Total Drama Mayhem Chapter 10: Who is Burnin? Effigy, a total drama series fanfic

HELLO ONCE AGAIN READERS! I HOPE YOU'RE DOING WELL :D CHAPTER 10 IS HERE. I GOT A HELL LOT OF VIEWS FOR CHAP 9. ALMOST 500 A DAY WHICH IS AWESOME.

BEFORE WE MOVE ON I'D LIKE TO THANK dw25392, rhett-leonard-1, The Imaginationeers and TotalDramaDegrassiFan for all the FOLLOW/FAVS IT MEANS A LOT.

NOW FOR THE REVIEWS:

lordgemini: I'm happy you liked the challenge aspects and some of the schemes :) Yes, Dakota's current situation is not great. Let's see if she can get through it.

Aleheather4ever: Thanks for the one day read :D I'm glad you like their interactions. I hope this chap increases your interest.

Guest: Hola :D

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK Bladekiller99 FROM THE TOTAL DRAMA DISCORD SERVER FOR HELPING ME COME UP WITH THE CHALLENGE IDEA.

WITH THAT, LET'S DIVE IN.

I DO NOT OWN TOTAL DRAMA OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.

"Last time on Total Drama Mayhem…

We had Go-Karting, diving, driving and totem making. Half the campers raced in an epic Go-Kart track with some 'minor' distractions, Haha! Some were blown away, some slipped while the others wrecked, BAD! Ah, so much entertainment. The other half dived, fetched keys and made wooden head towers. In between all this, Tyler and Harold were caught in a feud, spicy! The cunning Scott made an alliance with the unpredictable Dakota by threatening her. Cody and Bridgette tried to go through Dakota's E-pad but failed in gaining any progress, thanks to someone who warned her. Wonder who that is. The Tigers won the challenge- mainly cuz some of the Bulls were blind- or rather because of Scott. The lovable big guy, Owen, was kicked off the island after Scott framed him for their loss. That kid's bringing in the drama. I love it! Another episode is here. What is Scott's plan? Will Tyler and Harold's feud intensify? I sure hope so. More importantly, why is it night time? All of this and more answered, right here, right now on TOTAL… DRAMA… MAYHEM!"

It was almost 7 pm. Wawanakwa was lit solely by the moonlight. The camera panned smoothly from the dock of shame to the cabins then it immediately cut to the woods where someone was strolling through the woods. The person was revealed to be Duncan. He was holding something in his hand as he walked past a few more trees. A voice called him from in between the trees. He turned and saw the source. It was Eva.

They had agreed to meet there in the evening after their midnight adventure.

"So what have we got?" Eva asked.

Earlier today (2 am):

Eva checked on the other girls in the cabin from her bunk. Once she was convinced that all of them were sound asleep, she got out of her bed and tiptoed to the door. But before she could open it, the low voice of the moonchild called from her bunk.

"Eva, where are you going?" she asked.

The athlete turned around, "Weren't you asleep?" Eva asked, trying to divert the question.

"I was trying to but I felt some negative energy. I tried to decipher what it was implying but I couldn't figure it out till now." Dawn replied.

Eva raised an eyebrow, "Negative energy?"

Dawn nodded, "Yes. I have felt it, around this time, on most days we were here. While there might be such a presence here, sometimes it can also be a weird speculation of mine. So I'm not confirming anything."

"Oh-kay I guess" Eva said, not really understanding what the moonchild was explaining.

"Leave that. Where are you going?" Dawn asked.

"I have a valid reason. I would tell you but-"

"It's something that you have to find first before telling me" Dawn completed the sentence.

Eva shrugged, "Yeah you can say that."

"Ok then, I shall not pry into the situation" Dawn promised, "Good luck on your endeavour my friend. But be careful," her tone showed concern.

Confessional: Eva

"This is why I like this girl. She doesn't put her nose in anyone else's business. I rate that."

End Confessional: Eva

Eva nodded. "Go to sleep. Don't think about negative energy and stuff now," she instructed. Dawn smiled.

Once Dawn went into the covers, Eva slowly opened the cabin door and got out.

As planned on the previous night, the ex-prisoner was sitting on the cabin steps carving a skull with his knife beside the same wooden step he was sitting on.

"You ready punk" Eva walked down the small flight of stairs and stood in front of him with her arms crossed.

Duncan got up, put the knife in its sheath and stowed it in his pocket.

"Of course. Let's catch this douche" he cracked his knuckles.

"Why do you need the knife?" she asked.

"For protection duh" Duncan said in a mocking tone, "Never thought you would be that stupid to not know that."

Next thing Duncan knew, he was lifted up by the athlete, who caught him by the collar.

"We're gonna have a problem if you talk to me like that," she warned, "I don't care if you've been to prison, I can make you say your last words right now."

Duncan gulped, struggling to escape from her clutch, "Okay. Just leave me. We won't have a problem. Sheesh."

Eva recalled her anger management sessions. She let out a deep breath and let him go. He fell to the ground groaning.

"Well then good for you" she said, "Now let's move."

Eva walked in front and Duncan followed as they walked into the dark woods. They constantly scanned the area they walked through quietly, paying attention to every little sound they heard. As they continued their search, Duncan broke the silence between them.

"So you suspect anyone?" he asked, looking around him.

Eva looked to the tree tops, "I had doubts on you, Jo, Izzy and Lightning. It's not Jo, cuz she helped me track this idiot before. It's not Lightning either. I had the most suspicion on Izzy. But I don't think she'll be that crazy."

"You had a doubt on me" Duncan smirked, "I'm that dangerous huh" he said proudly.

The athlete shook her head, "Not cuz you're dangerous. You're one of the few people who have basic athleticism here. It's natural to suspect you. And you're last on my list, if we don't find anyone today, I can almost be sure that this douche is you."

"What the heck?! I'm not a dumbass to get up in the middle of the night to wander in the woods" Duncan protested.

"Yeah we'll see in a few hours." Eva smirked. Duncan was annoyed.

Duncan scanned behind him, "How about Mike? He can be the guy."

Eva chuckled, "That toothpick can't do it."

"What if he's Mal then" Duncan asserted.

Eva stopped on her tracks and turned to the ex-prisoner.

"Mike's evil persona in that All Star season?" Eva asked to confirm.

Duncan nodded, "He came back this season. Now I'm kinda confident we're looking for him. He loves the dark and who knows what he's planning."

"How do you know he came back?" Eva challenged.

"I know he came back cuz I saw and talked to him" Duncan replied, trying to make the athlete understand.

"He got rid of his personas at the end of that season. It's impossible" Eva stated.

"Then what if Mike was the persona and Mal is the real deal" Duncan asserted.

Eva thought about it for a while, trying to make sense out of what the punk was saying. Her mind cast a doubt inside her head but she tried hard not to believe it. Suddenly what Dawn informed earlier came into her mind, 'Dawn did say something about negative energy, did she sense it from Mal?', she asked herself but quickly rubbished that thought.

"What if you're lying about Mal"

"I know you won't believe me, but it's the truth. Don't be surprised if we find him now" Duncan said, smirking in between.

"I'm pretty sure you're making up this story so we vote out Mike and you can get Zoey from him" Eva smirked, "You been sticking with her a lot."

"What the fuck?!" Duncan exclaimed. His tone was full of anger, "I didn't even think of that. I might've- well, cheated- before but never again. Everyone suspects the guy who went to jail-"

Suddenly they heard a sound of someone running from the left and almost simultaneously on the right, a thump of something landing after dropping from a height.

"Ok great there's two now" Eva shook her head.

"Looks like it's time for action" Duncan said, cracking his knuckles, "I'll take left, you take right."

As Duncan started running, Eva called from behind, "Meet right here in the evening."

Duncan gave a thumbs up and followed the running sound while Eva sprinted to her left.

Back to the present:

Duncan leaned his back onto the tree, "Well, I got this" he revealed what he was holding. It was a chain with a lightning bolt pendant attached to it.

"I tried to catch them but they were kinda fast. So I pulled this from their neck and then I tripped over a branch. They got away" he elaborated.

"You saw their face?" she asked.

"They had a helmet on for some reason."

Eva thought for a few seconds, "I heard a bike revving when I was chasing. Maybe whoever it was, got away with the bike."

Duncan nodded, "Maybe."

"Anyway, well it's a good find" Eva said, "I got this," she pulled out a torn piece of blue cloth from her pocket and showed it to him.

"Whoa, you tore their shirt" Duncan said, impressed.

"Well no, if I got a hold of them I wouldn't have them escape unlike you" she smirked. Duncan rolled his eyes.

"Whatever."

"I was chasing them in a thorny area, so their shirt tore and was hanging on one of the bushes. Strange thing, I noticed they were carrying something while running. I couldn't make out what it was though. Even my top tore a bit on the sid-" she said.

"Yeah I don't care" Duncan cut in between, not interested in the chase, which earned him a glare from the athlete. But he continued, "Light blue huh, I wonder who wears light blue, oh right. Multiple Mike, or now Mal, does" he said dramatically.

"That doesn't prove that it's him. Many wear light blue pajamas, like Bridgette, Tyler, DJ, Justin, believe it or not Izzy too."

"Good point, but let's cross DJ outta the list, I don't think he would do that," Duncan said.

"True. No DJ. But Izzy is still there, I couldn't make out if it's a guy or a girl. Dang it" she cursed.

"Anyway, I think I was chasing Sha-idiot Lightning. I mean who else would have this" Duncan stated gesturing at the chain.

"Probably him, but he was thrown out of the island remember. Why would he come back for no reason" a confused Eva asked. Duncan shrugged.

"Anyway, we got some clues now, so there's progress. We don't tell this to anyone" Eva warned.

"Nothing's getting outta me" he assured and they parted ways.

As Duncan walked away, Eva dug into her pocket and took a circular object. The person she was chasing had dropped it. She turned it around and looked closely at the photo on it, but it was scribbled with black, making it almost impossible to recognize the person in the photo.

Some campers were at the mess hall. Chris had announced earlier that it would be an early 'dinner' today. Some were sitting on the table eating their slop while others were waiting in line to get the same from Chef.

Courtney and Heather were discussing sitting on opposite sides of the table.

"So I was thinking. Have we taken off all the deadweights" Courtney asked.

"Pretty much" Heather replied, poking her food with a spoon, "What is this stuff?"

"I guess it's better not to know anything about it" Courtney said, looking at her plate disgusted by the food, "How about Sierra?"

"Sierra isn't technically deadweight. She's won some challenges for us."

"But don't you think she escaped the vote from any of us somehow" Courtney pointed out.

Heather thought about it, "You got a point."

"If we ignore her, she'll easily make it to the merge. Besides, she has some good connections to keep her in the game" Courtney elaborated.

"I like how you think. See I told you we are similar in some ways" Heather said, smirking. "I feel we make her do something wrong during the challenge. But at the same time we gotta assure that we win. So one of our opponents goes out and we get a target for the elimination after today."

"Good plan." the brunette commented, "But we might need some more reinforcements."

"True, it kinda depends on the challenge" Heather said, "I can't eat this. I rather starve."

With that the Queen Bee left the mess hall. Courtney shortly followed.

Zoey took her tray and walked to the table where Bridgette was seated. The blonde was in deep thought.

"Hi Bridgette"

The surfer chick looked up and smiled, "Hi Zoey."

"Mind if I sit here?" she asked politely.

"Of course not" Bridgette smiled.

Zoey sat down beside the blonde who continued poking her food with her fork and again went back into her thoughts. The redhead saw the surfer chick was in her own world.

"Bridgette to reality" she called, shaking Bridgette's arm.

A startled Bridgette came back to her senses and chuckled looking at Zoey, "Sorry. I was just thinking about stuff."

Zoey chuckled, "Yeah I noticed. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." she replied poking at her food, "It's just y'know, many things are going on in my head for a few days."

"Oh really? Like what?" Zoey asked before immediately continuing, "If you wanna tell that is" she said nervously, rubbing her arm.

"I don't wanna burden you, or anyone actually, by telling my problems though. It's gonna just make you feel awkward and weirded out" Bridgette said politely.

Zoey shrugged, "I understand. But remember, sometimes speaking to someone else about your troubles can help. You only have to find that person who will listen to you attentively."

Bridgette slowly nodded, "Yeah I get it. I'll try. Well right now there's only a few people I trust and few others who I feel I can trust, you're one of them."

The redhead smiled happily, "I'm glad you trust me."

Bridgette smiled, "Then there's DJ, Gwen, Courtney, Cody and few more," She let out a deep breath before continuing, "Anyway, you can probably guess one of my main troubles."

"Geoff?"

She sighed sadly, "Yeah. I haven't been able to sleep after that incident. It was all so sudden. When I saw Geoff and her in that position, I just couldn't hold it in. I never imagined we would break things off like that. It was too much." her eyes started getting mist, "We've been together for all these years and to end it like that was so-so… tough." her shoulders slumped and she looked down in sorrow, "I try to forget about what happened but it's not easy."

Zoey gently patted her back trying to console her, "I'm so sorry that happened" she paused before clearing her throat, "I don't really know if it's true, but I feel that you really miss him. You really want to get back with him. That's why you're not getting much sleep."

Bridgette gave it a thought and replied, "I don't know Zoey, I really don't. I feel so conflicted."

Zoey nodded in understanding, "Maybe weigh out everything, it might help you become less confused. Dive deep into your heart, you'll find out the answer."

Bridgette nodded before chuckling, "That sounded like Dawn."

Zoey laughed, "Yeah kinda."

"But thanks Zo. Kinda helps letting something off your chest. Thanks" the surfer chick said affectionately.

"Anytime. I'm glad I was of some help" she smiled and continued to try eating her food.

"So how's things with Mike?" the blonde asked, "I haven't seen you two being very close."

Zoey looked at her with sad eyes, "Well, it's good" she replied smiling nervously, "Why would you think we aren't close?"

Bridgette shrugged, "I mean, it just felt kinda like that way" she paused, "I'm sorry if I made that awkward" she said innocently.

"No it's fine" Zoey replied, feeling tensed.

Confessional: Zoey

She was rubbing her arm nervously, "Bridgette thinks we aren't close? That makes me worried now. Mike has been acting a little different, I agree but obviously it's just something in my head." She looked confident at first but it fell into an unsure face. She sighed, "It makes me anxious that the others are feeling the same."

End Confessional: Zoey

Suddenly DJ barged into the mess hall, almost breaking its door. He scanned around the area frantically. He anxiously looked under the tables and around each tree stump that acted as the seats.

The campers present looked confused.

"Yo DJ! What's wrong man?" Cody asked looking vaguely.

DJ replied while still looking around the place, "Bunny is missin' man! I don't know where he is!"

Almost everyone gasped.

"Bunny's missing?!" Dawn exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah. I don't know how?! I made sure the cage was locked last night but today morning, he disappeared! Even the cage is missing" DJ panicked, "I can't lose Bunny again!" he kept his hands on his knees dejected.

Dawn walked up to him and patted him on his back, "We'll find Bunny. I'm sure we will."

"Thanks. I really hope we get him soon" DJ said, "Some of the guys are helping me search. I hope they have more luck than me."

As if on cue, Tyler, Duncan and Trent entered the mess hall. All of them were panting after their search around the island.

DJ immediately ran to them, "Did you find him?" he asked expectantly.

The three guys looked at each other dejected and hopeless and shook their heads in denial.

DJ's face fell and his shoulders slumped in sadness. He dragged himself past his three teammates and out the mess hall.

He raised his arms in the air and screamed at the sky helplessly, "Bunny! Why'd you do me like this again!"

Confessional: DJ

Looking down at the floor, "I thought this animal curse was over after World Tour man. It's like it took another form to get me" he starts sobbing, "Bunny! Come back! Please!"

End Confessional: DJ

"ANNOUNCEMENT CAMPERS!" Chris' voice blurted out of the loudspeakers, "Meet me at the beach in five minutes!"

"Announcement?" Bridgette asked.

"Obviously a night challenge" Zoey replied. Everyone present groaned.

Beach:

The campers assembled according to their teams on either side of the host.

"Good evening campers" Chris greeted, "How was your day?"

"Just get on with the announcement and get this over with" Scott replied scornfully.

Chris narrowed his eyes at the dirt farmer, "Not the answer to my question. But we move" he paused, "There are two announcements actually. First is, you ain't going anywhere cuz it's a night challenge!" he announced.

Chris looked at the campers faces to see their reactions but became disappointed, "No gasps? Aren't you guys shocked?"

"I mean we kinda expected it to be a night challenge, when you told us about the early dinner." Katie replied.

"True. But still you could have acted surprised" Chris rolled his eyes.

"We don't care. Get on with it" Eva said, a bit annoyed.

"Sheesh, Fine. Showbiz goes over your heads" the host rolled his eyes, "Anyway, the second announcement. Some things you may need to get an edge going forward in this competition. Idols!" he announced, "Four idols of three types have been scattered across the island- the Chris idol, the Chef idol and two Intern idols. I'll explain what each of them will grant you" he paused, cleared his throat and continued, "We'll go from the least powerful to the most. First the Intern idols. This idol allows the holder to perform a double vote during the elimination ceremony. Next up is the Chef idol. Whoever possesses this, gets immunity from the votes during the elimination. Finally the most powerful of the three idols, my idol." he said proudly, "It gives you immunity from the votes and the holder can pick who to get eliminated."

"Whoa" the campers exclaimed.

"'Whoa' indeed. Remember, these idols can only be used once. So when you get the idol, use them wisely" Chris elaborated.

Confessional: Eva

"Looks like my midnight stakeouts got more purpose."

End Confessional: Eva

Confessional: Dakota

"I really need those idols. Scott can do anything right now. I need as much strength as possible."

End Confessional: Dakota

"Alright. With that out of the way, we move on to the challenge" Chris started, "It's a simple challenge but you will need some luck and also have a good eye which, in this season most you don't have" he laughed mockingly, "Okay so each team is gonna split into 5 groups of 2 campers each. The duos will go through the forest to reach the other end of the island, carrying a lit torch. On the way, you have to find an effigy which is lying in the forest. Carry it along with you and once you reach the opposite end of the island, which is the finishing point, burn the effigy in your team's fire pit with the torch you carry with you. There are ten duos, so ten effigies are scattered" he paused, "Any questions?"

"Whose effigy are we supposed to find?" Courtney asked.

"All the effigies are life-sized Dons" Chris replied.

"Dawn? Why would you make an effigy of her?" Katie asked, not comprehending the hosts' reply.

Noah facepalmed, "He means the host of the Ridonculous Race. D-O-N, Don" he clarified, "Basically a less sadistic version of McLean."

Chris looked irritated, "Another word about him and you're eliminated!" he exclaimed, "How could you have the audacity to join his show"

Noah shrugged, not giving any care for his words, "He was less annoying at least. And I won a girlfriend, so yeah I'll take Don over you any day."

Chris narrowed his eyes, "I could eliminate you right now" the host smirked evilly.

"Yeah fine. Do it" Noah deadpanned.

Chris was disappointed as he gave out a heavy sigh, "Nah you didn't bring out any drama I expected to see. Doesn't really help the ratings so I'll leave you for now."

"Whatever man."

"Um Chris, we have 11 and they have 12 campers. If we split in 5 groups of two, there's still some more people left" Sierra informed.

"Good observation. I was coming to that" Chris praised, "Two of the Tigers and one of the Bulls, along with an intern, will be hunting the opposite team down with some huge water guns" he said and pointed to Chef who was holding a big water gun, similar in size to the one used in the first season. "These things blast water like crazy. The hunters will try to extinguish your torches. If they succeed, you have to light it up again before continuing. If you reach the finish point with an unlit torch, you will be disqualified. I hope things are clear with that." He looked at the campers who nodded in understanding.

"Good. Now let's pick the groups. Onto the big screen everyone" Chris gestured behind him as Chef pressed a button on a remote he was holding. Kyle, the intern, came rolling a TV stand, with a large screen placed on it.

Heather raised an eyebrow, "Then what's with the remote?"

"Oh yeah that, someone meddled with our Beach Screen" Chris said in an annoying tone, directed to the masked person from the last challenge. "So we had to improvise. The remote makes it look organised" he paused as the screen randomised the campers and grouped them.

It displayed the groups and hunters:

BULLS

Justin/Sierra

Heather/Courtney

Dakota/Alejandro

Cody/Bridgette

Gwen/Izzy

Hunters: Scott

TIGERS

Dawn/Katie

Noah/Ezekiel

Tyler/Mike

Duncan/Trent

Eva/Zoey

Hunters: Harold, DJ

"Alright the groups are formed. Bulls, along with Scott you will have Zack as your hunter" Chris announced, "So get your torches from these crates, light 'em up from this fire pit and move, move, move!"

Chef tossed a water gun to each of the hunters while some others walked to the crates, lit their torches and ran into the forest.

"These guns are awesome" Harold commented, posing.

"I always wanted to shoot down some of these losers" Scott said, holding up his gun.

"It's literally water" Zack said.

"Meh" he shrugged, "It's better than not shooting anything."

"Man, I need to search for Bunny" DJ said worriedly.

"We'll find him, we gotta concentrate on the challenge" Harold said. DJ nodded slowly.

"Hey, Justin can do something about Sierra, he's paired up with her after all" Courtney whispered to Heather.

"Out of everyone else he's the one we gotta keep our hopes up for" Heather whispered back, rolling her eyes, "He doesn't think a lot y'know"

"He's the only one who can make it happen" Courtney said, "Remember, he was pretty good in the second season."

"Fine. Go tell him" Heather said as Courtney nodded.

Courtney and Justin held out their torches into the fire to light them.

"Justin listen" she called, Justin nodded to not bring attention to their conversation, "Sierra's been getting away without doing a whole lot this season. We gotta get her out. You got any tricks up your sleeve?"

"Hmm. I'll try something. I gotta think about it. Thinking is not my best skill" he replied.

"Well, try to make it your best skill, for now at least" she said.

He gave a thumbs up. "Good luck. I'm off."

"Yeah same to you"

They separated with their group into the dark woodlands.

"The hunters will enter the forest after 15 minutes" Chris announced through the loudspeakers, "So move fast!"

Duncan and Trent walked through as they scanned the area around them. The musician was carrying the torch while Duncan followed.

"Lemme check behind those bushes" Duncan said walking to his right.

"I'll check the left" Trent replied.

Duncan pushed some part of the thick leaves to get a better look but couldn't find the effigy. Trent also did not have any luck.

"We're gonna be here for a long time" Duncan groaned.

"For sure. The forest is pretty big, who knows where those effigies are" Trent added.

They silently walked forward not exactly knowing where to look for. Few minutes later, Duncan broke the silence.

"So uh, you told Gwen to talk to me?" Duncan asked, still looking around searching.

Trent looked at him, a little surprised, "Oh, she came to talk to you?"

"Yeah, last night" he replied, "I was wondering if you told her to. "

"I mean, I did suggest it last time we talked" Trent said, "She was pretty hesitant to speak to you. I'm kinda surprised she did so quickly but at the same time she's bold" he paused while Duncan raised an eyebrow, "I'm just saying contradicting sentences now" he chuckled.

Confessional: Trent

"That day when Gwen and I met a few challenges back, I told her to try making things right with Duncan. After all, she did date him for a while even after all that craziness in between. So I felt if we're gonna patch up, we have to clean our slates and start over. Luckily, she was on board with it" he smiled.

End Confessional: Trent

"So what did she say?" the musician asked.

Duncan started to narrate him the instances of last night.

Last Night:

Duncan and Gwen were talking behind the Tigers' cabin. Initially they were standing in complete silence, with the occasional sound of a wolf howling. Then they talked about random things just to make the atmosphere between them a little less awkward. When the second spell of quietude arrived and the main subject of the talk hadn't come up yet, the ex-prisoner spoke up.

"What's wrong?" he asked the goth girl. His voice showed concern for his ex.

Gwen sighed, "I'll come straight to the point. I've thought a lot about it and I'm embarrassed of how I was" she paused, "I'm sorry for whatever happened between us. It's my fault that I didn't see how good you were to me and then I just dumped you without any kind of explanation. I'm really, really sorry."

Duncan was stunned, though his expressions didn't show the exact degree of it. The strong, bold girl he dated, who sticks to her principles and proud of her individuality, just apologized to him. Out of all people he had expected, Gwen was one of the last ones he thought would apologize for her actions because she always stood up for herself proving her point.

He cleared his throat, "You're not the one to apologize. It's me. I don't know what happened, cuz we were going smooth until the All Star season and then I don't know why, suddenly I wanted Courtney's attention. It took me a while to find out why you broke up quickly" he scratched the back of his head, "I was such a dumbass."

"I should've tried to talk things through but… yeah" she looked down.

"No, you did the right thing, I was being a jerk, craving for another girl's attention. Don't beat yourself up about it" Duncan said.

They looked at each other in silence and heaved a sigh simultaneously.

"I guess we both are at fault in our own way. Honestly the way we hooked up itself was not the best. We can't blame anyone but ourselves" Gwen said, crossing her arms.

Duncan ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah, that was fucked up."

They went silent once again, looking at anything else apart from each other. Gwen broke the silence.

"I loved the cool friendship we had back in the first season" Gwen said with a small smile.

"Me too. We ruined that" Duncan said.

"I know. But we can fix that right?" Gwen asked, her tone was filled with hope.

Duncan looked at her and nodded as a smile slowly formed on his face, "Back to how it was originally" he held out his hand for a fist bump, which Gwen happily returned.

"Phew, man that was hard" Gwen said, "But now it feels good. A huge weight off my chest."

"Never thought I'd patch up with anyone soon. I'm happy" Duncan said, heaving a sigh of relief.

Present:

"Yeah and now hopefully everything is cool between us" Duncan said as he ended his narration.

"That's great man" Trent said.

"Yeah it is. I had to get my shit together again" Duncan said as they moved forward in their search.

Suddenly they got splashed by a gush of water, which extinguished their torch instantly. They spit water out their mouths and looked for the person who splashed them. They saw Scott standing in front of them with a smirk on his face, holding his gun up proudly.

"HAH! Losers! Good luck lighting up the torch" he mocked.

Duncan swept the water off his face, "I got a lighter dipshit."

"Well it's wet now" Scott smirked.

Duncan took the lighter out of his pocket and lit it in front of Scott, "You have a lot to learn."

"I slowed you down so it's a win for me" he said and ran away. Duncan shook his head.

"Let's light this thing up and get a move on" Trent said.

The camera cuts to Alejandro and Dakota who strolled along the forest. The Spaniard was carrying the torch as Dakota followed behind him.

"Almost an hour and still no effigy" Dakota complained.

"Be patient Senorita. We'll find one soon" Alejandro said.

"We better find one soon. I don't wanna get eliminated early" she said worriedly.

Alejandro looked at her, "You feel you will get eliminated?"

She nodded, "Well yeah. Scott has proof of me taking help from the intern. If we lose and he shows Chris the recording, I'll be the one getting the boot."

Alejandro thought about the situation, "You're in a tight spot right now. If we try eliminating Scott, he can still give Chris the recording and you will be in trouble."

"Exactly. What do I do?" she asked anxiously.

"Right now, you only have one option" he started, "Which is deleting the evidence. But unfortunately that is easier said than done. He'll probably be carrying it around, that will make it difficult for us to swipe it from him."

"I can't get eliminated now. I need more camera time. So I'll get the spinoff I've been asking for and get the million" Dakota said.

"Don't worry Senorita" he reassured, "We'll make sure to protect you from getting booted."

She gave a small smile, "Thank you Alejandro. You're so sweet. Ready to help us in the competition" she said cupping his face with one hand.

"I try to be" Alejandro replied, smiling smugly.

Confessional: Alejandro

"Dakota may be part of my alliance but voting her off is the only way. Is it betrayal you may ask; well, yes" he paused before continuing, "Scott may not be very smart but he's cunning, he's trying to use Dakota. If we vote her off next, Scott will lose his little advantage and one less competitor with Dakota gone. It's a win-win situation."

End Confessional: Alejandro

They continued forward in their search for the effigies. There were huge rocks lying around the small area. The two Bulls went around the rocks looking for the wooden structures they were searching. To their luck one effigy was wedged in between two rocks.

"Well, aren't we lucky" Dakota exclaimed, happy to have found the effigy.

"Indeed we are" he said, giving the torch to teammate and taking the wooden Don from in between the boulder, "Now we have to go north. Any idea which way?"

Dakota took her phone from her pocket and opened the compass in it.

"How come you still have your phone? Most of us had to give it to Chris." Alejandro said.

"Oh I did give Chris. I actually have many phones, this is my third" she replied, "Anyway, we gotta go there" she said, pointing to their right.
"Alright then. Let's move."

The scene cut to Zoey who was on top of a branch, scanning the area around her. Eva stood under the tree holding the torch.

"You see anything?" the athlete shouted from below.

Zoey squinted to look closely, "I don't see any effigies but I did see some squirrels forming a squirrel pyramid."

"Very interesting" Eva replied sarcastically.

Zoey jumped down from the top and dusted her hands, "It was cute" she said, smiling.

"Whatever" Eva rolled her eyes.

They continued forward when suddenly they heard running noises from in between the trees on the left.

Eva squinted her eyes in the direction, "Who's that" she shouted. But she didn't get any response. The noise faded away slowly into silence in a few seconds.

"That was strange." Zoey commented.

Eva narrowed her eyes, still looking for the source, "Yeah it is."

"It's probably the other team or something," Zoey said.

Confessional: Eva

"Something's going on here. If it was one of the campers, they have no reason to not respond to me. "

End Confessional: Eva

"Anyway leave that. Let's move" Eva said as the redhead followed.

They scouted the area around them, checking behind most trees and the thick bushes. Unfortunately none of them were lucky.

Eva took the brass object from her pocket which she found earlier in her chase of the mystery person. She looked at Zoey and then back at the ornament.

"Hey, I wanna ask you something" Eva said, facing the redhead.

"You want to ask me?" she asked, surprised. "If I know I'll answer for sure."

Eva held out the ornament to show Zoey, "Any chance you've seen this thing before?"

Zoey took the brass object from the athlete's hands and examined it. Suddenly recognition registered in her mind.

"Where did you get this from?" Zoey asked curiously.

"That's not the answer to my question" Eva rebuked, "Have you seen it or not."

Zoey sighed, "Yes. Yes I have."

"Where?"

"With Mike. It's similar to the medallion he gave me in our season."

"You think this belongs to him?" the athlete asked.

Zoey turned it over and looked at the opposite side, "Now, I think so. It has the stylized 'M' he usually etches behind this" she showed it to Eva.

'So, what Duncan said was true...' Eva thought.

"What's wrong?" Zoey asked.

Eva snapped out from her thoughts, "Nothing."

"Now could you tell me where you found this?" she asked politely.

"In the forest, last midnight" Eva replied, "I was chasing someone and they dropped this on the run."

Zoey was shocked, "Are you telling me that this 'someone' is Mike?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm not saying that it is him, but I do have doubts" Eva replied slowly.

Zoey's face fell and her shoulders slumped, "Why does everyone I meet tell me something about them feeling Mike acting differently" she exclaimed sadly.

Eva had a slight look of concern. But before she could speak, she was interrupted by a person jumping out from in between the trees on their right, carrying a wooden structure. With the light from the torch, they could see the person wearing a gray hoodie and with short blonde hair. They recognised the person immediately.

"Jo?!" the two Tigers exclaimed.

The jockette turned around, adjusting the object she was holding, "Hey what's up. You guys have a night challenge or something"

"Yeah"

"Oh wow. Chris is being a dick huh."

"Yeah like that's something new" Zoey replied. Jo chuckled.

"What are you doing here?" Eva asked, confused.

"I'm on a chase. You'll know more soon enough" Jo replied.

"What?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah, that's all I can tell you for now" Jo replied, "Anyway, did you see someone running around nearby?"

"We did hear some running noises there" Eva replied, pointing to the left.

Jo looked in the direction and nodded, "Alright Imma leave now." she paused, "What is your challenge?"

"We gotta find an effigy in the forest." Eva replied.

Jo gestured at the wooden structure she was holding, "Is it this one?" Zoey looked at it and nodded.

"Ah then take it and go win." Jo said passing it to Zoey, "I took it to smack the douche I'm chasing."

"Thanks. You're more useful than most of our teammates" Eva said, rolling her eyes.

"I know" Jo said proudly, "Anyway, I'm off. Good luck!"

"You too!" Zoey said as Jo ran into the woods and the two Tigers walked towards the finish point.

The camera panned to it's right focusing on Justin and Sierra. The Uber-fan was carrying the torch while the model followed. They had been walking around silently. None of them really struck a conversation apart from the occasional short yes/no questions.

Justin noticed a bright orange light through the trees on the left side of the thick patch. He looked closely and confirmed it was Cody and Bridgette. To the model's luck, Sierra hadn't taken notice of it.

He smirked, "So how's your relationship with Cody?"

Sierra looked at him with new found excitement, "It's soooo good! No, it's awesome! I can't believe it really happened! He gave me this bracelet on one of the rest days" she gestured to a silver ornament she adorned.

"Wow, that's great" Justin said, "I'm glad things are going great."

"Yeah it's wonderful!" she exclaimed happily.

Justin tried thinking of other questions before the topic got dropped, only then would his plan work.

"Cody's a great dude. Any girl will be lucky to be with him. Maybe that's why he's pretty popular among the ladies lately" Justin said, trying to light a flame of question in her mind. To his luck, she did question.

"What do you mean he's popular among the ladies" she questioned.

"I mean he has a decently big fanbase and majority are the ladies" Justin clarified, "Out of everyone else, you should be knowing that."

"I mean I know about it but-"

"Hell I feel even Bridgette has a thing for him now" Justin said with a smug smile.

She looked at him with a shocked look, "WHAT?!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, haven't you noticed, Bridgette has been spending a lot of time with him now ever since she broke up with Geoff. Has she talked that much with anyone else? I don't think so" Justin elaborated.

Sierra looked away while Justin smirked evilly.

Confessional: Justin

"And people tell me I don't think a lot. Man, how do I come up with these genius plans" he smiled proudly.

End Confessional: Justin

"Bridgette won't do anything like-"

"Just look to your left" the model instructed.

Sierra looked in the direction and instantly her eyes were filled with anger. She saw Cody and Bridgette walking together, very close to each other.

"Now remember what I said, it needn't be true" Justin informed grinning, still trying to intensify her anger.

Meanwhile, the surfer chick and the geek were discussing the different methods of how Dakota was getting away.

"Eliminations I can understand" Cody said, "Many may not have voted for her. But the strange thing is how her E-pad become almost empty all of a sudden."

"Yeah that is strange. But what if she's not using it for planning stuff, like what if it was almost empty from the beginning" Bridgette asked.

"That can't be. Cuz I've gone through her device before and I did see some files labelled 'plans'. On top of that, she didn't use up a whole lot of its memory. It still had more than 70% free splace. So it's obvious that she moved it somewhere else and somehow she knew it beforehand" Cody elaborated.

"So you're telling me that there's someone else helping her." Bridgette concluded.

"Exactly. There's no other wa-WHOAAAAAAAAA"

Cody was suddenly pulled away by a running Sierra as she held him in one hand with the torch on the other.

Cody looked at Sierra, "Sierra, what are you-"

Sierra pointed the lit torch at the surfer, "I know what you have in mind Bridgette! BUT IT WON'T WORK HERE!"

Bridgette looked confused, "What do I have in mind?"

"Oh you know what you have in mind! Trying to steal my Cody to get over Geoff" Sierra exclaimed angrily.

"I wasn't even trying to-"

"Blah-blah blah! I'm getting Cody as far away from you as possible!" Sierra said as she dashed carrying the geek in her arms.

Justin reached the spot running at the exact second Sierra left.

"Where's she going?" he asked.

"I don't know. Wasn't she with you?"

"Yeah. She saw you two here and thought you were- you know, trying to steal Cody" Justin explained.

"What! Cody's my friend and he's in a relationship. I would never do that" Bridgette defended.

"I know. Try telling her that."

"She didn't let me" Bridgette replied.

Sierra kept running in random directions. Cody was getting worried and a little scared.

"Sierra, what are you doing?" Cody asked in a serious tone.

"I'm taking you away from Bridgette. I don't want her to steal my boyfriend" Sierra replied, panting in between.

"Stealing your wha- No, Sierra listen to me. First of all stop running" he demanded.

She obeyed him and stopped instantly and let him down.

"Bridgette wasn't trying to steal me from you. She had no intentions like that" Cody clarified, "Why would you think that?"

"She's been spending a lot of time with you. So I thought-" Sierra started but was cut off by the geek.

"No. We were discussing the game and the other campers. We teamed up, nothing more. Even if she tried to, do you think I would forget about you and get together with her?"

"No-No. I know you will never do that," she sat on the ground, her shoulders slumped and she sighed, "It's not that. I've never been in a relationship before and you remember all that drama with the Duncan-Courtney-Gwen situation; I just don't want that to happen to me. I trust you with my life, but it's more of fear rather than suspicion." she cleared her throat before continuing, "I know that I've been creepy and annoying before but now I'm trying to change that."

Cody smiled tenderly, "I'm proud of you Sierra. I understand what you're saying but we need to trust each other, always. That's how every relationship should be. We'll always have each other's back."

She nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. They looked at each other and leaned in for a kiss.

Suddenly they were interrupted from their moment when they were splashed with a gush of water, extinguishing the torch.

Harold came from the trees, "Sorry for ruining the moment guys. Just playing the game. Really sorry."

"It's okay man" Cody said. Harold gave a thumbs up and ran away.

"And now we're lost. Great," Sierra facepalmed.

"We gotta find some way through. C'mon" They got up and ran in some random direction.

Going east from Cody and Sierra, the camera showed Tyler and Mike strolling through looking around them in search of the effigy.

Tyler was narrating several anecdotes of different times he almost won the game for his team and how he managed to get out of some tough situations.

"Man when we were playing the Bulls, I shouted to my teammate Randy to go long. He did that and I ran through the defence. There was another Tyler on the other team, he tried to block me. But unfortunately for him, I jumped over Tyler and made a sprint. When I was gonna land a touchdown, another guy, Marcus tackled me hard. If he didn't, then we would've won."

"Wait. So why did you even tell that Randy guy to go long, if you're just gonna run through the defence" Mike asked. He wasn't interested in any manner but that bit confused him. "Wasn't he free?"

The jock nodded, "He was completely free. Their defenders were focused on trying to tackle me."

"If you passed it to him, he could've won you the game" Mike said, trying to put across the logic.

After a considerable gap in understanding, Tyler finally put the pieces together.

"Ohhhhhhhhh- That's why Coach Dean thrashed me after the game."

Mike facepalmed.

Confessional: Mike/Mal

"I've been in juvie before and it was annoying, but this guy crosses that to a whole new level of irritation."

End Confessional: Mike/Mal

They continued with their search. Few minutes later as they turned from the rocky area, Tyler spoke up.

"Bro, I was thinking if maybe we could, like, form an alliance or something."

MIke looked at him with a surprised expression. "You wanna form an alliance?"

"Yeah. I wanna vote off Harold. I can't do that by myself obviously, so I need your help" Tyler said.

Confessional: Mike/Mal

He was smirking at the camera, "Since when did Tyler grow a brain. Anyway, I'll take it. He's easy to play around. I gotta get Eva outta here. She's got some clues during the chase, keeping her longer is a risk. Tyler can help me with that."

End Confessional: Mike/Mal

"Yeah sure. I'm in" Mike said.

"Epic!"

"But on two conditions" Mike cut in, "One, we both will help each other in whatever we do. Two, we vote off Eva first. Then Harold."

"What? No. Harold first" Tyler debated.

"If you want me to vote for Harold, then Eva has to go first" Mike clarified.

"But why her?"

"She's the strongest out of all of us. She can win this whole thing by herself. That makes her dangerous" Mike explained, lying in his reasoning. But he can't reveal his actual reason.

"Oh you're right. Good point. Okay fine, we'll do that" Tyler gave in.

"Good. So it's settled." they shook hands, confirming their deal. "Anyway, why do you wanna vote off Harold?"

"He's been making fun of me a lot this time. It's crossed the limit. He underestimates my abilities. He's probably jealous of my athletic skills" Tyler elaborated. He started running to prove it to Mike. Unfortunately, he tripped over a tiny stone and faceplanted on a patch of grass. When he fell, Mike heard a sound- as that of hitting something made of wood.

"I hope the sound didn't come from his hollow head" Mike said to himself and walked to Tyler, who raised his head with his mouth full of grass. Mike slowly moved the green patch which revealed the wooden face of Don.

"THE EFFIGY!" Tyler shouted in delight, "An Extremeeee find by the Tyler!"

Mike rubbed his forehead, "Let's get outta here"

Courtney and Heather strolled along the woods scanning around the area. The Type-A carried their torch while the Queen Bee walked beside her with a rather annoyed look plastered on her face.

"We've been looking for hours" Heather complained.

"I know. What's the time now?" Courtney asked.

Chris' voice echoed from the loudspeaker. "Campers! Only 2 hours left until sunrise. You have to burn your effigies before that!"

"Well now we know how long" Courtney said.

"Whatever"

"What's up with you?" The brunette asked, noticing Heather's expression, "You've been grumpy ever since the teams were formed."

"Nothing's wrong! J-just search" Heather tried to dismiss.

"There is something obviously. Your face is literally giving it away" she said, before something came into her mind. She smiled smugly, "It's about Alejandro and Dakota isn't it. You're jealous!"

Heather's eyes went wide, "What?! NO! Nonononono! Absolutely not! I am not jealous!"

Courtney chuckled knowing she struck the right chord, "Yeah keep telling yourself that."

"First of all I'm not jealous. He can be with other girls without being in a weird relationship with them" Heather said, "Besides they're gonna be paired up only for the challenge. So I'm completely fine with it."

"You might be now. But just so you know, Dakota once told us she has a thing for Alejandro" Courtney pointed out.

Heather was taken aback by that, but quickly composed herself, "Well then didn't you have a thing for him back in World Tour" Heather reminded.

"I might have" Courtney admitted, "But even then you were so disturbed by it. Same applies here."

Heather suddenly felt unsettled. But quickly waved it off her mind.

Confessional: Heather

"He told me he flirted with Courtney to kick her out of the game. It could be the same with Dakota" she said confidently, "But here Dakota has an interest." Suddenly her confidence fell into worry. "He couldn't fall for her" she said trying to calm herself, crossing her arms, "Could he?" her face turned anxious.

End Confessional: Heather

"Either way be careful" Courtney warned.

Heather nodded gratefully, "Thanks, I will."

They checked behind a row of trees and bushes for the effigy.

"I wonder how Justin dealt with Sierra" Heather said, "We need that to work well."

"He probably might've done something already" Courtney assured.

Heather looked up at the branches. She smirked.

"Well there's our ticket to safety" she announced, pointing to the top of the tree beside them.
"Good eye" Courtney commented.

"As always" Heather said proudly. Courtney rolled her eyes.

"Who's climbing?" the brunette asked.

"Of course you. I found it. You take it" Heather said, smirking.

"And we're back to our usual selves" Courtney said.

The scene cut to Ezekiel, who was carrying the effigy.

"We're lucky we got this thing eh" he said.

Noah followed slowly behind him. His entire body except his face was covered in mud, "Yeah and it would've gone much smoother if you had told me about the big pool of mud."

"I didn't see it eh" Ezekiel said.

They found their effigy lying on top of a rock which was in the middle of a pool full of mud. Unfortunately for Noah, who voluntarily ran to collect the wooden statue, he didn't notice the mud pool surrounding it and fell face first into it.

Confessional: Noah

"Of course, when I decide to do some kind of physical task, there has to be some kind of catch."

End Confessional: Noah

"So you have any idea where we're going" Noah asked, presuming they were lost.

"Chris said we have to go north eh" Ezekiel said.

Noah looked at the clear sky above. He pointed his index finger to the stars and started drawing imaginary lines, connecting them.

"Alright so I can see the Big Dipper. Drawing a line from the outer edge, we'll find the North star" Noah said. He looked on before looking confused, "Where's the dang North star?"

"We've been going North all this while eh" Ezekiel informed.

Noah turned to him, "And how sure ar-" he stopped when he saw two sticks, one smaller than the second, vertically pitched on the ground. "Do I even wanna know?"

"We align the tips of the sticks with a star. Then we look at the tips and the star in one line. The star moved left, so this way is north" the prairie boy explained.

"Damn that's an interesting method. You sure it's right?" Noah asked.

"It usually works"

"Alright then, we don't have a lot of options anyway. But I'm impressed" Noah said, smiling.

"Thanks eh. My dad taught me this in case I ever got lost in the woods" Ezekiel added.

"Your home-schooling sounds a lot more interesting now" Noah commented.

"It's great! My parents teach me almost everything."

They continued their way up north to the finish point. As they walked through, they saw their teammates Katie and Dawn searching through the thickets and bushes. Dawn was holding the torch while Katie held the effigy. Noticing that Noah and Ezekiel looked confused.

Noah cleared his throat to grab the girls' attention,"So uh, you do know that you got what you need to find right."

"Yeah" Katie nodded.

He raised an eyebrow, "Alright, so are you being obliviously stupid or stupidly oblivious" he said sarcastically.

"Stupidly oblivious. Wait no the other one" Katie was confused, "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean."

"He's being sarcastic Katie" Dawn informed, "We know we found the effigy. We're searching for DJ's bunny."

Noah gave out a smug smile, "Ah yes, the willingness to help the one you try to pursue. The things love does to people" he expressed dramatically.

Dawn blushed. "DJ is a pure soul. So I wanted to help him. That's all."

"Sure. There's no other reason" Noah said, smirking.

Suddenly someone crashed into Dawn while running. The said person fell on their back as Dawn rubbed her forehead in pain. The four Tigers looked at the person and all of them were surprised.

"Lightning?!" they exclaimed in chorus.

"Sha-OW!" he groaned.

"What are you doing here?" Ezekiel asked.

Lightning was still on the ground, "Lightning became conscious in the loser boat after that bunny and snake challenge. So he jumped off the boat and swam back to the island. So Chris said he would take the Lightning back into the game if I catch some guys he told to find. Sha-BAM!" suddenly he dropped the pose, "But now Lightning is getting chased by one of 'em psycho bunnies."

Suddenly, a bunny hopped out of the bush and sat on Lightning's chest.

"AHHH!" Lightning shrieked, jumping up from the ground sending the little animal flying. Dawn safely caught the falling bunny.

She looked at it and gently ran a hand over it's fur. Her face suddenly changed into pure joy.

"Bunny! Finally found you!" Dawn exclaimed, hugging the little being. "Lightning, don't worry. This is DJ's bunny. Not one of those mutant ones Chris brought."

The jock narrowed his eyes, "Wha- Really? Oh dang. It's cool then."

"DJ will be so happy" Dawn said excitedly as the others smiled.

"Ayo creepy girl, should I give it to him now? I saw him about two minutes back" Lightning offered.

"You would do that?" Dawn asked.

"I mean yeah. No pet should be separated from their owner. Not on Sha-Lightning's watch. And yeah I got some more searching to do."

"That's great! Thank you!" Dawn exclaimed happily, giving Bunny to the jock. He took off in the direction he came.

"Alright let's move" Katie said as the four Tigers walked to the finishing point.

Gwen and Izzy had no luck in their search. Only a little over an hour is left for the challenge to end. Gwen carried the torch while Izzy did Izzy things. One could tell that Gwen wasn't enjoying it a whole Psycho Hose Beast was acting out a story of how she escaped the RCMP for the third time in a week.

"And then the guy told me 'Hands UP!' I shouted 'NO! Then I ran so fast that their cars couldn't catch up to me. Then one of them started shooting from the helicopter. I dodged every bullet. It wasn't those lethal bullets, it was rubber. So anyway, I jumped over two trucks and then two police cars tried to block my way, but I jumped away right on time and they crashed. KABOOM! Then I escaped after I popped into an alley. That was sooo fun!"

Gwen heaved a heavy sigh. She was clearly annoyed.

Suddenly Izzy got down on the ground and started scratching behind her ear with her leg, much like a dog.

"You have hands! Stop being crazy for once! We're in between a challenge and we haven't even found anything yet" Gwen yelled.

"Damn you don't have to yell" Izzy said raising her hands in defeat.

"You can't be crazy and have fun while you have to be serious" Gwen reasoned.

"It's worked out for me most of the time" Izzy shrugged, "You know, sometimes you can get annoyed really quickly about certain things cuz you take it too seriously. Sometimes taking it lightly will be much better."

"I do take things lightly sometimes. I just don't like enjoying a whole lot. But right now we're in between a challenge. We have to focus" Gwen said.

"True. But let's see how my way works this time. Just this one challenge, drop everything and be crazy. You'll enjoy it and understand what I'm trying to say" Izzy said, hoping she would say yes, "Don't be a downer."

Gwen rolled her eyes. But she gave in anyway, "Fine. For this one time."

"Yay Awesome!" Izzy jumped up in joy, "Now follow me." She started climbing the tree and perched on the branch. Gwen was amazed by her quick climbing.

"C'mon up!"

Gwen climbed up slowly taking about half a minute to reach the branch.

"Now get ready to go crazy! Hold the vine" Izzy instructed as Gwen gripped the vine tightly with both hands, "On three. One... Two..."

Before she said 'Three' she gently pushed Gwen, sending her swinging and screaming to the next tree. Izzy followed almost immediately. The goth girl somehow regained her balance on the branch of the next tree.

"Why did you push me?!" Gwen exclaimed in fear.

"You wouldn't have gone for it otherwise" Izzy replied.

Gwen tried to debate but held it back for it was true.

"Anyway this time to the next branch. You'll do it first. Then me." Izzy said, "It's a bit more far this time but that just adds to the fun."

"I'll try I guess"

"Just hold the vine tight and give a little push to yourself" Izzy instructed.

Gwen nodded and followed her instruction. At first she screamed in fear but a second later it turned into a scream of joy and excitement. She landed perfectly on the branch. Izzy followed behind her and landed beside her.

"It's fun isn't it" Izzy said smiling.

Gwen smiled, "Yeah it kinda is."

She noticed something tied with a vine to the tree they were perched on. She looked at it and smiled.

"It's the effigy" Gwen said.

"See, being crazy has its perks" Izzy said proudly, "Now c'mon let's win this!"

At the finishing point Chris and Chef waited in between the five fire pits on each side.

"Who will burn the effigy first?" Chris announced. He saw Alejandro and Dakota running towards them, "Looks like it's Alejandro and Dakota!"

They dumped their effigy in the fire pit and burned it.

"Bulls lead 1-0!"

The next duo to arrive was Duncan and Trent. But just as they kept foot on the finishing area, they got splashed for a second time, extinguishing their torch. They turned to look at the source. It was Zack.

"You fucking camper. I bet you were hiding in that bush all night long" Duncan said, annoyed.

"It isn't against the rules" Zack shrugged, smirking.

"Jokes on you. We already finished" Trent smirked.

"The C.R.S. will be the judge of that" Chris said, walking up to them.

"What the hell?! We clearly crossed before he blasted us" Duncan argued.

"It's time for the C.R.S's third appearance this season" Chris announced as Chef rolled the TV stand towards the host. "Chef, play it."

The host analyzed the footage, rewinding and forwarding multiple times. After a few minutes the host turned to the Tigers' duo.

"The Chris Review System has come to a decision" dramatic music starts playing, "You are..." ,music intensifies, "Disqualified!"

"What the fuck!" Duncan exclaimed angrily.

"Thanks for the effects Kyle" the host praised the intern. "Chef give him 20 dollars" Chef nodded and did as directed. Kyle took the cash and jumped up in joy. Chris continued, "Well it is what it is fellas. When Zack blasted you, both of your front feet were in the finishing area. But your other feet were behind it. Therefore, your effigies do not count."

"This is the worst decision making system ever" Trent complained, clearly irritated.

"It's the best one inn the business" Chris smirked, "Anyway the Bulls still lead 1-0."

The next duo to arrive was Gwen and Izzy. They came swinging from branch to branch, did a front flip simultaneously and landed in front of Chris. All this while Gwen was carrying the effigy in one hand and Izzy was carrying the torch in one hand. They quickly dumped their effigy in the fire pit and set it aflame.

"FIRE!" Izzy cackled.

"That was the best finish I've ever seen" Chris complimented. The other campers were left astounded.

"All credit to Izzy" Gwen said, smiling.

Suddenly they heard running noises getting closer from the forest. A few seconds later, Heather and Courtney were seen running away from DJ who was chasing them, continuously blasting water at them. Courtney was protecting the torch from the water. However, after all that effort from DJ, their escape was successful. They arrived at the finishing area and burned their effigy.

"Good job you two" DJ commented, panting in between.

Heather wiped the sweat off her forehead, "Two seconds more and we were out 100%."

"Guess what! I found Bunny!" DJ exclaimed happily.

"Ayy awesome! I'm glad you found him" Trent said.

"All credit to Lightning man. He found him" DJ informed.

"Lightning?" Duncan asked, confused.

"Yeah. He was cha-"

Suddenly Chris cut in, "The Bulls look like runaway winners today. 3-0 for them. They look strong. Can the Tigers force a comeback?"

Few minutes later, Dawn, Katie, Noah and Ezekiel arrived running into the area. They burned their wooden structures in their respective fire pits.

"And with that the Tigers have pulled closer to the Bulls decreasing their deficit to only one" Chris announced, "Oh this is getting better and better. Ah is there anything better than witnessing the very person who stole your role burning into ashes."

Chef looked at Chris weirdly, "You're sick McLean. He hosted for one season."

"Yeah! And I was gonna get a second season of All Stars! And then he pitched the idea of the Ridonculous Race and the producers loved it. SO they dropped my idea" Chris argued, the frustration taking control of him.

"Yep you lost your mind" Chef said.

Dawn walked up to DJ.

"DJ did you get Bunny back?" she asked.

"Yeah" DJ exclaimed excitedly. "And Lightning told me you were searching for him. That's so sweet of you. Thanks a ton. I can't express how grateful I am for that." He took her in for a hug.

"Aww look at the two lovebirds" Noah said smiling smugly.

They quickly broke away from the hug. Dawn blushed bright red whilst DJ started looking around frantically.

"I gotta uh, go uh, look for the other B-Bulls, yeah" DJ said, stammering in between.

"Y-yeah sure go on" Dawn said. DJ took his gun and walked back into the forest.

"Why aren't they confessing!" Katie said impatiently to Noah.

"I have no idea" the bookworm replied, still smiling.

Mike and Tyler were the next ones to arrive. They somehow managed to escape Zack's late splashes and burned the effigy.

"We're all square! Three all. We go into the LAST. FIVE. MINUTES." Chris announced through the loudspeakers.

"Where are they?!" Heather questioned, angrily.

"Mi amor, have patience" Alejandro said.

"Oh you shut up!" she yelled.

Confessional: Alejandro

He had his eyebrows raised, looking really confused, "Did I miss something?"

End Confessional: Alejandro

"Here come Zoey and Eva!" Chris exclaimed.

They ran to their fire pit and lit their effigy.

"The Tigers take the lead and after going three down. What a turn of events!"

"Hey good work. I'm impressed by your endurance" Eva commented.

Zoey was surprised by that compliment, "Thanks. That means a lot coming for you."

Four minutes passed by and still the Tigers were leading.

"One minute until sunrise. If the Bulls get to five effigies, they win."

Bridgette and Justin were carrying an effigy each. The surfer was also carrying the torch. They were being chased by both Harold and DJ. The model was blocking the blasts of water with his effigy to protect their torch from extinguishing.

Luckily for them, they crossed the finish line quick enough. They dumped an effigy each in the fire pits and set them ablaze.

"And the Bulls have burned all five effigies!" Chris announced. "Tigers only managed four. So today's winner is clearly…. The Tigers!"

"WHAT?!" All the Bulls present exclaimed in shock.

"You heard me. The Tigers have won immunity for this challenge" Chris said.

"That doesn't make sense." Courtney argued.

"It makes perfect sense. You might've burned all five effigies. But Bridgette and Justin weren't paired together for this challenge. They had Cody and Sierra as their partners and they're not here yet. Even if they arrive now, it's too late" Chris explained, "Hence you lose. Again."

"How did you guys mix up your partners?!" Dakota exclaimed.

"Sierra legit took Cody and ran away with him and our torch" Justin debated.

Courtney and Heather looked at Justin, asking him about the Sierra plan through their expressions. Justin gave out a thumbs up, without anyone else noticing. The two girls smirked.

"Looking for these two?" Scott's voice was heard as he walked out from the forest with Cody and Sierra following him. "You lost us the challenge. I hope you're happy" he scowled.

"The Bulls will be voting off someone tonight. And Tigers, you will also join us in the peanut gallery" Chris announced.

The Tigers groaned, "Do we have to?" Tyler said uninterested.

"Yes you have to. It's important" Chris said, "Meet me at the campfire pit in five."

The Bulls were walking to the campfire pit. Cody slowed down to talk to Justin who was behind the pack.

"So we voting Dakota right" Cody said.

"No doubt" Justin assured, but his tone sounded rather different but the geek did not notice it. "But who else do we have?"

"Bridgette and Sierra. Bridgette told me she'd tell Gwen to vote for her as well. We have 5 votes against her already. There's no escape this time" Cody smirked.

"Surely this time we'll get her" Justin said, not fully meaning it. He had a sly grin on his face.

Campfire Pit:

The sun was rising above the horizon. A small fire burned in the fire pit as the Bulls sat on their stumps in front of it. The Tigers were seated in the peanut gallery, four in each row. A minute later, Chris arrived in front of the podium carrying the plate of marshmallows and opened its lid.

"Welcome to the ninth elimination ceremony. The first with both teams in attendance. Bulls, you haven't lived up to your name in the last two challenges. You're not raging at all. Rather unnecessary mistakes from you this time. You could've easily won this considering you found all five effigies. You just couldn't stay with your partner. Anyway, that made up for a stunning comeback for the Tigers. Time to vote someone off." The host gestured to the confessional booths.

The campers voted one by one and sat back on the stumps.

"Alright. The votes are cast and the results are in. You know the drill by now. I'll toss this tasty treat to the ones whose names I call out and whoever doesn't get one, they say adios to the rest of us." Chris paused, cleared his throat and continued, "The first marshmallow goes to Scott." he tossed the treat to the dirt farmer who caught it.

"The next one goes to…

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Alejandro

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Gwen

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Heather

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Courtney

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Bridgette

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Izzy

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Justin

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Cody. One marshmallow, two takers. You two are the only ones who received votes. Sierra, you screwed up the challenge today. Had you stayed with your partner, you could've avoided this tension. Dakota, I'll be honest, you always rack up votes. I don't know the exact reason for it, but it might be a question of suspicion. The voting margin between you two is 6-5." Chris revealed. Both Dakota and Sierra looked worried. "I love cooking up tension. The final marshmallow goes to…

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Dakota. Sierra, you're the passenger of the loser boat today."

The Uber Fan was dejected. Cody was in complete disbelief.

"That's not possible. How did she get more?"

"It's just the game Codester" Chris said, "Sierra, the boat awaits."

She came back from the cabins with her bags. Cody and Gwen helping her out. Before she boarded the boat she turned to the geek.

"Bye everyone. Bye Cody. I'll be rooting for you" Sierra said.

"Thanks. See you after I win this" Cody said , smiling. They hugged each other and she hopped onto the boat and went away.

"Alright campers. Take your places. We have another announcement" Chris instructed, "Now the real reason why we brought the Tigers here. This is the tenth episode and to make things a bit interesting, we are gonna have this season's first team transfer." All present gasped hearing the announcement. "Glenn, bring the wheel!"

The intern carried a wheel with a pointer. It had pictures of the Tigers on it.

"I will spin this wheel which has the pictures of the Tigers and whoever it points to gets transferred to the Bulls" Chris explained.

"You're still using these wooden things when you literally have other technology built here" Dakota said, rolling her eyes.

"That was the plan. I would have used it if that masked bastard from yesterday hadn't meddled with it" Chris elaborated.

"Still you might have alternative technology" Cody said.

"Yeah and that technology is this" the host gestured to the wooden wheel.

"Why do you wanna transfer one of us?" Ezekiel asked.

"Hey I told you before I believe in equal game" Chris said with his signature smile.

"No, that's a lie. You don't believe in it" Duncan said crossing his arms.

"I second that" Trent said.

"I third that" Tyler added.

Chris narrowed his eyes at them, "Anyway, I'm gonna spin the wheel."

The host spun it and about 20 seconds later, the pointer slowed down steadily coming to a stop. The red pointer stopped on Harold.

"Harold! Take your bags and jump into the Bulls' cabin" Chris said.

"Why always me?" Harold said.

"Yeah why him" Tyler said, referring to his alliance which now has lost its primary purpose.

Chris shrugged, "The wheel chose him, not me." he paused, "So, now with that transfer we have 11v11. Alright campers, you can leave for your cabins now. It was a long day. A lot happened today. Take some rest. I assure you, we won't disturb you for the whole day."

The campers walked back to their respective cabins. Most of them hit the sack immediately while some others went to the communal bathroom. Few of the Tigers helped Harold in shifting his belongings to the opposite cabin.

The camera panned through the forest, cut to the cabins and showed the beautiful and picturesque morning sky. Then it cut to the dock of shame where the host was ready to deliver the outro.

"We come to the end of yet another cracking episode. We had nail biting finishes, a great comeback, unexpected voting scenarios and a team transfer. It was full fledged mayhem! Well that's what this season is all about. I can't wait for more. How will Harold's transfer affect the Tyler-Mike alliance's plans? Will Cody ever find out what's up surrounding Dakota? And will-"

He was cut off by a splash of water in front of the dock. He looked down from the dock and saw the mysterious masked person from before.
"CHEF! INTERNS! HE'S HERE! GET HIM!" Chris shouted. The interns who were at the beach dived instantly while Chef waited for Chris to complete the outro.

"-and will we catch this guy anytime soon? Hopefully right now! Find out next time on TOTAL... DRAMA... MAYHEM!"

Voting Confessionals:

Alejandro: Dakota might be an alliance member but I've noticed she gets votes on the basis of some suspicion. So taking her down has two perks. One less competitor and Scott gets weakened at the same time. So lemme experiment with Dakota.

Bridgette: Dakota. She's being more suspicious with every challenge.

Courtney: We planned to boot Sierra and I stick with it.

Cody: Dakota, you know the reason.

Gwen: Bridgette told me to so I'll vote for Dakota.

Heather: Sierra. Just like we planned.

Izzy: I'll go with Sierra. She could've won it for us.

Justin: My genius plan worked wonders. Imagine the amount of geniuses out there with these good looks. Probably only me. Oh right, the vote. Sorry Cody, it goes to Sierra.

Dakota: I wanna boot Scott out so badly! But right now I can't. So Sierra.

Sierra: Codykins told me about Dakota when we got lost. Don't know what's going on with her but yeah, Dakota.

Scott: Should I have sabotaged someone during my hunting. Yes I should've. But anyway, let's give it to Sierra.

Votes:

Sierra: 6 votes

Dakota: 5 votes

THAT'S THE END OF CHAPTER 10. SIERRA HAD TO GO, I'M SO SORRY SIERRA FANS.

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SO UNTIL NEXT TIME, ADIOS!

-sbktd