Total Drama: Clash of the Titans Chapter 7: The Foils of War, a total drama series fanfic

Total Drama: Clash of the Titans – Episode 7: The Foils of War

"Last time on Total Drama: Clash of the Titans, Shawn found the all powerful Pendant of Zeus, which allowed him to save Jasmine from the Underworld. Unfortunately for Shawn, our ultimate prepper hadn't prepped to be swapped into her place and eliminated in a battle with old finalist pal Sky. Heh heh, so ironic Alanis Morrisette would write a song about it! Then it was a gross yogurt eating competition, which Sugar and Lightning dominated for the newly formed Team Pantheon, sending the new Zombie Slayers into another dramatic ceremony. Courtney patched things up with Gwen and scored a dope alliance with Duncan, but in the end, she chose her long term ally and most recent ex Scott and swayed a depressed, simpy Cody to join her in voting out the D-Man. What's the fallout gonna look like after this huge shocker? Who will advance in the Underworld? Will another blindside rear its ugly head? Find out some of those answers and more, here, on... Total… Drama… Clash of the Titans!"

Another day in the Aegean, another day of someone leaving their room early in the morning to scout out the surrounding forest. Kinda getting cliche at this point, huh? In this case though, it was Jasmine. The Aussie strolled along the trail, her eyes keen for colorful berries and fruits she could take back in time for breakfast. Granted, her team already won a good breakfast, but burritos needed some company. Healthy company.

Confessional

Jasmine held a bag of figs and a couple pomegranates to the camera with a confident, chill smile. "Just figured I'd collect a little grub to go along with our reward. Not to mention I never got the time to scope the place out before I got eliminated the first time, so now's my time to get a lay of the land. Plus if I can make it far, I'll know exactly where the quality food is to keep my strength up while the others have to settle for gruel and sludge. Win-win."

End Confessional

Along the way back towards the housing complex, her ears perked up at the sound of footsteps. Whipping around, she caught a glimpse of Lightning bolting down the trail.

"S'up, Cowgirl!" he called. "Lightning's just doing his morning jog!"

Jasmine flagged him down and he screeched to a halt by her side. "Nice," she said. "I appreciate a teammate who knows how to stay in shape for the challenges. But uh, I ain't a cowgirl, mate. I'm-"

"Sha-right," he said, wiping some sweat from his brow before gazing at the full bag. "Hey, whatcha got there?"

She opened the bag and tossed the jock a large green fig. "Oh, just some fruit I gathered. I know wakeup's not for another half hour, but I'm an early riser."

Lightning popped the fruit in his mouth. "Sha-yeah. Lightning knows all about gettin' up early. He's gotta get his runs in before it gets all hot and sweaty out here. Not that Lightning ain't a fan of glistenin' in the sun, because that's one way to show off his tone, but we still got a challenge to do today and he's gotta be stretched and ready."

"Exactly. Keeping cool and hydrated during outdoor activities is super important. I'm not a sports gal, but I get the similarities. You'd make a decent survivalist, I think."

"Sha-really?" he asked, confused. "The last time Lightning tried wilderness survival, he ate a nasty fish and sha-hurled. I'm stickin' to the gym from now on. He ain't gonna starve himself for fun."

Jasmine smirked. "Well you ain't got a gym out here, mate. And the food... Yeah."

"Nature's my gym now," he boasted, flexing his arms. "Sha-bam!"

They both chuckled a little.

Confessional

"I'm surprised Lightning's a cool guy," Jasmine said. "Once you get to know him at least. He's a bit eccentric and… probably not that smart so the survival expert comment was more to keep him happy with me than anything, but hey, I appreciate a guy who likes to win. Now that I'm taking this game seriously and have no plans of leaving, he's a nice person to have on the team. Again." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "And he never voted me out, so that's always a plus I can't give to everyone on this team."

(static)

Lightning continued to flex, offering his biceps some smooches. "Jasmine totally loves these muscles. Look at 'em! If all goes well, Lightning should ask her to join his epic Backscratchers sha-lliance with Duncan. We'd be unstoppable!"

End Confessional

Gwen couldn't sleep. Not even a wink. She tossed and turned, rubbed her migraine-ridden head, stuffed her face deep in her pillows, everything. Except sleeping. Staring up at the ceiling, she let out a tired, miserable sigh.

Confessional

Gwen remained listless in the library, staring off listlessly as she pondered what to say, if anything at all.

"I..."

Just that single word was a struggle.

"I'm not quitting. But… what am I even doing here? I… I came here for the money, or at least I thought I did. But then I got roped up with that Sky drama because I was an idiot, and now my history with Courtney came back to bite me. Again. Like… why bother staying though? Nothing good has come out of this season. Nothing. It's just like every other season I've been on after my first one. A big mess." She sighed. "I should have stayed home and told Chris to shove it, contract or not. Look, I know Cody wants me to stay, and I doubt he's getting much sleep either since he totally screwed me over last night, but… I just don't want to be here anymore. It's just more trouble I didn't ask for. But..."

She couldn't even continue as the realization that she was merely rambling for the camera set in.

"Ugh, I'm outta here. I need some sleep even if it's just ten minutes. I can't do this right now."

She trudged out of the library, pushing her hand against the camera, and the feed cut.

End Confessional

As the sun rose once more, the remaining nine in-game players returned to the courtyard at the center of the U-shaped complex for breakfast one by one. First came Jasmine and Lightning from the forest, then Beth and Sugar from their rooms. Then the rest joined the mix with the exception of Gwen, who remained held up in her room.

Cody tapped the table anxiously, sitting alone with a seat to his left reserved for his friend.

Courtney walked by and whispered across the table. "Don't feel bad. You did what you had to do. It's just a game. And you played it."

Scott walked right behind her and gave the geek a thumbs up. "Thanks, man. I owe you one."

Cody didn't smile or respond or even acknowledge their presence. He just sighed. And boy, he would be doing a lot of that today so get used to it.

Confessional

"Yeah, I screwed up," he whimpered. "Gwen hates me. I know it. I can't believe I let Courtney talk me into throwing my morals away for a stupid game I'm probably never winning anyways. Not that I care that Duncan went home, but Gwen trusted me and... I blew it big time. All I can do now is hope she forgives me. I might have to grovel, which I'm totally good at doing, heh, but… I don't want to make this all about me, ya know?"

End Confessional

Lightning took a seat at another table alongside Sugar and Beth. "Awww yeah, time for burritos! Protein city! Sha-" That's when he took a headcount and realized who was missing. "Wait a second… Someone super important ain't here..."

Sugar glanced over. "I know! Chef's runnin' late with our vittles!"

Lightning narrowed his eyes. "Nah, fool! I'm talkin' about Gwen!"

"And Duncan," Beth added. "He… got voted out last night I think."

"Oh, my bad," Lightning said. Then it hit him. "Sha-WHAT?! Duncan's gone?!"

Cody sighed. Courtney rolled her eyes. Scott snorted smugly. Heather, still at a table of her own, smirked.

Jasmine joined her team at the every-Pantheon-member-but-Heather table and shrugged. "No big deal. The guy voted me out, so I won't miss him. Besides, nice of the Slayers to cut a strong player for us. And a winner no less. No shade to the one we got obvi, but let others get a win too, ya know?"

Now that was something Heather's ear caught loud and clear.

Confessional

"Okay, that's not good," Heather groaned. "I haven't had time to work my magic with the new team, so the fact that Jasmine's excited about winners going home is absolutely disgusting. And now that Duncan's out, I'm the last winner left in the actual game, so my target just got even bigger. Great. But I still have a plan to make sure I survive to the merge even if my team loses the rest of the challenges." She gave a little wink to the audience. "Trust me."

(static)

"Aww, man!" Lightning groaned. "You can't tell the Lightning his number one ally is out! Without my wing-man around, I gotta put the pedal to the sha-metal if I wanna stay in this, especially with everyone being all jealous of how awesome I am. Lightning ain't no lousy quitter, and he ain't givin' up!"

End Confessional

It wasn't long before breakfast arrived, courtesy of Chef carrying a massive platter of breakfast burritos towards Team Pantheon's table. There were at least two dozen, all wrapped in steaming hot foil.

"Wooooooweeee!" Sugar hollered. "Now that's what I call a feast! Ol' Sugar's hungry, so bring it on, Chef Guy!"

"Settle down," Beth teased with a little snort. "You can't eat all the food."

Sugar slumped forward with a sigh. "Aww, crud. I mean... I wasn't gonna..."

Heather joined her team, leaving her solo table for the team one. "Finally, some real food. I'm sick of gruel and nasty yogurt."

"Well if you're still hungry, I brought some dessert," Jasmine said, dropping her bag of fruit next to the platter. "Just some natural sweets to follow the carbs down."

Sugar was the first to reach for the burritos as expected. She nearly took the entire platter for herself until Beth lightly smacked her on the arm and gave her a stern look. Sugar rolled her eyes put the extras back, taking only six for her first serving.

"Sorry you guys have to watch this," Beth winced, glancing over at Scott, Courtney, and a dejected Cody who wasn't even looking at the feast. "Maybe we can share with-"

"Not a chance," Chef said. "Reward's for winners only. I didn't slave away all night scrounging up these things to have a buncha losers chowin' down on my food. Besides, y'all are gonna want the energy boost for today's challenge. It's a doozy." He left the courtyard with one devilish smirk, leaving the three non-goth Slayers to feel their hearts drop.

"This sucks," Courtney grumbled as the Pantheons enjoyed their meal. "We needed that breakfast bad."

"Tell me about it," Scott huffed. "Back on the farm, breakfast burritos with actual food in them are a freakin' delicacy. Most of the time we just stuff 'em full of lard and dirt."

"Ew," Courtney said with a wretch and a shudder. "That's disgusting. Not... that I'd expect anything else from you."

Scott smirked. "You know you find my rustic charm irresistible."

"I do not," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I find it merely amusing at best."

"Suuuure you do," said Scott with a light snicker.

Confessional

"Man, Courtney saving me over Duncan was a real pep boost for the morale," Scott said, his arms crossed confidently as if he'd fallen into a Gainax anime finale. "Kinda makes me wonder if she's still into me. I mean, I was hesitant to trust her completely at the start because the rat tail wasn't cool, but she's proven herself to be loyal this time. At least to me. To Duncan and Gwen? Screw 'em. We're basically the King and Queen of this island now."

(static)

"Okay, fine," Courtney sighed. "I still think Scott's charming and cute in a… weird redneck white trash way. But like I said on day one, I'm not risking it all for a rebound out here. Besides, I've already made an enemy out of Gwen again, so if I inevitably have to turn on Scott for one reason or another, I don't want it blowing up in my face." Her tone took a turn for the dreary and she sighed, losing all her energy. "Just like my relationship with Gwen. I don't want to feel bad because it's just a game, and if you're not playing to win you aren't playing at all, but… I'm… worried about her? I just wanted to split up her and Duncan to protect myself, not give her depression. Maybe I should..." She struggled to say the last word. It felt… wrong. "Apologize?"

End Confessional

Courtney cast a dull gaze over to Cody, who was slumped over the table half-asleep. "Head up, Cody. We have a challenge to win today. You can feel bad after we win."

Cody sighed.

"Oh, come on. Don't just sigh at me. Say something with meaning."

He sighed again.

Her eyes narrowed, but her anger subsided quickly. "You made a huge play last night. And Duncan's been blindsided before. He'll be fine. Now you don't have to worry about him bullying you and making you feel worthless."

Cody didn't sigh. He spoke. "I don't feel like a legend. I feel like a loser. What if Gwen never speaks to me again?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "She's not mad at you. She'll obviously blame me since I've got a record for this kind of stuff. But she'll bounce back. Totally."

Cody looked up at the lonely, locked door. "I hope."

As the burrito numbers dwindled, most of it went down Sugar's gullet. What started as six burritos went to eight, then ten, and finally twelve as she downed one final burrito, stopped only by Jasmine grabbing the platter away from the table to salvage the final few burritos.

"Yeah, you've had enough, Sheila."

Sugar glared at Jasmine. "Huh? What did you just call me? Them's fightin' words I think!"

Beth placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Sugar, be like Elsa. Let it go."

Rolling her eyes, Sugar returned to grumbling to herself as Jasmine dished out the remaining burritos to the others.

"Hey, lay off the girl," Lightning said, catching a burrito tossed his way. "She can't help it if she's got a DPA she's gotta stick to."

"What kinda fancy, city dweller gibberish is that?" Sugar asked.

"Daily Protein Allotment," he clarified. "Burritos full of eggs and sausage got loads of protein. That's… Uh… Lightning ain't a math guy, but it's a lot of DPAs."

Jasmine blinked. "Kay then."

Confessional

"I can't wait to get Sugar outta here," Jasmine said, a growl bubbling under her breath. "Not only is she the reason I got eliminated, she's annoying to live with too. She ate half the food today. Half! The second we lose a challenge, she's gone if I can rally the votes. And I don't know what Lightning sees in her that demands defending." She shrugged. "But like I said, not the sharpest tooth in the croc's mouth."

(static)

"Gettin' stuck on a team with Jas-man ain't what I wanted," Sugar said, ripping a page out of the nearest book and blowing her nose into it. "Ugh. Stupid pollen everywhere, pluggin' my nose like that. Anyways, if we lose, she's a hundred and fifty percent gone if I got anythin' to say. And I got a lot to say."

End Confessional

"Attention, campers!" Chris shouted over the loud speakers. "Wrap up your brekkie and meet at the beach in ten. We've got some big announcements to make. McLean, OUT!"

As the PA crackled to nothing, Jasmine downed her last burrito and sighed. "Nice appropriation of Aussie slang, Chris. Well played."

"What about Gwen?" Cody asked his other teammates as they started leaving. "What if she doesn't show up?"

"Then we'll have to win as a trio," Courtney said, annoyed but determined. "I've come back from worse odds."

Cody took one last glance at Gwen's door, did his usual Cody sigh, and left with the rest of the cast.

"Alright, campers," Chris said to the group gathered by the dock. "Congrats on making the final nine. Technically eleven since Duncan and Sky are still eligible to win, but hey, main game is where it counts." Then he took a headcount. "Uh, where's Gwen?" he asked. "This place is oddly cheery without her ruining the mood with her gross gothiness."

"Uh, just sleeping," Courtney said, trying not to show a hint of shame. "She'll be here soon... Probably."

"Yeah, well soon won't cut it," Chris said. "We're moving on without her. If she shows up, she's free to hop into the action. But first, we have a couple major announcements. First and foremost, there will be no Underworld Challenge today."

Heather perked up. "So does that mean nobody's going home tonight? You're finally letting us catch a break?"

Chris shook his head. "Nope. It's still an elimination day like every other. But we thought it would be fun to have three people competing for a spot back in the game, and because there's waaaay too much drama and bitterness building up on that island to defuse it now. Ratings gold doesn't grow on trees. It grows on the fragile egos of teens and young adults like yourselves. And the harvest so far has been bountiful. Anyways, that's announcement number one. Announcement number two… is that tomorrow's Underworld Challenge is the final one of the season, meaning whoever wins it achieves their goal of redemption and conquest and earns a spot at the merge!"

Everyone gasped. Well, Cody didn't. But that was to be expected.

"That's… actually a big one," Jasmine said. "Wasn't expecting you to drop a bomb like that."

"So the merge is eight people and the winner of that challenge then?" Beth asked, a smile growing between her cheeks. "So that means we're almost merged! That's a big accomplishment!"

"Yes, Beth," said Chris. "Yes it is. But first, you'll have to earn your spot in today's team challenge. Winners make the merge, losers vote a sorry loser out to join Sky and Duncan in the loser bracket, which is full of big losers."

Confessional

"Making the merge is the dream," Lightning said. "Last time, Lightning was out second. Totally sha-robbed. But once he gets to that merge, he's gonna slay all these chumps one by one and snag that cash. Sha-bam!" He clumsily punched the camera, sending it into a static frenzy.

(static)

"I can't believe we're almost merged," Beth said, geeking out and fanning herself with her hands. "It's so intense knowing we're so close. The first time, I didn't make the merge or even get close, so this is my chance to show the fans I wasn't a fluke. Not that… anyone thinks I am, right?"

(static)

"From first boot to the merge? Sounds like one heck of a story," Jasmine said. "I've overcome so much this season, and we're not even halfway done yet. But no matter what the challenge is, I'm gonna crush it."

(static)

"Okay, this changes some things," Heather said, tapping her foot in frustration. "My plan was to make sure I was able to survive multiple losses on this team, but now that I know the merge is coming tomorrow, I need to have a solid alliance ready to go, or at least take the heat off my back to start." A thin smile emerged from her frustration. "And given the arguments at breakfast, I know exactly how to get that done."

End Confessional

Chris pulled a spear and shield out of nowhere. "Today's challenge is one I'm sure you've been expecting: an ode to the iconic history of Greek warfare! For centuries, these seas were roamed by one of the toughest militaries in human history. There was a ton of in-fighting between the various states across land and sea, and they only teamed up when a foreign invader knocked on their door. However, we're more focused on the inland in-fighting today, so for your challenge, it's an homage to our war movie episode from TDA with a healthy dose of Fort Wars from Revenge of the Island, two episodes I'm sure most of you are familiar with."

"I ain't!" Sugar called out.

"Cool! Nobody cares" Chris said. "As I was saying, the goal is simple. Each team will have a fortress on opposite ends of a nearby battlefield we've designed overnight. Each team will also have a team flag to protect inside their respective fortress. To win, you can either annihilate the opposing team's members or capture their flag and return it to your team's base. Either one nets you a W."

"Wait, we're not actually fighting with real weapons, are we?" Courtney asked.

"Yeah, about that," Chris said. "I actually have a special guest here to explain today's weaponry. He should be dropping in right… about..." He gazed down at his watch. "About and a half… About and three quarters..."

A faint sound of a helicopter echoed behind the temple as said aircraft flew over the beach.

"Now!"

Along with a human-sized crate, a familiar face dropped out, parachute at the ready. The guest attempted to pull the strings, but the chute didn't deploy.

"O-Oh no," Brick gasped. "Not good! Not good! Ah!"

"Wrong cord, dude!" Chris called out to the falling cadet. "Or did we accidentally give you a dummy parachute leftover from last season?! Haha, cause that would be hilarious!"

Brick grabbed the other cord and pulled. "Sir, yes sir!"

Just in the nick of time, the chute deployed and Brick drifted safely to the ground. Upon skidding to a stop as the chute collapsed behind him, he waved to the players.

"Hey, teams! Former teammates! Teammates I wish I had."

Too bad Brick didn't notice the rock jutting out rock in front of him. Because the guy tripped. Hard and fast.

"W-w-whoa! AH!"

Chris gazed down at the cadet. "So much for a safe landing, huh, dude? Hehe."

Quickly dusting himself off, Brick saluted the host, standing tall and proud despite his scrapes. "Brick McArthur, reporting for challenge demonstration duty!"

"Oh great," Scott grumbled to himself. "Not this guy again."

"Hey, man," Lightning said. "Long time, no see!"

Brick waved to his former Revenge contestants.

"Okay, enough nostalgia baiting," Chris said. "You're here to demonstrate, not to mingle. Now recite the stuff you practiced."

Brick winced, but snapped back into game mode. "Roger that!" He whipped around to face the players. "This challenge is all about combat. The military variety to be exact, so I'm the perfect person to give you the run down. Inside your fortresses you'll find a variety of weapons and armor to help you survive." He walked over to the crate that dropped alongside him and smacked it once. A loud crack was heard and he cringed, holding his pulsing hand with his functional one. "U-uh… Chris, got a crowbar or something?"

Chris rolled his eyes and kicked the box, causing the front wall to fall forward and revealing the contents: a suit of bronze armor including a plumed helmet and chest plate, an oddly dull yet almost glowing spear, and a bronze shield bearing the logo of Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot.

"Proceed," he said.

Brick nodded, snapped his hand back into place, and donned the armor. "This armor is to protect you from attacks. But only from the front and on the head. Your arms, legs, backs, and butts are still vulnerable, so watch your six out there." Then he grabbed the shield. "This can help you block attacks that aim for your weak points, and like they always say, the best offense is a good defense… Or… No, that's not right. Maybe the other way around?"

"Don't care," Chris said, taking the dull spear from the box and stabbing Brick in the side with it. The cadet screamed and convulsed as a wave of electricity took him by surprise, and once the spear disconnected from his body, he fell to the ground in a daze.

The entire cast gasped in horror.

"These spears are your weapons," Chris explained. "They're battery powered punch-packers that can take any camper to their knees if you make contact long enough. But the armor we're giving you is insulated to absorb the shock, so you'll need to land a direct blow on the exposed areas to score a knockout. If you get knocked down, you'll be back on your feet in five minutes, so no need to worry about long term damage. And to score a win by total knockout rather than by snagging the flag, all members of the opposing team have to be down at once."

"G-good," Brick said, unable to stand. "Uh, you need me to explain anything else? You kinda stole my thunder there, sir."

Chris shrugged. "Not really. I think they get the idea. Plus there are a couple other surprises I'd like to keep as such. Thanks for coming out, man. You've been a real help."

Brick narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Can you at least help me up? Maybe give me a chair to sit on or something?"

"Ooooh, yeaaaaahhhh... We're slightly behind schedule so we gotta hustle. Later, dude."

Chris left for the forest with the final nine, leaving Brick in the sand.

"Wait, come back," he yelped. "What if you miscalculated the stun time? What if-"

A large crab walked outta nowhere on its spindly little crab legs and pinched Brick on the nose.

"Ow! Watch the nostril, little guy."

And then another showed up.

"Oh, hey, you brought backup. T-that's… nice. Heh."

And another. And another. And another.

"AHHH-"

Confessional

"A war challenge?" Beth asked with a touch of anxiety. "I dunno. The last time I did one of these, we lost because Lindsay was really bossy and Izzy was all boom-boomy. But maybe this time will be different. But then again, we do have Heather on the team. She's bound to get all bossy like she always does."

End Confessional

Chris led the crew to a clearing in the forest about the length of a high school football field. All throughout the field were giant boulders jutting from the earth, trenches deep enough to hide a human, and a small stream running across the middle.

On each end of the field was a towering stone fortress. The walls were fifteen feet high, six feet thick, and topped with walkways leading to a watchtower overlooking the main gates, which were wooden and locked from the inside with a plank beam falling across two metal handles. The area inside each fort was about the size of the typical suburban house, covered on all sides with stone stairs leading up to the high walkways. Each fort also came with a wooden ladder high enough to reach over the walls, as well as a rack of armor and weapons for each team and a mysterious chest filled with who knows what. Also present in the center of the base was a flag, either red or blue, bearing the respective team logos.

This was all of course showing on Chris' handy monitor. "We spent a lot on this stuff, so make use of it. I assume you all recall the rules perfectly, so let's get started. Each team gets ten minutes to head inside and plan their strategies before the battle begins. After that, it's in your hands."

Cody meekly raised a hand. "But… what about Gwen? Without her, we're at an even worse disadvantage."

"I concur," Courtney said, glaring at the host. "How is it fair that they get five people and we have to fight with just three?"

Chris shrugged. "Like I said, if Gwen shows up, she's more than welcome to join you guys. Otherwise, sucks to be you. I would have a Pantheon member sit out to even up the numbers a bit, but hey, the fans love a good underdog story in the making and it seems we've got a 300 situation on our hands. Well, more like just three, but whatevs. Have fuuuun."

Confessional

"This stinks," Scott groaned. "Gwen's throwing hard right now, Cody's useless unless it's a simping competition, and the other team's got the toughest physical players in the cast. If we're gonna win this, I gotta bust out some serious strats."

(static)

"Even if we have the numbers advantage, we can't get cocky," Heather said. "What this team has in brawn, it seriously lacks in brains. Aside from me of course. But I'm not mad. That just makes it easier to put my plan in action with all these freaks and weirdos."

End Confessional

In Pantheon's fort, the five members suited up and took their spears and shields as Jasmine formulated a plan.

"Alright. So we need to make sure our flag is defended at all times. Ya never know if some wily Slayer's gonna hop over the wall and nab it outta nowhere. So I say we leave one reliable member inside while the rest break into two pairs for the siege. We can knock this one out fast if we stay organized."

"Sha-greed," Lightning said. "Lightning's down to charge the base, running back style."

Jasmine nodded. "Right. So let's see… Beth and Sugar can be a pair, I'll go with Lightning, and Heather, you can guard the flag."

Heather raised a brow. "Uh, no. I need to be out there in the field. Did you forget I'm a physically capable player? Besides, I'm a small target in the field compared to Sugar and Beth."

"Hey, you callin' me fat?!" Sugar growled. "I ain't no Fatty McFatterson. Them's my neighbors. McFatterson Farms, home of the Great Albino Cow of Alberta!"

"Yeah, she's not fat!" Beth said. "She's a beautiful, big-boned woman!"

Heather blinked. "Uh… what? I wasn't-"

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Oooookay, that kinda makes sense. The strat I mean, not… whatever that jargon was. Sugar's a great defender, soooo, Beth can go with Heather."

Beth raised a hand. "Uh, I don't really want to. Not after she was mean to my friend."

"Oh my god," Heather groaned. "It's one challenge. You'll live."

Jasmine shook her head in frustration. "Okay, then how about this. Heather comes with me, Beth goes with Lightning, Sugar mans the watchtower and defends the flag until we need her on the field. Sound good, mates?"

Everyone just kinda shrugged and gave ho-hum "Yeah" answers.

"Good. Now let's crack open that chest and see our goodies."

Confessional

"I swear, the only thing that can cost us the win today is in-fighting," Jasmine said. "Sugar and I have bad blood I have zero interest in keeping her around, Beth and Heather are at odds, and Lightning's been fighting with Sugar over nothing sometimes. So yeah, we're a little fractured right now. But hopefully our drive to win can make up for that bad bizzo."

(static)

"Of course I wasn't going to let everyone go off without me," Heather said, her legs crossed as she painted her nails. "My strategy is make sure all the fractures on this team stay fractured, and make them widen. Then, if we lose the challenge, I simply join the faction I feel most comfortable aligning with and ride them into the merge where I can do whatever I want with their loyalty. I just need to say the right things to the right people."

End Confessional

Over in the Zombie Slayers' fort, planning was… significantly more simple yet more complicated at the same time.

"So," Courtney said, tapping her spear's butt against the dirt. "I… don't know what to do."

"Easy," Scott said. "We outsmart those chumps and get the flag. It's our only shot since there's no way we're taking out everyone on their team."

"And would you happen to have a plan for doing that?" she asked, sounding almost accusatory.

"The best plans are made on the spot. When I was throwing challenges back in the day, most of the time I winged it and it paid off. This time, I use that gut instinct to destroy the other team."

Cody fiddled with the mysterious chest and eventually opened it. "Uh, guys. Come check this out."

The others peered into the chest to see a collection of two dozen clay pots, each having a small hole on top which was plugged with a cork. Also inside the box was an old-fashioned sling: a pouch between two long cords with grips on both ends.

"Well, at least we have a projectile weapon," Cody sighed. "Not that anyone knows how to use it."

"Maybe," Courtney said, holding the sling to see how it felt to use. "I guess you just put a pot in the pouch, swing it around, aaaand..."

She did exactly that, placing a pot in the pouch, grabbing both cords with one hand, and swung overhead like a helicopter until she was ready to fire by releasing one of the cords, sending the pot flying.

Only there was basically no way to aim that way, so the pot smashed right into Scott's chest plate and exploded in a blast of smoke that engulfed the entire trio.

"Oh… come on!" Scott yelled between his horrid coughs.

Confessional

"Okay, maybe the sling isn't my thing," Courtney said sheepishly, covered in soot.

End Confessional

Sugar took her place on the watchtower, her sling and box of smoke bombs ready to go if need be, as the other four waited for the battle to begin near the door. Upon seeing a cloud of smoke rise from the Slayers' fort, Sugar squinted and smirked.

"Looks like them Slayers blew themselves up already. Too easy."

Jasmine grabbed one of the wooden ladders with Heather's help and nodded to the watcher. "Just make sure you don't sabotage our own team with those smoke bombs. One strike and you're out."

"Oh puh-lease," Sugar retorted, putting on a mocking voice. "I fiddled with these kinda slings back home all the time. This is a country gal's kinda weapon. Normally I get squirrels and rabbits with it though. But enemy team members ain't too different, I guess."

Jasmine narrowed her eyes. "Riiight. Just remember the technique I showed you. Loop around the finger, figure eight swing or overhead toss, then release the knotted cord."

"Yeah, yeah! I got it! Just watch the amazin'-ness when the time comes!"

Suddenly, a loud anthem began playing. Chris, stationed on a taller tower on the side of the battlefield, emerged wearing his classical toga outfit with a gold wreath crown on his head.

"Let the battle begin!" he cheered. "To the death you shall fight!"

Beth blinked. "Uh, I don't think that's an authentic Greek phrase."

"Don't matter, Geeky Girl," Lightning said, readying his stun spear and shield for the charge. "Time for Lightning to strike with his electric jabs! Sha-bam!" One jab forward nearly caught Heather in the butt. She whipped around and yelped.

"Hey, watch the tip! We can't afford to take ourselves out."

"Yeah, weapon safety is important too," Jasmine said. "These things don't have a safety button or anything, so just… be careful. Anyways, just to clear it up again, let Heather and I place the ladder against the wall. Then we all climb over, snag the flag, and get back to our base where Sugar will keep the others at bay from the tower. Got it?"

"Aye-aye," Beth said, saluting the Aussie. "Wait, that's not a Greek saying either. I think."

Across the field, Cody took his place in the tower, but his eyes occasionally drifted to the bright tiling of the housing complex's roof over the treeline, then back to the lone armor on the rack. And as Cody tended to do these days, he sighed. "I hope you show up. We need you."

"Just… do your best, Cody," Courtney called from below. "We'll figure something out. And be ready to lock the doors if the Pantheons show up.

"Time to play dirty," Scott said, cracking his knuckles and grabbing his spear and shield. "Follow my lead and stay down." He flipped the plank out of the lock and pushed the door open, clearing the path for the exes to head into the slightly foggy field.

"So, what's the plan," Courtney asked him, ducking behind the nearest boulder. "Assuming we're actually winging this thing."

"My cousins used to play fort with me back in the day," Scott said with a sly smirk. "One of their favorite strats was called the mud-slinger. That's plan A."

"And what's plan B?"

He shrugged. "How should I know? Fight to the bitter end and hope the pipsqueak doesn't lose it for us?"

"Good enough," she sighed. "And it's not like we're in danger of going home tonight if we do lose. At worst, we tie it up and crush Cody or Gwen in the tiebreaker."

"Yep." Scott collected a bit of soil in each pocket. "Let's get to the trench."

As the Slayer pair snuck across no man's land towards the nearest trench, Sugar lobbed a smoke bomb across the sky.

"Get Sugared, turkeys!"

Scott and Courtney dove into the trench just before the bomb hit the ground and exploded, covering their chunk of the arena in a thick cloud of annoying fumes.

"Let's move," Jasmine said, pushing the doors open and running for their own trench with Heather helping carry the ladder behind her.

Scott peeked up from the trench. "Oh crap! They're bringing their ladder."

Courtney peeked up as well. "Do we engage?"

He gazed back to Cody on the watch tower and gave the kid a loud whistle.

Cody sighed, grabbed a pot, loaded his sling, and attempted a shot. Too bad for him though, because it shot up and impacted on the ceiling, causing a massive coughing fit that echoed across the battle field.

Confessional

"Yeah, we're screwed," Courtney said.

End Confessional

Heather and Jasmine settled down inside their own trench, leaving Beth and Lightning to wait for the signal behind the doors.

"Well, this should be easy," Jasmine said. "Feel like rushin' 'em early or what?"

"No. We can't get cocky or we'll let our guard down. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know something while we're alone without it being all sus."

Jasmine raised a brow. "Sure?"

"Okay, so let's state the obvious..."

Another smoke bomb exploded in the distance, followed by Cody's pitiful sobs and sighs.

"As I was saying," she continued. "Neither of us really have any allies left, and we're both huge threats."

"True."

"So, even if we might not see eye to eye on every single thing, I think we have to stick together. You, me, and a third person like, say… Lightning? The three of us can vote Sugar or Beth out. Either one is fine by me."

Jasmine's eyes narrowed, but eventually she smiled. "Sounds good, mate. Thanks for the offer. Definitely gonna consider it. But let's try not to lose first."

"Oh, definitely."

Confessional

"Phase 1, complete," Heather said. "Now I just need to work the others and all bases will be covered."

(static)

"Do I trust Heather?" Jasmine asked herself. "Heck no! She clearly didn't give a crap about Shawn, and she's known for being a backstabbing dingo since the first season. But I have to admit, her offer's a good bargain since I have literally nobody else aligning with me so far. Still... it's sketchy."

End Confessional

"We gotta bait 'em out," Scott said. "If I can land a mud sling, that's an easy KO."

"If only we had someone to offer as bait," said Courtney, gazing over the rim just in time to see another smoke bomb flying overhead, which impacted a few feet shy of the trench hole. "Cody would normally be expendable, but right now he's our last line of defense!"

"Because of course he is," Scott groaned. "If only Gwen wasn't such a sad sack right now. Then we'd have a fighting chance."

Courtney gazed to the dark soil. "Yeah."

Scott picked up a strange tone in her voice. "Hey, don't feel bad on me. We don't need three people with their heads out of it."

She adjusted herself and gave him a strong, sure nod. "Yeah. Right. Focused. Got it."

As Sugar continued to lob bombs across the battlefield, Lightning waited eagerly to attack, doing push ups in his heavy armor.

"48… 49… 50! Sha-done!"

"Wow, that was cool," Beth said. "You're really good at push-ups. I wish I could do that many... or like, just one."

"I know," Lightning said, completely zoning out during the second half of that reply. "The Lightning loves push-ups. They're his favorite work out cause you can do 'em any time, anywhere, anywho… Uh… any… anyways, Jasmine and Heather better hurry up. I can't wait to kick some Zombie Slayer butt. Nobody benches the Lightning!"

"Awww, you just feel underappreciated," Beth said, putting a caring hand on his shoulder. "I totally relate. A lot of people thought I didn't deserve to make the finale in my season too."

Lightning blinked. "Sha-what? Lightning a bad finalist? Lightning was a fan favorite! Every day, someone out there's like 'Bruh, Lightning was sha-robbed!' and now they're rootin' for him to take home the cash."

Beth blinked right back. "I mean… I've read the fan sites. They don't really think either of us should have been there. Sorry."

Lightning blinked even harder, then cracked a smile. "Aw, stop yankin' my chain, girl."

"But, it's true. I looked at Sierra's poll thread, and there was a ranking of every finalist according to the fan votes. There were like… a lot of votes from all over the world."

He struck a pose as another smokey explosion went off in the distance. "And Lightning was number one!"

Beth cringed. "Uh… not really. Well, at least you were one spot higher than me."

Lightning gave her a curious, almost scared look. "And what sha-place were you in? Second!"

Beth gulped. "Um… last."

The jock's eyes shot wide open and a thin gasp escaped his lips.

Confessional

Lightning growled. "That poll was clearly sha-rigged! Clearly! Lightning would never be second last in a fan vote, ever! He's got so many fans, they gotta block my email from getting anything because the hype would break the internet. Sha-truth!"

(static)

"I feel bad for Lightning," Beth said, rubbing her arm. "He and Sugar are both in the same boat where a lot of fans don't like them, but they don't really get it yet because they just really like winning and being on top. I'm used to being ignored though, so it doesn't bother me. Heck, just making the finale in Action was good enough even if I didn't win the million. But maybe they'll both realize that you can love yourself more than any fan could. But like, I guess I had Brady to get me through the worst parts of my experience. Do Sugar and Lightning have anyone like that? I know Sugar doesn't… But Lightning? Hmmm…" An idea sprung into her head. Just for a second...

End Confessional

"Ugh, this is taking forever," Courtney said. "We can't just sit down here in the mud and wait to lose."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, Princess. But Sugar's barrage of bombs is cramping my plan."

"If you can even call it that. You just scraped mud off the ground."

"Remember: winging it is how I roll." After a brief period with no explosions, Scott peeked back onto the field and stared right into the pointy end of Jasmine's spear.

"G'day, mate," she said with a calm, smug smile. "Just passin' through."

She jabbed the spear down towards Scott's vulnerable neck, but Courtney intercepted with her shield. "Back off! This is our turf! Cody, why didn't you warn us!"

Speaking of the simpy little guy, he was too focused on the tiled roof in the distance to pay attention to the battle going on below. He sighed. Because what else was he supposed to do.

Courtney parried the spear with a thrust of her shield and jabbed at Jasmine. "Cody! Fire! Fire!"

The geek snapped back to the challenge and whipped around to see Jasmine bearing down on his team. Readying his sling, he loaded a shot, prepared to swing, and then stopped. What if he blew himself up again? Was there any other way to fire those pots?

And then it all came together in that big brain of his. The posts holding up the watchtower's top, spaced just right… A couple snapped cords and a couple quick knots later and Cody was ready to test his little invention. Loading a pot into the pouch, he grabbed it from behind, walked back, stretched the cords to their limit, aimed… and let loose.

Jasmine looked up just in time to get a face full of pot. The clay shattered on her helmet, blasting all four of them with smoke and obscuring the battle in progress.

Scott covered his eyes to avoid the initial blast and grabbed his spear, jabbing it up into Jasmine's stomach.

The Aussie convulsed and grabbed the spear in an attempt to pry it away from her body. She almost managed to break contact, but Courtney joined Scott and jabbed her own weapon into Jasmine's leg, taking her to her knees and finally bringing her down into the pit with them. In fact, on top of them!

"Oh crap!" Heather gasped, ditching the ladder and bolting back to the fort. "Woman down! Open the doors! Now!"

As Heather snuck back inside, Courtney and Scott pushed Jasmine's heavy body off and high-fived.

"That's how it's done," he said. "And I didn't even need my clod."

"Yeah, well you'll be a clod when I get control back," Jasmine groaned, flipping herself over to face them. "You got five minutes until you're both goin' down."

Scott and Courtney shared a quick gaze, glanced back to Jasmine and smiled.

"Well, I get we'll get out of your hair," Courtney said, hopping out of the trench, grabbing Team Pantheon's ladder, and leaping across the gap. "Let's go, Scott. I snagged us a souvenir."

Scott happily joined her in retreating. "Nice! That's how you wing it."

Jasmine's nostrils flared. "Hey! What the heck?! Get back here with that you thieves!"

Sugar fired a couple shots at the retreating, ladder-carrying Slayers, but they were too far out of range by the time she was loaded up and managed to escape back into their fort. "Crud! They stole our ladder! How are y'all gonna get over that wall now?"

"I dunno," Lightning said, casting a mean look at Heather. "But I do know you just let 'em take it. Sha-traitor!"

Heather smacked her forehead. "Oh please. I couldn't carry that thing myself and Jasmine was down. Give me a break."

"This sha-stinks!" Lightning groaned. "We ain't got a way over their wall anymore unless we just bust down that door and run the ball straight into enemy territory."

Sugar peered down from the watchtower. "Yeah. We ain't got a battery dam either."

"You mean a battering ram?" Beth asked.

"Oh… Yeah, that thing. Big log or somethin' heavy."

Heather tapped her foot impatiently. "Well, once Jasmine comes back to life, we can figure out a new plan. Those three might have gotten the upper hand, but they are not beating us today. Count on that."

Scott slammed the plank into the lock and collapsed into the dirt. "Way to play dirty out there," he said between gasps. "Whew! Winging it really takes it outta ya."

Courtney rubbed the soot out of her face and sighed with relief. "It's not a huge victory, but it's something." She looked up to the tower. "Nice shooting, Cody."

"Thanks." Cody flashed a faint smile before returning to his melancholic daze. "I just wish Gwen was here to see it," he whispered, looking once more at the roof over yonder.

"What's the strat now?" Scott asked. "We have both ladders and a better slingshot system, so why not play defense for a while. Let 'em tire themselves out and then we crush 'em when they're weak."

Courtney nodded along. "I'd hate to waste a second when Jasmine's on the ground, but there's no way we'd be able to make a run for their flag and get back before she's up and running. And by running, I mean running over us. So, yeah, defense time. We need to man the walls and make sure they don't find a way inside."

"Sounds like a plan," Scott said.

Duncan soaked up that sun as he lounged on the beach, enjoying the surrounding peace and quiet despite his mind being anything but peaceful. All he could think about was last night's blindside. Courtney, Cody, and Scott... If he got back in the game, he'd come straight for them and make them pay. He knew his odds of winning the whole thing were already low to begin with, but at the very least he could leave his mark before officially exiting the game.

But there was one other issue he had to deal with before he could make that dream become reality. And it came in the form of a shadow looming behind him.

"Did you eat my fruit stash?" Sky asked, hovering menacingly over the bad boy with a sneer across her face like a splash of hideous paint. "I told you it was mine, and mine only."

Duncan opened one eye and snorted. "Uh, no. I didn't eat your stupid food. I've just been chilling since I got here."

"Oh, really? Well I went for a workout on the training course and now it's gone."

"Hey, don't look at me, toots. It was probably some hungry animal, or you've been out here too long and the island's playing tricks on you."

Sky huffed angrily and left the scene. "Well, if I catch you stealing my stuff, you're going to get it from me."

Duncan went back to chilling, a smirk on his face.

Underworld Confessional

"Yeah, I stole her food," Duncan said as he cleaned up in the surf. "What of it? She told me she wasn't going to feed me because she was here to win or whatever, so I said screw that and nabbed it the second she left. Hey, man, if you're going to starve me, you're playing dirty. And I can play dirty too. Anyways, since we didn't have a challenge today, I figured why not mess with her head a little."

(static)

"I know Duncan stole it," Sky said, glaring off into the distance as she leaned against a tree. "I've explored the island and learned about everything from Jasmine, and there's nothing else out here that steals that much food that fast. But whatever. I just need to crush him in the next challenge and show him that no matter how much he steals, sportsmanship and fairness always wins out." Despite the uplifting nature of her words, Sky's face was sinister and malicious. Spooky even.

End Underworld Confessional

As the two of them laid in the bungalow later that day, Sky turned over to face him. "I'm going to get back in the game and make Gwen pay for what she did to me. You can't stop me."

Duncan's eyes shot open. "Lay off my girl, dude. You're so bitter."

"And you're not?"

"Uh, I'm bitter because someone I was in an alliance with stabbed me in the back that same day. The same chick I kept around over a guaranteed ally and bud when she was doomed to go home. It pisses me off."

"Yeah, well I'm bitter because someone I cared about played with my emotions and made me feel used. That pisses me off."

Duncan rolled his eyes. "You knew Gwen for less than a week. Get over it."

"And it was a good week," she argued back. "I felt heard and understood for the first time in months!"

"Yeah, well guess what? It's a game, sweetheart. People get voted out and your time was up. Deal with it."

Sky huffed and puffed, finally resorting to grabbing one of the figs under her bed and devouring it. "Whatever. I'm still going to take her down."

"Not if I have anything to say about it. And just so you know, again, she was pretty cut up over what she did. Maybe give her a chance instead of going into rage mode."

Sky's fury almost staggered. Almost. "She's still going down. I'm not giving second chances anymore. It burned me last time with Dave. Not again." She stared out to sea, picking up the faintest traces of smoke hovering over Temple Island.

Jasmine rested against the back wall as the other Pantheons gathered around. "I can't believe they stole our ladder. That bites. Big time."

"But it's not over," Beth said. "We just have to think positive."

"Yeah," Lightning said. "We might have lost the battle, but the war rages on."

"They ain't leavin' their fort either," Sugar said, gazing down from above. "Looks like they're gonna take what they can get. Kinda like a scavenger on roadkill, but with wood instead dead animals."

"We have to find a way inside that fort," said Jasmine. "Front door's obvi. Bust it down, zap 'em all, and we win. Or just grab the flag and run for it. I'd offer to let you all stand on my shoulders, but that's just a ticket to zap-ville since we'll be exposed for so long."

"So, the siege is the way to go," Heather said. "Good. Now that we have that clarified, we need to figure out a plan. Jasmine?"

The Aussie shrugged. "I dunno. I guess just launch a five person assault on the place and take out Cody in the watchtower. Then we can bash the door in with our body weight and take it from there. Sorry if ya wanted some big plan with blueprints and in-episode cutaways for each person, but this… really isn't that kinda challenge."

"If ya need someone to bust through a door, I'm your gal," Sugar said. "Just call me the Sugarnaut."

"And I'm the Sha-ggernaut," said Lightning, proudly thumping his chest.

"Add me to that and we might actually have the strength to beat that door down," Jasmine said, scratching her chin in thought. "Well, if we coordinate our attack."

"And then we whip out our dories and zap our way to victory!" cheered Beth.

It wasn't just Sugar and Lightning who were confused. Jasmine and Heather also raised some brows.

"Uh, what's a dory?" Sugar asked. "That some kinda weird animal I ain't tasted yet? Got some on ya?"

"Oh, that's the name of these spears," Beth said, casually striking around with her weapon and narrowing missing Heather's face. "I learned it in my Mythology class."

"Oh my god, stop stabbing these things all willy nilly!" she growled. "Especially at me!"

Beth winced. "Oops. Sorry, Heather."

Confessional

Beth looked conflicted. "Okay, so I wasn't really sorry, because stunning Heather would be really funny. But I also don't want to be voted off for accidentally sabotaging the team, so she's right even if it hurts to admit it."

(static)

"You know," Heather said. "Between Lightning and Beth almost zapping me today, I'm finding it harder to decide what side of the team I want to work with. I still need to talk to Sugar to see where her head's at, but it's between her and Jasmine. Beth and Lightning are secondary concerns. They'll go wherever the big dogs tell them to go." She smirked. "And I'm going to be the biggest dog in the kennel very, very soon."

End Confessional

"Anything, Cody?" Courtney asked, glancing up to find the geek listlessly staring off again. "Cody!"

He snapped out of his daze and almost stumbled out of the tower, but caught himself on a post. "Uh, what?"

"She wants to know if anything happening with the other team," Scott said. "Now stop being a sad sack and do your job before we vote you out tonight... Not that you wouldn't be the obvious pick," he said under his breath.

Cody did what he did best, sighed, and glanced back to the battlefield. His eyes widened and a single phrase erupted from his stammering lips. "At-tt-t-ATTACK!"

Scott and Courtney burst into action and ran up to the top of the wall. There to greet them in the field below was the entire quintet of Pantheons, armed with their spears and shields while Beth and Sugar carried the smoke bomb chest in the rear.

Jasmine smirked. "Oi."

Courtney immediately went into panic mode. "Cody! Fire!"

With a dazed stumble, Cody loaded a pot into his slingshot and fired at Jasmine, who casually volleyed it to the side with a swipe of her shield.

"Nice try, mate. But I'm prepped for ya this time. Now open those gates of yours before things get ugly!"

Lightning jabbed his spear towards the three enemies. "Yeah, or else we'll sha-shatter that door off its hinges and… Uh… and… And sha-shock you real bad! Sha-bam!"

"What he said!" Sugar chanted.

Courtney crossed her arms. "Okay, well have fun with that. We have the high ground. And both ladders. And a slingshot you can actually aim. All you have are the numbers."

"Yeah," Scott said, sneering. "You should be the ones giving up here."

Heather glanced to Jasmine and nodded. "Do it."

Jasmine narrowed her eyes, tossed her spear in the air, caught it at its midpoint, and hurled it with lightning speed (not that Lightning) towards Cody's perch in the tower.

The tech geek let out a quick "EEEP!" and ducked for his life, but Jasmine wasn't aiming for Cody. No, she had another target in mind. With the force of Jasmine's toss, the otherwise dull spear impacted the slingshot's pouch, snapping the cords and tearing the weapon to pieces before his eyes. Once it cut through, the spear landed with a thud in the tower's ceiling.

"Oh crap! My invention!" he screamed, grabbing a couple smoke bombs and desperately tossing them at the enemy. And once again, Jasmine and Lightning volleyed them away.

"Nice try, nerdling!" came Heather.

Cody ducked out of the tower, attempting to dislodge Jasmine's spear from the ceiling before he left and failing. That thing was lodged in there good and tight. Basically a sword in the stone situation. Er, more like spear in the ceiling.

"Lightning, Sugar, time to bust it down," Jasmine said. "Use your shields for padding if you need to."

Both ex-villains shared a nod and charged at the door with a horrifyingly annoying roar, slamming their shields into the barricade shoulders first. It didn't budge.

"Crud! That's one tough piece a' wood," Sugar gasped. "We gotta hit it again!"

"Hey, back off the door!" Scott shouted, kneeling down overhead in an attempt to harpoon himself a Pantheon. "Get away! Go home! Back where you came from!" Too bad for Scott the spear wasn't long enough to land a direct blow. All he could do was kinda wave it around their heads. Any further and he'd risk falling off or dropping the spear for the enemy to grab. Then they'd really be screwed.

"Scott, we need to barricade the door," Courtney whispered. "That thing won't hold on its own."

Scott let out a frustrated sigh and retreated from the edge. "Good call." Then she gave her a little wink. "Tell me what to do some more."

Grabbing him by the arm, she tugged him back to ground level. "Not the time."

Confessional

"Without our slingshot, we're basically screwed," Courtney said. "All we can do is barricade the door and hope the others tire themselves out before they actually break in. Which… might not be long."

End Confessional

As Sugar and Lightning continued their full frontal assault on the Slayers' doors, Scott and Courtney worked to pad their defenses. First came the heavy smoke bomb chest, now rendered useless without a method of firing it. Then came the empty armor and weapon racks. Then both ladders. And… that was about it outside of their own bodies.

"Those doors aren't going to hold," Cody whined. "We'll never be able to fight off all of them."

Courtney pushed against the barricade with all her might as the shuddering continued. "We'll put up one heck of a fight then. And go down swinging."

A clay pot soared over the wall and landed dead center in their fort, dispersing foul smoke across the sanctum. As the coughing ceased, Scott yelled to the door.

"Hey, knock it off! Is busting down the door not enough for you?!"

Jasmine loaded another shot into her sling and aimed with the same arc as before. "Nah, mate! I'm here to win. Second chances don't grow on trees!"

Cody dove out of the way as another pot exploded. Then another. And another. And another. Each time, he screamed a little louder until he was outright shrieking.

"Ahh!"

"Ahhhh!"

"AHHHH!"

"Music to my ears," Heather said.

Sugar eventually stumbled back and rubbed her shoulder. "Aww, I'm feelin' it now. I gotta sit down for a minute."

"Kay," Jasmine said. "I'll step in and help Lightning."

The Pahkitew girls swapped places. Sugar took the sling, and now Jasmine was launching herself into the door. And it started to crack ever so-slightly.

Heather approached the tired Sugar and sat by her side. "Hey, mind if we had a quick chat?"

Sugar, panting like a dog, shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Great. Anyways, you're totally down to vote out Jasmine if we lose, right?"

She pageant queen rolled her eyes. "Duh. That Jasmine's one nasty tick on my butt. Been one since last season. Why? You down to vote her out too?"

Heather nodded. "Of course. She's clearly the biggest threat at the merge and nobody's going to beat her. Plus, with Sky and Duncan in the running to return, we need to make sure there aren't two returnees in the game. That's totally an alliance right there. And it just makes sense for us villains to stick together. There are only so many of us left after all."

Sugar rubbed her chin. "Hmmm. I didn't need a reason to vote Jasmine, but that's a mighty fine bargain yer sellin' if I do say so myself. I'm in, and I'll get Beth on board too."

"Perfect," Heather said with the tone of an overly polite server. "I'll leave you to your recovery then."

Beth watched the whole thing from afar, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed.

Confessional

"Okay, is it just me, or is Heather trying to get Sugar in an alliance?" Beth asked. "Because I've been there and I know what it looks like. If she is, we can't work with her! Sugar might be seen as a villain, but I know deep inside she doesn't have to be one. She wanted me to learn how to play hard… So I guess it's my time to shine."

(static)

"And that's all I had to do," Heather said. "Jasmine and Sugar both think I'm with them, so now I just sit back, watch the fireworks fly when they inevitably gun for each other, and I get to choose which side comes with me to final three. That's strategy 101. You don't have to make the fire. You just have to get a spark and let it do its thing."

(static)

"Heather and I ain't really close, and we ain't talked that much," Sugar said. "But if she's down to clown on Jasmine, I'm all for it. And sendin' Jasmine home again is gonna be like winnin' the Little Miss Muskrat Pageant… three years in a row!" Her face drooped and she began to cry. "And I only won two of 'em! The trag-uh-deeeeeee-he-he-heeee!" She wiped the tears away with a page ripped from the nearest book. "Sorry… It's just... a little traumatic."

End Confessional

The door cracked a little more as bombs continued to rain down inside the Slayers fortress. Scott noticed the splintering wood and nervously looked at Courtney. "Uh, a little problem here!"

"We're hosed any minute now," Courtney grunted. "Just be ready to go balls to the wall on them. This is our last stand… All three of us." She shot Cody with a dagger-like glare as the guy sat on the chest staring off miserably into the sky. And would you guess that he sighed? Yes. Yes he did.

"Dude, do you want to go home?" said Scott. "Get off your butt and help brace this thing… with something other than your butt!"

Oh wow, another sigh from Cody.

Courtney finally lost it. "Oh my god! Stop sighing for five minutes! You're not even trying to win! Do you want to go home?! Do you?!"

Cody sniffled. A change of pace. "We need Gwen."

"Well, Gwen's not here," Scott said. "So suck it up and help push!"

"No, we have to get her out of her funk," Cody said, looking lively again. "If we have all four of us here, we could win in a fight. Or at least we'd have a chance. Look, I feel bad about letting her down. We all let her down last night."

Scott sneered. "I didn't!"

"But you did." Cody pointed to Courtney. "All Gwen wanted was to start fresh on a new season. That meant leaving all the baggage in the past. And boy did she have a lot. But she's hurting right now because it's too much to handle. She hurt Sky, and we hurt her. I hurt her. So… if we want to win this thing, we have to make things right and apologize. Both of us!"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Let her have her agency and stop simping over her. She'll never date you, Cody!"

"And that's okay!"

Courtney shut her trap.

"She might think she wants out," Cody continued, "but I know there's still a chance for her to get through this and finally end a season on a high note again. Without all the baggage and drama hanging over her head. That's why she kept coming back. She wanted to tie up loose ends and ended up creating more of them! The only way to make her happy is to tie those ends up ourselves instead of forcing her to handle everything!" He took a second to stare them down. "I'm going to talk to her."

"Don't you dare," Scott growled. "If you leave, you're dooming the team!"

"Then vote me out if we lose! I don't care! I'll vote myself out if I leave a friend to feel this bad!" Cody bolted for the stairs, perched himself on the edge of the wall, and bit his lip. "I have to do this. For her." And then he was gone.

Courtney was fuming as the door splintered more. "Cody! Get back here! Cooooody! Oh he is so dead if we lose this. Ugh, not that he cares."

Confessional

"If Cody wants to save Gwen so bad, then let him," Courtney huffed angrily. "Let him just throw away the reputation he was earning. I'll drop his coin in the urn tonight if it lets me make the merge. Happily."

End Confessional

Cody ran as fast as he jelly-feeling legs could carry him all the way back to the housing complex. He stumbled up the stairs, bee-lined it for Gwen's door, and knocked at a rapid pace.

"Gwen! Gwen, please! Open up! We need you!"

Nothing.

"I'm sorry!" he pleaded, falling to his knees and falling forehead first into the door. "I know I screwed up! I was jealous and bitter about Duncan and I wanted to prove myself, but I forgot what was really important: us being friends. I don't care if you never go out with me! I still think you're the coolest chick I've ever met and I don't want to lose you because of some stupid game! Just open the door and help us! Please!"

Still nothing.

"I hurt you with what I did last night," he continued, his voice fading as he started to sniffle and his big, puppy-dog eyes appeared. "I should have considered how you'd feel instead of being selfish. That's my fault. I just don't want you to hate me and lose the game because of it. We still have a chance to win the challenge and make things right. But we need you. I need you!"

A squeak from inside rattled his heart. The knob rattled and the door opened.

"Hey," Gwen said, dressed in her pajamas with bags under her eyes and her hair a messy nest. "I… I'm not mad at you."

Cody winced. "You're not?"

Gwen sighed. "Well, a little bit. You went behind my back and it stings, but... I can't blame you. I'm mad at myself more than anyone. That's why I'm fine with going home tonight. Even after sleeping on it, I just… don't need to stay here anymore. It's not worth it for own sanity. I've been through enough drama on this show to last a lifetime. So just... keep your chin up and win it for me, okay?" She almost smiled. Almost.

Cody shook his head furiously. "N-no! I'm going home if we lose! I'm voting myself off! I don't deserve to stay here if I'm going to stab my friend in the back like that. That's not how I want to play."

Gwen narrowed her eyes. "What? Why? You have a chance to win, Cody. You can't just throw that away because of my issues. Plus, don't you want to like, redeem your image or something?"

That hit Cody in the heart. His goal from the beginning was always to prove he belonged on a season of the greats. To prove he wasn't a fluke floater who made the final three by riding Sierra's coattails. To prove he was capable of more than simping on Gwen and losing the million in embarrassing fashion. But he had another idea in mind now. "I thought being a legend meant controlling all the votes and taking your enemies down. But… I don't want to play like that anymore. That's how a bad guy plays. Even if it's just a game, I don't wanna be the bad guy. I want to be a good friend. Maybe that's what a real Total Drama legend is all about. And I can't call myself a legend if my mistakes cost you the game! I'd just be a loser..."

Gwen looked at her feet. "Well… I guess you have a point. But like, why should I stay? Courtney betrayed me again, I hurt Sky's feelings big time, and… All the people I really cared about are gone. Except for you. The Playa sounds pretty good right now. And you don't need me distracting you."

"But you still have me. I'm here for you, and you're not distracting me. You're helping me! From now on, I'll never go behind your back again. If we win, we win together. If we lose, we lose together. All the way to the finale. I promise. And if you stay, you have a chance to end this season on a high note. Just please don't quit like this!" Cody put his hands together and begged, his face contorting with sappy desperation.

Gwen remained silent for a good minute as Cody's eyes got wider and wider and wider.

Then she felt it. That twinge of guilt, deeper than ever. But... a different type of guilt. A guilt that pulled her into the light instead of submerging her in darkness. Stupid puppy-dog eyes.

"Okay... What's the challenge?" she finally asked with an annoyed sigh.

Chris watched the battle play out from his host's tower, eating grapes fed to him by a lanky looking intern. "Seems like Team Pantheon's about to make a breakthrough. That door won't hold for loooong, hehe." His brief chortle caused a grape to slide down his throat and he suddenly started choking. "Gkk! Glllllkkk!"

The intern gasped and attempted the Heimlich Maneuver, forcing the fruit out of her boss' throat with a loud, gross cough.

"Ugh! Thanks," he said. "I might have to give you a raise."

The intern beamed with joy and hope.

"Or not. Gotta watch the budget. Know what I mean?"

She slumped forward and continued feeding her boss. The echo of cracking wood and cheering drew both sets of eyes to the Zombie Slayers fortress.

Scott yelped as a buzzing spear shot through a large crack in the door, missing him by an inch. As the spear retreated, a sinister face appeared in the hole.

"Heeeere's Sugar! Y'all open up! Last chance to surrender before we zap ya!"

Courtney pushed harder as the door creaked to its breaking point. "Not a chance."

Outside, Sugar, Lightning, and Jasmine were back on the offensive, striking together as a trio to shatter the door to pieces. Just a few more coordinated body slams and the path to victory would be clear.

"Get ready," Courtney told Scott. "This is it."

Another smash into the door.

The dirt farmer readied his dory and shield. "Roger that."

The cracks grew wider as the loudest smash yet echoed through the fort.

Both Slayers readied their spears and stepped away from the impending chaos.

"In case we don't make it," said Scott, "I want you to know gruel tasted better when I ate it off your face last season."

Courtney glared the man down. "First off, we're not actually dying. And secondly..." Her glare morphed into a mildly amused smirk. "That's honestly sweet. Gross and pervy, but sweet."

The door finally gave out and the barricade collapsed, leaving shattered wood everywhere as Jasmine, Heather, Beth, Lightning, and Sugar marched through in formation.

"Any last words, mates?" Jasmine asked. "Ya know, before we wreck your biz?"

Lightning jabbed his spear towards them, nearly hitting Heather again. "Yeah, you punks are sha-done!"

Heather took the chance to conk the jock on the noggin. "Watch. It."

Courtney and Scott looked at each other, at the red flag behind them, then back to the enemies.

"No chance we're giving up," Courtney said. "Bring it on!"

"My pleasure," Sugar said, charging forward with a devilish shriek, followed by Beth, Lightning, and Heather, all with their spears held high. Jasmine, her spear being stuck in the smoking watch tower, acted as the general staying behind the line and giving orders if need be.

"Pair up!" she ordered. "Two on each one of 'em!"

"Got it!" Lightning said, dragging Heather by the arm to face off against Courtney while Sugar and Beth handled Scott.

"Oh I'm going to enjoy this," Heather said, jabbing at Courtney who parried her and Lightning's thrusts with shield swipes.

Courtney attempted a jab herself when the smallest window opened, but missed between the two attackers. "Oh come on, this is so unfair!" she whined. "Half our team went AWOL!"

"Sha-yeah!" Lightning boasted. "The wimp knew he didn't stand no chance against the Lightning and bailed on you guys!"

As Courtney defended herself, Scott glared at the fellow farmers as he parried their thrusts in a similar fashion. "Guess my farmer's intuition won't work on you, huh?"

Sugar managed to land a jab on Scott's leg, forcing him to stumble back. "Nah, you gotta get up pretty early to beat me in a pageant like this!"

Quickly recovering, Scott fended them off with a side swipe and put some distance between him and the girls. "Lady, I get up waaaay earlier than you. Bet on it. And this isn't some girly, prissy pageant! Not that you'd ever win if it was! I thought only pretty girls won those..."

Beth saw Scott attempt and long jab and stepped in front of Sugar to block with her shield. "Hey, don't be mean! Sugar is a beautiful young woman with goals and aspirations!"

"Suuure," Scott droned, finding himself backed into the team's flag. And then it hit him. Another burst of that Big 'Winging It' Energy. With a smirk, he ripped the flag out of the ground and jammed it between his back and the straps keeping his chest plate on. "Try and capture a flag on the move, honey!" With a snicker, he booked it to the stairs with Beth and Sugar in hot pursuit.

"Hey, get back here with that!" said Beth.

"Nice thinking, Scott!" Courtney called out, finding herself inching slowly towards the corner where she'd be a total sitting duck.

Jasmine rolled her eyes as the chaos moved upstairs. "Just rip the flag off him, girls. Tie him up and strip him down if you have to! And Lightning, get physical!"

Lightning perked up as he received a command. "Physical? Sha-sure thing!"

Courtney's eyes went wide as Lightning dropped his dory, tossed his shield, and charged full speed. "Oh f-"

The jock slammed into her shield and grabbed its edges, attempting to pull it away from her tight grip. "Let go, bossy girl!"

"No, you let go!" Courtney said, raising the shield high enough to land a deadly shin between Lightning's legs.

The jock crumbled to the ground with a wheeze. "Uggggh… My sha-kiwis… Ooohoohooo..."

Courtney attempted to go for a jab, but Heather was on her like a bee on a flower, having ditched her shield for Lightning's dory to become a dual-wielder. With just a couple swings, she repelled Courtney from landing a critical blow.

"Low blow, Miss B-I-T-C-H!"

Courtney growled and swung back, meeting Heather's left spear with her own as her shield shifted up and down to block the other. "It's C-I-T, Miss My Million Got Dropped in a Volcano!"

The queen bee felt that one. Her nostrils flared and with all her rage, she unleashed a fury of strikes, breaking through Courtney's defenses and landing two quick blows on her legs. With a yelp, the CIT fell to her knees and continued blocking those strikes as best she could, but she only had so much fight left in her.

Scott on the other hand was running for his life along the wall as Sugar and Beth gave chase. Jasmine, finding herself in a key position to land a ranged blow, grabbed the sling and loaded it with a smoke bomb. "Look out, girls! Incoming!"

Scott, distracted for just a second by the warning, went up in smoke as the pot exploded against the wall beneath him.

"Chaaaarge!" Beth and Sugar roared in unison, diving into the dark cloud with spears forward as a brawl broke out. Grunts, moans, and yelps rang out and Scott toppled down to earth with a high-pitched yell… right as Jasmine's feet.

"G'day," she said, casually stabbing the spear into his butt and causing the dirt farmer to squirm around in shock until he was totally down for the count. With a smirk, she snagged the flag from his back. "Thanks, mate."

"Oh crap!" said Courtney. "Scott, get up! Now! That's an order!"

Beth and Sugar, still in the smoke, didn't realize Scott had fallen out of the fray and continued stabbing around.

"Where'd ya go, you varmint!"

"Yeah, show yourself!"

"Oh, I think I got him!"

"Ow! Sugar, no!"

"Hey! Don't be impersonatin' by farmie, ginger! Ow! Hey, knock it off!"

"Sorry!"

In the chaos, both girls fell off the wall and landed on Jasmine, taking all four players into a sweaty, dirty dog pile with the flag… somewhere in the mix.

Jasmine growled and tried to shove those heavy bodies off her own. "Get off of me, you bludgers!"

Beth and Sugar, dazed from the fall, couldn't even comprehend what happened. Scott on the other hand was under the entire mess.

Confessional

"Heh, if you told me I'd be under three ladies this season, I'd tell you not to get my hopes up," Scott said with a smirk, which quickly turned to a look of pain and unease. "But after actually being under three ladies? Never again!"

(static)

"That Scott was squirmin' like a lamprey in a spaghetti store," Sugar said, a mean look on her face. "I haven't forgotten about my quest for a man out here, and after that pathetic display and callin' me ugly, Scott's off the list… Not that I really had a list, but still! He ain't on it if I do make one! Sugar needs a man who ain't a squirmer, and that Scott's the squirmiest one of all."

End Confessional

Jasmine finally heaved the girls off and stumbled to her feet, the flag in hand after all that chaos. "We won! Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"Not so fast, Jas," Chris sounded off from his tower. "You still have to get the flag back to your base."

"Oh, right on it!" With a confident jog, she headed for the exit. "Finish Courtney off and let's move," she called to her teammates. "We're gonna sweep this one both ways."

Courtney, still fending off Heather and a doubled-over, in-pain Lightning, staggered back on her feet and delivered a shocking blow to Lightning's groin when she chance finally showed itself, finally taking him out for good as Heather was distracted by Jasmine's momentary success.

"No!" Courtney cried out, hobbling after the Aussie as she casually strolled out the busted gates. "Get back here!"

Heather quickly caught up and yanked her back by the armor. "Nope!"

"Should've just surrendered," Jasmine sighed happily, twirling the flag around like color guard equipment. "Merge, here I-AHHHHHHHghghghghgh!"

All eyes flocked to Jasmine's side, where a lone spear met her midriff from behind the wall. The titan collapsed in horror and the flag fell by her side.

"W-w-what?" was all she could muster upon seeing her attacker.

"Sorry, but we're winning this time," Gwen said, snatching the flag off the ground and handing it to Cody, appearing by her side with a hopeful smile.

Jasmine growled. "What the heck?! You can't just enter the challenge like this! You're not even wearing armor!"

"Correction!" Chris announced. "If you're on the field, you're in the fight! And it looks like a new challenger appears!" He let out an annoyed sigh. "Finally."

Sugar rubbed her sore head as Beth helped her to her feet. "What the heck's going on?"

"No way!" Heather roared, tossing Courtney aside after finally knocking her out with a long jab to the leg.

"Yes way," Cody said, handing Gwen his helmet. "Let's give it all we got."

Courtney was speechless as Gwen charged into battle against Heather. Absolutely speechless.

Confessional

"She… She actually came back," Courtney said, still stunned, mentally at least.

End Confessional

Gwen dodged Heather's double jabs and ducked just in time for Cody to toss his shield Captain America style to smack her dead in the face.

"Ah! Stupid dork!" She went for another jab at Gwen's totally vulnerable chest, but the goth snuck her spear between her rival's helmet and chest piece to deliver a solid, connecting jab at the collar.

Heather let one last electric scream fly and face-planted in the dirt.

"That honestly felt good," Gwen said, taking a second spear for herself and letting Cody take the last one on Heather's body. "That's for talking me into betraying Sky. Last time I ever listen to you again, Old Heather."

Heather angrily mumbled into the dirt.

"Yeah, don't really care," the goth said, readying for one last battle as Beth and Sugar raised their weapons.

"We're not letting you steal this win from us, Pasty!" Sugar barked. "You can't just enter a pageant in the finals and win the whole thing! That ain't fair!"

"As if you know what fair is," Gwen said, charging alongside Cody to take on the pageant queen one on one as he took on Beth.

"I don't want to hurt you," Beth said meekly to Cody. "But… We have to win. Sorry!"

Cody shrugged and dodged Beth's weak strike, opting to poke her in the leg until she hit the ground in a daze. Easy peasy.

"Sorry back at ya," he said.

"No problem," she groaned.

It was two vs one. Gwen and Cody vs Sugar. The latter was exhausted and sweating like a pig, but she wasn't done. Not even close to it.

"Bring it on, y'all! Get Sugaaaaaaaaaaaaared!"

The pageant queen charged, beating Cody aside with her shield and barely missing Gwen's midriff with her spear. Gwen tried to land a jab, but Sugar whipped her shield around like a frisbee and parried what could have been the final blow to Team Pantheon's hopes of winning.

Cody quickly got on his feet again and let out a pathetic grunt as he jabbed at Sugar, hitting her armor rather than any weak points.

"Buzz off!" she growled, yeeting her shield Cody's way and knocking him down with a nasty hit to the stomach. "And you!" she said to Gwen. "I ain't losin' this here pageant to some vampire gal! Never!"

Gwen let the comment roll off her back, just shrugging at Sugar's attempt to rile her up. "I've been called worse." Another jab. And another. And another. And eventually the two locked spear shafts and pushed against each other, neither intending to give an inch.

"Just give it up!" Sugar taunted between gasps. "Y-you ain't gonna beat me in mayo-uh-mayo combat!"

Gwen pushed harder with a loud grunt. "Yeah, well I'm not letting a friend vote himself off tonight. So how about you give up." The force of her thrust knocked Sugar back, allowing Gwen a quick blow to Sugar's arm.

"Yeep!" The pageant queen stumbled back, her shield-bearing arm rendered useless. "Oh that's it, missy! You're gettin' double Sugared now! Time for my ultimate move!" She raised her spear high, twirled it around, wound up a throw… "Super! Sugar! Spear! Huuuuuurl!"

Gwen gasped, frozen in shock as the electrified point cut through the dusty air on a path straight to her face. Out the corner of her eye, a twiggy shape leaped between her and the spear, seemingly in slow-motion.

"Nooooo!" Cody bellowed, diving just in time to take the spear to the gnards and collapse face-first, clutching his kiwis.

Sugar nervously chuckled, rubbing her neck. "Huh, any chance your one of them girls-supportin'-girls types?"

Gwen rolled her eyes and jabbed her spear into Sugar's gut, sending her hair up in a frizzy eruption as the final Pantheon member fell.

"Oh. And that's for Mike and Zoey."

"And Gwen clutches the win for the Zombie Slayers!" Chris cheered over the loudspeakers. "It's a comeback of the century! And the ratings go wild!"

Jasmine's eye twitched as every bad memory of her last loss came flooding back to her. "Noooooooo..."

Courtney flipped onto her back. "W-we won? We won! Yes!" A shadow engulfed her form as Gwen stood over her. "Uh… hey."

Gwen sighed, offering her old friend a hand. "Just so we're clear, I did this for Cody, not for you."

Courtney stumbled to her feet, having to lean on Gwen's shoulder for support. "But-"

"Look, Courtney, outside of this game, maybe we can make things work with some time. A lot of it. But as long as there's money on the line, it's not gonna happen until you prove you can value your friends over this stupid game."

Courtney let her head hang limp. "Ugh, you're still mad at me… Figures."

"We're done," Gwen replied. "For now. Let's just leave it at that until this mess is over."

Courtney wanted to counter with every word in her vocabulary, but… she let it go. For now. For now indeed.

Confessional

"So that was a mess of a day," Gwen said. "I went from wanting to quit to… I guess wanting to stick around? But only because I realized what this season is all about for me. I came here wanting a shot at the money and to leave all that Gen One baggage in the past, but now… I just want to end this season on a high note and tie up loose ends, win or lose, so I never have to come back to this dump of a show again. Bury some hatchets, exorcise some demons, ya know."

(static)

"Well, that could have gone worse." Courtney sighed. "I guess I don't feel that bad about what I did to Gwen now since she took it better than I thought, but… Her words still sting. Just because I'm here to win at all costs doesn't give her the right to say I don't care about people. That's just inaccurate. It's not my fault she's not playing as hard as I am, and in a season like this, you play hard or go home."

End Confessional

"Well that sha-sucked," Lightning groaned, sitting around a table in the courtyard with the rest of his team. "Lightning was supposed to win that challenge in a landslide."

"We overestimated how easy they'd be to beat," Beth said, tapping at her gruel dinner with a fork. "But… I guess that's just another way to say we underestimated them with more steps."

"It was a BS loss," Jasmine said, huffing and puffing with her arms crossed and brow furled. "Chris letting Gwen enter the challenge late and fully rested is so unfair even if we still had the numbers. If you're not around from the start, you shouldn't be allowed in. Same goes for Cody goin' MIA. But... whatever."

Sugar snorted. "That's just hippo-critical. Weren't you voted out first?"

Jasmine glared daggers her way. "Yeah. Because you flipped on me. And for the record, I'm putting your coin in the urn tonight."

"Oh yeah?" Sugar growled back. "Well guess whose coin I'm puttin' in there?"

Heather smirked as the two girls bickered across the table, making Lightning and Beth plenty uncomfortable. "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm going to shower up before the ceremony. Can't look all sweaty and gross on camera, can I?"

Beth rolled her eyes and muttered to herself. "Not something a shower can fix for you."

As Heather dipped out, deaf to Beth's insult, Jasmine downed her remaining gruel and slammed the bowl on the table. "Beth, why are you even friends with Sugar? Do you even know anything about what she's like or are you just a puppet? Because it's a hundred percent the latter and you'd be better off voting her off. And yes, I'm fine talking about this in public because there's no point in hiding my feelings towards her."

The wannabe gasped. "What? No! I'm not a puppet." She reached around Sugar's shoulder and gave her a hug. "We have a ton in common! Sure, she's kinda unfiltered sometimes and might sabotage people to get ahead, but… She's not like Heather."

Jasmine snorted. "Mate, she's exactly like Heather."

"No I ain't!" Sugar barked back. "As if that girl would ever be on my level. I'm prettier, smarter… prettier… Okay, I'm a lotta things better than her! I just can't think of 'em off the top of my noggin."

"Well, enjoy being beaten by her anyways," Jasmine said, her anger turning to smugness. "Right, Lightning?"

Lightning perked up from examining his sexy hunk of a reflection in his bowl. "Sha-whatcha say?"

"You're voting for Sugar tonight, aren't you?" the Aussie asked. "You know? The girl who stabbed us both in the back on the first vote?"

Lightning blinked absentmindedly. "Uhhhh..."

Sugar pounded the table with a fist. "Hey! Don't be strater-jizzin' at dinner like this! Especially against me!"

The jock sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, Lightning isn't sure who to vote for. Nobody asked him today, so… Maybe he'll just throw a vote on someone random to be fair about it."

"Uh, no," Jasmine said, briefly panicking. "We need your vote to break up these two before the merge." She openly pointed to Beth and Sugar, who gasped in shock.

"Break us up?" Beth whimpered. "No!"

"Yes," Jasmine grumbled. "Nothing personal, Beth… Well it's personal with Sugar, but not with you. I came back to eliminate the people who eliminated me and as far as I know, you two are the last ones left with Owen out and Duncan an island away..."

Sugar sneered while Beth started sweating.

"Oh yeah, well jokes on you!" Sugar taunted. "Heather already promised me we'd vote you out tonight if we lost, which we did! So boom! Blindside! Er... or it would've been one... Oops."

Jasmine's glare lightened. "Uh, she did what?"

"You deaf? I just said Heather, Beth, and me are sendin' ya back home tonight! You're gettin' triple Sugared!"

Jasmine's gears started turning. "Uh, no… She promised me we'd vote you off tonight."

"Nuh uh! Wrong!"

"Uh, yes. Correct."

The two girls locked mutual glares as Lightning and Beth just looked kinda confused.

"Wait a minute," Lightning said, tapping his noggin. "So Heather said she'd vote with both of y'all? Sha-dang…" Everything started to sink in, and then it dawned on him. The truth behind Heather's scheme. "Didn't know that girl could clone herself. That's nuts, man. That's scary..."

Beth bit her lip, afraid to throw something out there. But she couldn't just let it go unsaid. "Maybe we can vote Heather out instead?"

Jasmine and Sugar both whipped around to Beth and shouted. "No!"

Beth cowered for a brief moment, but fought back. "But she's a huge threat. And she's mean. And she's trying to turn us against each other."

"Oh please," Jasmine groaned. "No more threatening than others, and by no means meaner than Sugar. Heather never dropped a tree on me."

"And I want Jasmine out now!" said Sugar.

Beth face-palmed. "But this is exactly what Heather wants! Don't you see it? She's trying to turn you against each other so she can sneak through under the radar. She doesn't have any allies, so she has to make sure everyone's so focused on drama with everyone else, nobody will realize she's playing them!"

Everyone blinked.

"I dunno," Lightning said. "Heather ain't showed up on Lightning's door knocking about alliances. And you know he'd be the first pick of the draft."

"Yet," Beth stressed. "She hasn't yet. Watch, she's going to come back and be like, all over you for your vote tonight. She just hasn't gotten the chance yet. But while she's showering, now's the chance to make a plan."

"To vote her out?" Jasmine snorted. "No chance. Sugar's the only person I want gone. That ain't gonna change, mate."

"Same here," Sugar huffed, jabbing a thumb Jasmine's way. "But about her."

"Then vote each other out later," Beth sighed in frustration. "But now's the chance to vote Heather out while she's not expecting it. We already know she found one idol. She could find the other one and be unstoppable. And if she already has it, she'd never play it tonight if she thinks she's got us duped. Plus, she's the last winner left. Even if she's not a millionaire, that's a way bigger threat than any of us who never won at all, right?"

A certain jock countered that statement. "Lightning's a winner at life!"

Jasmine rolled her eyes and kicked back. "Uh, okay. Good points, but I still refuse to work with Sugar. I promised Shawn I'd get back in and do some real damage, and the perfect way to kick off my comeback is by takin' out the mongrel who voted me out all the way back on day two."

"Yeah," said Sugar. "And I'm gonna finish what I started!"

Confessional

"It's not working," Beth groaned. "They're so caught in their feud that Heather's just gonna waltz right into the merge unopposed! Looks like I have to get… meaner. Sugar, hope I make you proud..."

End Confessional

Beth hopped on the table, her arms crossed and her brow furrowed. "Alright! Look here! I promised Sugar I'd learn how to play harder if she promised to be nicer, and now's the time to play hard! Jasmine, get over it. You lost fair and square because you made Sugar feel left out! Sugar, you can't keep hating Jasmine forever even if she's being rude because that's not how a nice person acts, and we had a deal! Lightning… I don't really know where you stand in all this." She tapped her fingers together sheepishly. "Sorry for the yelling. But maybe you have something to say? I'm not really good at the big speeches..."

"I mean, Lightning's down to boot Heather," he said with a shrug. "Jasmine sha-dope and I always liked a protein-lovin' girl with tough guts, so Sugar ain't bad either even if we're kinda fightin' sometimes. Plus Heather smacked Lightning with a million bucks and a sha-vel before. Ain't cool."

Jasmine and Sugar blinked, shared another mean look, and looked up at Beth, totally unconvinced.

"Um, maybe we can make a deal?" she asked them both. "Like, a truce? We vote Heather out, and then you both lay off the fighting at the merge for the first round? It doesn't have to be forever. Just long enough so we all make it there for sure."

"Soooo she can't vote me out until top eight?" Sugar asked suspiciously.

"That's how math works," Jasmine grumbled. "But yeah, final eight..."

Both girls were at a standstill as the gears turned in their heads. Far less of them turned in Sugar's head obviously. But turned that did.

"Sha-deal!" Lightning cheered, earning some annoyed looks his way.

Confessional

"I can't believe I'm actually considering it," Jasmine grumbled, her chin resting on her knee as she propped a leg up in the chair. "I wanted revenge to be my goal on this second chance, and now I'm being talked into keeping my biggest rival around at the last minute? Talk about a heavy choice. But I'm a lone dingo either way I vote. Heather's not going to take me to the finals and neither will Sugar. Or... anyone I bet. So right now..." She tossed her head back and groaned even louder. "Why can't the strategy be as easy as the challenges? My first season, there was no strategy at all. You just kick off the person who does the worst and it's done. Over. No stress. Here though? It's like a whole different game."

(static)

"Jasmine makin' the merge?" Sugar asked with a peeved snort. "Not on my watch. She got her chance and blew it right away. But Beth talks some mad sense, and a deal's a deal after all. After all, lesson one of our trainin' was cuttin' deals to get whatcha want outta someone, and she's makin' it her thing." She flashed a proud smirk. "I'm proud of that girl. She's come a long way in the last few days. But I still ain't decided yet..."

(static)

"See?" Beth said. "I didn't have to be that mean, right? I just raised my voice, got assertive, and maaaaybe I changed their minds. Maybe? I don't know." She tapped her fingers nervously. "I'm still voting for Heather for sure, and if Lightning does too, we only need Sugar's vote. But she reeeeally doesn't like Jasmine, and Jasmine reeeeally doesn't like her. I'm just… really scared for my bestie right now, especially after she lost the challenge for us at the end there."

End Confessional

The fire-lit amphitheater glowed with an anxious crackling blaze as Jasmine, Beth, Sugar, Lightning, and Heather lined up for the elimination ceremony. Beth sat between an angry Jasmine and a peeved Sugar, who maintained their mutual glares until Chris approached with the kabob platter. Lightning looked chill and confident while Heather looked tired yet composed.

"Well, well, well," Chris teased. "Imagine losing a challenge you had a five to two advantage in at one point. Not a fun loss, is it?"

"Not at all," Heather said. "But it's not like we didn't basically win until Weird Goth Girl pulled a Deus Ex Gothina on us. I don't care what your rules are. That's just unfair."

"Unfair or not, it's in the past, much like one of your places in the game is going to be in a couple minutes." Chris raised the first kabob. "Beth, you're safe. Eat up."

Beth caught her skewer, but was too nervous to chow down.

"Hmmm, Lightning, you look hungry." Chris tossed him a kabob as well.

"Awww yeah," the jock cheered. "Sha-merged!"

"Two kabobs left," the host said, looking between the remaining ladies. "Jasmine, you were the team leader today and choked big time, getting taken down twice. Pretty big fail, huh? And Sugar, you were pretty annoying all day, not that anyone was shocked, and you let the team down when they needed you most. And Heather, you're the only ex-Slayer on this team and the only winner left. Makes you the obvious outsider, doesn't it?"

"We basically won until Gwen showed up," Jasmine said.

"Ain't my fault the Super Sugar Spear Hurl seeks out simpy lil twerps," replied Sugar.

"The old teams are pointless and everyone's a threat," Heather said. "The merge is coming tomorrow, so the game should already be individual if these people are smart."

Chris raised the last two kabobs. "Excuses, excuses. Too bad they aren't good enough for one of you tonight. The person… Not making the merge… And heading to the Underworld... To fight for a spot back in… Is..."

Sugar glared at Jasmine. Jasmine glared at Sugar. Heather smirked right between them, waiting for the kabobs to fly.

…

"Heather."

A dreary, thick silence flooded the amphitheater. Jasmine and Sugar turned to face the queen bee.

Heather's eyes went wide as panic set in. "What?"

"You heard me," Chris said, tossing Jasmine and Sugar their safety. "You're out. A good run I must say, but all good things must come to an end. Heather, the Ferry of Shame awaits."

Shock. Utter dismay. Despair. All words which could be used to describe Heather's state of mind as she turned, slack-jawed, to face the people who blindsided her.

"What?"

Jasmine tore a chunk of meat off her skewer and chewed in conflicted frustration. "Next time, don't let us compare notes if you're gonna make alliances with everyone on the team."

That was enough to send the reality smacking into her face. Heather finally snapped.

"Are you kidding me? After all that, you throw away the one alliance you had?!"

Jasmine shrugged. "Mate, I'm on my own regardless. And don't think I'm totally happy with this result either." She cast another little glance at Sugar, who had already sucked her skewer clean. "Like ya said, it's an individual game. So I played as an individual. Sorry you had to be collateral damage."

Heather was done with Jasmine. Now it was Sugar's turn to get chewed out. "And you. You really think Jasmine's worth keeping around over me? Are you joking?!"

Sugar, now using the skewer like a huge toothpick, shrugged as well. "Nah, but I hate two-timers. You ain't no better than the Wizard in my book, so buzz off, ya turkey!"

Heather's nostrils were flaring with rage. The audacity of these morons… "Well congrats on losing the game, because when I come back tomorrow, you're all going down! All of you! Mark those words! Mark them!"

The queen bee furiously stormed past Chris, taking a moment to toss his platter in the fire before taking the long, dark walk to Charon's Ferry of Shame. As she faded from view, the screams of rage were still clear in the night.

Lightning stood up and waved. "Bye, girl! Say hi to Duncan for me!"

"Shut the hell up, Lightning!" Heather roared from down the mountain. "UGH!"

Jasmine finally slumped forward, exhausted beyond belief. "Glad that's over."

"Tell me about it," Sugar said.

Beth looked between the girls and smiled. "Remember, at the merge, no going after each other for the first vote. We have a deal, remember? Now let's pinkie swear on it." Grabbing both their hands, Beth dragged them together, forcing their fingers to interlock.

Neither of them was really into it and both rolled their eyes harder than ever, but the deal was made. At least Beth believed it to be so.

Confessional

"I have no intentions of working with Sugar," Jasmine said. "But as long as she keeps the deal at the next vote, I'll keep my end of the bargain as well. But trust me. Once the deal's up, her coin is going in the urn every time I vote. That's a promise."

(static)

"Jasmine can pinkie swear all she wants," Sugar said with a mocking tone. "But for me, it ain't a real deal unless ya spit-shake on it." She hacked a glob of mucus into her left hand and shook her right one. "So I'm makin' a deal with myself to nullify that deal, so if Jasmine thinks she's safe at the merge, she's got it all wrong..."

End Confessional

The Ferry of Shame hit the beach on Underworld Island and Heather stomped off so hard she nearly went knee-deep in sand.

In the bungalow, Duncan saw a shape stirring in the distance and squinted to get a better look. Once he saw who it was, he smirked. "Hey, toots."

"Get bent," Heather growled, standing in the entry-way mad as a rabid dog.

Sky woke up and rubbed her eyes clear. "What? Who is it? It better be Gwen."

Heather didn't even greet Sky with her words. She noticed there were only two cots to sleep in, walked over to the Olympian's bed, and flipped her out of it. "This is mine now. Live with it."

"Big mistake, princess," Duncan sighed. "I'm going to sleep on the beach so I don't have to deal with this crap."

Heather rolled her eyes and kicked back in bed as Sky ominously lurked over her. "Get out of my bed. Last in, first to sleep with the crabs!"

"Guess what? I don't care about your stupid island rules."

Sky clenched her fists and stomped her foot like a overgrown child. "Get out!"

"Make me."

"Yeah, see ya," Duncan said, quickly diving past the bungalow's rail as the cat fight began.

Voting Confessionals

Heather casually dropped Sugar's coin in the urn. "It was a long day of thinking, but strategically it's just smart to take Jasmine to the merge. She's a huge threat, sure. But she's also a perfect shield. Sugar might annoy people and be good at stuff at random, but she's not a huge threat like me. Jasmine's down for this plan and there's no way Lightning doesn't take the chance to get rid of his rival since the first day. So yeah, making the merge was easier than expected."

Lightning slam dunked Heather's coin into the slot. "Sha-vote!"

Beth cast her vote for Heather, crossing her fingers. "Pleeease work. If Heather makes the merge, we're all screwed. Sugar, I need you on this one."

Sugar held Jasmine's coin in one hand and Heather's in the other. "Hmmm. On one hand… we got Jasmine's coin. On the other hand… Heather's. Tough call, but… Beth's my farmie, and farmies stick together!" She dropped Heather's golden face in the slot. "But Jasmine ain't in the clear yet."

Jasmine sighed as she dropped Heather's coin in the urn. "Guess I'm actually doing this. Probably a stupid move, but at least it's a move. Not that it matters since Lightning's leaning towards bootin' Heather, and I'd rather not risk alienating myself again with an emotional vote. If Sugar keeps her word, I should be safe next time, which gives me enough time to get allies from the other team. And if Sky comes back… I might be able to run the tables a little bit. We'll see..."

Eliminated: Mike, Zoey, Owen, Alejandro, Shawn

In the Underworld: Sky, Duncan, Heather

Remaining:

The Merge: Beth, Cody, Courtney, Gwen, Jasmine, Lightning, Scott, Sugar

Reasoning for Elimination: Since nobody went home from the Underworld, there's not much to talk about here. But when I started writing this chapter, I realized it would be insanely long with that Underworld segment included and decided to have a three-way return challenge in the merge episode instead. A good move I think, because this was a packed episode as it is now and it doesn't need to be any longer.

A/N: Episode 7 and the pre-merge are officially done and over. Eight remain, plus one will return for revenge as the individual game kicks off. It's gonna be fun, and I can't wait for this post-merge. So many moments I'm hyped to publish :)

As for Heather's boot, it was fun writing her as this constant escapee of doom who managed to weasel her way through after losing her only real ally, but her time was up and with nobody really trusting her that much in addition to all her double dealing getting exposed, she was doomed to go home eventually. She never really had a solid footing to speak of and had to play from the bottom more than ever, and while it hurts to cut her, it's what serves the story best in the long run I think.

But she still has a shot to get back in, and if she does… People better watch out because she, like the other two contenders to return, have some choice words for some choice people.