. "That he would, but we still have Scott and Duncan to worry about on that team. We gotta guarantee a win against one of those blokes and Lightning's our best bet."

"Sha-right," Lightning chimed in, awkwardly inserting himself into the shot.

Chris spun the wheel and the next flavor was supplied. "Moldy Mackerel Marinade! Not exactly sure this would pass health codes, but hey, who needs 'em, am I right?!"

Courtney stared into the fishy void teeming with bits of green and black. "Uhhhhh… Just prepare for a lawsuit after this season is over in that case."

Heather readied her glass by her lips. "Don't puke, Chartney."

Courtney took a deep, aggravated breath and readied her glass too, glaring at her enemy with flaming ferocity. "Not a chance. And by the way, I'm psyching myself up right now by remembering that time you spent a whole season bald. Fun times."

A light gasp escaped from Heather's lips. "Well... I wish I'd been more liberal with the hair clippers in Season 2."

Chris gave the word and both girls, fueled by rage, chugged like there was no tomorrow. The fishy mixture went down gulp by gulp, but in the end, one girl finished a second before the other.

"And the winner is..." Chris leaned in to check the apparently-empty glass. "Courtney!"

"Yes!" Courtney cheered. "Two for two!" And then her face lost its color and her cheeks puffed up. The only thing she could see clearly was Heather's pale yet smug face.

"Don't. Puke. Chartney."

Courtney's eyes shot open, but her mouth remained closed. With one more gulp, she saved Chef another hose down of the wheel and weakly fist pumped. "Yeah..."

"Swallowing your own barf to win?" Heather groaned. "Figures you'd be into that. Pukeney."

Chris snickered. "Funny that Courtney stuck it out because the roles permit barfing after a winner is declared, but hey, I don't judge what you're into. Now, back to your teams. Pantheons, send up your next player!"

Their pick was immediately clear.

"Sha-Lightning to the rescue! Redeemin' the failures of his teammates far and wide!"

Chris couldn't even give the Slayers their call before the uber-jock bolted up to the wheel and stood, arms akimbo, eyeing those poor suckers across the beach.

Gwen, giving Cody a few pats on the back to calm his nerves, turned to Duncan and Scott. "Well, if we want to win this one… Who's up?"

"I can beat him," Scott whispered. "Duncan hasn't even eaten yet and Jasmine's all weak from the Underworld life. If I crush Lightning, this win's in the bag."

Duncan shrugged. "Fine by me."

Both boys met at the wheel and Chris gave it a spin. "Ohohoho!"

Scott raised a brow. "And the flavor would be? Spit it out man!"

"Sha-yeah! Lightning needs to know what his DPA's gonna be today!"

Chris revealed the name on the card. "Shark Guts Surprise! And we added a little cartilage flakes for that crunchy goodness."

Scott shuddered. "Did you say… s-shark?"

Confessional

"Look," Scott said, pointing angrily into the camera. "I've eaten a lot of weird, gross stuff without complaining… But Chris, throwing shark into the mix is a personal attack!"

End Confessional

Scott reluctantly grabbed his glass as Lightning casually scooped up his.

"So... shark's are made of protein right?"

"Yes," Chris said.

Lightning licked his lips. "Sha-nice."

Scott shook his head and growled. "Don't think about it. Don't think about it."

"About what?" Chris asked. "The fact that we're making you eat something related to your biggest fear by sheer dumb luck and might just cost you the win?"

Scott sneered at the host. "Uh, yeah?!"

"Good," Chris replied. "3, 2, 1… Chug!"

Lightning and Scott tossed their heads back and chugged like there was no tomorrow, the dirt farmer slightly less speedy than before. Chris leaned in close to watch both boys, their pulsing throats in particular.

"Ohhh, both guys want it. But who's gonna get it down first?"

Scott gazed past his glass and saw Lightning going for it, so he picked up the pace...

Seconds later, he slammed his glass on the table and showed his mouth. "Done!"

Chris looked inside the farmer's vile mouth and narrowed his eyes. "Might wanna swallow the flab of meat in your teeth first."

Scott's eyes shot open as Lightning lowered his glass and went "Sha-Ahhhhh!"

Chris leaned in to take a look. "And Lightning is… the winner of this round!"

"What?!" Scott gasped, unfortunately sucking the flab of gut tissue down his windpipe and causing him to gag.

"Sorry, bro. No empty mouth, no point. Team Pantheon scores, making it 5 to 4!"

"Ah yeah!" Lightning cheered. "Two for two! Sha-bam!"

Scott sulked back to his team, gazing back at the flexing mega jock with contempt. "Well that sucked."

Duncan rolled his eyes and brushed past Scott, ready for the potentially final match of the challenge.

Confessional

"Dude," Duncan groaned. "That was so weak! Now I have to save the team from losing, which I can totally do against Jasmine. But man, Scott losing both matches as our best eater? It's just lame, man. Freakin' shameful."

(static)

"How was I supposed to know we'd get the shark flavor?" Scott complained, his arms stretched incredulously to the side. "It's like the one thing I'd get psyched out by! And I would've won too if Chef had the blender set to make it less chunky, so I don't care. I count that as a win."

(static)

Lightning kept flexing, kissing his muscles left and right. "Awww yeah! Lightning with the double touchdown chug for the win! The crowd goes sha-wild! Sugar ain't got nothin' on the Lightning when it comes to chugging! Uh, not that she's relevant to the moment or anything..."

(static)

Sugar crosses her arms and snorts. "I'll admit when I got stiff competition. That Lightning's one skilled chugger. With a gut like that, I gotta admit he could be trouble." Her gaze drifted off into space and she sighed happily. "But what a gut on that man."

End Confessional

Duncan and Jasmine approached the wheel.

"You got this, Duncan!" Gwen called out. "We need the point to stay alive. Give it everything you've got."

Cody, still too sickly to cheer, rolled his eyes and kept his head down.

"Don't you dare lose," Heather shouted to Jasmine. "You're not going to let a wannabe bad boy stop you, are you?!"

Duncan leaned to the right and glared at Heather. "Hey, you lost both your matches. I wouldn't be talking trash."

Chris spun the wheel and read the flavor. "Oh, an encore of McLean's Choice! Nice!"

Jasmine groaned. "Oh, this is gonna be baaaad."

Duncan gave the Aussie a friendly smirk. "What? Don't think you can handle it? You can drop out and go to a tiebreaker if you want."

Jasmine playfully rolled her eyes. "Not a chance, mate. I'm takin' ya down and takin' home this win. I've earned it."

Chef looked to Chris, who tapped his chin. "Hmmm, well let's see. Duncan and Jasmine, two tough players. What to serve? Any ideas, Chef?"

Chef flashed an evil grin. "How about a little bit of everything?"

Duncan's eyes went wide. "Uh, how about not?"

"How about yes!" Chris cheered. "Love where your head is at, Chef. Mix up the ultimate seafood yogurt surprise for our final round, will you?"

Jasmine and Duncan gulped anxiously.

Confessional

Jasmine released an intense, focused sigh. "This is it. Match point. If I beat Duncan here, I'm safe another day and finally taste immunity. If not… I could be heading right back to the Underworld and Shawn's sacrifice was pointless." She pumped her fists against her knees. "I. Have. To win."

End Confessional

The glasses were filled and both players stared down in the runny void of grossness.

Duncan, noticing a trace of movement under the surface, raised a brow. "Uh, dude. I think mine's an actual ecosystem..."

Jasmine shuddered, noticing something dark moving along the side of the glass before it vanished into the sludge. "Yeah, mine too."

Chris raised a hand. "Glasses ready!"

Glasses were grabbed.

"Gullets open!"

"Gullets were indeed opened.

"...Chug!"

Jasmine and Duncan went to town as soon as Chris gave them the go ahead. The vile mixture reeked of rot and death, but the drive to win was stronger than the stench.

"Oh, an even race," Chris said. "This is gonna be close."

And then Jasmine hit a wall. Namely, a small octopus that leaped out of the yogurt and launched itself right at Jasmine's face. Namely, right between the eyes.

"Oi!" she screamed. "I'm bloody blind!"

Duncan took a quick break from chugging to snicker at Jasmine's misfortune. "Heh, thanks for distracting her, little guy." And then he gazed down into his own glass to see his own little guy flying out of his glass too, latching itself right over his lips.

"Oh, and Duncan engages in a creamy make out sesh with Chef's booby trap," Chris taunted. "The door's open for Jasmine to take the lead… You know, if she could see it!"

Jasmine grabbed the octopus, squeezed it until it burst in her hands, and stared at the muted Duncan with a face covered in ink. Then she gazed into her glass. Half full.

No. Half empty.

Focusing on those last few gulps remaining in the glass, Jasmine snarled, raised her glass, and screamed at her food. "AHHHHHH! FOR SHAAAAAAWN!"

Duncan finally ripped the octopus off his lips and got back to chugging. "Not so fast!"

It was close. Almost too close to call. But in the end, one mouth was opened and clear a second before the other.

"Jasmine scores and wins for Team Pantheon!" Chris cheered. "From Underworld to Immunity!"

Jasmine smashed her glass into the wheel as her team cheered behind her. "Yes! That's for you, Shawn! That's for you, mate!"

Duncan groaned and grabbed his stomach. "Oh come on, man. That was too close to call."

"Not with keen eyes like mine, D-Man," Chris said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "You almost tied it up, but no dice. Looks like the new Zombie Slayers are giving someone the big ol' boot. You guys have the rest of the day to figure out who to yeet across the sea." He turned to the sickly but excited Pantheons. "And to make up for the absolute disgustingness of today's challenge, Team Pantheon will be enjoying a special feast tomorrow morning. Breakfast burritos: all you can eat!"

"Yeeeee haw!" Sugar crowed. "Now yer speakin' my language!"

"English?" Lightning asked.

Sugar rolled her eyes and crossed her arms all smugly. "Nuh uh, Canadian!"

As the Pantheons walked off with pep in their step, especially Jasmine, the five Slayers were left to take the shameful loser's walk back to the housing complex.

Confessional

"It sucks to lose three in a row," Gwen said. "But at least we have Scott as an easy vote. If you're going to lose both matches after bragging about how great your gut is, you can get a ticket on the Ferry of Shame, free of charge."

End Confessional

Upon arriving at the complex, Scott left for a bathroom break, leaving the other four standing around the courtyard.

"Sooo..." Gwen started. "Scott?"

"Fine with me," Duncan shrugged. "Dude choked. And not even on the gross stuff."

Cody, still looking green around the gills with bags under his eyes, sighed and nodded.

Courtney bit her lip. "Y-yeah. Scott. Four to one. Easy."

"Nice," Duncan said. "And honestly, this group here? Final four. Lock it in."

Confessional

"This is bad," Courtney panicked. "Bad, bad, bad. Scott's the person I trust the most on this new team and now he's getting steamrolled immediately? I figured I'd be safe, which I totally am, but I didn't expect the consensus to be this easy! I have some work to do. If there's some way to drag Scott through tonight's ceremony… I'm gonna find it."

End Confessional

Courtney went to sit at the nearest table while Duncan and Cody lurched off to rest.

"Hey," the goth said, taking a seat. "Uh, so… I know this is probably the time for strategy talk, but I just wanted to clear the air."

Courtney perked up from her intense machinations. "W-what?"

"I mean, like… I want to make sure there's no more bad blood. That it's all in the past. We've kinda been ghosting each other so far and I'd rather not having this guillotine of uncertainty hanging over my head all season. All-Stars was a mistake. A series of them. For both of us. I'm ready to move on and leave that season behind us if you are."

"You can say that again," Courtney snorted. "But yeah, I'm ready to move on too. I just didn't know if you were still mad at me over the chart thing."

"Of course I'm not," Gwen said. "It was still shady as hell and I don't like how much you overplay sometimes, but I get it. You were in game mode and I wasn't, so I took it personally and tried to extort you. We both screwed up, and I'll admit that. And to be honest, I really started feeling the burden again after Sky went home. It just… dug up some bad vibes, and seeing you get all suspicious about me and Duncan talking for like five minutes was just bad vibes city."

"Oh, sorry about that." Courtney winced lightly. "I'm just… I don't want to lose this game a fifth time."

"Tell me about it," Gwen snorted. "But hey, we have what? A one in ten shot? Eleven if you count Sky? Or actually just ten if you count Scott as going home next? Those odds aren't that bad."

"True. The odds are quite in our favor."

Gwen released a tense breath. "Thanks for hearing me out though. I... wasn't sure how you'd take this since you seemed super high strung, but… We're cool?"

"Totally."

Confessional

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Okaaaay, well I still don't trust Gwen a hundred percent. She's still a big threat down the line because everyone likes her more than me, so even if we're on speaking terms, she's not exactly in my endgame plans. But it's strange. A couple days ago, Duncan and Gwen were on my hit list and now they're… wanting to work with me? I don't trust either of them with my shot at the money, but whatever. As long as my coin doesn't get put in the urn, I'm a happy camper."

(static)

"Well that's one weight off my shoulders, I guess," Gwen sighed, jotting some stuff in her sketchbook. "Now that I've buried the hatchet with Duncan and Courtney, I guess the only one left is Sky. And given the position she's in, I might not get the chance until the season ends. But you know what? Good. I'm here to win that cash, and I can apologize later." Her expression turned a little glum. "Hopefully."

End Confessional

Cody, his body recovering from his double dose of gross, lounged down by the beach, looking out at the ominous Underworld Island in the distance. The worst place to be. Worse than the Playa. No food, no happiness, no hope. Just misery and struggle. At least that's what his geeky nerd brain perceived. Someone like Jasmine could crush it out there and come back unharmed. But if he ended up out there? Different story…

"Hey," came a voice.

Cody looked up to see Courtney. "Oh. Hey."

"Mind if I sit here?" she asked.

"I don't see why not."

Courtney indeed sat down and sighed loudly. "How do you feel about the vote tonight?"

Cody glanced over. Really, bitch? A strategy talk right off the bat? "I mean… It's Scott, right? Everyone wants him out and it's the easy vote for once since he's not an OG like the rest of us."

"Yeah. Easy as pie. Buuuut what if I told you there might be a chance to shake things up tonight?"

Cody perked up at the sing-song tone she used. "Like how?"

"Well… Are you thinking strategically this season or not?"

"Uh, I got Alejandro out. You'd have to be playing the game with your head to do that. Especially someone like me. Not that anyone really respected me for it afterwards though."

Courtney nodded along. "Impressive though. That means you're open-minded then."

"I-I guess."

"Well, look at it this way." Courtney took a stick and drew five lines in the sand. "This is our team of five. Say we cut Scott." She stepped on the first line, reducing it to nothing. "That just leaves us four. Now, say we manage to get to the final four. Who do you think is going to win?"

Cody looked at the lines and tapped his chin. "Uh… I'd hope me? O-or Gwen of course. If I have to lose, I'd lose to her."

"Okay, well think in terms of odds. Who's bound to win challenges when it counts?"

He looked back to the lines. "...Everyone but me? Unless it's something tech related, I guess. Or finding a bra in a haystack."

She blinked. "Uh, okay. But yeah. Gwen, Duncan, and myself have solid challenge records. You don't have any solo wins under your belt, so wouldn't it make sense to get to the end with people you can beat in the challenges? Or people who would take you if they won?"

"I'm not gonna vote out Gwen," Cody immediately protested. "No chance, so don't even try."

"Not her. She can stay. In fact, she's your best bet at getting to the end because she'd love to compete against you in the finale. And not just because you're an easier person to beat in the big final challenge. It's because you're her friend and you'd both take each other to the final two. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless someone else gets in the way. Someone she'd take over you or someone who'd take her instead of you. See what I'm getting at or should I get more fancy with the art?"

Cody shook his head. "N-no you're good. I just… I don't know if I can do that to Gwen."

She shrugged. "It's not like she didn't make a move like this yesterday. It's just a game, Cody. You either play to win or let the game play you. And if you want to make a statement that Cody Emmett Jameson Anderson belongs on a season of the best Total Drama contestants of all time, and you think taking down Alejandro wasn't enough, here's another chance to put a notch on your belt. You can decide who goes home tonight. You're the decision maker."

Cody stared at the cursed island across the sea, looming in the sunset horizon. What a horrible place to be sent to...

Confessional

Courtney crossed her fingers. "This better work. I need this vote to go our way tonight or we're screwed in the long term. I never thought I'd have to rely on Cody of all people, but here I am doing it and I feel pathetic. But we talked and… I hope he makes the right choice for both of our games."

(static)

Cody, still looking a little sick, sighed weakly. "Man, I hate being in the driver's seat. It's like Sierra. You always think you want to be the big mover and shaker just like you want a crazy stalker girlfriend… and then it happens and your life is a 24/7 lump of stress and non-stop sighing!"

End Confessional

"Welcome, new Slayers," Chris said, holding a platter of four kabobs. "A new day brought a new team, but once again, red was dead and ended up in the rusty old shed. Or whatever they say these days. Regardless, one of you is about to take a ride with Charon."

Scott huffed. "Just get it over with, man. I wanna go eat."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "The first kabob goes to Gwen."

The goth snatched her safety out of the air with a calm, light smile.

"Also safe is… Courtney! Guess the history of beef got squashed after all."

Courtney caught her kabob, but was too nervous to take a bite.

"Hmmm." Chris looked between the three boys. "Codemeister, your kiester is safe for a another day-ster!"

Cody let the kabob fall into his lap as he was too tired to bother catching it.

"Which leaves us with two bad boys. Duncan, whose plan to save his appetite got no-sold by the Aussie. And Scott, who lost both rounds he played in despite talking up a big game the entire challenge."

Duncan snorted. "At least I was close to beating her. That stupid octopus threw me off my game."

"And I out-ate all these chumps," Scott grumbled. "I only got beat because-"

"Don't care," the host said. "Regardless of your lackluster performances, and I mean really lackluster because even wimpy little Cody got a win..."

"Hey," the dweeb whined.

"The final kabob goes tooooooo..."

He stared between Scott and Duncan, each looking confident in their chances.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"Scott!"

Gwen gasped. "B-but-"

"Really?" snorted an annoyed Duncan, still chill as ever. "You're really gonna pull a joke right now? Just give me the thing and let's go to bed. No need to drag it out, McLean."

Chris snickered. "No jokes here, dude. You're done as dinner, by a vote of three to two, which if you're not a math guy, is in fact... the majority."

Then it hit. The reality. The truth. The horrible, horrible truth. Duncan whipped around, glaring right at Courtney, and kinda Scott, but mostly Courtney.

Gwen, still in shock, gave Cody a pained look. "Did you… Did..."

Cody couldn't even look her in the eye. He turned away, nibbling at his lower lip.

Duncan's salty glare moved from Courtney, looking nervous as her teeth dug into her bottom lip, towards the tech geek. "Are you freaking serious?!"

Cody leaned back to avoid any incoming punches. "I-It's a game, dude. Just calm down."

Duncan whipped back towards Courtney. "We had an alliance. Did that mean anything to you? I thought we were good?!"

Courtney shook her head and spoke nervously. "W-we made it this morning. I didn't think we'd switch up the teams and-"

"And what? You think you're gonna make the final two with this reputation? By being a lying snake? You're not, Courtney! If you wanted me out, just tell me to my face instead of blindsiding me and making me look like a clown!"

Scott enjoyed his kabob as the drama played out. Gwen was still unable to formulate a complete sentence. Cody, shaking in his little tennis shoes, curled up in his seat and let the rage fly overhead.

"I'm not going to waste this chance!" Courtney fired back. "Four times, Duncan! Four times I've lost this stupid show! And it's never fair! I've gotten cheated out every time and I'm sick of losing. You already won, so you don't understand what it's like to come so close time and time again, only to be screwed out of the money! I'm playing to win, and this is what I had to do! So deal with it."

"Well it's gonna be five times at the end of this one. Every time you almost get back on the right track and start acting like a sane human being again, you lose your mind. Every damn time!" With a loud growl, he stormed out of the amphitheater, leaving the place resonated with a shattered silence. "Whatever. I'm out of here. Screw this."

And then Gwen finally spoke. "I... I can't do this right now. Duncan, wait!" She hurried after him, and then there were three successful voters left to stew in the drama.

"I... I screwed up," Cody mumbled.

"No you didn't," Scott said, still munching on his safety. "You just became a legend."

Courtney herself was surprisingly reserved, having shut up the second Duncan let his final barrage fly.

Confessional

"Well, it worked," Courtney said with a forced positive tone. "Yaaay..."

(static)

"I hope that didn't seriously screw things up with Gwen," Cody whimpered. "She trusted me and… And I let my emotions get the better of me! If this is what being a Total Drama legend is like... I might want off the list."

End Confessional

Duncan stormed down to the beach and was inches away from boarding Charon's creepy Ferry of Shame when Gwen bolted up behind him.

"Stop!" she cried out.

"What? Nothing you say is going to make this any better. Your stupid little simp screwed me!"

Gwen took his hand so he couldn't hop on the boat. "Don't take it out on him. I know he screwed up, but I was a fool too. I shouldn't have trusted Courtney to not get all backstabby again. I shouldn't have given her another chance in the first place."

"Well... make her pay for it," he sighed, snatching his hand back and boarding the ferry. "And win it this time if I don't get back in. For me. You've had a win coming for a long time."

Gwen nodded. "Okay! I will! Just… Be safe. And tell Sky I'm sorry while you're out there!"

Duncan faded into the misty night and Gwen collapsed on the sand, tucking her legs to her chest.

Confessional

"I deserved this," Gwen sighed. "This is what I get for hurting Sky the way I did. Now I know how it feels to be shocked, and hurt, and betrayed, and… Cody and I need to talk. I swear, if he did this because he was jealous of Duncan… I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but whatever it is won't be pretty. And once again, I'm stuck in the middle of it all! I didn't come back for this! I came back to win!" She gave it a long thought before opening her mouth. It was a sentence she never expected to say, but in the moment it just felt so… right. "Maybe I should just... quit?"

And then the confessional cam paused...

End Confessional

"What's this?" Chris gasped, popping up in his camera room with Gwen's pained face holding in the background. "Will Gwen quit the game? Will Cody and Courtney be forgiven for their epic betrayals? And will our next cameo guest actually be someone worth inviting back for a change? Find out the answers and more, next time on Total… Drama… Clash of the Titans!"

Sky woke up to see the shape of Duncan enter the bungalow and plop down on the cot with a loud grunt. With a determined glare, she watched him toss and turn in silence until she closed her own eyes, ready to drift off into sleep. Another day, another challenger, and another step towards getting back in to deliver some revenge was approaching at dawn. And she was going to give it her all, even against another winner.

"Gwen says she's sorry. Night, hurdle queen."

One of her eyes shot open and her nostrils flared. Needless to say, the next day on that island was going to be a mess. But she had a goal. And she was going to achieve it with flying colors if it was the last thing she did.

Voting Confessionals

Gwen cast her vote for Scott. "Well, that was an easy vote. I'm just glad we can put some drama to rest and have a night where I'm not feeling like jumping off a bridge after it's over."

Duncan dropped Scott's coin into the urn. "Sorry, dude. You're a solid player, but you just got outnumbered by us classic Islanders. Sucks, but see ya around."

Courtney voted for Duncan. "Sorry to break the alliance so soon, but desperate times call for desperate measures and I can't risk you and Gwen teaming up against me down the line. Plus you've already won this show. You'll understand."

Scott voted for Duncan with an annoyed groan. "I swear, if that pipsqueak votes me off, he's gonna get it from me at the duel tomorrow. Thankfully if there's one thing a simp hates, it's competition for his girl."

Cody grabbed Scott's coin and held it up to the slot… only to snatch Duncan's coin with the other hand and drop it in. "I… I just voted Duncan out," he said with a touch of exhilaration. "I-I did it! Haha!" And then it hit him. "Oh no… Gwen's gonna kill me!"

Eliminated: Mike, Zoey, Owen, Alejandro, Shawn

In the Underworld: Sky, Duncan

Remaining:

Team Pantheon 2.0: Beth, Heather, Jasmine, Lightning, Sugar

The Zombie Slayers 2.0: Cody, Courtney, Gwen, Scott

Reasoning for Elimination: So this will undoubtedly be the most controversial elimination of the season. Shawn was a character I knew wasn't winning, largely because he was an OTT comic relief and there's already plenty of that left. But also because Jasmine was always meant to be the bigger character of the two this season and the only way to let her do her own thing would be for Shawn to go out early and become a stepping stone for her story. So I devised a cruel way to eliminate him in poetic fashion from the beginning. He'd spend his entire game fighting to help her, only to get what he wants in the worst way possible. Was it unfair? Yeah. If this was a canon season there's no way this elimination wouldn't be reviled by a lot of fans lol. But I think the narrative purpose of his downfall is worth the BS robbery. If you feel upset, good. That's the point. And it's not like he didn't already win in this timeline so it's not like his ending was utterly horrible. He rocked it out there in the pre-merge and went out as a hero saving his partner.

A/N: And that's Episode 6 in the bag. I wasn't quite sure how to go about the challenge, debating between a standard eating challenge and a yogurt-filled obstacle course, but I settled on the eating option because we have a couple big eaters in the cast and eating challenges are classic reality TV fare. We also had our team swap and yet another round of messy vote drama based around personal beef and alliances mingling together in the best/worst ways. Duncan now joins Sky in the Underworld and only one will survive the next challenge. Both are pissed, both want revenge, and both have a reason to fight for it.

Anyways, I appreciate all the reviews, faves, and follows! I didn't expect this story would be getting this much love when I sat down and wrote it a year ago, but I'm glad a comp fic from a relatively unknown author can still find a loyal readership and make some days a little better for you guys :)