"Okay, action!" Brooklyn says, starting a new video. "Today is the first day of the contest to find our second in command! Our first contestant is Kenji Kon." She zooms in on Kenji, who takes a second to get what's going on. "Kenji, why do you think that you would be a good second in command?"
Kenji takes out his pair of posh sunglasses and puts them on. "Because I'm awesome."
Brooklynn rolls her eyes behind the camera. "Anything else?"
"Honestly, how much more do I need?" Kenji shrugs arrogantly.
Brooklynn shakes her head.
"Yaz, which do you think is my good side?" Kenji says, pulling her close.
"Your backside," Yasmina retorts. "It doesn't have those stupid sunglasses."
"What, these?" Kenji grins, and tries to put his glasses on her. She takes them and throws off the shelter. They satisfyingly break on a rock.
"Nice throw, bruh," Kenji says, looking down at her with another pair of posh sunglasses on.
Brooklynn busts out laughing as Yasmina's jaw drops in shock. "Where did?!" she stutters, flabbergast. "Where did you get the second pair?!"
"Do not question, the Kenji," the alpha male says smoothly, swaggering away. Yasmina stares at him as he walks away, very confused.
"Yasmina! Why do you think you should be the second in command?" Brooklynn asks, coming closer.
Yasmina covers her face. "I don't like cameras."
Brooklynn laughs. "Girl, you're funny." She turns off the camera. "Okay, seriously, why do you want to be the second in command?"
"Because I want to help the team," Yasmina shrugs. "Why else?"
"Do you think you'd be a good second in command?" Brooklynn asks, sitting down next to her.
Yasmina sighs, leaning back to see if Kenji was listening from inside the little sleeping room. "I mean, I'm not perfect, but… I think I would be better than Kenji… You know, he's a slacker. He had his chance to lead and he gave it to Darius, while taking the glory. Plus, he's a narcissist. Who wants a narcissist for a leader?"
"Yeah, you're probably the better choice," Brooklynn agrees. "You'd be more willing to jump in and help."
Unbeknownst to them, Kenji could hear them. His face drops as they discuss why he wouldn't be a good leader. "At least they have the decency to lower their voices," he thinks sullenly.
Kenji steps out of the room and saunters over to the slide. Brooklynn and Yasmina stop talking and watch him. "Your fearless," he smooths back his hair, "second in command is heading down to see his royal dino." He sits down, and forces a "Whooo hoooo!" as he slides down the slide. He finds Sammy and Ben trying to help Bumpy get comfortable around Princess.
"Okay, when I bring Princess close, give Bumpy treats and love," Sammy says. "That way we can try to get her to associate good things with Princess. Hey, Kenji, wanna help Ben keep Bumpy still?"
"Sure," Kenji shrugs. They try for five minutes to get the Ankylosaurus accustomed to the Indo. Everytime Sammy would bring Princess close, Ben would give Bumpy vegetables and head scratches. When Sammy took her away, Ben stopped giving her treats. So far, they hadn't made progress.
"I'm not doing a good job," Ben mumbles.
"You're doing a good job!" Kenji says encouragingly.
Ben sputters. "No, I'm not. My dinosaur thinks I don't care about her."
"You're doing a good job, Ben!" Kenji exclaims enthusiastically. "Keep up the good work!"
After lunch, Ben takes Yasmina out to shoot her bow from Bumpy's back, and Darius and Brooklynn try training the Indoraptors some more. Kenji and Sammy pair off to work on Toothless, and the Texan notices his crestfallen face. "What's wrong, Kenji?"
"Yaz and Brooklynn were talking about why I would be such a bad second in command," Kenji grumbles. "They said I'm a slacker and a narc. I mean, they're not wrong… I want the best for the team, whether they believe that or not. If I'm… If I'm too narcissistic or slacking and would cause the team more trouble than good, maybe I should let Yaz win…"
Sammy stands up and plants her hands on her hips. "So you're just gonna give up?"
Toothless jumps up and climbs up Kenji's leg. "Well, if Yaz is the better choice, then why compete?" Kenji shrugs.
"What makes ya think she's the better choice?" Sammy asks.
"She's strong, she's hardworking, she steps up for the team time and time again," Kenji states. "Everything I'm not."
Sammy glares at him. "Kinda hypocritical to hear you encourage Ben to stop being negative and then go on like this."
"I'm not trying to be negative," Kenji protests. "I'm just pointing out that Yaz would make a better second in command."
"You're listin' your negatives and her positives," Sammy says. "What's some positives about you? What's some negatives about her? Let's be fair here."
Kenji thinks for a moment. He grunts as he shrugs.
Sammy sighs. "You really can't think of one positive for yourself and one negative for Yaz?"
"I'm trying not to be a narc," he protests.
"Okay, then I'll do the listin'," she says, shifting her weight on to her right hip. "I love both of ya, but I think that you would be the better choice. When we first met, you were a bit of a slacker; giving everyone else your jobs. But you've worked on it, and you're still working on it. You understand that things need to be done around here, and you don't complain about it. And you're becoming a lot more others focused. Generally, when you're acting like a narc now, it's to be dramatic and try to make them laugh. You're a really good person, Kenji. We all got flaws. Stop beatin' yourself up!"
"You really think that I'd be better?"
"Yee, of course! The girls were only focusing on your bad qualities."
Kenji sighs. "Why me over Yaz?"
"You're more of a leader than her," Sammy says. "Think about the way you two respond to emergencies. Your first reaction was to take charge and give orders—even if you were giving someone else your jobs. Yaz didn't give any suggestions until asked. The only time she took charge, she was putting herself in danger. Yaz would prefer to do things on her own. She's not good at giving orders. And, well, if you're gonna have a leader, they gotta be good at giving orders."
"Yeah," Kenji mumbles.
"And… she can be quite reckless," Sammy shrugs. "She's got some qualities of a good leader, but not all of them. She's selfless and not afraid of danger and putting herself out there for us. But she's pretty stubborn. A good leader needs to be flexible to new ideas. She's… a little stuck in her ways. Plus, do we want a leader who doesn't trust us? She'll protect us, sure, but will her bias cloud her decisions at times?"
"Yeah," Kenji nods. "You really think that I would make a great second in command?"
"Of course," Sammy smiles. "Sure, you make mistakes, but I think your advantage over Yaz is that you're willing to change. You're open to constructive criticism. You're allowing yourself to change for the better. She has a hard time listening to criticism; instead, taking the tough girl approach and not listening to the haters. It's good to have tough skin, but… sometimes it's good to actually consider what others are sayin'."
Kenji smiles.
"Don't sell yourself short," Sammy says, gently bumping his shoulder with hers. "You guys both have good qualities. It's up to Darius to choose. Don't automatically assume you're the worst choice."
"Thanks, Sammy," the alpha male says, hugging the cowgirl.
"Hey, Ben, can you help me with this railing?" Darius calls down. "This thing just won't stay stable."
"Sure," the blonde camper says, climbing up the ladder. The two get to work on the railing. "So, what do you think about this competition?" Darius asks.
"It's not really a competition right now," Ben chuckles. "More of the team arguing over who it should be."
"Well, haven't heard your opinion yet," Darius shrugs.
"I don't want to choose either way," Ben shakes his head. "I like both of them. They both have good qualities and bad qualities. It's hard to choose."
Darius nods in agreement.
"Plus, I'm close to both of them, how am I supposed to choose?" Ben asks.
"Yeah I get that," Darius nods. Then he lowers his voice to a whisper. "But between the two of us, who would you choose?"
Ben sighs. "I don't want to gossip, but…" he squirms a bit, not wanting to pick sides. "Yaz," he finally chooses. "She's hardworking and despite her trust issues, will defend us with her life. And she's open to dangerous stunts if it means protecting her friends."
Darius nods, listening to his reasoning.
Ben cringes. "But on the other hand, she's reckless and doesn't always think through her actions. And her way of leading is putting herself in danger, which isn't really a bad thing, but that's not really leading. Kenji might slack off sometimes and can act self-absorbed, but he's becoming more of the voice of reason. And he's become a lot more mature since the days of camp. Kenji might be the better choice."
Darius raises an eyebrow.
"Okay, you asked me my opinion, and here it is: I'm too indecisive to choose," Ben states. The two boys start laughing.
"It'd be easier to choose if we could compare their actions in the field," Darius says. "Without life threatening dinosaurs coming at us."
"Like a real competition," Ben nods.
Dino nerd thinks for a second. "Maybe that's what we need…"
"What are we doing here?" Sandra yawns, having just woken up from her nap on a plane.
"We're here to convince the US ambassador to Costa Rica to change the ban on the island," Roxie explains. "He's in a meeting with someone else, so we'll have to wait."
The six families sit down in the lobby of the building, busying themselves to pass the time. Yasmina's older brother sits next to the Guiterrez family. "How's the ranch going?" he asks Miriam.
"Pretty good," she stretches. "Uncle Travis and Aunt Trinity are taking care of the ranch. Uncle Jorge and Aunty Maggie moved in with their four children to help out. They own the veterinary clinic in our town."
"That's good," Ghaleb nods.
"What about you?" Miriam yawns. "Anything new in North Dakota?"
He grins. "We got a puppy."
The entire Guiterrez family awws. "Show pics!" Miriam says.
"We don't have her yet," Ghaleb says. "She's almost six weeks old, so she's still with her Momma. Our parents were going to keep it a surprise, but Jaba here," he ruffles his younger brother's hair, "found the pictures and spoiled the surprise."
"What is she?" Shelby asks.
"A Siberian Husky," Ghaleb says.
"Bet she'll love your state," Miriam chuckles. "What's her name?"
"We were gonna wait until Yazzy could choose, too…" Ghaleb says, trailing off. "Wanna see pictures?"
The Guiterrez sisters crowd around him. His younger sister comes up, too. All the girls let out collective awws as he swipes through the pictures on his phone.
Across from him, Brandon and Milton were lounging. "How's the channel going?" Brandon asks.
Milton stops swiping on his phone. "Pretty good. Half of the Brooklanders are willing to raise money for a rescue operation, the other half thinks it's pointless. People keep commenting and telling me to move on."
"Jerks," Brandon sighs, letting his head flop back.
"What is everyone looking at?" Hayoon asks, coming up behind the two boys.
"Hayoon, hi," Brandon says, immediately beginning to stutter. "Uhh, I don't know. Whatever it is, must be cute. You should Ghaleb ask—ask Ghaleb!"
Hayoon giggles and walks over to the crowd of girls. Her small high heels clicked on the hard tile and her black skirt swayed as she walked.
Brandon groans in embarrassment.
"Struck by love I see?" Dave grins, leaning on the back of the two chairs.
"Shut up!" Brandon snaps.
"He's definitely lovestruck," Milton grins.
"Wait until you get a crush," Brandon hisses.
"I've had crushes, you're just freaking out for no reason," Brooklynn's older brother sneers.
"How can you not freak out when you have a crush?!" Brandon hisses. "That's just weird! Back me up, Dave!"
"It is very odd to have confidence around your crush," Dave nods.
"Is that why you haven't got the balls to ask out Roxie?" Milton asks with a stupid grin.
The boy gets a smack on the back of the head from Dave. "Shut up," the camp counselor grumbles as he walks away. The two teens snicker.
Dave shakes his head, ticked at the senseless teenagers roast. "Well, are you going to ask Roxie out?" a British voice asks, startling Dave.
"I… I've tried subtly," Dave shrugs. "She doesn't pick up on it."
Roxie's mother laughs. "Yes, that's my daughter. Roxie can get hyper focused on one little thing or task and forget about the rest of the world. Give her time to find the campers. After that, she'll be more receptive to dates."
Dave laughs. "Yep, I've noticed that."
The hyper focused Brit in question was watching Yasmina and Sammy's fathers play with the younger kids. "One! Two! Three!" Mr. Fadoula says, lifting Roxie's youngest brother like a weight over his head. The nine year old cackles with glee. Mr. Guiterrez was bouncing Shelby on his knee, pretending she was riding a horse.
Ghaleb was doing pushups with Sandra on his back. "Let me get on!" Habeeba laughs. Jabari and Roxie's younger brother, Nico, get on, too. "Oh no, you guys are too heavy!" he says collapsing on his stomach. The kids were laughing hysterically.
"Mr. Strominger will see you now," the ambassador's secretary says, slightly annoyed by the ruckus.
Dave and Roxie glance at each other, holding their breaths as they head into the office. This meeting could make or break the campers chances of going home.
"Wake up, everyone!" Darius says, clapping his hands.
"Hey, this time, it wasn't Kenji!" Yasmina exclaims, half laughing, half groaning.
"Ben and I were up late last night setting up something," Darius says, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
"What is it?" Brooklynn asks.
Darius and Ben lead the group down the slide and into the woods. "It's an official competition," Darius announces. "Ben was right when he pointed out that the competition for second in command so far has been the rest of us picking sides. What we need is a way to test your leadership skills."
"So we built an obstacle course!" Ben says proudly.
"I'll be riding Tornado and Bumpy," Darius says. "They'll stand in as a 'wild dinosaur herd' while Blue and the Indos will stand in as predators. We've been working on 'play.'"
When Darius says the code word, the Indoraptor younglings jump onto the humans, carefully gnawing on their hands and arms. "It's just a play fight," Darius explains. "Took a while for them to get that 'play' means hunting but without killing." He shows his arms. Small scratches and bite marks were left along them.
"Are you okay?" Sammy asks, concerned.
"Eh, it's fine, they didn't bite too hard," Darius shrugs her off.
"So what's the competition?" Yasmina asks, barely putting weight on her booted leg.
"A simulation, basically," Darius says. "In the simulation, I've been 'captured by a T-rex and taken back to her lair.' I'll let Yaz go first. You're going to have to lead the team through all the 'dangers' to save me. I'll be riding on Bumpy to watch you guys."
Yasmina smirks. "Any rules?"
"You can't walk," Darius says.
Her smirk leaves her face. "How am I supposed to do this if I can't walk?"
"Part of being a leader is working with the team and giving them jobs," Kenji says. "Not everything is about sacrifice and doing it yourself."
"But you do have to sacrifice things for the team," Yasmina hisses.
"So give up walking so that you can save us later when you're healed," Kenji retorts. Yasmina glares at him, unable to come up with a response.
"After Yaz has her go, it'll be Kenji's turn," Darius says. Darius and Ben lead the group to the starting point. Darius climbs up onto Bumpy and leads Tornado into the woods.
Ben starts the simulation. "Oh noo! It's horrible! Darius has been taken by the T-rex! What do we do, Yaz?!" he says, cringingly dramatic.
Yasmina and the group starts laughing. "Um… darn it, I can't think when you're that cringy."
Darius, who's listening from in the woods, rolls his eyes with a chuckle. "Guess she needs more motivation." He cries out in fake pain and calls for help.
This sparks a bit of urgency and seriousness in Yasmina. "Okay," she says, thinking for a bit. "We need to go after him."
"How are we gonna save him?" Ben asks.
Yasmina thinks for a second. "We need to distract Rexy long enough to get him out of there. Let's pack the rifles. They'll come in handy."
Sammy and Kenji pack up their rifles and they head off after Darius. "How are you gonna come along?" Sammy asks.
"I'll carry you," Kenji offers.
"I can walk," Yasmina huffs, before remembering the rule. She rolls her eyes. "Fine, you can carry me, Kenji."
Kenji hoists her onto his back and they head off into the jungles. They come across a patch of wet sand. "Quicksand!" Ben exclaims, still being cringy. "How do we get across?"
"Is that actual quicksand?" Brooklynn asks.
"No, we just threw water on it," Ben sighs. "But ohh the horror! We can't get to Darius."
"You're not making this easier with your acting," Yasmina chuckles. "Okay, how to get across… I might be able to jump it."
"But you can't walk," Kenji says.
"Plus, what are the rest of us to do?" Ben points out.
"Right, uhh…" Yasmina thinks. "Could we run across it? Or build something?"
"You're the leader," Kenji shrugs.
Yasmina semi-gently whacks him on the back of his head. "Uhh… Ben, could we build something over it?"
"We're wasting time," Brooklynn says. "If it's thick enough, we could run quickly over it."
"And if it's not?" Yasmina tilts her head.
"We'd sink," Brooklynn shrugs.
"Then how do we get across?" Yasmina groans, hitting her head with the palm of her hand.
Darius watches the exchange thoughtfully. "You can ask for their opinions," he thinks. "They'll have a different view on the situation."
"Maybe we can—" Kenji starts to say.
"I'm trying to think, Kenji!" Yasmina snaps.
"Darius listens to everyone's opinions," he points out.
The athlete sighs. "Okay, do you guys see anything that can be used?"
The group looks around. "There's a vine hanging down that we could use," Kenji points out. "But someone's going to have to jump over the quicksand and get it."
"I can do that," Yasmina says quickly.
"No!" the entire group shouts.
"You're not the only athletic one here," Sammy says. "I'm stronger than you think and Kenji's pretty in shape. One of us can jump over and grab it."
"Who should do it, Yaz?" Ben asks.
"If you guys apparently can do more than me, why don't you choose?" Yasmina snaps, a bit irritated that she can't do anything physical.
"You're the leader, you make the decision!" Kenji retorts. "You tell us what to do. It's chaos if we don't have one voice! Who is going to do it?!"
"Okay! Kenji, you jump across and grab the vine," Yasmina orders. "We'll swing across on it."
Kenji puts her down and Sammy and Ben support her while Kenji takes a running leap. "Parkour!" he shouts, flailing in the air and landing on the other side. He almost loses his balance and falls back in the "quicksand" but regains it and grabs the vine. He throws it over and Brooklynn swings across. Ben swings across and then throws it to Yasmina. After a bit of eye rolling, she allows Sammy to help her get some momentum. The others catch her and Kenji hoists her back up onto his back.
"Okay, let's go on!" Yasmina orders. "If this was real, Darius would be losing precious minutes!"
The group continues on down the trail. After walking about three minutes, Ben starts looking around. The others can tell some sort of "event" was about to happen.
Sure enough, Ben continues with his cringe acting. "Oh no! A stampede of dinosaurs! What do we do now?!"
Bumpy and Tornado start charging towards the campers. Despite Bumpy's elated smile, the charging dinos looked scary. "Climb the trees!" Yasmina orders. The teens run for the trees. Kenji lets Yasmina use his back to vault into the air and grab a branch. The trackstar uses her position to help the others up as Bumpy and Tornado crowd around the tree.
Bumpy bellows, looking for her human Daddy.
"Nice teamwork guys," Darius grins from her back.
"Does this mean the simulation is over?" Yasmina asks.
"Not until you 'rescue' me," he laughs. He leads the two herbivores off into the woods again, needing a bit of encouragement from Sammy and Ben to do it.
The campers climb down from the tree and continue on their journey. They reach the grassy plains. Sitting atop a fallen tree trunk was Darius. Blue was standing behind him.
"There's Darius!" Ben cries out theatrically. "Oh noo! The horrid T-rex has got him! How are we ever going to save him?!"
He blinks up at Yasmina, who snorts at his terrible acting skills. "Please stop," she says. "Okay, what would we do in a real situation?"
"Well, normally we would shoot at the 'T-rex' but we don't wanna hurt Blue," Sammy points out.
"We need to distract the T-rex long enough to rescue Darius," Yasmina declares. "Uh… argh! Why can't I run?!" She hits her forehead with her fist, frustrated that she couldn't be of use.
"Use the whole team, Yaz," Ben encourages. "You don't have to be the only one saving him."
"Right," Yasmina nods, still frustrated. "How can we distract a T-rex without losing a member?"
"Think outside the box," Kenji says. "We don't always have to use ourselves as bait. Eh, that works pretty well, not gonna lie."
Yasmina looks around. "There's no cover for us to use if we were to try to tag team distract her."
"Realistically, Darius would be dead," Brooklynn unhelpfully points out. "Think of something!"
"Realistically, we would have the tanks and raptors on our side!" Yasmina snaps. Then her eyes light up with an idea and she smirks at Ben. "What if a certain 'wild dinosaur herd' were to barge through?"
Darius listens to them argue and watches as they head into the woods. He chuckles. "Using a 'wild dino herd'? Pretty smart."
Pretty soon, Bumpy and Tornado gallop past Darius and Blue. The velociraptor watches them run with a bored expression. "Go on," Darius encourages. "Chase 'em!"
Blue gives him an annoyed look and settles down to sleep. She grunts, irritatedly. "I'm not your pet," her disposition read.
"Dang it, Rexy's still there!" Sammy hisses.
Ben and Darius motion at each other, trying to figure out what to do. "Should we just say we rescued you, since Rexy really would've gone after the herd?" Ben asks.
"Keep going," Darius sputters. "Let's see where this goes."
"Okay, 'Rexy's' asleep," Ben says. "What do we do now?"
"Sneak down there and pull Darius out of there," Yasmina says.
"What if he's injured and can't move?" Brooklynn asks.
Yasmina goes to speak then sputters. "You were going to suggest you carry him to safety," Kenji smirks.
"Shut up," she hisses. "Kenji, Sammy, you guys sneak down there and carry him to safety."
The two crawl through the grass towards Darius, who lays down and pretends to be hurt. Blue lifts her head and the two gasp.
"Honestly, this simulation is done," Darius sputters. "You guys won. No thanks to Blue."
The raptor croaks out a complaint about the kids wasting her day and runs off. Darius and the others walk back to the rest of the group. "How well did that go?" Yasmina cringes.
"It went pretty well," Darius nods. "Your biggest issue is using the whole team."
Yasmina rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess that is a problem."
"Okay, let's head back to the beginning and start a new simulation for Kenji," Darius says.
The campers head back to camp and Darius rides off on Bumpy again. Once more, Ben makes the group cringe. "Oh noo! Darius has gone missing! How are we supposed to find him?!"
Kenji laughs. "Oh, new leader, new simulation. Okay, the question is, where could he have gone? Is there anywhere that Darius would've gone off on his own?"
"He might've gone off to study herbivores," Brooklynn suggests. "Or carnivores. Or any dinosaur. But he would've told us."
"Uhh, Ben? Should we assume the worst or….?" Kenji asks.
"Assume the worst," Ben says. "I can't tell you where he is. That's what you have to figure out."
"All right, there's a lotta worst case scenarios that this could be," Kenji says. "Worst is that he's dead, but I don't think we would start out a simulation with him dead. Think he could be carried off by a dinosaur?"
"Well, wouldn't we have 'heard' it?" Yasmina rolls her eyes, using finger quotations.
"First off, true," Kenji nods. "Second, no eye rolling, soldier. Okay, carried off by a dinosaur; not completely off the list, but unlikely. Next option: he wandered off to watch dinosaurs and got injured. Where would he go?"
"The jungles are so big, it'd be hard to find him," Sammy says.
"You seriously can't give us a hint?" Kenji frowns at Ben. The boy shrugs. "This is difficult," Kenji sighs, facepalming.
"You gotta use your brain in this simulation," Yasmina says, crossing her arms.
"Out of line, soldier," Kenji snaps.
"I thought Darius listened to his teammates," the athlete quips.
"I thought I had to step up and not be a slacker," Kenji retorts back.
Darius listens to them argue and facepalms. "Oh, Lord, why do you two have to be so volatile?"
"Guys!" Sammy exclaims. "We need to get going! Pick a place and let's move!"
"Okay," Kenji nods. "We don't have any information to go off of other than this is a simulation. We're meant to have conflict, so wherever he is should be either big enough to fight Blue or dangerous enough that we'd struggle."
Ben nods.
"So where would that be?" Brooklynn asks.
Kenji comes up with a scenario. "Hypothetically, what if he went on a spontaneous info trip? He'd go to the lab, maybe to learn more about dinos or the Indoraptors or something. Maybe he ran into the 'Baryonyx' and got injured and is trapped. Or there's a small ravine nearby that he could've fallen into. Which one is more probable?"
"Probably the first one," Brooklynn says. "Darius is prone to learning about dinos."
"Hey," Darius thinks, miffed.
"If not, the ravine is close by," Sammy points out. "Maybe the 'Baryonyx' chased him into the ravine."
"Okay, we'll search the lab," Kenji declares. "Then check the ravine if he's not there."
The group heads off towards the genetics lab. They head in and search the place as one whole pack. The only interesting thing that happened was Blue popping up around the corner. "It's fine," Ben calms them. "She's not part of the simulation." The Velociraptor croaks, and follows them around, playing "Mama bear."
The group arrives at the main lab room and searches the place. "Should we be searching for missing papers or move on?" Kenji asks.
"Let's search the room," Ben says. "Oh, look!" he says dramatically, pointing to a door. "A locked door! What could be behind there?!"
"Oh my gosh, I don't know!" Kenji replies, equally as dramatic. "Maybe it's Darius, since you're making such a big deal about it!"
"Where's the key?" Brooklynn asks.
"Where is the key?!" Ben exclaims. "... No, seriously, where did we hide it? I actually forgot."
The group groans. "That's kinda funny," Darius laughs, leaning in the doorway.
"Have we found you?" Kenji asks.
"No, I just can't observe from outside," Darius says. He motions for Ben to come closer, and whispers where the hidden key was.
"Oh, well, we have to find it!" Ben laughs. "Where ever could it be?!"
Kenji sighs. "It's in that giant spiders nest, isn't it?" He points to the cobwebs up on a shelf.
"How'd you?" Ben asks.
"Seems like these simulations are meant to test our weaknesses and apparently my weakness is that I don't pull my own weight," Kenji says, glancing at Yasmina. "So it stands to reason that I'm the only one who can reach it—and I hate spiders—therefore, it's up there."
"Wow, that was fast," Ben chuckles.
"What kinda spider made that?" Brooklynn frowns.
"Actually, that's silly string," Ben laughs. "We just found a couple tarantulas and put 'em up there. Apparently Darius is fine picking up huge, hairy spiders."
"Are they venomous?" Yasmina asks.
"Nah, they can't kill humans," Brooklynn shrugs. "But their bite can be painful."
Kenji winces. "You guys had to do this?"
"Suck it up, Buttercup," Yasmina snickers. "You're the tallest, even with a chair."
"There really isn't another way to get the key?" Kenji asks, stalling.
"Bro, we all have to do things we don't like," Yasmina huffs. "Get it over with!"
Kenji sighs. "Fine," he grits his teeth and steps up onto a chair. Mr. VIP hesitantly reaches his hand into the string and feels around. Something hairy and crawly moves under his hand. He lets out a yelp and freezes. "BrOokLynn!" he squeaks. "Are you sure they're not venomous?"
"No, but stay calm," she instructs. "Don't agitate them. I've heard that their bite here in Costa Rica can be painful. Just move slowly."
"Why did you tell me that now?!" he grimaces as the spider crawls over his hand. He slowly searches around for the key, squeaking as he finds tarantulas. Brooklynn and Yasmina found it funny. Kenji finally finds the key and knocks the key onto the ground.
"All right, Alpha male, you don't have to touch the icky spiders anymore," Yasmina snickers.
Kenji growls at her, then braves his Arachnidphobia and throws one of the tarantulas at her. Her immediate reaction was satisfying to him. The spider hits her face and she screams, brushing it off her face as fast as she can. The athlete falls over and scrambles back. Brooklynn jumps back, too. "Spiders are the one thing I could never get over!" she exclaims.
Kenji snickers.
Darius facepalms, groaning.
"Don't hurt 'em, they didn't do anythin' to you!" Sammy exclaims, picking up the large spider and carrying it out of the way of her panicked friends.
"Okay, don't say I'm too narc to be second in command!" Kenji exclaims. "I just touched a bunch of tarantulas for ya, buddy, and this was a FREAKING SIMULATION! That is BOSS!"
Darius rolls his eyes with a smile.
Sammy picks up the key. "Let's 'find' Darius!"
She unlocks the door to find that it leads to the outside. "Really?" Kenji asks. "So we were supposed to go to the ravine, weren't we?"
"You're the leader," Ben shrugs. "You told us where to go."
"Okay, let's get moving!" Kenji orders. The group heads out again and walks to the ravine. Darius mounts Bumpy and follows them. The teens find the ravine and begin searching it. Darius slides off of Bumpy and disappears.
"Oh no! There he is!" Ben says, pointing him out. Darius had climbed down into the ravine and was laying down on a crevice, pretending to be hurt.
"How are we going to get to him?" Brooklynn asks, kneeling down at the edge.
"The walls are pretty steep, I don't know how he got down there," Yasmina says, kneeling down next to her.
"Ben, Brooklynn, do you guys think you could lift him out of there?" Kenji asks.
"Maybe you should head down there," Yasmina suggests. "You're one of the strongest on the team and I clearly can't help. Plus, your weakness is not doing the work yourself."
"I'm also too big to get down there!" Kenji snaps. "And a little on the heavy side. Ben and Brooklynn are on the lighter side and might be able to make it down without dislodging dirt. We could counteract their weight by tying vines to them and being support in case they slip. Being the leader isn't just about saving your team, it's unifying the team to do a job!"
"Sorry for suggesting what seemed to be a good idea!" Yasmina throws her hands in the air. "It was your idea that our weaknesses were being tested and it was you who pointed out that you were a slacker!"
"You've been the one pointing it out this whole time!" Kenji exclaims. "I wasn't harping on you!"
Yasmina barks out a laugh. "Really? Well, you sure weren't letting me lead the team!"
"Because you weren't leading the team!" Kenji shouts.
"Guys! Can we just get along?!" Ben shouts.
Unfortunately, during the chaos of yelling at each other, the two completely forgot about their other task: rescuing Darius. Ben and Darius had decided that he had been chased by the 'Baryonyx trio' and that was how he got stuck in the ravine. Kenji and Yaz found that out pretty quickly.
"Play," Ben commands as they argue. The Indoraptor hatchlings spring out of the bushes and jump on their human parents. The group yelps, surprised by this sudden onslaught of adorable playfight.
"Simulation over, you guys lose," Darius sighs, climbing up a rope. "You've been eaten by the 'Baryonyx trio.'"
Kenji and the others look down in shame.
"The biggest problem was bickering," Darius says. "That was only half your problem."
Yasmina looks down.
The group rides back to camp on Bumpy and Tornado. Once they arrive, Darius sighs. "Neither of you are working well. Stay here and get along. The rest of you are heading to the lab with me. We're restocking our food supplies."
Kenji and Yasmina sit down by a tree, sullen and ashamed. The Indoraptors crowd around them, wanting to play and get treats. Blue sits down next to them. The others head to the lab.
Kenji and Yasmina pet the Indos in silence while Blue snores. The velociraptor had yet to allow any of them to touch her, but she was certainly more comfortable spending time with them.
There was tension in the air between the two teenagers. Neither one would look at each other. Finally, Yasmina breaks the silence. "Now he's not going to trust either of us."
"Things were going good until you decided to fight with me," Kenji huffs.
Yasmina scoffs. "Yeah, put the blame on me. It's always someone else's fault."
"You make it sound like I never own up to my mistakes," the boy hisses.
"When have you?" Yasmina asks. "You're always just goofing off and pretending that you're all that and a bag of chips!"
"Oh, so I'm not important?" Kenji sneers. "I'm just the arrogant rich boy who slacks off all the time, aren't I? While you're so important because you work yourself to death!"
"Hate to break it to you, but rich, charming boy with wealth isn't as useful as athletic, workaholic girl when it comes to surviving!" Yasmina snaps.
Blue opens her eyes and sighs, annoyed by their shouting. The Indoraptors step back and watch the encounter.
"You're as important as my armpit!" Kenji says, lifting his arms to demonstrate.
"You can't even insult me right!" Yasmina laughs. "Important as my a** would be more insulting!"
"First off, armpits are useless and smelly while butts are actually useful," Kenji points out. "Second, this buttocks is too spectacular to be compared to you." He stands up and poses like a sorority girl.
Yasmina barks out a laugh. "Even in a heated argument you can't stop goofing off! Why can't you ever be serious?! Even when we're in the midst of danger you go off talking about the Avengers or start goofing off! I don't know why Darius would even consider you! You'd get the team killed just like you did in the simulation!"
"Because you wouldn't let me lead!" Kenji shouts. "You wouldn't respect my decisions!"
"It's hard to respect you when you're self-absorbed and ridiculous!" Yasmina yells. "Why are you always goofing off?!"
"Because I get attention!" Kenji roars. "I get into mischief and trouble because I get ATTENTION! My father never pays me any attention until I'm in trouble! My butler only really notices me when I'm annoying him! My teachers pay attention when I'm the class clown! Students talk about me when I'm the bad boy who gets away with stuff at school! Everything I do, every action of mine started because I want to be NOTICED!"
Yasmina's eyes widen in shock.
"Being the good boy in school doesn't get me attention!" Kenji continues. "Being nice didn't get me noticed! Everyone ignores me until I'm in their face and driving them nuts! At least when people are angry at me, they're acknowledging that I exist! That's all I want! To be loved and cared about!"
He crouches down in front of her, seething. "And the reason why I goof off during an argument? To try to cool things down and ease the tension! And I use humor to soften the blow! I don't want to hurt you! But apparently being nice and trying to skirt around the problem doesn't work! Maybe I should just go off on you!"
Yasmina freezes as still as a statue in shock and panic.
"Do you know what your problem is, Yaz?" Kenji asks. "Your problem is that you're the biggest JERK! You go off on everyone else's flaws and distrust them for no reason! You never give positives when people are just trying to be contributing members of the group! You hate the rest of us when most of us haven't done anything! What did I do to deserve such hatred, huh?! Why do you grill my flaws and scoff at everything I do?! You have zero respect for me! Is there nothing about me that you can respect?! I carried you around without complaint. I've saved you and the others multiple times. Do I have zero positives, because that's how you act! You act like I'm the most despicable person on Earth!"
Yasmina's eyes dart down, ashamed to meet his flaming brown ones.
"And what did Brooklynn do to you?" Kenji spits. "Yeah, she can be annoying, but it's not like she hurt you or anything! And Sammy did spy, but she's not villainous! She's trustworthy! I've shared many secrets with her and the loudmouthed peppy girl never told anyone! You're just such a stubborn donkey that you won't even give us a chance!"
Yasmina lowers her head, heart racing. Kenji grabs her chin roughly and forces her to look at him.
"You know how Ben was acting towards Sammy?" Kenji growls. "Being a jerk for no reason?" He grits his teeth, preparing to twist the knife further. "Well, he wanted to be more like you."
She closes her eyes, trembling.
"He wanted to be like both of us, but—OW!" He jerks away as Rima bites his arm. "I'm not attacking her, back off!" he shakes the little Indoraptor off of him.
"Rima," Yasmina says quietly. "Back off."
"When he was hurting Sammy, who did that sound more like?" Kenji asks. "I know you want attention and love and friends. Don't deny it. That's why you jumped so quickly when Sammy befriended you. But the reason you don't have friends isn't because people are bad or you're super introverted. It's because you're cold and insensitive and hurt people with your words. You push people away yourself, Yaz. Your attitude towards others is why you're alone."
Yasmina pulls her head out of his grasp and turns away from him, blinking back tears.
Kenji sighs and sits down. "I only act like I love myself. I don't really. The way you treat me doesn't help; it only fuels my desire to act like a narc more. It's… OW!"
Rima takes another bite out of him. "Stop it!" Yasmina says, scooping her up. She refuses to look at Kenji, though.
"It's hard to respect or love yourself when your own father doesn't. I…" he sighs. "I don't think I'm perfect or that I'm all that and a bag of chips. I… I don't always like myself. I'm very flawed. I inflate my ego and my strengths because it doesn't feel good to be disliked. I don't want you guys to see my flaws. I want you to see the good in me."
Yasmina turns her head slightly, looking at him with teary eyes through her wispy bang.
"I thought, 'Maybe if I acted like I had confidence and showed the good parts of me, people wouldn't think I'm worthless.' It's… It's just… What else am I supposed to do? I don't want to be unloved. If no one else is going to love me then… why is it so bad that I act like I love myself? I'm not getting it anywhere else…"
Yasmina lunges for Kenji, and the boy raises his arms to defend himself, only to realize that she was hugging him. "I'm sorry," she chokes out. "I… I'm sorry." There was nothing else she could say; nothing to defend herself. Nothing to excuse her actions. There was nothing she could say that would express how sorry and guilty she felt; it would feel ingenuine.
Kenji smiles and wraps his arms around her back. "Ow!" he exclaims again, shaking Rima off his arm. "I'm not attacking your Momma!"
"Stop," Yasmina sobs, pushing away her Indoraptor. The little hatchling tilts her head, knowing that Kenji was making her mother cry, but confused as to why she couldn't attack him.
"I'm sorry," Yasmina says again, pulling back. "I… I… there's no excuse."
"I'm sorry, too," Kenji apologizes. "I might have been a bit harsh."
"Stop," she shakes her head. "Stop it, I needed that slap in the face."
"Why don't you like me?" he asks, pulling his knees up to his chest. "Did I do something or am I just that annoying?"
The athlete sighs. "I… No, you really didn't do anything… I kind of just assumed that you wouldn't…. You… I don't know."
"You assumed that because I was so narcissistic that I would bully and harm you?" Kenji suggests.
"Yeah," Yasmina nods with a grimace. "I knew that you weren't everything you said you were; it's not hard to figure out that you were faking some things. It's just… If you have to hide things and pretend to be someone you're not, would I want to know the real you?"
"That's fair," he nods. "I've been trying to work on not being a narc. It's become a habit, though, to bring up my accomplishments and wealth when I feel abandoned or unloved."
"It's a coping mechanism?" Yasmina suggests.
"I guess you could put it that way," Kenji chuckles. "I've tried to be understanding. I get that something happened to you to make you feel this way. But… I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not going to break your heart or betray you. I've tried to express that. Can you give me a chance?"
Yasmina nods. "I'm sorry."
The two are silent for a bit. "Your father really isn't around?" Yasmina asks.
"Barely," Kenji sighs. "He was loving when Mom was around but… after she died he… he just kinda shut down. Doesn't act like he cared. When I was younger I thought that it was something I did. I tried to earn his love but… It was never enough…"
"I get that," the athlete nods.
"What's your father like?" the alpha male asks, noticing her solemn delivery of the last sentence.
Yasmina bites her lip. "He's loving and fun. He'll take us on camping trips and is always supportive of my sport…"
"But?" Kenji tilts his head.
"But I wonder if he would love me if I wasn't athletic," she sighs. "You know? If I lost my ability to run, would he still love me? He's a champion Crossfit dude, athleticism is up his alley. If I can't run, what good am I?"
"You don't think your father would love you just because you're his daughter?" Kenji asks, his heart breaking for her.
"It's not like I'm actually his…" she mumbles. "He's… my step-father. He loves my mother, but… does he have to love me?"
"What happened to your biological father?" he asks.
"I don't want to talk about that…" Yasmina shakes her head.
"Is that one reason you have trust issues? Your father?" Kenji asks.
"You could say that," she shrugs.
"I guess there's more to your love for running than just running," Kenji smirks, leaning back against the tree.
"How so?"
"Well, it's your way of trying to earn your father's love. It also seems to be the way you escape emotional and mental pain. Kinda like when depressed people cut themselves."
"Are you a therapist?" Yasmina chuckles sheepishly.
"Haha, no," Kenji snickers. "I just have an understanding for what you're going through. I get that you don't wanna talk about it, but can I try to guess what happened?"
Yasmina shrugs.
"Does your past involve bad boys and popular girls?"
"What makes you guess that?" Yasmina asks.
"Because of the way you treat me and Brooklynn," he shrugs. "I get that Brooklynn is annoying, but why don't you give her a chance? She's doing everything she does because she wants attention and love, too. Maybe… maybe if you give it to her, she won't feel the need to try so hard for it elsewhere. When I'm acting like a narc, it's because I want to feel validated. Cutting me down and harping on my flaws isn't solving the problem. Maybe you could try to recognize that me bragging is my way of asking if I'm enough. Just like you pushing through unnecessary pain is your way of trying to earn your fathers love."
Yasmina nods.
"I don't normally do this," Kenji sputters. "Don't expect me to always be mushy and open about things. I started talking and it all just spilled out. Talking about my feelings and flaws is just weird and uncomfortable."
"Most relatable thing you've said all day," Yasmina laughs.
"So, we cool?" Kenji asks, offering his fist.
"We cool, Mr. VIP," the trackstar says, giving him a fistbump.
"That went really well," Brooklynn sighs as they walk to the lab. "I guess neither of them work for the team." She jokingly adds, "Maybe you should just pick me."
Darius glares at her and quickens his pace to get ahead of her. Brooklynn winces. "Great, now he thinks I'm self-absorbed."
"I know they will pull through this," Darius thinks angrily. "They just need to work through their differences. Why don't you just trust that I know what I'm doing, Brooklynn?"
The campers hear large footsteps and climb back up on their rides. The Majungasaurus charges out of the jungles towards them. Bumpy bellows and charges forward, colliding with the predator. Tornado follows suit and tries to spear the predator with her horns.
The battle is intense and Marijuana almost bites Darius with her sharp teeth. The three dinos move farther and farther away from the genetics lab. Bumpy bellows and clubs the carnivore with her tail. Marijuana shakes her head and charges at the Ankylosaurus's flank. She shoves Bumpy into Tornado, and the two herbivores stumble backwards. Their riders roll off and land in the sand.
The herbivores recover and charge again.
Darius lifts his head and sits up. His legs start to sink into the sand and he panics. "Quicksand!" he shouts.
Sammy and Ben sit up and yelp, panicking as they begin to sink, too.
"Quickly! Take off anything you can to lighten yourself!" Brooklynn commands, shedding her backpack and throwing it to dry ground. The others follow her lead.
"How do we get out?!" Sammy shouts, moving to get up.
"No! Stop!" Brooklynn shouts. Sammy freezes. "Movies make quicksand seem much more threatening than it is. Most people die because they panic. We're probably not heavy enough to sink fully. Just lay back on your back to spread your weight out evenly. Slowly try to pull your legs out. This takes patience. It's pointless to try to struggle against the vacuum. We need to escape inch by inch."
The group lays back and tries to do what the Youtuber told them. The Majungasaurus roars.
"Y'all, we might not have time to be patient," Sammy whimpers.
Tornado is thrown back and comes to a stop inches away from the quicksand. She sees her Momma and snorts.
"Go get Kenji and Yaz, Torni!" Darius orders. Sammy encourages her to leave and get help. The Triceratops bellows and gallops off back to camp.
"Ambassador Strominger, thank you for meeting with us," Roxie says gratefully as she shakes his hand.
"My pleasure," he nods. "I have heard throughout the news that there are six young teenagers stuck on Isla Nublar?"
"That is correct," Roxie nods. "But because of the ban, we can't send out a search party for them. No one else is willing to help us."
"I would like to help, but there is very little I can do," the ambassador says. "The island is under Costa Rican law, and all I can do is encourage them to allow a search party to head to the island. Beyond that, I cannot help you."
Roxie, Dave, and the families are disappointed.
"Make no mistake, I intend to do all that I can," he says. "I have two daughters of my own. Both of them watch the pink haired Youtuber." He gestures to Brooklynn's family. "But with little support, it might be difficult. The island is still technically owned by Masrani Corp and InGen. If they were to be in support of this rescue, we might have a better leg to stand on."
"That can be arranged," Ben's mother says determinedly, a dark glint in her eye.
"Most importantly, we need proof that they're even alive," Mr. Strominger says.
Roxie pulls out her walkie talkie and tries to communicate with the campers. "Campers? Come in!"
The campers yelp as Bumpy lands close to them. Ben reaches out to grab her horns, but she pulls away. The Ankylosaurus bellows and charges at the Majungasaurus again.
Suddenly, the campers hear static coming from Darius's backpack. "Campers? Come in!" Roxie's voice says through the static.
"No!" Brooklynn shouts. "If we don't answer, they're going to think we're dead!"
Roxie tries again, but the campers have no way of getting to her.
"Okay, the class clown is the best position to be in in school," Kenji states. "People don't expect much from you. You barely have any responsibilities because everyone thinks you'll goof off. They only expect you to be funny, which is easy."
Yasmina shakes her head in amusement, then yelps as Rima pulls her hair.
"Second, it's really easy to wow people," Kenji says. "When you excel in school, people praise you. When you're responsible, people are shocked and awed. It's much easier to shock them when you haven't set the bar high."
Yasmina laughs.
"Third, it's easier to deal with mistakes and embarrassments. When you're the class clown and you mess up in class, you can make it look like a joke. You can always pretend that you messed up on purpose, therefore, you can't be embarrassed."
"That's actually pretty smart," she nods.
"Fourth, you can combine class clown with pretty much any other stereotype," Kenji says. "Class clown, bad boy? Definitely possible! Class clown, jock? Yep! Class clown, nerd? Harder, but as long as you can come up with corny science jokes, you're good!"
Yasmina laughs. "You've really thought this out, huh?"
Kenji nods, proud of himself. The two humans and six dinos are surprised by a panicked Tornado. The Triceratops bellows and stamps around, clearly distressed. "What's wrong?" Kenji asks, standing up. "Where are the others?"
She bellows again, snorting.
"Something happened to them," Yasmina whimpers. "We have to go find them!"
"Come on!" Kenji says, helping Yasmina up onto her back. The alpha male tells the Indos to stay, then climbs up, too. Blue gets up and the two dinosaurs race off to find the campers.
They arrive at the battlefield and take in the situation. With the campers stuck in the quicksand and Bumpy taking on Marijuana, it was chaotic enough. A shrill cry announces that it was about to get crazier. The three Baryonyx sisters stalk out of the jungle, drawn to the commotion.
Kenji and Yasmina yelp. "What do we do?" they ask.
"Think you could run on your boot?" Kenji asks.
"I've been thinking that this whole time," she says.
"Okay, you try to help the others escape the quicksand, I'll let Bumpy, Tornado, and Blue against the predators," Kenji orders.
Yasmina slides off Tornado and races towards the edge of the quicksand.
"Yaz! Talk to Roxie!" Darius shouts, pointing to his backpack.
Yasmina turns and hears Roxie trying for the fifth time. She races over and hurriedly searches through. She finds the walkie talkie and turns it on. "Hey, Roxie! Can't talk right now, quicksand, Marijuana, dinos, crap! Gotta go!"
Roxie stares at the walkie talkie in confusion. "Did she just say Marijuana?"
"Okay, how do I get you guys out of there?!" Yasmina asks, crawling to the edge of the quicksand.
"Get some vines!" Brooklynn says. "We could slowly pull ourselves to safety!"
Yasmina darts over to the trees, running awkwardly with the boot. She begins to pull down vines to help her friends. She ties them to the trees and then throws them to her friends. The group uses the vines to start slowly pulling themselves to freedom.
Meanwhile, Kenji was trying to coordinate efforts with the dinosaurus. Blue was facing off against two of the Barynoyxes while Tornado took on the other. Bumpy and Kenji were taking on the Majungasaurus. The Ankylosaurus bellows and clubs her in the face. Marijuana roars and tries to bite down on Bumpy's back.
"Kenji!" Yasmina shouts, hurling Ben's spear at Majunga's face. It hits her close to her eye and Kenji grabs it as it bounces off. He fumbles it, but still gains the spear. As Marijuana tries again, Kenji grabs a hold of her small horn and climbs up. As she is distracted by this little human holding onto her head, Bumpy charges. The predator stumbles and Kenji spears her in the eye. The alpha male jumps from the Majungasaurus and grabs onto Bumpy's asymmetrical horns.
Blue was struggling to fight off two dinosaurs at once. She bites down on one of them and the other grabs onto her torso.
"Blue!" Yasmina shouts. As the other campers begin to pull themselves towards safety, she grabs her bow and quiver. As the Baryonyx tries to kill Blue, Yasmina nocks an arrow into place and draws back the string. She aims carefully and shoots at the predator. The arrow sticks into it's thick skin, releasing a tranquilizer. The Baryonyx roars and shakes herself; the arrow falls out. She turns her attention to the pesky human who shot her. Yasmina darts over to the bushes and rolls away.
The Baryonyx snaps at her as she rolls. "Yaz!" Darius calls out.
Yasmina crawls backwards, escaping the dinosaur's hungry jaws. The Baryonyx starts to feel tired and stumbles away into the woods. Her sisters follow her, keeping the pack together. Blue shakes her head and roars at Marijuana. Tornado turns her attention to the bigger predator. Kenji roars at the Majungasaurus, raising his spear in the air.
The Majungasaurus roars and backs away. She was tired and now had to face off against three opponents. She stomps away, accepting defeat.
Darius and Brooklynn crawl to safety and stand up. Kenji offers his hand to Ben and pulls him up onto Bumpy. Then he offers his hand to Sammy and pulls her up. The group rides back to camp, exhausted, beaten up and covered in quicksand. They climb down and Darius turns to Yasmina and Kenji with a smile. "That was some pretty good teamwork back there."
The two smile. "We finally bridged our differences," Kenji grins, putting his hands on his hips.
"So, who's going to be the second in command?" Ben asks.
Before Darius speaks, Kenji interrupts him. "It should be Yaz. She's stronger and more stubborn. She wouldn't stop until every member was alive."
"No, it should be Kenji," Yasmina argues. "He's better at leading and taking charge. Under pressure, I'm better at acting than thinking. You would want him to take charge."
"But you're the one who successfully completed the simulation," Kenji argues.
"Only because I wouldn't listen to you in yours," Yasmina snaps. "In real life, you took charge. You'd be a better second in command."
"Can I actually choose?" Darius interrupts.
"Sorry," the two mumble.
"Drum roll please," Darius says. Sammy begins to drum on her knees. "Kenji," Darius announces.
The group is surprised. "Kenji?" Brooklynn questions.
"Ultimately, we need someone who can make decisions in the heat of the moment," Darius says. "Kenji can slack off sometimes, but he's gotten much better about being hardworking."
Kenji smiles, happy that Darius believes in him.
"I actually chose you before I even announced the competition," Darius reveals.
Kenji and Yasmina's jaws drop in shock. "Wait, what?!" Yasmina shouts.
"Then why did we compete?!" Kenji protests.
"I hoped that your bickering would eventually lead to you two solving your differences," Darius laughs. "Plus, Yaz had to accept it on her own."
"You little brat!" Yasmina laughs, bumping him with her shoulder.
"Well, thank you for believing in me," Kenji says, wrapping his arms around Darius. "And I'd love it if you were co-second in command, Yaz. You're the workaholic who tries to save everyone with her athleticism. Just don't kill yourself."
"Okay," she grins.
"Oh! Now that that's over, we should probably call Roxie," Sammy says.
"Right!" Darius exclaims, and turns on the device. "Roxie? You still there?"
Back in the US, the families are relieved. "Darius, what the heck happened?!" Roxie practically shouts.
"Uh, long story," Darius laughs.
"Got stuck in quicksand," Ben quips.
"Fought off four carnivores!" Kenji exclaims.
"Fixed friendships!" Sammy laughs.
"Found our second in command!" Yasmina says.
"Learned to work together!" Brooklynn grins. "Well, work together better."
"Sounds like you have had a busy day," Roxie laughs. "We just wanted to make sure you were alive. Somebody here wanted to meet you."
"Campers, I am the US ambassador to Costa Rica," Mr. Strominger says over the walkie talkie. "We will do our best to bring you guys back home safe and sound."
The campers whoop after saying goodbye. "This calls for a celebration!" Kenji exclaims, pulling Yasmina and Sammy close.
"Not a hugger," Yasmina protests, despite laughing.
"I don't believe it for a second," Kenji grins. "Group hug!"
"No!" Yasmina laughs as the rest of the campers come in for a group hug. They all laugh, overjoyed.
Somebody was finally trying to bring them back home.