NOTE: First to address the elephant in the room, the chapter was delayed from its initial planned release of February 25th as a result of a blackout. While I had my power back within hours, WiFi was another story. In spite of this, I did rework some parts of the chapter I wasn't fond of in the meantime, and as you can see, it's finally been released. Hope you're excited to see where this story goes from here now that we're into the real meat of the competition.

No need to delay any longer, it's game time.

Cast Reminder:

The Growling Oranguru- Absol, Braixen, Druddigon, Espeon, Gloom, Granbull, Luxray, Samurott, Sneasel.

The Howling Passimian- Aggron, Cranidos, Dubwool, Gabite ("Fred"), Gengar, Scrafty, Shedinja, Skuntank.

Chapter #5

TPReboot: Total Drama Island - Episode #3

CTF: Crack the Foundation - Part #1

"And episode two is a wrap," Bidoof announced, throwing open a door as thunder wracked outside. Breathing in, he heaved out a sigh, chuckling to himself as he walked inside.

He had just entered his personal trailer; the rest of the staff had to share one, while the interns were likely camping out nearby. Meanwhile, he got a queen-sized bed, a bathroom, a microwave and table set, a small bookcase, and more all to himself. Sure, it didn't meet all of his demands (he'd certainly have liked that hot tub), but it wasn't bad.

Walking up to his coffee maker with a whistle, he pressed two buttons, and waited for his drink to dispense. Moments later, walking inside the trailer, drenched head to toe in water, was Corsola, who was currently ringing out her scarf outside. Noticing her arrival, Bidoof wasted no time asking the question. "So, assistant, how was the ratings on the two episodes? Great, right?"

Corsola looked up, refocusing her attention on her clipboard as she shuffled through pages of datasheets. And what she was looking at was troubling. "Well, you see sir-"

"Ah, no need to say anything, Corsola, I already know it did great." Bidoof affirmed to himself with a laugh. "After all, I was practically made to host this kinda gig. And with this cast? Oh boy, we gotta win! You see how those kids were killing each other out there?"

"Yes sir, we watched it together, but if we could just-"

The coffee machine rang, Bidoof promptly pouring his drink with a smirk. "Now then, onto our next turn of business! Next challenge! Shouldn't be hard to set-up; just make sure Machoke picks up the shipment coming in tomorrow morning. If he can't bring it in himself, make sure he has his radio on hand to call Dragapult over. He keeps forgetting it."

"Sir!"

Bidoof sent an annoyed glare Corsola's way, his disappointment palpable at having been interrupted. Breathing in, Corsola's smile returned as she awkwardly began back up with, "So…Would you like to hear the good news before I tell you the show bombed?"

Birds chirped as they flew over the campground, which otherwise laid completely silent, outside of the infrequent snoring coming from the pair of cabins.

Currently, on the female side of the Oranguru cabin, Luxray found herself waking up to a headache, a rumble in her stomach, a sore throat, and a running nose. She went to breathe in, only to instantly descend into a flurry of coughing. With a groan, she threw her face into her pillow.

"Good morning to you as well, Luxray," Braixen greeted, currently sitting on her own bed reading a book, "did you sleep well?"

"If you consider sleeping well as waking up to the feeling of 'I feel like Hell' and 'I want to die'...Then sure, I slept great."

"Actually I'd consider that the opposite of a good rest," Braixen explained obliviously. Luxray merely groaned, smacking her head into her pillow once more…Only to throw her head back up at the sound of a loud crash.

The two, along with their other cabinmates, turned to the sound…And saw, laying in a pile of a destroyed bed, was Absol, who snored away softly, oblivious to fact that for the second time in the last week her sleeping quarters had been compromised.

"I don't know what happened last challenge, but ever since then I've been sick as Hell," Luxray complained, sneezing into a tissue with a groan, "might have been the rain; definitely didn't help. Though maybe it was one of the berries…But nobody else got sick…I don't know, okay! I just feel like crap!"

With a grumble she leaned back, her eyes half closed, "Doesn't help I bombed so badly last time; everyone's probably at their limit with me right now. If I don't get over this fever soon…I can kiss this game goodbye."

Similar to the girls, most of the guys on the male side of the Oranguru cabin were still asleep…Until the door suddenly slammed open. The three guys inside jumped up, eyes wide as they watched a certain weed storm inside the cabin, his face as crabby as ever while he wore that glare like a bowtie.

"And what were you up to this early?" Espeon mused, a smirk on his face as Gloom walked past his bed.

"None of your business," Gloom growled out, leaning down under his bunk and seemingly putting something down there. Samurott's glare hardened at this, staring down the grass-type, who returned this with a scowl of his own once he noticed, "hey, don't give me that look, helmet-head; you can't judge jackshit. You're still on lockdown for last time after all," his scowl hardened, "unless you forgot that you almost lost us the challenge."

Samurott growled at Gloom's words, shaking his head and looking away.

Compared to the Oranguru, the Passimian cabins were already considerably quieter. Most notably, the girls found themselves awaking to…Silence. Well, relative silence; Dubwool's snoring made the guys at camp look quiet. But as Gabite and Shedinja could attest, at least, Staravia's early exit had probably just saved them a Summer worth of early greetings and loud mornings.

Breathing in, Gabite laid back down, content to allow the quiet mood to sweep her away into a nap once more…

"Hey."

Gabite flinched, turning to see Shedinja staring back at her…Only a foot from her bed. She yelped, then the bug asked. "I have a question…" A hollow, deafening silence echoed through the cabin, the ground-type unsure as to what was about to happen next, as Shedinja reached into their eye, and pulled out…

A little notebook? The bug flipped through a few pages, not noticing the land shark's wary stare, as Shedinja opened with. "Hello. I am Shedinja. You know this already. I am reintroducing myself just in case though, because I forget names sometimes too. It is nice to meet you again."

Gabite's wary look turned into one of confusion rather quickly.

"Nobody here gets me I think. So I thought I should try doing day one over again, but I can't turn back time…Yet. So instead I wrote down what I wanted to say and will be speaking to everybody over the course of the day."

Shedinja nodded along to this, flipping a page in the notebook…Then staring at the camera. "Hello. I am Shedinja. You know this already. I am reintroducing myself just in case though-"

Inside the main lodge, the teams were once more divided,

Tapping at the bowl of…What looked to be some sort of soup, Gengar couldn't help but make a face at its sludge green color. He breathed in, mentally hyped himself, and proceeded to feed himself a spoonful. And in an instant, he regretted it.

Flinching from the taste, Gengar suddenly spit the stew out, sending it flying as he let out a coughing fit. "H-How do you even get that kind of flavor?! It tastes like…Shoes and baby oil!" Ignoring the cocked brow of Skuntank at the odd comparison, Gengar looked up at where he spat his soup-

And saw it was currently all over a very peeved Aggron, who clenched down hard onto his spoon, causing it to snap in two.

"...O-Oh…Heh," Gengar scratched the back of his head nervously, "s-sorry?"

"Okay…So after the last challenge, I know I gotta take a step back from how I'm leading my team," Aggron admitted, "sure, I plan to ditch the geeks the second these teams ain't a thing anymore, but until then I gotta keep myself safe, and all the screaming probably ain't helping my case with them."

Letting out a groan, Aggron added on, "So, that means, if I want to stick around, I got to treat them like…Equals, I guess." That word seemed to honestly hurt to say. "I mean…How hard can it be?"

Aggron let out a whistle as he stepped away from the table, now content at the fact he had slammed Gengar's face into his soup bowl, the ghost type currently unmoving.

Giving the scene a look, Cranidos shook his head, sipping some of the soup and then cringing himself. "He's right though, what's actually in this stuff? It doesn't even taste like real food."

"In case you forgot, we're practically being served prison food here, kid." Skuntank mocked, leaning back in his chair and not even bothering with the stew. "It's probably not actually edible."

The skunk went back to his business after the comment, ignoring the scowl on the dinosaur's face.

"Everyone out here treats me like I'm five," Cranidos grumbled, "who the Hell do they think they are? I obviously got onto this show for a reason, the last thing they should do is underestimate me."

Scoffing, he folded his tiny arms, muttering to himself, "Whatever…I'll show them. I'll show them all."

Meanwhile, at the Oranguru table, Granbull similarly looked to be having a hard time with the gruel before her, noticing that as she grabbed a spoonful, the liquid was somehow sticking to it like honey. Her face began to turn green, as she turned to say something to Sneasel- only to see the ice-type was casually and rather easily eating the soup. "I…How are you doing that?"

Sneasel couldn't help but laugh. "Dude, I spent like a year living on the streets eating garbage, this ain't nothing."

Granbull threw on a worried look. "...Why did you do that?" In an instant, a pain twinge seemed to run through the weasel, though it disappeared just as quick. She let out an awkward laugh, before quickly slamming another spoonful into her mouth to avoid the question.

This was enough to tell Granbull to step back for a moment, breathing in then eating a spoonful of the stew…And promptly almost gagging.

On the other side of the table, Druddigon and Braixen just sat down with their meals, the former asking, "Was Luxray sure she didn't need something? She hasn't been out of the cabin in almost two days."

"She was very specific about not wanting anything," Braixen shook her head, "I'm really worried about her."

"I mean hey, it's her own damned fault for almost losing us the challenge," Gloom grumbled from across the table. And upon seeing their obvious glares, he shrugged, "Deny it all 'ya want, won't change a thing. Whatever the Hell is goin' through that miserable little head of hers, she deserves it."

Gloom, without another word, got up from the table with a glare, bringing his bowl with him. As the two watched him walk off, Espeon merely let out a whistle. "My my, he really should check his mattress for rocks one of these days if he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed this often."

"Why would there be rocks there?" Absol asked curiously.

"Cause I put them there," Espeon stated simply with a smile.

"Ever since the challenge, Luxray's locked herself in the cabin." Braixen admitted. "She seems to have taken it's result quite poorly. She refuses to speak to anybody for more than a few words…"

"I hope she's okay…"

Mere moments later, Samurott sat down himself, Espeon sending the water-type a smirk. "Well, it's good to see you decided to join us today." The sea lion sent him an unamused glare as the psychic threw up his paws mockingly. "Sorry, sorry, I just thought you'd be busy picking up leaves or eating dirt. You know, what you 'nature lovers' do in your spare time."

Narrowing his stare, Samurott wasted no time in promptly standing up and walking off as well. Braixen turned to Espeon with a stern glare. "Is that especially necessary?"

"Honestly, if you ask me, I think that isn't going far enough," Druddigon grumbled, "he went missing for over a day. We can't let him think that's okay." Braixen opened her mouth to refute, though came at a loss for words; she couldn't truly disagree with that…

"Hey! Dragonbreath! Mind if I take some seconds?"

The Oranguru turned as Dubwool stomped past their table and up to the window, where Dragapult stared down at her unimpressed. Dragapult then turned her attention to where the sheep had previously been sitting…And saw that a good third of their soup was either splattered across the table, or onto their fur.

"Such a waste." Dragapult thought, scowling though reluctantly pouring more soup into the ovine's bowl…

Only for the normal-type to immediately complain, "Aw, come on now, that all 'ya givin' me?! I'm a big girl! So slop it up!" She shook the bowl above her, Dragapult's glare hardening further.

Dubwool hollered as loud as she could as she was suddenly and forcefully thrown from the main lodge, landing in a mud puddle with a loud thud. Dragapult snorted, shaking her head and floating back inside, slamming the door on her way in.

Pulling her head up from the mud, Dubwool let out a laugh, saying, "Dang, she got an anger problem…I like it!"

With a laugh, she jumped up…And was met with a glare from a table outside, Samurott currently sitting down at it and staring her down.

"Hey! How 'ya doin' there, grumpy-face?!" Dubwool called out to him, laughing hysterically as the sea lion's eyes twitched with fury.

"Yeah, 'Pouty' out there's been givin' me the stink eye ever since we got back from those woods," Dubwool explained, laughing to herself, "guy just can't let it go! Pretty funny if 'ya ask me; I mean, c'mon, it's just a game."

A Starly flew through the air, their arms outstretched as they flew past a watching Scrafty, a knowing smile on his face as he sat on the Passimian porch. Breathing in, he relaxed into his seat, saying to himself, "If only you had been so graceful in your stay here…"

Reaching beside him, he grabbed a handful of his trail mix and tossed it in front of the cabin. Within moments, the same bird soured down and began to peck at it. The moment was enough to make the reptile laugh. "Or so grateful, more like it..."

"After elimination, most of my team has stayed largely silent in terms of strategy; don't wanna make the same mistake Staravia did," Scrafty started, "which is something I'm more than willing to take advantage of. No strategy means no planning, and no planning means I'm almost certainly safe."

He tapped his chin with a smile, "Though…A little bit of insurance wouldn't be the worst."

Walking up to the cabin, Gabite slowly stepped up the porch stairs, her frail figure and horrible posture pairing poorly with the straight, confident look of her puppet.

As she walked up the stairs, her tail accidentally bumped into the fighting-type's shoulder, as she weakly whimpered out, "S-Sorry…"

"...Oh she's just perfect," Scrafty thought to himself with a smile. Just as the ground-type was about to step into the cabin, he said, "Oh, excuse me, Gabite. Could I ask something of you?" Gabite meekly yelped at this, turning to him anxiously, as he asked, "Would you mind meeting me after the challenge? I have…Business I'd like to discuss."

"B-Business," Gabite stuttered, "with me?"

"She'd love to!" Fred answered for her. "Seeya then, buddy-bud!" With a cackle, the puppet suddenly and abruptly threw the pair into the girl's side of the cabin.

Raising a brow at the interaction, Scrafty simply shrugged and went back to feeding the bird in front of him.

"Yes! An alliance of some sort! Just the puppy we need!" Fred bragged to Gabite, as she flinched beside him.

"B-But we don't even know, Scrafty," Gabite whimpered, "h-how can we trust him?"

"Excellent question, dumb-dumb! Which is why I got the answer!" Fred started, leaning toward her. "Now listen up…First, we gotta-"

Moments later, Samurott opened up the door to the male side of the Oranguru cabin, groaning to himself as he stepped inside. He threw the empty bow in his hand onto the nearby dresser, and (reluctantly) sat down onto "his" bed.

He didn't like it. Compared to the shelters he made out in the woods it was nowhere near as comfortable. He'd much rather be out there at this point…But then if a challenge starts he'd have no idea again, and be stuck on even worse terms with his teammates. Not that he needed their approval, but he certainly would like to stay in the game bare-minimum.

Boredly, Samurott began to inspect small details of the room. He found him analyzing the strange ways the walls seemed to deform atop Espeon's bunk, or how Druddigon's bed had begun to slump and crack ever so slightly from his weight. And then there was Gloom's, which comparatively looked the most normal, aside from the residue poison powder that had likely been leaking from his flower each night.

Though, something caught his eye; something under that same grass-type's bunk. It was his bag, but…Something was sticking out of it.

Getting up from off his bed, Samurott stomped over to the bunk, and leaned down. He shuffled his hand around inside a moment, before feeling his hand wrap around something…He pulled out his arm.

And in his hand was…Some sort of mobile radio; the sort most kids would call a "walkie talkie". "The Hell?" Samurott thought. "There's no chance Bidoof would have allowed this on the island…Why the Hell does Gloom even need-"

"Ooooh, what are you up to?" A voice purred. Samurott flinched at the tone, turning toward the door (and hiding the radio behind his back), and saw as Espeon strutted inside with a smug grin. "Well come on…You can talk to me."

"...Nothing." Samurott growled, tucking the radio away behind his helmet.

"I doubt Bidoof's just letting Gloom have this on him; he has to be keeping it a secret…But why?" Samurott asked himself. "It's not like this would actually reach anyone out here…So what's the point? Why does he need this…?"

"You know you really should be careful if you're snooping around here all quietly and all," Espeon started walking past Samurott and jumping up onto his bunk, wagging his tail back and forth with a smile, "could give everyone the wrong impression."

Samurott scoffed, shaking his head and beginning to walk out of the cabin.

"Aw, why're you leaving, huh?" Espeon asked curiously. "Do I intimidate you? Annoy you?" He placed a paw on his mouth and fake gasped. "...Interest you?"

The sea lion shuttered, quickly slamming the door behind him as the psychic began to cackle inside.

Skuntank lounged about thoughtlessly, his sprawled out form easily taking up more than two-thirds of the bench he had chosen. Stretching out, he was about to allow himself a morning nap…Only to cringe at a voice.

"Hey. I got some crackers from the kitchen." Shedinja started, floating up to the skunk with a ridiculously sized red box. "...I lied. It came from me. I brought snacks from home. So still from a kitchen. So in the end I didn't lie. Oh, also," they pulled out a notebook as well. "Hello-"

Skuntank groaned as loudly as he could muster, grumbling, "Don't you have anybody else to bother?!"

"Not until twelve." This answer only made Skuntank groan louder.

"I don't have many friends." Shedinja explained. "Only my sister. And she used to be me, so I am unsure if it counts. Skuntank reminds me of her, so I want to talk to him. He doesn't want to though."

They tapped their chin. "...Maybe I should sneak into the boy's cabin tonight and poke him in his sleep until he wakes up. Then he won't be able to avoid me and will have to have some of my crackers," Shedinja shook the box and nodded, "this is a good plan with no flaws."

As Shedinja talked Skuntank's ear off, the skunk looked up, and just barely caught a glimpse as he watched Gloom begin to walk off the campground. "Hey, gruesome! Where the heck are you going?"

"None of your business!" The weed called back.

"...Yeah, he's right," Skuntank shrugged, though turned back to glare at Shedinja, "probably better than this though."

"Did you know Froslass wear tinfoil on their heads to warn predators that it's very cold out?"

"I'm in Hell."

By this point, just about everybody was up and about, scattered across the campgrounds at various different spots. While they walked around, however, a familiar voice came on over the intercom.

"Attention, campers! Please head directly to the theater stage to the east of your location! Oh…And be there in ten minutes. Haha, later!"

Most of the cast stood in silence a moment, before Aggron suddenly barked, "Go, Passimian, go!"

In an instant, the entire cast took off running toward the location they were told of…Even if they had no idea where it actually was.

"Trust me when I say that after last time, nobody knows what Bidoof has in store for us," Druddigon grumbled out, shaking his head with a groan, "I wouldn't be surprised if he asked us to jump off a cliff or something with the goal being just to survive…Okay, maybe not that far, nobody's that sociopathic."

"But still…Whatever he's got planned, won't be pretty."

After a lot of running (and getting momentarily lost), the cast finally found themselves arriving at the end of a clearing. In the center of said clearing was a massive wooden stage, not dissimilar to the type you'd see in a major school production or something of that sort. To the left and right of it, meanwhile, were sets of wooden bleachers.

The contestants, out of breath and groaning, walked up to the stage, Skuntank specifically muttering, "Aghhh…My legs are so tired…Please tell us we get something for this."

"Nope! But hey, congratulations on making it on time." Walking out from behind the curtain of the stage, Bidoof flashed that huge grin of his. "But hey, the bright side is you got in your cardio for the day. Now, separate into your teams!"

Though exhausted, the contestants did as commanded, the two teams dividing themselves onto the bleachers…Where something became obvious.

"Oranguru, it seems you have a serious skipping problem," Bidoof commented with a cocked brow, looking over their group while tapping his chin, having noticed the absence of a pair of electric and grass types, "because I only see seven where there should be nine."

"I'm here…"

Walking up to the bleachers, and quickly disturbing the Passimian, was Luxray, who notably still looked terribly pale, her eyes dropping and body wrapped up in a blanket, as she sat down onto the bleacher.

"Ouch! Still sick, huh?" Bidoof asked, to which Luxray only sneezed. "...Point taken. Just don't infect me, I got my toons and some margarita mix with my name on it ready for eight tonight and I ain't letting you ruin that."

The lioness didn't bother responding, only taking notice when Skuntank let out a scoff. "Oh please, she isn't infecting anyone. She's probably just faking it."

Luxray growled, looking back at the skunk with a glare. "And why would I do that?"

He shrugged with a smirk, "Eh, it's something I'd do if I wanted to get out of talking to people." All this response did was cause the electric-type's glare to intensify, staring the poison-type down, to which he responded with a scowl of his own.

"Anyway, the show must go on, with or without your missing weed, Oranguru," Bidoof started back up. "But Oranguru, if Gloom doesn't show up before the end of the challenge, consider today null and void, cause you'll automatically be up for elimination. I ain't letting you guys get away with someone skipping every episode."

This news caused the team to tense up, some of them sending glares to Samurott, who growled through strained teeth at the subtle callout.

"Now then, for today's challenge, I've got a present for both teams…Machoke!"

The beaver snapped his fingers, and within moments a familiar hunk walked off stage, flexing his muscles as he passed the teams by. Some of them were so genuinely taken in by the sweat glistening off his hardworking body that they hadn't even realized he had placed a pair of flags between the bleachers; one purple, one green.

The first notice as much was Skuntank, who gave said flags a look. "Oh…Gee…Thanks."

"Trust me, you're not gonna be thanking me later, cause today," Bidoof started up again, Machoke now by his side, "we're gonna playing a classic game…Of capture the flag! Your goal for the day is to defend yours as if your life depended on it. First team to return the enemy flag to their base wins the day, and is safe from elimination, and will also receive a reward for their victory. The loser…Well, we know what happens to losers now, don't we, Passimian?"

Said team hung their heads in shame at the insult, though Aggron quickly scoffed, grabbing onto the Passimian flag and asking, "So what, do we just hide these out in the woods or something? Not exactly easy to defend that sorta thing."

"Not quite…Follow me!" Bidoof declared, motioning the cast to follow as they exchanged looks.

The cast had now reconvened in front of…A junkyard. Or at least something that could be adequately compared to a junkyard. It was quite large in size and piled high with all sorts of forgotten treasures, though if there was any real quality to anything in the batch, it wasn't inherently obvious from this view. Inside though was all sorts of wooden planks, shattered glass, metal, electrical parts, and more; it was effectively what'd happen if you broke down three houses and threw everything inside onto the same pile.

Oddly though, the junkyard almost resembled a sort of…Battlefield, of some kind. Massive trash walls and small fractures of cover, varying terrain leading into hills or flat plains, dug in trenches scattered across the area, towers of garbage, and more. It definitely was a very unique looking arena, the sort that was equal measures impressive in terms of both scale and the thought put into it, and disgusting because it's literally a bunch of trash.

"Welcome to the island junkyard, kids!" Bidoof exclaimed. "Which'll also be the setting for the first part of the challenge. Inside is all sorts of good stuff, that you'll want, because the second part of the challenge will be to use anything you scavenge from here to build a shelter for that flag of yours."

Snorting, Cranidos shook his head and started to step forward. "Great. Piece of cake-" He reared back though when suddenly a blast of purple energy impacted the ground at his feet. "What the?!"

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Bidoof started up once more, motioning to the pile with a smirk. "You see, guarding the pile today is camp chef…Dragapult!"

Floating out from the junkpile was indeed the chef of their nightmares, Dragon Breath drifting from her jaw as she sent the cast a grin that made their blood run cold. Floating beside her, meanwhile, were her pair of Dreepy, who couldn't help but giggle at the cast's fear.

"Yeah…Good luck with her!" Bidoof mocked, breaking down into a fit of laughter. "Now, that's not all obviously; while searching, feel free to attack one another for supplies. Nothing's off the table, so feel free to play as dirty as you want. Just keep in mind murder isn't allowed out here…Yet. We're still getting the permits signed-" Upon noticing the cast's horrified reactions, the beaver chuckled, "I mean…You'll be fine! Now, does anybody have any questions?"

About half the cast raised their hands, which the host then ignored. "Great! Now…Get ready!" The cast threw themselves into readied stances. "Set…Go!"

Pulling an airhorn out from his puffy tail, Bidoof blew it into the air, and like that, the cast ran off in a panic, the Oranguru to the left of the pile and the Passimian to the right.

"A challenge all about building?" Cranidos started, letting out a low laugh as he flashed a smile. "My job is to literally construct buildings…And destroy them; this is my chance to show I've got what it takes to stick it out here."

Chuckling, he shook his head at the camera mockingly, "Then we'll see how my teammates treat me."

Popping out from some of the junk towers, the Passimian watched as one of the Dreepy flew by, darting its head back and forth in search of targets.

Watching the tiny dragon fly by with a glare, Aggron edged back into cover and turned to his teammates, saying, "Okay, here's the plan, we-"

"Who died and made you leader?" Cranidos interrupted with a glare.

The steel-type scoffed. "I did, because nobody else here knows what they're doing; I did basically everything last challenge while the rest of you just loitered around."

"Didn't Gabite get the fire started when you couldn't?" Scrafty questioned, nodding to the now blushing ground-type.

"Also, if it weren't for you attacking, maybe those Exeggutor would have left us alone after a bit, and we could have actually slept in our tent!" Skuntank accused.

"L-Look, that's all irrelevant!" Aggron argued. "So if you'd all shut up, and just-"

"Listen," someone spoke up…And to everybody's shock, it was Cranidos, "my family is in the construction field. I know what we'll need if we want to win this challenge, but you'll need to actually respect my wishes."

Rolling his eyes, Skuntank was about to say something- only to have his mouth covered rather suddenly by Scrafty, "The floor is yours."

Cranidos smirked at this, beaming with anticipation while his teammates simply exchanged uneasy glances, the most obvious of which coming from the pouting Aggron, who shockingly fell into silence.

"You know what, fine! They wanna make a big deal about this, the runt can take the reins for the day! See if I care!" Aggron spat, folding his arms and holding his head high. "They'll be begging me to take command anyway when he inevitably screws it up!"

Peering out from the opposite side of the junk field, the Oranguru stared out in alarm as several Dragon Breaths sailed over their heads, the beast known as the camp chef firing them on full blast from the covers of the inner junk circle.

Taking a quick glance out from the junk cover, Braixen tapped her chin inquisitively. Beside her, Druddigon had to stay as close to the ground as possible due to his massive frame, as he gasped out, "So what's the plan?"

As Braixen stared out at the field, she turned to Druddigon for just a moment- which was all it took for her to realize her team was staring at her expectedly. "...W-Wait, why would I possibly have a plan?"

Sneasel rose a brow at her. "Dude, you were, like, the only reason we even got outta the woods last time!"

"W-Well…Y-Yes, but…U-Um…" Braixen's face began to flush, her form shaking with unease.

Braixen heaved a sigh. "I will admit, I am not used to being positioned into any sort of power. I see no fault in adding input, yes, but…Leading my team is such a responsibility…Am I really ready for that?"

"...I-I believe our best possible plan would be to prioritize grab-and-run tactics," Braixen answered, though she didn't seem entirely confident in what she was saying, "grab what we need and escape before our adversaries have a chance to refute."

"Honestly, better plan than nothing; I'm game," Druddigon nodded, the team following suit.

In fact, the only one who wasn't responding to much of anything at the moment was Luxray, who had fallen into a sort of hollow daze.

Screams hollered out as the Passimian ran out onto the field, attacks soaring past them and over their heads as they seeked out any sort of cover.

Jumping into a small barricade of garbage, Crandios peeked out and watched as, atop one of the towers scattered across the area, one of Dragapult's Dreepy was shooting out Infestations, spray of tiny black flies traveling the air and tearing through anything in their path. Humming in interest to himself, the tiny dinosaur didn't even notice when Dubwool ducked into his cover beside him.

"So little man, got any ideas on-" Cranidos didn't even bother saying a word, simply nudging the sheep to look toward the tower. Most noticeably, the hollow, frail bottom of it.

A grin spread across the sheep's face, as she and the rock-type exchanged smiles, "I like the way you think, shrimp."

Druddigon grunted out painfully as he ran onto the field, his breathing uneasy and figure slouched; he could feel how heavy his limbs had become (he still hadn't recovered entirely from all the heavy lifting last challenge), and what wasn't helping was the fact he was currently running into a warzone, a handful of stray attacks sailing past his face.

"Whoever came up with this challenge…Is…The…Worst!" Druddigon growled out between breaths-

Before he was suddenly struck in the face with an Infestation, a swarm of flies covering his head as he let out a muffled scream. The dragon-type started running around in horror, bumping into towers and tripping over himself, only to fall to the floor, where he began to squirm in pain as bugs began to peck away at his face.

Running past the fallen man, Absol cheerily called back to him, "Hang in there, Druddi!" The weed merely replied with another muffled scream, which the dark type didn't seem to notice.

As she ran forward, the Dreepy atop one of the towers narrowed its eyes at her, preparing an attack- only to feel the ground below it shake. And then it shook again, causing its eyes to go wide, quickly taking to the air and floating away in a panic. And this was all as a result of a certain pair ramming into the bottom of the junk tower.

"Forward!" Cranidos commanded, as he and Dubwool ran toward the tower, their hard-head and horns respectively at the ready, as they smashed into the tower with all their might. It shook, wobbling back and forth, before finally tipping just enough to the left to begin to fall.

Absol came to a stop as she watched the shadow above her seemingly grow larger and larger. Confused, she looked up, and watched as the tower slowly fell toward her. Yet oddly, she looked as if she saw this coming, merely groaning out in disappointment. "Aw."

But just before the tower could land on her, she felt someone scoop her up, pulling her away just in the nick of time. The mighty structure hit the ground with a crash, sending scraps flying every direction.

Absol blinked, looking up to see Samurott, staring down at her with his usual blank expression. Really the only thing that set this interaction apart from the other ones is that she was currently cradled in his arms. His big, strong arms.

"W-Wow…U-Uh, hi!" Absol forced a wave, a blush on her face, before patting his chest thankfully. "Thank you!" …And then she kept patting it, her pupils shrinking somewhat as her face flushed. "...M-Muscles."

Samurott rolled his eyes, only returning to reality at the sound of, "Hey, Grumpy-Face!" Turning toward the sound, he saw it; Dubwool, standing atop the collapsed structure, staring at him with a big ol' grin, a few planks of woods resting atop her head as Cranidos scrounged up what he could from the pile. "Nice to see you got some moves! Almost makes me forget how dang gullible you are!"

"Stop with the taunting and get with the moving!" Cranidos growled, picking up what he could and running away from the scene.

"Psh, you're no fun!" Dubwool called back at him, before turning back to Samurott. "Though then again, neither are you," blowing a raspberry in the water-type's direction, the sheep chortled and ran off as well.

His eyes twitching, Samurott wasn't even paying attention to just how…Handsy, Absol was getting, her face as red as a tomato. "Heh…Heh- woah!" Which was well represented when the samurai promptly tossed the dark-type aside in favor of running after the two retreating Passimian.

Hitting the ground softly, Absol blinked, before smiling and waving Samurott off, "O-Oh, leaving, right? Y-Yeah, I get it! Seeya." Chuckling to herself, the dark-type heaved a sigh, "Yeah…"

"Back home, I don't really…Well, talk to boys much. Or girls." Absol admitted reluctantly. "I sorta scare most of them off on account of the whole…Condition. So I'm definitely not used to being carried by one."

Giggling to herself, she couldn't help but blush again. "He was so strong…"

"Move it, you two, move it!" Aggron called out as Dubwool and Cranidos ran past him, before ducking as a jet of water soured over his head.

"So, how are you feeling after earlier, Aggron?" Scrafty asked, calmly walking up to the steel-type as if they weren't in the middle of a fight.

"Oh, you mean before, or after this team made the dumbest decision possible by electing the shrimp as in charge of this whole thing?" Aggron said spitefully, pulling something off the ground; a metal shield, which he held out in front of him just as a seamitar was flung at him, denting the shield in an instant. "Because either way, my answer is anger!"

"Ah, yes, I understand; really, I do," Scrafty nodded along, swishing his lollipop across his mouth, before taking it out to emphasize, "though, there may just be perks to not being in charge."

Scoffing, Aggron asked, "And what's that exactly?" He then flung the shield like a frisbee in Samurott's direction, the water-type ducking behind a trash hill to avoid it.

"Well…Say Cranidos were to mess up today…Wouldn't that remove you from any discussion on who to eliminate? After all, who exactly would be the easiest to blame for our loss?" Scrafty mused aloud, as Aggron slowly seemed to see his reasoning, his posture growing sloppy.

Just as quickly as he said this, though, Scrafty shrugged, before calmly walking off. "Just saying. You can have your fun now."

Aggron, meanwhile, was still caught up in thought…Just long enough to feel a pulse of water smack against his head. Now soaked, Aggron shook himself off, before roaring with anger, "Oh it is on, boy! Get over here!"

Ducking from place to place, Espeon zigzagged across the arena, seemingly effortlessly dodging attack after attack. There was this strange mixture of grace and finesse in his movements, such that it was almost comparable to an elaborate sort of dance, his body twisting and turning in and around the flying projectiles, all while keeping that smile on his face.

Slinking into cover, Espeon hummed aloud as he looked over the trash. Nothing all that interesting; some metal trays, nails, a lot of rocks. Quite boring to be frank. But he supposed they were fine. His eyes began to glow, as he watched nearly half the pile pull themselves free from their embedded spots, floating above his head as he began to walk out into the open.

Watching this, a Dreepy glared, opening its mouth to fire off an Infestation- only for a rock to sent at it, straight into its open maw, causing it to gag.

"That's enough of that," Espeon chirped mockingly, taking a moment to laugh, before walking back with a whistle, apathetic to the currently choking reptile, and to just how much everybody else seemed to be struggling.

And having watched this all from cover, Sneasel and Granbull peeked out, the former cheering. "Wooh! Go dude, you rock! Literally-" She yelped as Granbull pulled her back into cover, narrowly helping the ice-type to avoid an Infestation spray.

"Ouch! Ow! Aaah!" Gabite grunted painfully, as several attacks pelted her from afar. Meanwhile, pushing her forward, was…Fred. Gabite was, rather awkwardly, quite literally pushing herself forward to take more hits. "F-Fred- Ow!" Can we- Ouch! Try something- Ow! Else!"

"Ayy, quit your whining toots, it ain't that bad!" The puppet cheerily replied, ignoring its ventriloquist's pain.

And watching in confusion and slight terror from nearby was Gengar, a handful of junk in his hands as he tipped a brow. "I…I don't…How should I feel about that?"

"Gengar!" The ghost yelped as suddenly a crate was thrown behind him. Turning around, he realized he was now facing down a panting, glaring, bruised Aggron, who screamed in his face. "You make yourself and grab something good!"

"W-Wha- y-yes! I did! B-But why are you so-" Before Gengar could even finish that question, he felt Aggron grab ahold of him by his sides, and in one smooth motion, dunked the ghost into the crate with the junk in his hand.

"Shut up and stop wasting time!" Aggron screamed, picking up the crate, and with a scream, running back toward the Passimian resting area at full-speed, carrying a box of supplies and a teammate in tow!

"Aggron sort of gets…Intense at times…" Gengar whimpered, currently in a cradled position as he rocked back and forth meekly.

Aggron roared as he threw the crate down, plucking Gengar out from it and throwing the ghost away, before promptly dumping out everything inside onto the ground with the rest of the Passimian's current pile.

Upon landing, Gengar found himself at Cranidos' feet, who nodded at the haul and said, "Good. We need more though. We have to get back in there, go, go!"

Cranidos, with Dubwool and a recently arrived Shedinja in tow, ran back onto the field, Aggron growling through his teeth as he thought over the rock-type's words. "That was the thanks I get?! I practically brought back the same amount of crap as all of you combined!"

Cranidos, and the others for that matter, either hadn't heard the steel-type's complaints, or just didn't care, not responding. "Hey, don't ignore me!" Aggron screamed, letting out a roar before shaking his head, and turning to the fallen Gengar. Kicking him lightly, the armored Pokémon growled, "Get up!"

"...P-Please give me a moment," Gengar muttered, "thank you…"

Groaning as loudly as he could, Aggron back out onto the field, screaming, "Forget this!"

Realizing the steel lizard had (thankfully) left him alone, Gengar looked up, and let out a sigh. "Thank goodness…" Looking around, however, Gengar also saw- "Skuntank?" The titular skunk was currently…Just sorta lounging in the grass, staring up at the sky without a worry in the world. "Uh…Are you okay?"

"Yep."

Getting up and brushing himself off, Gengar further questioned. "Are you, uh…Taking a break?"

"Nope."

"Oh," Gengar mumbled, "then uh…Why are you just-"

"None of your business," Skuntank stated firmly, sitting up just enough to glare at the ghost, "now leave me alone; something tells me after last time, you don't exactly wanna get on anybody's nerves."

Flinching at this, Gengar breathed in, and reluctantly walked away with a slouch. Smiling at that having worked, Skuntank laid back on the grass, content to let the challenge pass him by without lifting a finger.

Druddigon let out a grunt as he dropped an armful of planks onto the ground, leaning a hand against a rock to catch a breath. "Man…It feels like this challenge will never end!"

As he was resting though, he watched someone else return; Luxray…Who was holding a far smaller load of just one wooden plank, dropping into on the ground sloppily as she groaned. "...Hey, Luxray, you-" The lioness promptly collapsed. "Woah!"

Hoisting the girl up with one hand, he patted her on the back and asked, "Hey, you good? Do you need the nurse or something?"

"...N-No!" She growled sternly. "I'm fine!" Luxray tried her hardest to force herself forward, ignoring the pain in her legs as she did so. "I don't need help. I got this!"

Watching the electric-type run off in determination, Druddigon couldn't help but look on with mild worry, tapping his chin and shaking his head.

Granbull watched as Gabite (rather painfully) seemed to get sent flying backward by a Dragon Breath, shaking her head anxiously as she threw all sorts of garbage away, picking up what looked to be a tire of a bicycle. Turning to her right, she asked, "Any luck?"

Beside her, Sneasel was looking through her own pile, pulling up a large wooden paddle meant for canoes. Shaking her head, the ice-type said, "Nope!"

"Hey guys!" The two flinched at a familiar voice, turning to their left to see Absol running up to them, carrying a small metal box. "I found this! You think it's good for anything." Upon reaching them, however, she noticed there was a switch on it. "Oh, what's this do?" She flicked it, the top of the box flipped up, revealing a flame; it was a lighter. "Oooh-"

"And taking that from you," Granbull stated, pulling the lighter away and tossing it as far as she could from the dark-type. Turning back to the other girls, she said, "Okay, we need an idea or something! I don't think we've actually done anything to help yet, and those Passimian have a serious lead!"

Absol and Sneasel followed Granbull's hand as she pointed toward Aggron and Scrafty, who were already leaving the field again with a bunch of new supplies. "If we don't do something, and we lose, all three of us could be on the chopping block tonight!"

"Chopping block?!" Absol said a bit too loudly. "That sounds horrible; I don't wanna be chopped up!"

"Uh…Not like, what she meant I think, dude?" Sneasel amusedly corrected, before nodding, "But you're totally right. So uh…What do we do then?" She asked.

"I…I…" Granbull felt herself come to a loss. "Didn't think that far ahead yet." The three girls shared a groan.

"Look, I know my limits; I know what I'm not good at! And as it turns out, thinking of a plan on the fly might be one of those things I could be better at," Granbull admitted, sighing before shaking her head, "but I'm also not just gonna sit here and let myself do nothing. I almost gave up out in the woods, I'm not repeating that now that I'm out of them!"

She cringed. "Even if trash isn't much better." She could feel herself shutter.

Skuntank sighed blissfully as he stared up at the clouds, watching them bounce across the blue sky as, for the first time that day, he really felt himself relax. "Finally…No yelling…No annoying teammates…No stupid challenge…Just me, myself, and I." And just as he said that, he felt a shadow fall over him, and just as quick, his expression fell.

"Of course," Skuntank groaned, lifting himself up slightly and growling, "didn't I tell you to buzz off already-"

"And what do you think you're doing here, huh?" Skuntank's eyes widened, as he stared up to see Aggron, glaring down at him. "While the rest of us are working, you're here…What? Taking inventory…Huh?" The poison-type didn't say a word, as Aggron lowered himself. "Or maybe you just want to slack off and let us do the hard work…"

Skuntank shook in place, letting out a nervous laugh, "Well…You see-"

Skuntank screamed as he flew through the air, smashing facefirst into a tall, garbage tower. It tilted back from this, and promptly began to fall. The unaware forms of Braixen and Druddigon were helpless, as they began to pick up various items, only to notice at just the wrong time as a shadow fell over them, before the tower crushed them.

Brushing his hands off, Aggron huffed with a smirk, running back onto the field laughing to himself.

Skuntank glared at the camera, his body covered in scratches and bruises, all while covered in a gray ash. "...I hate…Everyone on this stupid show…"

Braixen groaned as she was pulled from the wreckage of the fallen tower by Samurott. "...My thanks, sir Samurott. Much appreciated." Not bothering to respond, Samurott threw a small handful of trash into Braixen's hands and ran off. The fire-type waved him off…Only to hear something.

"Why couldn't he have pulled me out too?!" Druddigon screamed from the trash, his claws peeking through cracks in the trash as he tried to pry himself out.

Noticing this, Braixen reached down to help him…Though, couldn't help but notice something. A glass bottle, with a thin, rolled up strip of paper inside it, all kept tightly contained by a cork. Her eyes flashed with curiosity, as she leaned down and picked it up, looking it over in curiosity. "Curiouser, and curiouser…"

"Braixen!"

Flinching, Braixen quickly hid the bottle in her tail, before leaning down to help the covered dragon. "Coming!"

Running through the trash field, ducking from cover to cover, the trio of Oranguru girls in the form of Absol, Granbull, and Sneasel had found no luck thus far; merely more piles of useless garbage not worth anything in a building competition.

"Dude's, we're like, so screwed right now! Who knows how long we've got left to search and we got nothin'!" Sneasel complained.

"There has to be something around here somewhere," Granbull hoped aloud, the trio turning into a more cramped section of the area- and were greeted by something truly beautiful.

Okay not really; it was still garbage after all, but in this case, it was useful garbage. Wood, metal, bolts, rope, and more! Everything they could possibly need to build a base was right there in front of them. The three cheered, running forward giddily-

Only for something to land in front of them, the earth shaking for just a moment, as the large, powerful form of a certain ghostly lizard stood before them, her eyes narrowed into a harsh glare.

"...Oh, so that's why we haven't seen her this whole time," Absol said.

"Run!" Granbull screamed, the three backpedaling as fast as they could out of Dragapult's lair.

But it was too late, as with a whistle, a pair of Dreepy came up beside the camp chef, who pointed forward with a glare. The two tiny lizards hissed, flying forward and opening their mouths, revealing their small though sharp teeth.

As the three girls ran though, the claws on Sneasel's feet randomly seemed to catch themselves on a piece of trash jutting up from the surface. With a yelp, the rocker fell forward, trying to grab onto anything in front of her- which in this case, happened to be Granbull, pulling her to the ground with her in the process.

The two girls groaned on the ground, looking up just in time to see the two Dreepy flying at them. They screamed, clutching onto each other for safety as they watched the two approach- then fly right over their heads.

Granbull blinked. "...Wait, why did they-" Looking behind her, she saw it; they were instead chasing Absol, the dark-type running for her life from the pair of vicious lizards. "Oh! Absol, keep them going so we have time to grab something!"

"Okay!" Absol screamed back, her eyes full of terror as she began to run in circles from the Dreepy. "But please hurry!"

Letting out sighs of relief, Granbull and Sneasel exchanged a high five…Then noticed the shadow looming over them. Looking up, they saw Dragapult staring down, growling at the pair.

"...You know," Sneasel started, letting out a weak laugh, "I, like…Sorta forgot she was a thing…Heh heh…"

Samurott grunted as he tried as hard as he could to fill a large, cardboard box with as much as he could find and carry; anything worth using was becoming rarer by the minute as the cast scavenged for anything they could get their hands on. So at this point, with how the challenge could end any second now, he had to make this run count.

Little did he know, peeking out from cover nearby was Gabite and her puppet, the latter of whom seemed very interested in that box. "Oh man! Who knows what sorta goodies are in there! Let's try and nab it!"

"W-What?!" Gabite stammered. "B-But he's so s-strong! I don't think I could fight him off."

"Which is why we need a distraction to do that for us!" Fred replied, looking around…And finding his eyes land on Shedinja, currently searching through…A pile of rocks. "And I got just the fool in mind!"

Picking up a pebble in his tiny, puppet-y hands, Banette lurched back to toss the rock…Only to instead hand it to Gabite, who despite a lack of fingers, still managed to toss the pebble as hard as she could at the back of Samurott's head.

Smacking against his helmet, Samurott flinched, and looked around a moment, seeing a rock on the ground…And a bug nearby looking through rocks themselves.

"I think…I'll keep you," Shedinja muttered, dropping a rock in their head. Humming, they tossed a different one aside, "not you…Yes you," they dropped another one in, "and you- but not you; everyone knows you'd make a mess of me, Rocky Four."

"Hey."

Turning around, Shedinja saw Samurott, staring down at them with a glare. They blinked. They plucked out a notebook from their head. "Hello. I am Shedinja. You know this already. I am reintroducing myself just in case though, because I forget names sometimes too-"

As Shedinja began, however, Gabite and Fred moved in on Samurott's box, the latter rubbing their hands together mischievously. "We just struck gold! Now come on, pick up the box!" With a sigh, Gabite lowered herself, and tried with all her might to lift up the box-

Only, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. It was so heavy! "Come on, put your back into it already!"

"Ahem."

Looking up from the box, Gabite and Fred were met with the worst sight possible in that moment; a very frustrated Samurott. And, being held up in one hand, was Shedinja, who gave their teammates a friendly wave. "Hello."

Gabite and Fred exchanged worried looks, before turning back to the water-type in horror.

"Keep at it, campers!" Bidoof called out through his megaphone. "Time's a ticking! Grab what you can while you're still able!"

Narrowing his eyes, Druddigon smirked as he pulled up what looked to be a massive wooden wheel of some kind. Leaning down, he also grabbed a handful of wooden planks, tucking them under his arm as he started to run back, passing by Espeon as he did so, who himself had just pulled apart another garbage tower, well over a dozen different parts floating above his head, a pink aura surrounding each.

On the opposite side of the field, Cranidos stared out over the garbage, barking out. "We need more wood! Prioritize it; get as much as you can!"

Promptly, most of the Passimian changed their focus to the various planks and walls scattered across the field, grabbing what they could and running back. But among them, Aggron held his glare, growling through clenched teeth as he reluctantly followed orders.

Sneasel screamed as she launched at the wall, pain coursing through her body upon impact as she dropped to the ground. Rubbing her head, the ice-type muttered, "Crap dude…My head!"

However, the shadow of Dragapult was all she needed to refocus herself on the threat at hand. Looking up, Sneasel couldn't help but gulp as she stared up at the camp chef, who cracked her knuckles with a shake of her head. "Ya'll really were dumb coming for my stash. Real, real dumb."

Gulping, Sneasel threw her hands up defensively as Dragapult leaned down- only for the arms of Granbull to wrap around her neck. "Leave us alone!" The fairy-type's arm grip strengthened…

And did nothing. Dragapult didn't even look phased. Glancing up, the dragon glared, and Granbull shook in fear. "Um…Oops?"

Moments later, Granbull's screamed echoed across the arena as she was thrown aside. With a groan, she pushed herself up, watching as Dragapult turned her attention back to Sneasel. "Crud," Granbull whispered, looking around and catching a passing glimpse of Absol still running away from the Dreepy not far away. She desperately checked her surroundings, looking for anything that might get them outta here.

Then, she saw it; a massive wheelbarrow, already filled with all sorts of junk. Eyes widening, Granbull rubbed her chin and smiled. "Maybe…"

"Look, dude, let's chill, alright?!" Sneasel begged, now up against the wall. "Like, come on, no harm, no foul, right? We didn't get your stuff, so like, maybe we don't deserve to get pummeled…Right?"

Dragapult, however, was having none of this, reaching down to throttle the poor weasel, as she ducked back in fear.

"Sneasel, get ready!"

The two looked back just in time for a wheelbarrow to smash into the back of Dragapult, sending the ghost-lizard flying over it. Meanwhile, Sneasel, in a seemingly gut reaction, jumped up slightly, just enough in fact to latch onto the front of the barrow with her claws and climb inside it. Looking up, Sneasel felt her head dart around…Before letting out a cheer.

"Dude! Barrow! Wheels!" Sneasel started laughing hysterically as Granbull continued pushing the wheelbarrow forward. "This is awesome!" Just as she was saying that, Absol managed to jump inside of the wheelbarrow as well, the three cheering as they sped away from the scene.

Grumbling, Dragapult shook her fist at the fleeing girls, screaming out, "You'll regret that, punks!"

"Okay…Dude…Dude!" Sneasel exclaimed. "That was so rad! We just totally jacked her shit, and got away with it too! Man that reminds me of this one time my bud Ricky totally hotwired this rich douche's car, and we went on a joyride all day long!"

The weasel broke down into a fit of laughter, only relaxing long enough to say, "Man…Too bad he got arrested after, but hey, it was a pretty sick day all things considered!"

Luxray could practically feel her heartbeat slowing down as she forced herself through the junkyard, her heavy panting and heavy limbs doing all they needed to for her to realize she wasn't feeling okay. Everything was hurting, and she could practically feel the lump in her throat choking her at this very moment.

But she had to ignore it; she had to. She needed to make it up to the team for her failures last challenge. If she didn't…

…Well, that wasn't an option.

Groaning, she noticed something peeking out from the garbage pile; a long, metal pole, thin enough to where even she could carry it back without struggling too badly regardless of her current health. "Jackpot."

Running up to it, she placed her paw on it- just as someone else did as well. Looking up, she found herself locking eyes with-

"Oh, of course, it's you," Skuntank groaned, "my luck's just the best today."

Growling through clenched teeth, Luxray replied, "It isn't exactly sunshine and roses to see you either," she tried pulling it away, "now hands off!"

"Nuh-uh, cub, I don't think so," Skuntank snapped, pulling it back, "I ain't going back empty handed because of some lying, lazy dweeb."

"I'm not lying, I really am sick you jerk!" Luxray growled, "And like you're one to talk!"

"Yeah, well I didn't exactly say I wasn't that myself, did I? But hey, at least I'm honest about who I am, unlike you," Skuntank narrowed his eyes, "even right now, I can tell this whole attitude your putting up is total bull!"

"Oh, you do not want this fight right now-"

"Why, you gonna do something about it?" Skuntank questioned with a glare-

She had enough; in an instant, without even really, the lioness pounced on the skunk, pinning him to the ground and barring her teeth, electricity sparking off her mane. "And what if I do, huh?! What then, huh?!"

Skuntank shook for a moment, before returning her glare, saying, "You. Ain't. Gonna. Do. Nothin'."

The two's glares barred into each other's souls, scanning one another for weakness, for lies, for anything, and as they did so…

A voice came back over the megaphone. "Hey, campers! Time's up! Time to get 'ta building!"

And in an instant, the pair of mammals almost felt…Snapped back to reality in a sense. Looking over the situation, Luxray got off the poison-type, taking a few steps back and allowing him to get up. However, the two's glares never left, the two staring each other down in frustration…Before walking away.

"God, I can't stand Skuntank," Luxray growled, "he reminds of every single opinionated, lazy jerk from my exploration missions. Doesn't want to bother with any sort of genuine effort or work, he just wants a quick payout; only in this case, he also can't seem to learn when he should really shut up. One of these days he's gonna say the wrong thing, and I look forward to seeing that bite him in the ass."

"Man, Luxray freaking sucks," Skuntank groaned, "just another obnoxious musclehead who acts before she thinks and relies more on her muscles than her brain. Not only that but she's out here always spewing nonsense about how tough she is, and then what, she gets lost in the forest for a day and won't even leave her cabin over it out of shame? That isn't strength, that's pathetic!"

"I can't stand them," the two said at the same time, folding their arms and glaring at the wall.

Bidoof watched as the Oranguru and Passimian regrouped; looks like both teams had grabbed a steady stream of supplies for themselves. Smirking, the host turned to the camera with a smile. "With the scavenging portion of the challenge done and over with it, it's time for the campers to put to use what they found, and see if they can make something, from nothing?"

"Who'll come out on top? You won't want to miss it. Here. On Total." The camera zoomed out to reveal the Bidoof now in the center of the trash area. "Drama." It now zoomed out to reveal the entire forest. "Island!" It zoomed out one final time, revealing the entire island in one big shot!

"...Nailed it."

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART #2.

CH5 NOTE:

This chapter was admittedly on the shorter side, which I think is fine; really, the second half of the episode will more than make up for the shortcomings of this first half if you ask me, though I guess I'll leave that up for you to decide when it comes out.

Really, this chapter is a lot of foreshadowing and plot developments more than anything. Lots of hints at what will happen next time, that I can't fully get into at this moment. Regardless, I hope the plot hooked you well enough, because next time…Oh boy…I got some real juicy stuff for you all then…

Dragapult: The Hell am I here for? Well, while I'm stuck here, review. Now get me the Hell outta this cliffnote!